Search results for: coastal and marine physical factors

Authors: Birendra Kumar Jha, Mingma L. Sherpa, Binod Kumar Dahal

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Background: The metabolic syndrome is emerging as a major public health concern in the world. Urbanization, surplus energy uptake, compounded by decreased physical activities, and increasing obesity are the major factors contributing to the epidemic of metabolic syndrome worldwide. However, prevalence of metabolic syndrome and its risk factors are little studied in Terai region of Nepal. The objectives of this research were to estimate the prevalence and to identify the risk factors of metabolic syndrome among adults in Terai region of Nepal. Method: We used a community based cross sectional study design. A total of 225 adults (age: 18 to 80 years) were selected from three district of Terai region of Nepal using cluster sampling by camp approach. IDF criteria (central obesity with any two of following four factors: triglycerides ≥ 150 mg/dl or specific treatment for lipid abnormality, reduced HDL, raised blood pressure and raised fasting plasma glucose or previously diagnosed type 2 diabetes) were used to assess metabolic syndrome. Interview, physical and clinical examination, measurement of fasting blood glucose and lipid profile were conducted for all participants. Chi-square test and multivariable logistic regression were employed to explore the risk factors of metabolic syndrome. Result: The overall prevalence of metabolic syndrome was 70.7%. Hypertension, increased fasting blood sugar, increased triglycerides and decreased HDL were observed in 50.7%, 32.4%, 41.8% and 79.1% of the subjects respectively. Socio-economic and behavioral risk factors significantly associated with metabolic syndrome were gender male (OR=2.56, 955 CI: 1.42-4.63; p=0.002), in service or retired from service (OR=3.72, 95% CI: 1.72-8.03; p=0.001) and smoking (OR= 4.10, 95% CI: 1.19-14.07; p=0.016). Conclusion: Higher prevalence of Metabolic syndrome along with presence of behavioral risk factors in Terai region of Nepal likely suggest lack of awareness and health promotion activities for metabolic syndrome and indicate the need to promote public health programs in this region to maintain quality of life.

Keywords: metabolic syndrome, Nepal, prevalence, risk factors, Terai

Procedia PDF Downloads 119

Authors: K. R. Sultana, K. Pope, Y. S. Muzychka

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In recent years, the research of heat transfer or phase change phenomena of liquid water droplets experiences a growing interest in aircraft icing, power transmission line icing, marine icing and wind turbine icing applications. This growing interest speeding up the research from single to multiple droplet phenomena. Impingements of multiple droplets and the resulting solidification phenomena after impact on a very cold surface is computationally studied in this paper. The model used in the current study solves the flow equation, composed of energy balance and the volume fraction equations. The main aim of the study is to investigate the effects of several thermo-physical properties (density, thermal conductivity and specific heat) on droplets freezing. The outcome is examined by various important factors, for instance, liquid fraction, total freezing time, droplet temperature and total heat transfer rate in the interface region. The liquid fraction helps to understand the complete phase change phenomena during solidification. Temperature distribution and heat transfer rate help to demonstrate the overall thermal exchange behaviors between the droplets and substrate surface. Findings of this research provide an important technical achievement for ice modeling and prediction studies.

Keywords: droplets, CFD, thermos-physical properties, solidification

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Authors: Saman Javadi, Mohammad Hassan Mahmoudi, Fatemeh Jafari, Aminreza Neshat

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Urmia Lake’s water level has been dropped during the past decade. Although the most common reason in studies was declared climate change, but observation of adjacent lake (like Van in Turkey) is not the same as the common reason. Most of studies were focused on climate and land use change, but groundwater resource as one of the most important element is negligible. Due to population and agriculture activities growth, exploration of groundwater resource has been increased. In as much as continued decline of water levels can lead to saltwater intrusion, reduce stream discharge near outcrop regions and threaten groundwater quality, aquifers of this region were affected by saltwater intrusion of Urmia Lake. In this research comparison of saltwater intrusion into eastern and western coastal aquifer was studied. In conclusion eastern aquifers are in a critical situation; vice versa the western ones are in a better situation. Thus applying management of groundwater operation would be necessary for eastern aquifers.

Keywords: coastal aquifer, groundwater over-exploration, saltwater intrusion, Urmia Lake

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Authors: K. A.Tharanga, K. H. H. Damayanthi

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Perception is an epistemological concept discussed in Philosophy. Perception, in other word, vision, is one of the ways that human beings get empirical knowledge after five senses. However, we face innumerable problems when achieving knowledge from perception, and therefore the knowledge gained through perception is uncertain. what we see in the external world is not real. These are the major issues that we face when receiving knowledge through perception. Sometimes there is no physical existence of what we really see. In such cases, the perception is relative. The following frames will be taken into consideration when perception is analyzed illusions and delusions, the figure of a physical object, appearance and the reality of a physical object, time factor, and colour of a physical object. seeing and knowing become vary according to the above conceptual frames. We cannot come to a proper conclusion of what we see in the empirical world. Because the things that we see are not really there. Hence the scientific knowledge which is gained from observation is doubtful. All the factors discussed in science remain in the physical world. There is a leap from ones existence to the existence of a world outside his/her mind. Indeed, one can suppose that what he/she takes to be real is just a massive deception. However, depending on the above facts, if someone begins to doubt about the whole world, it is unavoidable to become his/her view a scepticism or nihilism. This is a certain reality.

Keywords: empirical, perception, sceptisism, nihilism

Procedia PDF Downloads 107

Authors: Xiaohui Wang, Zhichuan Guan, Roman Shor, Chuanbin Xu

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Early monitoring and real-time quantitative description of gas intrusion under the premise of ensuring the integrity of the drilling fluid circulation system will greatly improve the accuracy and effectiveness of deepwater gas-kick monitoring. Therefore, in order to study the propagation characteristics of ultrasonic waves in the gas-liquid two-phase flow within the marine riser, in this paper, a numerical simulation method of ultrasonic propagation in the annulus of the riser was established, and the credibility of the numerical analysis was verified by the experimental results of the established gas intrusion monitoring simulation experimental device. The numerical simulation can solve the sound field in the gas-liquid two-phase flow according to different physical models, and it is easier to realize the single factor control. The influence of each parameter on the received signal can be quantitatively investigated, and the law with practical guiding significance can be obtained.

