Search results for: traditional harvesting network

Authors: Maatouk Khoukhi

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Nowadays the reduction of the energy consumed by buildings to achieve mainly the thermal comfort for the occupants represent the main concern for architects and building designers. The common and traditional solution to achieve this target is the design of a highly insulated envelope and reduce the opening and the transparent elements such windows. However, this will lead to the artificial lighting system to consume more energy to compensate the lack of natural lighting coming through the glazed parts of the building envelope. Therefore, a good balance between sufficient daylight and control thermal heat through the building envelope should be considered for energy saving purpose. To achieve a better indoor environment the windows size and spacing including the interior finishing and the location of the partition must be assessed accurately. Daylighting is the controlled admission of natural light into space through windows and transparent elements of the building envelope which helps create a visually stimulating and productive environment for building occupants. The main concern is not to provide enough daylight to an occupied space, but how to achieve this without any undesirable side effect. Indeed, the glare is a major problem in glazed façade buildings, and this could be reduced by using tinted windows. The main target of this research is to investigate the daylight adequacy of functional needs in old Omani Forts and how they have been designed and built to avoid glare and overheating with the appropriate window-to-floor ratio. Because more windows do not automatically result in more daylighting but that is natural light has been controlled and distributed properly throughout the space. Spaces from different Omani and Portuguese Forts under the same climate conditions are considered in order to compare the daylight illuminance levels and examine the similarities and differences in visual attributes between them. The result of this study indicates that lighting preference is not universal and people from different geographical locations are adapted to certain illuminance levels. Therefore, the standards could not be generalized for the entire world. This would be useful to practitioners who are designing to effectively address the diversity of user’s lighting levels preferences in our globally connected society.

Keywords: day lighting, energy, forts, thermal comfort

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Authors: Roberto Cabezas H

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The current work shows the methodology developed to create narrative lighting spaces for the multimedia performance piece 'cluster: the vanished paradise.' This empirical research is focused on exploring unconventional roles for machines in subjective creative processes, by delving into the semantics of data and machine intelligence algorithms in hybrid technological, creative contexts to expand epistemic domains trough human-machine cooperation. The creative process in scenic and performing arts is guided mostly by intuition; from that idea, we developed an approach to embed collective intuition in computational creative systems, by joining the properties of Generative Adversarial Networks (GAN’s) and Fuzzy Clustering based on a semi-supervised data creation and analysis pipeline. The model makes use of GAN’s to learn from phenomenological data (data generated from experience with lighting scenography) and algorithmic design data (augmented data by procedural design methods), fuzzy logic clustering is then applied to artificially created data from GAN’s to define narrative transitions built on membership index; this process allowed for the creation of simple and complex spaces with expressive capabilities based on position and light intensity as the parameters to guide the narrative. Hybridization comes not only from the human-machine symbiosis but also on the integration of different techniques for the implementation of the aided design system. Machine intelligence tools as proposed in this work are well suited to redefine collaborative creation by learning to express and expand a conglomerate of ideas and a wide range of opinions for the creation of sensory experiences. We found in GAN’s and Fuzzy Logic an ideal tool to develop new computational models based on interaction, learning, emotion and imagination to expand the traditional algorithmic model of computation.

Keywords: fuzzy clustering, generative adversarial networks, human-machine cooperation, hybrid collective data, multimedia performance

Procedia PDF Downloads 138

Authors: Win Zaw Hein, Khin Sandar Linn, Su Su Yi Mon, Yoshitaka Goto

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The Earth ionosphere is located at the altitude of about 70 km to several 100 km from the ground, and it is composed of ions and electrons called plasma. In the ionosphere, these plasma makes delay in GPS (Global Positioning System) signals and reflect in radio waves. The delay along the signal path from the satellite to the receiver is directly proportional to the total electron content (TEC) of plasma, and this delay is the largest error factor in satellite positioning and navigation. Sounding observation from the top and bottom of the ionosphere was popular to investigate such ionospheric plasma for a long time. Recently, continuous monitoring of the TEC using networks of GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) observation stations, which are basically built for land survey, has been conducted in several countries. However, in these stations, multi-frequency support receivers are installed to estimate the effect of plasma delay using their frequency dependence and the cost of multi-frequency support receivers are much higher than single frequency support GPS receiver. In this research, single frequency GPS receiver was used instead of expensive multi-frequency GNSS receivers to measure the ionospheric plasma variation such as vertical TEC distribution. In this measurement, single-frequency support ublox GPS receiver was used to probe ionospheric TEC. The location of observation was assigned at Mandalay Technological University in Myanmar. In the method, the ionospheric TEC distribution is represented by polynomial functions for latitude and longitude, and parameters of the functions are determined by least-squares fitting on pseudorange data obtained at a known location under an assumption of thin layer ionosphere. The validity of the method was evaluated by measurements obtained by the Japanese GNSS observation network called GEONET. The performance of measurement results using single-frequency of GPS receiver was compared with the results by dual-frequency measurement.

Keywords: ionosphere, global positioning system, GPS, ionospheric delay, total electron content, TEC

Procedia PDF Downloads 131

Authors: Arpit Kumar Shrivastava, Subrat Kumar, Rajani Kanta Mohapatra, Priyadarshi Soumyaranjan Sahu

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Computational approaches to predict structure, function and other biological characteristics of proteins are becoming more common in comparison to the traditional methods in drug discovery. Cryptosporidiosis is a major zoonotic diarrheal disease particularly in children, which is caused primarily by Cryptosporidium hominis and Cryptosporidium parvum. Currently, there are no vaccines for cryptosporidiosis and recommended drugs are not effective. With the availability of complete genome sequence of C. hominis, new targets have been recognized for the development of effective and better drugs and/or vaccines. We identified a unique hypothetical epitopic protein in C. hominis genome through BLASTP analysis. A 3D model of the hypothetical protein was generated using I-Tasser server through threading methodology. The quality of the model was validated through Ramachandran plot by PROCHECK server. The functional annotation of the hypothetical protein through DALI server revealed structural similarity with human Transportin 3. Phylogenetic analysis for this hypothetical protein also showed C. hominis hypothetical protein (CUV04613) was the closely related to human transportin 3 protein. The 3D protein model is further subjected to virtual screening study with inhibitors from the Zinc Database by using Dock Blaster software. Docking study reported N-(3-chlorobenzyl) ethane-1,2-diamine as the best inhibitor in terms of docking score. Docking analysis elucidated that Leu 525, Ile 526, Glu 528, Glu 529 are critical residues for ligand–receptor interactions. The molecular dynamic simulation was done to access the reliability of the binding pose of inhibitor and protein complex using GROMACS software at 10ns time point. Trajectories were analyzed at each 2.5 ns time interval, among which, H-bond with LEU-525 and GLY- 530 are significantly present in MD trajectories. Furthermore, antigenic determinants of the protein were determined with the help of DNA Star software. Our study findings showed a great potential in order to provide insights in the development of new drug(s) or vaccine(s) for control as well as prevention of cryptosporidiosis among humans and animals.

