Search results for: regional vector

Authors: Arup Pramanik

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Most of the cities in the developing countries like Siliguri Municipal Corporation Area (SMCA) and Raiganj Municipality (RM) in West Bengal, India are changing typically in terms of demographic, economic and social relationship due to rapid pace of urbanization. The mushrooming growth of slums in SMCA and RM is the direct consequence of urbanization and migration due to regional imbalance, unbalanced growth process which is posing a serious threat to sustainable development of the country. Almost all the slums happen to be a breeding ground for poverty, negligence, and disease. Unpredictable growth of slums and poverty alleviation has now become a serious challenge to the global and national policy makers for the development of the slum dwellers. The ethical dimension of the poor in the cities like SMCA and RM stands on equal opportunities, inclusive and harmonious living without discrimination of any kind. But, the migrant slum dwellers in SMCA and RM do not possess high skill or education to enable them to find well paid employment in the formal sector and the surplus urban labour force is compelled to generate its own means of employment and survival in the informal sector. The survey data of the households has been analysedin terms of percentage, descriptive statistics which includes mean, Standard Deviation (SD), ANOVA (Mean Difference) etc., to analyse the socio economic variables of the households. The study shows that the migrant labour forces living in the slums are derived from the social security measures in both the municipal areas of SMCA and RM. The urban poor in the cities of SMCA and RM rely heavily on social capital amongst all the capital assets to help them ‘get by’ and ‘get ahead’. Despite, the slum dwellers in the study areas are vulnerable with respect to other determinants of capital assets. It is noteworthy that Indian plans of anti-poverty programmes was in a proper place even after the neo-liberal regime, where the basic idea behind the massive shift of various welfare and service oriented strategy to poverty reduction strategy for the benefit of the urban poor with the trickle down effects. But, the overall impact of the trickledown effect was unsatisfactory. The objective of the Paper is to assess the magnitude of migration and absorption in the urban labour market. Issues relating to capital formation, social security measures and the support of the Welfare State in order to meet 'Sustainable Development Goals'. This study also highlights the quality of life of urban poor migrants in terms of capital formation and livelihoods.

Keywords: migration, slums, labour market, capital formation, social security

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Authors: Nicole Vlasman, Karamjeet Dhillon

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Over the past four years, the Healthy Relationships Program has been delivered in community organizations and schools across Canada. More than 240 groups have been facilitated in collaboration with 33 organizations. As a result, 2157 youth have been engaged in the programming. The purpose and scope of the Healthy Relationships Program are to offer sustainable, evidence-based skills through small group implementation to prevent violence and promote positive, healthy relationships in youth. The program development has included extensive networking at regional and national levels. The Healthy Relationships Program is currently being implemented, adapted, and researched within the Resilience and Inclusion through Strengthening and Enhancing Relationships (RISE-R) project. Alongside the project’s research objectives, the RISE-R team has worked to virtually share the ongoing findings of the project through a slow ontology approach. Slow ontology is a practice integrated into project systems and structures whereby slowing the pace and volume of outputs offers creative opportunities. Creative production reveals different layers of success and complements the project, the building blocks for sustainability. As a result of integrating a slow ontology approach, the RISE-R team has developed a Geographic Information System (GIS) that documents local landscapes through a Story Map feature, and more specifically, video installations. Video installations capture the cartography of space and place within the context of singular diverse community spaces (case studies). By documenting spaces via human connections, the project captures narratives, which further enhance the voices and faces of the community within the larger project scope. This GIS project aims to create a visual and interactive flow of information that complements the project's mixed-method research approach. Conclusively, creative project development in the form of a geographic information system can provide learning and engagement opportunities at many levels (i.e., within community organizations and educational spaces or with the general public). In each of these disconnected spaces, fragmented stories are connected through a visual display of project outputs. A slow ontology practice within the context of the RISE-R project documents activities on the fringes and within internal structures; primarily through documenting project successes as further contributions to the Centre for School Mental Health framework (philosophy, recruitment techniques, allocation of resources and time, and a shared commitment to evidence-based products).

Keywords: community programming, geographic information system, project development, project management, qualitative, slow ontology

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Authors: Ayman Hijazi, Witold Kwapinski, J. J. Leahy

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Finding a sustainable alternative energy to fossil fuel is an urgent need as various environmental challenges in the world arise. Therefore, formic acid (FA) decomposition has been an attractive field that lies at the center of the biomass platform, comprising a potential pool of hydrogen energy that stands as a distinct energy vector. Liquid FA features considerable volumetric energy density of 6.4 MJ/L and a specific energy density of 5.3 MJ/Kg that qualifies it in the prime seat as an energy source for transportation infrastructure. Additionally, the increasing research interest in FA decomposition is driven by the need for in-situ H₂ production, which plays a key role in the hydrogenation reactions of biomass into higher-value components. It is reported elsewhere in the literature that catalytic decomposition of FA is usually performed in poorly designed setups using simple glassware under magnetic stirring, thus demanding further energy investment to retain the used catalyst. Our work suggests an approach that integrates designing a distinct catalyst featuring magnetic properties with a robust setup that minimizes experimental & measurement discrepancies. One of the most prominent active species for the dehydrogenation/hydrogenation of biomass compounds is palladium. Accordingly, we investigate the potential of engrafting palladium metal onto functionalized magnetic nanoparticles as a heterogeneous catalyst to favor the production of CO-free H₂ gas from FA. Using an ordinary magnet to collect the spent catalyst renders core-shell magnetic nanoparticles as the backbone of the process. Catalytic experiments were performed in a jacketed batch reactor equipped with an overhead stirrer under an inert medium. Through a distinct approach, FA is charged into the reactor via a high-pressure positive displacement pump at steady-state conditions. The produced gas (H₂+CO₂) was measured by connecting the gas outlet to a measuring system based on the amount of the displaced water. The uniqueness of this work lies in designing a very responsive catalyst, pumping a consistent amount of FA into a sealed reactor running at steady-state mild temperatures, and continuous gas measurement, along with collecting the used catalyst without the need for centrifugation. Catalyst characterization using TEM, XRD, SEM, and CHN elemental analyzer provided us with details of catalyst preparation and facilitated new venues to alter the nanostructure of the catalyst framework. Consequently, the introduction of amine groups has led to appreciable improvements in terms of dispersion of the doped metals and eventually attaining nearly complete conversion (100%) of FA after 7 hours. The relative importance of the process parameters such as temperature (35-85°C), stirring speed (150-450rpm), catalyst loading (50-200mgr.), and Pd doping ratio (0.75-1.80wt.%) on gas yield was assessed by a Taguchi design-of-experiment based model. Experimental results showed that operating at a lower temperature range (35-50°C) yielded more gas, while the catalyst loading and Pd doping wt.% were found to be the most significant factors with P-values 0.026 & 0.031, respectively.

Keywords: formic acid decomposition, green catalysis, hydrogen, mesoporous silica, process optimization, nanoparticles

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Authors: Maritza Estela Garay-Rodriguez, Mirella Gutierrez-Arzaluz, Miguel Torres-Rodriguez, Violeta Mugica-Alvarez

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Arsenic is an element present in the earth's crust and is dispersed in the environment through natural processes and some anthropogenic activities. Naturally released into the environment through the weathering and erosion of sulphides mineral, some activities such as mining, the use of pesticides or wood preservatives potentially increase the concentration of arsenic in air, water, and soil. The natural arsenic release of a geological material is a threat to the world's drinking water sources. In aqueous phase is found in inorganic form, as arsenate and arsenite mainly, the contamination of groundwater by salts of this element originates what is known as endemic regional hydroarsenicism. The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) categorizes the inorganic As within group I, as a substance with proven carcinogenic action for humans. It has been found the presence of As in groundwater in several countries such as Argentina, Mexico, Bangladesh, Canada and the United States. Regarding the concentration of arsenic in drinking water according to the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) establish maximum concentrations of 10 μg L⁻¹. In Mexico, in some states as Hidalgo, Morelos and Michoacán concentrations of arsenic have been found in bodies of water around 1000 μg L⁻¹, a concentration that is well above what is allowed by Mexican regulations with the NOM-127- SSA1-1994 that establishes a limit of 25 μg L⁻¹. Given this problem in Mexico, this research proposes the use of a natural Mexican zeolite (clinoptilolite type) native to the district of Etla in the central valley region of Oaxaca, as an adsorbent for the removal of arsenic. The zeolite was subjected to a conditioning with iron oxide by the precipitation-impregnation method with 0.5 M iron nitrate solution, in order to increase the natural adsorption capacity of this material. The removal of arsenic was carried out in a column with a fixed bed of conditioned zeolite, since it combines the advantages of a conventional filter with those of a natural adsorbent medium, providing a continuous treatment, of low cost and relatively easy to operate, for its implementation in marginalized areas. The zeolite was characterized by XRD, SEM/EDS, and FTIR before and after the arsenic adsorption tests, the results showed that the modification methods used are adequate to prepare adsorbent materials since it does not modify its structure, the results showed that with a particle size of 1.18 mm, an initial concentration of As (V) ions of 1 ppm, a pH of 7 and at room temperature, a removal of 98.7% was obtained with an adsorption capacity of 260 μg As g⁻¹ zeolite. The results obtained indicated that the conditioned zeolite is favorable for the elimination of arsenate in water containing up to 1000 μg As L⁻¹ and could be suitable for removing arsenate from pits of water.