Keywords: gas-kick detection, ultrasonic, void fraction, coda wave velocity

Procedia PDF Downloads 127

Authors: Bulelani Ngamntwini, Liezel Cilliers

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South Africa has one of the highest prevalence of obese people on the African continent. Forty-six percent of the adults in South Africa are physically inactive. Fitness applications can be used to increase physical inactivity. However, the uptake of mobile fitness applications in South Africa has been found to be poor due to usability challenges with the technology. The study developed a usability framework to influence the intention to use mobile fitness applications in South Africa. The study made use of a positivistic approach to collect data. A questionnaire was used to collect quantitative data from 377 respondents that have used mobile fitness applications in the past. A response rate of 80.90% was recorded. To analyse the data, the Pearson correlation was used to determine the relationships between the various hypotheses. There are four usability factors, efficiency, effectiveness, satisfaction, and learnability, which contribute to the intention of users to make use of mobile fitness applications. The study, therefore, recommends that for a mobile fitness application to be successful, these four factors must be considered and incorporated by developers when designing the applications.

Keywords: obese, overweight, physical inactivity, mobile fitness application, usability factors

Procedia PDF Downloads 130

Authors: Ashok D. Satpute

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Ayurveda, the ancient Indian Medical system is practiced all over India and abroad, is rich in natural source of medicines, including marine products. The marine drugs which prominently used are pravala (coral), mukta (pearl), kapardika (cowry).Shukti (oyster shell), shankha (conch), agnijara (amber) etc. Except agnijara (amber) all are rich in calcium. Interestingly they are not used as supplements in calcium deficiency as done in conventional medical practice. They are used as medicines in the disease like fever, tuberculosis, bleeding disorders, eye problems, digestive complaints etc. Many scientific studies have shown their potent medicinal value. Each has its own properties and used therapeutically after subjecting them to various purificatory processes which are called shodhana in which several medicinal plants are used which also help in enhancing therapeutical activity. Then these purified marine products are subjected to marana (incineration) process and obtained in the form of Bhasma (a finest form of medicine). Agnijara, a derivative of whale is useful as aphrodisiac and prescribed in neuromuscular disorders and tetanus. The ancient scriptures written in Sanskrit language thousands of years back have rich information about all these natural marine products and their medicinal usage.

Keywords: Ayurveda, bhasma, marana, shodhana

Procedia PDF Downloads 255

Authors: Tholokuhle T. Ntshakala, Seraphin D. Eyono Obono

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Nations are still finding it quite difficult to win mega sport competitions despite the major contribution of sport to society in terms of social and economic development, personal health, and in education. Even though the world of sports has been transformed into a huge global economy, it is important to note that the first step of sport is usually its introduction to children at school through physical education or PE. In other words, nations who do not win mega sport competitions also suffer from a weak and neglected PE system. This problem of the neglect of PE systems is the main motivation of this research aimed at examining the factors affecting the perceived awareness of physical education teachers on the ICT's that are adoptable for the teaching and learning of physical education. Two types of research objectives will materialize this aim: relevant theories will be identified in relation to the analysis of the perceived ICT awareness of PE teachers and subsequent models will be compiled and designed from existing literature; the empirical testing of such theories and models will also be achieved through the survey of PE teachers from the Camperdown magisterial district of the KwaZulu-Natal province of South Africa. The main hypothesis at the heart of this study is the relationship between the demographics of PE teachers, their behavior both as individuals and as social entities, and their perceived awareness of the ICTs that are adoptable for PE, as postulated by existing literature; except that this study categorizes human behavior under performance expectancy, computer attitude, and social influence. This hypothesis was partially confirmed by the survey conducted by this research in the sense that performance expectancy and teachers’ age, gender, computer usage, and class size were found to be the only factors affecting their awareness of ICT's for physical education.

Keywords: human behavior, ICT Awareness, physical education, teachers

Procedia PDF Downloads 239

Authors: Won-Seok Kim, Hyung-Ik Shin

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Self-rated health (SRH) is a subjective assessment of individual health and has been identified as a strong predictor for mortality and morbidity. However few studies have been directed to the factors associated with SRH in persons with disabilities (PWD). We used data of 7th Korean national survey for 5307 PWD in 2008. Multiple logistic regression analysis was performed to find out independent risk factors for poor SRH in PWD. As a result, indicators of physical condition (poor instrumental ADL), socioeconomic disadvantages (poor education, economically inactive, low self-rated social class, medicaid in health insurance, presence of unmet need for hospital use) and social participation and networks (no use of internet service) were selected as independent risk factors for poor SRH in final model. Findings in the present study would be helpful in making a program to promote the health and narrow the gap of health status between the PWD.

Keywords: disabilities, risk factors, self-rated health, socioeconomic disadvantages, social networks

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Authors: Nadiya Zahra Karimi, Amir Ghiami Rad

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The physical health of students from an early age and the proper formation of the musculoskeletal system of their body is part of the overall health of these people. Most chronic musculoskeletal problems and pains can be controlled and reduced with education at an early age. Therefore, with the correct and timely diagnosis of these abnormalities, we can play an important role in their proper treatment and control, and in a way, raise the level of quality of life and positive self-concept in students. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between erectile dysfunctions of the upper limbs (head and neck, shoulder, thoracic and lumbar) and the quality of life and self-concept of male students aged 7 to 10 years. The statical population of the study consists of 227 students of shahadat boys’ primary school in khajeh city. Due to the corona pandemic conditions, the research samples were identified after screening and available according to the entrance criteria of the study. To validate the quality of life, the valid WHOQOL-BREF questionnaire will be used for self-concept variables, Dolatabadi, Fatemeh (2007) questionnaire, and for physical screening, a checkerboard, plumb line, and flexible ruler will be used. There is a negative and significant relationship between the dimensions of upper limb anomalies and quality of life factors, and also there is a negative and significant relationship between the dimensions of upper limb anomalies and self-concept factors. The results showed that there is a negative and significant relationship between head and neck abnormalities with quality of life and self-concept factors, with a significance level of less than 0.05 in male students aged 7 to 10 years.

