Search results for: distance constraints

Authors: Gökhan Altay, Cafer Kayadelen

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Rock fall is a movement of huge rock blocks from dip slopes due to physical effects. It generally occurs where loose tuffs lying under basalt flow or stringcourse is being constituted by limestone layers which stand on clay. By corrosion of some parts, big cracks occur on layers and these cracks continue to grow with the effect of freezing-thawing. In this way, the breaking rocks fall down from these dip slopes. Earthquakes which can induce lots of rock movements is another reason for rock fall events. In Turkey, we have a large number of regions prone to the earthquake as in the World so this increases the possibility of rock fall events. A great number of rock fall events take place in Turkey as in the World every year. The rock fall events occurring in urban areas cause serious damages in houses, roads and workplaces. Sometimes it also hinders transportation and furthermore it maybe kills people. In Turkey, rock fall events happen mostly in Spring and Winter because of freezing- thawing of water in rock cracks frequently. In mountain and inclined areas, rock fall is risky for engineering construction and environment. Some countries can invest significant money for these risky areas. For instance, in Switzerland, approximately 6.7 million dollars is spent annually for a distance of 4 km, to the systems to prevent rock fall events. In Turkey, we have lots of urban areas and engineering structure that have the rock fall risk. The embankments are preferable for rock fall events because of its low maintenance and repair costs. Also, embankments are able to absorb much more energy according to other protection systems. The current design method of embankments is only depended on field tests results so there are inadequate studies about this design method. In this paper, the field test modeled in three dimensions and analysis are carried out with the help of ANSYS programme. By the help of field test from literature the numerical model validated. After the validity of numerical models additional parametric studies performed. Changes in deformation of embankments are investigated by the changes in, geometry, velocity and impact height of falling rocks.

Keywords: ANSYS, embankment, impact height, numerical analysis, rock fall

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Authors: Sina Moradi, Christopher W. K. Chow, John Van Leeuwen, David Cook, Mary Drikas, Patrick Hayde, Rose Amal

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Chloramine is commonly used as a disinfectant in drinking water distribution systems (DWDSs), particularly in Australia and the USA. Maintaining a chloramine residual throughout the DWDS is important in ensuring microbiologically safe water is supplied at the customer’s tap. In order to simulate how chloramine behaves when it moves through the distribution system, a water quality network model (WQNM) can be applied. In this work, the WQNM was based on mono-chloramine decomposition reactions, which enabled prediction of mono-chloramine residual at different locations through a DWDS in Australia, using the Bentley commercial hydraulic package (Water GEMS). The accuracy of WQNM predictions is influenced by a number of water quality parameters. Optimization of these parameters in order to obtain the closest results in comparison with actual measured data in a real DWDS would result in both cost reduction as well as reduction in consumption of valuable resources such as energy and materials. In this work, the optimum operating conditions of water quality parameters (i.e. temperature, pH, and initial mono-chloramine concentration) to maximize the accuracy of mono-chloramine residual predictions for two water supply scenarios in an entire network were determined using response surface methodology (RSM). To obtain feasible and economical water quality parameters for highest model predictability, Design Expert 8.0 software (Stat-Ease, Inc.) was applied to conduct the optimization of three independent water quality parameters. High and low levels of the water quality parameters were considered, inevitably, as explicit constraints, in order to avoid extrapolation. The independent variables were pH, temperature and initial mono-chloramine concentration. The lower and upper limits of each variable for two water supply scenarios were defined and the experimental levels for each variable were selected based on the actual conditions in studied DWDS. It was found that at pH of 7.75, temperature of 34.16 ºC, and initial mono-chloramine concentration of 3.89 (mg/L) during peak water supply patterns, root mean square error (RMSE) of WQNM for the whole network would be minimized to 0.189, and the optimum conditions for averaged water supply occurred at pH of 7.71, temperature of 18.12 ºC, and initial mono-chloramine concentration of 4.60 (mg/L). The proposed methodology to predict mono-chloramine residual can have a great potential for water treatment plant operators in accurately estimating the mono-chloramine residual through a water distribution network. Additional studies from other water distribution systems are warranted to confirm the applicability of the proposed methodology for other water samples.

Keywords: chloramine decay, modelling, response surface methodology, water quality parameters

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Authors: Luca Indovina, Carmela Coppola, Carlo Altucci, Riccardo Barberi, Rocco Romano

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In this paper a real court case, held in Italy at the Court of Nola, in which a correct physical description, conducted with both a Monte Carlo and biophysical analysis, would have been sufficient to arrive at conclusions confirmed by documentary evidence, is considered. This will be an example of how forensic physics can be useful in confirming documentary evidence in order to reach hardly questionable conclusions. This was a libel trial in which the defendant, Mr. DS (Defendant for Slander), had falsely accused one of his neighbors, Mr. OP (Offended Person), of having caused him some damages. The damages would have been caused by an external plaster piece that would have detached from the neighbor’s property and would have hit Mr DS while he was in his garden, much more than a meter far away from the facade of the building from which the plaster piece would have detached. In the trial, Mr. DS claimed to have suffered a scratch on his forehead, but he never showed the plaster that had hit him, nor was able to tell from where the plaster would have arrived. Furthermore, Mr. DS presented a medical certificate with a diagnosis of contusion of the cerebral cortex. On the contrary, the images of Mr. OP’s security cameras do not show any movement in the garden of Mr. DS in a long interval of time (about 2 hours) around the time of the alleged accident, nor do they show any people entering or coming out from the house of Mr. DS in the same interval of time. Biophysical analysis shows that both the diagnosis of the medical certificate and the wound declared by the defendant, already in conflict with each other, are not compatible with the fall of external plaster pieces too small to be found. The wind was at a level 1 of the Beaufort scale, that is, unable to raise even dust (level 4 of the Beaufort scale). Therefore, the motion of the plaster pieces can be described as a projectile motion, whereas collisions with the building cornice can be treated using Newtons law of coefficients of restitution. Numerous numerical Monte Carlo simulations show that the pieces of plaster would not have been able to reach even the garden of Mr. DS, let alone a distance over 1.30 meters. Results agree with the documentary evidence (images of Mr. OP’s security cameras) that Mr. DS could not have been hit by plaster pieces coming from Mr. OP’s property.

Keywords: biophysics analysis, Monte Carlo simulations, Newton’s law of restitution, projectile motion

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Authors: Morteza Ghorbani, Reza Ghorbani

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Cavitation phenomenon has attracted much attention in the mechanical and biomedical technologies. Despite the simplicity and mostly low cost of the devices generating cavitation bubbles, the physics behind the generation and collapse of these bubbles particularly in micro/nano scale has still not well understood. In the chemical industry, micro/nano bubble generation is expected to be applicable to the development of porous materials such as microcellular plastic foams. Moreover, it was demonstrated that the presence of micro/nano bubbles on a surface reduced the adsorption of proteins. Thus, the micro/nano bubbles could act as antifouling agents. Micro and nano bubbles were also employed in water purification, froth floatation, even in sonofusion, which was not completely validated. Small bubbles could also be generated using micro scale hydrodynamic cavitation. In this study, compared to the studies available in the literature, we are proposing a novel approach in micro scale utilizing the energy produced during the interaction of the spray affected by the hydrodynamic cavitating flow and a thin aluminum plate. With a decrease in the size, cavitation effects become significant. It is clearly shown that with the aid of hydrodynamic cavitation generated inside the micro/mini-channels in addition to the optimization of the distance between the tip of the microchannel configuration and the solid surface, surface temperatures can be increased up to 50C under the conditions of this study. The temperature rise on the surfaces near the collapsing small bubbles was exploited for energy harvesting in small scale, in such a way that miniature, cost-effective, and environmentally friendly energy-harvesting devices can be developed. Such devices will not require any external power and moving parts in contrast to common energy-harvesting devices, such as those involving piezoelectric materials and micro engine. Energy harvesting from thermal energy has been widely exploited to achieve energy savings and clean technologies. We are proposing a cost effective and environmentally friendly solution for the growing individual energy needs thanks to the energy application of cavitating flows. The necessary power for consumer devices, such as cell phones and laptops, can be provided using this approach. Thus, this approach has the potential for solving personal energy needs in an inexpensive and environmentally friendly manner and can trigger a shift of paradigm in energy harvesting.

