Search results for: A new neural network for solving linear and quadratic programming problems. IEEE Transactions on Neural Networks

Authors: Maari Sugawara

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This arts-based research is about "self-torture": the interplay of seemingly opposing elements of pain, pleasure, submission, and power. It asserts that "self-torture" can be considered a nontrivial mediation between the aesthetic and the sociopolitical. It explores what the author calls queered self-torture; "self-torture" marked by an ambivalence that allows the oppressed to resist, and their counter-valorization occasionally functions as therapeutic solutions to the problems they highlight and condense. The research goal is to deconstruct normative self-torture and propose queered self-torture as a fertile ground for considering the complexities of desire that allow the oppressed to practice freedom. While “self-torture” manifests in many societies, this research focuses on cultural and national identity in post-WWII Japan using this lens of self-torture, as masochism functions as the very basis for Japanese cultural and national identity to ensure self-preservation. This masochism is defined as an impulse to realize a sense of pride and construct an identity through the acceptance of subordination, shame, and humiliation in the face of an all-powerful Other; the dominant Euro-America. It could be argued that this self-torture is a result of Japanese cultural annihilation and the trauma of the nation's defeat to the US. This is the definition of "self-torturous thresholds," the author’s post-WWII Japan psycho-historical diagnosis; when this threshold is crossed, the oppressed begin to torture themselves; the oppressors no longer need to do anything to maintain their power. The oppressed are already oppressing themselves. The term "oppressed" here refers to Japanese individuals and residents of Japan who are subjected to oppressive “white” heteropatriarchal supremacist structures and values that serve colonialist interests. There are three stages in "self-torturous thresholds": (1) the oppressors no longer need to oppress because the oppressed voluntarily commit to self-torture; (2) the oppressed find pleasure in self-torture; and (3) the oppressed achieve queered self-torture, to achieve alternative futures. Using the conceptualization of "self-torture," this research examines and critiques pleasure, desire, capital, and power in postwar Japan, which enables the discussion of the data-colonizing “Moonshot Research and Development program”. If the oppressed want to divest from the habits of normative self-torture, which shape what is possible in both our present and future, we need methods to feel and know that the alternative results of self-torture are possible. Phase three will be enacted using Sarah Ahmed's queer methodology to reorient national and cultural identity away from heteronormativity. Through theoretical analysis, textual analysis, archival research, ethnographic interviews, and digital art projects, including experimental documentary as a method to capture the realities of the individuals who are practicing self-torture, this research seeks to reveal how self-torture may become not just a vehicle of pleasure but also a mode of critiquing power and achieving freedom. It seeks to encourage the imaginings of queer Japanese futures, where the marginalized survive Japan’s natural and man-made disasters and Japan’s Imperialist past and present rather than submitting to the country’s continued violence.

Keywords: arts-based research, Japanese studies, interdisciplinary arts, queer studies, cultural studies, popular culture, BDSM, sadomasochism, sexuality, VR, AR, digital art, visual arts, speculative fiction

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Authors: V. Rekha, Rama Pal

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The study examines the degree and magnitude of wealth-based inequalities in child health and its determinants in India. Despite making strides in economic growth, India has failed to secure a better nutritional status for all the children. The country currently faces the double burden of malnutrition as well as the problems of overweight and obesity. Child malnutrition, obesity, unsafe water, sanitation among others are identified as the risk factors for Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs). Eliminating malnutrition in all its forms will catalyse improved health and economic outcomes. The assessment of the distributive dimension of child health across various segments of the population is essential for effective policy intervention. The study utilises the fourth round of District Level Health Survey for 2012-13 to analyse the inequalities among children in the age group 0-14 years in Maharashtra, a state in the western region of India with a population of 11.24 crores which constitutes 9.3 percent of the total population of India. The study considers the extent of health inequality by state, districts, sector, age-groups, and gender. The z-scores of four child health outcome variables are computed to assess the nutritional status of pre-school and school children using WHO reference. The descriptive statistics, concentration curves, concentration indices, correlation matrix, logistic regression have been used to analyse the data. The results indicate that magnitude of inequality is higher in Maharashtra and child health inequalities manifest primarily among the weaker sections of society. The concentration curves show that there exists a pro-poor inequality in child malnutrition measured by stunting, wasting, underweight, anaemia and a pro-rich overweight inequality. The inequalities in anaemia are observably lower due to the widespread prevalence. Rural areas exhibit a higher incidence of malnutrition, but greater inequality is observed in the urban areas. Overall, the wealth-based inequalities do not vary significantly between age groups. It appears that there is no gender discrimination at the state level. Further, rural-urban differentials in gender show that boys from the rural area and girls living in the urban region experience higher disparities in health. The relative distribution of undernutrition across districts in Maharashtra reveals that malnutrition is rampant and considerable heterogeneity also exists. A negative correlation is established between malnutrition prevalence and human development indicators. The findings of logistic regression analysis reveal that lower economic status of the household is associated with a higher probability of being malnourished. The study recognises household wealth, education of the parent, child gender, and household size as factors significantly related to malnutrition. The results suggest that among the supply-side variables, child-oriented government programmes might be beneficial in tackling nutrition deficit. In order to bridge the health inequality gap, the government needs to target the schemes better and should expand the coverage of services.

Keywords: child health, inequality, malnutrition, obesity

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Authors: Margherita Tufarelli, Leonardo Giliberti, Elena Pucci

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The fashion industry's interest in virtuality is linked, on the one hand, to the emotional and immersive possibilities of digital resources and the resulting languages and, on the other, to the greater efficiency that can be achieved throughout the value chain. The interaction between digital innovation and deep-rooted manufacturing traditions today translates into a paradigm shift for the entire fashion industry where, for example, the traditional values of industrial secrecy and know-how give way to experimentation in an open as well as participatory way, and the complete emancipation of virtual reality from actual 'reality'. The contribution aims to investigate the theme of digitisation in the Italian fashion industry, analysing its opportunities and the criticalities that have hindered its diffusion. There are two reasons why the most common approach in the fashion sector is still analogue: (i) the fashion product lives in close contact with the human body, so the sensory perception of materials plays a central role in both the use and the design of the product, but current technology is not able to restore the sense of touch; (ii) volumes are obtained by stitching flat surfaces that once assembled, given the flexibility of the material, can assume almost infinite configurations. Managing the fit and styling of virtual garments involves a wide range of factors, including mechanical simulation, collision detection, and user interface techniques for garment creation. After briefly reviewing some of the salient historical milestones in the resolution of problems related to the digital simulation of deformable materials and the user interface for the procedures for the realisation of the clothing system, the paper will describe the operation and possibilities offered today by the latest generation of specialised software. Parametric avatars and digital sartorial approach; drawing tools optimised for pattern making; materials both from the point of view of simulated physical behaviour and of aesthetic performance, tools for checking wearability, renderings, but also tools and procedures useful to companies both for dialogue with prototyping software and machinery and for managing the archive and the variants to be made. The article demonstrates how developments in technology and digital procedures now make it possible to intervene in different stages of design in the fashion industry. An integrated and additive process in which the constructed 3D models are usable both in the prototyping and communication of physical products and in the possible exclusively digital uses of 3D models in the new generation of virtual spaces. Mastering such tools requires the acquisition of specific digital skills and, at the same time, traditional skills for the design of the clothing system, but the benefits are manifold and applicable to different business dimensions. We are only at the beginning of the global digital transformation: the emergence of new professional figures and design dynamics leaves room for imagination, but in addition to applying digital tools to traditional procedures, traditional fashion know-how needs to be transferred into emerging digital practices to ensure the continuity of the technical-cultural heritage beyond the transformation.

Keywords: digital fashion, digital technology and couture, digital fashion communication, 3D garment simulation

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Authors: Glykeria A. Visvini, George Ν. Mathioudakis, Amaia Soto Beobide, George A. Voyiatzis

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Polymer nanocomposites are materials in which a polymer matrix is reinforced with nanoscale inclusions, such as nanoparticles, nanoplates, or nanofibers. These nanoscale inclusions can significantly enhance the mechanical, thermal, electrical, and other properties of the polymer matrix, making them attractive for a wide range of industrial applications. These properties can be tailored by adjusting the type and the concentration of the nanoinclusions, which provides a high degree of flexibility in their design and development. An important property that polymeric membranes can exhibit is water vapor permeability (WVP). This can be accomplished by various methods, including the incorporation of micro/nano-fillers into the polymer matrix. In this way, a micro/nano-pore network can be formed, allowing water vapor to permeate through the membrane. At the same time, the membrane can be stretched uni- or bi-axially, creating aligned or cross-linked micropores in the composite, respectively, which can also increase the WVP. Nowadays, in industry, stretched films reinforced with CaCO3 develop micro-porosity sufficient to give them breathability characteristics. Carbon-based nanomaterials, such as graphene oxide (GO), are tentatively expected to be able to effectively improve the WVP of corresponding composite polymer films. The presence in the GO structure of various functional oxidizing groups enhances its ability to attract and channel water molecules, exploiting the unique large surface area of graphene that allows the rapid transport of water molecules. Polypropylene (PP) is widely used in various industrial applications due to its desirable properties, including good chemical resistance, excellent thermal stability, low cost, and easy processability. The specific properties of PP are highly influenced by its crystalline behavior, which is determined by its processing conditions. The development of the β-crystalline phase in PP, in combination with stretching, is anticipating improving the microporosity of the polymer matrix, thereby enhancing its WVP. The aim of present study is to create breathable PP composite membranes using carbon-based nanomaterials, such as graphene oxide (GO), reduced graphene oxide (rGO), and graphene nanoplatelets (GNPs). Unlike traditional methods that rely on the drawing process to enhance the WVP of PP, this study intents to develop a low-cost approach using melt mixing with β-nucleating agents and carbon fillers to create highly breathable PP composite membranes. The study aims to investigate how the concentration of these additives affects the water vapor transport properties of the resulting PP films/membranes. The presence of β-nucleating agents and carbon fillers is expected to enhance β-phase growth in PP, while an alternation between β- and α-phase is expected to lead to improved microporosity and WVP. Our ambition is to develop highly breathable PP composite films with superior performance and at a lower cost compared to the benchmark. Acknowledgment: This research has been co‐financed by the European Union and Greek national funds through the Operational Program Competitiveness, Entrepreneurship and Innovation, under the call «Special Actions "AQUACULTURE"-"INDUSTRIAL MATERIALS"-"OPEN INNOVATION IN CULTURE"» (project code: Τ6YBP-00337)

