Search results for: small satellite community

Authors: Feng Zisu

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Community is the basic unit of the city, community pedestrian space is also an important part of the urban public space, and its quality improvement is also closely related to the residents' happiness and sense of belonging. Domestic and international research perspectives on community pedestrian space have gradually changed to inclusive design for the whole population, paying more attention to the equitable accessibility of urban space and the multiple composite enhancement of spatial connotation. In order to realize the inclusive and sustainable development of pedestrian space in old communities, this article selects Cao Yang New Village in Shanghai as a practice case, and based on the connotation of inclusiveness, the four dimensions of space, traffic, function and emotion are selected as the layers of inclusive connotation of pedestrian space in old communities. This article identifies the objective social needs, dynamic activity characteristics and subjective feelings of multiple subjects, and reconstructs the structural hierarchy of “spatial perception - behavioral characteristics - subjective feelings” of walking. It also proposes a governance strategy of “reconfiguring the pedestrian network, optimizing street quality, integrating ecological space and reshaping the community scene” from the aspects of quality of physical environment and quality of behavioral perception, aiming to provide new ideas for promoting the inclusive and sustainable development of pedestrian space in old communities.

Keywords: inclusivity, old community, pedestrian space, spatial quality, sustainable renovation

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Authors: Kunihisa Kakumoto

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Purpose: The global environmental problem is now raised in the global dimension. The sprawl phenomenon over the natural limitation is to be made a forecast beforehand in an algorithmic way so that the condition of our social life can hopefully be protected under the natural limitation. The sustainable condition in the globe is now to be found to keep the balance between the capacity of nature and the possibility of our social lives. The amount of water on the earth is limited. Therefore, on the reason, sustainable conditions are strongly dependent on the capacity of water. The amount of water can be considered in relation to the area of the green planting because a certain volume of the water can be obtained in the forest, where the green planting can be preserved. We can find the sustainable conditions of the water in relation to the green planting area. The reduction of CO₂ by green planting is also possible. Possible Measure and the Methods: Until now, by the opportunity of many international conferences, the concept of the solar community as one prototype has been introduced by technical papers. The algorithmic trial calculation on the basic concept of the solar community can be taken into consideration. The concept of the solar community is based on the collected data of the solar model house. According to the algorithmic results of the prototype, the simulation work in the globe can be performed as the algorithmic conversion results. This algorithmic study can be simulated by the amount of water, also in relation to the green planting area. Additionally, the submission of CO₂ in the solar community and the reduction of CO₂ by green planting can be calculated. On the base of these calculations in the solar community, the sustainable conditions on the globe can be simulated as the conversion results in an algorithmic way. The digital formation in the solar community can also be taken into consideration by this opportunity. Conclusion: For the finding of sustainable conditions around the globe, the solar community as one prototype has been taken into consideration. The role of the water is very important because the capacity of the water supply is very limited. But, at present, the cycle of the social community is not composed by the point of the natural mechanism. The simulative calculation of this study can be shown by the limitation of the total water supply. According to this process, the total capacity of the water supply and the capable residential number of the population and the areas can be taken into consideration by the algorithmic calculation. For keeping enough water, the green planting areas are very important. The planting area is also very important to keep the balance of CO₂. The simulative calculation can be performed by the relation between the submission and the reduction of CO₂ in the solar community. For the finding of this total balance and the sustainable conditions, the green planting area and the total amount of water can be recognized by the algorithmic simulative calculation. The study for the finding of sustainable conditions can be performed by the simulative calculations on the algorithmic model in the solar community as one prototype. The example of one prototype can be in balance. The activity of the social life must be in the capacity of the natural mechanism. The capable capacity of the natural environment in our world is very limited.

Keywords: the solar community, the sustainable condition, the natural limitation, the algorithmic calculation

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Authors: Ivan Gunass Govender, Andrea Giampiccoli

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A developmental state should use community engagement to facilitate socio-economic development for disadvantaged groups and individual members of society through empowerment, social justice, sustainability, and self-reliance. In this regard, community-based tourism (CBT) as a growing market should be an indigenous effort aided by external facilitation. Since this form of tourism presents its own preconditions, characteristics, and challenges, it could be guided by higher education institutions engagement. In particular, the facilitation should not only serve to assist the community members to reach their own goals; but rather also focus on learning through knowledge creation and sharing with the engagement of higher education institutions. While the increased relevance of CBT has produced various CBT manuals (or handbooks/guidelines) documents aimed to ‘teach’ and assist various entities in CBT development, this research aims to analyse the current monitoring & evaluation (M&E) manuals and thereafter, propose an M&E model for CBT. It is important to mention that all too often effective monitoring is seldom carried out thus risking the long-term sustainability and improvement of the CBT ventures. Therefore, the proposed model will also consider some inputs external to the tourism field, but in relation to local economic development (LED) matters from the previously proposed development monitoring and evaluation system framework. M&E should be seen as fundamental components of any CBT initiative, and the whole CBT intervention should be evaluated. In this context, M&E in CBT should go beyond strict ‘numerical’ economic matters and should be understood in a holistic development. In addition, M&E in CBT should not consider issues in various ‘compartments’ such as tourists, tourism attractions, CBT owners/participants, and stakeholder engagement but as interdependent components of a macro-ecosystem. Finally, the external facilitation process should be structured in a way to promote community self-reliance in both the intervention and the M&E process. The research will attempt to propose an M&E model for CBT so as to enhance the CBT possibilities of long-term growth and success through effective collaborations with key stakeholders.

