Search results for: massive columns

Authors: Andrés Quiroz, Emilio Hormazabal, Ana Mutis, Fernando Ortega, Manuel Chacón-Fuentes, Leonardo Parra

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Red clover (Trifolium pratense L.) is an important forage species in temperate regions of the world. The main limitation of this species worldwide is a lack of persistence related to the high mortality of plants due to a complex of biotic and abiotic factors, determining a life span of two or three seasons. Because of the importance of red clover in Chile, a red clover breeding program was started at INIA Carillanca Research Center in 1989, with the main objective of improving the survival of plants, forage yield, and persistence. The main selection criteria for selecting new varieties have been based on agronomical parameters and biotic factors. The main biotic factor associated with red clover mortality in Chile is Hylastinus obscurus (Coleoptera: Curculionidae). Both larval and adults feed on the roots, causing weakening and subsequent death of clover plants. Pesticides have not been successful for controlling infestations of this root borer. Therefore, alternative strategies for controlling this pest are a high priority for red clover producers. Currently, the role of semiochemical in the interaction between H. obscurus and red clover plants has been widely studied for our group. Specifically, from the red clover foliage has been identified limonene is eliciting repellency from the root borer. Limonene is generated in the plant from two independent biosynthetic pathways, the mevalonic acid, and deoxyxylulose pathway. Mevalonate pathway enzymes are localized in the cytosol, whereas the deoxyxylulose phosphate pathway enzymes are found in plastids. In summary, limonene can be determinated by enzymatic bioassay using GPP as substrate and by limonene synthase expression. Therefore, the main objective of this work was to study genetic variation of limonene in material provided by INIA´s Red Clover breeding program. Protein extraction was carried out homogenizing 250 mg of leave tissue and suspended in 6 mL of extraction buffer (PEG 1500, PVP-30, 20 mM MgCl2 and antioxidants) and stirred on ice for 20 min. After centrifugation, aliquots of 2.5 mL were desalted on PD-10 columns, resulting in a final volume of 3.5 mL. Protein determination was performed according to Bradford with BSA as a standard. Monoterpene synthase assays were performed with 50 µL of protein extracts transferred into gas-tight 2 mL crimp seal vials after addition of 4 µL MgCl₂ and 41 µL assay buffer. The assay was started by adding 5 µL of a GPP solution. The mixture was incubated for 30 min at 40 °C. Biosynthesized limonene was quantified in a GC equipped with a chiral column and using synthetic R and S-limonene standards. The enzymatic the production of R and S-limonene from different Superqueli-Carillanca genotypes is shown in this work. Preliminary results showed significant differences in limonene content among the genotypes analyzed. These results constitute an important base for selecting genotypes with a high content of this repellent monoterpene towards H. obscurus.

Keywords: head space, limonene enzymatic determination, red clover, Hylastinus obscurus

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Authors: Suzanne Strauss, Leandi Steenkamp

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The Finnish symphonic metal band Nightwish is the brainchild of songwriter and lyricist TuomasHolopainen and the band recorded their first demonstration recording in 1996. The band has since produced nine full-length studio albums, the most recent being the 2020 album Human. :||: Nature., and has reached massive international success. The band is well known for songs about fantasy and escapism and employs many sonic, visual and branding tools and techniques to communicate these constructs to the audience. Among these, is the band’s creation of the so-called “Nightwish world and mythology” with a set of recurring characters and narratives which, in turn, creates a psychological anchor and safe space for Nightwish fans around the globe. Nature and the reverence of nature are central themes in Nightwish’s self-created mythology.Swiss psychologist Carl Jung’s theory of the collective unconscious identified a mysterious reservoir of psychological constructs common to all people, being derived from ancestral memory and experience, common to all humankind, and distinct from the individual’s personal unconscious. Furthermore, he defined archetypes as timeless collective patterns and images that springs forth from the collective unconscious. Archetypes can be actualized when they enter consciousness as images in interaction with the outside world. Archetypal patterns or images can manifest in different ways across world cultures, but follow common patterns, also known as archetypal themes and symbols. The Jungian approach to the psyche places great emphasis on nature, positing a direct link betweenthe concept of wholeness and responsible care for nature and the environment.In our proposed paper, we examine, by means of thematic content analysis, how Nightwish makes use of archetypal themes and symbols referring to nature and the environment in selected songs from their ninth full-length album Human. II Nature. Furthermore, we argue that the longing for and reverence of nature in selected Nightwish songs may serve as a type of “social intervention” and social critique on modern capitalist society. The type of social critique that the band offers is generally connoted intertextually and is not equally explicit in their songs. The band uses a unique combination of escapism, fantasy, and nature narratives to inspire a sense of wonder, enchantment, and magic in the listener. In this way, escapism, fantasy, and nature serve as postmodern frames of reference that aim to “re-enchant” the disenchanted and de-spiritualized. In this way, re-enchantment could also refer to spiritual and/or psychological healing and rebirth.

Keywords: archetypes, metal music, nature, Nightwish, social interventions

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Authors: E. Hegazy, S. Anderberg, J. Krook

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The city's wire-based infrastructure systems (WBIS) are responsible for the delivery of electricity, telecommunications, sanitation, drainage, and district heating and are a necessity for sustainable modern urban life. Maintaining the functionality of these structures involves high costs and, brings disturbance to the local community and effects on the environment. One key reason for this is that the cables and pipes are placed under streets, making system parts easily worn and their service lifetime reduced, and all maintenance and renewal rely on recurrent needs for excavation. In Sweden, a significant part of wire-based infrastructure is already outdated and will need to be replaced in the coming decades. The replacement of these systems will entail massive costs as well as important traffic disruption and environmental disturbance. However, this challenge may also open a unique opportunity to introduce new, more sustainable technologies and management practices. The transformation of WBIS management for long-term sustainability and meeting maintenance and renewal needs does not have a comprehensive approach. However, a systemic approach may inform WBIS management. This approach considers both technical and non-technical aspects, as well as time-related factors. Nevertheless, there is limited systemic knowledge of how different factors influence current management practices. The aim of this study is to address this knowledge gap and contribute to the understanding of what factors influence the current practice of WBIS management. A case study approach is used to identify current management practices, the underlying factors that influence them, and their implications for sustainability outcomes. The case study is based on both quantitative data on the local system and data from interviews and workshops with local practitioners and other stakeholders. Linköping was selected as a case since it provided good accessibility to the water administration and relevant data for analyzing water infrastructure management strategies. It is a sufficiently important city in Sweden to be able to identify challenges, which, to some extent, are common to all Swedish cities. By uncovering current practices and what is influencing Linköping, knowledge gaps and uncertainties related to sustainability consequences were highlighted. The findings show that goals, priorities, and policies controlling management are short-termed, and decisions on maintenance and renewal are often restricted to finding solutions to the most urgent issues. Sustainability transformation in the infrastructure area will not be possible through individual efforts without coordinated technical, organizational, business, and regulatory changes.

Keywords: case study, infrastructure, management, practice, Sweden

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Authors: Lami Mohammed, Hussain J. Al Faifi, Abdel Aziz Al Bassam, Osama M. K. Kassem

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The Neoproterozoic basement rocks of the Ar Rayn terrane have been identified as parts of the Eastern Arabian Shield. It focuses on the petrological and finite strain properties to display the tectonic setting of the Al Amar suture for high deformed volcanic and granitoids rocks. The volcanic rocks are classified into two major series: the eastern side cycle, which includes dacite, rhyodacite, rhyolite, and ignimbrites, and the western side cycle, which includes andesite and pyroclastics. Granitoids rocks also contain monzodiorite, tonalite, granodiorite, and alkali-feldspar granite. To evaluate the proportions of shear contributions in penetratively deformed rocks. Asymmetrical porphyroclast and sigmoidal structural markers along the suture's strike, namely the Al Amar, are expected to reveal strain factors. The Rf/phi and Fry techniques are used to characterize quartz and feldspar porphyroclast, biotite, and hornblende grains in Abt schist, high deformed volcanic rock, and granitoids. The findings exposed that these rocks had experienced shape flattening, finite strain accumulation, and overall volume loss. The magnitude of the strain appears to increase across the nappe contacts with neighboring lithologies. Subhorizontal foliation likely developed in tandem with thrusting and nappe stacking, almost parallel to tectonic contacts. The ductile strain accumulation that occurred during thrusting along the Al Amar suture mostly includes a considerable pure shear component. Progressive thrusting by overlaid transpression and oblique convergence is shown by stacked nappes and diagonal stretching lineations along the thrust axes. The subhorizontal lineation might be the result of the suture's most recent activity. The current study's findings contradict the widely accepted model that links orogen-scale structures in the Arabian Shield to oblique convergence with dominant simple shear deformation. A significant pure shear component/crustal thickening increment should have played a significant role in the evolution of the suture and thus in the Shield's overall deformation history. This foliation was primarily generated by thrusting nappes together, showing that nappe stacking was linked to substantial vertical shortening induced by the active Al Amar suture on a massive scale.