Keywords: adsorption, arsenic, iron conditioning, natural zeolite

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Authors: Zhenyu Zhang, Hsi-Hsien Wei

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Highway networks play a vital role in post-disaster recovery for disaster-damaged areas. Damaged bridges in such networks can disrupt the recovery activities by impeding the transportation of people, cargo, and reconstruction resources. Therefore, rapid restoration of damaged bridges is of paramount importance to long-term disaster recovery. In the post-disaster recovery phase, the key to restoration scheduling for a highway network is prioritization of bridge-repair tasks. Resilience is widely used as a measure of the ability to recover with which a network can return to its pre-disaster level of functionality. In practice, highways will be temporarily blocked during the downtime of bridge restoration, leading to the decrease of highway-network functionality. The failure to take downtime effects into account can lead to overestimation of network resilience. Additionally, post-disaster recovery of highway networks is generally divided into emergency bridge repair (EBR) in the response phase and long-term bridge repair (LBR) in the recovery phase, and both of EBR and LBR are different in terms of restoration objectives, restoration duration, budget, etc. Distinguish these two phases are important to precisely quantify highway network resilience and generate suitable restoration schedules for highway networks in the recovery phase. To address the above issues, this study proposes a novel resilience quantification method for the optimization of long-term bridge repair schedules (LBRS) taking into account the impact of EBR activities and restoration downtime on a highway network’s functionality. A time-dependent integer program with recursive functions is formulated for optimally scheduling LBR activities. Moreover, since uncertainty always exists in the LBRS problem, this paper extends the optimization model from the deterministic case to the stochastic case. A hybrid genetic algorithm that integrates a heuristic approach into a traditional genetic algorithm to accelerate the evolution process is developed. The proposed methods are tested using data from the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake, based on a regional highway network in Sichuan, China, consisting of 168 highway bridges on 36 highways connecting 25 cities/towns. The results show that, in this case, neglecting the bridge restoration downtime can lead to approximately 15% overestimation of highway network resilience. Moreover, accounting for the impact of EBR on network functionality can help to generate a more specific and reasonable LBRS. The theoretical and practical values are as follows. First, the proposed network recovery curve contributes to comprehensive quantification of highway network resilience by accounting for the impact of both restoration downtime and EBR activities on the recovery curves. Moreover, this study can improve the highway network resilience from the organizational dimension by providing bridge managers with optimal LBR strategies.

Keywords: disaster management, highway network, long-term bridge repair schedule, resilience, restoration downtime

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Authors: Kibrom Hadush

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Countries like Ethiopia, whose economy is mainly rain-fed dependent agriculture, are highly vulnerable to climate variability and weather extremes. Sub-seasonal (monthly) and dekadal forecasts are hence critical for crop production and water resource management. Therefore, this paper was conducted to study the predictability and variability of Kiremt rainfall over the northern half of Ethiopia on monthly and dekadal time scales in association with global Sea Surface Temperature (SST) at different lag time. Trends in rainfall have been analyzed on annual, seasonal (Kiremt), monthly, and dekadal (June–September) time scales based on rainfall records of 36 meteorological stations distributed across four homogenous zones of the northern half of Ethiopia for the period 1992–2017. The results from the progressive Mann–Kendall trend test and the Sen’s slope method shows that there is no significant trend in the annual, Kiremt, monthly and dekadal rainfall total at most of the station's studies. Moreover, the rainfall in the study area varies spatially and temporally, and the distribution of the rainfall pattern increases from the northeast rift valley to northwest highlands. Methods of analysis include graphical correlation and multiple linear regression model are employed to investigate the association between the global SSTs and Kiremt rainfall over the homogeneous rainfall zones and to predict monthly and dekadal (June-September) rainfall using SST predictors. The results of this study show that in general, SST in the equatorial Pacific Ocean is the main source of the predictive skill of the Kiremt rainfall variability over the northern half of Ethiopia. The regional SSTs in the Atlantic and the Indian Ocean as well contribute to the Kiremt rainfall variability over the study area. Moreover, the result of the correlation analysis showed that the decline of monthly and dekadal Kiremt rainfall over most of the homogeneous zones of the study area are caused by the corresponding persistent warming of the SST in the eastern and central equatorial Pacific Ocean during the period 1992 - 2017. It is also found that the monthly and dekadal Kiremt rainfall over the northern, northwestern highlands and northeastern lowlands of Ethiopia are positively correlated with the SST in the western equatorial Pacific, eastern and tropical northern the Atlantic Ocean. Furthermore, the SSTs in the western equatorial Pacific and Indian Oceans are positively correlated to the Kiremt season rainfall in the northeastern highlands. Overall, the results showed that the prediction models using combined SSTs at various ocean regions (equatorial and tropical) performed reasonably well in the prediction (With R2 ranging from 30% to 65%) of monthly and dekadal rainfall and recommends it can be used for efficient prediction of Kiremt rainfall over the study area to aid with systematic and informed decision making within the agricultural sector.

Keywords: dekadal, Kiremt rainfall, monthly, Northern Ethiopia, sea surface temperature

Procedia PDF Downloads 117

Authors: Patrick Cormier, Cesar Meylan, Matt Jensen, Dana Agar-Newman, Chloe Werle, Ming-Chang Tsai, Marc Klimstra

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Sprint-derived horizontal force-velocity-power (FVP) profiles can be developed with adequate validity and reliability with satellite (GPS/GNSS) systems. However, FVP metrics are sensitive to small nuances in data processing procedures such that minor differences in defining the onset and end of the sprint could result in different FVP metric outcomes. Furthermore, in team-sports, there is a requirement for rapid analysis and feedback of results from multiple athletes, therefore developing standardized and automated methods to improve the speed, efficiency and reliability of this process are warranted. Thus, the purpose of this study was to compare different methods of sprint end detection on the development of FVP profiles from 10Hz GPS/GNSS data through goodness-of-fit and intertrial reliability statistics. Seventeen national team female soccer players participated in the FVP protocol which consisted of 2x40m maximal sprints performed towards the end of a soccer specific warm-up in a training session (1020 hPa, wind = 0, temperature = 30°C) on an open grass field. Each player wore a 10Hz Catapult system unit (Vector S7, Catapult Innovations) inserted in a vest in a pouch between the scapulae. All data were analyzed following common procedures. Variables computed and assessed were the model parameters, estimated maximal sprint speed (MSS) and the acceleration constant τ, in addition to horizontal relative force (F₀), velocity at zero (V₀), and relative mechanical power (Pmax). The onset of the sprints was standardized with an acceleration threshold of 0.1 m/s². The sprint end detection methods were: 1. Time when peak velocity (MSS) was achieved (zero acceleration), 2. Time after peak velocity drops by -0.4 m/s, 3. Time after peak velocity drops by -0.6 m/s, and 4. When the integrated distance from the GPS/GNSS signal achieves 40-m. Goodness-of-fit of each sprint end detection method was determined using the residual sum of squares (RSS) to demonstrate the error of the FVP modeling with the sprint data from the GPS/GNSS system. Inter-trial reliability (from 2 trials) was assessed utilizing intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC). For goodness-of-fit results, the end detection technique that used the time when peak velocity was achieved (zero acceleration) had the lowest RSS values, followed by -0.4 and -0.6 velocity decay, and 40-m end had the highest RSS values. For intertrial reliability, the end of sprint detection techniques that were defined as the time at (method 1) or shortly after (method 2 and 3) when MSS was achieved had very large to near perfect ICC and the time at the 40 m integrated distance (method 4) had large to very large ICCs. Peak velocity was reached at 29.52 ± 4.02-m. Therefore, sport scientists should implement end of sprint detection either when peak velocity is determined or shortly after to improve goodness of fit to achieve reliable between trial FVP profile metrics. Although, more robust processing and modeling procedures should be developed in future research to improve sprint model fitting. This protocol was seamlessly integrated into the usual training which shows promise for sprint monitoring in the field with this technology.