Keywords: upper limb erectile dysfunction, quality of life, self-concept, erectile abnormalities

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Authors: B. Akturk, N. Yuzer, N. Kabay

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High temperature is one of the most detrimental effects that cause important changes in concrete’s mechanical, physical, and thermo-physical properties. As a result of these changes, especially high strength concrete (HSC), may exhibit damages such as cracks and spallings. To overcome this problem, incorporating polymer fibers such as polypropylene (PP) in concrete is a very well-known method. In this study, using RRH as a sustainable material instead of PP fiber in HSC to prevent spallings and improve physical and thermo-physical properties were investigated. Therefore, seven HSC mixtures with 0.25 water to binder ratio were prepared, incorporating silica fume and blast furnace slag. PP and RRH were used at 0.2-0.5% and 0.5-3% by weight of cement, respectively. All specimens were subjected to high temperatures (20 (control), 300, 600 and 900˚C) with a heating rate of 2.5˚C/min and after cooling, residual physical and thermo-physical properties were determined.

Keywords: high temperature, high strength concrete, polypropylene fiber, raw rice husk, thermo-physical properties

Procedia PDF Downloads 236

Authors: Nada Mohamed, Abdel Aziz Mohamed

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Climate change in coastal areas is a global issue that can be felt on local scale and will be around for decades and centuries to come to an end; it also has critical risks on the city’s economy, communities, and the natural environment. One of these changes that cause a huge risk on coastal cities is the sea level rise (SLR). SLR is a result of scarcity and reduction in global environmental system. The main cause of climate change and global warming is the countries with high development index (HDI) as Japan and Germany while the medium and low HDI countries as Egypt does not have enough awareness and advanced tactics to adapt with this changes that destroy urban areas and cause loss in land and economy. This is why Climate Resilience is one of the UN sustainable development goals 2030, which is calling for actions to strengthen climate change resilience through mitigation and adaptation. For many reasons, adaptation has received less attention than mitigation and it is only recently that adaptation has become a focal global point of attention. This adaption can be achieved through some actions such as upgrading the use and the design of the land, adjusting business and activities of people, and increasing community understanding of climate risks. To reach the adaption goals, and we have to apply a strategic pathway to Climate Resilience, which is the Urban Bioregionalism Paradigm. Resiliency has been framed as persistence, adaptation, and transformation. Climate Resilience decision support system includes a visualization platform where ecological, social, and economic information can be viewed alongside with specific geographies that's why Urban Bioregionalism is a socio-ecological system which is defined as a paradigm that has potential to help move social attitudes toward environmental understanding and deepen human-environment connections within ecological development. The research aim is to achieve an adaptive integrated urban development model throughout the analyses of tactics and strategies that can be used to adapt urban areas and coastal communities to the challenges of climate changes especially SLR and also simulation model using advanced technological software for a coastal city corridor to elaborates the suitable strategy to apply.

Keywords: climate resilience, sea level rise, SLR, coastal resilience, adaptive development simulation

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Authors: Abdelkader Hachemi, Boualem Remini

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Seawater intrusion is a significant challenge faced by coastal aquifers in the Mediterranean basin. This study aims to determine the position of the sharp interface between seawater and freshwater in the aquifer of Wadi Nador, located in the Wilaya of Tipaza, Algeria. A numerical areal sharp interface model using the finite element method is developed to investigate the spatial and temporal behavior of seawater intrusion. The aquifer is assumed to be homogeneous and isotropic. The simulation results are compared with geophysical prospection data obtained through electrical methods in 2011 to validate the model. The simulation results demonstrate a good agreement with the geophysical prospection data, confirming the accuracy of the sharp interface model. The position of the sharp interface in the aquifer is found to be approximately 1617 meters from the sea. Two scenarios are proposed to predict the interface position for the year 2024: one without pumping and the other with pumping. The results indicate a noticeable retreat of the sharp interface position in the first scenario, while a slight decline is observed in the second scenario. The findings of this study provide valuable insights into the dynamics of seawater intrusion in the Wadi Nador aquifer. The predicted changes in the sharp interface position highlight the potential impact of pumping activities on the aquifer's vulnerability to seawater intrusion. This study emphasizes the importance of implementing measures to manage and mitigate seawater intrusion in coastal aquifers. The sharp interface model developed in this research can serve as a valuable tool for assessing and monitoring the vulnerability of aquifers to seawater intrusion.

Keywords: seawater intrusion, sharp interface, coastal aquifer, algeria

Procedia PDF Downloads 82

Authors: Patchara Pedpradab, Kietisak Yoksang, Kosin Pattanamanee

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In our ongoing search for pharmacological significant of compounds from marine organisms, we investigated the active constituents of two sponges (Xestospongia sp., Halichondria sp.) and a gorgonian coral (Juncella sp.) from the Andaman Sea, Thailand. Several compounds were isolated from those of marine organisms. A marine sponge, Xestospongia sp. contained an isoqinoline compound namely aureol and cytotoxic thiophenen sesterterpene while Halichondria sp. produced C-28 sterols. The white gorgonian coral, Juncella sp. contained anti-tuberculosis diterpenes namely, junceellin and praelolide. All of the isolated compounds were analyzed by spectroscopic methods, extensively.