Keywords: petrology, finite strain analysis, al amar region, ar-rayn terrane, Arabian shield

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Authors: Sascha E. Oswald, Jan Busch

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The in-situ dechlorination of contamination by chlorinated solvents in groundwater via zero-valent iron (nZVI) is potentially an efficient and prompt remediation method. A key requirement is that nZVI has to be introduced in the subsurface in a way that substantial quantities of the contaminants are actually brought into direct contact with the nZVI in the aquifer. Thus it could be a more flexible and precise alternative to permeable reactive barrier techniques using granular iron. However, nZVI are often limited by fast agglomeration and sedimentation in colloidal suspensions, even more so in the aquifer sediments, which is a handicap for the application to treat source zones or contaminant plumes. Colloid-supported nZVI show promising characteristics to overcome these limitations and Carbo-Iron Colloids is a newly developed composite material aiming for that. The nZVI is built onto finely ground activated carbon of about a micrometer diameter acting as a carrier for it. The Carbo-Iron Colloids are often suspended with a polyanionic stabilizer, and carboxymethyl cellulose is one with good properties for that. We have investigated the transport behavior of Carbo-Iron Colloids (CIC) on different scales and for different conditions to assess its mobility in aquifer sediments as a key property for making its application feasible. The transport properties were tested in one-dimensional laboratory columns, a two-dimensional model aquifer and also an injection experiment in the field. Those experiments were accompanied by non-invasive tomographic investigations of the transport and filtration processes of CIC suspensions. The laboratory experiments showed that a larger part of the CIC can travel at least scales of meters for favorable but realistic conditions. Partly this is even similar to a dissolved tracer. For less favorable conditions this can be much smaller and in all cases a particular fraction of the CIC injected is retained mainly shortly after entering the porous medium. As field experiment a horizontal flow field was established, between two wells with a distance of 5 meters, in a confined, shallow aquifer at a contaminated site in North German lowlands. First a tracer test was performed and a basic model was set up to define the design of the CIC injection experiment. Then CIC suspension was introduced into the aquifer at the injection well while the second well was pumped and samples taken there to observe the breakthrough of CIC. This was based on direct visual inspection and total particle and iron concentrations of water samples analyzed in the laboratory later. It could be concluded that at least 12% of the CIC amount injected reached the extraction well in due course, some of it traveling distances larger than 10 meters in the non-uniform dipole flow field. This demonstrated that these CIC particles have a substantial mobility for reaching larger volumes of a contaminated aquifer and for interacting there by their reactivity with dissolved contaminants in the pore space. Therefore they seem suited well for groundwater remediation by in-situ formation of reactive barriers for chlorinated solvent plumes or even source removal.

Keywords: carbo-iron colloids, chlorinated solvents, in-situ remediation, particle transport, plume treatment

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Authors: Elaheh Ghasempour

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India has always been an all-encompassing center of attention in the theological and cultural studies since it beholds a very diverse nation within its borders. Among the uncountable faiths and traditions of this massive land, this article shall negotiate Islam in a Hindu dominated society. Practicing Caste and the views on it are the most controversial topics in modern-day India. Some blame it on the teachings of Hinduism; some call it a colonial outcome; and yet many believe that it is, in fact, a social construct. Islam was the souvenir coming from the Arabian Peninsula into the Indian Subcontinent in the hands of Arab, Persian, and Turk religious missionaries and Sufi saints. The aim of bringing the faith to this region was to enlighten the people of East and the Far East with the ideas of peace, justice, brotherhood as well as a proper way of living. Due to many reasons, the concept of the Islamic Nation or ‘Ummah’ has been touched by the native teachings of Hinduism which negates and questions the actual Islamic principles and laws. The Islamic Nation in India has been parted to different classes and each class nowadays beholds one level of a hierarchy. The superiors do not hesitate to keep the inferiors oppressed as much as they can since their own high position in this hierarchy depends on such oppressions. Their rules and laws to keep the lower castes out of the political and economical scene found ways into the religious traditions so much that it has become hard to question it by the masses; the masses who are too uneducated to question their own heretical faith and traditions. But now that the world is rapidly evolving, the access to knowledge has evoked an awareness of many lower caste or ‘Dalit’ Muslims. They no longer wish to be oppressed for their ethnicity or rootless principles of the old generations to guarantee the survival of the higher caste Muslims or ‘Ashrafs’. In recent years, many have stood against the rules of the caste system. As the oppressed no longer wishes to be oppressed, they also show acts of violence against the rulers who destined them the life they currently have. Considering they are usually poor and uneducated, and they might do violent actions, this can threaten not only Indians but the whole world; especially because the ISIS can easily fund a troop of hungry men who are looking forward to revenge their masters and others for all the unjust discriminations. Therefore for the sake of social security and stopping the disrepute for followers of Islam, the entire Islamic nation must consider taking actions against practicing Caste, regardless of where they come from. Since the teachings of the Quran and the Sunnah of the Prophet (PBUH) invite all Muslims to practice equality and brotherhood in the Ummah, this article would find the practical ways to abolish the caste-system through the Islamic liturgical texts and traditions.

Keywords: Dalit Muslims, Islam in India, caste system, justice in Islam, violence

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Authors: Mary Jane Suarez

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A massive educational overhaul has taken place at the onset of the 21st century addressing the mismatches of employability skills with that of scholastic skills taught in schools. For a community to thrive in an ever-developing economy, the teaching of the necessary skills for job competencies should be realized by every educational institution. However, in harnessing 21st-century skills amongst learners, teachers, who often lack familiarity and thorough insights into the emerging 21st-century skills, are chained with the restraint of the need to comprehend the physiognomies of 21st-century skills learning and the requisite to implement the tenets of 21st-century skills teaching. With the endeavor to espouse 21st-century skills learning and teaching, a United States-based national coalition called Partnership 21st Century Skills (P21) has identified the four most important skills in 21st-century learning: critical thinking, communication, collaboration, and creativity and innovation with an established framework for 21st-century skills standards. Assessment of skills is the lifeblood of every teaching and learning encounter. It is correspondingly crucial to look at the 21st century standards and the assessment guides recognized by P21 to ensure that learners are 21st century ready. This mixed-method study sought to discover and describe what classroom assessments were used by English teachers in a public secondary school in the Philippines with course offerings on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). The research evaluated the assessment tools implemented by English teachers and how these assessment tools were congruent to the 21st assessment standards of P21. A convergent parallel design was used to analyze assessment tools and practices in four phases. In the data-gathering phase, survey questionnaires, document reviews, interviews, and classroom observations were used to gather quantitative and qualitative data simultaneously, and how assessment tools and practices were consistent with the P21 framework with the four Cs as its foci. In the analysis phase, the data were treated using mean, frequency, and percentage. In the merging and interpretation phases, a side-by-side comparison was used to identify convergent and divergent aspects of the results. In conclusion, the results yielded assessments tools and practices that were inconsistent, if not at all, used by teachers. Findings showed that there were inconsistencies in implementing authentic assessments, there was a scarcity of using a rubric to critically assess 21st skills in both language and literature subjects, there were incongruencies in using portfolio and self-reflective assessments, there was an exclusion of intercultural aspects in assessing the four Cs and the lack of integrating collaboration in formative and summative assessments. As a recommendation, a harmonized assessment scheme of P21 skills was fashioned for teachers to plan, implement, and monitor classroom assessments of 21st-century skills, ensuring the alignment of such assessments to P21 standards for the furtherance of the institution’s thrust to effectively integrate 21st-century skills assessment standards to its curricula.

