Search results for: urban green space network

Authors: Jacqueline Kunzelman, Val Anderson, Robert Johnson, Nicholas Anderson, Rebecca Bates

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In an effort to protect honeybees from colony collapse disorder, beekeepers are filing for government permits to use natural lands as summer pasture for honeybees under the multiple-use management regime in the United States. Utilizing natural landscapes in high mountain ranges may help strengthen honeybee colonies, as this natural setting is generally void of chemical pollutants and pesticides that are found in agricultural and urban settings. However, the introduction of a competitive species could greatly impact the native species occupying these natural landscapes. While honeybees and butterflies have different life histories, behavior, and foraging strategies, they compete for the same nectar resources. Few, if any, studies have focused on the potential population effects of commercial honeybees on native butterfly abundance and diversity. This study attempts to observe this impact using a paired before-after control-impact (BACI) design. Over the course of two years, malaise trap samples were collected every week during the months of the flowering season in two similar areas separated by 11 kilometers. Each area contained nine malaise trap sites for replication. In the first year, samples were taken to analyze and establish trends within the pollinating communities. In the second year, honeybees were introduced to only one of the two areas, and a change in trends between the two areas was assessed. Contrary to the original hypothesis, the resulting observation was an overall significant increase in the mean butterfly abundance in the impact areas after honeybees were introduced, while control areas remained relatively stable. This overall increase in abundance over the season can be attributed to an increase in butterflies during the first and second periods of the data collection when populations were near their peak. Several potential theories are 1) Honeybees are deterring a natural predator/competitor of butterflies that previously limited population growth. 2) Honeybees are consuming resources regularly used by butterflies, which may extend the foraging time and consequent capture rates of butterflies. 3) Environmental factors such as number of rainy days were inconsistent between control and impact areas, biasing capture rates. This ongoing research will help determine the suitability of high mountain ranges for the summer pasturing of honeybees and the population impacts on many different pollinators.

Keywords: butterfly, competition, honeybee, pollinator

Procedia PDF Downloads 145

Authors: A.Cifarelli, L. Boggioni, F. Bertini, L. Magon, M. Pitalieri, S. Losio

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Nowadays, the growing environmental awareness and the dwindling of fossil resources stimulate the polyurethane (PU) industry towards renewable polymers with low carbon footprint to replace the feed stocks from petroleum sources. The main challenge in this field consists in replacing high-performance products from fossil-fuel with novel synthetic polymers derived from 'green monomers'. The bio-polyols from plant oils have attracted significant industrial interest and major attention in scientific research due to their availability and biodegradability. Triglycerides rich in unsaturated fatty acids, such as soybean oil (SBO) and linseed oil (ELO), are particularly interesting because their structures and functionalities are tunable by chemical modification in order to obtain polymeric materials with expected final properties. Unfortunately, their use is still limited for processing or performance problems because a high functionality, as well as OH number of the polyols will result in an increase in cross-linking densities of the resulting PUs. The main aim of this study is to evaluate soy and linseed-based polyols as precursors to prepare prepolymers for the production of polyurethane foams (PUFs) or waterborne-polyurethanes (WPU) used as coatings. An effective reaction route is employed for its simplicity and economic impact. Indeed, bio-polyols were synthesized by a two-step method: epoxidation of the double bonds in vegetable oils and solvent-free ring-opening reaction of the oxirane with organic acids. No organic solvents have been used. Acids with different moieties (aliphatic or aromatics) and different length of hydrocarbon backbones can be used to customize polyols with different functionalities. The ring-opening reaction requires a fine tuning of the experimental conditions (time, temperature, molar ratio of carboxylic acid and epoxy group) to control the acidity value of end-product as well as the amount of residual starting materials. Besides, a Lewis base catalyst is used to favor the ring opening reaction of internal epoxy groups of the epoxidized oil and minimize the formation of cross-linked structures in order to achieve less viscous and more processable polyols with narrower polydispersity indices (molecular weight lower than 2000 g/mol⁻¹). The functionality of optimized polyols is tuned from 2 to 4 per molecule. The obtained polyols are characterized by means of GPC, NMR (¹H, ¹³C) and FT-IR spectroscopy to evaluate molecular masses, molecular mass distributions, microstructures and linkage pathways. Several polyurethane foams have been prepared by prepolymer method blending conventional synthetic polyols with new bio-polyols from soybean and linseed oils without using organic solvents. The compatibility of such bio-polyols with commercial polyols and diisocyanates is demonstrated. The influence of the bio-polyols on the foam morphology (cellular structure, interconnectivity), density, mechanical and thermal properties has been studied. Moreover, bio-based WPUs have been synthesized by well-established processing technology. In this synthesis, a portion of commercial polyols is substituted by the new bio-polyols and the properties of the coatings on leather substrates have been evaluated to determine coating hardness, abrasion resistance, impact resistance, gloss, chemical resistance, flammability, durability, and adhesive strength.

Keywords: bio-polyols, polyurethane foams, solvent free synthesis, waterborne-polyurethanes

Procedia PDF Downloads 128

Authors: Athena Daniilidou, Maria Platsidou

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Resilience is considered to greatly affect the personal and occupational wellbeing and efficacy of individuals; therefore, it has been widely studied in the social and behavioral sciences. Given its significance, several scales have been created to assess resilience of children and adults. However, most of these scales focus on examining only the internal protective or risk factors that affect the levels of resilience. The aim of the present study is to create a reliable scale that assesses both the internal and the external protective factors that affect Greek teachers’ levels of resilience. Participants were 136 secondary school teachers (89 females, 47 males) from urban areas of Greece. Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-Risc) and Resilience Scale for Adults (RSA) were used to collect the data. First, exploratory factor analysis was employed to investigate the inner structure of each scale. For both scales, the analyses revealed a differentiated factor solution compared to the ones proposed by the creators. That prompt us to create a scale that would combine the best fitting subscales of the CD-Risc and the RSA. To this end, the items of the four factors with the best fit and highest reliability were used to create the ‘Teachers' resilience scale’. Exploratory factor analysis revealed that the scale assesses the following protective/risk factors: Personal Competence and Strength (9 items, α=.83), Family Cohesion Spiritual Influences (7 items, α=.80), Social Competence and Peers Support (7 items, α=.78) and Spiritual Influence (3 items, α=.58). This four-factor model explained 49,50% of the total variance. In the next step, a confirmatory factor analysis was performed on the 26 items of the derived scale to test the above factor solution. The fit of the model to the data was good (χ2/292 = 1.245, CFI = .921, GFI = .829, SRMR = .074, CI90% = .026-,056, RMSEA = 0.43), indicating that the proposed scale can validly measure the aforementioned four aspects of teachers' resilience and thus confirmed its factorial validity. Finally, analyses of variance were performed to check for individual differences in the levels of teachers' resilience in relation to their gender, age, marital status, level of studies, and teaching specialty. Results were consistent to previous findings, thus providing an indication of discriminant validity for the instrument. This scale has the advantage of assessing both the internal and the external protective factors of resilience in a brief yet comprehensive way, since it consists 26 items instead of the total of 58 of the CD-Risc and RSA scales. Its factorial inner structure is supported by the relevant literature on resilience, as it captures the major protective factors of resilience identified in previous studies.