Keywords: carbon based nanomaterials, nanocomposites, nucleating agent, polypropylene, water vapor permeability

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Authors: Amir E. Amirzadeh, Richard K. Strand

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Moisture-induced problems are a significant concern for building owners, architects, construction managers, and building engineers, as they can have substantial impacts on building enclosures' durability and performance. Computational analyses, such as hygrothermal and thermal analysis, can provide valuable information and demonstrate the expected relative performance of building enclosure systems but are not grounded in absolute certainty. This paper evaluates the hygrothermal performance of common enclosure systems in hospitals in cold climates. The study aims to investigate the impact of exterior wall systems on hospitals, focusing on factors such as durability, construction deficiencies, and energy performance. The study primarily examines the impact of air leakage and vapor retarding layers relative to energy consumption. While these factors have been studied in residential and commercial buildings, there is a lack of information on their impact on hospitals in a holistic context. The study integrates various research studies and professional experience in hospital building design to achieve its objective. The methodology involves surveying and observing exterior wall assemblies, reviewing common exterior wall assemblies and details used in hospital construction, performing simulations and numerical analyses of various variables, validating the model and mechanism using available data from industry and academia, visualizing the outcomes of the analysis, and developing a mechanism to demonstrate the relative performance of exterior wall systems for hospitals under specific conditions. The data sources include case studies from real-world projects and peer-reviewed articles, industry standards, and practices. This research intends to integrate and analyze the in-situ and as-designed performance and durability of building enclosure assemblies with numerical analysis. The study's primary objective is to provide a clear and precise roadmap to better visualize and comprehend the correlation between the durability and performance of common exterior wall systems used in the construction of hospitals and the energy consumption of these buildings under certain static and dynamic conditions. As the construction of new hospitals and renovation of existing ones have grown over the last few years, it is crucial to understand the effect of poor detailing or construction deficiencies on building enclosure systems' performance and durability in healthcare buildings. This study aims to assist stakeholders involved in hospital design, construction, and maintenance in selecting durable and high-performing wall systems. It highlights the importance of early design evaluation, regular quality control during the construction of hospitals, and understanding the potential impacts of improper and inconsistent maintenance and operation practices on occupants, owner, building enclosure systems, and Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning (HVAC) systems, even if they are designed to meet the project requirements.

Keywords: hygrothermal analysis, building enclosure, hospitals, energy efficiency, optimization and visualization, uncertainty and decision making

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Authors: Ashish Kumar Dwivedi

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Uttar Pradesh is largest part of Indian Federal system encapsulating twenty two million populations and has huge cultural, economic and religious diversity. The newly elected 18 months old state leadership of Uttar Pradesh has envisaged and initiated various proactive strides for the public grievance redressal and inclusive development schemes for all the sections of population from its very day of assumption of the office by Hon’ble Chief Minster Shri Yogi Adtiyanath. These initiatives also include Departmental responses via social media handles as Twitter, Facebook Page, and Web interaction. In the same course, every department of state government has been guided for the correct usage of verified social media handle separately and in co-ordination with other departments. These guidelines included making new WhatsApp groups to connect technocrats and politicians to communicate on common platform. Minister for Department of Infrastructure and Industrial Development, Shri Satish Mahana is a very popular leader and very intuitive statesman, has thousands of followers on social media and his accounts receive almost three hundred individually mentioned notifications from the various parts of Uttar Pradesh. These notifications primarily include problems related to livelihood and grievances concerned to department. To address these communications, a body of five experts has been set who are actively responding on various levels and increase bureaucratic engagements with marginalized sections of society. With reference to above background, this piece of research was conducted to analyze, categorize and derive effective implementation of public policies via social media platforms. This act of responsiveness has brought positive change in the mindset of population for the government, which was missed earlier. Department of Industrial Development in the Government is also inclined to attract investors aiming to become first trillion-dollar economy of India henceforth department also organized two major successful events in last one year. These events were also frame worked on social media platform to update 2.5 million population of state who is actively using social media in many ways. To analyze change scientifically, this study has been conducted and big data has been collected from October 2017 to September 2018 from the departmental social media handles as Twitter, Facebook, and emails. For this data, a statistical study has been conducted to analyze sentiments and expectations, specific and common requirement of communities, nature of grievances and their effective elucidation fitted into government policies. The control sample has also been taken from previous government activities to analyze the change. The statistical study used tools such as correlation study and principal component analysis. Also in this research communication, the modus operandi of grievance redressal, proliferation of government policies, connections to their beneficiaries and quick response procedure will be discussed.

Keywords: correlation study, principal component analysis, bureaucratic engagements, social media

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Authors: Sajjad H. Kasanagh, Perviz Ahmedzade, Alexander Fainleib, Taylan Gunay

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Modification of asphalt is a fundamental method around the world mainly on the purpose of providing more durable pavements which lead to diminish repairing cost during the lifetime of highways. Various polymers such as styrene-butadiene-styrene (SBS) and ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA) make up the greater parts of the all-over asphalt modifiers generally providing better physical properties of asphalt by decreasing temperature dependency which eventually diminishes permanent deformation on highways such as rutting. However, some waste and low-cost materials such as recycled plastics and ground rubber tire have been attempted to utilize in asphalt as modifier instead of manufactured polymer modifiers due to decreasing the eventual highway cost. On the other hand, the usage of recycled plastics has become a worldwide requirement and awareness in order to decrease the pollution made by waste plastics. Hence, finding an area in which recycling plastics could be utilized has been targeted by many research teams so as to reduce polymer manufacturing and plastic pollution. To this end, in this paper, thermoplastic dynamic vulcanizate (TDV) obtained from recycled post-consumer polyethylene and ground tire rubber (GTR) were used to provide an efficient modifier for asphalt which decreases the production cost as well and finally might provide an ecological solution by decreasing polymer disposal problems. TDV was synthesized by the chemists in the research group by means of the abovementioned components that are considered as compatible physical characteristic of asphalt materials. TDV modified asphalt samples having different rate of proportions of 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 wt.% TDV modifier were prepared. Conventional tests, such as penetration, softening point and roll thin film oven (RTFO) tests were performed to obtain fundamental physical and aging properties of the base and modified binders. The high temperature performance grade (PG) of binders was determined by Superpave tests conducted on original and aged binders. The multiple stress creep and recovery (MSCR) test which is relatively up-to-date method for classifying asphalts taking account of their elasticity abilities was carried out to evaluate PG plus grades of binders. The results obtained from performance grading, and MSCR tests were also evaluated together so as to make a comparison between the methods both aiming to determine rheological parameters of asphalt. The test results revealed that TDV modification leads to a decrease in penetration, an increase in softening point, which proves an increasing stiffness of asphalt. DSR results indicate an improvement in PG for modified binders compared to base asphalt. On the other hand, MSCR results that are compatible with DSR results also indicate an enhancement on rheological properties of asphalt. However, according to the results, the improvement is not as distinct as observed in DSR results since elastic properties are fundamental in MSCR. At the end of the testing program, it can be concluded that TDV can be used as modifier which provides better rheological properties for asphalt and might diminish plastic waste pollution since the material is 100% recycled.

Keywords: asphalt, ground tire rubber, recycled polymer, thermoplastic dynamic vulcanizate

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Authors: Natàlia Garcia Soler, Timothy Moss

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Despite the multiple benefits of sustainable urban drainage, as demonstrated in numerous case studies across the world, urban rainwater harvesting techniques are generally restricted to isolated model projects. The leap from niche to mainstream has, in most cities, proved an elusive goal. Why policies promoting rainwater harvesting are limited in their widespread implementation has seldom been subjected to systematic analysis. Much of the literature on the policy, planning and institutional contexts of these techniques focus either on their potential benefits or on project design, but very rarely on a critical-constructive analysis of past experiences of implementation. Moreover, the vast majority of these contributions are restricted to single-case studies. There is a dearth of knowledge with respect to, firstly, policy implementation processes and, secondly, multi-case analysis. Insights from both, the authors argue, are essential to inform more effective rainwater harvesting in cities in the future. This paper presents preliminary findings from a research project on rainwater harvesting in cities from a social science perspective that is funded by the Swedish Research Foundation (Formas). This project – UrbanRain – is examining the challenges and opportunities of mainstreaming rainwater harvesting in three European cities. The paper addresses two research questions: firstly, what lessons can be learned on suitable policy incentives and planning instruments for rainwater harvesting from a meta-analysis of the relevant international literature and, secondly, how far these lessons are reflected in a study of past and ongoing rainwater harvesting projects in a European forerunner city. This two-tier approach frames the structure of the paper. We present, first, the results of the literature analysis on policy and planning issues of urban rainwater harvesting. Here, we analyze quantitatively and qualitatively the literature of the past 15 years on this topic in terms of thematic focus, issues addressed and key findings and draw conclusions on research gaps, highlighting the need for more studies on implementation factors, actor interests, institutional adaptation and multi-level governance. In a second step we focus in on the experiences of rainwater harvesting in Berlin and present the results of a mapping exercise on a wide variety of projects implemented there over the last 30 years. Here, we develop a typology to characterize the rainwater harvesting projects in terms of policy issues (what problems and goals are targeted), project design (which kind of solutions are envisaged), project implementation (how and when they were implemented), location (whether they are in new or existing urban developments) and actors (which stakeholders are involved and how), paying particular attention to the shifting institutional framework in Berlin. Mapping and categorizing these projects is based on a combination of document analysis and expert interviews. The paper concludes by synthesizing the findings, identifying how far the goals, governance structures and instruments applied in the Berlin projects studied reflect the findings emerging from the meta-analysis of the international literature on policy and planning issues of rainwater harvesting and what implications these findings have for mainstreaming such techniques in future practice.