Keywords: automated, biomechanics, team-sports, sprint

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Authors: Rubina Waseem

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The research focuses on the major crises and major effects, largely unforeseen, to counter international security concerns. At the close of 2019, the Covid-19 pandemic broke out in the city of Wuhan in Hubei province, China. The coronavirus was initially seen as an inchoate danger, aimed at striking people randomly. Owing to the extraordinary transmissibility of the virus and the highly knitted nature of the international political world, the Covid-19 soon became a formidable global challenge. The once hustling and bustling avenues, city centers, and market places became deserted. Lockdown, self-isolation, hygiene and safety, social-distancing, and job losses became a new norm. The national economies gradually plunged into crisis. The pandemic has so far caused over 33 million cases and one million deaths. The virus continues to devastate social life, as there is yet no therapeutic available. While the world was preoccupied addressing the human and social toll, the pandemic has exacerbated despair, mistrust, and friction in international relations, diplomacy, and strategy. The research will discuss how the coronavirus has accelerated the trends of transition in the postwar security order constructed by the United States. China, Russia, European Union, and other lesser regional players are now increasingly changing their security orientations to undermine the United States standing and authority in world politics. The systemic level analyses will be adopted as a methodology to broaden the lens of the study, and the research will analyze the prevalent global power distribution, whether vulnerable or exposed. The trends of parochial nationalism and isolationism are increasingly replacing multilateralism and collectivism. Yet worse, military posturing is assuming a greater role in international interactions. Taken together, the pandemic has worsened the prospects of international peace and stability by mounting equal pressure across the channels of international relations, diplomacy, and strategy. It is yet unclear which country or collectivity will face the real brunt. Despite this jaded and pessimistic view, the lingering pandemic has the potential to reinforce cooperation, multilateralism, and collectivism in the realm of international politics. There is a renewed momentum for global efforts against the pandemic. States and societies are coming closer to act as a whole. Equally important, the world leaders are feeling tempted to revisit the traditional conception of national security. In this regard, they are exploring the possibility of according preference to non-traditional security issues. In essence, the research concludes that Covid-19 has put the international political system under a great trial.

Keywords: covid-19, global challenges, international politics, international security

Procedia PDF Downloads 143

Authors: Antonio Boggia, Luisa Paolotti, Gianluca Massei, Lucia Rocchi, Elaine Pace, Maria Attard

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The aim of this paper is to present a methodology and a computer model for sustainability assessment based on the integration of Multi-criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) with a Geographic Information System (GIS). It presents the result of a study for the implementation of a model for measuring sustainability to address the policy actions for the improvement of sustainability at territory level. The aim is to rank areas in order to understand the specific technical and/or financial support that is required to develop sustainable growth. Assessing sustainable development is a multidimensional problem: economic, social and environmental aspects have to be taken into account at the same time. The tool for a multidimensional representation is a proper set of indicators. The set of indicators must be integrated into a model, that is an assessment methodology, to be used for measuring sustainability. The model, developed by the Environmental Laboratory of the University of Perugia, is called GeoUmbriaSUIT. It is a calculation procedure developed as a plugin working in the open-source GIS software QuantumGIS. The multi-criteria method used within GeoUmbriaSUIT is the algorithm TOPSIS (Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Design), which defines a ranking based on the distance from the worst point and the closeness to an ideal point, for each of the criteria used. For the sustainability assessment procedure, GeoUmbriaSUIT uses a geographic vector file where the graphic data represent the study area and the single evaluation units within it (the alternatives, e.g. the regions of a country, or the municipalities of a region), while the alphanumeric data (attribute table), describe the environmental, economic and social aspects related to the evaluation units by means of a set of indicators (criteria). The use of the algorithm available in the plugin allows to treat individually the indicators representing the three dimensions of sustainability, and to compute three different indices: environmental index, economic index and social index. The graphic output of the model allows for an integrated assessment of the three dimensions, avoiding aggregation. The presence of separate indices and graphic output make GeoUmbriaSUIT a readable and transparent tool, since it doesn’t produce an aggregate index of sustainability as final result of the calculations, which is often cryptic and difficult to interpret. In addition, it is possible to develop a “back analysis”, able to explain the positions obtained by the alternatives in the ranking, based on the criteria used. The case study presented is an assessment of the level of sustainability in the six regions of Malta, an island state in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea and the southernmost member of the European Union. The results show that the integration of MCDA-GIS is an adequate approach for sustainability assessment. In particular, the implemented model is able to provide easy to understand results. This is a very important condition for a sound decision support tool, since most of the time decision makers are not experts and need understandable output. In addition, the evaluation path is traceable and transparent.

Keywords: GIS, multi-criteria analysis, sustainability assessment, sustainable development

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Authors: Mayank Gupta, Siba Prasad Samal, Vasu Kakkirala

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The internet world and its priorities have changed considerably in the last decade. Browsing on smart phones has increased manifold and is set to explode much more. Users spent considerable time browsing different websites, that gives a great deal of insight into user’s preferences. Instead of plain information classifying different aspects of browsing like Bookmarks, History, and Download Manager into useful categories would improve and enhance the user’s experience. Most of the classification solutions are server side that involves maintaining server and other heavy resources. It has security constraints and maybe misses on contextual data during classification. On device, classification solves many such problems, but the challenge is to achieve accuracy on classification with resource constraints. This on device classification can be much more useful in personalization, reducing dependency on cloud connectivity and better privacy/security. This approach provides more relevant results as compared to current standalone solutions because it uses content rendered by browser which is customized by the content provider based on user’s profile. This paper proposes a Naive Bayes based lightweight classification engine targeted for a resource constraint devices. Our solution integrates with Web Browser that in turn triggers classification algorithm. Whenever a user browses a webpage, this solution extracts DOM Tree data from the browser’s rendering engine. This DOM data is a dynamic, contextual and secure data that can’t be replicated. This proposal extracts different features of the webpage that runs on an algorithm to classify into multiple categories. Naive Bayes based engine is chosen in this solution for its inherent advantages in using limited resources compared to other classification algorithms like Support Vector Machine, Neural Networks, etc. Naive Bayes classification requires small memory footprint and less computation suitable for smartphone environment. This solution has a feature to partition the model into multiple chunks that in turn will facilitate less usage of memory instead of loading a complete model. Classification of the webpages done through integrated engine is faster, more relevant and energy efficient than other standalone on device solution. This classification engine has been tested on Samsung Z3 Tizen hardware. The Engine is integrated into Tizen Browser that uses Chromium Rendering Engine. For this solution, extensive dataset is sourced from dmoztools.net and cleaned. This cleaned dataset has 227.5K webpages which are divided into 8 generic categories ('education', 'games', 'health', 'entertainment', 'news', 'shopping', 'sports', 'travel'). Our browser integrated solution has resulted in 15% less memory usage (due to partition method) and 24% less power consumption in comparison with standalone solution. This solution considered 70% of the dataset for training the data model and the rest 30% dataset for testing. An average accuracy of ~96.3% is achieved across the above mentioned 8 categories. This engine can be further extended for suggesting Dynamic tags and using the classification for differential uses cases to enhance browsing experience.

Keywords: chromium, lightweight engine, mobile computing, Naive Bayes, Tizen, web browser, webpage classification

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Authors: Atbin Mahabbati, Jason Beringer, Matthias Leopold

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To address the global challenges of climate and environmental changes, there is a need for quantifying and reducing uncertainties in environmental data, including observations of carbon, water, and energy. Global eddy covariance flux tower networks (FLUXNET), and their regional counterparts (i.e., OzFlux, AmeriFlux, China Flux, etc.) were established in the late 1990s and early 2000s to address the demand. Despite the capability of eddy covariance in validating process modelling analyses, field surveys and remote sensing assessments, there are some serious concerns regarding the challenges associated with the technique, e.g. data gaps and uncertainties. To address these concerns, this research has developed an ensemble model to fill the data gaps of CO₂ flux to avoid the limitations of using a single algorithm, and therefore, provide less error and decline the uncertainties associated with the gap-filling process. In this study, the data of five towers in the OzFlux Network (Alice Springs Mulga, Calperum, Gingin, Howard Springs and Tumbarumba) during 2013 were used to develop an ensemble machine learning model, using five feedforward neural networks (FFNN) with different structures combined with an eXtreme Gradient Boosting (XGB) algorithm. The former methods, FFNN, provided the primary estimations in the first layer, while the later, XGB, used the outputs of the first layer as its input to provide the final estimations of CO₂ flux. The introduced model showed slight superiority over each single FFNN and the XGB, while each of these two methods was used individually, overall RMSE: 2.64, 2.91, and 3.54 g C m⁻² yr⁻¹ respectively (3.54 provided by the best FFNN). The most significant improvement happened to the estimation of the extreme diurnal values (during midday and sunrise), as well as nocturnal estimations, which is generally considered as one of the most challenging parts of CO₂ flux gap-filling. The towers, as well as seasonality, showed different levels of sensitivity to improvements provided by the ensemble model. For instance, Tumbarumba showed more sensitivity compared to Calperum, where the differences between the Ensemble model on the one hand and the FFNNs and XGB, on the other hand, were the least of all 5 sites. Besides, the performance difference between the ensemble model and its components individually were more significant during the warm season (Jan, Feb, Mar, Oct, Nov, and Dec) compared to the cold season (Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, and Sep) due to the higher amount of photosynthesis of plants, which led to a larger range of CO₂ exchange. In conclusion, the introduced ensemble model slightly improved the accuracy of CO₂ flux gap-filling and robustness of the model. Therefore, using ensemble machine learning models is potentially capable of improving data estimation and regression outcome when it seems to be no more room for improvement while using a single algorithm.