Keywords: protective factors, resilience, scale development, teachers

Procedia PDF Downloads 295

Authors: Mavis Ofosuah Asante, Abena Abokoma Asemanyi, Belinda Osei-mensah, Stephen Osei Akyiaw

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The study examined mobile money service fraud experiences and perspectives on control practices at University of Education, Winneba. The objectives of the study included to examine the forms of MoMo fraud strategies experienced by customers of MoMo on UEW Campus, to examine and classify the main perpetrators of the MoMo fraud among UEW students as well as the framework for fraud detection put together by the Telco’s and consumers on UEW Campus. The study adopted the case study research design. The purposive sampling technique was used to select the UEW Campus. Using the convenience sampling technique, five respondents were sampled for the study. The outcome of the in-depth interviews conducted revealed Mobile money fraud was committed in various forms, such as anonymous calls and text messages from scammers, fraudsters calling to deceive subscribers that they are to deliver goods from abroad or from a close relative under false pretexts. Finally, fraudsters sending false cash-out messages to merchants for authorization of which the physical cash is issued by the merchant to the fraudster without the equivalent e-cash. Mobile money fraud has been perpetuated in diverse forms such as mobile money network systems fraud, false promotion fraud, and reversal of erroneous transactions, fortuitous scams, and mobile money agents' fraud. Finally, the frameworks that have been used to detect mobile money fraud include the display of national identifies cards for the transaction, digital identification systems, the use of firewall to protect mobile money accounts, effective information technology architecture for mobile money services, reporting of mobile money fraud to telecoms and the sanctioning of mobile money fraudsters. The study suggested there should be public education and awareness creation on the activities of mobile money fraudsters in Ghana by telecommunication companies in conjunction with the National Communications Authority and the Bank of Ghana. The study, therefore, concluded that the menace of mobile money fraud threatens the integrity of the mobile money financial services.

Keywords: mobile money, fraud, telecommunication, merchant

Procedia PDF Downloads 77

Authors: Nik Smits, Stijn Goeminne

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Despite the extensive literature on the relation between crime and migration, not much is known about how crime affects the tax capacity of local communities. This paper empirically investigates whether the Flemish local income tax base yield is sensitive to changes in the local crime level. The underlying assumptions are threefold. In a Tiebout world, rational voters holding the local government accountable for the safety of its citizens, move out when the local level of security gets too much alienated from what they want it to be (first assumption). If migration is due to crime, then the more wealthy citizens are expected to move first (second assumption). Looking for a place elsewhere implies transaction costs, which the more wealthy citizens are more likely to be able to pay. As a consequence, the average income per capita and so the income distribution will be affected, which in turn, will influence the local income tax base yield (third assumption). The decreasing average income per capita, if not compensated by increasing earnings by the citizens that are staying or by the new citizens entering the locality, must result in a decreasing local income tax base yield. In the absence of a higher level governments’ compensation, decreasing local tax revenues could prove to be disastrous for a crime-ridden municipality. When communities do not succeed in forcing back the number of offences, this can be the onset of a cumulative process of urban deterioration. A spatial panel data model containing several proxies for the local level of crime in 306 Flemish municipalities covering the period 2000-2014 is used to test the relation between crime and the local income tax base yield. In addition to this direct relation, the underlying assumptions are investigated as well. Preliminary results show a modest, but positive relation between local violent crime rates and the efflux of citizens, persistent up until a 2 year lag. This positive effect is dampened by possible increasing crime rates in neighboring municipalities. The change in violent crimes -and to a lesser extent- thefts and extortions reduce the influx of citizens with a one year lag. Again this effect is diminished by external effects from neighboring municipalities, meaning that increasing crime rates in neighboring municipalities (especially violent crimes) have a positive effect on the local influx of citizens. Crime also has a depressing effect on the average income per capita within a municipality, whereas increasing crime rates in neighboring municipalities increase it. Notwithstanding the previous results, crime does not seem to significantly affect the local tax base yield. The results suggest that the depressing effect of crime on the income basis has to be compensated by a limited, but a wealthier influx of new citizens.

Keywords: crime, local taxes, migration, Tiebout mobility

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Authors: Lisseth Rojas Barreto, Carlos Muñoz Hernández

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The COVID-19 pandemic led to many abrupt changes, including a prolonged lockdown, which brought about work and personal challenges to the population worldwide. Among the most affected populations are women who are workers and housewives at the same time, and especially those who are also parenting. These women were faced with the challenge to perform their usual varied roles during the lockdown from the same physical space, which inevitably had strong repercussions for each of them. This paper will present some results of a research study whose main objective was to examine the possible effects that the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown may have caused in the work, social, family, and personal environments of female English teachers who are also housewives and, by extension in the teaching and learning processes that they lead. Participants included five female English language teachers of a public foreign language school, they are all married, and two of them have children. Similarly, we examined some of the coping strategies these teachers used to tackle the pandemic-related challenges in their different roles, especially those used for their language teaching role; coping strategies are understood as a repertoire of behaviors in response to incidents that can be stressful for the subject, possible challenging events or situations that involve emotions with behaviors and decision-making of people which are used in order to find a meaning or positive result (Lazarus &Folkman, 1986) Following a qualitative-case study design, we gathered the data through a survey and a focus group interview with the participant teachers who work at a public language school in southern Colombia. Preliminary findings indicate that the circumstances that emerged as a result of the pandemic lockdown affected the participants in different ways, including financial, personal, family, health, and work-related issues. Among the strategies that participants found valuable to deal with the novel circumstances, we can highlight the reorganization of the household and work tasks and the increased awareness of time management for the household, work, and leisure. Additionally, we were able to evidence that the participants faced the circumstances with a positive view. Finally, in order to cope with their teaching duties, some participants acknowledged their lack of computer or technology literacy in order to deliver their classes online, which made them find support from their students or more knowledgeable peers to cope with it. Others indicated that they used strategies such as self-learning in order to get acquainted and be able to use the different technological tools and web-based platforms available.

Keywords: coping strategies, language teaching, female teachers, pandemic lockdown

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Authors: Abdel Rahman Khider Hassan

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This paper describes a multi-criteria geospatial model for prediction of landslide hazard zonation (LHZ) for Lake Naivasha catchment (Kenya), based on spatial analysis of integrated datasets of location intrinsic parameters (slope stability factors) and external landslides triggering factors (natural and man-made factors). The intrinsic dataset included: lithology, geometry of slope (slope inclination, aspect, elevation, and curvature) and land use/land cover. The landslides triggering factors included: rainfall as the climatic factor, in addition to the destructive effects reflected by proximity of roads and drainage network to areas that are susceptible to landslides. No published study on landslides has been obtained for this area. Thus, digital datasets of the above spatial parameters were conveniently acquired, stored, manipulated and analyzed in a Geographical Information System (GIS) using a multi-criteria grid overlay technique (in ArcGIS 10.2.2 environment). Deduction of landslide hazard zonation is done by applying weights based on relative contribution of each parameter to the slope instability, and finally, the weighted parameters grids were overlaid together to generate a map of the potential landslide hazard zonation (LHZ) for the lake catchment. From the total surface of 3200 km² of the lake catchment, most of the region (78.7 %; 2518.4 km²) is susceptible to moderate landslide hazards, whilst about 13% (416 km²) is occurring under high hazards. Only 1.0% (32 km²) of the catchment is displaying very high landslide hazards, and the remaining area (7.3 %; 233.6 km²) displays low probability of landslide hazards. This result confirms the importance of steep slope angles, lithology, vegetation land cover and slope orientation (aspect) as the major determining factors of slope failures. The information provided by the produced map of landslide hazard zonation (LHZ) could lay the basis for decision making as well as mitigation and applications in avoiding potential losses caused by landslides in the Lake Naivasha catchment in the Kenya Highlands.