Keywords: cryptosporidium hominis, hypothetical protein, molecular docking, molecular dynamics simulation

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Authors: Nikica Mihaljević

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Published in 2023, "Tre ciotole. Rituali per un anno di crisi" is a collection of short stories completely disconnected from one another in regard to topics and the representation of characters. However, these short stories complete and somehow continue each other in a particular way. The book happens to be Murgia's last book, as the author died a few months later after the book's publication and it appears as a kind of summary of all her previous literary works. Namely, in her previous publications, Murgia already stressed certain characters' particularities, such as solitude and alienation from others, which are at the center of attention in this literary work, too. What all the stories present in "Tre ciotole" have in common is the dealing with characters' identity and self-awareness through the challenges they confront and the way the characters live their emotions in relation to the surrounding space. Although the challenges seem similar, the spatial element around the characters is different, but it confirms each time that characters' emotions, and, consequently, their self-awareness, can be formed and built only through their connection and relation to the surrounding space. In that way, the reader creates an imaginary network of complex relations among characters in all the short stories, which gives him/her the opportunity to search for a way to break out of the usual patterns that tend to be repeated while characters focus on building self-awareness. The aim of the paper is to determine and analyze the role of spatial elements in the creation of characters' emotions and in the process of self-awareness. As the spatial element changes or gets transformed and/or substituted, in the same way, we notice the arise of the unconscious desire for self-harm in the characters, which damages their self-awareness. Namely, the characters face a crisis that they cannot control by inventing other types of crises that can be controlled. That happens to be their way of acting in order to find the way out of the identity crisis. Consequently, we expect that the results of the analysis point out the similarities in the short stories in characters' depiction as well as to show the extent to which the characters' identities depend on the surrounding space in each short story. In this way, the results will highlight the importance of spatial elements in characters' identity formation in Michela Murgia's short stories and also summarize the importance of the whole Murgia's literary opus.

Keywords: Italian literature, short stories, environment, spatial element, emotions, characters

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Authors: Christina Peristeri, Tobias Berg, Domenico Caridi, Paul Hutcheson, Robert Winstanley

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In recent years the demand for rapid innovations in the automotive industry has led to the need for accelerated simulation procedures while retaining a detailed representation of the simulated phenomena. The project’s aim is to create a fast transient workflow for external aerodynamic CFD simulations of road vehicles. The geometry used was the SAE Notchback Closed Cooling DrivAer model, and the simulation results were compared with data from wind tunnel tests. The meshes generated for this study were of two types. One was a mix of polyhedral cells near the surface and hexahedral cells away from the surface. The other was an octree hex mesh with a rapid method of fitting to the surface. Three different grid refinement levels were used for each mesh type, with the biggest total cell count for the octree mesh being close to 1 billion. A series of steady-state solutions were obtained on three different grid levels using a pseudo-transient coupled solver and a k-omega-based RANS turbulence model. A mesh-independent solution was found in all cases with a medium level of refinement with 200 million cells. Stress-Blended Eddy Simulation (SBES) was chosen for the transient simulations, which uses a shielding function to explicitly switch between RANS and LES mode. A converged pseudo-transient steady-state solution was used to initialize the transient SBES run that was set up with the SIMPLEC pressure-velocity coupling scheme to reach the fastest solution (on both CPU & GPU solvers). An important part of this project was the use of FLUENT’s Multi-GPU solver. Tesla A100 GPU has been shown to be 8x faster than an Intel 48-core Sky Lake CPU system, leading to significant simulation speed-up compared to the traditional CPU solver. The current study used 4 Tesla A100 GPUs and 192 CPU cores. The combination of rapid octree meshing and GPU computing shows significant promise in reducing time and hardware costs for industrial strength aerodynamic simulations.

Keywords: CFD, DrivAer, LES, Multi-GPU solver, octree mesh, RANS

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Authors: Maha A. Al-Hsayni

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Title of the Study: The Effect of Using Augmented Reality Technique in a Computer Course Unit on the Academic Achievement and Attitudes of High School Female Students. This study aimed at identifying the effect of using the Augmented Reality technique on the academic achievement of computer course at the cognitive domains (Knowledge, comprehension and analysis) with third high school female students in Holy Makkah. The researcher used: The quasi-experimental approach. The sample of the study was comprised of (55) female students in the third high school level in Holy Makkah in the second semester of the academic year 1434/1435 H. These students were assigned to two groups: The experimental group of (28) students who were taught by using the Augmented Reality technology, and the control group of (27) students, who were taught by using the traditional method. The researcher prepared a set of tools and materials, which are represented in achievement test consisted of (30) clauses, direction instrument consisted of (25) clauses and the design of augmented reality for computer study unit. The study used the following statistical methods for data analysis: Cronbach's alpha coefficient, Pearson correlation coefficient, means, standard deviations, t-test and analysis of covariance test ANCOVA. The study reached the following results: 1- There are statistically significance difference at ( 0.05) among the adjusted means of the experimental and control groups in the posttest at the domains of (Knowledge, comprehension and analysis) of third high school graders after adjusting the pretest 2- There are statistically significance difference at ( 0.05) among the means of pre and post-test for female students of the experimental group in the scale of attitude towards using Augmented Reality Technique. In the light of the study results, the researcher recommends the followings: The necessity of using Augmented Reality Technique in teaching computer courses for high school students. Furthermore, emphasizing the need to provide schools with educational halls equipped with instruments and screens that enable teachers to use the Augmented Reality in teaching the other courses. Also, the researcher suggested conducting more studies in order to improve the process of teaching and learning.

Keywords: augmented reality technique, computer course unit, academic achievement, attitudes, high school female students

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Authors: Anne Waithira Dormal

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Climate change is threatening pastoral livelihoods in Kajiado County, Kenya, through water shortages, livestock deaths, and increasing poverty. This study examines how these impacts differ for men and women within these communities. Limited access to resources, limited land and livestock rights, and limited decision-making power increase women's vulnerability, which is further burdened by traditional gender roles in water procurement. The research recognizes the complexity of climate change and emphasizes that factors such as wealth, family dynamics, and socioeconomic status also influence resilience. Effective adaptation strategies must address all genders. While livestock farming provides a safety net, socioeconomic empowerment through access to credit, healthcare, and education strengthens entire communities. An intersectional perspective that takes ethnicity, social status, and other factors into account is also crucial. This research, therefore, aims to examine how gender-specific adaptation strategies interact with gender and socioeconomic factors to determine the resilience of these Kenyan pastoralist communities. Such strategies, which address the specific needs and vulnerabilities of men and women, are expected to lead to increased resilience to climate change. The aim of the study is to identify effective, gender-specific adaptation strategies that can be integrated into climate change planning and implementation. Additionally, research awaits a deeper understanding of how socioeconomic factors interact with gender to influence vulnerability and resilience within these communities. The study uses a gender-sensitive qualitative approach with focus group discussions in four different pastoral and agropastoral communities. Both qualitative and demographic data are used to capture sources of income, education level, and household size of focus group respondents to increase the power of the analysis. While the research acknowledges the limitations of specific focus sites and potential biases in self-reporting, it offers valuable insights into gender and climate change in pastoral contexts. This study contributes to understanding gender-based vulnerabilities and building resilience in these communities.