Keywords: carbon flux, Eddy covariance, extreme gradient boosting, gap-filling comparison, hybrid model, OzFlux network

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Authors: Eva L. Suarez, Daniel E. Meeroff, Yan Yong

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The U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) developed flood maps based on experts’ experience and estimates of the probability of flooding. Current flood-risk models evaluate flood risk with regional and subjective measures without impact from torrential rain and nuisance flooding at the neighborhood level. Nuisance flooding occurs in small areas in the community, where a few streets or blocks are routinely impacted. This type of flooding event occurs when torrential rainstorm combined with high tide and sea level rise temporarily exceeds a given threshold. In South Florida, this threshold is 1.7 ft above Mean Higher High Water (MHHW). The National Weather Service defines torrential rain as rain deposition at a rate greater than 0.3-inches per hour or three inches in a single day. Data from the Florida Climate Center, 1970 to 2020, shows 371 events with more than 3-inches of rain in a day in 612 months. The purpose of this research is to develop a data-driven method to determine comprehensive analytical damage-avoidance criteria that account for nuisance flood events at the single-family home level. The method developed uses the Failure Mode and Effect Analysis (FMEA) method from the American Society of Quality (ASQ) to estimate the Damage Avoidance (DA) preparation for a 1-day 100-year storm. The Consequence of Nuisance Flooding (CoNF) is estimated from community mitigation efforts to prevent nuisance flooding damage. The Probability of Nuisance Flooding (PoNF) is derived from the frequency and duration of torrential rainfall causing delays and community disruptions to daily transportation, human illnesses, and property damage. Urbanization and population changes are related to the U.S. Census Bureau's annual population estimates. Data collected by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Natural Resources Conservation Service’s National Resources Inventory (NRI) and locally by the South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD) track the development and land use/land cover changes with time. The intent is to include temporal trends in population density growth and the impact on land development. Results from this investigation provide the risk of nuisance flooding as a function of CoNF and PoNF for coastal areas of South Florida. The data-based criterion provides awareness to local municipalities on their flood-risk assessment and gives insight into flood management actions and watershed development.

Keywords: flood risk, nuisance flooding, urban flooding, FMEA

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Authors: Yevheniia Varyvoda, Douglas Taren

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At the aggregate level, climate variability, the rising number of active violent conflicts, globalization and industrialization of agriculture, the loss in diversity of crop species, the increase in demand for agricultural production, and the adoption of healthy and sustainable dietary patterns are exacerbating factors of food system destabilization. The importance of pseudocereals to fuel and sustain resilient food systems is recognized by leading organizations working to end hunger, particularly for their critical capability to diversify livelihood portfolios and provide plant-sourced healthy nutrition in the face of systemic shocks and stresses. Amaranth, buckwheat, and quinoa are the most promising and used pseudocereals for ensuring food system resilience in the reality of climate change due to their high nutritional profile, good digestibility, palatability, medicinal value, abiotic stress tolerance, pest and disease resistance, rapid growth rate, adaptability to marginal and degraded lands, high genetic variability, low input requirements, and income generation capacity. The study provides the rationale and examples of advancing local and regional food systems' resilience by scaling up the utilization of amaranth, buckwheat, and quinoa along all components of food systems to architect indirect nutrition interventions and climate-smart approaches. Thus, this study aims to explore the drivers for ancient pseudocereal utilization, the potential resilience benefits that can be derived from using them, and the challenges and opportunities for pseudocereal utilization within the food system components. The PSALSAR framework regarding the method for conducting systematic review and meta-analysis for environmental science research was used to answer these research questions. Nevertheless, the utilization of pseudocereals has been slow for a number of reasons, namely the increased production of commercial and major staples such as maize, rice, wheat, soybean, and potato, the displacement due to pressure from imported crops, lack of knowledge about value-adding practices in food supply chain, limited technical knowledge and awareness about nutritional and health benefits, absence of marketing channels and limited access to extension services and information about resilient crops. The success of climate-resilient pathways based on pseudocereal utilization underlines the importance of co-designed activities that use modern technologies, high-value traditional knowledge of underutilized crops, and a strong acknowledgment of cultural norms to increase community-level economic and food system resilience.

Keywords: resilience, pseudocereals, food system, climate change

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Authors: Sofia N. Gonçalves, Duarte M. S. Albuquerque, José C. F. Pereira

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The energy transition is spurred by structural changes in energy demand, supply, and prices. Microwave technology was first proposed as a faster alternative for cooking food. It was found that food heated instantly when interacting with high-frequency electromagnetic waves. The dielectric properties account for a material’s ability to absorb electromagnetic energy and dissipate this energy in the form of heat. Many energy-intense industries could benefit from electromagnetic heating since many of the raw materials are dielectric at high temperatures. Limestone sedimentary rock is a dielectric material intensively used in the cement industry to produce unslaked lime. A numerical 3D model was implemented in COMSOL Multiphysics to study the limestone continuous processing under microwave heating. The model solves the two-way coupling between the Energy equation and Maxwell’s equations as well as the coupling between heat transfer and chemical interfaces. Complementary, a controller was implemented to optimize the overall heating efficiency and control the numerical model stability. This was done by continuously matching the cavity impedance and predicting the required energy for the system, avoiding energy inefficiencies. This controller was developed in MATLAB and successfully fulfilled all these goals. The limestone load influence on thermal decomposition and overall process efficiency was the main object of this study. The procedure considered the Verification and Validation of the chemical kinetics model separately from the coupled model. The chemical model was found to correctly describe the chosen kinetic equation, and the coupled model successfully solved the equations describing the numerical model. The interaction between flow of material and electric field Poynting vector revealed to influence limestone decomposition, as a result from the low dielectric properties of limestone. The numerical model considered this effect and took advantage from this interaction. The model was demonstrated to be highly unstable when solving non-linear temperature distributions. Limestone has a dielectric loss response that increases with temperature and has low thermal conductivity. For this reason, limestone is prone to produce thermal runaway under electromagnetic heating, as well as numerical model instabilities. Five different scenarios were tested by considering a material fill ratio of 30%, 50%, 65%, 80%, and 100%. Simulating the tube rotation for mixing enhancement was proven to be beneficial and crucial for all loads considered. When uniform temperature distribution is accomplished, the electromagnetic field and material interaction is facilitated. The results pointed out the inefficient development of the electric field within the bed for 30% fill ratio. The thermal efficiency showed the propensity to stabilize around 90%for loads higher than 50%. The process accomplished a maximum microwave efficiency of 75% for the 80% fill ratio, sustaining that the tube has an optimal fill of material. Electric field peak detachment was observed for the case with 100% fill ratio, justifying the lower efficiencies compared to 80%. Microwave technology has been demonstrated to be an important ally for the decarbonization of the cement industry.

Keywords: CFD numerical simulations, efficiency optimization, electromagnetic heating, impedance matching, limestone continuous processing

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Authors: Z. Gharaee

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Recognizing actions performed by others is important in our daily lives since it is necessary for communicating with others in a proper way. We perceive an action by observing the kinematics of motions involved in the performance. We use our experience and concepts to make a correct recognition of the actions. Although building the action concepts is a life-long process, which is repeated throughout life, we are very efficient in applying our learned concepts in analyzing motions and recognizing actions. Experiments on the subjects observing the actions performed by an actor show that an action is recognized after only about two hundred milliseconds of observation. In this study, hierarchical action recognition architecture is proposed by using growing grid layers. The first-layer growing grid receives the pre-processed data of consecutive 3D postures of joint positions and applies some heuristics during the growth phase to allocate areas of the map by inserting new neurons. As a result of training the first-layer growing grid, action pattern vectors are generated by connecting the elicited activations of the learned map. The ordered vector representation layer receives action pattern vectors to create time-invariant vectors of key elicited activations. Time-invariant vectors are sent to second-layer growing grid for categorization. This grid creates the clusters representing the actions. Finally, one-layer neural network developed by a delta rule labels the action categories in the last layer. System performance has been evaluated in an experiment with the publicly available MSR-Action3D dataset. There are actions performed by using different parts of human body: Hand Clap, Two Hands Wave, Side Boxing, Bend, Forward Kick, Side Kick, Jogging, Tennis Serve, Golf Swing, Pick Up and Throw. The growing grid architecture was trained by applying several random selections of generalization test data fed to the system during on average 100 epochs for each training of the first-layer growing grid and around 75 epochs for each training of the second-layer growing grid. The average generalization test accuracy is 92.6%. A comparison analysis between the performance of growing grid architecture and self-organizing map (SOM) architecture in terms of accuracy and learning speed show that the growing grid architecture is superior to the SOM architecture in action recognition task. The SOM architecture completes learning the same dataset of actions in around 150 epochs for each training of the first-layer SOM while it takes 1200 epochs for each training of the second-layer SOM and it achieves the average recognition accuracy of 90% for generalization test data. In summary, using the growing grid network preserves the fundamental features of SOMs, such as topographic organization of neurons, lateral interactions, the abilities of unsupervised learning and representing high dimensional input space in the lower dimensional maps. The architecture also benefits from an automatic size setting mechanism resulting in higher flexibility and robustness. Moreover, by utilizing growing grids the system automatically obtains a prior knowledge of input space during the growth phase and applies this information to expand the map by inserting new neurons wherever there is high representational demand.

