Search results for: Spice trade route

Authors: Kim Anema, Matthias Max, Chris Zevenbergen

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For any flood risk manager the 'safety paradox' has to be a familiar concept: low probability leads to a sense of safety, which leads to more investments in the area, which leads to higher potential consequences: keeping the aggregated risk (probability*consequences) at the same level. Therefore, it is important to mitigate potential consequences apart from probability. However, when the (perceived) probability is so low that there is no recognizable trend for society to adapt to, addressing the potential consequences will always be the lagging point on the agenda. Preparedness programs fail because of lack of interest and urgency, policy makers are distracted by their day to day business and there's always a more urgent issue to spend the taxpayer's money on. The leading question in this study was how to address the social consequences of flooding in a context of (perceived) low probability. Disruptions of everyday urban life, large or small, can be caused by a variety of (un)expected things - of which flooding is only one possibility. Variability like this is typically addressed with resilience - and we used the concept of Community Resilience as the framework for this study. Drawing on face to face interviews, an extensive questionnaire and publicly available statistical data we explored the 'whole society response' to two recent urban flood events; the Brisbane Floods (AUS) in 2011 and the Dresden Floods (GE) in 2013. In Brisbane, we studied how the societal impacts of the floods were counteracted by both authorities and the public, and in Dresden we were able to validate our findings. A large part of the reactions, both public as institutional, to these two urban flood events were not fuelled by preparedness or proper planning. Instead, more important success factors in counteracting social impacts like demographic changes in neighborhoods and (non-)economic losses were dynamics like community action, flexibility and creativity from authorities, leadership, informal connections and a shared narrative. These proved to be the determining factors for the quality and speed of recovery in both cities. The resilience of the community in Brisbane was good, due to (i) the approachability of (local) authorities, (ii) a big group of ‘secondary victims’ and (iii) clear leadership. All three of these elements were amplified by the use of social media and/ or web 2.0 by both the communities and the authorities involved. The numerous contacts and social connections made through the web were fast, need driven and, in their own way, orderly. Similarly in Dresden large groups of 'unprepared', ad hoc organized citizens managed to work together with authorities in a way that was effective and speeded up recovery. The concept of community resilience is better fitted than 'social adaptation' to deal with the potential consequences of an (im)probable flood. Community resilience is built on capacities and dynamics that are part of everyday life and which can be invested in pre-event to minimize the social impact of urban flooding. Investing in these might even have beneficial trade-offs in other policy fields.

Keywords: community resilience, disaster response, social consequences, preparedness

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Authors: Oliver Bertram, Leonel Akoto Chama

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In today's civil transport aircraft, the design of flight control systems is based on the experience gained from previous aircraft configurations with a clear distinction between primary and secondary flight control functions for controlling the aircraft altitude and trajectory. Significant system improvements are now seen particularly in multifunctional moveable concepts where the flight control functions are no longer considered separate but integral. This allows new functions to be implemented in order to improve the overall aircraft performance. However, the classical design process of flight controls is sequential and insufficiently interdisciplinary. In particular, the systems discipline is involved only rudimentarily in the early phase. In many cases, the task of systems design is limited to meeting the requirements of the upstream disciplines, which may lead to integration problems later. For this reason, approaching design with an incremental development is required to reduce the risk of a complete redesign. Although the potential and the path to multifunctional moveable concepts are shown, the complete re-engineering of aircraft concepts with less classic moveable concepts is associated with a considerable risk for the design due to the lack of design methods. This represents an obstacle to major leaps in technology. This gap in state of the art is even further increased if, in the future, unconventional aircraft configurations shall be considered, where no reference data or architectures are available. This means that the use of the above-mentioned experience-based approach used for conventional configurations is limited and not applicable to the next generation of aircraft. In particular, there is a need for methods and tools for a rapid trade-off between new multifunctional flight control systems architectures. To close this gap in the state of the art, an integrated system-driven design process for multifunctional flight control systems of non-classical aircraft configurations will be presented. The overall goal of the design process is to find optimal solutions for single or combined target criteria in a fast process from the very large solution space for the flight control system. In contrast to the state of the art, all disciplines are involved for a holistic design in an integrated rather than a sequential process. To emphasize the systems discipline, this paper focuses on the methodology for designing moveable actuation systems in the context of this integrated design process of multifunctional moveables. The methodology includes different approaches for creating system architectures, component design methods as well as the necessary process outputs to evaluate the systems. An application example of a reference configuration is used to demonstrate the process and validate the results. For this, new unconventional hydraulic and electrical flight control system architectures are calculated which result from the higher requirements for multifunctional moveable concept. In addition to typical key performance indicators such as mass and required power requirements, the results regarding the feasibility and wing integration aspects of the system components are examined and discussed here. This is intended to show how the systems design can influence and drive the wing and overall aircraft design.

Keywords: actuation systems, flight control surfaces, multi-functional movables, wing design process

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Authors: Yildiz Stella Dak, Jale Tezcan

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Ground motion models that relate a strong motion parameter of interest to a set of predictive seismological variables describing the earthquake source, the propagation path of the seismic wave, and the local site conditions constitute a critical component of seismic hazard analyses. When a sufficient number of strong motion records are available, ground motion relations are developed using statistical analysis of the recorded ground motion data. In regions lacking a sufficient number of recordings, a synthetic database is developed using stochastic, theoretical or hybrid approaches. Regardless of the manner the database was developed, ground motion relations are developed using regression analysis. Development of a ground motion relation is a challenging process which inevitably requires the modeler to make subjective decisions regarding the inclusion criteria of the recordings, the functional form of the model and the set of seismological variables to be included in the model. Because these decisions are critically important to the validity and the applicability of the model, there is a continuous interest on procedures that will facilitate the development of ground motion models. This paper proposes the use of the Least Absolute Shrinkage and Selection Operator (LASSO) in selecting the set predictive seismological variables to be used in developing a ground motion relation. The LASSO can be described as a penalized regression technique with a built-in capability of variable selection. Similar to the ridge regression, the LASSO is based on the idea of shrinking the regression coefficients to reduce the variance of the model. Unlike ridge regression, where the coefficients are shrunk but never set equal to zero, the LASSO sets some of the coefficients exactly to zero, effectively performing variable selection. Given a set of candidate input variables and the output variable of interest, LASSO allows ranking the input variables in terms of their relative importance, thereby facilitating the selection of the set of variables to be included in the model. Because the risk of overfitting increases as the ratio of the number of predictors to the number of recordings increases, selection of a compact set of variables is important in cases where a small number of recordings are available. In addition, identification of a small set of variables can improve the interpretability of the resulting model, especially when there is a large number of candidate predictors. A practical application of the proposed approach is presented, using more than 600 recordings from the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) database, where the effect of a set of seismological predictors on the 5% damped maximum direction spectral acceleration is investigated. The set of candidate predictors considered are Magnitude, Rrup, Vs30. Using LASSO, the relative importance of the candidate predictors has been ranked. Regression models with increasing levels of complexity were constructed using one, two, three, and four best predictors, and the models’ ability to explain the observed variance in the target variable have been compared. The bias-variance trade-off in the context of model selection is discussed.

Keywords: ground motion modeling, least absolute shrinkage and selection operator, penalized regression, variable selection

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Authors: Mikel W. Cole, Stephanie M. Madison, Adam Henze

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Since 2004, the U.S. immigrant detention system has imprisoned more than five million people. President John F. Kennedy famously dubbed this country a “Nation of Immigrants.” Like many of the nation’s imagined ideals, the historical record finds its practices have never lived up to the tenets championed as defining qualities.The United Nations High Commission on Refugees argues the educational needs of people in carceral spaces, especially those in immigrant detention centers, are urgent and supported by human rights guarantees. However, there is a genuine dearth of literacy research in immigrant detention centers, compounded by a general lack of access to these spaces. Denying access to literacy education in detention centers is one way the history of xenophobic immigration policy persists. In this conceptual exploration, first-hand accounts from detained individuals, their families, and the organizations that work with them have been shared with the authors. In this paper, the authors draw on experiences, reflections, and observations from serving as volunteers to develop a conceptual framework for the ways in which literacy practices are enacted in detention centers. Literacy is an essential tool for accessing those detained in immigrant detention centers and a critical tool for those being detained to access legal and other services. One of the most striking things about the detention center is how to behave; gaining access for a visit is neither intuitive nor straightforward. The men experiencing detention are also at a disadvantage. The lack of access to their own documents is a profound barrier to men navigating the complex immigration process. Literacy is much more than a skill for gathering knowledge or accessing carceral spaces; literacy is fundamentally a source of personal empowerment. Frequently men find a way to reclaim their sense of dignity through work on their own terms by exchanging their literacy services for products or credits at the commissary. They write cards and letters for fellow detainees, read mail, and manage the exchange of information between the men and their families. In return, the men who have jobs trade items from the commissary or transfer money to the accounts of the men doing the reading, writing, and drawing. Literacy serves as a form of resistance by providing an outlet for productive work. At its core, literacy is the exchange of ideas between an author and a reader and is a primary source of human connection for individuals in carceral spaces. Father’s Day and Christmas are particularly difficult at detention centers. Men weep when speaking about their children and the overwhelming hopelessness they feel by being separated from them. Yet card-writing campaigns have provided these men with words of encouragement as thousands of hand-written cards make their way to the detention center. There are undoubtedly more literacies being practiced in the immigrant detention center where we work and at other detention centers across the country, and these categories are early conceptions with which we are still wrestling.