Keywords: climate adaptation strategies, climate change, climate resilience, gendered vulnerability, pastoralism

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Authors: Mapatsakon Sarapat, Mongkol Ketwongsa, Somchat Sonasang, Preecha Yupapin

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The designed and performed preliminary tests on a space-time control circuit using a two-level system circuit with a 4-5 cm diameter microstrip for realistic teleportation have been demonstrated. It begins by calculating the parameters that allow a circuit that uses the alternative current (AC) at a specified frequency as the input signal. A method that causes electrons to move along the circuit perimeter starting at the speed of light, which found satisfaction based on the wave-particle duality. It is able to establish the supersonic speed (faster than light) for the electron cloud in the middle of the circuit, creating a timeline and propulsive force as well. The timeline is formed by the stretching and shrinking time cancellation in the relativistic regime, in which the absolute time has vanished. In fact, both black holes and white holes are created from time signals at the beginning, where the speed of electrons travels close to the speed of light. They entangle together like a capsule until they reach the point where they collapse and cancel each other out, which is controlled by the frequency of the circuit. Therefore, we can apply this method to large-scale circuits such as potassium, from which the same method can be applied to form the system to teleport living things. In fact, the black hole is a hibernation system environment that allows living things to live and travel to the destination of teleportation, which can be controlled from position and time relative to the speed of light. When the capsule reaches its destination, it increases the frequency of the black holes and white holes canceling each other out to a balanced environment. Therefore, life can safely teleport to the destination. Therefore, there must be the same system at the origin and destination, which could be a network. Moreover, it can also be applied to space travel as well. The design system will be tested on a small system using a microstrip circuit system that we can create in the laboratory on a limited budget that can be used in both wired and wireless systems.

Keywords: quantum teleportation, black-white hole, time, timeline, relativistic electronics

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Authors: Syed Imran Hussain Shah

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Air pollution rapidly impacts the Earth's climate and environmental quality, causing public health nuisances and cardio-pulmonary illnesses. Air pollution is a global issue, and all population groups in all the regions in the developed and developing parts of the world were affected by it. The promise of a reduction in deaths and diseases as per SDG No. 3 is an international commitment towards sustainable development. In that context, assessing and evaluating the ambient air quality is paramount. This article estimates the air pollution released by the vehicles on roads of Lahore, a mega city having 13.98 million populations. A survey was conducted on different fuel stations to determine the estimated fuel pumped to different types of vehicles from different fuel stations. The number of fuel stations in Lahore is around 350. Another survey was also conducted to interview the drivers to know the per-litre fuel consumption of other vehicles. Therefore, a survey was conducted on 189 fuel stations and 400 drivers using a combination of random sampling and convenience sampling methods. The sampling was done in a manner to cover all areas of the city including central commercial hubs, modern housing societies, industrial zones, main highways, old traditional population centres, etc. Mathematical equations were also used to estimate the emissions from different modes of vehicles. Due to the increase in population, the number of vehicles is increasing, and consequently, traffic emissions were rising at a higher level. Motorcycles, auto rickshaws, motor cars, and vans were the main contributors to Carbon dioxide and vehicular emissions in the air. It has been observed that vehicles that use petrol fuel produce more Carbon dioxide emissions in the air. Buses and trucks were the main contributors to NOx in the air due to the use of diesel fuel. Whereas vans, buses, and trucks produce the maximum amount of SO2. PM10 and PM2.5 were mainly produced by motorcycles and motorcycle two-stroke rickshaws. Auto rickshaws and motor cars mainly produce benzene emissions. This study may act as a major tool for traffic and vehicle policy decisions to promote better fuel quality and more fuel-efficient vehicles to reduce emissions.

Keywords: particulate matter, nitrogen dioxide, climate change, pollution control

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Authors: Song Hung Chi, Lee Chun Benn

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Follow by the “A Research on Types of Settlement Housing Alterations of Chinese New Village in Malaysia- A Study in Ampang New Village, Selangor” preliminary informed that the main factors for expansion and enlargement suitably due to the needs of user's life and restoration purpose. The alterations behavior generally derived at the rear position of main house with different types of derivatives, the averages expansion area are not exceeding of 100㎡, while building materials used were wooden, wooden structure, and zinc which are non-permanent building materials. Therefore, a subsequent studies taken in this paper, further to analyze the drawing with summarize method, to explore the derived forms and the constituted rules of housing alterations in Ampang Village, as a more complete presentation of housing alterations in New Village. Firstly, classified the existing housing alterations into three types by using summarize method, which are Type 1, Additional of Prototype House; Type 2, Expansion of Prototype House; and Type 3, Diffusion of Additional. The results shows that the derivative mode of alterations can be divided into the use of "continuous wall" or "non-continuous wall," this will affects the structural systems and roof styles of alterations, and formed the different layers of interior space with "stages" and "continuity". On the aspects of spatial distribution, sacrificial area as a prescriptive function of space, it was mostly remains in the original location which in the center of living area after alterations. It is an important characteristic in a New Village house, reflecting the traditional Ethics of Hakka Chinese communities in the settlement. In addition, wooden as the main building materials of constituted rules for the prototype house, although there were appeared other building materials, such as cement, brick, glass, metal and zinc after alterations, but still mostly as "wooden house" pattern. Result show because of the economy of village does not significantly improve, and also forming the similarity types in alterations and constructions of the additional building with the existing. It did not significantly improve on the quality of living, but only increased the area of usage space.

Keywords: Ampang new village, derived forms, constituted rules, alterations

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Authors: Fonteyne Lot

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SIMON (Study capacities and Interest Monitor is a freely accessible online self-assessment tool that allows secondary education pupils to evaluate their interests and capacities in order to choose a post-secondary major that maximally suits their potential. The tool consists of two broad domains that correspond with two general questions pupils ask: 'What study fields interest me?' and 'Am I capable to succeed in this field of study?'. The first question is addressed by a RIASEC-type interest inventory that links personal interests to post-secondary majors. Pupils are provided with a personal profile and an overview of majors with their degree of congruence. The output is dynamic: respondents can manipulate their score and they can compare their results to the profile of all fields of study. That way they are stimulated to explore the broad range of majors. To answer whether pupils are capable of succeeding in a preferred major, a battery of tests is provided. This battery comprises a range of factors that are predictive of academic success. Traditional predictors such as (educational) background and cognitive variables (mathematical and verbal skills) are included. Moreover, non-cognitive predictors of academic success (such as 'motivation', 'test anxiety', 'academic self-efficacy' and 'study skills') are assessed. These non-cognitive factors are generally not included in admission decisions although research shows they are incrementally predictive of success and are less discriminating. These tests inform pupils on potential causes of success and failure. More important, pupils receive their personal chances of success per major. These differential probabilities are validated through the underlying research on academic success of students. For example, the research has shown that we can identify 22 % of the failing students in psychology and educational sciences. In this group, our prediction is 95% accurate. SIMON leads more students to a suitable major which in turn alleviates student success and retention. Apart from these benefits, the instrument grants insight into risk factors of academic failure. It also supports and fosters the development of evidence-based remedial interventions and therefore gives way to a more efficient use of means.