Keywords: cavitation, energy, harvesting, micro scale

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Authors: Thomas S. Abia II

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Intel Chandler Site has internally developed its first-of-kind (FOK) facility-scale wastewater treatment system to achieve multi-metal ion exchange. The process was carried out using a serial process train of carbon filtration, pH / ORP adjustment, and cationic exchange purification to treat dilute metal wastewater (DMW) discharged from a substrate packaging factory. Spanning a trial period of 10 months, a total of 3,271 samples were collected and statistically analyzed (average baseline + standard deviation) to evaluate the performance of a 95-gpm, multi-reactor continuous copper ion exchange treatment system that was consequently retrofitted for manganese ion exchange to meet environmental regulations. The system is also equipped with an inline acid and hot caustic regeneration system to rejuvenate exhausted IX resins and occasionally remove surface crud. Data generated from lab-scale studies was transferred to system operating modifications following multiple trial-and-error experiments. Despite the DMW treatment system failing to meet internal performance specifications for manganese output, it was observed to remove the cation notwithstanding the prevalence of copper in the waste stream. Accordingly, the average manganese output declined from 6.5 + 5.6 mg¹L⁻¹ at pre-pilot to 1.1 + 1.2 mg¹L⁻¹ post-pilot (83% baseline reduction). This milestone was achieved regardless of the average influent manganese to DMW increasing from 1.0 + 13.7 mg¹L⁻¹ at pre-pilot to 2.1 + 0.2 mg¹L⁻¹ post-pilot (110% baseline uptick). Likewise, the pre-trial and post-trial average influent copper values to DMW were 22.4 + 10.2 mg¹L⁻¹ and 32.1 + 39.1 mg¹L⁻¹, respectively (43% baseline increase). As a result, the pre-trial and post-trial average copper output values were 0.1 + 0.5 mg¹L⁻¹ and 0.4 + 1.2 mg¹L⁻¹, respectively (300% baseline uptick). Conclusively, the operating pH range upstream of treatment (between 3.5 and 5) was shown to be the largest single point of influence for optimizing manganese uptake during multi-metal ion exchange. However, the high variability of the influent copper-to-manganese ratio was observed to adversely impact the system functionality. The journal herein intends to discuss the operating parameters such as pH and oxidation-reduction potential (ORP) that were shown to influence the functional versatility of the ion exchange system significantly. The literature also proposes to discuss limitations of the treatment system such as influent copper-to-manganese ratio variations, operational configuration, waste by-product management, and system recovery requirements to provide a balanced assessment of the multi-metal ion exchange process. The take-away from this literature is intended to analyze the overall feasibility of ion exchange for metals manufacturing facilities that lack the capability to expand hardware due to real estate restrictions, aggressive schedules, or budgetary constraints.

Keywords: copper, industrial wastewater treatment, multi-metal ion exchange, manganese

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Authors: Alemayehu Muluneh, Saskia Keesstra, Leo Stroosnijder, Woldeamlak Bewket, Ashenafi Burka

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There are some scientific evidences and a belief by many that forests attract rain and deforestation contributes to a decline of rainfall. However, there is still a lack of concrete scientific evidence on the role of forests in rainfall amount. In this paper, we investigate the forest-rainfall relationships in the environmentally hot spot area of the Central Rift Valley (CRV) of Ethiopia. Specifically, we evaluate long term (1970-2009) rainfall variability and its relationship with historical forest cover and the relationship between existing forest cover and topographical variables and rainfall distribution. The study used 16 long term and 15 short term rainfall stations. The Mann-Kendall test, bi variate and multiple regression models were used. The results show forest and wood land cover continuously declined over the 40 years period (1970-2009), but annual rainfall in the rift valley floor increased by 6.42 mm/year. But, on the escarpment and highlands, annual rainfall decreased by 2.48 mm/year. The increase in annual rainfall in the rift valley floor is partly attributable to the increase in evaporation as a result of increasing temperatures from the 4 existing lakes in the rift valley floor. Though, annual rainfall is decreasing on the escarpment and highlands, there was no significant correlation between this rainfall decrease and forest and wood land decline and also rainfall variability in the region was not explained by forest cover. Hence, the decrease in annual rainfall on the escarpment and highlands is likely related to the global warming of the atmosphere and the surface waters of the Indian Ocean. Spatial variability of number of rainy days from systematically observed two-year’s rainfall data (2012-2013) was significantly (R2=-0.63) explained by forest cover (distance from forest). But, forest cover was not a significant variable (R2=-0.40) in explaining annual rainfall amount. Generally, past deforestation and existing forest cover showed very little effect on long term and short term rainfall distribution, but a significant effect on number of rainy days in the CRV of Ethiopia.

Keywords: elevation, forest cover, rainfall, slope

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Authors: Loonibha Manandhar, Rajendra Bhandari, Kumud Raj Kafle

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Nepal’s Terai region is a part of the Ganges river basin which is one of the most disaster-prone areas of the world, with recurrent monsoon flooding causing millions in damage and the death and displacement of hundreds of people and households every year. The vulnerability of human settlements to natural disasters such as floods is increasing, and mapping changes in land use practices and hydro-geological parameters is essential in developing resilient communities and strong disaster management policies. The objective of this study was to develop a flood hazard zonation map of Orai Khola watershed and map the decadal land use/land cover dynamics of the watershed. The watershed area was delineated using SRTM DEM, and LANDSAT images were classified into five land use classes (forest, grassland, sediment and bare land, settlement area and cropland, and water body) using pixel-based semi-automated supervised maximum likelihood classification. Decadal changes in each class were then quantified using spatial modelling. Flood hazard mapping was performed by assigning weights to factors slope, rainfall distribution, distance from the river and land use/land cover on the basis of their estimated influence in causing flood hazard and performing weighed overlay analysis to identify areas that are highly vulnerable. The forest and grassland coverage increased by 11.53 km² (3.8%) and 1.43 km² (0.47%) from 1996 to 2016. The sediment and bare land areas decreased by 12.45 km² (4.12%) from 1996 to 2016 whereas settlement and cropland areas showed a consistent increase to 14.22 km² (4.7%). Waterbody coverage also increased to 0.3 km² (0.09%) from 1996-2016. 1.27% (3.65 km²) of total watershed area was categorized into very low hazard zone, 20.94% (60.31 km²) area into low hazard zone, 37.59% (108.3 km²) area into moderate hazard zone, 29.25% (84.27 km²) area into high hazard zone and 31 villages which comprised 10.95% (31.55 km²) were categorized into high hazard zone area.