Keywords: institutional framework, planning, policy, project implementation, urban rainwater management

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Authors: B. S. Premalatha, Mereen Rose Babu, Vaishali Prabhu

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Background: Dysphagia must be assessed, either subjectively or objectively, in order to properly address the swallowing difficulty. Providing therapeutic care to patients with dysphagia via tele mode was one approach for providing clinical services during the COVID-19 epidemic. As a result, the teleassessment of dysphagia has increased in India. Aim: This study aimed to identify challenges faced by Indian SLPs while providing teleassessment to individuals with dysphagia during the outbreak of COVID-19 from 2020 to 2021. Method: After receiving approval from the institute's institutional review board and ethics committee, the current study was carried out. The study was cross-sectional in nature and lasted from 2020 to 2021. The study enrolled participants who met the inclusion and exclusion criteria of the study. It was decided to recruit roughly 246 people based on the sample size calculations. The research was done in three stages: questionnaire development and content validation, questionnaire administration. Five speech and hearing professionals' content verified the questionnaire for faults and clarity. Participants received questionnaires via various social media platforms such as e-mail and WhatsApp, which were written in Microsoft Word and then converted to Google Forms. SPSS software was used to examine the data. Results: In light of the obstacles that Indian SLPs encounter, the study's findings were examined. Only 135 people responded. During the COVID-19 lockdowns, 38% of participants said they did not deal with dysphagia patients. After the lockout, 70.4% of SLPs kept working with dysphagia patients, while 29.6% did not. From the beginning of the oromotor examination, the main problems in completing tele evaluation of dysphagia have been highlighted. Around 37.5% of SLPs said they don't undertake the OPME online because of difficulties doing the evaluation, such as the need for repeated instructions from patients and family members and trouble visualizing structures in various positions. The majority of SLPs' online assessments were inefficient and time-consuming. A bigger percentage of SLPs stated that they will not advocate tele evaluation in dysphagia to their colleagues. SLPs' use of dysphagia assessment has decreased as a result of the epidemic. When it came to the amount of food, the majority of people proposed a small amount. Apart from placing the patient for assessment and gaining less cooperation from the family, most SLPs found that Internet speed was a source of concern and a barrier. Hearing impairment and the presence of a tracheostomy in patients with dysphagia proved to be the most difficult conditions to treat online. For patients with NPO, the majority of SLPs did not advise tele-evaluation. In the anterior region of the oral cavity, oral meal residue was more visible. The majority of SLPs reported more anterior than posterior leakage. Even while the majority of SLPs could detect aspiration by coughing, many found it difficult to discern the gurgling tone of speech after swallowing. Conclusion: The current study sheds light on the difficulties that Indian SLPs experience when assessing dysphagia via tele mode, indicating that tele-assessment of dysphagia is still to gain importance in India.

Keywords: dysphagia, teleassessment, challenges, Indian SLP

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Authors: Andy Alubaidy

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In this work, a robotic additive manufacturing system (RAMS) that is capable of three-dimensional (3D) printing in six degrees of freedom (DOF) with very high accuracy and virtually on any surface has been designed and built. One of the major shortcomings in existing 3D printer technology is the limitation to three DOF, which results in prolonged fabrication time. Depending on the techniques used, it usually takes at least two hours to print small objects and several hours for larger objects. Another drawback is the size of the printed objects, which is constrained by the physical dimensions of most low-cost 3D printers, which are typically small. In such cases, large objects are produced by dividing them into smaller components that fit the printer’s workable area. They are then glued, bonded or otherwise attached to create the required object. Another shortcoming is material constraints and the need to fabricate a single part using different materials. With the flexibility of a six-DOF robot, the RAMS has been designed to overcome these problems. A feeding mechanism using an adaptive Proportional-Integral-Derivative (PID) controller is utilized along with a national instrument compactRIO (NI cRIO), an ABB robot, and off-the-shelf sensors. The RAMS have the ability to 3D print virtually anywhere in six degrees of freedom with very high accuracy. It is equipped with an ABB IRB 120 robot to achieve this level of accuracy. In order to convert computer-aided design (CAD) files to digital format that is acceptable to the robot, Hypertherm Robotic Software Inc.’s state-of-the-art slicing software called “ADDMAN” is used. ADDMAN is capable of converting any CAD file into RAPID code (the programing language for ABB robots). The robot uses the generated code to perform the 3D printing. To control the entire process, National Instrument (NI) compactRIO (cRio 9074), is connected and communicated with the robot and a feeding mechanism that is designed and fabricated. The feeding mechanism consists of two major parts, cold-end and hot-end. The cold-end consists of what is conventionally known as an extruder. Typically, a stepper-motor is used to control the push on the material, however, for optimum control, a DC motor is used instead. The hot-end consists of a melt-zone, nozzle, and heat-brake. The melt zone ensures a thorough melting effect and consistent output from the nozzle. Nozzles are made of brass for thermo-conductivity while the melt-zone is comprised of a heating block and a ceramic heating cartridge to transfer heat to the block. The heat-brake ensures that there is no heat creep-up effect as this would swell the material and prevent consistent extrusion. A control system embedded in the cRio is developed using NI Labview which utilizes adaptive PID to govern the heating cartridge in conjunction with a thermistor. The thermistor sends temperature feedback to the cRio, which will issue heat increase or decrease based on the system output. Since different materials have different melting points, our system will allow us to adjust the temperature and vary the material.

Keywords: robotic, additive manufacturing, PID controller, cRIO, 3D printing

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Authors: Prem K. Mony, Bharadwaj Amrutur, Prashanth Thankachan, Swarnarekha Bhat, Suman Rao, Maryann Washington, Annamma Thomas, N. Sheela, Hiteshwar Rao, Sumi Antony

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The disease burden among mothers and newborns is caused mostly by a handful of avoidable conditions occurring around the time of childbirth and within the first month following delivery. Real-time monitoring of vital parameters of mothers and neonates offers a potential opportunity to impact access as well as the quality of care in vulnerable populations. We describe the design, development and testing of an innovative wearable device for remote biomonitoring (RBM) of body temperatures in mothers and neonates in a hospital in southern India. The architecture consists of: [1] a low-cost, wearable sensor tag; [2] a gateway device for ‘real-time’ communication link; [3] piggy-backing on a commercial GSM communication network; and [4] an algorithm-based data analytics system. Requirements for the device were: long battery-life upto 28 days (with sampling frequency 5/hr); robustness; IP 68 hermetic sealing; and human-centric design. We undertook pre-clinical laboratory testing followed by clinical trial phases I & IIa for evaluation of safety and efficacy in the following sequence: seven healthy adult volunteers; 18 healthy mothers; and three sets of babies – 3 healthy babies; 10 stable babies in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) and 1 baby with hypoxic ischaemic encephalopathy (HIE). The 3-coin thickness, pebble-design sensor weighing about 8 gms was secured onto the abdomen for the baby and over the upper arm for adults. In the laboratory setting, the response-time of the sensor device to attain thermal equilibrium with the surroundings was 4 minutes vis-a-vis 3 minutes observed with a precision-grade digital thermometer used as a reference standard. The accuracy was ±0.1°C of the reference standard within the temperature range of 25-40°C. The adult volunteers, aged 20 to 45 years, contributed a total of 345 hours of readings over a 7-day period and the postnatal mothers provided a total of 403 paired readings. The mean skin temperatures measured in the adults by the sensor were about 2°C lower than the axillary temperature readings (sensor =34.1 vs digital = 36.1); this difference was statistically significant (t-test=13.8; p<0.001). The healthy neonates provided a total of 39 paired readings; the mean difference in temperature was 0.13°C (sensor =36.9 vs digital = 36.7; p=0.2). The neonates in the NICU provided a total of 130 paired readings. Their mean skin temperature measured by the sensor was 0.6°C lower than that measured by the radiant warmer probe (sensor =35.9 vs warmer probe = 36.5; p < 0.001). The neonate with HIE provided a total of 25 paired readings with the mean sensor reading being not different from the radian warmer probe reading (sensor =33.5 vs warmer probe = 33.5; p=0.8). No major adverse events were noted in both the adults and neonates; four adult volunteers reported mild sweating under the device/arm band and one volunteer developed mild skin allergy. This proof-of-concept study shows that real-time monitoring of temperatures is technically feasible and that this innovation appears to be promising in terms of both safety and accuracy (with appropriate calibration) for improved maternal and neonatal health.