Keywords: community-based tourism, community-engagement, monitoring and evaluation, stakeholders

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Authors: Saleh B. Mohamed, Mohamed H. Elhsnawi, Mesbah M. Salem

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Current and future applications of small gas turbine engines annular type combustors have requirements presenting difficult disputes to the combustor designer. Reduced cost and fuel consumption and improved durability and reliability as well as higher temperatures and pressures for such application are forecast. Coupled with these performance requirements, irrespective of the engine size, is the demand to control the pollutant emissions, namely the oxides of nitrogen, carbon monoxide, smoke and unburned hydrocarbons. These technical and environmental challenges have made the design of small size combustion system a very hard task. Thus, the main target of this work is to generalize a calculation method of annular type combustors for small gas turbine engines that enables to understand the fundamental concepts of the coupled processes and to identify the proper procedure that formulates and solves the problems in combustion fields in as much simplified and accurate manner as possible. The combustion chamber in task is designed with central vaporizing unit and to deliver 516.3 KW of power. The geometrical constraints are 142 mm & 140 mm overall length and casing diameter, respectively, while the airflow rate is 0.8 kg/sec and the fuel flow rate is 0.012 kg/sec. The relevant design equations are programmed by using MathCAD language for ease and speed up of the calculation process.

Keywords: design of gas turbine, small engine design, annular type combustors, mechanical engineering

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Authors: Shahed Vahedi, Mohd Salmi Md Noorani

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This paper investigates cluster synchronization phenomena between community networks. We focus on the situation where a variety of dynamics occur in the clusters. In particular, we show that different synchronization states simultaneously occur between the networks. The controller is designed having an adaptive control gain, and theoretical results are derived via Lyapunov stability. Simulations on well-known dynamical systems are provided to elucidate our results.

Keywords: cluster synchronization, adaptive control, community network, simulation

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Authors: Medani Prasad Rijal

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Forest itself is a factory as well as product. It supplies tangible and intangible goods and services. It supplies timber, fuel wood, fodder, grass leaf litter as well as non timber edible goods and medicinal and aromatic products additionally provides environmental services. These environmental services are of local, national or even global importance. In Nepal, more than 19 thousands community forests are providing environmental service in less economic benefit than actual efficiency. There is a risk of cost of management of those forest exceeds benefits and forests get converted to open access resources in future. Most of the environmental goods and services do not have markets which mean no prices at which they are available to the consumers, therefore the valuation of these services goods and services establishment of paying mechanism for such services and insure the benefit to community is more relevant in local as well as global scale. There are few examples of carbon trading in domestic level to meet the country wide emission goal. In this contest, the study aims to explore the public attitude towards carbon offsetting and their responsibility over service providers. This study helps in promotion of environment service awareness among general people, service provider and community forest. The research helps to unveil the carbon pool scenario in community forest and willingness to pay for carbon offsetting of people who are consuming more energy than general people and emitting relatively more carbon in atmosphere. The study has assessed the carbon pool status in two community forest and valuated carbon service from community forest through willingness to pay in Dharan municipality situated in eastern. In the study, in two community forests carbon pools were assessed following the guideline “Forest Carbon Inventory Guideline 2010” prescribed by Ministry of Forest and soil Conservation, Nepal. Final outcomes of analysis in intensively managed area of Hokse CF recorded as 103.58 tons C /ha with 6173.30 tons carbon stock. Similarly in Hariyali CF carbon density was recorded 251.72 mg C /ha. The total carbon stock of intensively managed blocks in Hariyali CF is 35839.62 tons carbon.

Keywords: carbon, offsetting, sequestration, valuation, willingness to pay

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Authors: Mithlesh Chourase

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Health of the transgender is as important as any other population sub-groups. However, little is known about the issues of mental health problems and health seeking behaviour of transgender in India. This paper examines the depression, stigma problem and suicidality (risk of suicide) among the transgender people in Mumbai city. The study used the primary survey data conducted in Mumbai city among the transgender community with a total sample of 120 among the transgender. Both qualitative and quantitative data was collected on demographic and socio-economic characteristic, general health and sexual health problems, mental health and health seeking behaviour among transgender. The quantitative results revealed that among the transgender, the prevalence of depression was very high. In this community 58.3% and 45.8 % of the transgender were suffered from depression and stigma problem respectively. On the other hand 42% and 48% of the transgender attempted suicide and experienced discrimination in the society. The qualitative results also revealed that the transgender were suffered from physical violence especially due to being a transgender, stressed due to being a transgender, experienced discrimination everywhere, experienced sexual health problems especially HIV, partner problem etc. As a result the prevalence of depression, self-harm attempt and suicidal attempt was common among this community.