Keywords: flood hazard, land use/land cover, Orai river, supervised maximum likelihood classification, weighed overlay analysis

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Authors: Efrain Rodriguez, Cristhian Riano, Alberto Alvares

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In recent years, robots manipulators with parallel architectures are used in additive manufacturing processes – 3D printing. These robots have advantages such as speed and lightness that make them suitable to help with the efficiency and productivity of these processes. Consequently, the interest for the development of parallel robots for additive manufacturing applications has increased. This article deals with the conceptual design and dimensional synthesis of the linear delta robot for additive manufacturing. Firstly, a methodology based on structured processes for the development of products through the phases of informational design, conceptual design and detailed design is adopted: a) In the informational design phase the Mudge diagram and the QFD matrix are used to aid a set of technical requirements, to define the form, functions and features of the robot. b) In the conceptual design phase, the functional modeling of the system through of an IDEF0 diagram is performed, and the solution principles for the requirements are formulated using a morphological matrix. This phase includes the description of the mechanical, electro-electronic and computational subsystems that constitute the general architecture of the robot. c) In the detailed design phase, a digital model of the robot is drawn on CAD software. A list of commercial and manufactured parts is detailed. Tolerances and adjustments are defined for some parts of the robot structure. The necessary manufacturing processes and tools are also listed, including: milling, turning and 3D printing. Secondly, a dimensional synthesis method applied on design of the linear delta robot is presented. One of the most important key factors in the design of a parallel robot is the useful workspace, which strongly depends on the joint space, the dimensions of the mechanism bodies and the possible interferences between these bodies. The objective function is based on the verification of the kinematic model for a prescribed cylindrical workspace, considering geometric constraints that possibly lead to singularities of the mechanism. The aim is to determine the minimum dimensional parameters of the mechanism bodies for the proposed workspace. A method based on genetic algorithms was used to solve this problem. The method uses a cloud of points with the cylindrical shape of the workspace and checks the kinematic model for each of the points within the cloud. The evolution of the population (point cloud) provides the optimal parameters for the design of the delta robot. The development process of the linear delta robot with optimal dimensions for additive manufacture is presented. The dimensional synthesis enabled to design the mechanism of the delta robot in function of the prescribed workspace. Finally, the implementation of the robotic platform developed based on a linear delta robot in an additive manufacturing application using the Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) technique is presented.

Keywords: additive manufacturing, delta parallel robot, dimensional synthesis, genetic algorithms

Procedia PDF Downloads 190

Authors: Andrew Kipp

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Student absenteeism is harmful to both the school and the absentee student. One approach to improving student absenteeism is targeting contextual factors within the students’ learning environment. However, contemporary literature has not taken an ecological agency approach to understanding student absenteeism. Ecological agency is a theoretical framework that magnifies the interplay between the environment and the actions of people within the environment. To elaborate, the person’s personal history and aspirations and the environmental conditions provide potential outlets or restrictions to their intended action. The framework provides the unique perspective of understanding absentee students’ decision-making through the affordances and constraints found in their learning environment. To that effect, the study was guided by the question, “Why do absentee students decide to engage in absenteeism in a suburban Kansas school?” A case study methodology was used to answer the research question. Four suburban, Kansas high school absentee students in the 2020-2021 school year were selected for the study. The fall 2020 semester was in a remote learning setting, and the spring 2021 semester was in an in-person learning setting. The study captured their decision-making with respect to school attendance throughsemi-structured interviews, prolonged observations, drawings, and concept maps. The data was analyzed through thematic analysis. The findings revealed that peer socialization opportunities, methods of instruction, shifts in cultural beliefs due to COVID-19, manifestations of anxiety and lack of space to escape their anxiety, social media bullying, and the inability to receive academic tutoring motivated the participants’ daily decision to either attend or miss school. The findings provided a basis to improve several institutional and classroom practices. These practices included more student-led instruction and less teacher-led instruction in both in-person and remote learning environments, promoting socialization through classroom collaboration and clubs based on emerging student interests, reducing instances of bullying through prosocial education, safe spaces for students to escape the classroom to manage their anxiety, and more opportunities for one-on-one tutoring to improve grades. The study provides an example of using the ecological agency approach to better understand the personal and environmental factors that lead to absenteeism. The study also informs educational policies and classroom practices to better promote student attendance. Further research should investigate other school contexts using the ecological agency theoretical framework to better understand the influence of the school environment on student absenteeism.

Keywords: student absenteeism, ecological agency, classroom practices, educational policy, student decision-making

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Authors: Damianos Tzoupis

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In the context of the canon debate, assumptions regarding the place, value, and impact of classical texts have come under increased scrutiny. Factors like the distance of time, the depreciation of tradition, or the increased cultural omnivorousness and eclecticism have allegedly played a part in destabilizing classics’ authority. However, despite all these developments, classics’ position and influence is strong both in contemporary institutions and among readers’ preferences. Within this background of conflicted narratives, the study maps the varied discourses, value grammars, and justifications that lay cultural consumers employ to discuss those texts which have come to be the most consecrated and valuable cultural objects. The study centers on reviews posted on Goodreads. These online reviews offer unique access to unsolicited reception data produced by lay readers themselves, thus providing a clearer picture of lay cultural consumption and lay theories about classics. Moreover, the approach taken relies on the micro-practices of evaluation: the study investigates the evaluation of a specific cultural object, namely Plato’s allegory of the Cave, and treats it as an exemplary case to identify interpretive repertoires and valuation grammars about classical texts in general. The analysis uncovers a wide range of discourses used to construct the concept of the “classical text”. At first sight, lay reviewers seem to adopt interpretive repertoires that highlight qualities such as universality, timelessness, canonicity, cultural impact, and difficulty. These repertoires seem in principle to follow generalized and institutionalized discourses about classical texts, as these are established and circulated by institutions and cultural brokers like schools, academics, critics, etc. However, the study also uncovers important variations of these discourses. Lay readers tend to (re)negotiate the meanings/connotations of the above qualities and also structure their discourses by “modalities” such as necessity or surprise. These variations in interpretive repertoires are important in cultural sociology’s attempt to better grasp the principles informing the grammars of valuation that lay cultural consumers employ and to understand the kinds of impact that consecrated cultural objects have on people’s lives.

Keywords: classics, interpretive repertoires around classicalness, institutionalized discourses, lay readers, online reviews/criticism

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Authors: Andrea Gion Saluz, Tal Hertig, Axel Heinrich, Stefan Stevanovic

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Higher temperatures, seasonal changes in precipitation, and extreme weather events are increasingly affecting trees. To counteract the increasing challenges of urban trees, strategies are increasingly being sought to preserve existing tree populations on the one hand and to prepare for the coming years on the other. One such strategy lies in strategic climate tree species selection. The search is on for species or varieties that can cope with the new climatic conditions. Many efforts in German-speaking countries deal with this in detail, such as the tree lists of the German Conference of Garden Authorities (GALK), the project Stadtgrün 2021, or the instruments of the Climate Species Matrix by Prof. Dr. Roloff. In this context, different methods for a correct species selection are offered. One possibility is to select certain physiological attributes that indicate the climate resilience of a species. To calculate the dissimilarity of the present climate of different geographic regions in relation to the future climate of any city, a weighted (standardized) Euclidean distance (SED) for seasonal climate values is calculated for each region of the Earth. The calculation was performed in the QGIS geographic information system, using global raster datasets on monthly climate values in the 1981-2010 standard period. Data from a European forest inventory were used to identify tree species growing in the calculated analogue climate regions. The inventory used is the compilation of georeferenced point data at a 1 km grid resolution on the occurrence of tree species in 21 European countries. In this project, the results of the methodological application are shown for the city of Zurich for the year 2060. In the first step, analog climate regions based on projected climate values for the measuring station Kirche Fluntern (ZH) were searched for. In a further step, the methods mentioned above were applied to generate tree species lists for the city of Zurich. These lists were then qualitatively evaluated with respect to the suitability of the different tree species for the Zurich area to generate a cleaned and thus usable list of possible future tree species.