Keywords: decision making, geospatial, landslide, multi-criteria, Naivasha

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Authors: Sreekanth Reddy Ballarapu

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The perception of the whole process of teaching and learning is undergoing a drastic and radical change. More and more student-centered, pragmatic, and flexible approaches are gradually replacing teacher-centered lecturing and structural-syllabus instruction. The issue of teaching English as a Foreign language is no exception in this regard. The traditional Present-Practice-Produce (P-P-P) method of teaching English is overtaken by Task-Based Teaching which is a subsidiary branch of Communicative Language Teaching. At this juncture this article strongly tries to convey that - Task-based learning, has an advantage over other traditional methods of teaching. All teachers of English must try to customize their texts into productive tasks, apply them, and evaluate the students as well as themselves. Task Based Learning is a double edged tool which can enhance the performance of both the teacher and the taught. The sample for this case study is a class of 35 students from Semester III - Network branch at TVTC College of Technology, Adhum - Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The students are high school passed out and aged between 19-21years.For the present study the prescribed textbook Technical English 1 by David Bonamy was used and a number of language tasks were chalked out during the pre- task stage and the learners were made to participate voluntarily and actively. The Action Research methodology was adopted within the dual framework of Communicative Language Teaching and Task-Based Learning. The different tools such as questionnaires, feedback and interviews were used to collect data. This study provides information about various techniques of Communicative Language Teaching and Task Based Learning and focuses primarily on the advantages of using a Task Based Learning approach. This article presents in detail the objectives of the study, the planning and implementation of the action research, the challenges encountered during the execution of the plan, and the pedagogical outcome of this project. These research findings serve two purposes: first, it evaluates the effectiveness of Task Based Learning and, second, it empowers the teacher's professionalism in designing and implementing the tasks. In the end, the possibility of scope for further research is presented in brief.

Keywords: action research, communicative language teaching, task based learning, perception

Procedia PDF Downloads 238

Authors: Lidia Lombardi

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Waste management in Europe and North America is evolving towards sustainable materials management, intended as a systemic approach to using and reusing materials more productively over their entire life cycles. Various waste management strategies are prioritized and ranked from the most to the least environmentally preferred, placing emphasis on reducing, reusing, and recycling as key to sustainable materials management. However, non-recyclable materials must also be appropriately addressed, and waste-to-energy (WtE) offers a solution to manage them, especially when a WtE plant is integrated within a complex system of waste and wastewater treatment plants and potential users of the output flows. To evaluate the environmental effects of such system integration, Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is a helpful and powerful tool. LCA has been largely applied to the waste management sector, dating back to the late 1990s, producing a large number of theoretical studies and applications to the real world as support to waste management planning. However, LCA still has a fundamental role in helping the development of waste management systems supporting decisions. Thus, LCA was applied to evaluate the environmental performances of a Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) management system, with improved separate material collection and recycling and an integrated network of treatment plants including WtE, anaerobic digestion (AD) and also wastewater treatment plant (WWTP), for a reference study case area. The proposed system was compared to the actual situation, characterized by poor recycling, large landfilling and absence of WtE. The LCA results showed that the increased recycling significantly increases the environmental performances, but there is still room for improvement through the introduction of energy recovery (especially by WtE) and through its use within the system, for instance, by feeding the heat to the AD, to sludge recovery processes and supporting the water reuse practice. WtE offers a solution to manage non-recyclable MSW and allows saving important resources (such as landfill volumes and non-renewable energy), reducing the contribution to global warming, and providing an essential contribution to fulfill the goals of really sustainable waste management.

Keywords: anaerobic digestion, life cycle assessment, waste-to-energy, municipal solid waste

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Authors: Suha Alawadhi, Malak Alrasheed

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In the recent past, public participation in governments has been declined to a great extent, as citizens have been isolated from community life and their ability to articulate demands for good government has been noticeably decreased. However, the Internet has introduced new forms of interaction that could enhance different types of relationships, including government-public relationship. In fact, technology-enabled government has become a catalyst for enabling social inclusion. This exploratory study seeks to investigate public perceptions in Kuwait regarding the use of social media networks in government where social capital is built to achieve social inclusion. Social capital has been defined as social networks and connections amongst individuals, that are based on shared trust, ideas and norms, enable participants of a network to act effectively to pursue a shared objective. The quantitative method was used to generate empirical evidence. A questionnaire was designed to address the research objective and reflect the identified constructs: social capital dimensions (bridging, bonding and maintaining social capital), social inclusion, and social equality. In this pilot study, data was collected from a random sample of 61 subjects. The results indicate that all participants have a positive attitude towards the dimensions of social capital (bridging, bonding and maintaining), social inclusion and social equality constructs. Tests of identified constructs against demographic characteristics indicate that there are significant differences between male and female as they perceived bonding and maintaining social capital, social inclusion and social equality whereas no difference was identified in their perceptions of bridging social capital. Also, those who are aged 26-30 perceived bonding and maintaining social capital, social inclusion and social equality negatively compared to those aged 20-25, 31-35, and 40-above whose perceptions were positive. With regard to education, the results also show that those holding high school, university degree and diploma perceived maintaining social capital positively higher than with those who hold graduate degrees. Moreover, a regression model is proposed to study the effect of bridging, bonding, and maintaining social capital on social inclusion via social equality as a mediator. This exploratory study is necessary for testing the validity and reliability of the questionnaire which will be used in the main study that aims to investigate the perceptions of individuals towards building social capital to achieve social inclusion.

Keywords: government, social capital, social inclusion, social networks

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Authors: Priscilla Echeverria

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This paper addresses initial teacher formation as a formative space in which pedagogy students develop a pedagogical agency capacity to contribute to social justice, considering ethical, political, and epistemic dimensions. This paper is structured by discussing first the concepts of agency, pedagogical interaction, and social justice from a critical perspective; and continues offering preliminary results on the capacity of pedagogical agency in novice teachers after the analysis of critical incidents as a research methodology. This study is motivated by the concern that responding to the current neoliberal scenario, many initial teacher formation (ITF) programs have reduced the meaning of education to instruction, and pedagogy to methodology, favouring the formation of a technical professional over a reflective or critical one. From this concern, this study proposes that the restitution of the subject is an urgent task in teacher formation, so it is essential to enable him in his capacity for action and advance in eliminating institutionalized oppression insofar as it affects that capacity. Given that oppression takes place in human interaction, through this work, I propose that initial teacher formation develops sensitivity and educates the gaze to identify oppression and take action against it, both in pedagogical interactions -which configure political, ethical, and epistemic subjectivities- as in the hidden and official curriculum. All this from the premise that modelling democratic and dialogical interactions are basic for any program that seeks to contribute to a more just and empowered society. The contribution of this study lies in the fact that it opens a discussion in an area about which we know little: the impact of the type of interactions offered by university teaching at ITF on the capacity of future teachers to be pedagogical agents. For this reason, this study seeks to gather evidence of the result of this formation, analysing the capacity of pedagogical agency of novice teachers, or, in other words, how capable the graduates of secondary pedagogies are in their first pedagogical experiences to act and make decisions putting the formative purposes that they are capable of autonomously defining before technical or bureaucratic issues imposed by the curriculum or the official culture. This discussion is part of my doctoral research, "The importance of developing the capacity for ethical-political-epistemic agency in novice teachers during initial teacher formation to contribute to social justice", which I am currently developing in the Educational Research program of the University of Lancaster, United Kingdom, as a Conicyt fellow for the 2019 cohort.