Keywords: Xestospongia sp., Halichondria sp., gorgonian, Juncella sp. biological activity

Procedia PDF Downloads 344

Authors: Mary Ghobrial, Sahar Wefky

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Marine macroalgae have proven to be rich source of bioactive compounds with biomedical potential, not only for human but also for veterinary medicine. Emergence of microbial disease in aquaculture industries implies serious loses. Usage of commercial antibiotics for fish disease treatment produces undesirable side effects. Marine organisms are a rich source of structurally novel biologically active metabolites. Competition for space and nutrients led to the evolution of antimicrobial defense strategies in the aquatic environment. The interest in marine organisms as a potential and promising source of pharmaceutical agents has increased in the last years. Many bioactive and pharmacologically active substances have been isolated from microalgae. Compounds with antibacterial, antifungal and antiviral activities have been also detected in green, brown and red algae. Selected species of marine benthic algae belonging to the Phaeophyta and Rhodophyta, collected from different coastal areas of Alexandria (Egypt), were investigated for their antibacterial and antifungal, activities. Macroalgae samples were collected during low tide from the Alexandria Mediterranean coast. Samples were air dried under shade at room temperature. The dry algae were ground, using electric mixer grinder. They were soaked in 10 ml of each of the solvents acetone, ethanol, methanol and hexane. Antimicrobial activity was evaluated using well-cut diffusion technique In vitro screening of organic solvent extracts from the marine macroalgae Laurencia pinnatifida, Pterocladia capillaceae, Stepopodium zonale, Halopteris scoparia and Sargassum hystrix, showed specific activity in inhibiting the growth of five virulent strains of bacteria pathogenic to fish Pseudomonas fluorescens, Aeromonas hydrophila, Vibrio anguillarum, V. tandara, Escherichia coli and two fungi Aspergillus flavus and A. niger. Results showed that, acetone and ethanol extracts of all test macroalgae exhibited antibacterial activity, while acetone extract of the brown Sargassum hystrix displayed the highest antifungal activity. The extracts of seaweeds inhibited bacteria more strongly than fungi and species of the Rhodophyta showed the greatest activity against the bacteria rather than fungi tested. The gas liquid chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry detection technique allows good qualitative and quantitative analysis of the fractionated extracts with high sensitivity to the smaller amounts of components. Results indicated that, the main common component in the acetone extracts of L. pinnatifida and P. capillacea is 4-hydroxy-4-methyl2-pentanone representing 64.38 and 58.60%. Thus, the extracts derived from the red macroalgae were more efficient than those obtained from the brown macroalgae in combating bacterial pathogens rather than pathogenic fungi. The most preferred species over all was the red Laurencia pinnatifida. In conclusion, the present study provides the potential of red and brown macroalgae extracts for development of anti-pathogenic agents for use in fish aquaculture.

Keywords: bacteria, fungi, extracts, solvents

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Authors: Pisit Potjanajaruwit

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The objectives of the study were to determine the marketing mix factors that influencing tourist’s destination decision making for cultural tourism in the Chonburi province. Both quantitative and qualitative data were applied in this study. The samples of 400 cases for quantitative analysis were tourists (both Thai and foreign) who were interested in cultural tourism in the Chonburi province, and traveled to cultural sites in Chonburi and 14 representatives from provincial tourism committee of Chonburi and local tourism experts. Statistics utilized in this research included frequency, percentage, mean, standard deviation, and multiple regression analysis. The study found that Thai and foreign tourists are influenced by different important marketing mix factors. The important factors for Thai respondents were physical evidence, price, people, and place at high importance level. For foreign respondents, physical evidence, price, people, and process were high importance level, whereas, product, place, and promotion were moderate importance level.

Keywords: Chonburi Province, decision making, cultural tourism, marketing mixed

Procedia PDF Downloads 359

Authors: Katherine Del Carmen Camacho Zorogastua, Victor Hugo Gallo Ramos, Jhon Walter Gomez Lora

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Marine hydrocarbon exploration (oil and natural gas) activities are developed using 2D, 3D and 4D seismic prospecting techniques where sound waves are directed from a seismic vessel emitted every few seconds depending on the variety of air compressors, which cross the layers of rock at the bottom of the sea and are reflected to the surface of the water. Hydrophones receive and record the reflected energy signals for cross-sectional mapping of the lithological profile in order to identify possible areas where hydrocarbon deposits can be formed. However, they produce several significant negative environmental impacts on the marine ecosystem and in the social and economic sectors. Therefore, the objective of the research is to publicize the negative impacts and environmental measures that must be carried out during the development of these activities to prevent and mitigate water quality, the population involved (fishermen) and the marine biota (e.g., Cetaceans, fish) that are the most vulnerable. The research contains technical environmental aspects based on bibliographic sources of environmental studies approved by the Peruvian authority, research articles, undergraduate and postgraduate theses, books, guides, and manuals from Spain, Australia, Canada, Brazil, and Mexico. It describes the negative impacts on the environment and population (fishing sector), environmental prevention, mitigation, recovery and compensation measures that must be properly implemented and the cases of global sea species stranding, for which international experiences from Spain, Madagascar, Mexico, Ecuador, Uruguay, and Peru were referenced. Negative impacts on marine fauna, seawater quality, and the socioeconomic sector (fishermen) were identified. Omission or inadequate biological monitoring in mammals could alter their ability to communicate, feed, and displacement resulting in their stranding and death. In fish, they cause deadly damage to physical-physiological type and in their behavior. Inadequate wastewater treatment and waste management could increase the organic load and oily waste on seawater quality in violation of marine flora and fauna. The possible estrangement of marine resources (fish) affects the economic sector as they carry out their fishing activity for consumption or sale. Finally, it is concluded from the experiences gathered from Spain, Madagascar, Mexico, Ecuador, Uruguay, and Peru that there is a cause and effect relationship between the inadequate development of seismic exploration activities (cause) and marine species strandings (effect) since over the years, stranded or dead marine mammals have been detected on the shores of the sea in areas of seismic acquisition of hydrocarbons. In this regard, it is recommended to establish technical procedures, guidelines, and protocols for the monitoring of marine species in order to contribute to the conservation of hydrobiological resources.