Keywords: climate change, climate region, climate tree, urban tree

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Authors: Yasmeen Coaxum

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The year 2020 became synonymous with the words “Emergency Remote Teaching,” which was imposed upon educators during the COVID-19 pandemic. Consequently, teachers were compelled to find new and engaging ways to educate their students outside of the face-to-face classroom setting. Now online instruction has become more of the norm rather than a way to manage educational expectations during a crisis. Therefore, implementing a strategic way to create online environments for students to thrive, create, and fully engage in their learning process is essential. The Synchronous Online Flipped Learning Approach or SOFLA® is a distance learning model that most closely replicates actual classroom teaching. SOFLA® includes structured, interactive, multimodal activities in an eight-step learning cycle with both asynchronous and synchronous components that foster autonomous and interactive learning among today’s online learners. The results of a pilot study in an Intensive English Program at a university, using SOFLA® methodology to facilitate podcasting in an online learning environment will be shared. Previous findings on student-produced podcasting projects have shown that students felt they improved their pronunciation, vocabulary, and speaking skills. However, few if any studies have been conducted on using a structured online flipped learning approach to facilitate such projects. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to assess the effect of using the SOFLA® framework to enhance optimum engagement in the online environment while using podcasts as the primary tool of instruction. Through data from interviews, questionnaires, and the results of formative and summative assessments, this study also investigates the affective and academic impact this flipped learning method combined with podcasting has on the students in terms of speaking confidence and vocabulary retention, and production. The steps of SOFLA will be illustrated, a video demonstration of the Anchor podcasting app will be shown, and final student projects and questionnaire responses will be shared. The specific context is a 14-week advanced level conversation and listening class. Participants vary in age but are all adult language learners representing a diverse array of countries.

Keywords: mall online flipped learning, podcasting, productive vocabulary

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Authors: Rai Sachindra Prasad

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Thought is physical force. This has been well recognized but hardly translated visually or otherwise in the sense of its transfer from one individual to another. In the present world of chaos and disorder with yawning gaps between right and wrong thinking individuals, if it is possible to transfer the right thoughts to replace the wrong ones it would indeed be a great achievement in the present situation of the world which is torn with violence with dangerous thoughts of individuals. Moreover, such a possibility would completely remove the barrier of language between two persons, which at times proves to be a great obstacle in realizing a desired purpose. If a proper instrumentation scheme containing appropriate transducers and electronics is designed and implemented to realize this thought ransfer phenomenon, this would prove to be extremely useful when properly used. Considering the advancements already made in recording the nerve impulses in the brain, which are electrical events of very short durations that move along the axon, it is conceivable that this may be used to good effect in implementing the scheme. In such a proposition one shoud consider the roles played by pineal body, pituitary gland and ‘association’ areas. Pioneer students of brain have thought that associations or connections between sensory input and motor output were made in these areas. It is currently believed that rather than being regions of simple sensory-motor connections, the association areas process and integrate sensory information relayed to them from the primary sensory areas of the cortex and from the thalamus, after the information has been processed, it may be sent to motor areas to be acted upon. Again, even though the role played by pineal body is not known fully to neurologists its interconnection with pituitary gland is a matter of great significance to the ‘Rishis’ and; Seers’ s described in Vedas and Puranas- the ancient Holy books of Hindus. If the pineal body is activated through meditation it would control the pituitary gland thereby the individual’s thoughts and acts. Thus, if thoughts can be picked up by special transducers, these can be connected to suitable electronics circuitry to amplify the signals. These signals in the form of electromagnetic waves can then be transmitted using modems for long distance transmission and eventually received by or passed on to a subject of interest through another set of electronics circuit and devices.

Keywords: modems, pituitary gland, pineal body, thought transfer

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Authors: Valentina Adduci

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The developing research aims to define in general the criteria of environmental sustainability of rural buildings in Puglia and particularly in the manor farm. The main part of the study analyzes the relationship / dependence between the rural building and the landscape which, after many stratifications, results clearly identified and sometimes also characterized in a positive way. The location of the manor farm, in fact, is often conditioned by the infrastructural network and by the structure of the agricultural landscape. The manor farm, without the constraints due to the urban pattern’s density, was developed in accordance with a logical settlement that gives priority to the environmental aspects. These vernacular architectures are the most valuable example of how our ancestors have planned their dwellings according to nature. The 237 farms, analysis’ object, have been reported in cartography through the GIS system; a symbol has been assigned to each of them to identify the architectural typology and a different color for the historical period of construction. A datasheet template has been drawn up, and it has made possible a deeper understanding of each manor farm. This method provides a faster comparison of the most recurring characters in all the considered buildings, except for those farms which benefited from special geographical conditions, such as proximity to the road network or waterways. Below there are some of the most frequently constants derived from the statistical study of the examined buildings: southeast orientation of the main facade; placement of the sheep pen on the ground tilted and exposed to the south side; larger windowed surface on the south elevation; smaller windowed surface on the north elevation; presence of shielding vegetation near the more exposed elevations to the solar radiation; food storage’s rooms located on the ground floor or in the basement; animal shelter located in north side of the farm; presence of tanks and wells, sometimes combined with a very accurate channeling storm water system; thick layers of masonry walls, inside of which were often obtained hollow spaces to house stairwells or depots for the food storage; exclusive use of local building materials. The research aims to trace the ancient use of bioclimatic constructive techniques in the Apulian rural architecture and to define those that derive from an empirical knowledge and those that respond to an already encoded design. These constructive expedients are especially useful to obtain an effective passive cooling, to promote the natural ventilation and to built ingenious systems for the recovery and the preservation of rainwater and are still found in some of the manor farms analyzed, most of them are, today, in a serious state of neglect.

Keywords: bioclimatic devices, farmstead, rural landscape, sustainability

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Authors: Rohit Shrivastava, Stefan Luding

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A mechanical wave is propagation of vibration with transfer of energy and momentum. Studying the energy as well as spectral energy characteristics of a propagating wave through disordered granular media can assist in understanding the overall properties of wave propagation through inhomogeneous materials like soil. The study of these properties is aimed at modeling wave propagation for oil, mineral or gas exploration (seismic prospecting) or non-destructive testing for the study of internal structure of solids. The study of Energy content (Kinetic, Potential and Total Energy) of a pulse propagating through an idealized one-dimensional discrete particle system like a mass disordered granular chain can assist in understanding the energy attenuation due to disorder as a function of propagation distance. The spectral analysis of the energy signal can assist in understanding dispersion as well as attenuation due to scattering in different frequencies (scattering attenuation). The selection of one-dimensional granular chain also helps in studying only the P-wave attributes of the wave and removing the influence of shear or rotational waves. Granular chains with different mass distributions have been studied, by randomly selecting masses from normal, binary and uniform distributions and the standard deviation of the distribution is considered as the disorder parameter, higher standard deviation means higher disorder and lower standard deviation means lower disorder. For obtaining macroscopic/continuum properties, ensemble averaging has been used. Interpreting information from a Total Energy signal turned out to be much easier in comparison to displacement, velocity or acceleration signals of the wave, hence, indicating a better analysis method for wave propagation through granular materials. Increasing disorder leads to faster attenuation of the signal and decreases the Energy of higher frequency signals transmitted, but at the same time the energy of spatially localized high frequencies also increases. An ordered granular chain exhibits ballistic propagation of energy whereas, a disordered granular chain exhibits diffusive like propagation, which eventually becomes localized at long periods of time.