Keywords: initial teacher formation, pedagogical agency, pedagogical interaction, social justice, hidden curriculum

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Authors: Nairy Kechichian

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The original Leclerc Bridge is a covered wooden bridge that is considered a Quebec heritage structure with an index of 60, making it a very important provincial bridge from a historical point of view. It was constructed in 1927 and is in the rural area of Abitibi-Temiscamingue. It is a “town Québécois” type of structure, which is generally rare but common for covered bridges in Abitibi-Temiscamingue. This type of structure is composed of two trusses on both sides formed with diagonals, internal bracings, uprights and top and bottom chords to allow the transmission of loads. This structure is mostly known for its solidity, lightweightness, and ease of construction. It is a single-span bridge with a length of 25.3 meters and allows the passage of one vehicle at a time with a 4.22-meter driving lane. The structure is composed of 2 trusses located at each end of the deck, two gabion foundations at both ends, uprights and top and bottom chords. WSP (Williams Sale Partnership) Canada inc. was mandated by the Transport Minister of Quebec in 2019 to increase the capacity of the bridge from 5 tons to 30.6 tons and rehabilitate it, as it has deteriorated quite significantly over the years. The bridge was damaged due to material deterioration over time, exposure to humidity, high load effects and insect infestation. To allow the passage of 3 axle trucks, as well as to keep the integrity of this heritage structure, the final design chosen to rehabilitate the bridge involved adding a new deck independent from the roof structure of the bridge. Essentially, new steel beams support the deck loads and the desired vehicle loads. The roof of the bridge is linked to the steel deck for lateral support, but it is isolated from the wooden deck. The roof is preserved for aesthetic reasons and remains intact as it is a heritage piece. Due to strict traffic management obstacles, an efficient construction method was put into place, which consisted of building a temporary bridge and moving the existing roof onto it to allow the circulation of vehicles on one side of the temporary bridge while providing a working space for the repairs of the roof on the other side to take place simultaneously. In parallel, this method allowed the demolition and reconstruction of the existing foundation, building a new steel deck, and transporting back the roof on the new bridge. One of the main criteria for the rehabilitation of the wooden bridge was to preserve, as much as possible, the existing patrimonial architectural design of the bridge. The project was completed successfully by the end of 2021.

Keywords: covered bridge, wood-steel, short span, town Québécois structure

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Authors: Katharina Kargel, Frederic Vobbe

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Sexual online grooming is generally defined as digital interactions for the purpose of sexual exploitation of children or minors, i.e. as a process for preparing and framing sexual child abuse. Due to its conceptual history, sexual online grooming is often associated with perpetrators who are previously unknown to those affected. While the strategies of perpetrators and the perception of those affected are increasingly being investigated, the instrumentalisation of digital media has not yet been researched much. Therefore, the present paper aims at contributing to this research gap by examining in what kind of ways perpetrators instrumentalise digital media. Our analyses draw on 46 case documentations and 18 interviews with those affected. The cases and the partly narrative interviews were collected by ten cooperating specialist centers working on sexualized violence in childhood and youth. For this purpose, we designed a documentation grid allowing for a detailed case reconstruction i.e. including information on the violence, digital media use and those affected. By using Reflexive Grounded Theory, our analyses emphasize a) the subjective benchmark of professional practitioners as well as those affected and b) the interpretative implications resulting from our researchers’ subjective and emotional interaction with the data material. It should first be noted that sexualized online grooming can result in both online and offline sexualized violence as well as hybrid forms. Furthermore, the perpetrators either come from the immediate social environment of those affected or are unknown to them. The perpetrator-victim relationship plays a more important role with regard to the question of the instrumentalisation of digital media than the question of the space (on vs. off) in which the primary violence is committed. Perpetrators unknown to those affected instrumentalise digital media primarily to establish a sexualized system of norms, which is usually embedded in a supposed love relationship. In some cases, after an initial exchange of sexualized images or video recordings, a latent play on the position of power takes place. In the course of the grooming process, perpetrators from the immediate social environment increasingly instrumentalise digital media to establish an explicit relationship of power and dependence, which is directly determined by coercion, threats and blackmail. The knowledge of possible vulnerabilities is strategically used in the course of maintaining contact. The above explanations lead to the conclusion that the motive for the crime plays an essential role in the question of the instrumentalisation of digital media. It is therefore not surprising that it is mostly the near-field perpetrators without commercial motives who initiate a spiral of violence and stress by digitally distributing sexualized (violent) images and video recordings within the reference system of those affected.

Keywords: sexualized violence, children and youth, grooming, offender strategies, digital media

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Authors: Shegufta Zahan, Muhammad A. Zahin, Muhammad M. Hossain, Raquib Ahsan

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Rice Husk Ash (RHA) is one of the agricultural waste byproducts available widely in the world and contains a large amount of silica. In Bangladesh, stones cannot be used as coarse aggregate in infrastructure works as they are not available and need to be imported from abroad. As a result, bricks are mostly used as coarse aggregates in concrete as they are cheaper and easily produced here. Clay is the raw material for producing brick. Due to rapid urban growth and the industrial revolution, demand for brick is increasing, which led to a decrease in the topsoil. This study aims to produce lightweight block aggregates with sufficient strength utilizing RHA at low cost and use them as an ingredient of concrete. RHA, because of its pozzolanic behavior, can be utilized to produce better quality block aggregates at lower cost, replacing clay content in the bricks. The whole study can be divided into three parts. In the first part, characterization tests on RHA and clay were performed to determine their properties. Six different types of RHA from different mills were characterized by XRD and SEM analysis. Their fineness was determined by conducting a fineness test. The result of XRD confirmed the amorphous state of RHA. The characterization test for clay identifies the sample as “silty clay” with a specific gravity of 2.59 and 14% optimum moisture content. In the second part, blocks were produced with six different types of RHA with different combinations by volume with clay. Then mixtures were manually compacted in molds before subjecting them to oven drying at 120 °C for 7 days. After that, dried blocks were placed in a furnace at 1200 °C to produce ultimate blocks. Loss on ignition test, apparent density test, crushing strength test, efflorescence test, and absorption test were conducted on the blocks to compare their performance with the bricks. For 40% of RHA, the crushing strength result was found 60 MPa, where crushing strength for brick was observed 48.1 MPa. In the third part, the crushed blocks were used as coarse aggregate in concrete cylinders and compared them with brick concrete cylinders. Specimens were cured for 7 days and 28 days. The highest compressive strength of block cylinders for 7 days curing was calculated as 26.1 MPa, whereas, for 28 days curing, it was found 34 MPa. On the other hand, for brick cylinders, the value of compressing strength of 7 days and 28 days curing was observed as 20 MPa and 30 MPa, respectively. These research findings can help with the increasing demand for topsoil of the earth, and also turn a waste product into a valuable one.

Keywords: characterization, furnace, pozzolanic behavior, rice husk ash

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Authors: Francisco Luis Reyes

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European colonization had a profound impact on Latin America. The influence of the old continent can be perceived in the culture, religion, and language of the region as well as the beliefs and attitudes of the population. Music education is not an exception to this phenomenon. With Europeans controlling cultural life and erecting educational institutions across the continent for several centuries, Western European Art Music (WEAM) has polarized music learning in formal spaces. In contrast, the musics from the indigenous population, the African slaves, and the ones that emerged as a result of the cultural mélanges have largely been excluded from primary and secondary schooling. The purpose of this paper is to suggest the inclusion of indigenous music education in primary and secondary music education. The paper employs a philosophical inquiry in order to achieve this aim. Philosophical inquiry seeks to uncover and examine individuals' unconscious beliefs, principles, values, and assumptions to envision potential possibilities. This involves identifying and describing issues within current music teaching and learning practices. High-quality philosophical research tackles problems that are sufficiently narrow (addressing a specific aspect of a single complex topic), realistic (reflecting the experiences of music education), and significant (addressing a widespread and timely issue). Consequently, this methodological approach fits this topic, as the research addresses the omnipresence of WEAM in Latin American music education, the exclusion of indigenous music, and argues about the transformational impact said artistic expressions can have on practices in the region. The paper initially addresses how WEAM became ubiquitous in the region by recounting historical events, and adressing the issues other types of music face entering higher education. According to Shifres and Rosabal-Coto (2017) Latin America still upholds the musical heritage of their colonial period, and its formal music education institutions promote the European ontology instilled during European expansion. In accordance, the work of Reyes and Lorenzo-Quiles (2024), and Soler, Lorenzo-Quiles, and Hargreaves (2014), demonstrate how music institutions in the region uphold foreign narratives. Their studies show that music programs in Puerto Rico and Colombia instruct students in WEAM as well as require skills in said art form to enter the profession, just like other authors have argued (Cain & Walden, 2019, Walden, 2016). Subsequently, the research explains the issues faced by prospective music educators that do not practice WEAM. Roberts (1991a, 1991b, 1993), Green (2012) have found that music education students that do not adhere to the musical culture of their institution, are less likely to finish their degrees. Hence, practicioners of tradional musics might feel out of place in the environment. The ubiquity of WEAM and the exclusion of traditional musics of the region, provide the primary challenges to the inclusion of indigenous musics in formal spaces in primary and secondary education. The presentation then laids the framework for the inclusion indigenous music, and conclusively offers examples of how the musical expressions from the continent can improove the music education practices of the region. As an ending, the article highlights the benefits of these musics that are lacking in current practices.