Keywords: 3D seismic prospecting, cetaceans, significant environmental impacts, prevention, mitigation, recovery, environmental compensation

Procedia PDF Downloads 150

Authors: Wahiba Boudraa, Farah Chettibbi, Meriem Aberkane, Fatma Djamaa, Moussa Houhamdi

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The intensity of human activities in regions surrounding the Mediterranean Sea always has a strong long-term environmental impact resulting in coastal and marine degradation, as well as an aggravated risk of more serious damage. The available data on water quality show that most water resources in Algeria are polluted by uncontrolled discharges from municipal sewage and untreated industrial effluents. Annaba is a coastal town in Algeria; The Gulf of Annaba, responds to these changes as it receives the continental inputs and urban waste, industrial without prior treatment of a highly industrialized and urbanized city, subject to the same environmental problems that know the rest of the Algerian coast. In later year, the beaches of bacterial enumeration process waters showed relatively high levels of bacterial indicators of fecal contamination (group D streptococci, total and fecal coliforms), which reflect the risks to people attending these beaches. During the twelve months of our study, we isolated from three beaches in the city of Annaba (St. Cloud, El-Kettara, and Djenane El Bey) a number of pathogenic microorganisms considered, namely: Salmonella, Aeromonas, Citrobacter, Yersinia, Enterococcus, and E.coli. The microbial count revealed elevated levels of coliform bacteria, fecal coliforms and fecal streptococci quite high especially in urban beaches (St. Cloud and El-Kettara). They are widely popular during the summer by many vacationers. For the physico-chemical parameters, there exist some weak values which increase during the pluvial period, hivernal and festival saison. These values remain, nevertheless, weak to be able to cause an organic or metallic pollution.

Keywords: quality microbiology, pollution of water, fecal contamination, physico-chemistry, beaches of Annaba city, Algeria.

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Authors: Chakraborty Sudipta, A. R. Kambekar, Sarma Arnab

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Sea-level rise being one of the most important impacts of anthropogenic induced climate change resulting from global warming and melting of icebergs at Arctic and Antarctic, the investigations done by various researchers both on Indian Coast and elsewhere during the last decade has been reviewed in this paper. The paper aims to ascertain the propensity of consistency of different suggested methods to predict the near-accurate future sea level rise along the coast of Mumbai. Case studies at East Coast, Southern Tip and West and South West coast of India have been reviewed. Coastal Vulnerability Index of several important international places has been compared, which matched with Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change forecasts. The application of Geographic Information System mapping, use of remote sensing technology, both Multi Spectral Scanner and Thematic Mapping data from Landsat classified through Iterative Self-Organizing Data Analysis Technique for arriving at high, moderate and low Coastal Vulnerability Index at various important coastal cities have been observed. Instead of data driven, hindcast based forecast for Significant Wave Height, additional impact of sea level rise has been suggested. Efficacy and limitations of numerical methods vis-à-vis Artificial Neural Network has been assessed, importance of Root Mean Square error on numerical results is mentioned. Comparing between various computerized methods on forecast results obtained from MIKE 21 has been opined to be more reliable than Delft 3D model.

Keywords: climate change, Coastal Vulnerability Index, global warming, sea level rise

Procedia PDF Downloads 109

Authors: Zeinab Aliyas, Diba Mahboubi

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Leisure walking is known as one of the most common types of physical activity that perform in purpose of recreation or health, which in turn may affect resident’s health. In the recent years, promoting leisure walking activity in neighborhood areas become as one of the important issues regarding promoting mental and physical health, however; the level of physical inactivity is rising in many societies including Iran. As it was proven that the tendency to walk out of choice is not encouraging among Iranian people. Hence; understanding the main concern of residents regarding walking activity in their neighborhoods can help in increasing the tendency to do leisure activity among residents. Built environment, social and individual factors are known as the main factors that affect decision to walk, in this regard, the study aimed to investigate the influence of personal and social factors that prevent residents to walk for recreation or exercise in their neighborhoods. Hence the fear of crime and personal barriers were examined in the current research as social and personal factors respectively. To collect the required data, 500 questionnaires by using systematic sampling were distributed from March to May 2016 in four residential neighborhoods of Bandar Abbas in Iran out which 411 questionnaire turned out to be qualified to be used in the study. The Smart-PLS was used to analyze the data. The findings of the study revealed that personal and fear of crime both have significant influence on the level of recreation and exercise walking in the neighborhood areas. The study found that fear of crime has the higher influence on exercise and recreational walking behavior in comparison to individual factors. It was revealed that social factors such as fear of crime in the neighborhoods might be more important than the personal reason for walking optionally in the surrounding environment. The finding of this study can help urban and health researcher to know the significant influence of fear of crime and individual attitudes on the level of leisure walking activity, in addition, the findings of the study suggest that urban planners and designers, as well as public health promoters, need to highly consider the contribution of neighborhoods' social environment variables as well as individual variables to promote walking behavior changes among adult population.