Keywords: discrete elements, energy attenuation, mass disorder, granular chain, spectral energy, wave propagation

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Authors: Leon Mortari

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The Metropolitan East region of Rio de Janeiro state, Brazil, faces a historic water scarcity. Among the alternatives studied to solve this situation, the possibility of adduction of the available water in the reservoir Lagoa de Juturnaíba to supply the region's municipalities stands out. The allocation of a linear engineering project must occur through an evaluation of different aspects, such as altitude, slope, proximity to roads, distance from watercourses, land use and occupation, and physical and chemical features of the soil. This work aims to apply a multi-criteria model that combines geoprocessing techniques, decision-making, and geometric search algorithm to optimize a hypothetical adductor system in the scenario of expanding the water supply system that serves this region, known as Imunana-Laranjal, using the Lagoa de Juturnaíba as the source. It is proposed in this study, the construction of a spatial database related to the presented evaluation criteria, treatment and rasterization of these data, and standardization and reclassification of this information in a Geographic Information System (GIS) platform. The methodology involves the integrated analysis of these criteria, using their relative importance defined by weighting them based on expert consultations and the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) method. Three approaches are defined for weighting the criteria by AHP: the first treats all criteria as equally important, the second considers weighting based on a pairwise comparison matrix, and the third establishes a hierarchy based on the priority of the criteria. For each approach, a distinct group of weightings is defined. In the next step, map algebra tools are used to overlay the layers and generate cost surfaces, that indicates the resistance to the passage of the adductor route, using the three groups of weightings. The Dijkstra algorithm, a geometric search algorithm, is then applied to these cost surfaces to find an optimized path within the geographical space, aiming to minimize resources, time, investment, maintenance, and environmental and social impacts.

Keywords: geometric search algorithm, GIS, pipeline, route optimization, spatial multi-criteria analysis model

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Authors: Pakinee Pooprasert, Wanxin Wang, Tina Parmar, Dana Ahnood, Tafadzwa Young-Zvandasara, James Morgan

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Homelessness has been shown to be correlated to poor health outcomes, including increased visual health morbidity. Despite this, there are relatively few studies regarding visual health in the homeless population, especially in the UK. This research aims to investigate visual disability and access barriers prevalent in the homeless population in Cardiff, South Wales. Data was collected from 100 homeless participants in three different shelters. Visual outcomes included near and distance visual acuity as well as non-cycloplegic refraction. Qualitative data was collected via a questionnaire and included socio-demographic profile, ocular history, subjective visual acuity and level of access to healthcare facilities. Based on the participants’ presenting visual acuity, the total prevalence of myopia and hyperopia was 17.0% and 19.0% respectively based on spherical equivalent from the eye with the greatest absolute value. The prevalence of astigmatism was 8.0%. The mean absolute spherical equivalent was 0.841D and 0.853D for right and left eye respectively. The number of participants with sight loss (as defined by VA= 6/12-6/60 in the better-seeing eye) was 27.0% in comparison to 0.89% and 1.1% in the general Cardiff and Wales population respectively (p-value is < 0.05). Additionally, 1.0% of the homeless subjects were registered blind (VA less than 3/60), in comparison to 0.17% for the national consensus after age standardization. Most participants had good knowledge regarding access to prescription glasses and eye examination services. Despite this, 85.0% never had their eyes examined by a doctor and 73.0% had their last optometrist appointment in more than 5 years. These findings suggested that there was a significant disparity in ocular health, including visual acuity and refractive error amongst the homeless in comparison to the general population. Further, the homeless were less likely to receive the same level of support and continued care in the community due to access barriers. These included a number of socio-economic factors such as travel expenses and regional availability of services, as well as administrative shortcomings. In conclusion, this research demonstrated unmet visual health needs within the homeless, and that inclusive policy changes may need to be implemented for better healthcare outcomes within this marginalized community.

Keywords: homelessness, refractive error, visual disability, Wales

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Authors: Dieudonne Uwizeye

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Introduction: Diarrhoea is one of the major causes of morbidity and mortality among communities living in urban informal settlements of developing countries. It is assumed that mountainous environment introduces variations of the burden among residents of the same settlements. Design and Objective: A cross-sectional study was done in Kigali to explore the effect of mountainous informal settlements on diarrhoea risk variations. Data were collected among 1,152 households through household survey and transect walk to observe the status of sanitation. The outcome variable was the incidence of diarrhoea among household members of any age. The study used the most knowledgeable person in the household as the main respondent. Mostly this was the woman of the house as she was more likely to know the health status of every household member as she plays various roles: mother, wife, and head of the household among others. The analysis used cross tabulation and logistic regression analysis. Results: Results suggest that risks for diarrhoea vary depending on home location in the settlements. Diarrhoea risk increased as the distance from the road increased. The results of the logistic regression analysis indicate the adjusted odds ratio of 2.97 with 95% confidence interval being 1.35-6.55 and 3.50 adjusted odds ratio with 95% confidence interval being 1.61-7.60 in level two and three respectively compared with level one. The status of sanitation within and around homes was also significantly associated with the increase of diarrhoea. Equally, it is indicated that stable households were less likely to have diarrhoea. The logistic regression analysis indicated the adjusted odds ratio of 0.45 with 95% confidence interval being 0.25-0.81. However, the study did not find evidence for a significant association between diarrhoea risks and household socioeconomic status in the multivariable model. It is assumed that environmental factors in mountainous settings prevailed. Households using the available public water sources were more likely to have diarrhoea in their households. Recommendation: The study recommends the provision and extension of infrastructure for improved water, drainage, sanitation and wastes management facilities. Equally, studies should be done to identify the level of contamination and potential origin of contaminants for water sources in the valleys to adequately control the risks for diarrhoea in mountainous urban settings.

Keywords: urbanisation, diarrhoea risk, mountainous environment, urban informal settlements in Rwanda

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Authors: Mohammad Tarek Al Muallim, Ozhan Duzenli, Ceyhun Ilguy

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Harbor protection systems are so important. The need for automatic protection systems has increased over the last years. Diver detection active sonar has great significance. It used to detect underwater threats such as divers and autonomous underwater vehicle. To automatically detect such threats the sonar image is processed by algorithms. These algorithms used to detect, track and classify of underwater objects. In this work, divers tracking and classification algorithm is improved be proposing a robust wake detection method. To detect objects the sonar images is normalized then segmented based on fixed threshold. Next, the centroids of the segments are found and clustered based on distance metric. Then to track the objects linear Kalman filter is applied. To reduce effect of noise and creation of false tracks, the Kalman tracker is fine tuned. The tuning is done based on our active sonar specifications. After the tracks are initialed and updated they are subjected to a filtering stage to eliminate the noisy and unstable tracks. Also to eliminate object with a speed out of the diver speed range such as buoys and fast boats. Afterwards the result tracks are subjected to a classification stage to deiced the type of the object been tracked. Here the classification stage is to deice wither if the tracked object is an open circuit diver or a close circuit diver. At the classification stage, a small area around the object is extracted and a novel wake detection method is applied. The morphological features of the object with his wake is extracted. We used support vector machine to find the best classifier. The sonar training images and the test images are collected by ARMELSAN Defense Technologies Company using the portable diver detection sonar ARAS-2023. After applying the algorithm to the test sonar data, we get fine and stable tracks of the divers. The total classification accuracy achieved with the diver type is 97%.