Keywords: action recognition, growing grid, hierarchical architecture, neural networks, system performance

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Authors: Marius Nygaard, Ona Flindall

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The Palisaden student housing project was completed in August 2013 and was, with its eight floors, Norway’s tallest timber building at the time of completion. It was the first time cross-laminated-timber (CLT) was utilized at this scale in Norway. The project was the result of a concerted effort by a newly formed management company to establish CLT as a sustainable and financially competitive alternative to conventional steel and concrete systems. The introduction of CLT onto the student housing market proved so successful that by 2017 more than 4000 individual student residences will have been built using the same model of development and construction. The aim of this paper is to identify the key factors that enabled this breakthrough for CLT. It is based on an in-depth study of a series of housing projects and the role of the management company who both instigated and enabled this shift of CLT from the margin to the mainstream. Specifically, it will look at how a new building system was integrated into a marketing strategy that identified a market potential within the existing structure of the construction industry and within the economic restrictions inherent to student housing in Norway. It will show how a key player established a project model that changed both the patterns of cooperation and the information basis for decisions. Based on qualitative semi-structured interviews with managers, contractors and the interdisciplinary teams of consultants (architects, structural engineers, acoustical experts etc.) this paper will trace the introduction, expansion and evolution of CLT-based building systems in the student housing market. It will show how the project management firm’s position in the value chain enabled them to function both as a liaison between contractor and client, and between contractor and producer. A position that allowed them to improve the flow of information. This ensured that CLT was handled on equal terms to other structural solutions in the project specifications, enabling realistic pricing and risk evaluation. Secondly, this paper will describe and discuss how the project management firm established and interacted with a growing network of contractors, architects and engineers to pool expertise and broaden the knowledge base across Norway’s regional markets. Finally, it will examine the role of the client, the building typology, and the industrial and technological factors in achieving this breakthrough for CLT in the construction industry. This paper gives an in-depth view of the progression of a single case rather than a broad description of the state of the art of large-scale timber building in Norway. However, this type of study may offer insights that are important to the understanding not only of specific markets but also of how new technologies should be introduced in big and well-established industries.

Keywords: cross-laminated-timber (CLT), industry breakthrough, student housing, timber market

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Authors: Tamas Dani

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The author’s research explores the geo-economical role and importance of some small and medium sized states, reviews their adaption strategies in foreign trade and also in foreign affairs in the course of changing into a multipolar world, uses international background. With these, the paper analyses the recent years and the future of ‘Opening towards Eastern foreign economic policies’ from East-Central Europe and parallel with that the ‘Western foreign economy policies’ from Asia, as the Chinese One Belt One Road new silk route plans (so far its huge part is an infrastructural development plan to reach international trade and investment aims). It can be today’s question whether these ideas will reshape the global trade or not. How does the new silk road initiatives and the Eurasian Union reflect the effect of globalization? It is worth to analyse that how did Central and Eastern European countries open to Asia; why does China have the focus of the opening policies in many countries and why could China be seen as the ‘winner’ of the world economic crisis after 2008. The research is based on the following methodologies: national and international literature, policy documents and related design documents, complemented by processing of international databases, statistics and live interviews with leaders from East-Central European countries’ companies and public administration, diplomats and international traders. The results also illustrated by mapping and graphs. The research will find out as major findings whether the state decision-makers have enough margin for manoeuvres to strengthen foreign economic relations. This work has a hypothesis that countries in East-Central Europe have real chance to diversify their relations in foreign trade, focus beyond their traditional partners. This essay focuses on the opportunities of East-Central-European countries in diversification of foreign trade relations towards China and Russia in terms of ‘Eastern Openings’. The effects of the new silk road initiatives and the Eurasian Union to Hungary’s economy with a comparing outlook on East-Central European countries and exploring common regional cooperation opportunities in this area. The essay concentrate on the changing trade relations between East-Central-Europe and China as well as Russia, try to analyse the effects of the new silk road initiatives and the Eurasian Union also. In the conclusion part, it shows how the cooperation is necessary for the East-Central European countries if they want to have a non-asymmetric trade with Russia, China or some Chinese regions (Pearl River Delta, Hainan, …). The form of the cooperation for the East-Central European nations can be Visegrad 4 Cooperation (V4), Central and Eastern European Countries (CEEC16), 3 SEAS Cooperation (or BABS – Baltic, Adriatic, Black Seas Initiative).

Keywords: China, East-Central Europe, foreign trade relations, geoeconomics, geopolitics, Russia

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Authors: Marwa Djebbi, Hakim Gabtni

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Gravity is a continuously advancing method that has become a mature technology for geological studies. Increasingly, it has been used to complement and constrain traditional seismic data and even used as the only tool to get information of the sub-surface. In fact, in some regions the seismic data, if available, are of poor quality and hard to be interpreted. Such is the case for the current study area. The Nefza zone is part of the Tellian fold and thrust belt domain in the north west of Tunisia. It is essentially made of a pile of allochthonous units resulting from a major Neogene tectonic event. Its tectonic and stratigraphic developments have always been subject of controversies. Considering the geological and hydrogeological importance of this area, a detailed interdisciplinary study has been conducted integrating geology, seismic and gravity techniques. The interpretation of Gravity data allowed the delimitation of the dune reservoir and the identification of the regional lineaments contouring the area. It revealed the presence of three gravity lows that correspond to the dune of Zouara and Ouchtata separated along with a positive gravity axis espousing the Ain Allega_Aroub Er Roumane axe. The Bouguer gravity map illustrated the compartmentalization of the Zouara dune into two depressions separated by a NW-SE anomaly trend. This constitution was confirmed by the vertical derivative map which showed the individualization of two depressions with slightly different anomaly values. The horizontal gravity gradient magnitude was performed in order to determine the different geological features present in the studied area. The latest indicated the presence of NE-SW parallel folds according to the major Atlasic direction. Also, NW-SE and EW trends were identified. The maxima tracing confirmed this direction by the presence of NE-SW faults, mainly the Ghardimaou_Cap Serrat accident. The quality of the available seismic sections and the absence of borehole data in the region, except few hydraulic wells that been drilled and showing the heterogeneity of the substratum of the dune, required the process of gravity modeling of this challenging area that necessitates to be modeled for the geometrical characterization of the dune reservoir and determine the different stratigraphic series underneath these deposits. For more detailed and accurate results, the scale of study will be reduced in coming research. A more concise method will be elaborated; the 4D microgravity survey. This approach is considered as an expansion of gravity method and its fourth dimension is time. It will allow a continuous and repeated monitoring of fluid movement in the subsurface according to the micro gal (μgall) scale. The gravity effect is a result of a monthly variation of the dynamic groundwater level which correlates with rainfall during different periods.

Keywords: 3D gravity modeling, dune reservoir, heterogeneous substratum, seismic interpretation

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Authors: Rahbel Rahman, Rogério Meireles Pinto, Margareth Santos Zanchetta

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Background: Existing shortcomings of current health-service delivery include poor teamwork, competencies that do not address consumer needs, and episodic rather than continuous care. Brazil’s Sistema Único de Saúde (Unified Health System, UHS) is acknowledged worldwide as a model for delivering community-based care through Estratégia Saúde da Família (FHS; Family Health Strategy) interdisciplinary teams, comprised of Community Health Agents (in Portuguese, Agentes Comunitário de Saude, ACS), nurses, and physicians. FHS teams are mandated to collectively offer clinical care, disease prevention services, vector control, health surveillance and social services. Our study compares medical providers (nurses and physicians) and community-based providers (ACS) on their perceptions of work environment, professional skills, cognitive capacities and job context. Global health administrators and policy makers can leverage on similarities and differences across care providers to develop interprofessional training for community-based primary care. Methods: Cross-sectional data were collected from 168 ACS, 62 nurses and 32 physicians in Brazil. We compared providers’ demographic characteristics (age, race, and gender) and job context variables (caseload, work experience, work proximity to community, the length of commute, and familiarity with the community). Providers perceptions were compared to their work environment (work conditions and work resources), professional skills (consumer-input, interdisciplinary collaboration, efficacy of FHS teams, work-methods and decision-making autonomy), and cognitive capacities (knowledge and skills, skill variety, confidence and perseverance). Descriptive and bi-variate analysis, such as Pearson Chi-square and Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) F-tests, were performed to draw comparisons across providers. Results: Majority of participants were ACS (64%); 24% nurses; and 12% physicians. Majority of nurses and ACS identified as mixed races (ACS, n=85; nurses, n=27); most physicians identified as males (n=16; 52%), and white (n=18; 58%). Physicians were less likely to incorporate consumer-input and demonstrated greater decision-making autonomy than nurses and ACS. ACS reported the highest levels of knowledge and skills but the least confidence compared to nurses and physicians. ACS, nurses, and physicians were efficacious that FHS teams improved the quality of health in their catchment areas, though nurses tend to disagree that interdisciplinary collaboration facilitated their work. Conclusion: To our knowledge, there has been no study comparing key demographic and cognitive variables across ACS, nurses and physicians in the context of their work environment and professional training. We suggest that global health systems can leverage upon the diverse perspectives of providers to implement a community-based primary care model grounded in interprofessional training. Our study underscores the need for in-service trainings to instill reflective skills of providers, improve communication skills of medical providers and curative skills of ACS. Greater autonomy needs to be extended to community based providers to offer care integral to addressing consumer and community needs.