Keywords: exercise walking, fear of crime, neighborhood, personal barriers, recreation walking

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Authors: Lindy Valdez, Daryl Parker

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Introduction: There has been much research on academic achievement in elementary schools. Most of the research has been on school leadership. While research has focused on the role of leadership on school improvement, little research has examined what variables the top elementary schools have in common. To undertake school improvement, it is important to understand what factors the best schools share. The purpose of this study was to examine data of the “Best Elementary Schools in California,” based on academic achievement as rated by three prominent websites and determine if these schools had any common factors which were different than the statewide averages. The variables examined included access to subject matter specialists (physical education, art, and music), librarians, after school programs, class size, socioeconomic status, and diversity. The participants consisted of the top public elementary schools in California based on the websites i)https://www.niche.com/k12/search/best-schools/, ii)https://www.finder.com/best-schools-california,and iii)https://www.schooldigger.com/go/CA/schoolrank.aspx. The data for subject matter specialists (physical education, art, and music), librarians, after school programs, class size, socioeconomic status, and diversity were collected from these top schools and compared to California statewide averages. Results indicate that top public elementary schools in California have a high number of subject matter specialists that teach physical education, art, and music. These positions are on the decline in the average public elementary school in California, but the top schools have abundant access to these specialists. The physical education specialist has the highest statistically significant difference between the nationwide average and the top schools—librarians, and after school programs are also most commonly high in top public elementary schools in California. The high presence of these programs may be aiding academic achievement in less visible ways. Class size is small, socio-economic status is high, and diversity is low among top public elementary schools in California when compared to the statewide average public elementary schools in California. The single largest area of discrepancy was between physical education specialists in a top school and their state and nationwide averages. The socioeconomic status of schools and parents may be an underlining factor affecting several other variables. This affluence could explain how these schools were able to have access to subject matter specialists, after-school activities, and, therefore, more opportunities for physical activity and greater learning opportunities affecting academic achievement.

Keywords: academic achievement, elementary education, factors, schools

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Authors: Iacopo Carnacina, Mohammad Keshtpoor, Richard Yablonsky

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Non-structural protection measures against flooding are becoming increasingly popular flood risk mitigation strategies. In particular, coastal flood insurance impacts not only private citizens but also insurance and reinsurance companies, who may require it to retain solvency and better understand the risks they face from a catastrophic coastal flood event. In this context, a framework is presented here to assess the risk for coastal flooding across the UK. The area has a long history of catastrophic flood events, including the Great Flood of 1953 and the 2013 Cyclone Xaver storm, both of which led to significant loss of life and property. The current framework will leverage a technology based on a hydrodynamic model (Delft3D Flexible Mesh). This flexible mesh technology, coupled with a calibration technique, allows for better utilisation of computational resources, leading to higher resolution and more detailed results. The generation of a stochastic set of extra tropical cyclone (ETC) events supports the evaluation of the financial losses for the whole area, also accounting for correlations between different locations in different scenarios. Finally, the solution shows a detailed analysis for the Thames River, leveraging the information available on flood barriers and levees. Two realistic disaster scenarios for the Greater London area are simulated: In the first scenario, the storm surge intensity is not high enough to fail London’s flood defences, but in the second scenario, London’s flood defences fail, highlighting the potential losses from a catastrophic coastal flood event.

Keywords: storm surge, stochastic model, levee failure, Thames River

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Authors: Porntip Ruengtam

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This article is an extension of previous research presenting the relevant factors related to environmental perceptions, residential community, and the design of a healing environment, which have effects on the well-being and requirements of Thai elderly. Research methodology began with observations and interviews in three case studies in terms of the management processes and environment design of similar existing projects in Thailand. The interview results were taken to summarize with related theories and literature. A questionnaire survey was designed for data collection to confirm the factors of requirements in a residential community intended for the Thai elderly. A structural equation model (SEM) was formulated to explain the cause-effect factors for the requirements of a residential community for Thai elderly. The research revealed that the requirements of a residential community for Thai elderly were classified into three groups when utilizing a technique for exploratory factor analysis. The factors were comprised of (1) requirements for general facilities and activities, (2) requirements for facilities related to health and security, and (3) requirements for facilities related to physical exercise in the residential community. The results from the SEM showed the background of elderly people had a direct effect on their requirements for a residential community from various aspects. The results should lead to the formulation of policies for design and management of residential communities for the elderly in order to enhance quality of life as well as both the physical and mental health of the Thai elderly.

Keywords: elderly, environmental design, residential community, structural equation modeling

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Authors: Varis Ransibrahmanakul, Doug Pirhalla, Scott Sheridan, Cameron Lee

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U.S. coastal areas and ecosystems are facing multiple sea level rise threats and effects: heavy rain events, cyclones, and changing wind and weather patterns all influence coastal flooding, sedimentation, and erosion along critical barrier islands and can strongly impact habitat resiliency and water quality in protected habitats. These impacts are increasing over time and have accelerated the need for new tracking techniques, models and tools of flood risk to support enhanced preparedness for coastal management and mitigation. To address this issue, NOAA National Ocean Service (NOS) evaluated new metrics from satellite altimetry AVISO/Copernicus and MODIS IR flood extents to isolate nodes atmospheric variability indicative of elevated sea level and nuisance flood events. Using de-trended time series of cross-shelf sea surface heights (SSH), we identified specific Self Organizing Maps (SOM) nodes and transitions having a strongest regional association with oceanic spatial patterns (e.g., heightened downwelling favorable wind-stress and enhanced southward coastal transport) indicative of elevated coastal sea levels. Results show the impacts of the inverted barometer effect as well as the effects of surface wind forcing; Ekman-induced transport along broad expanses of the U.S. eastern coastline. Higher sea levels and corresponding localized flooding are associated with either pattern indicative of enhanced on-shore flow, deepening cyclones, or local- scale winds, generally coupled with an increased local to regional precipitation. These findings will support an integration of satellite products and will inform seasonal outlook model development supported through NOAAs Climate Program Office and NOS office of Center for Operational Oceanographic Products and Services (CO-OPS). Overall results will prioritize ecological areas and coastal lab facilities at risk based on numbers of nuisance flood projected and inform coastal management of flood risk around low lying areas subjected to bank erosion.