Keywords: academic success, online self-assessment, student retention, vocational choice

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Authors: Richard Ren

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Air pollution is a serious danger to international well-being and economies - it will kill an estimated 7 million people every year, costing world economies $2.6 trillion by 2060 due to sick days, healthcare costs, and reduced productivity. In the United States alone, 60,000 premature deaths are caused by poor air quality. For this reason, there is a crucial need to develop effective methods to forecast air quality, which can mitigate air pollution’s detrimental public health effects and associated costs by helping people plan ahead and avoid exposure. The goal of this study is to propose an artificial intelligence framework for predicting future air quality based on timing variables (i.e. season, weekday/weekend), future weather forecasts, as well as past pollutant and air quality measurements. The proposed framework utilizes multiple machine learning algorithms (logistic regression, random forest, neural network) with different specifications and averages the results of the three top-performing models to eliminate inaccuracies, weaknesses, and biases from any one individual model. Over time, the proposed framework uses new data to self-adjust model parameters and increase prediction accuracy. To demonstrate its applicability, a prototype of this framework was created to forecast air quality in Los Angeles, California using datasets from the RP4 weather data repository and EPA pollutant measurement data. The results showed good agreement between the framework’s predictions and real-life observations, with an overall 92% model accuracy. The combined model is able to predict more accurately than any of the individual models, and it is able to reliably forecast season-based variations in air quality levels. Top air quality predictor variables were identified through the measurement of mean decrease in accuracy. This study proposed and demonstrated the efficacy of a comprehensive air quality prediction framework leveraging multiple machine learning algorithms to overcome individual algorithm shortcomings. Future enhancements should focus on expanding and testing a greater variety of modeling techniques within the proposed framework, testing the framework in different locations, and developing a platform to automatically publish future predictions in the form of a web or mobile application. Accurate predictions from this artificial intelligence framework can in turn be used to save and improve lives by allowing individuals to protect their health and allowing governments to implement effective pollution control measures.Air pollution is a serious danger to international wellbeing and economies - it will kill an estimated 7 million people every year, costing world economies $2.6 trillion by 2060 due to sick days, healthcare costs, and reduced productivity. In the United States alone, 60,000 premature deaths are caused by poor air quality. For this reason, there is a crucial need to develop effective methods to forecast air quality, which can mitigate air pollution’s detrimental public health effects and associated costs by helping people plan ahead and avoid exposure. The goal of this study is to propose an artificial intelligence framework for predicting future air quality based on timing variables (i.e. season, weekday/weekend), future weather forecasts, as well as past pollutant and air quality measurements. The proposed framework utilizes multiple machine learning algorithms (logistic regression, random forest, neural network) with different specifications and averages the results of the three top-performing models to eliminate inaccuracies, weaknesses, and biases from any one individual model. Over time, the proposed framework uses new data to self-adjust model parameters and increase prediction accuracy. To demonstrate its applicability, a prototype of this framework was created to forecast air quality in Los Angeles, California using datasets from the RP4 weather data repository and EPA pollutant measurement data. The results showed good agreement between the framework’s predictions and real-life observations, with an overall 92% model accuracy. The combined model is able to predict more accurately than any of the individual models, and it is able to reliably forecast season-based variations in air quality levels. Top air quality predictor variables were identified through the measurement of mean decrease in accuracy. This study proposed and demonstrated the efficacy of a comprehensive air quality prediction framework leveraging multiple machine learning algorithms to overcome individual algorithm shortcomings. Future enhancements should focus on expanding and testing a greater variety of modeling techniques within the proposed framework, testing the framework in different locations, and developing a platform to automatically publish future predictions in the form of a web or mobile application. Accurate predictions from this artificial intelligence framework can in turn be used to save and improve lives by allowing individuals to protect their health and allowing governments to implement effective pollution control measures.Air pollution is a serious danger to international wellbeing and economies - it will kill an estimated 7 million people every year, costing world economies $2.6 trillion by 2060 due to sick days, healthcare costs, and reduced productivity. In the United States alone, 60,000 premature deaths are caused by poor air quality. For this reason, there is a crucial need to develop effective methods to forecast air quality, which can mitigate air pollution’s detrimental public health effects and associated costs by helping people plan ahead and avoid exposure. The goal of this study is to propose an artificial intelligence framework for predicting future air quality based on timing variables (i.e. season, weekday/weekend), future weather forecasts, as well as past pollutant and air quality measurements. The proposed framework utilizes multiple machine learning algorithms (logistic regression, random forest, neural network) with different specifications and averages the results of the three top-performing models to eliminate inaccuracies, weaknesses, and biases from any one individual model. Over time, the proposed framework uses new data to self-adjust model parameters and increase prediction accuracy. To demonstrate its applicability, a prototype of this framework was created to forecast air quality in Los Angeles, California using datasets from the RP4 weather data repository and EPA pollutant measurement data. The results showed good agreement between the framework’s predictions and real-life observations, with an overall 92% model accuracy. The combined model is able to predict more accurately than any of the individual models, and it is able to reliably forecast season-based variations in air quality levels. Top air quality predictor variables were identified through the measurement of mean decrease in accuracy. This study proposed and demonstrated the efficacy of a comprehensive air quality prediction framework leveraging multiple machine learning algorithms to overcome individual algorithm shortcomings. Future enhancements should focus on expanding and testing a greater variety of modeling techniques within the proposed framework, testing the framework in different locations, and developing a platform to automatically publish future predictions in the form of a web or mobile application. Accurate predictions from this artificial intelligence framework can in turn be used to save and improve lives by allowing individuals to protect their health and allowing governments to implement effective pollution control measures.

Keywords: air quality prediction, air pollution, artificial intelligence, machine learning algorithms

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Authors: Seunghwan Seo, Woo-Seok Lee, Ji-Sun Shin, Young Kyoung Rhee, Chang-Won Cho, Hee-Do Hong, Kyung-Tae Lee

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Doenjang, known as traditional Korean food, is product of a natural mixed fermentation process carried out by lactic acid bacteria (LAB). Lactobacillus sakei K040706 (K040706) has been accepted as the most populous LAB in over ripened doenjang. Recently, we reported the immunostimulatory effects of K040706 in RAW 264.7 macrophages and in a cyclophosphamide-induced mouse model. In this study, we investigated the ameliorative effects of K040706 in a dextran sulfate sodium (DSS)-induced colitis mouse model. We induced colitis using DSS in 5-week-ICR mice over 14 days with or without 0.1, 1 g/kg/day K040706 orally. The body weight, stool consistency, and gross bleeding were recorded for determination of the disease activity index (DAI). At the end of treatment, animals were sacrificed and colonic tissues were collected and subjected to histological experiments and myeloperoxidase (MPO) accumulation, cytokine determination, qRT-PCR and Western blot analysis. Results showed that K040706 significantly attenuated DSS-induced DAI score, shortening of colon length, enlargement of spleen and immune cell infiltrations into colonic tissues. Histological examinations indicated that K040706 suppressed edema, mucosal damage, and the loss of crypts induced by DSS. These results were correlated with the restoration of tight junction protein expression, such as, ZO-1 and occludin in K040706-treated mice. Moreover, K040706 reduced the abnormal secretions and mRNA expressions of pro-inflammatory mediators, such as nitric oxide (NO), tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), interleukin-1β (IL-1β), and interleukin-6 (IL-6). DSS-induced mRNA expression of intercellular adhesion molecule (ICAM) and vascular cell adhesion molecule (VCAM) in colonic tissues was also downregulated by K040706 treatment. Furthermore, K040706 suppressed the protein and mRNA expression of toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) and phosphorylation of NF-κB and signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3). These results suggest that K040706 has an anti-colitic effect by inhibition of intestinal inflammatory responses in DSS-induced colitic mice.