Keywords: indigenous music education, postmodern music education, decolonization in music education, music education practice, Latin American music education

Procedia PDF Downloads 33

Authors: Karla Lebedoff, Susan Walsh, Michelle Bain

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Eczema is a chronic atopy condition requiring long-term daily management in children. Written action plans for other chronic atopic conditions, such as asthma and food allergies, are widely recommended and distributed to pediatric patients' parents and caregivers, seeking to improve clinical outcomes and become empowered to manage the patient's ever-changing symptoms. Written action plans for eczema, referred to as "asthma of the skin," are not routinely used in practice. Parents of children suffering from eczema rarely receive a written action plan to follow, and commendations supporting eczema action plans are inconsistent. Pediatric patients between birth and 18 years old who were followed for eczema at an urban Midwest community hospital were eligible to participate in this quality improvement project. At the initial visit, parents received instructions on individualized eczema action plans for their child and completed two validated surveys: Health Confidence Score (HCS) and Patient-Oriented Eczema Measure (POEM). Pre- and post-survey responses were collected, and clinical symptom presentation at follow-up were outcome determinants. Project implementation was guided by Institute for Healthcare Improvement's Step-up Framework and the Plan-Do-Study-Act cycle. This project measured clinical outcomes and parent confidence in self-management of their child's eczema symptoms with the responses from 26 participant surveys. Pre-survey responses were collected from 36 participants, though ten were lost to follow-up. Average POEM scores improved by 53%, while average HCS scores remained unchanged. Of seven completed in-person follow-up visits, six clinical progress notes documented improvement. Individualized eczema action plans can be seamlessly incorporated into primary and specialty care visits for pediatric patients suffering from eczema. Following a patient-specific eczema action plan may lessen the daily physical and mental burdens of uncontrolled eczema for children and parents, managing symptoms that chronically flare and recede. Furthermore, incorporating eczema action plans into practice potentially reduces the likely underestimated $5.3 billion economic disease burden of eczema on the U.S. healthcare system.

Keywords: atopic dermatitis, eczema action plan, eczema symptom management, pediatric eczema

Procedia PDF Downloads 133

Authors: Anil S. Khopkar, Kartik S. Pandya

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Overvoltage in power systems is a phenomenon that cannot be avoided. However, it can be controlled to a certain extent. Power system equipment is to be protected against overvoltage to avoid system failure. Metal Oxide Surge Arresters (MOSA) are connected to the system for the protection of the power system against overvoltages. The MOSA will behave as an insulator under normal working conditions, where it offers a conductive path under voltage conditions. MOSA consists of zinc oxide elements (ZnO Blocks), which have non-linear V-I characteristics. ZnO blocks are connected in series and fitted in ceramic or polymer housing. This degrades due to the aging effect under continuous operation. Degradation of zinc oxide elements increases the leakage current flowing from the surge arresters. This Increased leakage current results in the increased temperature of the surge arrester, which further decreases the resistance of zinc oxide elements. As a result, leakage current increases, which again increases the temperature of a MOSA. This creates thermal runaway conditions for MOSA. Once it reaches the thermal runaway condition, it cannot return to normal working conditions. This condition is a primary cause of premature failure of surge arresters, as MOSA constitutes a core protective device for electrical power systems against transients. It contributes significantly to the reliable operation of the power system network. Hence, the condition monitoring of surge arresters should be done at periodic intervals. Online and Offline condition monitoring techniques are available for surge arresters. Offline condition monitoring techniques are not very popular as they require removing surge arresters from the system, which requires system shutdown. Hence, online condition monitoring techniques are very popular. This paper presents the evaluation technique for the surge arrester condition based on the leakage current analysis. Maximum amplitude of total leakage current (IT), Maximum amplitude of fundamental resistive leakage current (IR) and maximum amplitude of third harmonic resistive leakage current (I3rd) have been analyzed as indicators for surge arrester condition monitoring.

Keywords: metal oxide surge arrester (MOSA), over voltage, total leakage current, resistive leakage current

Procedia PDF Downloads 64

Authors: Namrata Jain, Vishaka Karnad

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Fashion has always fascinated people through ages. Indian women’s wear in particular women's western formal wear has gone through transformational phases during the past decade. Increasing number of working women, independence in deciding financial matters, media exposure and awareness of current trends has provided a different dimension to the apparel segment. With globalization and sharing of cultures, in India formal women’s wear is no longer restricted to ethnic outfits like a sari or salwarkameez. Strong western influence has been observed in the process of designing, production and use of western formal wear by working women as consumers. The present study focuses on the psychographics parameters, consumer buying preferences and their relation to the present market scenario. Qualitative and quantitative data was gathered through a observation, consumer survey and study of brands. A questionnaire was prepared and uploaded as a google form to gather primary data from hundred consumer respondents. The respondent samples were drawn through snowball and purposive sampling technique. Consumers’ buying behavior is influenced by various aspects like age group, occupation, income and their personal preferences. Frequency of use, criteria for brand selection, styles of formal wear and motivating factors for purchase of western formals by working women were the other influential factors under consideration. It was observed that higher consumption and more popularity was indicated by women in the age group of 21-30 years. Amongst western formal wear shirts and trousers were noted to be the most preferred in Mumbai. It may be noted that consumers purchased and used branded western formal wear for reasons of comfort and value for money. Past experience in using the product and price were some of the important criteria for brand loyalty but the need for variety lured consumers to look for other brands. Fit of the garment was rated as the most important motivational factor while selecting products for purchase. With the advancement of women’s economic status, self-reliance, women role and image in the society, impulsive buying has increased with increase in consumerism. There is an ever growing demand for innovations in cuts, styles, designs, colors and fabrics. The growing fashion consciousness at the work place has turned women’s formal wear segment into a lucrative and highly evolving market thus providing space for new entrepreneurs to become a part of this developing sector.

Keywords: buying behavior, consumerism, fashion, western formal wear

Procedia PDF Downloads 466

Authors: M. Cabrera, W. Tizani, J. Ninic, F. Wang

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Open section beam to concrete-filled tubular column structures has been increasingly utilized in construction over the past few decades due to their enhanced structural performance, as well as economic and architectural advantages. However, the use of this configuration in construction is limited due to the difficulties in connecting the structural members as there is no access to the inner part of the tube to install standard bolts. Blind-bolted systems are a relatively new approach to overcome this limitation as they only require access to one side of the tubular section to tighten the bolt. The performance of these connections in concrete-filled steel tubular sections remains uncharacterized due to the complex interactions between concrete, bolt, and steel section. Over the last years, research in structural performance has moved to a more sophisticated and efficient approach consisting of machine learning algorithms to generate metamodels. This method reduces the need for developing complex, and computationally expensive finite element models, optimizing the search for desirable design variables. Metamodels generated by a data fusion approach use numerical and experimental results by combining multiple models to capture the dependency between the simulation design variables and connection performance, learning the relations between different design parameters and predicting a given output. Fully characterizing this connection will transform high-rise and multistorey construction by means of the introduction of design guidance for moment-resisting blind-bolted connections, which is currently unavailable. This paper presents a review of the steps taken to develop metamodels generated by means of artificial neural network algorithms which predict the connection stress and stiffness based on the design parameters when using Extended Hollo-Bolt blind bolts. It also provides consideration of the failure modes and mechanisms that contribute to the deformability as well as the feasibility of achieving blind-bolted rigid connections when using the blind fastener.