Keywords: public health, remote biomonitoring, temperature surveillance, wearable sensors, mothers and newborns

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Authors: Yi Li, Rui Lu, Lianjun Wang

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With the rapid development of chemical industry, the consumption of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) has increased extensively. In the process of VOCs production and application, plenty of them have been transferred to environment. As a result, it has led to pollution problems not only in soil and ground water but also to human beings. Thus, it is important to develop a sensitive and cost-effective analytical method for trace VOCs detection in environment. Surface-enhanced Raman Spectroscopy (SERS), as one of the most sensitive optical analytical technique with rapid response, pinpoint accuracy and noninvasive detection, has been widely used for ultratrace analysis. Based on the plasmon resonance on the nanoscale metallic surface, SERS technology can even detect single molecule due to abundant nanogaps (i.e. 'hot spots') on the nanosubstrate. In this work, a self-supported flexible silver nitrate (AgNO3)/ethylene-propylene copolymer (EPM) hybrid nanofibers was fabricated by electrospinning. After an in-situ chemical reduction using ice-cold sodium borohydride as reduction agent, numerous silver nanoparticles were formed on the nanofiber surface. By adjusting the reduction time and AgNO3 content, the morphology and dimension of silver nanoparticles could be controlled. According to the principles of solid-phase extraction, the hydrophobic substance is more likely to partition into the hydrophobic EPM membrane in an aqueous environment while water and other polar components are excluded from the analytes. By the enrichment of EPM fibers, the number of hydrophobic molecules located on the 'hot spots' generated from criss-crossed nanofibers is greatly increased, which further enhances SERS signal intensity. The as-prepared Ag/EPM hybrid nanofibers were first employed to detect common SERS probe molecule (p-aminothiophenol) with the detection limit down to 10-12 M, which demonstrated an excellent SERS performance. To further study the application of the fabricated substrate for monitoring hydrophobic substance in water, several typical VOCs, such as benzene, toluene and p-xylene, were selected as model compounds. The results showed that the characteristic peaks of these target analytes in the mixed aqueous solution could be distinguished even at a concentration of 10-6 M after multi-peaks gaussian fitting process, including C-H bending (850 cm-1), C-C ring stretching (1581 cm-1, 1600 cm-1) of benzene, C-H bending (844 cm-1 ,1151 cm-1), C-C ring stretching (1001 cm-1), CH3 bending vibration (1377 cm-1) of toluene, C-H bending (829 cm-1), C-C stretching (1614 cm-1) of p-xylene. The SERS substrate has remarkable advantages which combine the enrichment capacity from EPM and the Raman enhancement of Ag nanoparticles. Meanwhile, the huge specific surface area resulted from electrospinning is benificial to increase the number of adsoption sites and promotes 'hot spots' formation. In summary, this work provides powerful potential in rapid, on-site and accurate detection of trace VOCs using a portable Raman.

Keywords: electrospinning, ethylene-propylene copolymer, silver nanoparticles, SERS, VOCs

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Authors: Vijay Kumar, G. K. Grewal, Prasad S. Burange

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India is one of the largest cultivators of cotton in the world. Among the various constraints, insect pests are posing a major hurdle to the success of cotton cultivation. Various bollworms, including the pink bollworm, Pectinophora gossypiella (Saunders), cause serious losses in India, China, Pakistan, Egypt, Brazil, tropical America, and Africa, etc. Bt cotton cultivars having Cry genes were introduced in India in 2002 (Cry1Ac) and 2006 (Cry1Ac+ Cry2Ab) for control of American, spotted, and pink bollworms. Pink bollworm (PBW) larvae infest flowers, squares, and bolls. Larva burrows into flowers and bolls to feed on pollen and seeds, respectively. It has a shorter lifecycle and more generations per year, so it develops resistance more quickly than other bollworms. Further, it has cryptic feeding sites, i.e., flowers and bolls/seeds, so it is not exposed to harsh environmental fluctuations and insecticidal applications. The cry toxin concentration is low in its feeding sites, i.e., seeds and flowers of cotton. The use of insecticide and Bt cotton is the primary control measure that has been successful in limiting the damage of PBW. But with the passage of time, it has developed resistance against insecticides and Bt cotton. However, the use of insecticides increases chemical control costs while causing secondary pest problems and environmental pollution. Extensive research has indicated that monitoring and control measures such as biological, cultural, chemical, and host plant resistance methods can be integrated for effective PBW management. The potential of various biological control organisms needs to be explored. The impact of transgenic cotton on non-target organisms, particularly natural enemies, which play an important role in pest control, is still being debated. According to some authors, Bt crops have a negative impact on natural enemies, particularly parasitoids. An experiment was carried out in the Integrated Pest Management Laboratory of the Department of Entomology, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, Punjab, India, to study the natural parasitization of PBW on Bt cotton in 2022. A large population of larvae of PBW were kept individually in plastic containers and fed with cotton bolls until the emergence of a parasitoid cocoon. The first cocoon of the parasitoid was observed on October 25, 2022. Symptoms of parasitization were never seen on larvae. Larvae stopped feeding and became inactive before the emergence of parasitoids for pupation. Grub makes its way out of larvae by making a hole in the integument, and immediately after coming out, it spins the cocoon. The adult parasitoid emerged from the cocoon after eight days. The parasitoids that emerged from the cocoon were identified as Cotesia (Braconidae: Hymenoptera) based on the features of the adult. Out of 475 larvae of PBW, 87 were parasitized, with 18.31% of parasitization. Out of these, 6.73% were first instar, 10.52% were second instar, and 1.05% were third instar larvae of PBW. No parasitization was observed in fourth instar larvae. Parasitoids were observed during the fag end of cropping season and mostly on the earlier instars. It is concluded that the potential of Cotesia may be explored as a biological control agent against PBW, which is safer to human beings, environment and non-taraltoget organisms.

Keywords: biocontrol, Bt cotton, Cotesia, Pectinophora gossypiella

Procedia PDF Downloads 58

Authors: Luis Castiella, Mariano Rueda, Catalina Palacio

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The world’s rapid urbanisation represents an excellent opportunity to implement initiatives that are oriented towards a country’s general development. However, this phenomenon has created considerable pressure on current urban models, pushing them nearer to a crisis. As a result, several factors usually associated with underdevelopment have been steadily rising. Moreover, actions taken by public authorities have not been able to keep up with the speed of urbanisation, which has impeded them from meeting the demands of society, responding with reactionary policies instead of with coordinated, organised efforts. In contrast, the concept of a Smart City which emerged around two decades ago, in principle, represents a city that utilises innovative technologies to remedy the everyday issues of the citizen, empowering them with the newest available technology and information. This concept has come to adopt a wider meaning, including human and social capital, as well as productivity, economic growth, quality of life, environment and participative governance. These developments have also disrupted the management of institutions such as academia, which have become key in generating scientific advancements that can solve pressing problems, and in forming a specialised class that is able to follow up on these breakthroughs. In this light, the Ministry of Modernisation of the Argentinian Nation has created a model that is rooted in the concept of a ‘Smart City’. This effort considered all the dimensions that are at play in an urban environment, with careful monitoring of each sub-dimensions in order to establish the government’s priorities and improving the effectiveness of its operations. In an attempt to ameliorate the overall efficiency of the country’s economic and social development, these focused initiatives have also encouraged citizen participation and the cooperation of the private sector: replacing short-sighted policies with some that are coherent and organised. This process was developed gradually. The first stage consisted in building the model’s structure; the second, at applying the method created on specific case studies and verifying that the mechanisms used respected the desired technical and social aspects. Finally, the third stage consists in the repetition and subsequent comparison of this experiment in order to measure the effects on the ‘treatment group’ over time. The first trial was conducted on 717 municipalities and evaluated the dimension of Governance. Results showed that levels of governmental maturity varied sharply with relation to size: cities with less than 150.000 people had a strikingly lower level of governmental maturity than cities with more than 150.000 people. With the help of this analysis, some important trends and target population were made apparent, which enabled the public administration to focus its efforts and increase its probability of being successful. It also permitted to cut costs, time, and create a dynamic framework in tune with the population’s demands, improving quality of life with sustained efforts to develop social and economic conditions within the territorial structure.

Keywords: composite index, comprehensive model, smart cities, strategic framework

Procedia PDF Downloads 155

Authors: Ágnes Győri, Éva Perpék, Zsófia Bauer, Zsuzsanna Elek

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The aim of the research (funded by Hungarian national grant, NFKI- FK 138315) is to examine the professional mobility, mental health and work environment of social workers with a complex approach. Previous international and Hungarian research has pointed out that those working in the helping professions are strongly exposed to the risk of emotional-mental-physical exhaustion due to stress. Mental and physical strain, as well as lack of coping (can) cause health problems, but its role in career change and high labor turnover has also been proven. Even though satisfaction with working conditions of those employed in the human service sector in the context of the stress burden has been researched extensively, there is a lack of large-sample international and Hungarian domestic studies exploring the effects of profession-specific conditions. Nor has it been examined how the specific features of the social profession and mental health affect the career mobility of the professionals concerned. In our research, these factors and their correlations are analyzed by means of mixed methodology, utilizing the benefits of netnographic big data analysis and a sector-specific quantitative survey. The netnographic analysis of open web content generated inside and outside the social profession offers a holistic overview of the influencing factors related to mental health and the work environment of social workers. On the one hand, the topics and topoi emerging in the external discourse concerning the sector are examined, and on the other hand, focus on mentions and streams of comments regarding the profession, burnout, stress, coping, as well as labor turnover and career changes among social professionals. The analysis focuses on new trends and changes in discourse that have emerged during and after the pandemic. In addition to the online conversation analysis, a survey of social professionals with a specific focus has been conducted. The questionnaire is based on input from the first two research phases. The applied approach underlines that the mobility paths of social professionals can only be understood if, apart from the general working conditions, the specific features of social work and the effects of certain aspects of mental health (emotional-mental-physical strain, resilience) are taken into account as well. In this paper, the preliminary results from this innovative methodological mix are presented, with the aim of highlighting new opportunities and dimensions in the research on social work. A gap in existing research is aimed to be filled both on a methodological and empirical level, and the Hungarian domestic findings can create a feasible and relevant framework for a further international investigation and cross-cultural comparative analysis. Said results can contribute to the foundation of organizational and policy-level interventions, targeted programs whereby the risk of burnout and the rate of career abandonment can be reduced. Exploring different aspects of resilience and mapping personality strengths can be a starting point for stress-management, motivation-building, and personality-development training for social professionals.