Keywords: Lactobacillus sakei, NF-κB, STAT3, ulcerative colitis

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Authors: T. Jayanthi, K. Velusamy, H. Seetha, S. A. V. Satya Murty

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Verification and Validation of Simulated Process Model is the most important phase of the simulator life cycle. Evaluation of simulated process models based on Verification and Validation techniques checks the closeness of each component model (in a simulated network) with the real system/process with respect to dynamic behaviour under steady state and transient conditions. The process of Verification and validation helps in qualifying the process simulator for the intended purpose whether it is for providing comprehensive training or design verification. In general, model verification is carried out by comparison of simulated component characteristics with the original requirement to ensure that each step in the model development process completely incorporates all the design requirements. Validation testing is performed by comparing the simulated process parameters to the actual plant process parameters either in standalone mode or integrated mode. A Full Scope Replica Operator Training Simulator for PFBR - Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor has been developed at IGCAR, Kalpakkam, INDIA named KALBR-SIM (Kalpakkam Breeder Reactor Simulator) wherein the main participants are engineers/experts belonging to Modeling Team, Process Design and Instrumentation and Control design team. This paper discusses the Verification and Validation process in general, the evaluation procedure adopted for PFBR operator training Simulator, the methodology followed for verifying the models, the reference documents and standards used etc. It details out the importance of internal validation by design experts, subsequent validation by external agency consisting of experts from various fields, model improvement by tuning based on expert’s comments, final qualification of the simulator for the intended purpose and the difficulties faced while co-coordinating various activities.

Keywords: Verification and Validation (V&V), Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor (PFBR), Kalpakkam Breeder Reactor Simulator (KALBR-SIM), steady state, transient state

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Authors: Parisa Afshin, Terje Grønning

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Norway, similar to many other countries, has set the focus of its policies in creating new strong and highly innovative sectors in recent years, as the oil and gas sector profitability is declining. Biotechnology sector in Norway has a great potential, especially in marine-biotech and cancer medicine. However, Norway being a periphery faces especial challenges in the path of creating internationally well-known biotech sector and an international knowledge hub. The aim of this article is to analyze the progress of the Norwegian biotechnology industry, its pathway to build up an innovation network and conduct collaborative innovation based on its initial conditions and its own advantage and disadvantages. The findings have important implications not only for politicians and academic in understanding the infrastructure of biotechnology sector in the country, but it has important lessons for other periphery countries or regions aiming in creating strong biotechnology sector and catching up with the strong internationally-recognized regions. Data and methodology: To achieve the main goal of this study, information has been collected via secondary resources such as web pages and annual reports published by the officials and mass media along with interviews were used. The data were collected with the goal to shed light on a brief history and current status of Norway biotechnology sector, as well as geographic distribution of biotech industry, followed by the role of academic and industry collaboration and public policies in Norway biotech. As knowledge is the key input in innovation, knowledge perspective of the system such as knowledge flow in the sector regarding the national and regional innovation system has been studied. Primary results: The internationalization has been an important element in development of periphery regions' innovativeness enabling them to overcome their weakness while putting more weight on the importance of regional policies. Following such findings, suggestions on policy decision and international collaboration, regarding national and regional system of innovation, has been offered as means of promoting strong innovative sector.

Keywords: biotechnology sector, knowledge-based industry, national innovation system, regional innovation system

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Authors: Chi-Wai Kan, Kam-Hong Chau, Ho-Shing Law

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Wicking property is important for textile finishing and wears comfort. Good wicking properties can ensure uniformity and efficiency of the textiles treatment. In view of wear comfort, quick wicking fabrics facilitate the evaporation of sweat. Therefore, the wetness sensation of the skin is minimised to prevent discomfort. The testing method for vertical wicking was standardised by the American Association of Textile Chemists and Colorists (AATCC) in 2011. The traditional vertical wicking test involves human error to observe fast changing and/or unclear wicking height. This study introduces optoelectronic devices to achieve an automatic Vertical Wicking Tester (VWT) and reduce human error. The VWT can record the wicking time and wicking height of samples. By reducing the difficulties of manual judgment, the reliability of the vertical wicking experiment is highly increased. Furthermore, labour is greatly decreased by using the VWT. The automatic measurement of the VWT has optoelectronic devices to trace the liquid wicking with a simple operation procedure. The optoelectronic devices detect the colour difference between dry and wet samples. This allows high sensitivity to a difference in irradiance down to 10 μW/cm². Therefore, the VWT is capable of testing dark fabric. The VWT gives a wicking distance (wicking height) of 1 mm resolution and a wicking time of one-second resolution. Acknowledgment: This is a research project of HKRITA funded by Innovation and Technology Fund (ITF) with title “Development of an Automatic Measuring System for Vertical Wicking” (ITP/055/20TP). Author would like to thank the financial support by ITF. Any opinions, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material/event (or by members of the project team) do not reflect the views of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, the Innovation and Technology Commission or the Panel of Assessors for the Innovation and Technology Support Programme of the Innovation and Technology Fund and the Hong Kong Research Institute of Textiles and Apparel. Also, we would like to thank the support and sponsorship from Lai Tak Enterprises Limited, Kingis Development Limited and Wing Yue Textile Company Limited.

Keywords: AATCC method, comfort, textile measurement, wetness sensation

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Authors: Sameer Masood, Lucas Chartier

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Head injuries are a commonly encountered presentation in emergency departments (ED) and the Choosing Wisely Canada (CWC) campaign was released in June 2015 in an attempt to decrease imaging utilization for patients with minor head injuries. The impact of the CWC campaign on imaging utilization for head injuries has not been explored in the ED setting. In our study, we describe the characteristics of patients with head injuries presenting to a tertiary care academic ED and the impact of the CWC campaign on CT head utilization. This retrospective cohort study used linked databases from the province of Ontario, Canada to assess emergency department visits with a primary diagnosis of head injury made between June 1, 2014 and Aug 31, 2016 at the University Health Network in Toronto, Canada. We examined the number of visits during the study period, the proportion of patients that had a CT head performed before and after the release of the CWC campaign, as well as mode of arrival, and disposition. There were 4,322 qualifying visits at our site during the study period. The median presenting age was 44.12 years (IQR 27.83,67.45), the median GCS was 15 (IQR 15,15) and the majority of patients presenting had intermediate acuity (CTAS 3). Overall, 43.17% of patients arrived via ambulance, 49.24 % of patients received a CT head and 10.46% of patients were admitted. Compared to patients presenting before the CWC campaign release, there was no significant difference in the rate of CT heads after the CWC (50.41% vs 47.68%, P = 0.07). There were also no significant differences between the two groups in mode of arrival (ambulance vs ambulatory) (42.94% vs 43.48%, P = 0.72) or admission rates (9.85% vs 11.26%, P = 0.15). However, more patients belonged to the high acuity groups (CTAS 1 or 2) in the post CWC campaign release group (12.98% vs 8.11% P <0.001). Visits for head injuries make up a significant proportion of total ED visits and approximately half of these patients receive CT imaging in the ED. The CWC campaign did not seem to impact imaging utilization for head injuries in the 14 months following its launch. Further efforts, including local quality improvement initiatives, are likely needed to increase adherence to its recommendation and reduce imaging utilization for head injuries.