Keywords: harbor protection, diver detection, active sonar, wake detection, diver classification

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Authors: Li Shihao, Dieter Trau

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Bilirubin is a yellow substance that is made when the body breaks down old red blood cells. High levels of bilirubin can cause jaundice, a condition that makes the newborn's skin and the white part of the eyes look yellow. Jaundice is a serial-killer in developing countries in Southeast Asia such as Myanmar and most parts of Africa where jaundice screening is largely unavailable. Worldwide, 60% of newborns experience infant jaundice. One in ten will require therapy to prevent serious complications and lifelong neurologic sequelae. Limitations of current solutions: - Blood test: Blood tests are painful may largely unavailable in poor areas of developing countries, and also can be costly and unsafe due to the insufficient investment and lack of access to health care systems. - Transcutaneous jaundice-meter: 1) can only provide reliable results to caucasian newborns, due to skin pigmentations since current technologies measure bilirubin by the color of the skin. Basically, the darker the skin is, the harder to measure, 2) current jaundice meters are not affordable for most underdeveloped areas in Africa like Kenya and Togo, 3) fat tissue under the skin also influences the accuracy, which will give overestimated results, 4) current jaundice meters are not reliable after treatment (phototherapy) because bilirubin levels underneath the skin will be reduced first, while overall levels may be quite high. Thus, there is an urgent need for a low-cost non-invasive device, which can be effective not only for caucasian babies but also Asian and African newborns, to save lives at the most vulnerable time and prevent any complications like brain damage. Instead of measuring bilirubin on skin, we proposed a new method to do the measurement on the sclera, which can avoid the difference of skin pigmentations and ethnicities, due to the necessity for the sclera to be white regardless of racial background. This is a novel approach for measuring bilirubin by an optical method of light reflection off the white part of the eye. Moreover, the device is connected to a smart device, which can provide a user-friendly interface and the ability to record the clinical data continuously A disposable eye cap will be provided avoiding contamination and fixing the distance to the eye.

Keywords: Jaundice, bilirubin, non-invasive, sclera

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Authors: Aneia Rajiel Busmente, Renato Gunio Jr., Jazin Mautante, Denise Joy Mendoza, Raymond Benedict Tagorio, Gabriel Uy, Natalie Quinn Valenzuela, Ma. Elayza Villa, Francine Yezha Vizcarra, Sofia Madelle Yapan, Eugene Kurt Yboa

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COVID-19’s rapid spread caused a dramatic change in the nation, especially the educational system. The Department of Education was forced to adopt a practical learning platform without neglecting health, a printed modular distance learning. The Philippines' K–12 curriculum includes Statistics and Probability as one of the key courses as it offers students the knowledge to evaluate and comprehend data. Due to student’s difficulty and lack of understanding of the concepts of Statistics and Probability in Normal Distribution. The Self-Learning Module in Statistics and Probability about the Normal Distribution created by the Department of Education has several problems, including many activities, unclear illustrations, and insufficient examples of concepts which enables learners to have a difficulty accomplishing the module. The purpose of this study is to determine the effectiveness of self-learning module on the academic performance of students in the subject Statistics and Probability, it will also explore students’ perception towards the quality of created Self-Learning Module in Statistics and Probability. Despite the availability of Self-Learning Modules in Statistics and Probability in the Philippines, there are still few literatures that discuss its effectiveness in improving the performance of Senior High School students in Statistics and Probability. In this study, a Self-Learning Module on Normal Distribution is evaluated using a quasi-experimental design. STEM students in Grade 11 from National University's Nazareth School will be the study's participants, chosen by purposive sampling. Google Forms will be utilized to find at least 100 STEM students in Grade 11. The research instrument consists of 20-item pre- and post-test to assess participants' knowledge and performance regarding Normal Distribution, and a Likert scale survey to evaluate how the students perceived the self-learning module. Pre-test, post-test, and Likert scale surveys will be utilized to gather data, with Jeffreys' Amazing Statistics Program (JASP) software being used for analysis.

Keywords: self-learning module, academic performance, statistics and probability, normal distribution

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Authors: Ahmed Elwaleed, Huiho Jeong, Ali H. Abdelbagi, Nguyen Thi Quynh, Koji Arizono, Yasuhiro Ishibashi

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Artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM) poses substantial risks to both human health and the environment, particularly through contamination of soil, water, and air. Prolonged exposure to ASGM-contaminated soils can lead to acute or chronic mercury toxicity. This study assesses the human health risks associated with mercury-contaminated soils and tailings in the Alebediah mining community in Sudan. Soil samples were collected from various locations within Alebediah, including ASGM areas, farmlands, and residential areas, along with tailings samples commonly found within ASGM sites. The evaluation of potential health risks to humans included the computation of the estimated daily intake (AvDI), the hazard quotient (HQ), and the hazard index (HI) for both adults and children. The primary exposure route identified as potentially posing a significant health risk was the volatilization of mercury from tailings samples, where mercury concentrations reached up to 25.5 mg/kg. In contrast, other samples within the ASGM area showed elevated mercury levels but did not present significant health risks, with HI values below 1. However, all areas indicated HI values above 1 for the remaining exposure routes. The study observed a decrease in mercury concentration with increasing distance from the ASGM community. Additionally, soil samples revealed elevated mercury levels exceeding background values, prompting an assessment of contamination levels using the enrichment factor (EF). The findings indicated that farmlands and residential areas exhibited depleted EF, while areas surrounding the ASGM community showed none to moderate pollution. In contrast, ASGM areas exhibited significant to extreme pollution. A GIS map was generated to visually depict the extent of mercury pollution, facilitating communication with stakeholders and decision-makers.

Keywords: mercury pollution, artisanal and small-scale gold mining, health risk assessment, hazard index, soil and tailings, enrichment factor

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Authors: Ahmedou Moulaye Idriss, Tfeil Yahya, Tamas Ungi, Gabor Fichtinger

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Image-guided therapy (IGT) plays a crucial role in minimally invasive procedures for liver interventions. Accurate segmentation of the liver and precise needle placement is essential for successful interventions such as needle aspiration. In this study, we propose a deep learning-based liver 3D slicer designed to enhance segmentation accuracy and facilitate needle aspiration procedures. The developed 3D slicer leverages state-of-the-art convolutional neural networks (CNNs) for automatic liver segmentation in medical images. The CNN model is trained on a diverse dataset of liver images obtained from various imaging modalities, including computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). The trained model demonstrates robust performance in accurately delineating liver boundaries, even in cases with anatomical variations and pathological conditions. Furthermore, the 3D slicer integrates advanced image registration techniques to ensure accurate alignment of preoperative images with real-time interventional imaging. This alignment enhances the precision of needle placement during aspiration procedures, minimizing the risk of complications and improving overall intervention outcomes. To validate the efficacy of the proposed deep learning-based 3D slicer, a comprehensive evaluation is conducted using a dataset of clinical cases. Quantitative metrics, including the Dice similarity coefficient and Hausdorff distance, are employed to assess the accuracy of liver segmentation. Additionally, the performance of the 3D slicer in guiding needle aspiration procedures is evaluated through simulated and clinical interventions. Preliminary results demonstrate the effectiveness of the developed 3D slicer in achieving accurate liver segmentation and guiding needle aspiration procedures with high precision. The integration of deep learning techniques into the IGT workflow shows great promise for enhancing the efficiency and safety of liver interventions, ultimately contributing to improved patient outcomes.