Keywords: global health systems, interdisciplinary health teams, community health agents, community-based care

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Authors: Evans V. Mauda, Stefan H. Foord, Thinandavha C. Munyai

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The greatest threat to biodiversity is a loss of habitat through landscape fragmentation and attrition. Land use changes are therefore among the most immediate drivers of species diversity. Urbanization and agriculture are the main drivers of habitat loss and transformation in the Savanna biomes of South Africa. Agricultural expansion and the intensification in particular, take place at the expense of biodiversity and will probably be the primary driver of biodiversity loss in this century. Arthropods show measurable behavioural responses to changing land mosaics at the smallest scale and heterogeneous environments are therefore predicted to support more complex and diverse biological assemblages. Ants are premier soil turners, channelers of energy and dominate insect fauna, while spiders are a mega-diverse group that can regulate other invertebrate populations. This study aims to quantify the response of these two taxa in a rural-urban mosaic of a rapidly developing communal area. The study took place in and around two villages in the north-eastern corner of South Africa. Two replicates for each of the dominant land use categories, viz. urban settlements, dryland cultivation and cattle rangelands, were set out in each of the villages and sampled during the dry and wet seasons for a total of 2 villages × 3 land use categories × 2 seasons = 24 assemblages. Local scale variables measured included vertical and horizontal habitat structure as well as structural and chemical composition of the soil. Ant richness was not affected by land use but local scale variables such as vertical vegetation structure (+) and leaf litter cover (+), although vegetation complexity at lower levels was negatively associated with ant richness. However, ant richness was largely shaped by regional and temporal processes invoking the importance of dispersal and historical processes. Spider species richness was mostly affected by land use and local conditions highlighting their landscape elements. Spider richness did not vary much between villages and across seasons and seems to be less dependent on context or history. There was a considerable amount of variation in spider richness that was not explained and this could be related to factors which were not measured in this study such as temperature and competition. For both ant and spider assemblages the constrained ordination explained 18 % of variation in these taxa. Three environmental variables (leaf litter cover, active carbon and rock cover) were important in explaining ant assemblage structure, while two (sand and leaf litter cover) were important for spider assemblage structure. This study highlights the importance of disturbance (land use activities) and leaf litter with the associated effects on ant and spider assemblages across the study area.

Keywords: ants, assemblages, biosphere, diversity, land use, spiders, urbanization

Procedia PDF Downloads 249

Authors: Su Hui Tsai, Weir Sen Lin, Rhay Hung Weng

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There are numerous outpatient departments at hospitals with enormous amounts of outpatients. Although the work of outpatient nursing staff does not include the ward, emergency and critical care units that involve patient life-threatening conditions, the work is cumbersome and requires facing and dealing with a large number of outpatients in a short period of time. Therefore, nursing staff often do not feel satisfied with their work and cannot identify with their professional role, leading to intentions to leave their job. Thus, the main purpose of this study is to explore the correlation between the job satisfaction and role identity of nursing staff with turnover intention. This research was conducted using a questionnaire, and the subjects were outpatient nursing staff in three regional hospitals in Southern Taiwan. A total of 175 questionnaires were distributed, and 166 valid questionnaires were returned. After collecting the data, the reliability and validity of the study variables were confirmed by confirmatory factor analysis. The influence of role identity and job satisfaction on nursing staff’s turnover intention was analyzed by descriptive analysis, one-way ANOVA, Pearson correlation analysis and multiple regression analysis. Results showed that 'role identity' had significant differences in different types of marriages. Job satisfaction of 'grasp of environment' had significant differences in different levels of education. Job satisfaction of 'professional growth' and 'shifts and days off' showed significant differences in different types of marriages. 'Role identity' and 'job satisfaction' were negatively correlated with turnover intention respectively. Job satisfaction of 'salary and benefits' and 'grasp of environment' were significant predictors of role identity. The higher the job satisfaction of 'salary and benefits' and 'grasp of environment', the higher the role identity. Job satisfaction of 'patient and family interaction' were significant predictors of turnover intention. The lower the job satisfaction of 'patient and family interaction', the higher the turnover intention. This study found that outpatient nursing staff had the lowest satisfaction towards salary structure. It is recommended that bonuses, promotion opportunities and other incentives be established to increase the role identity of outpatient nursing staff. The results showed that the higher the job satisfaction of 'salary and benefits' and 'grasp of environment', the higher the role identity. It is recommended that regular evaluations be conducted to reward nursing staff with excellent service and invite nursing staff to share their work experiences and thoughts, to enhance nursing staff’s expectation and identification of their occupational role, as well as instilling the concept of organizational service and organizational expectations of emotional display. The results showed that the lower the job satisfaction of 'patient and family interaction', the higher the turnover intention. It is recommended that interpersonal communication and workplace violence prevention educational training courses be organized to enhance the communication and interaction of nursing staff with patients and their families.

Keywords: outpatient, job satisfaction, turnover, intention

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Authors: Julio Jesus Salazar, Manuel Andres Jesus De Lama

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There are very few models that serve to analyze the use of water in the socio-economic process. On the supply side, the joint use of groundwater has been considered in addition to the simple limits on the availability of surface water. In addition, we have worked on waterlogging and the effects on water quality (mainly salinity). In this paper, a 'complex' water economy is examined; one in which demands grow differentially not only within but also between sectors, and one in which there are limited opportunities to increase consumptive use. In particular, high-value growth, the growth of the production of irrigated crops of high value within the basins of the case study, together with the rapidly growing urban areas, provides a rich context to examine the general problem of water management at the basin level. At the same time, the long-term aridity of nature has made the eco-environment in the basins located on the coast of Peru very vulnerable, and the exploitation and immediate use of water resources have further deteriorated the situation. The presented methodology is the optimization with embedded simulation. The wide basin simulation of flow and water balances and crop growth are embedded with the optimization of water allocation, reservoir operation, and irrigation scheduling. The modeling framework is developed from a network of river basins that includes multiple nodes of origin (reservoirs, aquifers, water courses, etc.) and multiple demand sites along the river, including places of consumptive use for agricultural, municipal and industrial, and uses of running water on the coast of Peru. The economic benefits associated with water use are evaluated for different demand management instruments, including water rights, based on the production and benefit functions of water use in the urban agricultural and industrial sectors. This work represents a new effort to analyze the use of water at the regional level and to evaluate the modernization of the integrated management of water resources and socio-economic territorial development in Peru. It will also allow the establishment of policies to improve the process of implementation of the integrated management and development of water resources. The input-output analysis is essential to present a theory about the production process, which is based on a particular type of production function. Also, this work presents the Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) version of the economic model for water resource policy analysis, which was specifically designed for analyzing large-scale water management. As to the platform for CGE simulation, GEMPACK, a flexible system for solving CGE models, is used for formulating and solving CGE model through the percentage-change approach. GEMPACK automates the process of translating the model specification into a model solution program.