Keywords: blind-bolted connections, concrete-filled tubular structures, finite element analysis, metamodeling

Procedia PDF Downloads 157

Authors: Zafer Yüce, Paşa Yayla, Alev Taşkın

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There are heaps of analytical methods to estimate the crack growth life of a component. Soft computing methods have an increasing trend in predicting fatigue life. Their ability to build complex relationships and capability to handle huge amounts of data are motivating researchers and industry professionals to employ them for challenging problems. This study focuses on soft computing methods, especially random forest regressors and artificial neural networks with hyperparameter optimization algorithms such as grid search and random grid search, to estimate the crack growth life of an aircraft wing splice joint under variable amplitude loading. TensorFlow and Scikit-learn libraries of Python are used to build the machine learning models for this study. The material considered in this work is 7050-T7451 aluminum, which is commonly preferred as a structural element in the aerospace industry, and regarding the crack type; corner crack is used. A finite element model is built for the joint to calculate fastener loads and stresses on the structure. Since finite element model results are validated with analytical calculations, findings of the finite element model are fed to AFGROW software to calculate analytical crack growth lives. Based on Fighter Aircraft Loading Standard for Fatigue (FALSTAFF), 90 unique fatigue loading spectra are developed for various load levels, and then, these spectrums are utilized as inputs to the artificial neural network and random forest regression models for predicting crack growth life. Finally, the crack growth life predictions of the machine learning models are compared with analytical calculations. According to the findings, a good correlation is observed between analytical and predicted crack growth lives.

Keywords: aircraft, fatigue, joint, life, optimization, prediction.

Procedia PDF Downloads 175

Authors: Monika Foltyn-Zarychta

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Climate change mitigation investment activities are inevitably extended in time extremely. The project cycle does not last for decades – sometimes it stretches out for hundreds of years and the project outcomes impact several generations. The longevity of those activities raises multiple problems in the appraisal procedure. One of the pivotal issues is the choice of the discount rate, which affect tremendously the net present value criterion. The paper aims at estimating the value of social discount rate for intergenerational investment projects in Poland based on individual intertemporal preferences. The analysis is based on questionnaire surveying Polish citizens and designed as contingent valuation method. The analysis aimed at answering two questions: 1) whether the value of the individual discount rate decline with increased time of delay, and 2) whether the value of the individual discount rate changes with increased spatial distance toward the gainers of the project. The valuation questions were designed to identify respondent’s indifference point between lives saved today and in the future due to hypothetical project mitigating climate changes. Several project effects’ delays (of 10, 30, 90 and 150 years) were used to test the decline in value with time. The variability in regard to distance was tested by asking respondents to estimate their indifference point separately for gainers in Poland and in Latvia. The results show that as the time delay increases, the average discount rate value decreases from 15,32% for 10-year delay to 2,75% for 150-year delay. Similar values were estimated for Latvian beneficiaries. There should be also noticed that the average volatility measured by standard deviation also decreased with time delay. However, the results did not show any statistically significant difference in discount rate values for Polish and Latvian gainers. The results showing the decline of the discount rate with time prove the possible economic efficiency of the intergenerational effect of climate change mitigation projects and may induce the assumption of the altruistic behavior of present generation toward future people. Furthermore, it can be backed up by the same discount rate level declared by Polish for distant in space Latvian gainers. The climate change activities usually need significant outlays and the payback period is extremely long. The more precise the variables in the appraisal are, the more trustworthy and rational the investment decision is. The discount rate estimations for Poland add to the vivid discussion concerning the issue of climate change and intergenerational justice.

Keywords: climate change, social discount rate, investment appraisal, intergenerational justice

Procedia PDF Downloads 236

Authors: Arlinda Memetaj

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Building up of a well-functioning administrative justice system is one of the key prerequisites for ensuring the existence of an accountable and efficient public administration in Kosovo as well. To this aim, the country has already established an almost comprehensive legislative and institutional frameworks. The latter derives from (among others) the Kosovo`s Stabilisation and Association Agreement with the EU of 2016. A series of efforts are being presently still undertaken by all relevant domestic and international stakeholders being active in both the Kosovo`s public administration reform and the country` s system of a local self-government. Both systems are thus under a constant state of reform. Despite the aforesaid, there is still a series of shortcomings in the country in above context. There is a lot of backlog of administrative cases in the Prishtina Administrative court; there is a public lack in judiciary; the public administration is organized in a fragmented way; the administrative laws are still not properly implemented at local level; the municipalities` legislative and executive branches are not sufficiently transparent for the ordinary citizens ... Against the above short background, the full paper firstly outlines the legislative and institutional framework of the Kosovo's systems of an administrative justice and local self-government (on the basis of the fact that public administration and local government are not separate fields). It then illustrates the key specific shortcomings in those fields, as seen from the perspective of the citizens' right to good administration. It finally claims that the current status quo situation in the country may be resolved (among others) by granting Kosovo a status of full member state of the Council of Europe or at least granting it with a temporary status of a contracting party of (among others) the European Human Rights Convention. The later would enable all Kosovo citizens (regardless their ethnic or other origin whose human rights are violated by the Kosovo`s relative administrative authorities including the administrative courts) to bring their case/s before the respective well-known European Strasbourg-based Human Rights Court. This would consequently put the State under permanent and full monitoring process, with a view to obliging the country to properly implement the European Court`s decisions (as adopted by this court in those cases). This would be a benefit first of all for the very Kosovo`s ordinary citizens regardless their ethnic or other background. It would provide for a particular positive input in the ongoing efforts being undertaken by Kosovo and Serbia states within the EU-facilitated Dialogue, with a view to building up of an integral administrative justice system at central and local level in the whole Kosovo` s territory. The main method used in this paper is the descriptive, analytical and comparative one.

Keywords: administrative courts, administrative justice, administrative procedure, benefit, European Human Rights Court, human rights, monitoring, reform.

Procedia PDF Downloads 302

Authors: Armando Cartenì

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Within the design of sustainable transportation engineering, the problem of reducing particulate matter (PM) concentrations in railways metro system was not much discussed. It is well known that PM levels in railways metro system are mainly produced by mechanical friction at the rail-wheel-brake interactions and by the PM re-suspension caused by the turbulence generated by the train passage, which causes dangerous problems for passenger health. Starting from these considerations, the aim of this research was twofold: i) to investigate the particulate matter concentrations in a ‘traditional’ railways metro system; ii) to investigate the particulate matter concentrations of a ‘high quality’ metro system equipped with design devices useful for reducing PM concentrations: platform screen doors, rubber-tyred and an advanced ventilation system. Two measurement surveys were performed: one in the ‘traditional’ metro system of Naples (Italy) and onother in the ‘high quality’ rubber-tyred metro system of Turin (Italy). Experimental results regarding the ‘traditional’ metro system of Naples, show that the average PM10 concentrations measured in the underground station platforms are very high and range between 172 and 262 µg/m3 whilst the average PM2,5 concentrations range between 45 and 60 µg/m3, with dangerous problems for passenger health. By contrast the measurements results regarding the ‘high quality’ metro system of Turin show that: i) the average PM10 (PM2.5) concentrations measured in the underground station platform is 22.7 µg/m3 (16.0 µg/m3) with a standard deviation of 9.6 µg/m3 (7.6 µg/m3); ii) the indoor concentrations (both for PM10 and for PM2.5) are statistically lower from those measured in outdoors (with a ratio equal to 0.9-0.8), meaning that the indoor air quality is greater than those in urban ambient; iii) that PM concentrations in underground stations are correlated to the trains passage; iv) the inside trains concentrations (both for PM10 and for PM2.5) are statistically lower from those measured at station platform (with a ratio equal to 0.7-0.8), meaning that inside trains the use of air conditioning system could promote a greater circulation that clean the air. The comparison among the two case studies allow to conclude that the metro system designed with PM reduction devices allow to reduce PM concentration up to 11 times against a ‘traditional’ one. From these results, it is possible to conclude that PM concentrations measured in a ‘high quality’ metro system are significantly lower than the ones measured in a ‘traditional’ railway metro systems. This result allows possessing the bases for the design of useful devices for retrofitting metro systems all around the world.