Keywords: detention centers, education, immigration, literacy

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Authors: Adu-Ampomah Yaw Junior

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Local procurement has become one of the latest trends in the discourse of sustainable tourism due to the economic benefits it generates for tourist destinations in developing countries. Local procurement helps in creating jobs which consequently helps in alleviating poverty. However, there have been limited studies on local procurement patterns in developing countries. Research on hotel procurement practices has mainly emphasized the challenges that hoteliers face when procuring locally, leaving questions regarding their motivations to engage in local procurement unanswered. The institutional theory provides a suitable framework to better understand these motivations as it underlines the importance of individual cognitive perceptions on issues in shaping organizational response strategies. More specifically, the extent to which an issue is perceived to belong to the organization’s responsibility. Also the organizational actors’ belief of losses or gains resultant from acting or not acting on an issue (degree of importance). Furthermore the organizational actors’ belief of the probability of resolving an issue (degree of feasibility). These factors influence how an organization will act on this issue. Hence, this paper adopts an institutional perspective to examine local procurement patterns of food by hoteliers in Ghana. Qualitative interviews with 20 procurement managers about their procurement practices and motivations, as well as interviews with different stakeholders for data triangulation purposes, indicated that most hotels sourced their food from middlemen who imported most of their products. However, direct importation was more prevalent foreign owned hotels as opposed to locally owned ones. Notwithstanding, the importation and the usage of foreign foods as opposed to local ones can be explained by the lack of pressure from NGOs and trade associations on hotels to act responsibly. Though guests’ menu preferences were perceived as important to hoteliers business operations, western tourists demand foreign food primarily with the foreign owned hotels make it less important to procure local produce. Lastly hoteliers, particularly those in foreign owned ones, perceive local procurement to be less feasible, raising concerns about quality and variety of local produce. The paper outlines strategies to improve the perception and degree of local Firstly, there is the need for stakeholder engagement in order to make hoteliers feel responsible for acting on the issue.Again it is crucial for Ghana government to promote and encourage hotels to buy local produce. Also, the government has to also make funds and storage facilities available for farmers to impact on the quality and quantity of local produce. Moreover, Sites need to be secured for farmers to engage in sustained farming.Furthermore, there is the need for collaborations between various stakeholders to organize training programs for farmers. Notwithstanding hotels need to market local produce to their guests. Finally, the Ghana hotels association has to encourage hotels to indulge in local procurement.

Keywords: sustainable tourism, feasible, important, local procurement

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Authors: Kamlesh Shashikant Dave

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The global financial crisis is rooted in the sub-prime crisis in U.S.A. During the boom years, mortgage brokers attracted by the big commission, encouraged buyers with poor credit to accept housing mortgages with little or no down payment and without credit check. A combination of low interest rates and large inflow of foreign funds during the booming years helped the banks to create easy credit conditions for many years. Banks lent money on the assumptions that housing price would continue to rise. Also the real estate bubble encouraged the demand for houses as financial assets .Banks and financial institutions later repackaged these debts with other high risk debts and sold them to worldwide investors creating financial instruments called collateral debt obligations (CDOs). With the rise in interest rate, mortgage payments rose and defaults among the subprime category of borrowers increased accordingly. Through the securitization of mortgage payments, a recession developed in the housing sector and consequently it was transmitted to the entire US economy and rest of the world. The financial credit crisis has moved the US and the global economy into recession. Indian economy has also affected by the spill over effects of the global financial crisis. Great saving habit among people, strong fundamentals, strong conservative and regulatory regime have saved Indian economy from going out of gear, though significant parts of the economy have slowed down. Industrial activity, particularly in the manufacturing and infrastructure sectors decelerated. The service sector too, slow in construction, transport, trade, communication, hotels and restaurants sub sectors. The financial crisis has some adverse impact on the IT sector. Exports had declined in absolute terms in October. Higher inputs costs and dampened demand have dented corporate margins while the uncertainty surrounding the crisis has affected business confidence. To summarize, reckless subprime lending, loose monetary policy of US, expansion of financial derivatives beyond acceptable norms and greed of Wall Street has led to this exceptional global financial and economic crisis. Thus, the global credit crisis of 2008 highlights the need to redesign both the global and domestic financial regulatory systems not only to properly address systematic risk but also to support its proper functioning (i.e financial stability).Such design requires: 1) Well managed financial institutions with effective corporate governance and risk management system 2) Disclosure requirements sufficient to support market discipline. 3)Proper mechanisms for resolving problem institution and 4) Mechanisms to protect financial services consumers in the event of financial institutions failure.

Keywords: FIIs, BSE, sensex, global impact

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Authors: Zo Hasina Rabemananjara

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The North-East of Madagascar is the pillar of Madagascar's foreign trade, providing 41% and 80% of world exports of cloves and vanilla, respectively, in 2016. For Madagascar, the north-eastern escarpment is home to the last massifs of humid forest in large scale of the island, surrounded by a small scale agricultural mosaic. In the sites where this study is taking place, located in the peripheral zones of protected areas, the production of rent aims to supply international markets. In fact, importers of the cash crops produced in these areas are located mainly in India, Singapore, France, Germany and the United States. Recently, the price of these products has increased significantly, especially from the year 2015. For vanilla, the price has skyrocketed, from an approximate price of 73 USD per kilo in 2015 to more than 250 USD per kilo in 2016. The value of clove exports increased sharply by 49.4% in 2017, largely to Singapore and India due to the sharp increase in exported volume (+47, 6%) in 2017. If the relationship between the rise in prices of rented products and the change in physical environments is known, the evolution of the behavior of land users linked to this aspect was not yet addressed by research. In fact, the consequence of this price increase in the organization of the use of space at the local level still raises questions. Hence, the research question is: to what extent does this improvement in the price of imported products affect user behavior linked to the local organization of access to the factor of soil production? To fully appreciate this change in behavior, surveys of 144 land user households were carried out, and group interviews were also carried out. The results of this research showed that the rise in the prices of annuity products from the year 2015 caused significant changes in the behavior of land users in the study sites. Young people, who have not been attracted to farming for a long time, have started to show interest in it since the period of rising vanilla and clove prices. They have set up their own fields of vanilla and clove cultivation. This revival of interest conferred an important value on the land and caused conflicts especially between family members because the acquisition of the cultivated land was done by inheritance or donation. This change in user behavior has also affected the farmers' life strategy since the latter have decided to abandon rain-fed rice farming, which has long been considered a guaranteed subsistence activity for cash crops. This research will contribute to nourishing scientific reflection on the management of land use and also to support political decision-makers in decision-making on spatial planning.

Keywords: behavior of land users, North-eastern Madagascar, price of export products, spatial planning

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Authors: Murari Prasad

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This paper is motivated by the implications of indentured migration depicted in Amitav Ghosh’s critically acclaimed novel, Sea of Poppies (2008). Ghosh’s perspective on the experiences of North Indian indentured labourers moving from their homeland to a distant and unknown location across the seas suggests a radical attitudinal change among the migrants on board the Ibis, a schooner chartered to carry the recruits from Calcutta to Mauritius in the late 1830s. The novel unfolds the life-altering trauma of the bonded servants, including their efforts to maintain a sense of self while negotiating significant social and cultural transformations during the voyage which leads to the breakdown of familiar life-worlds. Equally, the migrants are introduced to an alternative network of relationships to ensure their survival away from land. They relinquish their entrenched beliefs and prejudices and commit themselves to a new brotherhood formed by ‘ship siblings.’ With the official abolition of direct slavery in 1833, the supply of cheap labour to the sugar plantation in British colonies as far-flung as Mauritius and Fiji to East Africa and the Caribbean sharply declined. Around the same time, China’s attempt to prohibit the illegal importation of opium from British India into China threatened the lucrative opium trade. To run the ever-profitable plantation colonies with cheap labour, Indian peasants, wrenched from their village economies, were indentured to plantations as girmitiyas (vernacularized from ‘agreement’) by the colonial government using the ploy of an optional form of recruitment. After the British conquest of the Isle of France in 1810, Mauritius became Britain’s premier sugar colony bringing waves of Indian immigrants to the island. In the articulations of their subjectivities one notices how the recruits cope with the alienating drudgery of indenture, mitigate the hardships of the voyage and forge new ties with pragmatic acts of cultural syncretism in a forward-looking autonomous community of ‘ship-siblings’ following the fracture of traditional identities. This paper tests the hypothesis that Ghosh envisions a kind of futuristic/utopian political collectivity in a hierarchically rigid, racially segregated and identity-obsessed world. In order to ground the claim and frame the complex representations of alliance and love across the boundaries of caste, religion, gender and nation, the essential methodology here is a close textual analysis of the novel. This methodology will be geared to explicate the utopian futurity that the novel gestures towards by underlining new regulations of life during voyage and dissolution of multiple differences among the indentured migrants on board the Ibis.