Keywords: AVISO satellite altimetry SSHA, MODIS IR flood map, nuisance flood, remote sensing of flood

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Authors: M. Ashaque Meah, Md. Fazlul Karim, M. Shah Noor, Nazmun Nahar Papri, M. Khalid Hossen, M. Ismoen

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Tsunami and inundation modelling due to far field tsunami propagation in a limited area is a very challenging numerical task because it involves many aspects such as the formation of various types of waves and the irregularities of coastal boundaries. To compute the effect of far field tsunami and extent of inland inundation due to far field tsunami along the coastal belts of west coast of Malaysia and Southern Thailand, a formulated boundary condition and a moving boundary condition are simultaneously used. In this study, a boundary fitted curvilinear grid system is used in order to incorporate the coastal and island boundaries accurately as the boundaries of the model domain are curvilinear in nature and the bending is high. The tsunami response of the event 26 December 2004 along the west open boundary of the model domain is computed to simulate the effect of far field tsunami. Based on the data of the tsunami source at the west open boundary of the model domain, a boundary condition is formulated and applied to simulate the tsunami response along the coastal and island boundaries. During the simulation process, a moving boundary condition is initiated instead of fixed vertical seaside wall. The extent of inland inundation and tsunami propagation pattern are computed. Some comparisons are carried out to test the validation of the simultaneous use of the two boundary conditions. All simulations show excellent agreement with the data of observation.

Keywords: open boundary condition, moving boundary condition, boundary-fitted curvilinear grids, far-field tsunami, shallow water equations, tsunami source, Indonesian tsunami of 2004

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Authors: Daniel Puciato, Piotr Oleśniewicz, Julita Markiewicz-Patkowska, Krzysztof Widawski, Michał Rozpara, Władysław Mynarski, Agnieszka Gawlik, Małgorzata Dębska, Soňa Jandová

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Physical activity as a part of people’s everyday life reduces the risk of many diseases, including those induced by lifestyle, e.g. obesity, type 2 diabetes, osteoporosis, coronary heart disease, degenerative arthritis, and certain types of cancer. That refers particularly to professionally active people, including the early senior group working on non-manual positions. The aim of the study is to evaluate the relationship between physical activity and the socio-economic status of non-manual workers from Wroclaw—one of the biggest cities in Poland, a model setting for such investigations in this part of Europe. The crucial problem in the research is to find out the percentage of respondents who meet the health-related recommendations of the World Health Organization (WHO) concerning the volume, frequency, and intensity of physical activity, as well as to establish if the most important socio-economic factors, such as gender, age, education, marital status, per capita income, savings and debt, determine the compliance with the WHO physical activity recommendations. During the research, conducted in 2013, 1,170 people (611 women and 559 men) aged 21–60 years were examined. A diagnostic poll method was applied to collect the data. Physical activity was measured with the use of the short form of the International Physical Activity Questionnaire with extended socio-demographic questions, i.e. concerning gender, age, education, marital status, income, savings or debts. To evaluate the relationship between physical activity and selected socio-economic factors, logistic regression was used (odds ratio statistics). Statistical inference was conducted on the adopted ex ante probability level of p<0.05. The majority of respondents met the volume of physical effort recommended for health benefits. It was particularly noticeable in the case of the examined men. The probability of compliance with the WHO physical activity recommendations was highest for workers aged 21–30 years with secondary or higher education who were single, received highest incomes and had savings. The results indicate the relations between physical activity and socio-economic status in the examined women and men. People with lower socio-economic status (e.g. manual workers) are physically active primarily at work, whereas those better educated and wealthier implement physical effort primarily in their leisure time. Among the investigated subjects, the youngest group of non-manual workers have the best chances to meet the WHO standards of physical activity. The study also confirms that secondary education has a positive effect on the public awareness on the role of physical activity in human life. In general, the analysis of the research indicates that there is a relationship between physical activity and some socio-economic factors of the respondents, such as gender, age, education, marital status, income per capita, and the possession of savings. Although the obtained results cannot be applied for the general population, they show some important trends that will be verified in subsequent studies conducted by the authors of the paper.

Keywords: IPAQ, nonmanual workers, physical activity, socioeconomic factors, WHO

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Authors: Adel Ahmed Aly Elhabab, Ibrahim Adsani

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The present study deals with detailed geochemical and mineralogical studies of the coastal plain sediments formed along the shoreline of the Arabian Gulf area, Kuwait. These deposits are mainly fluviomarine and beach sands. The coastal plain deposits of the central Kuwait shoreline zone were found to consist of average medium-grained sand. The sand composed, on average of about 90% sand, and about 10% or less is mud, and has a unimodal distribution with a mode of medium sand (1-2 ф). The sediments consist mainly quartz, Feldspar, clay minerals with carbonate minerals (detritus calcite and dolomite) and rock fragments (chert). The mineralogy of the clay fractions of the sediments is dominated by illite, palygorskite, mixed layer illite-montmorillonite with minor amounts of chlorite and Kaolinite Heavy minerals are concentrated in the very fine sand fraction and are dominated by opaque minerals, and non opaque minerals which represented by amphiboles, pyroxenes, epidotes, dolomite, zircon, tourmaline, rutile, garnet and other which represented by Staurolite, Kyanite, Andalusite and Sillimenite as a trace amounts. The chemical analysis for the detrital amphibole grains from sandstone of coastal plain sediments shows the following features; the grains which have (Na+K) <0.50 its composition ranges from actino hornblende to magnesio hornblende, but the grains which have (Na+K) >0.50 its composition have wide variation and on the (Na+K)-AlIV diagram can be characterized two association: Association 1 which characterized by low amount of AlIV and low amount of (Na+K), by comparing the chemical composition of this association and the chemical composition of amphibole grains from older basement rock, can be say, these association may be derived from metamorphic source rocks and association 2 which characterized by high amount of AlIV and low amount of (Na+K), may be derived from volcanic source rocks.