Keywords: choosing wisely, emergency department, head injury, quality improvement

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Authors: Oyatayo Kehinde Taofik, Ndabula Christopher

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Drainage basins are a central theme in the green economy. The rising challenges in flooding, erosion or sediment transport and sedimentation threaten the green economy. This has led to increasing emphasis on quantitative analysis of drainage basin parameters for better understanding, estimation and prediction of fluvial responses and, thus associated hazards or disasters. This can be achieved through direct measurement, characterization, parameterization, or modeling. This study applied the Remote Sensing and Geographic Information System approach of parameterization and characterization of the morphometric variables of Katsina – Ala basin using a 30 m resolution Shuttle Radar Topographic Mission (SRTM) Digital Elevation Model (DEM). This was complemented with topographic and hydrological maps of Katsina-Ala on a scale of 1:50,000. Linear, areal and relief parameters were characterized. The result of the study shows that Ala and Udene sub-watersheds are 4th and 5th order basins, respectively. The stream network shows a dendritic pattern, indicating homogeneity in texture and a lack of structural control in the study area. Ala and Udene sub-watersheds have the following values for elongation ratio, circularity ratio, form factor and relief ratio: 0.48 / 0.39 / 0.35/ 9.97 and 0.40 / 0.35 / 0.32 / 6.0. They also have the following values for drainage texture and ruggedness index of 0.86 / 0.011 and 1.57 / 0.016. The study concludes that the two sub-watersheds are elongated, suggesting that they are susceptible to erosion and, thus higher sediment load in the river channels, which will dispose the watersheds to higher flood peaks. The study also concludes that the sub-watersheds have a very coarse texture, with good permeability of subsurface materials and infiltration capacity, which significantly recharge the groundwater. The study recommends that efforts should be put in place by the Local and State Governments to reduce the size of paved surfaces in these sub-watersheds by implementing a robust agroforestry program at the grass root level.

Keywords: erosion, flood, mitigation, morphometry, watershed

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Authors: Gholba Niranjan Dilip, Anil Kumar

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Conduct of accurate reliable mapping of oil palm plantations and census of individual palm trees is a huge challenge. This study addresses this challenge and developed an optimized solution implemented deep learning techniques on remote sensing data. The oil palm is a very important tropical crop. To improve its productivity and land management, it is imperative to have accurate census over large areas. Since, manual census is costly and prone to approximations, a methodology for automated census using panchromatic images from Cartosat-2, SkySat and World View-3 satellites is demonstrated. It is selected two different study sites in Indonesia. The customized set of training data and ground-truth data are created for this study from Cartosat-2 images. The pre-trained model of Single Shot MultiBox Detector (SSD) Lite MobileNet V2 Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) from the TensorFlow Object Detection API is subjected to transfer learning on this customized dataset. The SSD model is able to generate the bounding boxes for each oil palm and also do the counting of palms with good accuracy on the panchromatic images. The detection yielded an F-Score of 83.16 % on seven different images. The detections are buffered and dissolved to generate polygons demarcating the boundaries of the oil palm plantations. This provided the area under the plantations and also gave maps of their location, thereby completing the automated census, with a fairly high accuracy (≈100%). The trained CNN was found competent enough to detect oil palm crowns from images obtained from multiple satellite sensors and of varying temporal vintage. It helped to estimate the increase in oil palm plantations from 2014 to 2021 in the study area. The study proved that high-resolution panchromatic satellite image can successfully be used to undertake census of oil palm plantations using CNNs.

Keywords: object detection, oil palm tree census, panchromatic images, single shot multibox detector

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Authors: Tasha L. Golden

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Girls in the U.S. juvenile justice system are most often arrested for truancy, drug use, or running from home, all of which are symptoms of abuse. In fact, some have called this 'The Sexual Abuse to Prison Pipeline.' Such abuse has consequences for girls' health, education, employment, and parenting, often resulting in significant health disparities. Yet when arrested, girls rarely encounter services designed to meet their unique needs. Instead, they are expected to cope with a system that was historically designed for males. In fact, even literature advocating for increased gender equity frequently fails to include girls’ voices and firsthand accounts. In response to these combined injustices, public health researchers launched a trauma-informed creative writing intervention in a southern juvenile detention facility. The program was designed to improve the health of detained girls, while also establishing innovative methods of both data collection and social justice advocacy. Girls’ poems and letters were collected and coded, adding rich qualitative data to traditional survey responses. In addition, as part of the intervention, these poems are regularly published by international literary publisher Sarabande Books—and distributed to judges, city leaders, attorneys, state representatives, and more. By utilizing a creative medium, girls generated substantial civic engagement with their concerns—thus expanding their influence and improving policy advocacy efforts. Researchers hypothesized that having access to their communities and policy makers would provide its own health benefits for incarcerated girls: cultivating self-esteem, locus of control, and a sense of leadership. This paper discusses the establishment of this intervention, examines findings from its evaluation, and includes several girls’ poems as exemplars. Grounded in social science regarding expressive writing, stigma, muted group theory, and health promotion, the paper theorizes about the application of arts-based advocacy efforts to other social justice endeavors.

Keywords: advocacy, public health, social justice, women’s health

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Authors: Wai Ha Leung

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Mother tongue language (MTL) curriculum is core to school education in most countries/regions' school curriculum. Through mother tongue language learning, students are expected to enhance their understanding of the nation's culture and foster the sense of cultural and ethnic identity. However, MTL education in Hong Kong is complicated by the colonial history. This study examines Hong Kong Chinese language teachers' perceptions of MTL education, and the implication on MTL curriculum development. The questionnaire was administrated to 97 teachers, and interviews were carried out on 17 teachers. Usually, MTL is both the tool with which knowledge and skills are taught and learned and the vehicle for students to learn about the traditions of the countries' literature and culture. In Hong Kong, 95% of the population is of Chinese descent. Traditionally, education in China was a mixture of philosophy, history, politics and literacy. Chinese as an MTL subject in pre-colonial Hong Kong has always been assigned the mission of developing students' cultural identity in addition to the development of linguistic proficiency. During the colonial period, the Chinese Language curriculum shifted to be more language skills based with less emphasis on Chinese culture and moral education. After the sovereignty of Hong Kong was returned to China in 1997, although a new curriculum was implemented in 2002, teaching and learning in school as well as public examinations seem to be remaining language skills oriented instead of culturally based. This deviation from the trend of both Chinese traditional education and global mother tongue language education makes some Chinese language teachers feel confused. In addition, there is comment that in general Hong Kong students' Chinese language proficiency is becoming weaker and weaker in recent years. Thus, effectiveness of the skills oriented language curriculum has come under question. How a language teacher views the aims and objectives of the language subject he or she is teaching has a direct effect on the curriculum delivery and pedagogies used. It is, therefore, important to investigate what is the language teachers' perception of MTL education, and whether the current school curriculum can meet the teachers' expectation as well as achieve the aims of MTL education. Given this context, this study explored the views of Hong Kong Chinese language teachers on MTL education. The data indicate that teachers showed a strong resentment towards the current curriculum. Results may have implications on mother tongue language curriculum development.