Keywords: transgender, depression, Mumbai, mental health

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Authors: Samantha Jade Sadural, Kathleen Gay Figueroa, Noel Nicanor Sison II, Francis Miguel Quilab, Samuel Edric Solis, Kiel Gonzales, Alain Andrew Boquiren, Janelle Tan, Mario Carreon

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Of the 185 languages in the Philippines, 28 are endangered, 11 are dying off, and 4 are extinct. Language documentation, as a prerequisite to language education, can be one of the ways languages can be preserved. Project Marayum is envisioned to be a collaboratively built, mobile phone-based, online dictionary platform for Philippine languages. Although there are many online language dictionaries available on the Internet, Project Marayum aims to give a sense of ownership to the language community's dictionary as it is built and maintained by the community for the community. From a seed dictionary, members of a language community can suggest changes, add new entries, and provide language examples. Going beyond word definitions, the platform can be used to gather sample sentences and even audio samples of word usage. These changes are reviewed by language experts of the community, sourced from the local state universities or local government units. Approved changes are then added to the dictionary and can be viewed instantly through the Marayum website. A companion mobile phone application allows users to browse the dictionary in remote areas where Internet connectivity is nonexistent. The dictionary will automatically be updated once the user regains Internet access. Project Marayum is still a work in progress. At the time of this abstract's writing, the Project has just entered its second year. Prototypes are currently being tested with the Asi language of Romblon island as its initial language testbed. In October 2020, Project Marayum will have both a webpage and mobile application with Asi, Ilocano, and Cebuano language dictionaries available for use online or for download. In addition, the Marayum platform would be then easily expandable for use of the more endangered language communities. Project Marayum is funded by the Philippines Department of Science and Technology.

Keywords: collaborative language dictionary, community-centered lexicography, content management system, software engineering

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Authors: Asah Nelson Asoh, Wanie Clarkson Mvo

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Given the diverse nature of cultural diversity in Cameroon from the forested south to the sudano-sahelian north regions, Cameroon is aptly described as 'Africa in Miniature', which simply means all of Africa in a single country-Cameroon. Cameroon possesses all that can be attractive to the eyes in Africa. Yet, there is a microscopic involvement of the local inhabitants in participatory governance of cultural patrimony for tourism and community-based socio-economic development, which greatly jeopardizes conservation endeavors because the community fails to trust governing authorities. This study delves into the ways through which local inhabitants could be indulged in participatory governance of cultural patrimony for tourism and community-based socio-economic development. The study adopts a qualitative research design and semi-structured interviews with experts in the collection of primary data blended with secondary materials from published sources, including textbooks, scientific journal articles, dissertations, reports, and internet websites. The collected data was presented and analysed using descriptive statistical techniques, photographic illustrations, and through intuition. The study fosters the ways through which local inhabitants could be indulged in participatory governance of cultural patrimony for tourism and community-based socio-economic development. This is to ensure community support for the conservation of tourism cultural patrimony in Cameroon in particular and the world at large.

Keywords: participatory governance, cultural patrimony, tourism, socio-economic development, Cameroon

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Authors: Steven Arcidiacono, Robert Stote, Erin Anderson, Molly Richards

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There are numerous standard test methods for antimicrobial textiles that measure activity against specific microorganisms. However, many times these results do not translate to the performance of treated textiles when worn by individuals. Standard test methods apply a single target organism grown under optimal conditions to a textile, then recover the organism to quantitate and determine activity; this does not reflect the actual performance environment that consists of polymicrobial communities in less than optimal conditions or interaction of the textile with the skin substrate. Here we propose the development of in vitro skin model method to bridge the gap between lab testing and wear studies. The model will consist of a defined polymicrobial community of 5-7 commensal microbes simulating the skin microbiome, seeded onto a solid tissue platform to represent the skin. The protocol would entail adding a non-commensal test organism of interest to the defined community and applying a textile sample to the solid substrate. Following incubation, the textile would be removed and the organisms recovered, which would then be quantitated to determine antimicrobial activity. Important parameters to consider include identification and assembly of the defined polymicrobial community, growth conditions to allow the establishment of a stable community, and choice of skin surrogate. This model could answer the following questions: 1) is the treated textile effective against the target organism? 2) How is the defined community affected? And 3) does the textile cause unwanted effects toward the skin simulant? The proposed model would determine activity under conditions comparable to the intended application and provide expanded knowledge relative to current test methods.

Keywords: antimicrobial textiles, defined polymicrobial community, in vitro skin model, skin microbiome

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Authors: Darius Phiri, Moses Chibesa, Donald Zulu, Robby Kasubika

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In Zambia, wildlife is co-managed by Zambia Wildlife Authority (ZAWA) and the local communities by sharing management responsibilities and benefits derived from harvesting wildlife resources under a benefit sharing mechanism. Although the benefit sharing mechanism has been formulated under good principles, it is still facing numerous challenges. In response to these challenges, a study on the sustainability of ZAWA benefit sharing mechanism was carried out in order to assess its potential and continuity in line with community empowerment and wildlife resources management. Systematic sampling was used with a sampling intensity of 4% to administer three types of questionnaires to community members in Mumbwa Game Management Area (GMA), ZAWA officers, and to the Ministry of Tourism, Environment and Natural Resources (MTENR) staffs. The collected data was then analysed using SPSS version 16.5. The findings indicated that many people in the GMA do not participate fully because of lacking satisfactory benefits. However, the mechanism contribute to the community well-being and can still remain sustainable especially if measures to address the current challenges are put in place.