Keywords: indenture, colonial, opium, sugar plantation

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Authors: S. Fantin

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This study is the result of the legal research on cybersecurity and data protection within the EUNITY (Cybersecurity and Privacy Dialogue between Europe and Japan) project, aimed at fostering the dialogue between the European Union and Japan. Based on the research undertaken therein, the author offers an outline of the main asymmetries in the laws governing such fields in the two regions. The research is a comparative analysis of the two legal frameworks, taking into account specific provisions, ratio legis and policy initiatives. Recent doctrine was taken into account, too, as well as empirical interviews with EU and Japanese stakeholders and project partners. With respect to the protection of personal data, the European Union has recently reformed its legal framework with a package which includes a regulation (General Data Protection Regulation), and a directive (Directive 680 on personal data processing in the law enforcement domain). In turn, the Japanese law under scrutiny for this study has been the Act on Protection of Personal Information. Based on a comparative analysis, some asymmetries arise. The main ones refer to the definition of personal information and the scope of the two frameworks. Furthermore, the rights of the data subjects are differently articulated in the two regions, while the nature of sanctions take two opposite approaches. Regarding the cybersecurity framework, the situation looks similarly misaligned. Japan’s main text of reference is the Basic Cybersecurity Act, while the European Union has a more fragmented legal structure (to name a few, Network and Information Security Directive, Critical Infrastructure Directive and Directive on the Attacks at Information Systems). On an relevant note, unlike a more industry-oriented European approach, the concept of cyber hygiene seems to be neatly embedded in the Japanese legal framework, with a number of provisions that alleviate operators’ liability by turning such a burden into a set of recommendations to be primarily observed by citizens. With respect to the reasons to fill such normative gaps, these are mostly grounded on three basis. Firstly, the cross-border nature of cybercrime brings to consider both magnitude of the issue and its regulatory stance globally. Secondly, empirical findings from the EUNITY project showed how recent data breaches and cyber-attacks had shared implications between Europe and Japan. Thirdly, the geopolitical context is currently going through the direction of bringing the two regions to significant agreements from a trade standpoint, but also from a data protection perspective (with an imminent signature by both parts of a so-called ‘Adequacy Decision’). The research conducted in this study reveals two asymmetric legal frameworks on cyber security and data protection. With a view to the future challenges presented by the strengthening of the collaboration between the two regions and the trans-national fashion of cybercrime, it is urged that solutions are found to fill in such gaps, in order to allow European Union and Japan to wisely increment their partnership.

Keywords: cybersecurity, data protection, European Union, Japan

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Authors: Ralph Nyadu-Addo, Francis Matambalya, Utz Dornberger

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The global music industry is a multi-billion dollar sector. The potential of Africa’s music industry is widely recognised in the socio-economic development milieu. It has impacted positively on several sectors including most especially the tourism, media and information, communication technology (ICT) among others. It is becoming increasingly clear that even in Africa (as demonstrated in Nigeria) that in addition to its intrinsic value, the sector has significant economic returns. UNCTAD observed, the creative industries offer some of the best prospects for high growth in least developed countries. The statistics from Africa may be far lower than similar sectors in developed countries but it goes to give further credence to several UNCTAD publications which say the creative industry is under researched and its potential under-estimated but holds the key to its rapid development The emerging creative economy (music in particular) has become a leading component of economic growth, employment, trade, innovation, and social cohesion in many countries. In line with these developments, the Ghana government recognizes the potential that the Creative Industries have to shape and reinforce Ghana’s economic growth. Creative sectors, particularly music, tend to rely less on sophisticated infrastructure or capital-intensive investment. Potential is particularly abundant in Africa, where musical creativity is rich, diverse, well-loved, and constantly evolving while drawing on strong traditions. The development of a popular music industry thus represents low-hanging fruit for most African economies says the World Bank. As we shift towards economic diversification using the creative industry, value is increasingly created at the intersection of arts, business and technology. Cultural and creative entrepreneurs are leading this trend. It is one of the areas where value is captured within the country as emerging trends have shown in Nigeria and Ghana among others. Yet, evidence shows that the potential of the cultural and creative sectors remains largely untapped. Furthermore, its socio-economic impact remains under-researched in many developing countries and its dynamics unknown. Despite its huge influence on music repertoire across the globe, most countries in Africa have not historically been significant markets for the international music industry. Today, that is beginning to change. Generally, reliable and adequate literature about music in the sub-region is difficult to obtain. The growing interests in academia and business cycles about a reliable data on the growing music industry in developing countries have called for an urgent need to undertake this research. Research questions: i. Who are the major stakeholders in the music value chain in Ghana? ii. How much of value is captured domestically iii. What is the economic impact of the Ghanaian music industry iv. How has the advent of ICT (internet) impacted on the music landscape? Research sources will be mainly through interviews of major stakeholders, baseline study of the industry by KPMG and content analysis of related newspapers and magazines.

Keywords: economic impact, information communications technology (ICT), music-industry, value chain

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Authors: Soumya Rajan

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While delving into the heart of any organization, the structural pre-requisites which form the framework of its system, allures and sometimes invokes great interest. In an attempt to understand the ecosystem of Knowledge that existed in organizations with diverse ownership and legal blueprints, Cooperative Societies, which form a crucial part of the neo-liberal movement in India, was studied. The exploration surprisingly led to the re-designing of at least a set of premises of the researcher on the drivers of engagement in an otherwise structured trade environment. The liberal organizational structure of Cooperative Societies has been empowered with certain terminologies: Voluntary, Democratic, Equality and Distributive Justice. To condense in Hubert Calvert’ words, ‘Co-operation is a form of organization wherein persons voluntarily associated together as human beings on the basis of equality for the promotion of the economic interest of themselves.’ In India, largely the institutions which work under this principle is registered under Cooperative Societies Act of the Central or State laws. A Worker Cooperative Society which originated as a movement in the state of Kerala and spread its wings across the country - Indian Coffee House was chosen as the enterprise for further inquiry for it being a living example and a highly successful working model in the designated space. The exploratory study reached out to employees and key stakeholders of Indian Coffee House to understand the nuances of the structure and the scope it provides for engagement. The key questions which formed shape in the mind of researcher while engaging in the inquiry were: How has the organization sustained despite its principle of accepting employees with no skills into employment and later training and empowering them? How can a system which has pre-independence and post-independence (independence here means the colonial independence from Great Britain) existence seek to engage employees within the premise of equality? How was the value of socialism ingrained in a commercial enterprise which has a turnover of several hundreds of Crores each year? How did the vision of a flat structure, way back in the 1940’s find its way into the organizational structure and has continued to remain as the way of life? These questions were addressed by the Case study research that ensued and placing Knowledge as the key premise, the possibilities of engagement of the organization man was pictured. Understanding that although the macro or holistic unit of analysis is the organization, it is pivotal to understand the structures and processes which best reflect on the actors. The embedded design which was adopted in this study delivered insights from the different stakeholder actors from diverse departments. While moving through variables which define and sometimes defy bounds in rationality, the study brought to light the inherent features of the organization structure and how it influences the actors who form a crucial part of the scheme of things. The research brought forth the key enablers for engagement and specifically explored the standpoint of knowledge in the larger structure of the Cooperative Society.

Keywords: knowledge, organizational structure, engagement, worker cooperative

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Authors: M. Balordi, G. Santucci de Magistris, F. Pini, P. Marcacci

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The increasing of extreme meteorological events represents the most important causes of damages and blackouts of the whole electric system. In particular, the icing on ground-wires and overheads lines, due to snowstorms or harsh winter conditions, very often gives rise to the collapse of cables and towers both in cold and warm climates. On the other hand, the high concentration of contaminants in the air, due to natural and/or antropic causes, is reflected in high levels of pollutants layered on glass and ceramic insulators, causing frequent and unpredictable flashover events. Overheads line and insulator failures lead to blackouts, dangerous and expensive maintenances and serious inefficiencies in the distribution service. Inducing superhydrophobic (SHP) properties to conductors, ground-wires and insulators, is one of the ways to face all these problems. Indeed, in some cases, the SHP surface can delay the ice nucleation time and decrease the ice nucleation temperature, preventing ice formation. Besides, thanks to the low surface energy, the adhesion force between ice and a superhydrophobic material are low and the ice can be easily detached from the surface. Moreover, it is well known that superhydrophobic surfaces can have self-cleaning properties: these hinder the deposition of pollution and decrease the probability of flashover phenomena. Here this study presents three different studies to impart superhydrophobicity to aluminum, zinc and glass specimens, which represent the main constituent materials of conductors, ground-wires and insulators, respectively. The route to impart the superhydrophobicity to the metallic surfaces can be summarized in a three-step process: 1) sandblasting treatment, 2) chemical-hydrothermal treatment and 3) coating deposition. The first step is required to create a micro-roughness. In the chemical-hydrothermal treatment a nano-scale metallic oxide (Al or Zn) is grown and, together with the sandblasting treatment, bring about a hierarchical micro-nano structure. By coating an alchilated or fluorinated siloxane coating, the surface energy decreases and gives rise to superhydrophobic surfaces. In order to functionalize the glass, different superhydrophobic powders, obtained by a sol-gel synthesis, were prepared. Further, the specimens were covered with a commercial primer and the powders were deposed on them. All the resulting metallic and glass surfaces showed a noticeable superhydrophobic behavior with a very high water contact angles (>150°) and a very low roll-off angles (<5°). The three optimized processes are fast, cheap and safe, and can be easily replicated on industrial scales. The anti-icing and self-cleaning properties of the surfaces were assessed with several indoor lab-tests that evidenced remarkable anti-icing properties and self-cleaning behavior with respect to the bare materials. Finally, to evaluate the anti-snow properties of the samples, some SHP specimens were exposed under real snow-fall events in the RSE outdoor test-facility located in Vinadio, western Alps: the coated samples delay the formation of the snow-sleeves and facilitate the detachment of the snow. The good results for both indoor and outdoor tests make these materials promising for further development in large scale applications.