Keywords: water economy, simulation, modeling, integration

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Authors: M. Verde, G. Falzarano

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The paper examines the connection between corporate social responsibility (CSR), capability approach and poverty reduction; in particular, the local employment development (LED) by way of CSR initiatives. The joint action of LED/CSR results in a win-win situation, not only for the enterprises but also for all the stakeholders involved; in this regard, subsidiarity and coordination between national and regional/local authorities are central to a socially-oriented market economy. In the first section, the CSR is analysed on the basis of its social function in the fight against poverty, as a 'capabilities deprivation'. In the central part, the attention is focused on the relationship between CSR and LED; ergo, on the role of the enterprises in fostering capabilities development (the employment). Besides, all the potential solutions are presented, stressing the possible combinations, in the last part. The benchmark is the enterprise as an economic and a social institution: the business should not be combined with profit merely, paying more attention to its sustainable impact and social contribution. In which way could it be possible? The answer is the CSR. The impact of CSR on poverty reduction is still little explored. The companies help to reduce poverty through economic contribution, human rights and social inclusion; hence, the business becomes an 'agent of development' in order to fight against 'inequality'. The starting point is the pyramid of social responsibility, where ethic and philanthropic responsibilities involve programmes and actions aimed at personal development of the individuals, improving human standard of living in all forms, including poverty, when people do not have a choice between different 'life options', ranging from level of education to employment. At this point, CSR comes into play and works on two dimensions: poverty reduction and poverty prevention, by means of a series of initiatives: first of all, job creation and precarious work reduction. Empowerment of the local actors, financial support and combination of top down and bottom up initiatives are some of CSR areas of activity. Several positive effects occur on individual levels of educations, access to capital, individual health status, empowerment of youth and woman, access to social networks and it was observed that these effects depend on the type of CSR strategy. Indeed, CSR programmes should take into account fundamental criteria, such as the transparency, the information about benefits, a coordination unit among institutions and more clear guidelines. In this way, the advantages to the corporate reputation and to the community translate into a better job matching on the labour market, inter alia. It is important to underline that the success depends on the specific measures of the areas in question, by adapting them to the local needs, in light of general principles and index; therefore, the concrete commitment of the all stakeholders involved is decisive in order to achieve the goals. The enterprise would represent a concrete contribution for the pursuit of sustainable development and for the dissemination of a social and well being awareness.

Keywords: capability approach, local employment development, poverty, social inclusion

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Authors: Omar Faruqe Hamim, M. Shamsul Hoque, Rich C. McIlroy, Katherine L. Plant, Neville A. Stanton

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Road safety has become an alarming issue, especially in low-middle income developing countries. The traditional approaches lack the out of the box thinking, making engineers confined to applying usual techniques in making roads safer. A socio-technical approach has recently been introduced in improving road intersections through designing with intent. This Design With Intent (DWI) approach aims to give practitioners a more nuanced approach to design and behavior, working with people, people’s understanding, and the complexities of everyday human experience. It's a collection of design patterns —and a design and research approach— for exploring the interactions between design and people’s behavior across products, services, and environments, both digital and physical. Through this approach, it can be seen that how designing with people in behavior change can be applied to social and environmental problems, as well as commercially. It has a total of 101 cards across eight different lenses, such as architectural, error-proofing, interaction, ludic, perceptual, cognitive, Machiavellian, and security lens each having its own distinct characteristics of extracting ideas from the participant of this approach. For this research purpose, a three-legged accident blackspot intersection of a national highway has been chosen to perform the DWI workshop. Participants from varying fields such as civil engineering, naval architecture and marine engineering, urban and regional planning, and sociology actively participated for a day long workshop. While going through the workshops, the participants were given a preamble of the accident scenario and a brief overview of DWI approach. Design cards of varying lenses were distributed among 10 participants and given an hour and a half for brainstorming and generating ideas to improve the safety of the selected intersection. After the brainstorming session, the participants spontaneously went through roundtable discussions regarding the ideas they have come up with. According to consensus of the forum, ideas were accepted or rejected. These generated ideas were then synthesized and agglomerated to bring about an improvement scheme for the intersection selected in our study. To summarize the improvement ideas from DWI approach, color coding of traffic lanes for separate vehicles, channelizing the existing bare intersection, providing advance warning traffic signs, cautionary signs and educational signs motivating road users to drive safe, using textured surfaces at approach with rumble strips before the approach of intersection were the most significant one. The motive of this approach is to bring about new ideas from the road users and not just depend on traditional schemes to increase the efficiency, safety of roads as well and to ensure the compliance of road users since these features are being generated from the minds of users themselves.

Keywords: design with intent, road safety, human experience, behavior

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Authors: Jin Sheng

Abstract:

This paper addresses a promising area of insurance sector to develop in Asia. Captive insurance, which provides risk-mitigation services for its parent company, has great potentials to develop in energy, infrastructure, agriculture, logistics, catastrophe, and alternative risk transfer (ART), and will greatly affect the framework of insurance industry. However, the Asian captive insurance market only takes a small proportion in the global market. The recent supply chain interruption case of Hanjin Shipping indicates the significance of risk management for an Asian company’s sustainability and resilience. China has substantial needs and great potentials to develop captive insurance, on account of the currency volatility, enterprises’ credit risks, and legal and operational risks of the Belt and Road initiative. Up to date, Mainland Chinese enterprises only have four offshore captives incorporated by CNOOC, Sinopec, Lenovo and CGN Power), three onshore captive insurance companies incorporated by CNPC, China Railway, and COSCO, as well as one industrial captive insurance organization - China Ship-owners Mutual Assurance Association. Its captive market grows slowly with one or two captive insurers licensed yearly after September 2011. As an international financial center, Hong Kong has comparative advantages in taxation, professionals, market access and well-established financial infrastructure to develop a functional captive insurance market. For example, Hong Kong’s income tax for an insurance company is 16.5%; while China's income tax for an insurance company is 25% plus business tax of 5%. Furthermore, restrictions on market entry and operations of China’s onshore captives make establishing offshore captives in international or regional captive insurance centers such as Singapore, Hong Kong, and other overseas jurisdictions to become attractive options. Thus, there are abundant business opportunities in this area. Using methodology of comparative studies and case analysis, this paper discusses the incorporation, regulatory issues, taxation and prospect of captive insurance market in Hong Kong, China and Singapore. Hong Kong and Singapore are both international financial centers with prominent advantages in tax concessions, technology, implementation, professional services, and well-functioning legal system. Singapore, as the domicile of 71 active captives, has been the largest captive insurance hub in Asia, as well as an established reinsurance hub. Hong Kong is an emerging captive insurance hub with 5 to 10 newly licensed captives each year, according to the Hong Kong Financial Services Development Council. It is predicted that Hong Kong will become a domicile for 50 captive insurers by 2025. This paper also compares the formation of a captive in Singapore with other jurisdictions such as Bermuda and Vermont.

Keywords: Alternative Risk Transfer (ART), captive insurance company, offshore captives, risk management, reinsurance, self-insurance fund

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Authors: V. V. Fomin, A. P. Mikhailovich, E. M. Agapitov, V. E. Rogachev, E. A. Kostousova, E. S. Perekhodova

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Ground-level landscape photos can be used as a source of objective data on woody vegetation and vegetation dynamics. We proposed a method for processing, analyzing, and presenting ground photographs, which has the following advantages: 1) researcher has to form holistic representation of the study area in form of a set of interlapping ground-level landscape photographs; 2) it is necessary to define or obtain characteristics of the landscape, objects, and phenomena present on the photographs; 3) it is necessary to create new or supplement existing textual descriptions and annotations for the ground-level landscape photographs; 4) single or multiple ground-level landscape photographs can be used to develop specialized geoinformation layers, schematic maps or thematic maps; 5) it is necessary to determine quantitative data that describes both images as a whole, and displayed objects and phenomena, using algorithms for automated image analysis. It is suggested to match each photo with a polygonal geoinformation layer, which is a sector consisting of areas corresponding with parts of the landscape visible in the photos. Calculation of visibility areas is performed in a geoinformation system within a sector using a digital model of a study area relief and visibility analysis functions. Superposition of the visibility sectors corresponding with various camera viewpoints allows matching landscape photos with each other to create a complete and wholesome representation of the space in question. It is suggested to user-defined data or phenomenons on the images with the following superposition over the visibility sector in the form of map symbols. The technology of geoinformation layers’ spatial superposition over the visibility sector creates opportunities for image geotagging using quantitative data obtained from raster or vector layers within the sector with the ability to generate annotations in natural language. The proposed method has proven itself well for relatively open and clearly visible areas with well-defined relief, for example, in mountainous areas in the treeline ecotone. When the polygonal layers of visibility sectors for a large number of different points of photography are topologically superimposed, a layer of visibility of sections of the entire study area is formed, which is displayed in the photographs. Also, as a result of this overlapping of sectors, areas that did not appear in the photo will be assessed as gaps. According to the results of this procedure, it becomes possible to obtain information about the photos that display a specific area and from which points of photography it is visible. This information may be obtained either as a query on the map or as a query for the attribute table of the layer. The method was tested using repeated photos taken from forty camera viewpoints located on Ray-Iz mountain massif (Polar Urals, Russia) from 1960 until 2023. It has been successfully used in combination with other ground-based and remote sensing methods of studying the climate-driven dynamics of woody vegetation in the Polar Urals. Acknowledgment: This research was collaboratively funded by the Russian Ministry for Science and Education project No. FEUG-2023-0002 (image representation) and Russian Science Foundation project No. 24-24-00235 (automated textual description).