Keywords: Chinese language education, curriculum development, mother tongue language education, teachers' perception

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Authors: Mohammad Nasb, Muhammad Rehan, Chen Hong

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Background Meniscus defects critically alter knee function and lead to degenerative changes. Regenerative medicine applications including stem cell transplantation have showed a promising efficacy in finding alternatives to overcome traditional treatment limitations. However, stem cell therapy remains limited due to the substantially reduced viability and inhibitory microenvironment. Since tissue growth and repair are under the control of biochemical and mechanical signals, several approaches have recently been investigated (e.g., low intensity pulsed ultrasound [LIPUS]) to promote the regeneration process. This study employed LIPUS to improve growth and osteogenic differentiation of mesenchymal stem cells derived from human embryonic stem cells to improve the regeneration of meniscus tissue. Methodology: The Mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) were transplanted into the epicenter of the injured meniscus in rabbits, which were randomized into two main groups: a treatment group (n=32 New Zealand rabbits) including 4 subgroups of 8 rabbits in each subgroup (LIPUS treatment, MSC treatment, LIPUS with MSC and control), and a second group (n=9) to track implanted cells and their progeny using green fluorescence protein (GFP). GFP consists of the MSC and LIPUS-MSC combination subgroups. Rabbits were then subjected to histological, immunohistochemistry, and MRI assessment. Results: The quantity of the newly regenerated tissue in the combination treatment group that had Ultrasound irradiation after mesenchymal stem cells were better at all end points. Likewise, Tissue quality scores were also greater in knees treated with both approaches compared with controls and single treatment at all end points, achieving significance at twelve and twenty-four weeks [p < 0.05], and [p = 0.008] at twelve weeks. Differentiation into type-I and II collagen-expressing cells were higher in the combination group at up to twenty-four weeks. Conclusions: the combination of mesenchymal stem cells and LIPUS showed greater adhering to the sites of meniscus injury, differentiate into cells resembling meniscal fibrochondrocytes, and improve both quality and quantity of meniscal regeneration.

Keywords: stem cells, regenerative medicine, osteoarthritis, knee

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Authors: Muhammad Abid

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The ultimate goal of this research was to produce a cold galvanizing compound (CGC) at reduced pigment volume concentration (PVC) to protect metallic structures from corrosion. The influence of the partial replacement of Zn dust by nano-layered graphene (NGr) and Zn metal nanoparticles on the electrochemical, morphological, rheological, and mechanical properties of CGC was investigated. EIS was used to explore the electrochemical nature of coatings. The EIS results revealed that the partial replacement of Zn by NGr and Zn nanoparticles enhanced the cathodic protection at reduced PVC (4:1) by improving the electrical contact between the Zn particles and the metal substrate. The Tafel scan was conducted to support the cathodic behaviour of the coatings. The sample formulated solely with Zn at PVC 4:1 was found to be dominated in physical barrier characteristics over cathodic protection. By increasing the concentration of NGr in the formulation, the corrosion potential shifted towards a more negative side. The coating with 1.5% NGr showed the highest galvanic action at reduced PVC. FE-SEM confirmed the interconnected network of conducting particles. The coating without NGr and Zn nanoparticles at PVC 4:1 showed significant gaps between the Zn dust particles. The novelty was evidenced when micrographs showed the consistent distribution of NGr and Zn nanoparticles all over the surface, which acted as a bridge between spherical Zn particles and provided cathodic protection at a reduced PVC. The layered structure of graphene also improved the physical shielding effect of the coatings, which limited the diffusion of electrolytes and corrosion products (oxides/hydroxides) into the coatings, which was reflected by the salt spray test. The rheological properties of coatings showed good liquid/fluid properties. All the coatings showed excellent adhesion but had different strength values. A real-time scratch resistance assessment showed all the coatings had good scratch resistance.

Keywords: protective coatings, anti-corrosion, galvanization, graphene, nanomaterials, polymers

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Authors: M. S. Aparna, Pushparaj Shetty D.

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Nowadays social networking sites have become so popular that the producers or the sellers look for these sites as one of the best options to target the right audience to market their products. There are several tools available to monitor or analyze the social networks. Our task is to identify the right community web pages and find out the behavior analysis of the members by using these tools and formulate an appropriate strategy to market the products or services to achieve the set goals. The advertising becomes more effective when the information of the product/ services come from a known source. The strategy explores great buying influence in the audience on referral marketing. Our methodology proceeds with critical budget analysis and promotes viral influence propagation. In this context, we encompass the vital bits of budget evaluation such as the number of optimal seed nodes or primary influential users activated onset, an estimate coverage spread of nodes and maximum influence propagating distance from an initial seed to an end node. Our proposal for Buyer Prediction mathematical model arises from the urge to perform complex analysis when the probability density estimates of reliable factors are not known or difficult to calculate. Order Statistics and Buyer Prediction mapping function guarantee the selection of optimal influential users at each level. We exercise an efficient tactics of practicing community pages and user behavior to determine the product enthusiasts on social networks. Our approach is promising and should be an elementary choice when there is little or no prior knowledge on the distribution of potential buyers on social networks. In this strategy, product news propagates to influential users on or surrounding networks. By applying the same technique, a user can search friends who are capable to advise better or give referrals, if a product interests him.

Keywords: viral marketing, social network analysis, community web pages, buyer prediction, influence propagation, budget constraints

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Authors: Siti Napsiyah, Ismet Firdaus, Lisma Dyawati Fuaida, Ellies Sukmawati

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This paper examines the existence, role, and challenge of Family Service Agency, in Bahasa Indonesia known as Lembaga Konsultasi Kesejahteraan Keluarga (LK3) of Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University (UIN) Jakarta. It has been established since 2012. It is an official agency under the Ministry of Social Affairs of Indonesia. The establishment of LK3 aims to provide psychosocial services for families of students who has psychosocial problem in their life. The study also aims to explore the trend of psychosocial problems of its client (student) for the past three years (2014-2016). The research method of the study is using a qualitative social work research method. A review of selected data of the client of LK3 UIN Syarif Hidayatullah Jakarta around five main issues: Family background, psychosocial mapping, potential resources, student coping mechanism strategy, client strength and network. The study also uses a review of academic performance report as well as an interview and observation. The findings show that the trend of psychosocial problems of the client of LK3 UIN Syarif Hidayatullah Jakarta vary as follow: bad academic performance, low income family, broken home, domestic violence, disability, mental disorder, sexual abuse, and the like. LK3 UIN Syarif Hidayatullah Jakarta has significant roles to provide psychosocial support and services for the survival of the students to deal with their psychosocial problems. Social worker of LK3 performs indigenous social work practice: individual counseling, family counseling, group therapy, home visit, case conference, Islamic Spiritual Approach, and Spiritual Emotional Freedom Technique (SEPT).