Keywords: 21st-century skills, 21st-century skills assessments, assessment standards, congruency, four Cs

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Authors: Mark Darius Juszczak

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While epistemology, as a sub-field of philosophy, is generally concerned with theoretical questions about the nature of knowledge, the explosion in digital media technologies has resulted in an exponential increase in the storage and transmission of human information. That increase has resulted in a particular non-linear dynamic – digital epistemological functions are radically altering how and what we know. Neither the rate of that change nor the consequences of it have been well studied or taken into account in developing state-level strategies for epistemological functions. At the current time, US Federal policy, like that of virtually all other countries, maintains, at the national state level, clearly defined boundaries between various epistemological agencies - agencies that, in one way or another, mediate the functional use of knowledge. These agencies can take the form of patent and trademark offices, national library and archive systems, departments of education, departments such as the FTC, university systems and regulations, military research systems such as DARPA, federal scientific research agencies, medical and pharmaceutical accreditation agencies, federal funding for scientific research and legislative committees and subcommittees that attempt to alter the laws that govern epistemological functions. All of these agencies are in the constant process of creating, analyzing, and regulating knowledge. Those processes are, at the most general level, epistemological functions – they act upon and define what knowledge is. At the same time, however, there are no high-level strategic epistemological directives or frameworks that define those functions. The only time in US history where a proxy state-level epistemological strategy existed was between 1961 and 1969 when the Kennedy Administration committed the United States to the Apollo program. While that program had a singular technical objective as its outcome, that objective was so technologically advanced for its day and so complex so that it required a massive redirection of state-level epistemological functions – in essence, a broad and diverse set of state-level agencies suddenly found themselves working together towards a common epistemological goal. This paper does not call for a repeat of the Apollo program. Rather, its purpose is to investigate the minimum structural requirements for a national state-level epistemological strategy in the United States. In addition, this paper also seeks to analyze how the epistemological work of the multitude of national agencies within the United States would be affected by such a high-level framework. This paper is an exploratory study of this type of framework. The primary hypothesis of the author is that such a function is possible but would require extensive re-framing and reclassification of traditional epistemological functions at the respective agency level. In much the same way that, for example, DHS (Department of Homeland Security) evolved to respond to a new type of security threat in the world for the United States, it is theorized that a lack of coordination and alignment in epistemological functions will equally result in a strategic threat to the United States.

Keywords: strategic security, epistemological functions, epistemological agencies, Apollo program

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Authors: Preetinder Kaur Randhawa

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The rural areas can be differentiated from urban areas in terms of their economic activities as rural areas are primarily involved in agricultural sector and provide natural resources whereas, urban areas are primarily involved in infrastructure sector and provide manufacturing services. Census of India defines a Census Town as an area which satisfies the following three criteria i.e. population exceeds 5000, at least 75 percent of male population engaged in non-agricultural sector and minimum population density of 400 persons per square kilometers. Urban areas can be attributed to the improvement of transport facilities, the massive decline in agricultural, especially male workers and workers shift to non-agricultural activities. This study examines the pattern, process of rural areas transformed into urban areas/ census town. The study has analyzed the various factors which are responsible for land transformation as well as the socio-economic transformation of the village population. Nilpur (CT) which belongs to Rajpura Tehsil in Patiala district, Punjab has been selected for the present study. The methodology adopted includes qualitative and quantitative research design, methods based on secondary data. Secondary data has been collected from unpublished revenue record office of Rajpura Tehsil and Primary Census Abstract of Patiala district, Census of India 2011. The results have showed that rate of transformation of a village to census town in Rajpura Tehsil has been one of highest among other villages. The census town has evolved through the evolutionary process of human settlement which grows in size, population and physical development. There must be a complete economic transformation and attainment of high level of technological development. Urban design and construction of buildings and infrastructure can be carried out better and faster and can be used to aid human habitation with the enhancement of quality of life. The study has concluded that in the selected area i.e Nilpur (CT) literacy rate has increased to 72.1 percent in year 2011 from 67.6 percent in year 2001. Similarly non-agricultural work force has increased to 95.2 percent in year 2011 from 81.1 percent in year 2001. It is very much clear that the increased literacy rate has put a positive impact on the involvement of non-agricultural workers have enhanced. The study has concluded that rural-urban linkages are important tools for understanding complexities of people livelihood and their strategies which involve mobility migration and the diversification of income sources and occupations.

Keywords: Census Town, India, Nilpur, Punjab

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Authors: Rakesh Mishra, Rajni Singh, Mukunda Upadhyay

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Since the last few decades, the prima facie of development has shifted towards the working population in India. There has been a paradigm shift in the development approach with the realization that the present demographic dividend has to be harnessed for sustainable development. Rapid urbanization and improved socioeconomic characteristics experienced within its territory has catalyzed various forms of migration into it, resulting in massive transference of workforce between its states. Workforce in any country plays a very crucial role in deciding development of both the places, from where they have out-migrated and the place they are residing currently. In India, people are found to be migrating from relatively less developed states to a well urbanized and developed state for satisfying their neediness. Linking migration to HDI at place of destination, the regression coefficient (β ̂) shows affirmative association between them, because higher the HDI of the place would be, higher would be chance of earning and hence likeliness of the migrants would be more to choose that place as a new destination and vice versa. So the push factor is compromised by the cost of rearing and provides negative impulse on the in migrants letting down their numbers to metro cities or megacities of the states but increasing their mobility to the suburban areas and vice versa. The main objective of the study is to check the role of migration in deciding the dividend of the place of destination as well as people at the place of their usual residence with special focus to highly urban states in India. Idealized scenario of Indian migrants refers to some new theories in making. On analyzing the demographic dividend of the places we got to know that Uttar Pradesh provides maximum dividend to Maharashtra, West Bengal and Delhi, and the demographic divided of migrants are quite comparable to the native’s shares in the demographic dividend in these places. On analyzing the data from National Sample Survey 64th round and Census of India-2001, we have observed that for males in rural areas, the share of unemployed person declined by 9 percentage points (from 45% before migration to 36 % after migration) and for females in rural areas the decline was nearly 12 percentage points (from 79% before migration to 67% after migration. It has been observed that the shares of unemployed males in both rural and urban areas, which were significant before migration, got reduced after migration while the share of unemployed females in the rural as well as in the urban areas remained almost negligible both for before and after migration. So increase in the number of employed after migration provides an indication of changes in the associated cofactors like health and education of the place of destination and arithmetically to the place from where they have migrated out. This paper presents the evidence on the patterns of prevailing migration dynamics and corresponding demographic benefits in India and its states, examines trends and effects, and discusses plausible explanations.

Keywords: migration, demographic shift, human development index, multilevel analysis

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Authors: Rebecca Bach, Evgenia Kanli, Nihat Kiziltoprak, Linda Hildebrand, Ulrich Knaack, Jens Schneider

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The building industry has a high demand for resources and at the same time is responsible for a significant amount of waste created worldwide. Today's building components need to contribute to the protection of natural resources without creating waste. This is defined in the product development phase and impacts the product’s degree of being cycle-oriented. Paper-based materials show advantage due to their renewable origin and their ability to incorporate different functions. Besides the ecological aspects like renewable origin and recyclability the main advantages of paper materials are its light-weight but stiff structure, the optimized production processes and good insulation values. The main deficits from building technology’s perspective are the material's vulnerability to humidity and water as well as inflammability. On material level, those problems can be solved by coatings or through material modification. On construction level intelligent setup and layering of a building component can improve and also solve these issues. The target of the present work is to provide an overview of developed building components and construction typologies mainly made from paper materials. The research is structured in four parts: (1) functions and requirements, (2) preselection of paper-based materials, (3) development of building components and (4) evaluation. As part of the research methodology at first the needs of the building sector are analyzed with the aim to define the main areas of application and consequently the requirements. Various paper materials are tested in order to identify to what extent the requirements are satisfied and determine potential optimizations or modifications, also in combination with other construction materials. By making use of the material’s potentials and solving the deficits on material and on construction level, building components and construction typologies are developed. The evaluation and the calculation of the structural mechanics and structural principals will show that different construction typologies can be derived. Profiles like paper tubes can be used at best for skeleton constructions. Massive structures on the other hand can be formed by plate-shaped elements like solid board or honeycomb. For insulation purposes corrugated cardboard or cellulose flakes have the best properties, while layered solid board can be applied to prevent inner condensation. Enhancing these properties by material combinations for instance with mineral coatings functional constructions mainly out of paper materials were developed. In summary paper materials offer a huge variety of possible applications in the building sector. By these studies a general base of knowledge about how to build with paper was developed and is to be reinforced by further research.

Keywords: construction typologies, cycle-oriented construction, innovative building material, paper materials, renewable resources

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Authors: Arup Pramanik

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Most of the cities in the developing countries like Siliguri Municipal Corporation Area (SMCA) and Raiganj Municipality (RM) in West Bengal, India are changing typically in terms of demographic, economic and social relationship due to rapid pace of urbanization. The mushrooming growth of slums in SMCA and RM is the direct consequence of urbanization and migration due to regional imbalance, unbalanced growth process which is posing a serious threat to sustainable development of the country. Almost all the slums happen to be a breeding ground for poverty, negligence, and disease. Unpredictable growth of slums and poverty alleviation has now become a serious challenge to the global and national policy makers for the development of the slum dwellers. The ethical dimension of the poor in the cities like SMCA and RM stands on equal opportunities, inclusive and harmonious living without discrimination of any kind. But, the migrant slum dwellers in SMCA and RM do not possess high skill or education to enable them to find well paid employment in the formal sector and the surplus urban labour force is compelled to generate its own means of employment and survival in the informal sector. The survey data of the households has been analysedin terms of percentage, descriptive statistics which includes mean, Standard Deviation (SD), ANOVA (Mean Difference) etc., to analyse the socio economic variables of the households. The study shows that the migrant labour forces living in the slums are derived from the social security measures in both the municipal areas of SMCA and RM. The urban poor in the cities of SMCA and RM rely heavily on social capital amongst all the capital assets to help them ‘get by’ and ‘get ahead’. Despite, the slum dwellers in the study areas are vulnerable with respect to other determinants of capital assets. It is noteworthy that Indian plans of anti-poverty programmes was in a proper place even after the neo-liberal regime, where the basic idea behind the massive shift of various welfare and service oriented strategy to poverty reduction strategy for the benefit of the urban poor with the trickle down effects. But, the overall impact of the trickledown effect was unsatisfactory. The objective of the Paper is to assess the magnitude of migration and absorption in the urban labour market. Issues relating to capital formation, social security measures and the support of the Welfare State in order to meet 'Sustainable Development Goals'. This study also highlights the quality of life of urban poor migrants in terms of capital formation and livelihoods.