Keywords: deep learning, liver segmentation, 3D slicer, image guided therapy, needle aspiration

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Authors: Ujjwall Sai Sunder Uppuluri

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Group theory is a powerful tool that researchers can use to provide a structural foundation for their Agent Based Models. These Agent Based models are argued by this paper to be the future of the Social Science Disciplines. More specifically, researchers can use them to apply evolutionary theory to the study of complex social systems. This paper illustrates one such example of how theoretically an Agent Based Model can be formulated from the application of Group Theory, Systems Dynamics, and Evolutionary Biology to analyze the strategies pursued by states to mitigate risk and maximize usage of resources to achieve the objective of economic growth. This example can be applied to other social phenomena and this makes group theory so useful to the analysis of complex systems, because the theory provides the mathematical formulaic proof for validating the complex system models that researchers build and this will be discussed by the paper. The aim of this research, is to also provide researchers with a framework that can be used to model political entities such as states on a 3-dimensional plane. The x-axis representing resources (tangible and intangible) available to them, y the risks, and z the objective. There also exist other states with different constraints pursuing different strategies to climb the mountain. This mountain’s environment is made up of risks the state faces and resource endowments. This mountain is also layered in the sense that it has multiple peaks that must be overcome to reach the tallest peak. A state that sticks to a single strategy or pursues a strategy that is not conducive to the climbing of that specific peak it has reached is not able to continue advancement. To overcome the obstacle in the state’s path, it must innovate. Based on the definition of a group, we can categorize each state as being its own group. Each state is a closed system, one which is made up of micro level agents who have their own vectors and pursue strategies (actions) to achieve some sub objectives. The state also has an identity, the inverse being anarchy and/or inaction. Finally, the agents making up a state interact with each other through competition and collaboration to mitigate risks and achieve sub objectives that fall within the primary objective. Thus, researchers can categorize the state as an organism that reflects the sum of the output of the interactions pursued by agents at the micro level. When states compete, they employ a strategy and that state which has the better strategy (reflected by the strategies pursued by her parts) is able to out-compete her counterpart to acquire some resource, mitigate some risk or fulfil some objective. This paper will attempt to illustrate how group theory combined with evolutionary theory and systems dynamics can allow researchers to model the long run development, evolution, and growth of political entities through the use of a bottom up approach.

Keywords: complex systems, evolutionary theory, group theory, international political economy

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Authors: Elkington S. Mnguni

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Water and sanitation services in South Africa are characterized by both achievements and challenges. After the end of apartheid in 1994 the newly elected government faced the challenge of eradicating backlogs with respect to access to basic services, including water and sanitation. Capital investment made in the development of new water and sanitation infrastructure to provide basic services to previously disadvantaged communities has grown, to a certain extent, at the expense of investment in the operation and maintenance of new and existing infrastructure. Challenges resulting from aging infrastructure and poor plant performance highlight the need for investing in the maintenance, rehabilitation, and replacement of existing infrastructure to optimize the return on investment. Advanced water infrastructure asset management (IAM) is key to achieving adequate levels of service, particularly with regard to reliable and high quality drinking water supply, prevention of urban flooding, efficient use of natural resources and prevention of pollution and associated risks. Against this backdrop, this paper presents an appraisal of water and sanitation IAM systems in South Africa’s three utilities, being metropolitan cities in the Gauteng Province. About a quarter of the national population lives in the three rapidly urbanizing cities of Johannesburg, Ekurhuleni and Tshwane, located in a semi-arid region. A literature review has been done and field visits to some of the utility facilities are being conducted. Semi-structured interviews will be conducted with the three utilities. The following critical factors are being analysed in terms of compliance with the national Water Services IAM Strategy (2011) and other applicable legislation: asset registers; capacity of assets; current and predicted demand; funding availability / budget allocations; plans: operation & maintenance, renewal & replacement, and risk management; no-drop status (non-revenue water levels); blue drop status (water quality); green drop status (effluent quality); and skills availability. Some of the key challenges identified in the literature review include: funding constraints, Skills shortage, and wastewater treatment plants operating beyond their design capacities. These challenges will be verified during field visits and research interviews. Gaps between literature and practice will be identified and relevant recommendations made if necessary. The objective of this study is to contribute to the resolution of the challenges brought about by the backlogs in the operation and maintenance of water and sanitation assets in the country in general, and in the three cities in particular, thus improving the sustainability thereof.

Keywords: asset management, backlogs, levels of service, sustainability, water and sanitation infrastructure

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Authors: Dana Pugach, Michal Tamir

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Most criminal cases end with a plea agreement, an issue whose many aspects have been discussed extensively in legal literature. One important feature, however, has gained little notice, and that is crime victims’ place in plea agreements following the federal Crime Victims Rights Act of 2004. This law has provided victims some meaningful and potentially revolutionary rights, including the right to be heard in the proceeding and a right to appeal against a decision made while ignoring the victim’s rights. While victims’ rights literature has always emphasized the importance of such right, references to this provision in the general literature about plea agreements are sparse, if existing at all. Furthermore, there are a few cases only mentioning this right. This article purports to bridge between these two bodies of legal thinking – the vast literature concerning plea agreements and victims’ rights research– by using behavioral economics. The article will, firstly, trace the possible structural reasons for the failure of this right to be materialized. Relevant incentives of all actors involved will be identified as well as their inherent consequential processes that lead to the victims’ rights malfunction. Secondly, the article will use nudge theory in order to suggest solutions that will enhance incentives for the repeat players in the system (prosecution, judges, defense attorneys) and lead to the strengthening of weaker group’s interests – the crime victims. Behavioral psychology literature recognizes that the framework in which an individual confronts a decision can significantly influence his decision. Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein developed the idea of ‘choice architecture’ - ‘the context in which people make decisions’ - which can be manipulated to make particular decisions more likely. Choice architectures can be changed by adjusting ‘nudges,’ influential factors that help shape human behavior, without negating their free choice. The nudges require decision makers to make choices instead of providing a familiar default option. In accordance with this theory, we suggest a rule, whereby a judge should inquire the victim’s view prior to accepting the plea. This suggestion leaves the judge’s discretion intact; while at the same time nudges her not to go directly to the default decision, i.e. automatically accepting the plea. Creating nudges that force actors to make choices is particularly significant when an actor intends to deviate from routine behaviors but experiences significant time constraints, as in the case of judges and plea bargains. The article finally recognizes some far reaching possible results of the suggestion. These include meaningful changes to the earlier stages of criminal process even before reaching court, in line with the current criticism of the plea agreements machinery.