Keywords: benefit sharing, concessions, licenses, poaching, local communities, sustainability

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Authors: Afshan Golriz

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This paper addresses the nuances in the relationship between the rural community of Volcan, Costa Rica, and the presence of multinational pineapple giant Pineapple Development Corporation (PINDECO). The paper analyzes the continuous negotiation between the need for environmental protection in the face of pineapple monoculture and the socioeconomic dependencies of the community on the company. Drawing on eight years of ethnographic work in Volcan de Buenos Aires and relying on intergenerational interviews that document oral histories, this article provides a socio-historical account of the economic and environmental impact of the presence of PINDECO in the southern zone of the country. The paper draws on interviews and in-depth participant observation, conducted by the author in intermittent periods over eight years. The research sheds light on the tensions between the village and PINDECO, as simultaneous acceptance of and opposition to the company persist by different stakeholders in the region. In doing so, this paper examines the strikingly powerful affinity toward the company and the community's regard for PINDECO as the town patriarch despite social and environmental injustices. In demonstrating these tensions, the author problematizes the practice of conducting foreign environmental research in developing countries, and more importantly, proposing changes to environmental conservation and socioeconomic structures without understanding community reliance on the presence of corporations such as PINDECO and the threats that changes to existing structures could pose to community members' livelihoods. In complicating these common western academic practices, the author takes an anti-colonial approach to environmental research, refusing the assumption that the affinity toward the company by the community of Volcan is rooted in ignorance, lack of education, or lack of interest in environmental conservation. The author instead highlights local knowledge and agency, demonstrating the many ways in which the community itself is producing knowledge and taking action. Through this paper, common assumptions regarding the agency of such communities are contested, and the grassroots environmental initiatives of Volcan, Costa Rica are brought to life.

Keywords: environmental conservation, grassroots movements, local knowledge, agricultural multinational

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Authors: Basit Aftab, Feng Zhongke

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The land use/land cover change (LULCC) is a significant indicator sensitive to an area's environmental changes. As a rapidly developing capital city near the Himalayas Mountains, the city area of Islamabad, Pakistan, has expanded dramatically over the past 20 years. In order to precisely measure the impact of urbanization on the forest and agricultural lands, the Spatio-temporal analysis of LULCC was utilized, which helped us to know the impacts of urbanization, especially on ecosystem processes, biological cycles, and biodiversity. The Islamabad region's Multispectral Satellite Images (MSI) for 2000, 2010, and 2020 were employed as the remote sensing data source. Local documents of city planning, forest inventory and archives in the agriculture management departments were included to verify the image-derived result. The results showed that from 2000 to 2020, the built-up area increased to 48.3% (505.02 Km2). Meanwhile, the forest, agricultural, and barre land decreased to 28.9% (305.64 Km2), 10.04% (104.87 Km2), and 11.61% (121.30 Km2). The overall percentage change in land area between 2000 – 2020 was recorded maximum for the built-up (227.04%). Results revealed that the increase in the built-up area decreased forestland, barren, and agricultural lands (-0.36, -1.00 & -0.34). The association of built-up with respective years was positively linear (R2 = 0.96), whereas forestland, agricultural, and barren lands association with years were recorded as negatively linear (R2 = -0.29, R2 = -0.02, and R2 = -0.96). Large-scale deforestation leads to multiple negative impacts on the local environment, e.g., water degradation and climate change. It would finally affect the environment of the greater Himalayan region in some way. We further analyzed the driving forces of urbanization. It was determined by economic expansion, climate change, and population growth. We hope our study could be utilized to develop efforts to mitigate the consequences of deforestation and agricultural land damage, reducing greenhouse gas emissions while preserving the area's biodiversity.

Keywords: urbanization, Himalaya mountains, landuse landcover change (LULCC), remote sensing., multi-spectral satellite imagery

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Authors: Nicolas Spitz, Nicolas Coniglio, Mohamed El Mansori, Alex Montagne, Sabeur Mezghani

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Nowadays buildings' construction is performed by pouring concrete into molds referred to as formworks that are usually prefabricated metallic modules. Defects such as stripping may possibly form during the removal of the formwork if the interfacial bonding between the concrete and the formwork is high. A new pull-off tensile test was developed in our laboratory to simulate small-scale formwork removals. The concrete-to-formwork adherence force was measured on bare and coated formworks with different surface signatures. The used concrete was a mixture largely used on building sites and contains CEM I Portland cement and calcareous filler. The concrete surface appearance and the type of failures at the concrete-formwork interface have been investigated. The originality of this near-to-surface test was to compare the laboratory-measured adherence forces to the on-site observations. Based upon the small-scale laboratory test results, functional formwork specifications with low adherence to concrete was proposed in terms of superficial signature characteristics.