Keywords: superhydrophobic coatings, anti-icing, self-cleaning, anti-snow, overheads lines

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Authors: Antonella Falanga, Armando Cartenì

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Today, an unprecedented amount of data coming from several sources, including mobile devices, sensors, tracking systems, and online platforms, characterizes our lives. The term “big data” not only refers to the quantity of data but also to the variety and speed of data generation. These data hold valuable insights that, when extracted and analyzed, facilitate informed decision-making. The 4Vs of big data - velocity, volume, variety, and value - highlight essential aspects, showcasing the rapid generation, vast quantities, diverse sources, and potential value addition of these kinds of data. This surge of information has revolutionized many sectors, such as business for improving decision-making processes, healthcare for clinical record analysis and medical research, education for enhancing teaching methodologies, agriculture for optimizing crop management, finance for risk assessment and fraud detection, media and entertainment for personalized content recommendations, emergency for a real-time response during crisis/events, and also mobility for the urban planning and for the design/management of public and private transport services. Big data's pervasive impact enhances societal aspects, elevating the quality of life, service efficiency, and problem-solving capacities. However, during this transformative era, new challenges arise, including data quality, privacy, data security, cybersecurity, interoperability, the need for advanced infrastructures, and staff training. Within the transportation sector (the one investigated in this research), applications span planning, designing, and managing systems and mobility services. Among the most common big data applications within the transport sector are, for example, real-time traffic monitoring, bus/freight vehicle route optimization, vehicle maintenance, road safety and all the autonomous and connected vehicles applications. Benefits include a reduction in travel times, road accidents and pollutant emissions. Within these issues, the proper transport demand estimation is crucial for sustainable transportation planning. Evaluating the impact of sustainable mobility policies starts with a quantitative analysis of travel demand. Achieving transportation decarbonization goals hinges on precise estimations of demand for individual transport modes. Emerging technologies, offering substantial big data at lower costs than traditional methods, play a pivotal role in this context. Starting from these considerations, this study explores the usefulness impact of big data within transport demand estimation. This research focuses on leveraging (big) data collected during the COVID-19 pandemic to estimate the evolution of the mobility demand in Italy. Estimation results reveal in the post-COVID-19 era, more than 96 million national daily trips, about 2.6 trips per capita, with a mobile population of more than 37.6 million Italian travelers per day. Overall, this research allows us to conclude that big data better enhances rational decision-making for mobility demand estimation, which is imperative for adeptly planning and allocating investments in transportation infrastructures and services.

Keywords: big data, cloud computing, decision-making, mobility demand, transportation

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Authors: Álvaro Turriago-Hoyos

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Most research tends to see innovation as an explanatory factor in achieving high levels of competitiveness and productivity. More recent studies have begun to analyze the determinants of innovation in the services sector as opposed to the much-discussed industrial sector of a country’s economy. This research paper focuses on the services sector in Colombia, one of Latin America’s fastest growing and biggest economies. Over the past decade, much of Colombia’s economic expansion has relied on commodity exports (mainly oil and coffee) whilst the industrial sector has performed relatively poorly. Such developments highlight the potential of the innovative role played by the services sector of the Colombian economy and its future growth prospects. This research paper analyzes the relationship between inputs, which at the same time are internal sources of innovation (such as R&D activities), and external sources that are improved by technology acquisition. The outputs are basically the four kinds of innovation that the OECD Oslo Manual recognizes: product, process, marketing and organizational innovations. The instrument used to measure this input-output relationship is based on Knowledge Production Function approaches. We run Probit models in order to identify the existing relationships between the above inputs and outputs, but also to identify spill-overs derived from interactions of the components of the value chain of the services firms analyzed: customers, suppliers, competitors, and complementary firms. Data are obtained from the Colombian National Administrative Department of Statistics for the period 2008 to 2013 published in the II and III Colombian National Innovation Survey. A short summary of the results obtained lead to conclude that firm size and a firm’s level of technological development turn out to be important discriminating factors for the description of the innovative process at the firm level. The model’s outcomes show a positive impact on the probability of introducing any kind of innovation both on R&D and Technology Acquisition investment. Also, cooperation agreements with customers, research institutes, competitors, and the suppliers are significant. Belonging to a particular industrial group is an important determinant but only to product and organizational innovation. It is possible to establish that Health Services, Education, Computer, Wholesale trade, and Financial Intermediation are the ISIC sectors, which report the highest number of frequencies of the considered set of firms. Those five sectors of the sixteen considered, in all cases, explained more than half of the total of all kinds of innovations. Product Innovation, which is followed by Marketing Innovation, gets the highest results. Displaying the same set of firms distinguishing by size, and belonging to high and low tech services sector shows that the larger the firms the larger a number of innovations, but also that always high-tech firms show a better innovation performance.

Keywords: Colombia, determinants of innovation, innovation, services sector

Procedia PDF Downloads 256

Authors: Ayten Tahirli

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Settlements and grave monuments discovered by archeological excavations conducted in Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic have a special place in studying the Ancient history of Azerbaijan between the 4th century B.C. and the 3rd century A.C. From this point of view, the archeological excavations and investigations conducted at Oglankala, Goshatapa, Babatapa, Pusyan, Agvantapa, Meydantapa and other monuments in Nakhchivan have a specific place. From this point of view, the conclusions of archeological research conducted at the Oglankala settlement enable studying of Nakhchivan history, economic life and trade relationships broadly. Oglankala, which is located on Garatapa Mountain with a space of 50 ha, was the largest fortress in Nakhchivan and one of the largest fortresses in the South Caucasus during the Middle Iron Age. The territory where the monument is located is very important in terms of keeping Sharur Lowland, which has great importance for agriculture and is the most productive territory in Nakhchivan, where Arpachay passes starting from the Lesser Caucasus. During the excavations between 1988 and 1989 at Oglankala, covering the fortress's history belonging to the Early and Middle Iron Ages, indisputable proofs showing that the territory was an important political center were discovered at that territory. Oglankala was the capital city of an independent government during the Middle Iron Age. It maintained economic and cultural relationships with the neighboring Urartu Government and was the capital city of a city government covered by a strong protection system in the centuries after the collapse of the Achaemenid Empire. It is need say that broader archeological excavations at Oglankala City were first started by Vali Bakhshaliyev, the Department Head of the Institute of History, Ethnography and Archeology of ANAS Nakhchivan Branch. Between 1988 and 1989, V.B. Bakhshaliyev conducted an excavation within an area of 320 square meters at Oglankala. Since 2006, Oglankala has become a research object for the International Azerbaijan-USA archeological expedition. In 2006, Lauren Ristvet from Pennsylvania State University, Veli Bakhshaliyev from the Nakhchivan Branch of Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences and Safar Ashurov from Baku Office of Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences, together with their other colleagues and students, started to study the ancient history of that magic area. During the archeological research conducted by an international expedition between 2008 and 2011 under the supervision of Vali Bakhshaliyev, the remnants of a palace and the protective walls of a citadel constructed between late 9th century B.C. and early 8th century A.C. were discovered in that residential area. It was found out that Oglankala was the capital city of a small government established at Sharur Lowland during the Middle Iron Age and struggled against the Urartu by establishing a union with the local tribes. That government had a specific cuneiform script. Between the 4th and 2nd centuries B.C., Oglankala and the territory it covered was one of the major political centers of the Atropathena Government.