Keywords: chemical composition, clay minerals, coastal area, electro probe micro analyzer (EPMA), fluviomarine sediments, heavy minerals

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Authors: D. Supaporn, B. Julaluk

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The purposes of this study were to study symptom cluster, functional status and quality of life of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and to examine factors related to and predicting symptom cluster, functional status and quality of life of COPD patients. The sample was 180 COPD patients multi-stage random sampling from 4 hospitals in the eastern region, Thailand. The research instruments were 8 questionnaires and recorded forms measuring personal and illness data, co-morbidity, physical and psychological symptom, health status perception, social support, and regimen adherence, functional status and quality of life. Spearman rank and Pearson correlation coefficient, exploratory factors analysis and standard multiple regression were used to analyzed data. The findings revealed that two symptom clusters were generated: physical symptom cluster including dyspnea, fatigue and insomnia; and, psychological symptom cluster including anxiety and depression. Scores of physical symptom cluster was at moderate level while that of psychological symptom cluster was at low level. Scores on functional status, social support and overall regimen adherence were at good level whereas scores on quality of life and health status perception were at moderate level. Disease severity was positively related to physical symptom cluster, psychological symptom cluster and quality of life, and was negatively related to functional status at a moderate level (rs = .512, .509, .588 and -.611, respectively). Co-morbidity was positively related to physical symptom cluster and psychological symptom cluster at a low level (r = .179 and .176, respectively). Regimen adherence was negatively related to quality of life and psychological symptom cluster at a low level (r=-.277 and -.309, respectively), and was positively related to functional status at a moderate level (r=.331). Health status perception was negatively related to physical symptom cluster, psychological symptom cluster and quality of life at a moderate to high level (r = -.567, -.640 and -.721, respectively) and was positively related to functional status at a high level (r = .732). Social support was positively related to functional status (r=.235) and was negatively related to quality of life at a low level (r=-.178). Physical symptom cluster was negatively related to functional status (r= -.490) and was positively related to quality of life at a moderate level (r=.566). Psychological symptom cluster was negatively related to functional status and was positively related to quality of life at a moderate level (r= -.566 and .559, respectively). Disease severity, co-morbidity and health status perception could predict 40.2% of the variance of physical symptom cluster. Disease severity, co-morbidity, regimen adherence and health status perception could predict 49.8% of the variance of psychological symptom cluster. Co-morbidity, regimen adherence and health status perception could predict 65.0% of the variance of functional status. Disease severity, health status perception and physical symptom cluster could predict 60.0% of the variance of quality of life in COPD patients. The results of this study can be used for enhancing quality of life of COPD patients.

Keywords: chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, functional status, quality of life, symptom cluster

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Authors: Antoifi Abdoulhalik, Ashraf Ahmed

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The ever growing threat of saltwater intrusion has prompted the need to further advance the understanding of underlying processes related to SWI for effective water resource management. While research efforts have mainly been focused on steady state analysis, studies on the transience of saltwater intrusion mechanism remain very scarce and studies considering transient SWI in heterogeneous medium are, as per our knowledge, simply inexistent. This study provides for the first time a quantitative analysis of the effect of both inland and coastal water level changes on the transition zone under transient conditions in layered coastal aquifer. In all, two sets of four experiments were completed, including a homogeneous case, and four layered cases: case LH and case HL presented were two bi-layered scenarios where a low K layer was set at the top and the bottom, respectively; case HLH and case LHL presented two stratified aquifers with High K–Low K–High K and Low K–High K– Low K pattern, respectively. Experimental automated image analysis technique was used here to quantify the main SWI parameters under high spatial and temporal resolution. The findings of this study provide an invaluable insight on the underlying processes responsible of transition zone dynamics in coastal aquifers. The results show that in all the investigated cases, the width of the transition zone remains almost unchanged throughout the saltwater intrusion process regardless of where the boundary change occurs. However, the results demonstrate that the width of the transition zone considerably increases during the retreat, with largest amplitude observed in cases LH and LHL, where a low K was set at the top of the system. In all the scenarios, the amplitude of widening was slightly smaller when the retreat was prompted by instantaneous drop of the saltwater level than when caused by inland freshwater rise, despite equivalent absolute head change magnitude. The magnitude of head change significantly caused larger widening during the saltwater wedge retreat, while having no impact during the intrusion phase.

Keywords: freshwater-saltwater transition-zone dynamics, heterogeneous coastal aquifers, laboratory experiments, transience seawater intrusion

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Authors: K. Ismail, A. Ali, R. C. Hasan, I. Khalil, Z. Bachok, N. M. Said, A. M. Muslim, M. S. Che Din, W. S. Chong

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The marine ecosystem in Malaysia holds invaluable potential in terms of economics, food security, pharmaceuticals components and protection from natural hazards. Although exploration of oil and gas industry and fisheries are active within Malaysian waters, knowledge of the seascape and ecological functioning of benthic habitats is still extremely poor in the marine parks around Malaysia due to the lack of detailed seafloor information. Consequently, it is difficult to manage marine resources effectively, protect ecologically important areas and set legislation to safeguard the marine parks. The limited baseline data hinders scientific linkage to support effective marine spatial management in Malaysia. This became the main driver behind the first seabed mapping effort at the national level. Taman Laut Labuan (TLL) is located to the west coast of Sabah and to the east of South China Sea. The total area of TLL is approximately 158.15 km2, comprises of three islands namely Pulau Kuraman, Rusukan Besar and Rusukan Kecil and is characterised by shallow fringing reef with few submerged shallow reef. The unfamiliar rocky shorelines limit the survey of multibeam echosounder to area with depth more than 10 m. Whereas, singlebeam and side scan sonar systems were used to acquire the data for area with depth less than 10 m. By integrating data from multibeam bathymetry and backscatter with singlebeam bathymetry and side sonar images, we produce a substrate map and coral coverage map for the TLL using i) marine landscape mapping technique and ii) RSOBIA ArcGIS toolbar (developed by T. Le Bas). We take the initiative to explore the ability of aerial drone and satellite image (WorldView-3) to derive the depths and substrate type within the intertidal and subtidal zone where it is not accessible via acoustic mapping. Although the coverage was limited, the outcome showed a promising technique to be incorporated towards establishing a guideline to facilitate a standard practice for efficient marine spatial management in Malaysia.

Keywords: habitat mapping, marine spatial management, South China Sea, National seabed mapping

Procedia PDF Downloads 192