Keywords: concrete-formwork adherence, interfacial bonding, skin formwork functionality, small-scale pull-off tensile test

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Authors: Alma Orucevic-Alagic, Martin Höst

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Open source communities have demonstrated that complex and enterprise grade software can be produced, supported, and maintained by self-organizing groups of developers using primarily electronic form of communication. Due to the inherent nature of open source development, a specific set of open source software development practices has evolved. While there is an ongoing research on the topic of applicability of open source development practices within a company setting, still little is known about their benefits and challenges. The objective of this research is to understand if and to what degree open source development practices observed within a mature open source community are aligned with development practices within a large software and hardware company setting. For the purpose of this case study a set of open source development practices that are present in a mature open source community has been identified. Then, development practices of a large, international, hardware and software company based in Sweden were assessed and compared to the identified open source community practices. It is shown that there are many similarities between a mature open source community and a large company setting in regard to software development practices. We also identify practices that exist in open source communities and that are not standard within a company setting, but whose implementation can result in an improved software development efficiency within the company setting.

Keywords: development practices, open source software, innersource, closed open source

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Authors: Palwinder Singh, Baljit Kaur, Sukhmeet Kaur

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Amongst a library of rationally designed small peptides, (H)Gly-Gly-Phe-Leu(OMe) was identified, reducing prostaglandin production of COX-2 with IC50 60 nM vs. 6000 nM for COX-1. The 5 mg Kg-1 dose of this compound rescued albino mice by 80% from capsaicin-induced paw licking and recovered it by 60% from carrageenan-induced inflammation. The mode of action of the compound for targeting COX-2, iNOS, and VGSC was investigated by using substances P, L-arginine, and veratrine, respectively, as the biomarkers. The interactions of the potent compound with COX-2 were supported by the isothermal calorimetry experiments showing Ka 6.10±1.10x104 mol-1 and ΔG -100.3 k J mol-1 in comparison to Ka 0.41x103 ±0.09 mol-1 and ΔG -19.2±0.06 k J mol-1 for COX-1. This compound did not show toxicity up to 2000 mg Kg-1 dose. Furthermore, beyond the conventional mode of working with anti-inflammatory agents through enzyme inhibition, COX-2 was provided with a peptide-based alternate substrate. Proline-centered pentapeptide iso-conformational to arachidonic acid exhibited appreciable selectivity for COX-2 overcoming acetic acid and formalin-induced pain in rats to almost 80% and was treated as a substrate by the enzyme. Hence, we suggest small peptides as highly potent and promising candidates for their further development into an anti-inflammatory drug.

Keywords: small peptides, cyclooxygenase, inflammation, substrate

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Authors: Derya Nizam

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An alternative understanding of "localization" has gained significance as the ecological and social issues associated with the growing pressure of agricultural homogeneity and standardization become more apparent. Through an analysis of a case study on an alternative food networks in Turkey, this research seeks to critically examine the localization movement. The results indicate that the idea of localization helps to create new niche markets by creating place-based labels, but it also strengthens local identities through social networks that connect rural and urban areas. In that context, localization manifests as a commodification movement that appropriates local and cultural values to generate capitalist profit, as well as a grassroots movement that strengthens the resilience of local communities. This research addresses the potential of community development approaches in the democratization of global agro-food networks.

Keywords: community building, local food, alternative food movements, localization

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Authors: Kevin R. Wilson, Roger Mantie

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Community arts-based learning and participatory education are pedagogical techniques that serve to be advantageous for students, curriculum development, and local communities. Using an interpretive approach to examine the significance of this arts-informed research in relation to the eight ‘design imperatives’ proposed as the new model for measuring quality in scholarship for Arizona State University as ‘A New American University’, the purpose of this study was to investigate personal, social, and cultural benefits resulting from student engagement in interdisciplinary community-based projects. Students from a graduate level music education class at the ASU Tempe campus (n=7) teamed with students from an undergraduate level community development class at the ASU Downtown Phoenix campus (n=14) to plan, facilitate, and evaluate seven community-based projects in several locations around the Phoenix-metro area. Data was collected using photo evidence, student reports, and evaluative measures designed by the students. The effectiveness of each project was measured in terms of their ability to meet the eight design imperatives to: 1) leverage place; 2) transform society; 3) value entrepreneurship; 4) conduct use-inspired research; 5) enable student success; 6) fuse intellectual disciplines; 7) be socially embedded; and 8) engage globally. Results indicated that this community arts-based project sufficiently captured the essence of each of these eight imperatives. Implications for how the nature of this interdisciplinary initiative allowed for the eight imperatives to manifest are provided, and project success is expounded upon in relation to utility of each imperative. Discussion is also given for how this type of service learning project formatted within the ‘New American University’ model for measuring quality in academia can be a beneficial pedagogical tool in higher education.

Keywords: community arts-based learning, participatory education, pedagogy, service learning

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Authors: Ndivhudzannyi Rembuluwani, Francis Dacosta, Emmanuel Mhlongo

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The small-scale rock aggregate sector of the mining industry is a major source of employment for a significant number of people, particularly in remote rural areas, where alternative livelihoods are rare. It contributes to local economy by generating income and producing major and essential materials for the building, construction, and other industries. However, the sector is confronted with many challenges that hamper productivity and growth. The problems that confront this sector includes: health and safety, environmental impacts, low production and low adherence to mining legislations. This study investigated the challenges confronting selected small-scale rock aggregate mines in the Vhembe District of Limpopo province of South Africa, assesses the health, safety, low production and environmental impacts associated with aggregate production and to develop an integrated approach of addressing the multi-faceted challenges.