Keywords: air quality, pollutant emission, quality in public transport, underground railway, external cost reduction, transportation planning

Procedia PDF Downloads 210

Authors: Medine Demir, Volker John

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Fluid equations in a rotating frame of reference have a broad class of important applications in meteorology and oceanography, especially in the large-scale flows considered in ocean and atmosphere, as well as many physical and industrial applications. The Coriolis and the centripetal forces, resulting from the rotation of the earth, play a crucial role in such systems. For such applications it may be required to solve the system in complex three-dimensional geometries. In recent years, the Navier--Stokes equations in a rotating frame have been investigated in a number of papers using the classical inf-sup stable mixed methods, like Taylor-Hood pairs, to contribute to the analysis and the accurate and efficient numerical simulation. Numerical analysis reveals that these classical methods introduce a pressure-dependent contribution in the velocity error bounds that is proportional to some inverse power of the viscosity. Hence, these methods are optimally convergent but small velocity errors might not be achieved for complicated pressures and small viscosity coefficients. Several approaches have been proposed for improving the pressure-robustness of pairs of finite element spaces. In this contribution, a pressure-robust space discretization of the incompressible Navier--Stokes equations in a rotating frame of reference is considered. The discretization employs divergence-free, $H^1$-conforming mixed finite element methods like Scott--Vogelius pairs. However, this approach might come with a modification of the meshes, like the use of barycentric-refined grids in case of Scott--Vogelius pairs. However, this strategy requires the finite element code to have control on the mesh generator which is not realistic in many engineering applications and might also be in conflict with the solver for the linear system. An error estimate for the velocity is derived that tracks the dependency of the error bound on the coefficients of the problem, in particular on the angular velocity. Numerical examples illustrate the theoretical results. The idea of pressure-robust method could be cast on different types of flow problems which would be considered as future studies. As another future research direction, to avoid a modification of the mesh, one may use a very simple parameter-dependent modification of the Scott-Vogelius element, the pressure-wired Stokes element, such that the inf-sup constant is independent of nearly-singular vertices.

Keywords: navier-stokes equations in a rotating frame of refence, coriolis force, pressure-robust error estimate, scott-vogelius pairs of finite element spaces

Procedia PDF Downloads 61

Authors: V. Argyropoulos, M. Nikolaraizi, K. Tanou

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There is little available information concerning the cognitive and communicative abilities of the people who are deaf-blind. This mainly stems from the general inadequacy of existing assessment instruments employed with deafblind individuals. Although considerable variability exists with regard to cognitive capacities of the deaf-blind, careful examination of the literature reveals that the majority of these persons suffer from significant deficits in cognitive and adaptive functioning. The few reports available primarily are case studies, narrative program descriptions, or position papers by workers in the field. Without the objective verification afforded by controlled research, specialists in psychology, education, and other rehabilitation services must rely on personal speculations or biases to guide their decisions in the planning, implementation, and evaluation of services to deaf-blind children and adults. This paper highlights the framework and discusses the results of an action research network. The aim of this study was twofold: a) to describe and analyse the different ways in which a student with deafblindness approached a number of developmental issues such as novel tasks, exploration and manipulation of objects, reactions to social stimuli, motor coordination, and quality of play and b) to map the appropriate functional approach for the specific student that could be used to develop strategies for classroom participation and socialization. The persons involved in this collaborative action research scheme were general teachers, a school counsellor, academic staff and student teachers. Rating scales and checklists were used to gather information in natural activities and settings, and additional data were also obtained through interviews with the educators of the student. The findings of this case study indicated that there is a great need to focus on the development of effective intervention strategies. The results showed that the identification of positive reinforcers for this population might represent an important and challenging aspect of behaviour programmes. Finally, the findings suggest that additional empirical work is needed to increase attention to methodological and social validity issues.

Keywords: action research, cognitive and communicative abilities, deafblindness, effective strategies

Procedia PDF Downloads 183

Authors: Fatemeh Elmi, Zahra Etemadifar

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Improvement of soil mechanical properties is crucial before its use in construction, as the low mechanical strength and unstable structure of soil in many parts of the world can lead to the destruction of engineering infrastructure, resulting in financial and human losses. Although, conventional methods, such as chemical injection, are often utilized to enhance soil strength and stiffness, they are generally expensive, require heavy machinery, and cause significant environmental effects due to chemical usage, and also disrupt urban infrastructure. Moreover, they are not suitable for treating large volume of soil. Recently, an alternative method to improve various soil properties, including strength, hardness, and permeability, has received much attention: the application of biological methods. One of the most widely used is biocementation, which is based on the microbial precipitation of calcium carbonte crystalls using ureolytic bacteria However, there are still limitations to its large-scale use that need to be resolved before it can be commercialized. These issues have not received enough attention in prior research. One limitation of MICP (microbially induced calcium carbonate precipitation) is that microorganisms cannot operate effectively in harsh and variable environments, unlike the controlled conditions of a laboratory. Another limitation of applying this technique on a large scale is the high cost of producing a substantial amount of bacterial culture and reagents required for soil treatment. Therefore, the purpose of the present study was to investigate soil improvement using the biocementation activity of poly-extremophile, calcium carbonate crystal- producing bacterial strain, Bhargavaea cecembensis N1, in whey as an inexpensive medium. This strain was isolated and molecularly identified from sandy soils in our previous research, and its 16S rRNA gene sequences was deposited in the NCBI Gene Bank with an accession number MK420385. This strain exhibited a high level of urease activity (8.16 U/ml) and produced a large amount of calcium carbonate (4.1 mg/ ml). It was able to improve the soil by increasing the compressive strength up to 205 kPa and reducing permeability by 36%, with 20% of the improvement attributable of calcium carbonate production. This was achieved using this strain in a whey culture medium. This strain can be an eco-friendly and economical alternative to conventional methods in soil stabilization, and other MICP related applications.