Keywords: migration, slums, labour market, capital formation, social security

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Authors: T. Lazzarini, M. Imbiki, P. E. Sutter, G. Borragan

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While several strategies, such as the development of more efficient appliances, the financing of insulation programs or the rolling out of smart meters represent promising tools to reduce future energy consumption, their implementation relies on people’s decisions-actions. Likewise, engaging with consumers to reshape their behavior has shown to be another important way to reduce energy usage. For these reasons, integrating the human factor in the energy transition has become a major objective for researchers and policymakers. Digital education programs based on tangible and gamified user interfaces have become a new tool with potential effects to reduce energy consumption4. The B2020 program, developed by the firm “Économie d’Énergie SAS”, proposes a digital platform to encourage pro-environmental behavior change among employees and citizens. The platform integrates 160 eco-behaviors to help saving energy and water and reducing waste and CO2 emissions. A total of 13,146 citizens have used the tool so far to declare the range of eco-behaviors they adopt in their daily lives. The present work seeks to build on this database to identify the potential impact of adopted energy-saving behaviors (n=62) to reduce the use of energy in buildings. To this end, behaviors were classified into three categories regarding the nature of its implementation (Eco-habits: e.g., turning-off the light, Eco-actions: e.g., installing low carbon technology such as led light-bulbs and Home-Refurbishments: e.g., such as wall-insulation or double-glazed energy efficient windows). General Linear Models (GLM) disclosed the existence of a significantly higher frequency of Eco-habits when compared to the number of home-refurbishments realized by the platform users. While this might be explained in part by the high financial costs that are associated with home renovation works, it also contrasts with the up to three times larger energy-savings that can be accomplished by these means. Furthermore, multiple regression models failed to disclose the expected relationship between energy-savings and frequency of adopted eco behaviors, suggesting that energy-related practices are not necessarily driven by the correspondent energy-savings. Finally, our results also suggested that people adopting more Eco-habits and Eco-actions were more likely to engage in Home-Refurbishments. Altogether, these results fit well with a growing body of scientific research, showing that energy-related practices do not necessarily maximize utility, as postulated by traditional economic models, and suggest that other variables might be triggering them. Promoting home refurbishments could benefit from the adoption of complementary energy-saving habits and actions.

Keywords: energy-saving behavior, human performance, behavioral change, energy efficiency

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Authors: Subhra Chattopadhyay

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New Towns are usually built up at city-periphery with an eye to accommodate overspill population and functions of the city. ‘New towns are self-sufficient planned towns having a full range of urban economic and social activities, so it can provide employments for all of its inhabitants as well as a balanced self-content social community could be maintained’. In 3rd world countries New towns often emerge from scratch i.e on the area having no urban background and therefore, it needs a massive land conversion from rural to urban. This paper aims to study the implication of such land title transfer into rural sustainability with a case study at Jatragachi, New Town Kolkata. Broad objectives of this study are to understand 1. new changes in this area like i)changes in land use, ii) demographic changes, iii) occupational changes of the local people and 2.their view about new town planning. Major observations are stated below. The studied area was completely rural till recent years and is now at the heart of New Town Kolkata. Though this area is now under the jurisdiction of New Town Kolkata Development Authority (NKDA), it is still administrated by rural self-government.It creates administrative confusion and misuse of public capital. It is observed in this study that cultivation was the mainstay of livelihood for the majority of residents till recent past. There was a dramatic rise in irrigated area in the decade of 90’s pointing out agricultural prosperity.The area achieved the highest productivity of rice in the District. Percentage of marginal workers dropped significantly.In addition to it, ascending women’s literacy rate as found in this rural Mouza obviously indicates a constant social progress .Through land conversion, this flourishing agricultural land has been transformed into urban area with highly sophisticated uses. Such development may satisfy educated urban elite but the dwellers of the area suffer a lot. They bear the cost of new town planning through loss of their assured food and income as well as their place identity. The number of marginal workers increases abruptly. The growth of female literacy drops down. The area loses its functional linkages with its surroundings and fails to prove its actual growth potentiality. The physical linkages( like past roads and irrigation infrastructure) which had developed through time to support the economy become defunct. The ecological services which were provided by the agricultural field are denied. The historicity of this original site is demolished. Losses of the inhabitants of the area who have been evicted are also immense and cannot be materially compensated. Therefore, the ethos of such new town planning in stake of rural sustainability is under question. Need for an integrated approach for rural and urban development planning is felt in this study.

Keywords: new town, sustainable development, growth potentiality, land transfer

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Authors: Bikash Ranjan Mishra, Lopamudra D. Satpathy

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In the wake of the phenomenal surge in international business in the last decades or more, both the developed and developing economies around the world are in massive competition to attract more and more FDI flows. While the developed countries have marched ahead in the race, the developing countries, especially those of Asian economies, have followed them at a rapid pace. While most of the previous studies have analysed the role of institutional quality in the promotion of FDI flows in developing countries, very few studies have taken an integrated approach of examining the comprehensive impact of institutional quality, globalization pattern and domestic financial development on FDI flows. In this context, the paper contributes to the literature in two important ways. Firstly, two composite indices of institutional quality and domestic financial development for the Asian countries are constructed in comparison to earlier studies that resort to a single variable for indicating the institutional quality and domestic financial development. Secondly, the impact of these variables on FDI flows through their interaction with geographical region is investigated. The study uses panel data covering the time period of 1996 to 2012 by selecting twenty Asian developing countries by emphasizing the quality of institutions from the geographical regions of eastern, south-eastern, southern and western Asia. Control of corruption, better rule of law, regulatory quality, effectiveness of the government, political stability and voice and accountability are used as indicators of institutional quality. Besides these, the study takes into account the domestic credits in the hands of public, private sectors and in stock markets as domestic financial indicators. First in the specification of model, a factor analysis is performed to reduce the vast determinants, which are highly correlated with each other, to a manageable size. Afterwards, a reduced version of the model is estimated with the extracted factors in the form of index as independent variables along with a set of control variables. It is found that the institutional quality index and index of globalization exert a significant effect on FDI inflows of the host countries; in contrast, the domestic financial index does not seem to play much worthy role. Finally, some robustness tests are performed to make sure that the results are not sensitive to temporal and spatial unobserved heterogeneity. On the basis of the above study, one general inference can be drawn from the policy prescription point of view that the government of these developing countries should strengthen their domestic institution, both financial and non-financial. In addition to these, welfare policies should also target for rapid globalization. If the financial and non-financial institutions of these developing countries become sound and grow more globalized in the economic, social and political domain, then they can appeal to more amounts of FDI inflows that will subsequently result in advancement of these economies.