Keywords: Nakhchivan, Oglankala, settlement, ceramic, archaeological excavation

Procedia PDF Downloads 64

Authors: Sairah Bashir, Liu Yang, John Liggat, James Thomason

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Glass fibre is currently used as reinforcement in over 90% of all fibre-reinforced composites produced. The high rigidity and chemical resistance of these composites are required for optimum performance but unfortunately results in poor recyclability; when such materials are no longer fit for purpose, they are frequently deposited in landfill sites. Recycling technologies, for example, thermal treatment, can be employed to address this issue; temperatures typically between 450 and 600 °C are required to allow degradation of the rigid polymeric matrix and subsequent extraction of fibrous reinforcement. However, due to the severe thermal conditions utilised in the recycling procedure, glass fibres become too weak for reprocessing in second-life composite materials. In addition, more stringent legislation is being put in place regarding disposal of composite waste, and so it is becoming increasingly important to develop long-term recycling solutions for such materials. In particular, the development of a cost-effective method to regenerate strength of thermally recycled glass fibres will have a positive environmental effect as a reduced volume of composite material will be destined for landfill. This research study has demonstrated the positive impact of sodium hydroxide (NaOH) and potassium hydroxide (KOH) solution, prepared at relatively mild temperatures and at concentrations of 1.5 M and above, on the strength of heat-treated glass fibres. As a result, alkaline treatments can potentially be implemented to glass fibres that are recycled from composite waste to allow their reuse in second-life materials. The optimisation of the strength recovery process is being conducted by varying certain reaction parameters such as molarity of alkaline solution and treatment time. It is believed that deep V-shaped surface flaws exist commonly on severely damaged fibre surfaces and are effectively removed to form smooth, U-shaped structures following alkaline treatment. Although these surface flaws are believed to be present on glass fibres they have not in fact been observed, however, they have recently been discovered in this research investigation through analytical techniques such as AFM (atomic force microscopy) and SEM (scanning electron microscopy). Reaction conditions such as molarity of alkaline solution affect the degree of etching of the glass fibre surface, and therefore the extent to which fibre strength is recovered. A novel method in determining the etching rate of glass fibres after alkaline treatment has been developed, and the data acquired can be correlated with strength. By varying reaction conditions such as alkaline solution temperature and molarity, the activation energy of the glass etching process and the reaction order can be calculated respectively. The promising results obtained from NaOH and KOH treatments have opened an exciting route to strength regeneration of thermally recycled glass fibres, and the optimisation of the alkaline treatment process is being continued in order to produce recycled fibres with properties that match original glass fibre products. The reuse of such glass filaments indicates that closed-loop recycling of glass fibre reinforced composite (GFRC) waste can be achieved. In fact, the development of a closed-loop recycling process for GFRC waste is already underway in this research study.

Keywords: glass fibers, glass strengthening, glass structure and properties, surface reactions and corrosion

Procedia PDF Downloads 236

Authors: Ha Phuong Tran, Feng Wang, Jo Dewulf, Hai Trung Huynh, Thomas Schaubroeck

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The fast increase and complex components have made waste of electrical and electronic equipment (or e-waste) one of the most problematic waste streams worldwide. Precise information on its size on national, regional and global level has therefore been highlighted as prerequisite to obtain a proper management system. However, this is a very challenging task, especially in developing countries where both formal e-waste management system and necessary statistical data for e-waste estimation, i.e. data on the production, sale and trade of electrical and electronic equipment (EEE), are often lacking. Moreover, there is an inflow of non-registered electronic and electric equipment, which ‘invisibly’ enters the EEE domestic market and then is used for domestic consumption. The non-registration/invisibility and (in most of the case) illicit nature of this flow make it difficult or even impossible to be captured in any statistical system. The e-waste generated from it is thus often uncounted in current e-waste estimation based on statistical market data. Therefore, this study focuses on enhancing e-waste estimation in developing countries and proposing a calculation pathway to quantify the magnitude of the non-registered EEE inflow. An advanced Input-Out Analysis model (i.e. the Sale–Stock–Lifespan model) has been integrated in the calculation procedure. In general, Sale-Stock-Lifespan model assists to improve the quality of input data for modeling (i.e. perform data consolidation to create more accurate lifespan profile, model dynamic lifespan to take into account its changes over time), via which the quality of e-waste estimation can be improved. To demonstrate the above objectives, a case study on televisions (TVs) in Vietnam has been employed. The results show that the amount of waste TVs in Vietnam has increased four times since 2000 till now. This upward trend is expected to continue in the future. In 2035, a total of 9.51 million TVs are predicted to be discarded. Moreover, estimation of non-registered TV inflow shows that it might on average contribute about 15% to the total TVs sold on the Vietnamese market during the whole period of 2002 to 2013. To tackle potential uncertainties associated with estimation models and input data, sensitivity analysis has been applied. The results show that both estimations of waste and non-registered inflow depend on two parameters i.e. number of TVs used in household and the lifespan. Particularly, with a 1% increase in the TV in-use rate, the average market share of non-register inflow in the period 2002-2013 increases 0.95%. However, it decreases from 27% to 15% when the constant unadjusted lifespan is replaced by the dynamic adjusted lifespan. The effect of these two parameters on the amount of waste TV generation for each year is more complex and non-linear over time. To conclude, despite of remaining uncertainty, this study is the first attempt to apply the Sale-Stock-Lifespan model to improve the e-waste estimation in developing countries and to quantify the non-registered EEE inflow to domestic consumption. It therefore can be further improved in future with more knowledge and data.

Keywords: e-waste, non-registered electrical and electronic equipment, TVs, Vietnam

Procedia PDF Downloads 235

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

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

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

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Authors: Massimo Ferrari, Maria Sole Pagliari

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Pollution is a classic example of economic externality: agents who produce it do not face direct costs from emissions. Therefore, there are no direct economic incentives for reducing pollution. One way to address this market failure would be directly taxing emissions. However, because emissions are global, governments might as well find it optimal to wait let foreign countries to tax emissions so that they can enjoy the benefits of lower pollution without facing its direct costs. In this paper, we first document the empirical relation between pollution and economic output with static and dynamic regression methods. We show that there is a negative relation between aggregate output and the stock of pollution (measured as the stock of CO₂ emissions). This relationship is also highly non-linear, increasing at an exponential rate. In the second part of the paper, we develop and estimate a two-country, two-sector model for the US and the euro area. With this model, we aim at analyzing how the public sector should respond to higher emissions and what are the direct costs that these policies might have. In the model, there are two types of firms, brown firms (which produce a polluting technology) and green firms. Brown firms also produce an externality, CO₂ emissions, which has detrimental effects on aggregate output. As brown firms do not face direct costs from polluting, they do not have incentives to reduce emissions. Notably, emissions in our model are global: the stock of CO₂ in the economy affects all countries, independently from where it is produced. This simplified economy captures the main trade-off between emissions and production, generating a classic market failure. According to our results, the current level of emission reduces output by between 0.4 and 0.75%. Notably, these estimates lay in the upper bound of the distribution of those delivered by studies in the early 2000s. To address market failure, governments should step in introducing taxes on emissions. With the tax, brown firms pay a cost for polluting hence facing the incentive to move to green technologies. Governments, however, might also adopt a beggar-thy-neighbour strategy. Reducing emissions is costly, as moves production away from the 'optimal' production mix of brown and green technology. Because emissions are global, a government could just wait for the other country to tackle climate change, ripping the benefits without facing any costs. We study how this strategic game unfolds and show three important results: first, cooperation is first-best optimal from a global prospective; second, countries face incentives to deviate from the cooperating equilibria; third, tariffs on imported brown goods (the only retaliation policy in case of deviation from the cooperation equilibrium) are ineffective because the exchange rate would move to compensate. We finally study monetary policy under when costs for climate change rise and show that the monetary authority should react stronger to deviations of inflation from its target.

Keywords: climate change, general equilibrium, optimal taxation, monetary policy

Procedia PDF Downloads 143

Authors: Gail Schofield, Antoine M. Dujon, Nicole Esteban, Rebecca M. Lester, Graeme C. Hays

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Variation in diel movement patterns during migration provides information on the strategies used by animals to maximize energy efficiency and ensure the successful completion of migration. For instance, many flying and land-based terrestrial species stop to rest and refuel at regular intervals along the migratory route, or at transitory ‘stopover’ sites, depending on resource availability. However, in cases where stopping is not possible (such as over–or through deep–open oceans, or over deserts and mountains), non-stop travel is required, with animals needing to develop strategies to rest while actively traveling. Recent advances in biologging technologies have identified mid-flight micro sleeps by swifts in Africa during the 10-month non-breeding period, and the use of lateralized sleep behavior in orca and bottlenose dolphins during migration. Here, highly accurate locations obtained by Argos-linked Fastloc-GPS transmitters of adult green (n=8 turtles, 9487 locations) and loggerhead (n=46 turtles, 47,588 locations) sea turtles migrating around thousand kilometers (over several weeks) from breeding to foraging grounds across the Indian and Mediterranean oceans were used to identify potential resting strategies. Stopovers were only documented for seven turtles, lasting up to 6 days; thus, this strategy was not commonly used, possibly due to the lack of potential ‘shallow’ ( < 100 m seabed depth) sites along routes. However, observations of the day versus night speed of travel indicated that turtles might use other mechanisms to rest. For instance, turtles traveled an average 31% slower at night compared to day during oceanic crossings. Slower travel speeds at night might be explained by turtles swimming in a less direct line at night and/or deeper dives reducing their forward motion, as indicated through studies using Argos-linked transmitters and accelerometers. Furthermore, within the first 24 h of entering waters shallower than 100 m towards the end of migration (the depth at which sea turtles can swim and rest on the seabed), some individuals travelled 72% slower at night, repeating this behavior intermittently (each time for a one-night duration at 3–6-day intervals) until reaching the foraging grounds. If the turtles were, in fact, resting on the seabed at this point, they could be inactive for up to 8-hours, facilitating protracted periods of rest after several weeks of constant swimming. Turtles might not rest every night once within these shallower depths, due to the time constraints of reaching foraging grounds and restoring depleted energetic reserves (as sea turtles are capital breeders, they tend not to feed for several months during migration to and from the breeding grounds and while breeding). In conclusion, access to data-rich, highly accurate Argos-linked Fastloc-GPS provided information about differences in the day versus night activity at different stages of migration, allowing us, for the first time, to compare the strategies used by a marine vertebrate with terrestrial land-based and flying species. However, the question of what resting strategies are used by individuals that remain in oceanic waters to forage, with combinations of highly accurate Argos-linked Fastloc-GPS transmitters and accelerometry or time-depth recorders being required for sufficient numbers of individuals.