Keywords: burnout, mixed methods, netnography, professional mobility, social work

Procedia PDF Downloads 117

Authors: Michal Geca, Grzegorz Baranski, Ksenia Siadkowska

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The work is a part of the project which aims at developing innovative power and control systems for the high power aircraft piston engine ASz62IR. Developed electronically controlled ignition system will reduce emissions of toxic compounds as a result of lowered fuel consumption, optimized combustion and engine capability of efficient combustion of ecological fuels. The tested unit is an air-cooled four-stroke gasoline engine of 9 cylinders in a radial setup, mechanically charged by a radial compressor powered by the engine crankshaft. The total engine cubic capac-ity is 29.87 dm3, and the compression ratio is 6.4:1. The maximum take-off power is 1000 HP at 2200 rpm. The maximum fuel consumption is 280 kg/h. Engine powers aircrafts: An-2, M-18 „Dromader”, DHC-3 „OTTER”, DC-3 „Dakota”, GAF-125 „HAWK” i Y5. The main problems of the engine includes the imbalanced work of cylinders. The non-uniformity value in each cylinder results in non-uniformity of their work. In radial engine cylinders arrangement causes that the mixture movement that takes place in accordance (lower cylinder) or the opposite (upper cylinders) to the direction of gravity. Preliminary tests confirmed the presence of uneven workflow of individual cylinders. The phenomenon is most intense at low speed. The non-uniformity is visible on the waveform of cylinder pressure. Therefore two studies were conducted to determine the impact of this phenomenon on the engine performance: simulation and real tests. Simplified simulation was conducted on the element of the intake system coated with fuel film. The study shows that there is an effect of gravity on the movement of the fuel film inside the radial engine intake channels. Both in the lower and the upper inlet channels the film flows downwards. It follows from the fact that gravity assists the movement of the film in the lower cylinder channels and prevents the movement in the upper cylinder channels. Real tests on aircraft engine ASz62IR was conducted in transients condition (rapid change of the excess air in each cylinder were performed. Calculations were conducted for mass of fuel reaching the cylinders theoretically and really and on this basis, the factors of fuel evaporation “x” were determined. Therefore a simplified model of the fuel supply to cylinder was adopted. Model includes time constant of the fuel film τ, the number of engine transport cycles of non-evaporating fuel along the intake pipe γ and time between next cycles Δt. The calculation results of identification of the model parameters are presented in the form of radar graphs. The figures shows the averages declines and increases of the injection time and the average values for both types of stroke. These studies shown, that the change of the position of the cylinder will cause changes in the formation of fuel-air mixture and thus changes in the combustion process. Based on the results of the work of simulation and experiments was possible to develop individual algorithms for ignition control. This work has been financed by the Polish National Centre for Research and Development, INNOLOT, under Grant Agreement No. INNOLOT/I/1/NCBR/2013.

Keywords: radial engine, ignition system, non-uniformity, combustion process

Procedia PDF Downloads 336

Authors: Deepak Loura

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Production and productivity of several crops in the country continue to be adversely affected by biotic (e.g., Insect-pests and diseases) and abiotic (e.g., water temperature and salinity) stresses. Over-dependence on pesticides and other chemicals is economically non-viable for the resource-poor farmers of our country. Further, pesticides can potentially affect human and environmental safety. While traditional breeding techniques and proper- management strategies continue to play a vital role in crop improvement, we need to judiciously use biotechnology approaches for the development of genetically modified crops addressing critical problems in the improvement of crop plants for sustainable agriculture. Modern biotechnology can help to increase crop production, reduce farming costs, and improve food quality and the safety of the environment. Genetic engineering is a new technology which allows plant breeders to produce plants with new gene combinations by genetic transformation of crop plants for improvement of agronomic traits. Advances in recombinant DNA technology have made it possible to have genes between widely divergent species to develop genetically modified or genetically engineered plants. Plant genetic engineering provides the strength to harness useful genes and alleles from indigenous microorganisms to enrich the gene pool for developing genetically modified (GM) crops that will have inbuilt (inherent) resistance to insect pests, diseases, and abiotic stresses. Plant biotechnology has made significant contributions in the past 20 years in the development of genetically engineered or genetically modified crops with multiple benefits. A variety of traits have been introduced in genetically engineered crops which include (i) herbicide resistance. (ii) pest resistance, (iii) viral resistance, (iv) slow ripening of fruits and vegetables, (v) fungal and bacterial resistance, (vi) abiotic stress tolerance (drought, salinity, temperature, flooding, etc.). (vii) quality improvement (starch, protein, and oil), (viii) value addition (vitamins, micro, and macro elements), (ix) pharmaceutical and therapeutic proteins, and (x) edible vaccines, etc. Multiple genes in transgenic crops can be useful in developing durable disease resistance and a broad insect-control spectrum and could lead to potential cost-saving advantages for farmers. The development of transgenic to produce high-value pharmaceuticals and the edible vaccine is also under progress, which requires much more research and development work before commercially viable products will be available. In addition, molecular-aided selection (MAS) is now routinely used to enhance the speed and precision of plant breeding. Newer technologies need to be developed and deployed for enhancing and sustaining agricultural productivity. There is a need to optimize the use of biotechnology in conjunction with conventional technologies to achieve higher productivity with fewer resources. Therefore, genetic modification/ engineering of crop plants assumes greater importance, which demands the development and adoption of newer technology for the genetic improvement of crops for increasing crop productivity.

Keywords: biotechnology, plant genetic engineering, genetically modified, biotic, abiotic, disease resistance

Procedia PDF Downloads 47

Authors: Lourenco Camnahas, Eileen Willis, Greg Fisher, Jessie Gunson, Pascale Dettwiller, Charlene Thornton

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Stock-out of pharmaceuticals is a common issue at all level of health services in Timor-Leste, a small post-conflict country. This lead to the research questions: what are the current methods used to quantify pharmaceutical supplies; what factors contribute to the on-going pharmaceutical stock-out? The study examined factors that influence the pharmaceutical supply chain system. Methodology: Privett and Goncalvez dependency model has been adopted for the design of the qualitative interviews. The model examines pharmaceutical supply chain management at three management levels: management of individual pharmaceutical items, health facilities, and health systems. The interviews were conducted in order to collect information on inventory management, logistics management information system (LMIS) and the provision of pharmaceuticals. Andersen' behavioural model for healthcare utilization also informed the interview schedule, specifically factors linked to environment (healthcare system and external environment) and the population (enabling factors). Forty health professionals (bureaucrats, clinicians) and six senior officers from a United Nations Agency, a global multilateral agency and a local non-governmental organization were interviewed on their perceptions of factors (healthcare system/supply chain and wider environment) impacting on stock out. Additionally, policy documents for the entire healthcare system, along with population data were collected. Findings: An analysis using Pozzebon’s critical interpretation identified a range of difficulties within the system from poor coordination to failure to adhere to policy guidelines along with major difficulties with inventory management, quantification, forecasting, and budgetary constraints. Weak logistics management information system, lack of capacity in inventory management, monitoring and supervision are additional organizational factors that also contributed to the issue. There were various methods of quantification of pharmaceuticals applied in the government sector, and non-governmental organizations. Lack of reliable data is one of the major problems in the pharmaceutical provision. Global Fund has the best quantification methods fed by consumption data and malaria cases. There are other issues that worsen stock-out: political intervention, work ethic and basic infrastructure such as unreliable internet connectivity. Major issues impacting on pharmaceutical quantification have been identified. However, current data collection identified limitations within the Andersen model; specifically, a failure to take account of predictors in the healthcare system and the environment (culture/politics/social. The next step is to (a) compare models used by three non-governmental agencies with the government model; (b) to run the Andersen explanatory model for pharmaceutical expenditure for 2 to 5 drug items used by these three development partners in order to see how it correlates with the present model in terms of quantification and forecasting the needs; (c) to repeat objectives (a) and (b) using the government model; (d) to draw a conclusion about the strength.

Keywords: inventory management, pharmaceutical forecasting and quantification, pharmaceutical stock-out, pharmaceutical supply chain management

Procedia PDF Downloads 195

Authors: Sarah M. Schoellhammer, Stephen Gibb

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Bureaucracy, in particular, its core element, a formal and stable hierarchy of authority, is proving less and less appropriate under the conditions of today’s knowledge economy. Centralization and formalization were consistently found to hinder innovation, undermining cross-functional collaboration, personal responsibility, and flexibility. With its focus on systematical planning, controlling and monitoring the development of new or improved solutions for customers, even innovation management as a discipline is to a significant extent based on a mechanistic understanding of organizations. The most important drivers of innovation, human creativity, and initiative, however, can be more hindered than supported by central elements of classic innovation management, such as predefined innovation strategies, rigid stage gate processes, and decisions made in management gate meetings. Heterarchy, as an alternative network form of organization, is essentially characterized by its dynamic influence structures, whereby the biggest influence is allocated by the collective to the persons perceived the most competent in a certain issue. Theoretical arguments that the non-hierarchical concept better supports innovation than bureaucracy have been supported by empirical research. These prior studies either focus on the structure and general functioning of non-hierarchical organizations or on their innovativeness, that means innovation as an outcome. Complementing classic innovation management approaches, this work aims to shed light on how innovations are initiated and realized in heterarchies in order to identify alternative solutions practiced under conditions of the post-bureaucratic organization. Through an initial individual case study, which is part of a multiple-case project, the innovation practices of an innovative and highly heterarchical medium-sized company in the German fire engineering industry are investigated. In a pragmatic mixed methods approach media resonance, company documents, and workspace architecture are analyzed, in addition to qualitative interviews with the CEO and employees of the case company, as well as a quantitative survey aiming to characterize the company along five scaled dimensions of a heterarchy spectrum. The analysis reveals some similarities and striking differences to approaches suggested by classic innovation management. The studied heterarchy has no predefined innovation strategy guiding new product and service development. Instead, strategic direction is provided by the CEO, described as visionary and creative. Procedures for innovation are hardly formalized, with new product ideas being evaluated on the basis of gut feeling and flexible, rather general criteria. Employees still being hesitant to take responsibility and make decisions, hierarchical influence is still prominent. Described as open-minded and collaborative, culture and leadership were found largely congruent with definitions of innovation culture. Overall, innovation efforts at the case company tend to be coordinated more through cultural than through formal organizational mechanisms. To better enable innovation in mainstream organizations, responsible practitioners are recommended not to limit changes to reducing the central elements of the bureaucratic organization, formalization, and centralization. The freedoms this entails need to be sustained through cultural coordination mechanisms, with personal initiative and responsibility by employees as well as common innovation-supportive norms and values. These allow to integrate diverse competencies, opinions, and activities and, thus, to guide innovation efforts.