Keywords: Asian developing economies, FDI, institutional quality, panel data

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Authors: Laith F. Gulli, Nicole M. Mallory

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The undertaking to develop a psychometric instrument is monumental. Understanding the relationship between variables and events is important in structural and exploratory design of psychometric instruments. Considering this, we describe a method used to group, pair and combine multiple Philosophical Assumption statements that assisted in development of a 13 item psychometric screening instrument. We abbreviated our Philosophical Assumptions (PA)s and added parameters, which were then condensed and mathematically modeled in a specific process. This model produced clusters of combinatorics which was utilized in design and development for 1) information retrieval and categorization 2) item development and 3) estimation of interactions among variables and likelihood of events. The psychometric screening instrument measured Knowledge, Assessment (education) and Beliefs (KAB) of New Addictions Research (NAR), which we called KABNAR. We obtained an overall internal consistency for the seven Likert belief items as measured by Cronbach’s α of .81 in the final study of 40 Clinicians, calculated by SPSS 14.0.1 for Windows. We constructed the instrument to begin with demographic items (degree/addictions certifications) for identification of target populations that practiced within Outpatient Substance Abuse Counseling (OSAC) settings. We then devised education items, beliefs items (seven items) and a modifiable “barrier from learning” item that consisted of six “choose any” choices. We also conceptualized a close relationship between identifying various degrees and certifications held by Outpatient Substance Abuse Therapists (OSAT) (the demographics domain) and all aspects of their education related to EB-NAR (past and present education and desired future training). We placed a descriptive (PA)1tx in both demographic and education domains to trace relationships of therapist education within these two domains. The two perceptions domains B1/b1 and B2/b2 represented different but interrelated perceptions from the therapist perspective. The belief items measured therapist perceptions concerning EB-NAR and therapist perceptions using EB-NAR during the beginning of outpatient addictions counseling. The (PA)s were written in simple words and descriptively accurate and concise. We then devised a list of parameters and appropriately matched them to each PA and devised descriptive parametric (PA)s in a domain categorized information grid. Descriptive parametric (PA)s were reduced to simple mathematical symbols. This made it easy to utilize parametric (PA)s into algorithms, combinatorics and clusters to develop larger information grids. By using matching combinatorics we took paired demographic and education domains with a subscript of 1 and matched them to the column with each B domain with subscript 1. Our algorithmic matching formed larger information grids with organized clusters in columns and rows. We repeated the process using different demographic, education and belief domains and devised multiple information grids with different parametric clusters and geometric arrays. We found benefit combining clusters by different geometric arrays, which enabled us to trace parametric variables and concepts. We were able to understand potential differences between dependent and independent variables and trace relationships of maximum likelihoods.

Keywords: psychometric, parametric, domains, grids, therapists

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Authors: Huidan Yu, Anurag Deb, Rou Chen, I-Wen Wang

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The use of left ventricle assist devices (LVADs) in patients with heart failure has been a proven and effective therapy for patients with severe end-stage heart failure. Due to the limited availability of suitable donor hearts, LVADs will probably become the alternative solution for patient with heart failure in the near future. While the LVAD is being continuously improved toward enhanced performance, increased device durability, reduced size, a better understanding of implantation management becomes critical in order to achieve better long-term blood supplies and less post-surgical complications such as thrombi generation. Important issues related to the LVAD implantation include the location of outflow grafting (OG), the angle of the OG, the combination between LVAD and native heart pumping, uniform or pulsatile flow at OG, etc. We have hypothesized that an optimal implantation of LVAD is patient specific. To test this hypothesis, we employ a novel in-house computational modeling technique, named InVascular, to conduct a systematic evaluation of cardiac output at aortic arch together with other pertinent hemodynamic quantities for each patient under various implantation scenarios aiming to get an optimal implantation strategy. InVacular is a powerful computational modeling technique that integrates unified mesoscale modeling for both image segmentation and fluid dynamics with the cutting-edge GPU parallel computing. It first segments the aortic artery from patient’s CT image, then seamlessly feeds extracted morphology, together with the velocity wave from Echo Ultrasound image of the same patient, to the computation model to quantify 4-D (time+space) velocity and pressure fields. Using one NVIDIA Tesla K40 GPU card, InVascular completes a computation from CT image to 4-D hemodynamics within 30 minutes. Thus it has the great potential to conduct massive numerical simulation and analysis. The systematic evaluation for one patient includes three OG anastomosis (ascending aorta, descending thoracic aorta, and subclavian artery), three combinations of LVAD and native heart pumping (1:1, 1:2, and 1:3), three angles of OG anastomosis (inclined upward, perpendicular, and inclined downward), and two LVAD inflow conditions (uniform and pulsatile). The optimal LVAD implantation is suggested through a comprehensive analysis of the cardiac output and related hemodynamics from the simulations over the fifty-four scenarios. To confirm the hypothesis, 5 random patient cases will be evaluated.

Keywords: graphic processing unit (GPU) parallel computing, left ventricle assist device (LVAD), lumped-parameter model, patient-specific computational hemodynamics

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Authors: Ponghyung Lee

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This study seeks to investigate the variations occurring to Korean consonantal variations center around laryngeal features of the concerned sounds, to the exclusion of others. Our fundamental premise is that the weak contrast associated with concerned segments might be held accountable for the oscillation of the status quo of the concerned consonants. What is more, we assume that an array of notions as a measure of communicative efficiency of linguistic units would be significantly influential on triggering those variations. To this end, we have tried to compute the surprisal, entropic contribution, and relative contrastiveness associated with Korean obstruent consonants. What we found therein is that the Information-theoretic perspective is compelling enough to lend support our approach to a considerable extent. That is, the variant realizations, chronologically and stylistically, prove to be profoundly affected by a set of Information-theoretic factors enumerated above. When it comes to the biblical proper names, we use Georgetown University CQP Web-Bible corpora. From the 8 texts (4 from Old Testament and 4 from New Testament) among the total 64 texts, we extracted 199 samples. We address the issue of laryngeal feature variations associated with Korean obstruent consonants under the presumption that the variations stem from the weak contrast among the triad manifestations of laryngeal features. The variants emerge from diverse sources in chronological and stylistic senses: Christianity biblical texts, ordinary casual speech, the shift of loanword adaptation over time, and ideophones. For the purpose of discussing what they are really like from the perspective of Information Theory, it is necessary to closely look at the data. Among them, the massive changes occurring to loanword adaptation of proper nouns during the centennial history of Korean Christianity draw our special attention. We searched 199 types of initially capitalized words among 45,528-word tokens, which account for around 5% of total 901,701-word tokens (12,786-word types) from Georgetown University CQP Web-Bible corpora. We focus on the shift of the laryngeal features incorporated into word-initial consonants, which are available through the two distinct versions of Korean Bible: one came out in the 1960s for the Protestants, and the other was published in the 1990s for the Catholic Church. Of these proper names, we have closely traced the adaptation of plain obstruents, e. g. /b, d, g, s, ʤ/ in the sources. The results show that as much as 41% of the extracted proper names show variations; 37% in terms of aspiration, and 4% in terms of tensing. This study set out in an effort to shed light on the question: to what extent can we attribute the variations occurring to the laryngeal features associated with Korean obstruent consonants to the communicative aspects of linguistic activities? In this vein, the concerted effects of the triad, of surprisal, entropic contribution, and relative contrastiveness can be credited with the ups and downs in the feature specification, despite being contentiousness on the role of surprisal to some extent.

Keywords: entropic contribution, laryngeal feature variation, relative contrastiveness, surprisal

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Authors: Ennios Eros Giogos, Nefeli Katsarou, Giota Mantziorou, Elena Panou, Nikolaos Kourniatis, Socratis Giannoudis

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In the context of the postgraduate course Productive Design, Department of Interior Architecture of the University of West Attica in Athens, under the guidance of Professors Nikolaos Koyrniatis and Socratis Giannoudis, kinetic mechanisms with parametric models were examined for their further application in the design of objects. In the first phase, the students studied a motion mechanism that they chose from daily experience and then analyzed its geometric structure in relation to the geometric transformations that exist. In the second phase, the students tried to design it through a parametric model in Grasshopper3d for Rhino algorithmic processor and plan the design of its application in an everyday object. For the project presented, our team began by studying the movement of living beings, specifically the snake. By studying the snake and the role that the environment has in its movement, four basic typologies were recognized: serpentine, concertina, sidewinding and rectilinear locomotion, as well as its ability to perform spiral formations. Most typologies are characterized by ripples, a series of sinusoidal curves. For the application of the snake movement in a polymorphic space divider, the use of a coil-type joint was studied. In the Grasshopper program, the simulation of the desired motion for the polymorphic surface was tested by applying a coil on a sinusoidal curve and a spiral curve. It was important throughout the process that the points corresponding to the nodes of the real object remain constant in number, as well as the distances between them and the elasticity of the construction had to be achieved through a modular movement of the coil and not some elastic element (material) at the nodes. Using mesh (repeating coil), the whole construction is transformed into a supporting body and combines functionality with aesthetics. The set of elements functions as a vertical spatial network, where each element participates in its coherence and stability. Depending on the positions of the elements in terms of the level of support, different perspectives are created in terms of the visual perception of the adjacent space. For the implementation of the model on the scale (1:3), (0.50m.x2.00m.), the load-bearing structure that was studied has aluminum rods for the basic pillars Φ6mm and Φ 2.50 mm, for the secondary columns. Filling elements and nodes are of similar material and were made of MDF surfaces. During the design process, four trapezoidal patterns were picketed, which function as filling elements, while in order to support their assembly, a different engraving facet was done. The nodes have holes that can be pierced by the rods, while their connection point with the patterns has a half-carved recess. The patterns have a corresponding recess. The nodes are of two different types depending on the column that passes through them. The patterns and knots were designed to be cut and engraved using a Laser Cutter and attached to the knots using glue. The parameters participate in the design as mechanisms that generate complex forms and structures through the repetition of constantly changing versions of the parts that compose the object.