Keywords: argos-linked fastloc GPS, data loggers, migration, resting strategy, telemetry

Procedia PDF Downloads 137

Authors: Frea Van Steenweghen, Lander Hollevoet, Johan A. Martens

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Compared to other hydrogen (H₂) carriers, ammonia (NH₃) is one of the most promising carriers as it contains 17.6 wt% hydrogen. It is easily liquefied at ≈ 9–10 bar pressure at ambient temperature. More importantly, NH₃ is a carbon-free hydrogen carrier with no CO₂ emission at final decomposition. Ammonia has a well-defined regulatory framework and a good track record regarding safety concerns. Furthermore, the industry already has an existing transport infrastructure consisting of pipelines, tank trucks and shipping technology, as ammonia has been manufactured and distributed around the world for over a century. While NH₃ synthesis and transportation technological solutions are at hand, a missing link in the hydrogen delivery scheme from ammonia is an energy-lean and efficient technology for cracking ammonia into H₂ and N₂. The most explored option for ammonia decomposition is thermo-catalytic cracking which is, by itself, the most energy-efficient approach compared to other technologies, such as plasma and electrolysis, as it is the most energy-lean and robust option. The decomposition reaction is favoured only at high temperatures (> 300°C) and low pressures (1 bar) as the thermocatalytic ammonia cracking process is faced with thermodynamic limitations. At 350°C, the thermodynamic equilibrium at 1 bar pressure limits the conversion to 99%. Gaining additional conversion up to e.g. 99.9% necessitates heating to ca. 530°C. However, reaching thermodynamic equilibrium is infeasible as a sufficient driving force is needed, requiring even higher temperatures. Limiting the conversion below the equilibrium composition is a more economical option. Thermocatalytic ammonia cracking is documented in scientific literature. Among the investigated metal catalysts (Ru, Co, Ni, Fe, …), ruthenium is known to be most active for ammonia decomposition with an onset of cracking activity around 350°C. For establishing > 99% conversion reaction, temperatures close to 600°C are required. Such high temperatures are likely to reduce the round-trip efficiency but also the catalyst lifetime because of the sintering of the supported metal phase. In this research, the first focus was on catalyst bed design, avoiding diffusion limitation. Experiments in our packed bed tubular reactor set-up showed that extragranular diffusion limitations occur at low concentrations of NH₃ when reaching high conversion, a phenomenon often overlooked in experimental work. A second focus was thermocatalyst development for ammonia cracking, avoiding the use of noble metals. To this aim, candidate metals and mixtures were deposited on a range of supports. Sintering resistance at high temperatures and the basicity of the support were found to be crucial catalyst properties. The catalytic activity was promoted by adding alkaline and alkaline earth metals. A third focus was studying the optimum process configuration by process simulations. A trade-off between conversion and favorable operational conditions (i.e. low pressure and high temperature) may lead to different process configurations, each with its own pros and cons. For example, high-pressure cracking would eliminate the need for post-compression but is detrimental for the thermodynamic equilibrium, leading to an optimum in cracking pressure in terms of energy cost.

Keywords: ammonia cracking, catalyst research, kinetics, process simulation, thermodynamic equilibrium

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Authors: Dylan Santos De Pinho, Nabil Ouerhani

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Energy consumption of machine-tools is becoming critical for machine-tool builders and end-users because of economic, ecological and legislation-related reasons. Many machine-tool builders are seeking for solutions that allow the reduction of energy consumption of machine-tools while preserving the same productivity rate and the same quality of machined parts. In this paper, we present the first results of a project conducted jointly by academic and industrial partners to reduce the energy consumption of a Swiss-Type lathe. We employ genetic algorithms to find optimal machining parameters – the set of parameters that lead to the best trade-off between energy consumption, part quality and tool lifetime. Three main machining process parameters are considered in our optimization technique, namely depth of cut, spindle rotation speed and material feed rate. These machining process parameters have been identified as the most influential ones in the configuration of the Swiss-type machining process. A state-of-the-art multi-objective genetic algorithm has been used. The algorithm combines three fitness functions, which are objective functions that permit to evaluate a set of parameters against the three objectives: energy consumption, quality of the machined parts, and tool lifetime. In this paper, we focus on the investigation of the fitness function related to energy consumption. Four different energy consumption related fitness functions have been investigated and compared. The first fitness function refers to the Kienzle cutting force model. The second fitness function uses the Material Removal Rate (RMM) as an indicator of energy consumption. The two other fitness functions are non-deterministic, learning-based functions. One fitness function uses a simple Neural Network to learn the relation between the process parameters and the energy consumption from experimental data. Another fitness function uses Lasso regression to determine the same relation. The goal is, then, to find out which fitness functions predict best the energy consumption of a Swiss-Type machining process for the given set of machining process parameters. Once determined, these functions may be used for optimization purposes – determine the optimal machining process parameters leading to minimum energy consumption. The performance of the four fitness functions has been evaluated. The Tornos DT13 Swiss-Type Lathe has been used to carry out the experiments. A mechanical part including various Swiss-Type machining operations has been selected for the experiments. The evaluation process starts with generating a set of CNC (Computer Numerical Control) programs for machining the part at hand. Each CNC program considers a different set of machining process parameters. During the machining process, the power consumption of the spindle is measured. All collected data are assigned to the appropriate CNC program and thus to the set of machining process parameters. The evaluation approach consists in calculating the correlation between the normalized measured power consumption and the normalized power consumption prediction for each of the four fitness functions. The evaluation shows that the Lasso and Neural Network fitness functions have the highest correlation coefficient with 97%. The fitness function “Material Removal Rate” (MRR) has a correlation coefficient of 90%, whereas the Kienzle-based fitness function has a correlation coefficient of 80%.

Keywords: adaptive machining, genetic algorithms, smart manufacturing, parameters optimization

Procedia PDF Downloads 135

Authors: Neil Singla, Derek Muse, Karen DiDonato, Pamela Palmer

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Introduction: Pain is the most common reason people visit emergency rooms. Studies indicate however, that Emergency Department (ED) physicians often do not provide adequate analgesia to their patients as a result of gender and age bias, opiophobia and insufficient knowledge of and formal training in acute pain management. Novel classes of analgesics have recently been introduced, but many patients suffer from acute pain in settings where the availability of intravenous (IV) access may be limited, so there remains a clinical need for rapid-acting, potent analgesics that do not require an invasive route of delivery. A sublingual sufentanil tablet (SST), dispensed using a single-dose applicator, is in development for treatment of moderate-to-severe acute pain in a medically-supervised setting. Objective: The primary objective of this study was to demonstrate the repeat-dose efficacy, safety and tolerability of sufentanil 20 mcg and 30 mcg sublingual tablets compared to placebo for the management of acute pain as determined by the time-weighted sum of pain intensity differences (SPID) to baseline over the 12-hour study period (SPID12). Key secondary efficacy variables included SPID over the first hour (SPID1), Total pain relief over the 12-hour study period (TOTPAR12), time to perceived pain relief (PR) and time to meaningful PR. Safety variables consisted of adverse events (AE), vital signs, oxygen saturation and early termination. Methods: In this Phase 2, double-blind, dose-finding study, an equal number of male and female patients were randomly assigned in a 2:2:1 ratio to SST 20 mcg, SS 30 mcg or placebo, respectively, following bunionectomy. Study drug was dosed as needed, but not more frequently than hourly. Rescue medication was available as needed. The primary endpoint was the Summed Pain Intensity Difference to baseline over 12h (SPIDI2). Safety was assessed by continuous oxygen saturation monitoring and adverse event reporting. Results: 101 patients (51 Male/50 Female) were randomized, 100 received study treatment (intent-to-treat [ITT] population), and 91 completed the study. Reasons for early discontinuation were lack of efficacy (6), adverse events (2) and drug-dosing error (1). Mean age was 42.5 years. For the ITT population, SST 30 mcg was superior to placebo (p=0.003) for the SPID12. SPID12 scores in the active groups were superior for both male (ANOVA overall p-value =0.038) and female (ANOVA overall p-value=0.005) patients. Statistically significant differences in favour of sublingual sufentanil were also observed between the SST 30mcg and placebo group for SPID1(p<0.001), TOTPAR12(p=0.002), time to perceived PR (p=0.023) and time to meaningful PR (p=0.010). Nausea, vomiting and somnolence were more frequent in the sufentanil groups but there were no significant differences between treatment arms for the proportion of patients who prematurely terminated due to AE or inadequate analgesia. Conclusions: Sufentanil tablets dispensed sublingually using a single-dose applicator is in development for treatment of patients with moderate-to-severe acute pain in a medically-supervised setting where immediate IV access is limited. When administered sublingually, sufentanil’s pharmacokinetic profile and non-invasive delivery makes it a useful alternative to IM or IV dosing.