Keywords: biocementation, Bhargavaea cecembensis, soil improvement, whey culture medium

Procedia PDF Downloads 52

Authors: Christakis Chatzichristou, Elias Kranos

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Architectural awards, especially if they are given by the state, recognize excellence in the field and, at the same time, strongly contribute to the making of the architectural culture of a place. The present research looks at the houses that have been awarded through such a system in Cyprus in order to discuss the values promoted, directly or not, by such a setup which is quite similar to other prestigious award systems such as the Mies van de Rohe Prize in Europe. In fact, many of the projects signed out through the state award system end up being selected to represent the country for the European awards. The residential architecture encouraged by such systems is quite interesting in that the most public of institutions influence how the most private unit of society is architecturally accommodated. The methodology uses both qualitative as well as quantitative research tools in order to analyze: the official state call for entries to the competition; the final report of the evaluation committee; the spatial characteristics of the houses through the Space Syntax methodology; the statements of the architects regarding their intentions and the final outcome; the feelings of the owners and users of the houses regarding the design process as well as the degree of satisfaction regarding the final product. The above-mentioned analyses allow for a more thorough discussion regarding not only the values promoted explicitly by the system through the brief that describes what the evaluation committee is looking for but also the values that are actually being promoted indirectly through the results of the actual evaluation itself. The findings suggest that: the strong emphasis in brief on bioclimatic design and issues of sustainability weakens significantly, if at all present, in the actual selection process; continuous improvement seems to be fuzzily used as a concept; most of the houses tend to have a similar spatial genotype; most of the houses have similar aesthetic qualities; discrepancies between the proposed lifestyle through the design and the actual use of the spaces do not seem to be acknowledged in the evaluation as an issue; the temporal factor seems to be ignored as the projects are required to be ‘finished projects’ as though the users and their needs do not change through time. The research suggests that, rather than preserving a critical attitude regarding the role of the architect in society, the state award system tends, like any other non-reflective social organism, to simply promote its own unexamined values as well as prejudices. This is perhaps more evident in the shared aesthetic character of the awarded houses and less so in the hidden spatial genotype to which they belong. If the design of houses is indeed a great opportunity for architecture to contribute in a more deliberate manner to the evolution of society, then what the present study shows is that this opportunity seems to be largely missed. The findings may serve better less as a verdict and more as a chance for introspection and discussion.

Keywords: award systems, houses, spatial genotype, aesthetic qualities

Procedia PDF Downloads 69

Authors: Silvia Baralla, Raffaella Zucaro, Romina Lorenzetti

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Water management needs to cope with economic, societal, and environmental changes. This could be guaranteed through 'shifting from government to governance'. In the last decades, it was applied in Europe through and within important legislative pillars (Water Framework Directive and Common Agricultural Policy) and their measures focused on resilience and adaptation to climate change, with particular attention to the creation of synergies among policies and all the actors involved at different levels. Within the climate change context, the agricultural sector can play, through sustainable water management, a leading role for climate-resilient growth and environmental integrity. A recent analysis on the water management governance of different countries identified some common gaps dealing with administrative, policy, information, capacity building, funding, objective, and accountability. The ability of a country to fill these gaps is an essential requirement to make some of the changes requested by Europe, in particular the improvement of the agro-ecosystem resilience to the effect of climatic change, supporting green and digital transitions, and sustainable water use. This research aims to contribute in sharing examples of water governances and related advantages useful to fill the highlighted gaps. Italy has developed a strong and exhaustive model of water governance in order to react with strategic and synergic actions since it is one of the European countries most threatened by climate change and its extreme events (drought, floods). In particular, the Italian water governance model was able to overcome several gaps, specifically as concerns the water use in agriculture, adopting strategies as a systemic/integrated approach, the stakeholder engagement, capacity building, the improvement of planning and monitoring ability, and an adaptive/resilient strategy for funding activities. They were carried out, putting in place regulatory, structural, and management actions. Regulatory actions include both the institution of technical committees grouping together water decision-makers and the elaboration of operative manuals and guidelines by means of a participative and cross-cutting approach. Structural actions deal with the funding of interventions within European and national funds according to the principles of coherence and complementarity. Finally, management actions regard the introduction of operational tools to support decision-makers in order to improve planning and monitoring ability. In particular, two cross-functional and interoperable web databases were introduced: SIGRIAN (National Information System for Water Resources Management in Agriculture) and DANIA (National Database of Investments for Irrigation and the Environment). Their interconnection allows to support sustainable investments, taking into account the compliance about irrigation volumes quantified in SIGRIAN, ensuring a high level of attention on water saving, and monitoring the efficiency of funding. Main positive results from the Italian water governance model deal with a synergic and coordinated work at the national, regional, and local level among institutions, the transparency on water use in agriculture, a deeper understanding from the stakeholder side of the importance of their roles and of their own potential benefits and the capacity to guarantee continuity to this model, through a sensitization process and the combined use of management operational tools.

Keywords: agricultural sustainability, governance model, water management, water policies

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Authors: Mohamed Mouloud Haddak, Bouthayna Hayou

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Road accidents in French overseas territories have been understudied, with relevant data often collected late and incompletely. Although these territories account for only 3% to 4% of road traffic injuries in France, their unique characteristics merit closer attention. Despite lower mobility and, consequently, lower exposure to road risks, the actual road risk in Overseas France is as high or even higher than in Metropolitan France. Significant disparities exist not only between Metropolitan France and Overseas territories but also among the overseas territories themselves. The varying population densities in these regions do not fully explain these differences, as each territory has its own distinct vulnerabilities and road safety challenges. This analysis, based on BAAC data files from 2005 to 2018 for both Metropolitan France and the overseas departments and regions, examines key variables such as gender, age, type of road user, type of obstacle hit, type of trip, road category, traffic conditions, weather, and location of accidents. Logistic regression models were built for each region to investigate the risk factors associated with fatal road accidents, focusing on the probability of being killed versus injured. Due to insufficient data, Mayotte and the Overseas Communities (French Polynesia and New Caledonia) were not included in the models. The findings reveal that road safety is worse in the overseas territories compared to Metropolitan France, particularly for vulnerable road users such as pedestrians and motorized two-wheelers. These territories present an accident profile that sits between that of Metropolitan France and middle-income countries. A pressing need exists to standardize accident data collection between Metropolitan and Overseas France to allow for more detailed comparative analyses. Further epidemiological studies could help identify the specific road safety issues unique to each territory, particularly with regards to socio-economic factors such as social cohesion, which may influence road safety outcomes. Moreover, the lack of data on new modes of travel, such as electric scooters, and the absence of socio-economic details of accident victims complicate the evaluation of emerging risk factors. Additional research, including sociological and psychosocial studies, is essential for understanding road users' behavior and perceptions of road risk, which could also provide valuable insights into accident trends in peri-urban areas in France.

Keywords: multivariate logistic regression, french overseas regions, road safety, road traffic accidents, territorial inequalities

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Authors: Tacho Rubby Kong

Abstract:

Community health workers’ performances are known to influence members’ behaviours and practices while translating policies into service delivery. However, little remains known about the extent to which this remains true within interventions aimed at addressing malaria burden in low-resource settings like Cameroon. The objective of this study was to examine the health workers’ performance and their influence on the adoption of strategies to address the malaria burden at a subnational level health system in Cameroon. A qualitative exploratory design was adopted on a purposively selected sample of 18 key informants. The study was conducted in Konye health district among sub-national health systems, managers, health facility in-charges, and frontline community health workers. Data was collected using semi-structured interview guides in a face-to-face interview with respondents. The analysis adopted a thematic approach utilising journals, credible authors, and peer review articles for data management. Participants acknowledged that workplace networks were influential during the implementation of policies to address malaria. The influence exerted was in form of linkage with other services, caution, and advice regarding strict adherence to policy recommendations, perhaps reflective of the level of trust in providers’ ability to adhere to policy provisions. At the district health management level and among non-state actors, support in perceived areas of weak performance in policy implementation was observed. In addition, timely initiation of contact and subsequent referral was another aspect where community health workers exerted influence while translating policies to address the malaria burden. While the level of support from among network peers was observed to influence community health workers’ adoption and implementation of strategies to address the malaria burden, different mechanisms triggered subsequent response and level of adherence to recommended policy aspects. Drawing from the elicited responses, it was infer that community health workers’ performance influence the direction and extent of success in policy implementation to address the malaria burden at the subnational level.

Keywords: subnational, community, malaria, strategy

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