Keywords: health and safety, legislative framework, productivity, rock aggregate, small-scale mining

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Authors: Iman Abu-Rub

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This research paper examines if Artificial Intelligence is, in fact, racist or not. Different studies from all around the world, and covering different communities were analyzed to further understand AI’s true implications over different communities. The black community, Asian community, and Muslim community were all analyzed and discussed in the paper to figure out if AI is biased or unbiased towards these specific communities. It was found that the biggest problem AI faces is the biased distribution of data collection. Most of the data inserted and coded into AI are of a white male, which significantly affects the other communities in terms of reliable cultural, political, or medical research. Nonetheless, there are various research was done that help increase awareness of this issue, but also solve it completely if done correctly. Governments and big corporations are able to implement different strategies into their AI inventions to avoid any racist results, which could cause hatred culturally but also unreliable data, medically, for example. Overall, Artificial Intelligence is not racist per se, but the data implementation and current racist culture online manipulate AI to become racist.

Keywords: social media, artificial intelligence, racism, discrimination

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Authors: Tebeu Pierre Marie

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Introduction: WHO defines community participation as a process in which the local population, take responsibility in planning for their health, participates in the strategy’s development for implementation and accessibility to physical, moral and social well-being. For the purpose of dealing with health, the community participation is made through the organization called health Centre committee leader (HCCL/COSA) for Integrated health Center and District hospital committee leaser (HDCL/COGES) for District Hospital. Little is known about the effective participation of the community in health related activities in Ignié-Ngabé-Mayama health district. Objective: This study aimed at assessing the involvement of community in the health system running at the Ignié-Ngabé-Mayama health district. Methods: This was a qualitative cross-sectional study conducted in the Ignié-Ngabé-Mayama health district from 15 December 2020 to 30 April 2021. The study population consisted of 10 HCCL and one District hospital committee leaser (DHCL). Data were collected using a pretested questionnaire and validated by the investigating team. The variables of interest were; effective existence of HCCL/DHCL, their involvement HCCL/DHCL in health related activities, their financing management, planning of activities and leadership. Results: A total of 11 participants were interviewed, including 10 HCCL and 1 DHCL. The Sex-Ratio was 9/11; with primary level 6/11 and were mostly farmers 6/11. Analyzing the involvement of the HDCL/DHCL in health promotion and preventive activities; this was effective only for two of them (2/11). Analyzing the barriers for their involvement, the leaders reported the lack of financial support by the state, lack NGO support. Additionally, they reported to have been very active when there was Performance Based Founding Project in the District. Conclusion: Only two of the (HDCL/HCCL) out of 11 were really functioning. Reported barriers to their running were: lack of state/NGOs support and ending of PBF Project. There is a need to organize a tripartite forum including stats, NGOs and Community for boosting the community participation in health related activities in Ignié-Ngabé-Mayama health district.

Keywords: health district committee, health Centre committee, community participation, Brazzaville, Congo

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Authors: C. Nobre, C. C. Castro, A.-L. Hantson, J. A. Teixeira, L. R. Rodrigues, G. De Weireld

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Fructo-oligosaccharides (FOS) are produced from sucrose by Aureobasidium pullulans in yields between 40-60% (w/w). To increase the amount of FOS it is necessary to remove the small, non-prebiotic sugars, present. Two methods for producing high-purity FOS have been developed: the use of microorganisms able to consume small saccharides; and the use of continuous chromatography to separate sugars: simulated moving bed (SMB). It is herein proposed the combination of both methods. The aim of this study is to optimize the composition of the fermentative broth (in terms of salts and sugars) that will be further purified by SMB. A yield of 0.63 gFOS.g Sucrose-1 was obtained with A. pullulans using low amounts of salts in the initial fermentative broth. By removing the small sugars, Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Zymomonas mobilis increased the percentage of FOS from around 56.0% to 83% (w/w) in average, losing only 10% (w/w) of FOS during the recovery process.

Keywords: fructo-oligosaccharides, microbial treatment, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Zymomonas mobilis

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Authors: Lombuso P. Shabalala