Keywords: acute pain, pain management, sublingual, sufentanil

Procedia PDF Downloads 344

Authors: Dagmara Malina, Katarzyna Bialik-Wąs, Klaudia Pluta

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The growing significance of transdermal systems, in which skin is a route for systemic drug delivery, has generated a considerable amount of data which has resulted in a deeper understanding of the mechanisms of transport across the skin in the context of the controlled and prolonged release of active substances. One of such solutions may be the use of carrier systems based on intelligent polymers with different physicochemical properties. In these systems, active substances, e.g. drugs, can be conjugated (attached), immobilized, or encapsulated in a polymer matrix that is sensitive to specific environmental conditions (e.g. pH or temperature changes). Intelligent polymers can be divided according to their sensitivity to specific environmental stimuli such as temperature, pH, light, electric, magnetic, sound, or electromagnetic fields. Materials & methods—The first stage of the presented research concerned the synthesis of pH-sensitive polymeric carriers by a radical polymerization reaction. Then, the selected active substance (hydrocortisone) was introduced into polymeric carriers. In a further stage, bio-hybrid sodium alginate/poly(vinyl alcohol) – SA/PVA-based hydrogel matrices modified with various carrier-drug systems were prepared with the chemical cross-linking method. The conducted research included the assessment of physicochemical properties of obtained materials i.e. degree of hydrogel swelling and degradation studies as a function of pH in distilled water and phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) at 37°C in time. The gel fraction represents the insoluble gel fraction as a result of inter-molecule cross-linking formation was also measured. Additionally, the chemical structure of obtained hydrogels was confirmed using FT-IR spectroscopic technique. The dynamic light scattering (DLS) technique was used for the analysis of the average particle size of polymer-carriers and carrier-drug systems. The nanocarriers morphology was observed using SEM microscopy. Results & Discussion—The analysis of the encapsulated polymeric carriers showed that it was possible to obtain the time-stable empty pH-sensitive carrier with an average size 479 nm and the encapsulated system containing hydrocortisone with an average 543 nm, which was introduced into hydrogel structure. Bio-hybrid hydrogel matrices are stable materials, and the presence of an additional component: pH-sensitive carrier – hydrocortisone system, does not reduce the degree of cross-linking of the matrix nor its swelling ability. Moreover, the results of swelling tests indicate that systems containing higher concentrations of the drug have a slightly higher sorption capacity in each of the media used. All analyzed materials show stable and statically changing swelling values in simulated body fluids - there is no sudden fluid uptake and no rapid release from the material. The analysis of FT-IR spectra confirms the chemical structure of the obtained bio-hybrid hydrogel matrices. In the case of modifications with a pH-sensitive carrier, a much more intense band can be observed in the 3200-3500 cm⁻¹ range, which most likely originates from the strong hydrogen interactions that occur between individual components.

Keywords: hydrogels, polymer nanocarriers, sodium alginate/poly(vinyl alcohol) matrices, wound dressings.

Procedia PDF Downloads 133

Authors: Nathalie Gagnon, Andréanne Gagné, Julie Courcy

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Quebec's vocational education teachers experience an atypical induction process into the workplace and thus face unique challenges. In contrast to elementary and high school teachers, who must undergo initial teacher training in order to access the profession, vocational education teachers, in most cases, are hired based on their professional expertise in the trade they are teaching, without prior pedagogical training. In addition to creating significant stress, which does not foster the acquisition of teaching roles and skills, this approach also forces recruits into a particular posture during their practical training: that of juggling their dual identities as teacher and trainee simultaneously. Recruits are supported by Cooperating Teachers (CPs) who, as experienced educators, take a critical and constructive look at their practices, observe them in the classroom, give them constructive feedback, and encourage them in their reflective practice. Thus, the vocational setting CP also assumes a distinctive posture and role due to the characteristics of the trainees they support. Although it is recognized that preparation, training, and supervision of CPs are essential factors in improving the support provided to trainees, there is little research about how CPs develop their support skills, and very little research focuses on the distinct posture they occupy. However, in order for them to be properly equipped for the important role they play in recruits’ practical training, it is vital to know more about their experience. An individual’s competencies cannot be studied without first examining what characterizes their experience, how they experience any given situation on cognitive, emotional, and motivational levels, in addition to how they act and react in situ. Depending on its nature, the experience will or will not promote the development of a specific competency. The research from which this communication originates focuses on describing the overall experience of vocational education CP in an effort to better understand the mechanisms linked to the development of their mentoring competencies. Experience and competence were, therefore, the two main theoretical concepts leading the research. As per methodology choices, case study methods were used since it proves to be adequate to describe in a rich and detailed way contemporary phenomena within contexts of life. The set of data used was collected from semi-structured interviews conducted with 15 vocational education CP in Quebec (Canada), followed by the use of a data-driven semi-inductive analysis approach to let the categories emerge organically. Focusing on the development needs of vocational education CP to improve their mentoring skills, this paper presents the results of our research, namely the importance of adequate training, better support offered by university supervisors, greater recognition of their role, and specific time slots dedicated to trainee support. The knowledge resulting from this research could improve the quality of support for trainee teachers in vocational education settings and to a more successful induction into the workplace. This communication also presents recommendations regarding the development of training systems that meet the specific needs of vocational education CP.

Keywords: development of competencies, cooperating teacher, mentoring trainee teacher, practical training, vocational education

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Authors: Gagandeep Kaur

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The pesticide industry is a big supplier of agricultural inputs. The uses of pesticides control weeds, fungal diseases, etc., which causes of yield losses in agricultural production. In agribusiness and agrichemical industry, Globalization of markets, competition and innovation are the dominant trends. By the tradition of increasing the productivity of agro-systems through generic, universally applicable technologies, innovation in the agrichemical industry is limited. The marketing of technology of agriculture needs to deal with some various trends such as locally-organized forces that envision regionalized sustainable agriculture in the future. Agricultural production has changed dramatically over the past century. Before World War second agricultural production was featured as a low input of money, high labor, mixed farming and low yields. Although mineral fertilizers were applied already in the second half of the 19th century, most f the crops were restricted by local climatic, geological and ecological conditions. After World War second, in the period of reconstruction, political and socioeconomic pressure changed the nature of agricultural production. For a growing population, food security at low prices and securing farmer income at acceptable levels became political priorities. Current agricultural policy the new European common agricultural policy is aimed to reduce overproduction, liberalization of world trade and the protection of landscape and natural habitats. Farmers have to increase the quality of their productivity and they have to control costs because of increased competition from the world market. Pesticides should be more effective at lower application doses, less toxic and not pose a threat to groundwater. There is a big debate taking place about how and whether to mitigate the intensive use of pesticides. This debate is about the future of agriculture which is sustainable agriculture. This is possible by moving away from conventional agriculture. Conventional agriculture is featured as high inputs and high yields. The use of pesticides in conventional agriculture implies crop production in a wide range. To move away from conventional agriculture is possible through the gradual adoption of less disturbing and polluting agricultural practices at the level of the cropping system. For a healthy environment for crop production in the future there is a need for the maintenance of chemical, physical or biological properties. There is also required to minimize the emission of volatile compounds in the atmosphere. Companies are limiting themselves to a particular interpretation of sustainable development, characterized by technological optimism and production-maximizing. So the main objective of the paper will present the trends in the pesticide industry and in agricultural production in the era of Globalization. The second objective is to analyze sustainable agriculture. Companies of pesticides seem to have identified biotechnology as a promising alternative and supplement to the conventional business of selling pesticides. The agricultural sector is in the process of transforming its conventional mode of operation. Some experts give suggestions to farmers to move towards precision farming and some suggest engaging in organic farming. The methodology of the paper will be historical and analytical. Both primary and secondary sources will be used.

Keywords: globalization, pesticides, sustainable development, organic farming

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Authors: M. D. Nirmani, K. L. N. Perera, G. H. Galhena

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Dengue has become one of the most important arbo-viral disease in all tropical and subtropical regions of the world. Aedes aegypti, is the principal vector of the virus, vary in both epidemiological and behavioral characteristics, which could be finely measured through DNA sequence comparison at their population level. Such knowledge in the population differences can assist in implementation of effective vector control strategies allowing to make estimates of the gene flow and adaptive genomic changes, which are important predictors of the spread of Wolbachia infection or insecticide resistance. As such, this study was undertaken to investigate the phylogenetic relationships of Ae. aegypti from Galle and Colombo, Sri Lanka, based on the ribosomal protein region which spans between two exons, in order to understand the geographical distribution of genetically distinct mosquito clades and its impact on mosquito control measures. A 320bp DNA region spanning from 681-930 bp, corresponding to the ribosomal protein, was sequenced in 62 Ae. aegypti larvae collected from Galle (N=30) and Colombo (N=32), Sri Lanka. The sequences were aligned using ClustalW and the haplotypes were determined with DnaSP 5.10. Phylogenetic relationships among haplotypes were constructed using the maximum likelihood method under Tamura 3 parameter model in MEGA 7.0.14 including three previously reported sequences of Australian (N=2) and Brazilian (N=1) Ae. aegypti. The bootstrap support was calculated using 1000 replicates and the tree was rooted using Aedes notoscriptus (GenBank accession No. KJ194101). Among all sequences, nineteen different haplotypes were found among which five haplotypes were shared between 80% of mosquitoes in the two populations. Seven haplotypes were unique to each of the population. Phylogenetic tree revealed two basal clades and a single derived clade. All observed haplotypes of the two Ae. aegypti populations were distributed in all the three clades, indicating a lack of genetic differentiation between populations. The Brazilian Ae. aegypti haplotype and one of the Australian haplotypes were grouped together with the Sri Lankan basal haplotype in the same basal clade, whereas the other Australian haplotype was found in the derived clade. Phylogram showed that Galle and Colombo Ae. aegypti populations are highly related to each other despite the large geographic distance (129 Km) indicating a substantial genetic similarity between them. This may have probably arisen from passive migration assisted by human travelling and trade through both land and water as the two areas are bordered by the sea. In addition, studied Sri Lankan mosquito populations were closely related to Australian and Brazilian samples. Probably this might have caused by shipping industry between the three countries as all of them are fully or partially enclosed by sea. For example, illegal fishing boats migrating to Australia by sea is perhaps a good mean of transportation of all life stages of mosquitoes from Sri Lanka. These findings indicate that extensive mosquito migrations occur between populations not only within the country, but also among other countries in the world which might be a main barrier to the successful vector control measures.