Keywords: plea agreements, victims' rights, nudge theory, criminal justice

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Authors: Constantin Z. Leshan

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Hole Vacuum theory is based on discontinuous spacetime that contains vacuum holes. Vacuum holes can explain gravitation, some laws of quantum mechanics and allow teleportation of matter. All massive bodies emit a flux of holes which curve the spacetime; if we increase the concentration of holes, it leads to length contraction and time dilation because the holes do not have the properties of extension and duration. In the limited case when space consists of holes only, the distance between every two points is equal to zero and time stops - outside of the Universe, the extension and duration properties do not exist. For this reason, the vacuum hole is the only particle in physics capable of describing gravitation using its own properties only. All microscopic particles must 'jump' continually and 'vibrate' due to the appearance of holes (impassable microscopic 'walls' in space), and it is the cause of the quantum behavior. Vacuum holes can explain the entanglement, non-locality, wave properties of matter, tunneling, uncertainty principle and so on. Particles do not have trajectories because spacetime is discontinuous and has impassable microscopic 'walls' due to the simple mechanical motion is impossible at small scale distances; it is impossible to 'trace' a straight line in the discontinuous spacetime because it contains the impassable holes. Spacetime 'boils' continually due to the appearance of the vacuum holes. For teleportation to be possible, we must send a body outside of the Universe by enveloping it with a closed surface consisting of vacuum holes. Since a material body cannot exist outside of the Universe, it reappears instantaneously in a random point of the Universe. Since a body disappears in one volume and reappears in another random volume without traversing the physical space between them, such a transportation method can be called teleportation (or Hole Teleportation). It is shown that Hole Teleportation does not violate causality and special relativity due to its random nature and other properties. Although Hole Teleportation has a random nature, it can be used for colonization of extrasolar planets by the help of the method called 'random jumps': after a large number of random teleportation jumps, there is a probability that the spaceship may appear near a habitable planet. We can create vacuum holes experimentally using the method proposed by Descartes: we must remove a body from the vessel without permitting another body to occupy this volume.

Keywords: border of the Universe, causality violation, perfect isolation, quantum jumps

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Authors: Annika Freudenberger, Sin Sokhong

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In just a few years, the Face-to-Face Victory Gardens Project (F2F) in Cambodia has developed a high-impact project that has provided immediate and tangible benefits to local families. This has been accomplished with a relatively hands-off approach that relies on households’ own motivation and personal investments of time and resources -which is both unique and impressive in the landscape of NGO and government initiatives in the area. Households have been growing food both for their own consumption and to sell or exchange. Not all targeted beneficiaries are equally motivated and maximizing their involvement, but there is a clear subset of households -particularly those who serve as facilitators- whose circumstances have been transformed as a result of F2F. A number of household factors and contextual economic factors affect families’ income generation opportunities. All the households we spoke with became involved with F2F with the goal of selling some proportion of their produce (i.e., not exclusively for their own consumption). For some, this income is marginal and supplemental to their core household income; for others, it is substantial and transformative. Some engage directly with customers/buyers in their immediate community, while others sell in larger nearby markets, and others link up with intermediary vendors. All struggle, to a certain extent, to compete in a local economy flooded with cheap produce imported from large-scale growers in neighboring provinces, Thailand, and Vietnam, although households who grow and sell herbs and greens popular in Khmer cuisine have found a stronger local market. Some are content with the scale of their garden, the income they make, and the current level of effort required to maintain it; others would like to expand but are faced with land constraints and water management challenges. Households making a substantial income from selling their products have achieved success in different ways, making it difficult to pinpoint a clear “model” for replication. Within our small sample size of interviewees, it seems as though the families with a clear passion for their gardens and high motivation to work hard to bring their products to market have succeeded in doing so. Khmer greens and herbs have been the most successful; they are not high-value crops, but they are fairly easy to grow, and there is a constant demand. These crops are also not imported as much, so prices are more stable than those of crops such as long beans. Although we talked to a limited number of individuals, it also appears as though successful families either restricted their crops to those that would grow well in drought or flood conditions (depending on which they are affected by most); or benefit already from water management infrastructure such as water tanks which helps them diversify their crops and helps them build their resilience.

Keywords: food security, Victory Gardens, nutrition, Cambodia

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Authors: Evan Lowhorn, Rocio Alba-Flores

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The purpose of this work is to develop a method for classifying hand signals and using the output in a drone control algorithm. To achieve this, methods based on Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN) were applied. CNN's are a subset of deep learning, which allows grid-like inputs to be processed and passed through a neural network to be trained for classification. This type of neural network allows for classification via imaging, which is less intrusive than previous methods using biosensors, such as EMG sensors. Classification CNN's operate purely from the pixel values in an image; therefore they can be used without additional exteroceptive sensors. A development bench was constructed using a desktop computer connected to a high-definition webcam mounted on a scissor arm. This allowed the camera to be pointed downwards at the desk to provide a constant solid background for the dataset and a clear detection area for the user. A MATLAB script was created to automate dataset image capture at the development bench and save the images to the desktop. This allowed the user to create their own dataset of 12,000 images within three hours. These images were evenly distributed among seven classes. The defined classes include forward, backward, left, right, idle, and land. The drone has a popular flip function which was also included as an additional class. To simplify control, the corresponding hand signals chosen were the numerical hand signs for one through five for movements, a fist for land, and the universal “ok” sign for the flip command. Transfer learning with PyTorch (Python) was performed using a pre-trained 18-layer residual learning network (ResNet-18) to retrain the network for custom classification. An algorithm was created to interpret the classification and send encoded messages to a Ryze Tello drone over its 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi connection. The drone’s movements were performed in half-meter distance increments at a constant speed. When combined with the drone control algorithm, the classification performed as desired with negligible latency when compared to the delay in the drone’s movement commands.

Keywords: classification, computer vision, convolutional neural networks, drone control

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Authors: Ola Elfmark, Lars M. Bardal, Luca Oggiano, H˚avard Myklebust

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Team pursuit is a relatively new event in international long track speed skating. For a single speed skater the aerodynamic drag will account for up to 80% of the braking force, thus reducing the drag can greatly improve the performance. In a team pursuit the interactions between athletes in near proximity will also be essential, but is not well studied. In this study, systematic measurements of the aerodynamic drag, body posture and relative positioning of speed skaters have been performed in the low speed wind tunnel at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, in order to investigate the aerodynamic interaction between two speed skaters. Drag measurements of static speed skaters drafting, leading, side-by-side, and dynamic drag measurements in a synchronized and unsynchronized movement at different distances, were performed. The projected frontal area was measured for all postures and movements and a blockage correction was performed, as the blockage ratio ranged from 5-15% in the different setups. The static drag measurements where performed on two test subjects in two different postures, a low posture and a high posture, and two different distances between the test subjects 1.5T and 3T where T being the length of the torso (T=0.63m). A drag reduction was observed for all distances and configurations, from 39% to 11.4%, for the drafting test subject. The drag of the leading test subject was only influenced at -1.5T, with the biggest drag reduction of 5.6%. An increase in drag was seen for all side-by-side measurements, the biggest increase was observed to be 25.7%, at the closest distance between the test subjects, and the lowest at 2.7% with ∼ 0.7 m between the test subjects. A clear aerodynamic interaction between the test subjects and their postures was observed for most measurements during static measurements, with results corresponding well to recent studies. For the dynamic measurements, the leading test subject had a drag reduction of 3% even at -3T. The drafting showed a drag reduction of 15% when being in a synchronized (sync) motion with the leading test subject at 4.5T. The maximal drag reduction for both the leading and the drafting test subject were observed when being as close as possible in sync, with a drag reduction of 8.5% and 25.7% respectively. This study emphasize the importance of keeping a synchronized movement by showing that the maximal gain for the leading and drafting dropped to 3.2% and 3.3% respectively when the skaters are in opposite phase. Individual differences in technique also appear to influence the drag of the other test subject.

Keywords: aerodynamic interaction, drag force, frontal area, speed skating

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