Keywords: psychosocial, indigenizing social work, resiliency, coping mechanism

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Authors: Sreto Boljevic

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Heating systems based on geothermal energy sources are becoming increasingly popular among commercial/community buildings as management of these buildings looks for a more efficient and environmentally friendly way to manage the heating system. The thermal energy supply of most European commercial/community buildings at present is provided mainly by energy extracted from natural gas. In order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and achieve climate change targets set by the EU, restructuring in the area of thermal energy supply is essential. At present, heating and cooling account for approx... 50% of the EU primary energy supply. Due to its physical characteristics, thermal energy cannot be distributed or exchange over long distances, contrary to electricity and gas energy carriers. Compared to electricity and the gas sectors, heating remains a generally black box, with large unknowns to a researcher and policymaker. Ain literature number of documents address policies for promoting renewable energy technology to facilitate heating for residential/community/commercial buildings and assess the balance between heat supply and heat savings. Ground source heat pump (GSHP) technology has been an extremely attractive alternative to traditional electric and fossil fuel space heating equipment used to supply thermal energy for residential/community/commercial buildings. The main purpose of this paper is to create an algorithm using an analytical approach that could enable a feasibility study regarding the implementation of GSHP technology in community building with existing fossil-fueled heating systems. The main results obtained by the algorithm will enable building management and GSHP system designers to define the optimal size of the system regarding technical, environmental, and economic impacts of the system implementation, including payback period time. In addition, an algorithm is created to be utilized for a feasibility study for many different types of buildings. The algorithm is tested on a building that was built in 1930 and is used as a church located in Cork city. The heating of the building is currently provided by a 105kW gas boiler.

Keywords: GSHP, greenhouse gas emission, low-enthalpy, renewable energy

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Authors: George Leventakis, George Kokkinis, Nikos Moustakidis, George Papalexandratos, Ioanna Vasiliadou

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Enhancing the feeling of public safety and crime prevention are tasks customarily assigned to the Police. Police departments have, however, recognized that traditional ways of policing methods are becoming obsolete; Community Policing (CP) philosophy; however, when applied appropriately, leads to seamless collaboration between various stakeholders like the Police, NGOs and the general public and provides the opportunity to identify risks, assist in solving problems of crime, disorder, safety and crucially contribute to improving the quality of life for everyone in a community. Social Media, on the other hand, due to its high level of infiltration in modern life, constitutes a powerful mechanism which offers additional and direct communication channels to reach individuals or communities. These channels can be utilized to improve the citizens’ perception of the Police and to capture individual and community needs, when their feedback is taken into account by Law Enforcement Agencies (LEAs) in a structured and coordinated manner. This paper presents research conducted under INSPEC²T (Inspiring CitizeNS Participation for Enhanced Community PoliCing AcTions), a project funded by the European Commission’s research agenda to bridge the gap between CP as a philosophy and as an organizational strategy, capitalizing on the use of Social Media. The project aims to increase transparency, trust, police accountability, and the role of civil society. It aspires to build strong, trusting relationships between LEAs and the public, supporting two-way, contemporary communication while at the same time respecting anonymity of all affected parties. Results presented herein summarize the outcomes of four online multilingual surveys, focus group interviews, desktop research and interviews with experts in the field of CP practices. The above research activities were conducted in various EU countries aiming to capture requirements of end users from diverse backgrounds (social, cultural, legal and ethical) and determine public expectations regarding CP, community safety and crime prevention.

Keywords: community partnerships, next generation community policing, social media, public safety

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Authors: Mahera Abdulrahman, Satish Chandrasekhar Nair

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Growing demand for human health research in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has prompted the need to develop a robust research ethics oversight, particularly given the large unskilled-worker immigrant population and the elderly citizens utilizing health services. Examination of the structure, function, practices and outcomes of the human research ethics committees (HREC) was conducted using two survey instruments, reliable and validated. Results indicate that in the absence of a national ethics regulatory body, the individual emirate’s governed 21 HRECs covering health facilities and academic institutions in the UAE. Among the HRECs, 86% followed International Council for Harmonization-Good Clinical Practice guidelines, 57% have been in operation for more than five years, 81% reviewed proposals within eight weeks, 48% reviewed for clinical and scientific merit apart from ethics, and 43% handled more than 50 research proposals per year. However, researcher recognition, funding transparency, adverse event reporting systems were widespread in less than one-third of all HRECs. Surprisingly, intellectual property right was not included as a research output. Research was incorporated into the vision and mission statements of many (62%) organizations and, mechanisms such as research publications, collaborations, and recognitions were employed as key performance indicators to measure research output. In spite, resources to generate research output such as dedicated budget (19%), support staff (19%) and continuous training and mentoring program for medical residents and HREC members were somehow lacking. HREC structure and operations in the UAE are similar to other regions of the world, resources allocation for efficient, quality monitoring, continuous training, and the creation of a clinical research network are needed to strengthen the clinical research enterprise to scale up for the future. It is anticipated that the results of this study will benefit investigators, regulators, pharmaceutical sponsors and the policy makers in the region.

Keywords: institutional review board, ethics committee, human research ethics, United Arab Emirates (UAE)

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Authors: Yuanxiaoyue Yang

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Emissions trading, or ‘cap-and-trade', has been long promoted by economists as a more cost-effective pollution control approach than traditional performance standard approaches. While there is a large body of empirical evidence for the overall effectiveness of emissions trading, relatively little attention has been paid to other unintended consequences brought by emissions trading. One important consequence is that cap-and-trade could introduce the risk of creating high-level emission concentrations in areas where emitting facilities purchase a large number of emission allowances, which may cause an unequal distribution of environmental benefits. This study will contribute to the current environmental policy literature by linking trading activity with environmental injustice concerns and empirically analyzing the causal relationship between trading activity and emissions reduction under a cap-and-trade program for the first time. To investigate the potential environmental injustice concern in cap-and-trade, this paper uses a differences-in-differences (DID) with instrumental variable method to identify the causal effect of allowance trading behaviors on emission reduction levels under the clean air interstate rule (CAIR), a cap-and-trade program targeting on the power sector in the eastern US. The major data source is the facility-year level emissions and allowance transaction data collected from US EPA air market databases. While polluting facilities from CAIR are the treatment group under our DID identification, we use non-CAIR facilities from the Acid Rain Program - another NOx control program without a trading scheme – as the control group. To isolate the causal effects of trading behaviors on emissions reduction, we also use eligibility for CAIR participation as the instrumental variable. The DID results indicate that the CAIR program was able to reduce NOx emissions from affected facilities by about 10% more than facilities who did not participate in the CAIR program. Therefore, CAIR achieves excellent overall performance in emissions reduction. The IV regression results also indicate that compared with non-CAIR facilities, purchasing emission permits still decreases a CAIR participating facility’s emissions level significantly. This result implies that even buyers under the cap-and-trade program have achieved a great amount of emissions reduction. Therefore, we conclude little evidence of environmental injustice from the CAIR program.

Keywords: air pollution, cap-and-trade, emissions trading, environmental justice

Procedia PDF Downloads 142