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This research paper investigates the importance of community involvement in tourism development activities from the initial stage. Community is defined as a group of people living in the same area and practicing common ownership and practices or with a commonality such as norms, religion, values, customs, or identity. Globalisation has restructured economic, political, and social relationships at the local level, which impacts community involvement in activities taking place in their own space. Although social relationships and interests are no longer limited to local communities, the power of place remains. Whereas, tourism is considered as an activity essential to the life of nations because of its direct effects on the social, cultural, educational, and economic sectors of national societies and their international relations. The existing literature has indicated that the four types of motivation in community involvement are best differentiated by identifying the unique ultimate goal for each motivation. In a nutshell, the ultimate goal for egoism is to increase one's own welfare; altruism is to increase the welfare of another individual or individuals; collectivism is aimed at increasing the welfare of a group, and the principlism is to uphold one or more moral principles. As a base of community involvement, each of these four forms of motivation exhibits its own strengths and weaknesses to be acknowledged. Purposive sampling was suitable to select the fourteen descendant group representatives. The representatives included chief/s, headman, senior descendants’ member, and members of the traditional council who descends from MWCHS. The qualitative research design was adopted for the study in the form of semi-structured interviews. Community development is a social process involving residents in activities designed to improve their quality of life. The key finding of the research is the importance of involving communities, in particular, the immediate community members from the initial stage of any proposed tourism development activity. Without a doubt, the immediate communities are well informed about the dynamics of the area (economically, politically, and socially). Therefore, the finding suggests that communities are in a better position to advise project managers on possible potential tourism developments activities that can address the real needs and benefit the community, instead of investing resources in a development that will not benefit or add any value in the lives of the targeted communities. It must be noted that the power of the place where the development will be implemented remains with the community. Furthermore, community support and buy-in are crucial to the success of prospective tourism development. In conclusion, it cannot be denied that community involvement comes with its own challenges, contrary to greater sustainable benefits that can be realized prior to articulation. The study suggests for project managers to ensure a fair and transparent community involvement process. Fair distribution of meaningful roles could secure trust and result in these communities to view the proposed development as their own.

Keywords: communities, development, involvement, tourism

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Authors: J. N. Bardi, N. Wright, S. Timmons, P. Crawford

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Introduction: In the United Kingdom (UK), the transfer of care from the asylums to the community has meant that some people with mental health problems (MHP) may not have access to suitable or adequate statutory community mental health services (CMHS). However, in addition to statutory CMHS, there are informal CMHS that provide spaces where people with MHP can attend such as faith communities, clubhouses, user-led organisations, day centres including drop-in-centres and community hubs and community mental health cafés (CMHCs). Aim: To qualitatively understand what happens in a community mental health café in relation to the place, people and processes, from the participant's perspective. Methodology: Ethnography Methods: Data collection will be field notes from observations written as thick description and interviews with participants. Data analysis will be thematic and narrative analysis. Relevance: The study seeks to observe what happens in a user-led community mental health café and explore if it provides the services that it claims to offer. Therefore, a literature review was conducted to examine the research evidence related to informal CMHS, focusing on similarities and differences. Results indicated that informal CMHS differ with regards to why, how, who set them up and who funds them, but they are similar because people with MHP who attend them report related psychological, vocational, and social interaction benefits. In addition to the differences listed above, CMHCs differ in their adoption of the commercial café model of social space and some CMHCs claim to address needs of social isolation and loneliness which they assert are not properly addressed by statutory CMHS and some informal CMHS. Therefore, CMHCs explicitly differentiate themselves from statutory CMHS and some informal CMHS such as day centres, hospitals and social services. However, CMHCs were found to be like drop-in-centres and community hubs which are also free for MHP to attend without the need for assessments, membership or appointments. To situate community mental health café within other informal CMHS and provide a rationale for the proposed study a scoping review was conducted to determine the scope of available research evidence on CMHCs. Findings from the scoping review reflected the literature review findings with regards to the benefits of attending informal CMHCs for people with MHP. Of the ten studies included in the scoping review, seven were on CMHCs for people living with dementia and two were on CMHCs for people with a broader range of MHP. The researcher hopes that findings from the proposed PhD study will build on the existing understanding of informal CMHS, extend the research evidence on CMHCs and address any gap in the literature.

Keywords: cafe, community, ethnography, mental health

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Authors: Angga S. Fajar, Y. Takahashi, J. Kiyono, S. Sawada

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The problem of medium span bridge bearing support in the extreme temperatures fluctuation region is deterioration in case the suppression of superstructure that sustains temperature expansion. The other hand, the behavior and the parameter of RC column accompanied with friction damping mechanism were determined successfully based on the experiment and numerical analysis. This study proposes the structural system of RC pier accompanied with multi sliding friction damping mechanism to substitute the conventional system of pier together with bearing support. In this system, the pier has monolith behavior to the superstructure with flexible small deformation to accommodate thermal expansion of the superstructure. The flexible small deformation behavior is realized by adding the gap mechanism in the multi sliding friction devices form. The important performances of this system are sufficient lateral flexibility in small deformation, sufficient elastic deformation capacity, sufficient lateral force resistance, and sufficient energy dissipation. Numerical analysis performed for this system with fiber element model. It shows that the structural system has good performance not only under small deformation due to thermal expansion of the superstructure but also under seismic load.