Keywords: polymorphic, locomotion, sinusoidal curves, parametric

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Authors: Rituparna Pal, Faiz Ahmed

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Neighbourhood energy efficiency is a newly emerged term to address the quality of urban strata of built environment in terms of various covariates of sustainability. The concept of sustainability paradigm in developed nations has encouraged the policymakers for developing urban scale cities to envision plans under the aegis of urban scale sustainability. The concept of neighbourhood energy efficiency is realized a lot lately just when the cities, towns and other areas comprising this massive global urban strata have started facing a strong blow from climate change, energy crisis, cost hike and an alarming shortfall in the justice which the urban areas required. So this step of urban sustainability can be easily referred more as a ‘Retrofit Action’ which is to cover up the already affected urban structure. So even if we start energy efficiency for existing cities and urban areas the initial layer remains, for which a complete model of urban sustainability still lacks definition. Urban sustainability is a broadly spoken off word with end number of parameters and policies through which the loop can be met. Out of which neighbourhood energy efficiency can be an integral part where the concept and index of neighbourhood scale indicators, block level indicators and building physics parameters can be understood, analyzed and concluded to help emerge guidelines for urban scale sustainability. The future of neighbourhood energy efficiency not only lies in energy efficiency but also important parameters like quality of life, access to green, access to daylight, outdoor comfort, natural ventilation etc. So apart from designing less energy-hungry buildings, it is required to create a built environment which will create less stress on buildings to consume more energy. A lot of literary analysis has been done in the Western countries prominently in Spain, Paris and also Hong Kong, leaving a distinct gap in the Indian scenario in exploring the sustainability at the urban strata. The site for the study has been selected in the upcoming capital city of Amaravati which can be replicated with similar neighbourhood typologies in the area. The paper suggests a methodical intent to quantify energy and sustainability indices in detail taking by involving several macro, meso and micro level covariates and parameters. Several iterations have been made both at macro and micro level and have been subjected to simulation, computation and mathematical models and finally to comparative analysis. Parameters at all levels are analyzed to suggest the best case scenarios which in turn is extrapolated to the macro level finally coming out with a proposal model for energy efficient neighbourhood and worked out guidelines with significance and correlations derived.

Keywords: energy quantification, macro scale parameters, meso scale parameters, micro scale parameters

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Authors: Chun-Liang Wu, Kai-Ping Shaw, Cheng-Ping Yu, Wu-Chien Chien, Hsiao-Ting Chen, Shao-Huang Wu

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Objective: This study analyzed three criminal judicial cases. We applied the patterned injuries of the rider to demonstrate the facts of each accident, reconstruct the scenes, and pursue the truth. Methods: Case analysis, a method that collects evidence and reasons the results in judicial procedures, then the importance of the pattern of injury as evidence will be compared and evaluated. The patterned injuries analysis method is to compare the collision situation between an object and human body injuries to determine whether the characteristics can reproduce the unique pattern of injury. Result: Case 1: Two motorcycles, A and B, head-on collided; rider A dead, and rider B was accused. During the prosecutor’s investigation, the defendant learned that rider A had an 80 mm open wound on his neck. During the court trial, the defendant requested copies of the case file and found out that rider A had a large contusion on his chest wall, and the cause of death was traumatic hemothorax and abdominal wall contusion. The defendant compared all the evidence at the scene and determined that the injury was obviously not caused by the collision of the body or the motorcycle of rider B but that rider was out of control and injured himself when he crossed the double yellow line. In this case, the defendant was innocent in the High Court judgment in April 2022. Case 2: Motorcycles C and D head-on crashed, and rider C died of massive abdominal bleeding. The prosecutor decided that rider C was driving under the influence (DUI), but rider D was negligent and sued rider D. The defendant requested the copies’ file and found the special phenomenon that the front wheel of motorcycle C was turned left. The defendant’s injuries were a left facial bone fracture, a left femur fracture, and other injuries on the left side. The injuries were of human-vehicle separation and human-vehicle collision, which proved that rider C suddenly turned left when the two motorcycles approached, knocked down motorcycle D, and the defendant flew forward. Case 3: Motorcycle E and F’s rear end collided, the front rider E was sentenced to 3 months, and the rear rider F sued rider E for more than 7 million N.T. The defendant found in the copies’ file that the injury of rider F was the left tibial platform fracture, etc., and then proved that rider F made the collision with his left knee, causing motorcycle E to fall out of control. This evidence was accepted by the court and is still on trial. Conclusion: The application of patterned injuries in the reconstruction of a motorcycle accident could discover the truth and provide the basis for judicial justice. The cases and methods could be the reference for the policy of preventing traffic accident casualties.

Keywords: judicial evidence, patterned injuries analysis, accident reconstruction, fatal motorcycle injuries

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Authors: Kyoko Monden

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Tourism has moved to the forefront of national attention in Japan since September of 2013 when Tokyo won its bid to host the 2020 Summer Olympics. The number of foreign tourists has continued to break records, reaching 13.4 million in 2014, and is now expected to hit 20 million sooner than initially targeted 2020 due to government stimulus promotions; an increase in low cost carriers; the weakening of the Japanese yen, and strong economic growth in Asia. The tourism industry can be an effective trigger in Japan’s economic recovery as foreign tourists spent two trillion yen ($16.6 million) in Japan in 2014. In addition, 81% of them were all from Asian countries, and it is essential to know that 68.9% of the world’s Muslims, about a billion people, live in South and Southeast Asia. An important question is ‘Do Muslim tourists feel comfortable traveling in Japan?’ This research was initiated by an encounter with Muslim visitors in Hiroshima, a popular international tourist destination, who said they had found very few suitable restaurants in Hiroshima. The purpose of this research is to examine halal implementation in Hiroshima and suggest the next steps to be taken to improve current efforts. The goal will be to provide anyone, Muslims included, with first class hospitality in the near future in preparation for the massive influx of foreign tourists in 2020. The methods of this research were questionnaires, face-to-face interviews, phone interviews, and internet research. First, this research aims to address the significance of growing inbound tourism in Japan, especially the expected growth in Muslim tourists. Additionally, it should address the strong popularity of eating Japanese foods in Asian Muslim countries and as ranked no. 1 thing foreign tourists want to do in Japan. Secondly, the current incipient stage of Hiroshima’s halal implementation at hotels, restaurants, and major public places were exposed, and the existing action plans by Hiroshima Prefecture Government were presented. Furthermore, two surveys were conducted to clarify basic halal awareness of local residents in Hiroshima, and to gauge the inconveniences Muslims living in Hiroshima faced. Thirdly, the reasons for this lapse were observed and compared to the benchmarking data of other major tourist sites, Hiroshima’s halal implementation plans were proposed. The conclusion is, despite increasing demands and interests in halal-friendly businesses, overall halal actions have barely been applied in Hiroshima. 76% of Hiroshima residents had no idea what halal or halaal meant. It is essential to increase halal awareness and its importance to the economy and to launch further actions to make Muslim tourists feel welcome in Hiroshima and the entire country.

Keywords: halaal, halal implementation, Hiroshima, inbound tourists in Japan

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Authors: Faith Abdul Rasak Asharaf

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Every city has a threshold known as urban carrying capacity based on which it can withstand a particular density of people, above which the city might need to resort to measures like expanding its boundaries or growing vertically. As a result of this circumstance, the number of squatter communities is growing, as is the claustrophobic feeling of being confined inside a "concrete jungle." The expansion of suburbs, commercial areas, and industrial real estate in the areas surrounding medium-sized cities has resulted in changes to their landscapes and urban forms, as well as a systematic shift in their role in the urban hierarchy when functional endowment and connections to other territories are considered. The urban carrying capacity idea provides crucial guidance for city administrators and planners in better managing, designing, planning, constructing, and distributing urban resources to satisfy the huge demands of an evergrowing urban population. An ecological footprint is a criterion of urban carrying capacity, which is the amount of land required to provide humanity with renewable resources and absorb its trash. However, as each piece of land has its unique carrying capacity, including ecological, social, and economic considerations, these metropolitan areas begin to reach a saturation point over time. Various city models have been tried throughout the years to meet the increasing urban population density by moving the zones of work, life, and leisure to achieve maximum sustainable growth. The current scenario is that of a vertical city and compact city concept, in which the maximum density of people is attempted to fit into a definite area using efficient land use and a variety of other strategies, but this has proven to be a very unsustainable method of growth, as evidenced by the COVID-19 period. Due to a shortage of housing and basic infrastructure, densely populated cities gave rise to massive squatter communities, unable to accommodate the overflowing migrants. To achieve optimum carrying capacity, planning measures such as polycentric city and diffuse city concepts can be implemented, which will help to relieve the congested city core by relocating certain sectors of the town to the city periphery, which will help to create newer spaces for design in terms of public space, transportation, and housing, which is a major concern in the current scenario. The study's goal is focused on suggesting design options and solutions in terms of placemaking for better urban quality and urban life for the citizens once city centres have been de-densified based on urban carrying capacity and ecological footprint, taking the case of Kochi as an apt example of a highly densified city core, focusing on Edappally, which is an agglomeration of many urban factors.