Keywords: bureaucracy, heterarchy, innovation management, values

Procedia PDF Downloads 165

Authors: Pedro P. Drumond, James E. Ball, Priscilla M. Moura, Márcia M. L. P. Coelho

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In recent decades, On-site Stormwater Detention (OSD) systems have been implemented in many cities around the world. In Brazil, urban drainage source control policies were created in the 1990’s and were mainly based on OSD. The concept of this technique is to promote the detention of additional stormwater runoff caused by impervious areas, in order to maintain pre-urbanization peak flow levels. In Australia OSD, was first adopted in the early 1980’s by the Ku-ring-gai Council in Sydney’s northern suburbs and Wollongong City Council. Many papers on the topic were published at that time. However, source control techniques related to stormwater quality have become to the forefront and OSD has been relegated to the background. In order to evaluate the effectiveness of the current regulations regarding OSD, the existing policies were compared in Australian cities, a country considered experienced in the use of this technique, and in Brazilian cities where OSD adoption has been increasing. The cities selected for analysis were Wollongong and Belo Horizonte, the first municipalities to adopt OSD in their respective countries, and Sydney and Porto Alegre, cities where these policies are local references. The Australian and Brazilian cities are located in Southern Hemisphere of the planet and similar rainfall intensities can be observed, especially in storm bursts greater than 15 minutes. Regarding technical criteria, Brazilian cities have a site-based approach, analyzing only on-site system drainage. This approach is criticized for not evaluating impacts on urban drainage systems and in rare cases may cause the increase of peak flows downstream. The city of Wollongong and most of the Sydney Councils adopted a catchment-based approach, requiring the use of Permissible Site Discharge (PSD) and Site Storage Requirements (SSR) values based on analysis of entire catchments via hydrograph-producing computer models. Based on the premise that OSD should be designed to dampen storms of 100 years Average Recurrence Interval (ARI) storm, the values of PSD and SSR in these four municipalities were compared. In general, Brazilian cities presented low values of PSD and high values of SSR. This can be explained by site-based approach and the low runoff coefficient value adopted for pre-development conditions. The results clearly show the differences between approaches and methodologies adopted in OSD designs among Brazilian and Australian municipalities, especially with regard to PSD values, being on opposite sides of the scale. However, lack of research regarding the real performance of constructed OSD does not allow for determining which is best. It is necessary to investigate OSD performance in a real situation, assessing the damping provided throughout its useful life, maintenance issues, debris blockage problems and the parameters related to rain-flow methods. Acknowledgments: The authors wish to thank CNPq - Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (Chamada Universal – MCTI/CNPq Nº 14/2014), FAPEMIG - Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de Minas Gerais, and CAPES - Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior for their financial support.

Keywords: on-site stormwater detention, source control, stormwater, urban drainage

Procedia PDF Downloads 159

Authors: Álvaro Ramírez Vidal, Martín Muñoz Morales, Francisco Jesús Fernández Morales, Luis Rodríguez Romero, José Villaseñor Camacho, Javier Llanos López

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In recent times, environmental problems have led to the extensive use of biological systems to solve them. Among the different types of biological systems, the use of plants such as aquatic macrophytes in constructed wetlands and terrestrial plant species for treating polluted soils and sludge has gained importance. Though the use of constructed wetlands for wastewater treatment is a well-researched domain, the slowness of pollutant degradation and high biomass production pose some challenges. Plants used in CW participate in different mechanisms for the capture and degradation of pollutants that also can retain some pharmaceutical and personal care products (PPCPs) that are very persistent in the environment. Thus, these systems present advantages in line with the guidelines published for the transition towards friendly and ecological procedures as they are environmentally friendly systems, consume low energy, or capture atmospheric CO₂. However, the use of CW presents some drawbacks, as the slowness of pollutant degradation or the production of important amounts of plant biomass, which need to be harvested and managed periodically. Taking this opportunity in mind, it is important to highlight that this residual biomass (of lignocellulosic nature) could be used as the feedstock for the generation of carbonaceous materials using thermochemical transformations such as slow pyrolysis or hydrothermal carbonization to produce high-value biomass-derived carbons through sustainable processes as adsorbents, catalysts…, thereby improving the circular carbon economy. Thus, this work carried out the analysis of some PPCPs commonly found in urban wastewater, as salicylic acid or ibuprofen, to evaluate the remediation carried out for the Phragmites Australis. Then, after the harvesting, this biomass can be used to synthesize electrodes through hydrothermal carbonization (HTC) and produce high-value biomass-derived carbons with electrocatalytic activity to remove heavy metals and persistent pollutants, promoting circular economy concepts. To do this, it was chosen biomass derived from the natural environment in high environmental risk as the Daimiel Wetlands National Park in the center of Spain, and the rest of the biomass developed in a CW specifically designed to remove pollutants. The research emphasizes the impact of the composition of the biomass waste and the synthetic parameters applied during HTC on the electrocatalytic activity. Additionally, this parameter can be related to the physicochemical properties, as porosity, surface functionalization, conductivity, and mass transfer of the electrodes lytic inks. Data revealed that carbon materials synthesized have good surface properties (good conductivities and high specific surface area) that enhance the electro-oxidants generated and promote the removal of PPCPs and the chemical oxygen demand of polluted waters.

Keywords: constructed wetlands, carbon materials, heavy metals, pharmaceutical and personal care products, hydrothermal carbonization

Procedia PDF Downloads 50

Authors: Bill Wason

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143 Crude Palm Oil Coop mills on Sumatra Island are participating in a program to transfer land from defaulted estates to small farmers while improving the sustainability of palm production to allow for biofuel & food production. GCarbon will be working with farmers to transfer technology, fertilizer, and trees to double the yield from the current baseline of 3.5 tons to at least 7 tons of oil per ha (25 tons of fruit bunches). This will be measured via evaluation of yield comparisons between participant and non-participant farms. We will also capture methane from Palm Oil Mill Effluent (POME)throughbelt press filtering. Residues will be weighed and a formula used to estimate methane emission reductions based on methodologies developed by other researchers. GCarbon will also cover mill ponds with a non-permeable membrane and collect methane for energy or steam production. A system for accelerating methane production involving ozone and electro-flocculation will be tested to intensifymethane generation and reduce the time for wastewater treatment. A meta-analysis of research on sweet potatoes and sorghum as rotation crops will look at work in the Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil where5 ha. oftest plots of industrial sweet potato have achieved yields of 60 tons and 40 tons per ha. from 2 harvests in one year (100 MT/ha./year). Field trials will be duplicated in Bom Jesus Das Selvas, Maranhaothat will test varieties of sweet potatoes to measure yields and evaluate disease risks in a very different soil and climate of NE Brazil. Hog methane will also be captured. GCarbon Brazil, Coop Sisal, and an Australian research partner will plant several varieties of agave and use agronomic procedures to get yields of 880 MT per ha. over 5 years. They will also plant new varieties expected to get 3500 MT of biomass after 5 years (176-700 MT per ha. per year). The goal is to show that the agave can adapt to Brazil’s climate without disease problems. The study will include a field visit to growing sites in Australia where agave is being grown commercially for biofuels production. Researchers will measure the biomass per hectare at various stages in the growing cycle, sugar content at harvest, and other metrics to confirm the yield of sugar per ha. is up to 10 times greater than sugar cane. The study will look at sequestration rates from measuring soil carbon and root accumulation in various plots in Australia to confirm carbon sequestered from 5 years of production. The agave developer estimates that 60-80 MT of sequestration per ha. per year occurs from agave. The three study efforts in 3 different countries will define a feedstock pathway for jet fuel that involves very high yield crops that can produce 2 to 10 times more biomass than current assumptions. This cost-effective and less land intensive strategy will meet global jet fuel demand and produce huge quantities of food for net zero aviation and feeding 9-10 billion people by 2050

Keywords: zero emission SAF, methane capture, food-fuel integrated refining, new crops for SAF

Procedia PDF Downloads 75

Authors: Zongping Wang, Chengjun Cui, Jiacun Wang

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The concept of intelligence has been widely used to access an individual's cognitive abilities to learn, form concepts, understand, apply logic, and reason. According to the multiple intelligence theory, there are eight distinguished types of intelligence. One of them is the bodily-kinaesthetic intelligence that links to the capacity of an individual controlling his body and working with objects. Motor intelligence, on the other hand, reflects the capacity to understand, perceive and solve functional problems by motor behavior. Both bodily-kinaesthetic intelligence and motor intelligence refer directly or indirectly to bodily capacity. Inspired by these two intelligence concepts, this paper introduces motional intelligence (MI). MI is two-fold. (1) Body strength, which is the capacity of various organ functions manifested by muscle activity under the control of the central nervous system during physical exercises. It can be measured by the magnitude of muscle contraction force, the frequency of repeating a movement, the time to finish a movement of body position, the duration to maintain muscles in a working status, etc. Body strength reflects the objective of MI. (2) Level of psychiatric willingness to physical events. It is a subjective thing and determined by an individual’s self-consciousness to physical events and resistance to fatigue. As such, we call it subjective MI. Subjective MI can be improved through education and proper social events. The improvement of subjective MI can lead to that of objective MI. A quantitative score of an individual’s MI is motional quotient (MQ). MQ is affected by several factors, including genetics, physical training, diet and lifestyle, family and social environment, and personal awareness of the importance of physical exercise. Genes determine one’s body strength potential. Physical training, in general, makes people stronger, faster and swifter. Diet and lifestyle have a direct impact on health. Family and social environment largely affect one’s passion for physical activities, so does personal awareness of the importance of physical exercise. The key to the success of the MQ study is developing an acceptable and efficient system that can be used to assess MQ objectively and quantitatively. We should apply different accessing systems to different groups of people according to their ages and genders. Field test, laboratory test and questionnaire are among essential components of MQ assessment. A scientific interpretation of MQ score is part of an MQ assessment system as it will help an individual to improve his MQ. IQ (intelligence quotient) and EQ (emotional quotient) and their test have been studied intensively. We argue that IQ and EQ study alone is not sufficient for an individual’s all round development. The significance of MQ study is that it offsets IQ and EQ study. MQ reflects an individual’s mental level as well as bodily level of intelligence in physical activities. It is well-known that the American Springfield College seal includes the Luther Gulick triangle with the words “spirit,” “mind,” and “body” written within it. MQ, together with IQ and EQ, echoes this education philosophy. Since its inception in 2012, the MQ research has spread rapidly in China. By now, six prestigious universities in China have established research centers on MQ and its assessment.