Keywords: RC Pier, thermal expansion, multi sliding friction device, flexible small deformation

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Authors: Gannouni Sonia, Hammami Asma, Saidi Salwa, Rebai Noamen

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Water resources in Tunisia have experienced quantitative and qualitative degradation, especially when talking about wetlands and Sbekhas. Indeed, the objective of this work is to study the spatio-temporal evolution of salinity for 29 years (from 1987 to 2016). A study of the connection between surface water and groundwater is necessary to know the degree of influence of the Sebkha brines on the water table. The evolution of surface salinity is determined by remote sensing based on Landsat TM and OLI/TIRS satellite images of the years 1987, 2007, 2010, and 2016. The processing of these images allowed us to determine the NDVI(Normalized Difference Vegetation Index), the salinity index, and the surface temperature around Sebkha. In addition, through a geographic information system(GIS), we could establish a map of the distribution of salinity in the subsurface of the water table of Chott Mariem and Hergla/SidiBouAli/Kondar. The results of image processing and the calculation of the index and surface temperature show an increase in salinity downstream of in addition to the sebkha and the development of vegetation cover upstream and the western part of the sebkha. This richness may be due both to contamination by seawater infiltration from the barrier beach of Hergla as well as the passage of groundwater to the sebkha.

Keywords: spatio-temporal monitoring, salinity, satellite images, NDVI, sebkha

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Authors: Jason Salim, Zhouyang Lu

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Private sector involvement in Public Private Partnership (PPP) projects may raise public suspicion, as PPP is often mistaken as merely a partnership between private and government agencies without consideration for greater “public” (community). This public marginalization is crucial to be dealt with because undermining opinion of majority may cause problems such as protests and/ or low demand. Game theory approach applied in this paper shows that probability of public acceptance towards a project is affected by overall public’s perception on Private sectors’ possible profit accumulation from the project. On the contrary, goodwill of the government and private coalition alone is not enough to minimize the probability of public opposition towards a PPP project. Additionally, the threat of loss or damage raised from public opposition does not affect the profit-maximization behavior of Private sectors.

Keywords: community satisfaction, game theory, non-cooperative, PPP, public policy

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Authors: Neda Orak, Mostafa Zarei

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Environmental assessment is an important session in environment management. Since various methods and techniques have been produces and implemented. Remote sensing (RS) is widely used in many scientific and research fields such as geology, cartography, geography, agriculture, forestry, land use planning, environment, etc. It can show earth surface objects cyclical changes. Also, it can show earth phenomena limits on basis of electromagnetic reflectance changes and deviations records. The research has been done on mangrove forests assessment by RS techniques. Mangrove forests quantitative analysis in Basatin and Bidkhoon estuaries was the aim of this research. It has been done by Landsat satellite images from 1975- 2013 and match to ground control points. This part of mangroves are the last distribution in northern hemisphere. It can provide a good background to improve better management on this important ecosystem. Landsat has provided valuable images to earth changes detection to researchers. This research has used MSS, TM, +ETM, OLI sensors from 1975, 1990, 2000, 2003-2013. Changes had been studied after essential corrections such as fix errors, bands combination, georeferencing on 2012 images as basic image, by maximum likelihood and IPVI Index. It was done by supervised classification. 2004 google earth image and ground points by GPS (2010-2012) was used to compare satellite images obtained changes. Results showed mangrove area in bidkhoon was 1119072 m2 by GPS and 1231200 m2 by maximum likelihood supervised classification and 1317600 m2 by IPVI in 2012. Basatin areas is respectively: 466644 m2, 88200 m2, 63000 m2. Final results show forests have been declined naturally. It is due to human activities in Basatin. The defect was offset by planting in many years. Although the trend has been declining in recent years again. So, it mentioned satellite images have high ability to estimation all environmental processes. This research showed high correlation between images and indexes such as IPVI and NDVI with ground control points.

Keywords: IPVI index, Landsat sensor, maximum likelihood supervised classification, Nayband National Park

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Authors: Darshana Thomas, Edward Wilkie, James Irvine

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The Internet of things (IoT) is currently a highly researched topic, especially within the context of the smart home. These are small sensors that are capable of gathering data and transmitting it to a server. The majority of smart home products use protocols such as ZigBee or Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE). As these small sensors are increasing in number, the need to implement these with much more capable and ubiquitous transmission technology is necessary. The high power consumption is the reason that holds these small sensors back from using other protocols such as the most ubiquitous form of communication, WiFi. Comparing the power consumption of existing transmission technologies to one with WiFi inbuilt, would provide a better understanding for choosing between these technologies. We have developed a small IoT device with WiFi capability and proven that it is much more efficient than the first protocol, 433 MHz. We extend our work in this paper and compare WiFi power consumption with the other most widely used protocol BLE. The experimental results in this paper would conclude whether the developed prototype is capable in terms of power consumption to replace the existing protocol BLE with WiFi.

Keywords: bluetooth, internet of things (IoT), power consumption, WiFi

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Authors: Winai Rungrittidetch

Abstract:

This paper investigated the operational system, procedures, outcomes, and obstacles during the application of the Corporate Social Responsibility by the small enterprises and other involved groups in the anchor production business of the core firm, Jatura Charoen Chai Company Limited. The paper also aimed to discover ways to improve the stakeholders who participated in the CSR training and advisory programme. The paper utilized the qualitative methodology which included documentary review and semi- structured interview. The interviews were made with 8 respondents as the representative of different groups of the company’s stakeholder. The findings drew out the lessons learned from the participation of the selected small manufacturing enterprises in the CSR training and advisory programme. Some suggestions were also made, addressing the significance of the Philosophy of Sufficiency Economy.

Keywords: corporate, social, responsibility, enterprises

Procedia PDF Downloads 349