Keywords: Aedes aegypti, dengue control, extensive mosquito migration, haplotypes, phylogeny, ribosomal protein

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Authors: Nikola Toshikj, Michel Ramonda, Sylvain Catrouillet, Jean-Jacques Robin, Sebastien Blanquer

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Biodegradable and biocompatible block copolymers have risen as the golden materials in both medical and environmental applications. Moreover, if their architecture is of controlled manner, higher applications can be foreseen. In the meantime, organocatalytic ROP has been promoted as more rapid and immaculate route, compared to the traditional organometallic catalysis, towards efficient synthesis of block copolymer architectures. Therefore, herein we report novel organocatalytic pathway with guanidine molecules (TBD) for supported synthesis of trimethylene carbonate initiated by poly(caprolactone) as pre-polymer. Pristine PTMC-b-PCL-b-PTMC block copolymer structure, without any residual products and clear desired block proportions, was achieved under 1.5 hours at room temperature and verified by NMR spectroscopies and size-exclusion chromatography. Besides, when elaborating block copolymer films, further stability and amelioration of mechanical properties can be achieved via additional reticulation step of precedently methacrylated block copolymers. Subsequently, stimulated by the insufficient studies on the phase-separation/crystallinity relationship in these semi-crystalline block copolymer systems, their intrinsic thermal and morphology properties were investigated by differential scanning calorimetry and atomic force microscopy. Firstly, by DSC measurements, the block copolymers with χABN values superior to 20 presented two distinct glass transition temperatures, close to the ones of the respecting homopolymers, demonstrating an initial indication of a phase-separated system. In the interim, the existence of the crystalline phase was supported by the presence of melting temperature. As expected, the crystallinity driven phase-separated morphology predominated in the AFM analysis of the block copolymers. Neither crosslinking at melted state, hence creation of a dense polymer network, disturbed the crystallinity phenomena. However, the later revealed as sensible to rapid liquid nitrogen quenching directly from the melted state. Therefore, AFM analysis of liquid nitrogen quenched and crosslinked block copolymer films demonstrated a thermodynamically driven phase-separation clearly predominating over the originally crystalline one. These AFM films remained stable with their morphology unchanged even after 4 months at room temperature. However, as demonstrated by DSC analysis once rising the temperature above the melting temperature of the PCL block, neither the crosslinking nor the liquid nitrogen quenching shattered the semi-crystalline network, while the access to thermodynamical phase-separated structures was possible for temperatures under the poly (caprolactone) melting point. Precisely this coexistence of dual crosslinked/crystalline networks in the same copolymer structure allowed us to establish, for the first time, the shape-memory properties in such materials, as verified by thermomechanical analysis. Moreover, the response temperature to the material original shape depended on the block copolymer emplacement, hence PTMC or PCL as end-block. Therefore, it has been possible to reach a block copolymer with transition temperature around 40°C thus opening potential real-life medical applications. In conclusion, the initial study of phase-separation/crystallinity relationship in PTMC-b-PCL-b-PTMC block copolymers lead to the discovery of novel shape memory materials with superior properties, widely demanded in modern-life applications.

Keywords: biodegradable block copolymers, organocatalytic ROP, self-assembly, shape-memory

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Authors: Salvatore Luongo, Carlo Luongo

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This paper discusses the implementation solutions to reduce the computational load for the Traffic Situational Awareness with Alerts (TSAA) application, based on Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) technology. In 2008, there were 23 total mid-air collisions involving general aviation fixed-wing aircraft, 6 of which were fatal leading to 21 fatalities. These collisions occurred during visual meteorological conditions, indicating the limitations of the see-and-avoid concept for mid-air collision avoidance as defined in the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA). The commercial aviation aircraft are already equipped with collision avoidance system called TCAS, which is based on classic transponder technology. This system dramatically reduced the number of mid-air collisions involving air transport aircraft. In general aviation, the same reduction in mid-air collisions has not occurred, so this reduction is the main objective of the TSAA application. The major difference between the original conflict detection application and the TSAA application is that the conflict detection is focused on preventing loss of separation in en-route environments. Instead TSAA is devoted to reducing the probability of mid-air collision in all phases of flight. The TSAA application increases the flight crew traffic situation awareness providing alerts of traffic that are detected in conflict with ownship in support of the see-and-avoid responsibility. The relevant effort has been spent in the design process and the code generation in order to maximize the efficiency and performances in terms of computational load and memory consumption reduction. The TSAA architecture is divided into two high-level systems: the “Threats database” and the “Conflict detector”. The first one receives the traffic data from ADS-B device and provides the memorization of the target’s data history. Conflict detector module estimates ownship and targets trajectories in order to perform the detection of possible future loss of separation between ownship and each target. Finally, the alerts are verified by additional conflict verification logic, in order to prevent possible undesirable behaviors of the alert flag. In order to reduce the computational load, a pre-check evaluation module is used. This pre-check is only a computational optimization, so the performances of the conflict detector system are not modified in terms of number of alerts detected. The pre-check module uses analytical trajectories propagation for both target and ownship. This allows major accuracy and avoids the step-by-step propagation, which requests major computational load. Furthermore, the pre-check permits to exclude the target that is certainly not a threat, using an analytical and efficient geometrical approach, in order to decrease the computational load for the following modules. This software improvement is not suggested by FAA documents, and so it is the main innovation of this work. The efficiency and efficacy of this enhancement are verified using fast-time and real-time simulations and by the execution on a real device in several FAA scenarios. The final implementation also permits the FAA software certification in compliance with DO-178B standard. The computational load reduction allows the installation of TSAA application also on devices with multiple applications and/or low capacity in terms of available memory and computational capabilities

Keywords: traffic situation awareness, general aviation, aircraft conflict detection, computational load reduction, implementation solutions, software certification

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Authors: M. Bukowski, K. Kreissl

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Social and environmental pressures in our times bear threats that often cross-border in scale, such as climate change, poverty-driven migration, demographic change as well as socio-economic developments. One of the hot topics is prevailing in many societies across Europe and worldwide, concerns 'affordable housing' and poverty-driven international and domestic migration (including displacements through gentrification processes), focusing here on the urban and regional context. The right to adequate housing and shelter is one of the recognized in the Universal Declaration of Human rights and International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, and as such considered as a human right of the second generation. The decreasing supply of affordable housing, especially in urban areas, has reached dimensions that have led to an increasing 'housing crisis'. This crisis, which has even reached middle-income homes, has an even more devastating impact on low income and poor households raising poverty levels. Therefore, the understanding of the connection between housing and poverty is vital to integrate and support the different stakeholders in order to tackle poverty. When it comes to issues of inequalities and poverty within the SDG framework, multi-faceted stakeholders with different claims, distribution of resources and interactions with other development goals (spill-over and trade-offs) account for a highly complex context. To contribute to a sustainable and fair society and hence to support the UN Sustainable Development Goals, the University of Salzburg participates in the Austrian-wide universities' network 'UniNEtZ'. Our joint target is to develop an options report for the Austrian Government regarding the seventeen SDGs, so far hosted by 18 Austrian universities. In this vein, the University of Salzburg; i.e., the Centre for Ethics and Poverty Research, the departments of Geography and Geology and the Department of Sociology and Political Science are focusing on the SDG 1 (No Poverty) and SDG 10 (Reduced Inequalities). Our target and research focus is to assess and evaluate the status of SDG 1 and 10 in Austria, to find possible solutions and to support stakeholders' integration. We aim at generating and deducing appropriate options as scientific support, from interdisciplinary research studies to 'Sustainability Developing Goals and their Targets' in action. For this reason, and to deal with the complexity of the Agenda 2030, we have developed a special Model for Inequalities and Poverty Assessment (IPAM). Through the example of 'affordable housing' we provide insight into the situation focusing on sustainable outcomes, including ethical and justice perceptions. The IPAM has proven to be a helpful tool in detecting the different imponderables on the Agenda 2030, assessing the situation, showing gaps and options for ethical SDG actions combining different SDG targets. Supported by expert and expert group interviews, this assessment allows different stakeholders to overview a complex and dynamic SDG challenge (here housing) which is necessary to be involved in an action finding process.

Keywords: affordable housing, inequality, poverty, sustainable development goals

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