Keywords: motional Intelligence, motional quotient, multiple intelligence, motor intelligence, all round development

Procedia PDF Downloads 119

Authors: Vitaliy Petrov, Natalia Shusharina, Vitaliy Kasymov, Maksim Patrushev, Evgeny Bogdanov

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The leading worldwide death reasons are ischemic heart disease and other cardiovascular illnesses. Generally, the common symptom is high blood pressure. Long-time blood pressure control is very important for the prophylaxis, correct diagnosis and timely therapy. Non-invasive methods which are based on Korotkoff sounds are impossible to apply often and for a long time. Implantable devices can combine longtime monitoring with high accuracy of measurements. The main purpose of this work is to create a real-time monitoring system for decreasing the death rate from cardiovascular diseases. These days implantable electronic devices began to play an important role in medicine. Usually implantable devices consist of a transmitter, powering which could be wireless with a special made battery and measurement circuit. Common problems in making implantable devices are short lifetime of the battery, big size and biocompatibility. In these work, blood pressure measure will be the focus because it’s one of the main symptoms of cardiovascular diseases. Our device will consist of three parts: the implantable pressure sensor, external transmitter and automated workstation in a hospital. The Implantable part of pressure sensors could be based on piezoresistive or capacitive technologies. Both sensors have some advantages and some limitations. The Developed circuit is based on a small capacitive sensor which is made of the technology of microelectromechanical systems (MEMS). The Capacitive sensor can provide high sensitivity, low power consumption and minimum hysteresis compared to the piezoresistive sensor. For this device, it was selected the oscillator-based circuit where frequency depends from the capacitance of sensor hence from capacitance one can calculate pressure. The external device (transmitter) used for wireless charging and signal transmission. Some implant devices for these applications are passive, the external device sends radio wave signal on internal LC circuit device. The external device gets reflected the signal from the implant and from a change of frequency is possible to calculate changing of capacitance and then blood pressure. However, this method has some disadvantages, such as the patient position dependence and static using. Developed implantable device doesn’t have these disadvantages and sends blood pressure data to the external part in real-time. The external device continuously sends information about blood pressure to hospital cloud service for analysis by a physician. Doctor’s automated workstation at the hospital also acts as a dashboard, which displays actual medical data of patients (which require attention) and stores it in cloud service. Usually, critical heart conditions occur few hours before heart attack but the device is able to send an alarm signal to the hospital for an early action of medical service. The system was tested with wireless charging and data transmission. These results can be used for ASIC design for MEMS pressure sensor.

Keywords: MEMS sensor, RF power, wireless data, oscillator-based circuit

Procedia PDF Downloads 559

Authors: Shpetim Rezniqi

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Financial Policies in the process of global crisis the current crisis has swept the world with special emphasis, most developed countries, those countries which have most gross -product world and you have a high level of living.Even those who are not experts can describe the consequences of the crisis to see the reality that is seen, but how far will it go this crisis is impossible to predict. Even the biggest experts have conjecture and large divergence, but agree on one thing: - The devastating effects of this crisis will be more severe than ever before and can not be predicted.Long time, the world was dominated economic theory of free market laws. With the belief that the market is the regulator of all economic problems. The market, as river water will flow to find the best and will find the necessary solution best. Therefore much less state market barriers, less state intervention and market itself is an economic self-regulation. Free market economy became the model of global economic development and progress, it transcends national barriers and became the law of the development of the entire world economy. Globalization and global market freedom were principles of development and international cooperation. All international organizations like the World Bank, states powerful economic, development and cooperation principles laid free market economy and the elimination of state intervention. The less state intervention much more freedom of action was this market- leading international principle. We live in an era of financial tragic. Financial markets and banking in particular economies are in a state of thy good, US stock markets fell about 40%, in other words, this time, was one of the darkest moments 5 since 1920. Prior to her rank can only "collapse" of the stock of Wall Street in 1929, technological collapse of 2000, the crisis of 1973 after the Yom Kippur war, while the price of oil quadrupled and famous collapse of 1937 / '38, when Europe was beginning World war II In 2000, even though it seems like the end of the world was the corner, the world economy survived almost intact. Of course, that was small recessions in the United States, Europe, or Japan. Much more difficult the situation was at crisis 30s, or 70s, however, succeeded the world. Regarding the recent financial crisis, it has all the signs to be much sharper and with more consequences. The decline in stock prices is more a byproduct of what is really happening. Financial markets began dance of death with the credit crisis, which came as a result of the large increase in real estate prices and household debt. It is these last two phenomena can be matched very well with the gains of the '20s, a period during which people spent fists as if there was no tomorrow. All is not away from the mouth of the word recession, that fact no longer a sudden and abrupt. But as much as the financial markets melt, the greater is the risk of a problematic economy for years to come. Thus, for example, the banking crisis in Japan proved to be much more severe than initially expected, partly because the assets which were based more loans had, especially the land that falling in value. The price of land in Japan is about 15 years that continues to fall. (ADRI Nurellari-Published in the newspaper "Classifieds"). At this moment, it is still difficult to çmosh to what extent the crisis has affected the economy and what would be the consequences of the crisis. What we know is that many banks will need more time to reduce the award of credit, but banks have this primary function, this means huge loss.

Keywords: globalisation, finance, crisis, recomandation, bank, credits

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Authors: J. Chamorro-Servent, S. Tassani, M. A. Gonzalez-Ballester, L. J. Roca, J. Romeu, O. Camara

Abstract:

Electromagnetic and microwave imaging (MWI) have been used in medical imaging in the last years, being the most common applications of breast cancer and stroke detection or monitoring. In those applications, the subject or zone to observe is surrounded by a number of antennas, and the Nyquist criterium can be satisfied. Additionally, the space between the antennas (transmitting and receiving the electromagnetic fields) and the zone to study can be prepared in a homogeneous scenario. However, this may differ in other cases as could be intracardiac catheters, stomach monitoring devices, pelvic organ systems, liver ablation monitoring devices, or uterine fibroids’ ablation systems. In this work, we analyzed different MWI algorithms to find the most suitable method for dealing with an intrabody scenario. Due to the space limitations usually confronted on those applications, the device would have a cylindrical configuration of a maximum of eight transmitters and eight receiver antennas. This together with the positioning of the supposed device inside a body tract impose additional constraints in order to choose a reconstruction method; for instance, it inhabitants the use of well-known algorithms such as filtered backpropagation for diffraction tomography (due to the unusual configuration with probes enclosed by the imaging region). Finally, the difficulty of simulating a realistic non-homogeneous background inside the body (due to the incomplete knowledge of the dielectric properties of other tissues between the antennas’ position and the zone to observe), also prevents the use of Born and Rytov algorithms due to their limitations with a heterogeneous background. Instead, we decided to use a time-reversed algorithm (mostly used in geophysics) due to its characteristics of ignoring heterogeneities in the background medium, and of focusing its generated field onto the scatters. Therefore, a 2D time-reversed finite difference time domain was developed based on the time-reversed approach for microwave breast cancer detection. Simultaneously an in-silico testbed was also developed to compare ground-truth dielectric properties with corresponding microwave imaging reconstruction. Forward and inverse problems were computed varying: the frequency used related to a small zone to observe (7, 7.5 and 8 GHz); a small polyp diameter (5, 7 and 10 mm); two polyp positions with respect to the closest antenna (aligned or disaligned); and the (transmitters-to-receivers) antenna combination used for the reconstruction (1-1, 8-1, 8-8 or 8-3). Results indicate that when using the existent time-reversed method for breast cancer here for the different combinations of transmitters and receivers, we found false positives due to the high degrees of freedom and unusual configuration (and the possible violation of Nyquist criterium). Those false positives founded in 8-1 and 8-8 combinations, highly reduced with the 1-1 and 8-3 combination, being the 8-3 configuration de most suitable (three neighboring receivers at each time). The 8-3 configuration creates a region-of-interest reduced problem, decreasing the ill-posedness of the inverse problem. To conclude, the proposed algorithm solves the main limitations of the described intrabody application, successfully detecting the angular position of targets inside the body tract.