Keywords: urban carrying capacity, urbanization, urban sprawl, ecological footprint

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Authors: Soumi Banerjee

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In this research paper we will go deep into understanding Benedict Anderson’s definition of the nation as an imagined community and we will analyze why and how national identities were created through long and complex processes, and how there can exist strong emotional bonds between people within an imagined community, given the fact that these people have never known each other personally, but will still feel some form of imagined unity. Such identity construction on the part of an individual or within societies are always in some sense in a state of flux as imagined communities are ever changing, which provides us with the ontological foundation for reaching on this paper. This sort of identity crisis among individuals living in the Western world, who are in search for psychological comfort and security, illustrates a possible need for spatially dislocated, ontologically insecure and vulnerable individuals to have a secure identity. To create such an identity there has to be something to build upon, which could be achieved through what may be termed as ‘homesteading’. This could in short, and in my interpretation of Kinnvall and Nesbitt’s concept, be described as a search for security that involves a search for ‘home’, where home acts as a secure place, which one can build an identity around. The next half of the paper will then look into how populism and identity have played an increasingly important role in the political elections in the so-called western democracies of the world, using the U.S. as an example. Notions of ‘us and them’, the people and the elites will be looked into and analyzed through a social constructivist theoretical lens. Here we will analyze how such narratives about identity and the nation state affects people, their personality development and identity in different ways by studying the U.S. President Donald Trump’s speeches and analyze if and how he used different identity creating narratives for gaining political and popular support. The reason to choose narrative analysis as a method in this research paper is to use the narratives as a device to understand how the perceived notions of 'us and them' can initiate huge identity crisis with a community or a nation-state. This is a relevant subject as results and developments such as rising populist rightwing movements are being felt in a number of European states, with the so-called Brexit vote in the U.K. and the election of Donald Trump as president are two of the prime examples. This paper will then attempt to argue that these mechanisms are strengthened and gaining significance in situations when humans in an economic, social or ontologically vulnerable position, imagined or otherwise, in a general and broad meaning perceive themselves to be under pressure, and a sense of insecurity is rising. These insecurities and sense of being under threat have been on the rise in many of the Western states that are otherwise usually perceived to be some of the safest, democratically stable and prosperous states in the world, which makes it of interest to study what has changed, and help provide some part of the explanation as to how creating a ‘them’ in the discourse of national identity can cause massive security crisis.

Keywords: identity crisis, migration, ontological security(in), nation-states

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Authors: Soyon Kim, Edward Kim

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In order to retrieve information from the massive stream of songs in the music industry, music search by title, lyrics, artist, mood, and genre has become more important. Despite the subjectivity and controversy over the definition of music genres across different nations and cultures, automatic genre classification systems that facilitate the process of music categorization have been developed. Manual genre selection by music producers is being provided as statistical data for designing automatic genre classification systems. In this paper, an automatic music genre classification system utilizing non-negative matrix factorization (NMF) is proposed. Short-term characteristics of the music signal can be captured based on the timbre features such as mel-frequency cepstral coefficient (MFCC), decorrelated filter bank (DFB), octave-based spectral contrast (OSC), and octave band sum (OBS). Long-term time-varying characteristics of the music signal can be summarized with (1) the statistical features such as mean, variance, minimum, and maximum of the timbre features and (2) the modulation spectrum features such as spectral flatness measure, spectral crest measure, spectral peak, spectral valley, and spectral contrast of the timbre features. Not only these conventional basic long-term feature vectors, but also NMF based feature vectors are proposed to be used together for genre classification. In the training stage, NMF basis vectors were extracted for each genre class. The NMF features were calculated in the log spectral magnitude domain (NMF-LSM) as well as in the basic feature vector domain (NMF-BFV). For NMF-LSM, an entire full band spectrum was used. However, for NMF-BFV, only low band spectrum was used since high frequency modulation spectrum of the basic feature vectors did not contain important information for genre classification. In the test stage, using the set of pre-trained NMF basis vectors, the genre classification system extracted the NMF weighting values of each genre as the NMF feature vectors. A support vector machine (SVM) was used as a classifier. The GTZAN multi-genre music database was used for training and testing. It is composed of 10 genres and 100 songs for each genre. To increase the reliability of the experiments, 10-fold cross validation was used. For a given input song, an extracted NMF-LSM feature vector was composed of 10 weighting values that corresponded to the classification probabilities for 10 genres. An NMF-BFV feature vector also had a dimensionality of 10. Combined with the basic long-term features such as statistical features and modulation spectrum features, the NMF features provided the increased accuracy with a slight increase in feature dimensionality. The conventional basic features by themselves yielded 84.0% accuracy, but the basic features with NMF-LSM and NMF-BFV provided 85.1% and 84.2% accuracy, respectively. The basic features required dimensionality of 460, but NMF-LSM and NMF-BFV required dimensionalities of 10 and 10, respectively. Combining the basic features, NMF-LSM and NMF-BFV together with the SVM with a radial basis function (RBF) kernel produced the significantly higher classification accuracy of 88.3% with a feature dimensionality of 480.

Keywords: mel-frequency cepstral coefficient (MFCC), music genre classification, non-negative matrix factorization (NMF), support vector machine (SVM)

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Authors: Sujan Barua

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Buddhism relies upon natural events which are appeared from the four auto-elements of nature. It has seemed to be an authentic proof of mono-actions that have chronically been existing through our lives circles into the action and reaction that can produce more and more suffering in entire beings. Religion is called such politic through giving up on worthy concerns. Birth, aging, getting sick, lamentation, and death are just a politic of four conditions that depend upon one mind. Those are greed, hatred, and delusion, which are the first fueling to fall into a worthy realm again and again. It is because of having numerous ways of sense faculties, six senses, and five aggregates. These are all defaults of the deluded mind’s conditions and total ignorance covered by not understanding through the emancipating religion. Buddhism is dependent upon the threefold morality, which is the basic politic of giving up birth, aging, getting sick, lamentation, and death. Morality is the primordial theme of reach at ultimate happiness called “Nirvana”. It is a politic of one’s non-understanding ignorance. In Buddhism, the Buddha emphasizes that to understand the politic of the samsara, one must profoundly understand the own action that appears from the threefold ways. One must need authentically verify the own karma and reflection from the self-mind. The worthy concerns are the cause of political suffering to fall in samsara. By avoiding the entire, one can attain ultimate happiness. To attain Nirvana is not like an achievement of worthy happiness and proper understanding of functionality as we comfort in our daily lives. There is no virtue or non-virtual deeds to rebirth, no gripes, no upsetting, no greed, no hatred, no aging, no sickness, no death. It is totally uprooted from 31 types of states of worthy concerns. Nirvana is the stability of ultimate realization, but worthy states are the levels of grasping impurities in life span that make us fall into one clan according to our actions. By profoundly observing, the Buddha crucially founds that the source of rebirth is ignorance. Ignorance drives physical, verbal, and mental, which makes us reborn into the 31 types of realms in cycling existence. It is believed that the best knowledge of how many beings are in this world except the Enlightenment one. The enlightened one knows everything while he thinks about when it is causally necessary for demonstrating someone or verifying the truth of the relational way. It is a political view for entire beings that are chronic because covering by ignorance. It is tremendously toxic, and the person who truly understands this politic of turning here to there is a person who wishes to have eager to find the truth and way to leave those massive toxicities to discover the fixed state of nonexistence. The word non-existence is known as “Suiyata” or emptiness. One can able to find the ultimate truth with the effort of achieving the arch truth of leaving suffering from the cycling system.