Keywords: FDTD, time-reversed, medical imaging, microwave imaging

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Authors: Vladimir Smirnov, Roman Tominov, Vadim Avilov, Oleg Ageev

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The creation of a new generation micro- and nanoelectronics elements opens up unlimited possibilities for electronic devices parameters improving, as well as developing neuromorphic computing systems. Interest in the latter is growing up every year, which is explained by the need to solve problems related to the unstructured classification of data, the construction of self-adaptive systems, and pattern recognition. However, for its technical implementation, it is necessary to fulfill a number of conditions for the basic parameters of electronic memory, such as the presence of non-volatility, the presence of multi-bitness, high integration density, and low power consumption. Several types of memory are presented in the electronics industry (MRAM, FeRAM, PRAM, ReRAM), among which non-volatile resistive memory (ReRAM) is especially distinguished due to the presence of multi-bit property, which is necessary for neuromorphic systems manufacturing. ReRAM is based on the effect of resistive switching – a change in the resistance of the oxide film between low-resistance state (LRS) and high-resistance state (HRS) under an applied electric field. One of the methods for the technical implementation of neuromorphic systems is cross-bar structures, which are ReRAM cells, interconnected by cross data buses. Such a structure imitates the architecture of the biological brain, which contains a low power computing elements - neurons, connected by special channels - synapses. The choice of the ReRAM oxide film material is an important task that determines the characteristics of the future neuromorphic system. An analysis of literature showed that many metal oxides (TiO2, ZnO, NiO, ZrO2, HfO2) have a resistive switching effect. It is worth noting that the manufacture of nanocomposites based on these materials allows highlighting the advantages and hiding the disadvantages of each material. Therefore, as a basis for the neuromorphic structures manufacturing, it was decided to use ZnₓTiᵧHfzOᵢ nanocomposite. It is also worth noting that the ZnₓTiᵧHfzOᵢ nanocomposite does not need an electroforming, which degrades the parameters of the formed ReRAM elements. Currently, this material is not well studied, therefore, the study of the effect of resistive switching in forming-free ZnₓTiᵧHfzOᵢ nanocomposite is an important task and the goal of this work. Forming-free nanocomposite ZnₓTiᵧHfzOᵢ thin film was grown by pulsed laser deposition (Pioneer 180, Neocera Co., USA) on the SiO2/TiN (40 nm) substrate. Electrical measurements were carried out using a semiconductor characterization system (Keithley 4200-SCS, USA) with W probes. During measurements, TiN film was grounded. The analysis of the obtained current-voltage characteristics showed a resistive switching from HRS to LRS resistance states at +1.87±0.12 V, and from LRS to HRS at -2.71±0.28 V. Endurance test shown that HRS was 283.21±32.12 kΩ, LRS was 1.32±0.21 kΩ during 100 measurements. It was shown that HRS/LRS ratio was about 214.55 at reading voltage of 0.6 V. The results can be useful for forming-free nanocomposite ZnₓTiᵧHfzOᵢ films in neuromorphic systems manufacturing. This work was supported by RFBR, according to the research project № 19-29-03041 mk. The results were obtained using the equipment of the Research and Education Center «Nanotechnologies» of Southern Federal University.

Keywords: nanotechnology, nanocomposites, neuromorphic systems, RRAM, pulsed laser deposition, resistive switching effect

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Authors: Miroslav Premrov, Andrej Štrukelj, Erika Kozem Šilih

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The utilization of prefabricated timber-wall elements with double glazing, called as double-skin façade element (DSF), represents an innovative structural approach in the context of new high-rise timber construction, simultaneously combining sustainable solutions with improved energy efficiency and living quality. In addition to the minimum energy needs of buildings, the design of modern buildings is also increasingly focused on the optimal indoor comfort, in particular on sufficient natural light indoors. An optimally energy-designed building with an optimal layout of glazed areas around the building envelope represents a great potential in modern timber construction. Usually, all these transparent façade elements, because of energy benefits, are primary asymmetrical oriented and if they are considered as non-resisting against a horizontal load impact, a strong torsion effects in the building can appear. The problem of structural stability against a strong horizontal load impact of such modern timber buildings especially increase in a case of high-rise structures where additional bracing elements have to be used. In such a case, special diagonal bracing systems or other bracing solutions with common timber wall elements have to be incorporated into the structure of the building to satisfy all prescribed resisting requirements given by the standards. However, all such structural solutions are usually not environmentally friendly and also not contribute to an improved living comfort, or they are not accepted by the architects at all. Consequently, it is a special need to develop innovative load-bearing timber-glass wall elements which are in the same time environmentally friendly, can increase internal comfort in the building, but are also load-bearing. The new developed load-bearing DSF elements can be a good answer on all these requirements. Timber-glass façade elements DSF wall elements consist of two transparent layers, thermal-insulated three-layered glass pane on the internal side and an additional single-layered glass pane on the external side of the wall. The both panes are separated by an air channel which can be of any dimensions and can have a significant influence on the thermal insulation or acoustic response of such a wall element. Most already published studies on DSF elements primarily deal only with energy and LCA solutions and do not address any structural problems. In previous studies according to experimental analysis and mathematical modeling it was already presented a possible benefit of such load-bearing DSF elements, especially comparing with previously developed load-bearing single-skin timber wall elements, but they were not applicate yet in any high-rise timber structure. Therefore, in the presented study specially selected 10-storey prefabricated timber building constructed in a cross-laminated timber (CLT) structural wall system is analyzed using the developed DSF elements in a sense to increase a structural lateral stability of the whole building. The results evidently highlight the importance the load-bearing DSF elements, as their incorporation can have a significant impact on the overall behavior of the structure through their influence on the stiffness properties. Taking these considerations into account is crucial to ensure compliance with seismic design codes and to improve the structural resilience of high-rise timber buildings.

Keywords: glass, high-rise buildings, numerical analysis, timber

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Authors: Ruth Shapira

Abstract:

Introduction: The rapid urbanization of the last century confronts planners, regulatory bodies, developers and most of all the public with seemingly unsolved conflicts regarding values, capital, and wellbeing of the built and un-built urban space. There is an out of control change of scale of the urban form and of the rhythm of the urban life which has known no significant progress in the last 2-3 decades despite the on-growing urban population. It is the objective of this paper to analyze some of these fundamental issues through the case study of a relatively small town in the center of Israel (Kiryat-Ono, 36,000 inhabitants), unfold the deep structure of qualities versus disruptors, present some cure that we have developed to bridge over and humbly suggest a practice that may bring about a sustainable new urban environment based on timeless values of the past, an approach that can be generic for similar cases. Basic Methodologies:The object, the town of Kiryat Ono, shall be experimented upon in a series of four action processes: De-composition, Re-composition, the Centering process and, finally, Controlled Structural Disintegration. Each stage will be based on facts, analysis of previous multidisciplinary interventions on various layers – and the inevitable reaction of the OBJECT, leading to the conclusion based on innovative theoretical and practical methods that we have developed and that we believe are proper for the open ended network, setting the rules for the contemporary urban society to cluster by – thus – a new urban vocabulary based on the old structure of times passed. The Study: Kiryat Ono, was founded 70 years ago as an agricultural settlement and rapidly turned into an urban entity. In spite the massive intensification, the original DNA of the old small town was still deeply embedded, mostly in the quality of the public space and in the sense of clustered communities. In the past 20 years, the recent demand for housing has been addressed to on the national level with recent master plans and urban regeneration policies mostly encouraging individual economic initiatives. Unfortunately, due to the obsolete existing planning platform the present urban renewal is characterized by pressure of developers, a dramatic change in building scale and widespread disintegration of the existing urban and social tissue.Our office was commissioned to conceptualize two master plans for the two contradictory processes of Kiryat Ono’s future: intensification and conservation. Following a comprehensive investigation into the deep structures and qualities of the existing town, we developed a new vocabulary of conservation terms thus redefying the sense of PLACE. The main challenge was to create master plans that should offer a regulatory basis to the accelerated and sporadic development providing for the public good and preserving the characteristics of the place consisting of a tool box of design guidelines that will have the ability to reorganize space along the time axis in a sustainable way. In conclusion: The system of rules that we have developed can generate endless possible patterns making sure that at each implementation fragment an event is created, and a better place is revealed. It takes time and perseverance but it seems to be the way to provide a healthy and sustainable framework for the accelerated urbanization of our chaotic present.

Keywords: sustainable urban design, intensification, emergent urban patterns, sustainable housing, compact urban neighborhoods, sustainable regeneration, restoration, complexity, uncertainty, need for change, implications of legislation on local planning

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Authors: Ram Chandra Sah

Abstract:

Few years back, naturally a very beautiful country Nepal was facing a lot of problems related to the practice of open defecation (having no toilet) by almost 98% people of the country. Now, the scenario is changed. Government of Nepal set the target of achieving the situation of basic level sanitation (toilets) facilities by 2017 AD for which the Sanitation and Hygiene Master Plan (SHMP) was brought in 2011 AD with the major beauty as institutional set up formation, local formal authority leadership, locally formulated strategic plan; partnership, harmonized and coordinated approach to working; no subsidy or support at a blanket level, community and local institutions or organizations mobilization approaches. Now, the Open Defecation Free (ODF) movement in the country is at a full swing. The Sanitation and Hygiene Master Plan (SHMP) has clearly defined Total Sanitation which is accepted to be achieved if all the households of the related boundary have achieved the 6 indicators such as the access and regular use of toilet(s), regular use of soap and water at the critical moments, regular practice of use of food hygiene behavior, regular practice of use of water hygiene behavior including household level purification of locally available drinking water, maintenance of regular personal hygiene with household level waste management and the availability of the state of overall clean environment at the concerned level of boundary. Nepal has 3158 Village Development Committees (VDC's) in the rural areas. Amarapuri VDC was selected for the purpose of achieving Total Sanitation. Based on the SHMP; different methodologies such as updating of Village Water Sanitation and Hygiene Coordination Committee (V-WASH-CC), Total Sanitation team formation including one volunteer for each indicator, campaigning through settlement meetings, midterm evaluation which revealed the need of ward level 45 (5 for all 9 wards) additional volunteers, ward wise awareness creation with the help of the volunteers, informative notice boards and hoarding boards with related messages at important locations, management of separate waste disposal rings for decomposable and non-decomposable wastes, related messages dissemination through different types of local cultural programs, public toilets construction and management by community level; mobilization of local schools, offices and health posts; reward and recognition to contributors etc. were adopted for achieving 100 % coverage of each indicator. The VDC was in a very worse situation in 2010 with just 50, 30, 60, 60, 40, 30 percent coverage of the respective indicators and became the first VDC of the country declared with Total Sanitation. The expected result of 100 percent coverage of all the indicators was achieved in 2 years 10 months and 19 days. Experiences of Amarapuri were replicated successfully in different parts of the country and many VDC's have been declared with the achievement of Total Sanitation. Thus, Community Mobilized Total Sanitation Movement in Nepal has supported a lot for achieving a Total Sanitation situation of the country with a minimal cost and it is believed that the approach can be very useful for other developing or under developed countries of the world.

Keywords: community mobilized, open defecation free, sanitation and hygiene master plan, total sanitation

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