Keywords: ultimate realization, nirvana, the easiest way policy to give up worthily concerns, profound understanding of 31 types of cosmology, four noble truths

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Authors: Shanlong Lu, Jiming Jin, Xiaochun Wang

Abstract:

The Tibetan Plateau has the largest number of inland lakes with the highest elevation on the planet. These massive and large lakes are mostly in natural state and are less affected by human activities. Their shrinking or expansion can truly reflect regional climate and environmental changes and are sensitive indicators of global climate change. However, due to the sparsely populated nature of the plateau and the poor natural conditions, it is difficult to effectively obtain the change data of the lake, which has affected people's understanding of the temporal and spatial processes of lake water changes and their influencing factors. By using the MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) MOD09Q1 surface reflectance images as basic data, this study produced the 8-day lake water surface data set of the Tibetan Plateau from 2000 to 2012 at 250 m spatial resolution, with a lake water surface extraction method of combined with lake water surface boundary buffer analyzing and lake by lake segmentation threshold determining. Then based on the dataset, the lake water surface variations and their influencing factors were analyzed, by using 4 typical natural geographical zones of Eastern Qinghai and Qilian, Southern Qinghai, Qiangtang, and Southern Tibet, and the watersheds of the top 10 lakes of Qinghai, Siling Co, Namco, Zhari NamCo, Tangra Yumco, Ngoring, UlanUla, Yamdrok Tso, Har and Gyaring as the analysis units. The accuracy analysis indicate that compared with water surface data of the 134 sample lakes extracted from the 30 m Landsat TM (Thematic Mapper ) images, the average overall accuracy of the lake water surface data set is 91.81% with average commission and omission error of 3.26% and 5.38%; the results also show strong linear (R2=0.9991) correlation with the global MODIS water mask dataset with overall accuracy of 86.30%; and the lake area difference between the Second National Lake Survey and this study is only 4.74%, respectively. This study provides reliable dataset for the lake change research of the plateau in the recent decade. The change trends and influencing factors analysis indicate that the total water surface area of lakes in the plateau showed overall increases, but only lakes with areas larger than 10 km2 had statistically significant increases. Furthermore, lakes with area larger than 100 km2 experienced an abrupt change in 2005. In addition, the annual average precipitation of Southern Tibet and Southern Qinghai experienced significant increasing and decreasing trends, and corresponding abrupt changes in 2004 and 2006, respectively. The annual average temperature of Southern Tibet and Qiangtang showed a significant increasing trend with an abrupt change in 2004. The major reason for the lake water surface variation in Eastern Qinghai and Qilian, Southern Qinghai and Southern Tibet is the changes of precipitation, and that for Qiangtang is the temperature variations.

Keywords: lake water surface variation, MODIS MOD09Q1, remote sensing, Tibetan Plateau

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Authors: Brian Yulianto, Syachrial, Saeful Aziz, Anggita Clara Shinta

Abstract:

Indonesia, with a population of about two hundred and fifty million people in quantity, indicates the outstanding wealth of human resources. Hundreds of millions of the population scattered in various communities in various regions in Indonesia with the different characteristics of economic, social and unique culture. Broadly speaking, the community in Indonesia is divided into two classes, namely urban communities and rural communities. The rural communities characterized by low potential and management of natural and human resources, limited access of development, and lack of social and economic infrastructure, and scattered and isolated population. West Java is one of the provinces with the largest population in Indonesia. Based on data from the Central Bureau of Statistics in 2015 the number of population in West Java reached 46.7096 million souls spread over 18 districts and 9 cities. The big difference in geographical and social conditions of people in West Java from one region to another, especially the south to the north causing the gap is high. It is closely related to the flow of investment to promote the area. Poverty and underdevelopment are the classic problems that occur on a massive scale in the region as the effects of inequity in development. South Cianjur and Tasikmalaya area South became one of the portraits area where the existing potential has not been capable of prospering society. Tri Dharma College not only define the College as a pioneer implementation of education and research to improve the quality of human resources but also demanded to be a pioneer in the development through the concept of public service. Bandung Institute of Technology as one of the institutions of higher education to implement community service system through collaborative community work program "one of the university community" as one approach to developing villages. The program is based Community Service, where students are not only required to be able to take part in community service, but also able to develop a community development strategy that is comprehensive and integrity in cooperation with government agencies and non-government related as a real form of effort alignment potential, position and role from various parties. Areas of western Java in particular have high poverty rates and disparity. On the other hand, there are three fundamental pillars in the development of rural communities, namely economic development, community development, and the integrated infrastructure development. These pillars require the commitment of all components of community, including the students and colleges for upholding success. College’s community program is one of the approaches in the development of rural communities. ITB is committed to implement as one form of student community service as community-college programs that integrate all elements of the community which is called Kuliah Kerja Nyata-Thematic.

Keywords: development in rural area, collaborative, student community service, Kuliah Kerja Nyata-Thematic ITB

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Authors: Beverly Wang

Abstract:

Background: Rosai-Dorfman disease (RDD), aka sinus histiocytosis with massive lymphadenopathy, is a rare, idiopathic histiocytic proliferative disorder. Although RDD can be seen involving the head and neck lymph nodes, rarely it can affect other extranodal sites. It present 3 unique cases of RDD affecting the nasal cavity, paranasal sinuses, and ear canal. The initial clinical presentation on two cases mimicked a malignant neoplasm. The 3rd case of RDD co-existed with a cholesteatoma of the ear canal. The clinical presentation, histology and immunohistochemical stains, and radiographic findings are discussed. Design: An overview of 3 cases of RDD affected sinonasal cavity and ear canal from UCI Medical Center was conducted. Case 1: A 61 year old male complaining of breathing difficulty presented with bilateral polypoid sinonasal masses and severe nasal obstruction. The masses elevated the nasal floor, and involved the anterior nasal septum to lateral wall. It was endoscopically excised. At intraoperative consultation, frozen section reported a pleomorphic spindle cell neoplasm with scattered large atypical spindle cells, resembling a high grade sarcoma. Case 2: A 46 year old male presented with recurrent bilateral maxillary chronic sinusitis with mass formation, clinically suspicious for malignant lymphoma. Excisional tissue sample showed large irregular spindled histiocytes with abundant granular and vacuolated cytoplasm. Case 3: A 36 year old female with a history of asthma initially presented with left-sided chronic otalgia, occasional nausea, vertigo, and fluctuating pain exacerbated by head movement and temperature changes. CT scan revealed an external auditory canal mass extending to the middle ear, coexisting with a small cholesteatoma. Results: The morphology of all cases revealed large atypical spindled histiocytes resembling fibrohistiocytic or myofibroblastic proliferative neoplasms. Scattered emperipolesis was seen. All 3 cases were confirmed as extranodal sinus RDD, confirmed by immunohistochemistry. The large atypical cells were positive for S100, CD68, and CD163. No evidence for malignancy was identified. Case 3 showed concurrent RDD co-existing with a cholesteatoma. Conclusion: Due to its rarity and variable clinical presentations, the diagnosis of RDD is seldom clinically considered. Extranodal sinus RDD morphologically can be pitfall as mimicker of spindly neoplasm, especially at intraoperative consultation. It can create diagnostic and therapeutic challenges. Correlation of radiological findings with histologic features will help to reach the diagnosis.

Keywords: head and neck, extranodal, rosai-dorfman disease, mimicker, immunohistochemistry

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Authors: Ahmad Zamzam

Abstract:

With the development of the economy in recent years, Saudi Arabia has been maintaining high economic growth. Therefore, its energy consumption has increased dramatically. This economic growth reflected on the expansion of high-rise tower's construction. Jeddah coastal strip (cornice) has many high-rise buildings planned to start next few years. These projects required a massive amount of electricity that was not planned to be supplied by the old infrastructure. This research studies the effect of the building envelope on its thermal performance. It follows a parametric simulation methodology using Ecotect software to analyze the effect of the building envelope design on its cooling energy load for an office high-rise building in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, which includes building geometrical form, massing treatments, orientation and glazing type effect. The research describes an integrated passive design approach to reduce the cooling requirement for high-rise building through an improved building envelope design. The research used Ecotect to make four simulation studies; the first simulation compares the thermal performance of five high-rise buildings, presenting the basic shape of the plan. All the buildings have the same plan area and same floor height. The goal of this simulation is to find out the best shape for the thermal performance. The second simulation studies the effect of orientation on the thermal performance by rotating the same building model to find out the best and the worst angle for the building thermal performance. The third simulation studies the effect of the massing treatment on the total cooling load. It compared five models with different massing treatment, but with the same total built up area. The last simulation studied the effect of the glazing type by comparing the total cooling load of the same building using five different glass type and also studies the feasibility of using these glass types by studying the glass cost effect. The results indicate that using the circle shape as building plan could reduce the thermal cooling load by 40%. Also, using shading devices could reduce the cooling loads by 5%. The study states that using any of the massing grooving, recess or any treatment that could increase the outer exposed surface is not preferred and will decrease the building thermal performance. Also, the result shows that the best direction for glazing and openings from thermal performance viewpoint in Jeddah is the North direction while the worst direction is the East one. The best direction angle for openings - regarding the thermal performance in Jeddah- is 15 deg West and the worst is 250 deg West (110 deg East). Regarding the glass type effect, comparing to the double glass with air fill type as a reference case, the double glass with Air-Low-E will save 14% from the required amount of the thermal cooling load annually. Argon fill and triple glass will save 16% and 17% from the total thermal cooling load respectively, but for the glass cost purpose, using the Argon fill and triple glass is not feasible.

Keywords: passive cooling, reduce thermal load, Jeddah, building shape, energy

Procedia PDF Downloads 106