Keywords: woody, vegetation, repeated, photographs

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Authors: Weixing Tan

Abstract:

Production of nutraceuticals from microalgae—a virtually untapped natural phyto-based source of which there are 200,000 to 1,000,000 species—offers a sustainable and healthy alternative to conventionally sourced nutraceuticals for the market. Microalgae can be grown organically using only natural sunlight, water and nutrients at an extremely fast rate, e.g. 10-100 times more efficiently than crops or trees. However, the commercial success of microalgae products at scale remains limited largely due to the lack of economically viable technologies. There are two major microalgae production systems or technologies currently available: 1) the open system as represented by open pond technology and 2) the closed system such as photobioreactors (PBR). Each carries its own unique features and challenges. Although an open system requires a lower initial capital investment relative to a PBR, it conveys many unavoidable drawbacks; for example, much lower productivity, difficulty in contamination control/cleaning, inconsistent product quality, inconvenience in automation, restriction in location selection, and unsuitability for cold areas – all directly linked to the system openness and flat underground design. On the other hand, a PBR system has characteristics almost entirely opposite to the open system, such as higher initial capital investment, better productivity, better contamination and environmental control, wider suitability in different climates, ease in automation, higher and consistent product quality, higher energy demand (particularly if using artificial lights), and variable operational expenses if not automated. Although closed systems like PBRs are not highly competitive yet in current nutraceutical supply market, technological advances can be made, in particular for the PBR technology, to narrow the gap significantly. One example is a readily scalable P2P Microalgae PBR Technology at Grande Prairie Regional College, Canada, developed over 11 years considering return on investment (ROI) for key production processes. The P2P PBR system is approaching economic viability at a pre-commercial stage due to five ROI-integrated major components. They include: (1) optimum use of free sunlight through attenuation (patented); (2) simple, economical, and chemical-free harvesting (patent ready to file); (3) optimum pH- and nutrient-balanced culture medium (published), (4) reliable water and nutrient recycling system (trade secret); and (5) low-cost automated system design (trade secret). These innovations have allowed P2P Microalgae Technology to increase daily yield to 106 g/m2/day of Chlorella vulgaris, which contains 50% proteins and 2-3% omega-3. Based on the current market prices and scale-up factors, this P2P PBR system presents as a promising microalgae technology for market competitive nutraceutical supply.

Keywords: microalgae technology, nutraceuticals, open pond, photobioreactor PBR, return on investment ROI, technological advances

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Authors: Hayder H. Kareem, Shunqi Pan

Abstract:

Groundwater is a vital water resource in many areas in the world, particularly in the Middle-East region where the water resources become scarce and depleting. Sustainable management and planning of the groundwater resources become essential and urgent given the impact of the global climate change. In the recent years, numerical models have been widely used to predict the flow pattern and assess the water resources security, as well as the groundwater quality affected by the contaminants transported. In this study, MODFLOW is used to study the current status of groundwater resources and the risk of water resource security in the region centred at Al-Najaf City, which is located in the mid-west of Iraq and adjacent to the Euphrates River. In this study, a conceptual model is built using the geologic and hydrogeologic collected for the region, together with the Digital Elevation Model (DEM) data obtained from the "Global Land Cover Facility" (GLCF) and "United State Geological Survey" (USGS) for the study area. The computer model is also implemented with the distributions of 69 wells in the area with the steady pro-defined hydraulic head along its boundaries. The model is then applied with the recharge rate (from precipitation) of 7.55 mm/year, given from the analysis of the field data in the study area for the period of 1980-2014. The hydraulic conductivity from the measurements at the locations of wells is interpolated for model use. The model is calibrated with the measured hydraulic heads at the locations of 50 of 69 wells in the domain and results show a good agreement. The standard-error-of-estimate (SEE), root-mean-square errors (RMSE), Normalized RMSE and correlation coefficient are 0.297 m, 2.087 m, 6.899% and 0.971 respectively. Sensitivity analysis is also carried out, and it is found that the model is sensitive to recharge, particularly when the rate is greater than (15mm/year). Hydraulic conductivity is found to be another parameter which can affect the results significantly, therefore it requires high quality field data. The results show that there is a general flow pattern from the west to east of the study area, which agrees well with the observations and the gradient of the ground surface. It is found that with the current operational pumping rates of the wells in the area, a dry area is resulted in Al-Najaf City due to the large quantity of groundwater withdrawn. The computed water balance with the current operational pumping quantity shows that the Euphrates River supplies water into the groundwater of approximately 11759 m3/day, instead of gaining water of 11178 m3/day from the groundwater if no pumping from the wells. It is expected that the results obtained from the study can provide important information for the sustainable and effective planning and management of the regional groundwater resources for Al-Najaf City.

Keywords: Al-Najaf city, conceptual modelling, groundwater, unconfined aquifer, visual MODFLOW

Procedia PDF Downloads 177

Authors: Andrew White, Abigail Lowe, Kory Watkins, Hamed Akhlaghi, Nicole Winter

Abstract:

The timing and appropriateness of diagnostic imaging are critical to the evaluation and management of traumatic injuries. Within the subclass of trauma patients, the prevalence of c-spine injury is less than 4%. However, the incidence of delayed diagnosis within this cohort has been documented as up to 20%, with inadequate radiological examination most cited issue. In order to assess those in which c-spine injury cannot be fully excluded based on clinical examination alone and, therefore, should undergo diagnostic imaging, a set of criteria is used to provide clinical guidance. The NEXUS (National Emergency X-Radiography Utilisation Study) criteria is a validated clinical decision-making tool used to facilitate selective c-spine radiography. The criteria allow clinicians to determine whether cervical spine imaging can be safely avoided in appropriate patients. The NEXUS criteria are widely used within the Emergency Department setting given their ease of use and relatively straightforward application and are used in the Victorian State Trauma System’s guidelines. This audit utilized retrospective data collection to examine the concordance of c-spine imaging in trauma patients to that of the NEXUS criteria and assess compliance with state guidance on diagnostic imaging in trauma. Of the 183 patients that presented with trauma to the head, neck, or face (244 excluded due to incorrect triage), 98 did not undergo imaging of the c-spine. Out of those 98, 44% fulfilled at least one of the NEXUS criteria, meaning the c-spine could not be clinically cleared as per the current guidelines. The criterion most met was intoxication, comprising 42% (18 of 43), with midline spinal tenderness (or absence of documentation of this) the second most common with 23% (10 of 43). Intoxication being the most met criteria is significant but not unexpected given the cohort of patients seen at St Vincent’s and within many emergency departments in general. Given these patients will always meet NEXUS criteria, an element of clinical judgment is likely needed, or concurrent use of the Canadian C-Spine Rules to exclude the need for imaging. Midline tenderness as a met criterion was often in the context of poor or absent documentation relating to this, emphasizing the importance of clear and accurate assessments. The distracting injury was identified in 7 out of the 43 patients; however, only one of these patients exhibited a thoracic injury (T11 compression fracture), with the remainder comprising injuries to the extremities – some studies suggest that C-spine imaging may not be required in the evaluable blunt trauma patient despite distracting injuries in any body regions that do not involve the upper chest. This emphasises the need for standardised definitions for distracting injury, at least at a departmental/regional level. The data highlights the currently poor application of the NEXUS guidelines, with likely common themes throughout emergency departments, highlighting the need for further education regarding implementation and potential refinement/clarification of criteria. Of note, there appeared to be no significant differences between levels of experience with respect to inappropriately clearing the c-spine clinically with respect to the guidelines.

Keywords: imaging, guidelines, emergency medicine, audit

Procedia PDF Downloads 51

Authors: Kibret Berhanu Getinet

Abstract:

Off-farm income diversification by farm rural households has gained the attention of researchers and policymakers due to the fact that agriculture failed to meet the needs of people in developing countries like Ethiopia. The objective of this study was to investigate income diversification strategies into off-farm activities among rural households in Hawassa Zuria Woreda, Sidama National Regional State, Ethiopia. The study used primary and secondary data sources for the primary data collection questionnaire employed as a data collection instrument. A multistage sampling technique was used to collect data from a total of 197 sample households from four kebeles of the study area. Descriptive statistics, as well as econometrics methods of data analysis, were employed. The descriptive statistics result indicates that the majority of sample rural households (68.53 %) have engaged in off-farm income diversification activities while the remaining 31.47% of households did not participate in the diversification in the study area. The choice of participants among the strategies indicates that 6.60% of respondents participated in off-farm wage employment, 30.46% participated in off-farm self-employment, and about 31.47% of them participated in both off-farm wage employment. The study revealed that the share of off-farm income in total annual earnings of households was about 48.457%, and thus, the off-farm diversification significantly contributes to the rural household income. Moreover, binary and multinomial logistic regression models were employed to identify factors that affect the participation and the choices of the off-farm income diversification strategies, respectively. The binary logit model result indicated that agro-ecological zone, education status of the households, available technical skills of the household, household saving, total livestock owned by the households, access to electricity, road access and being married of household head were significant and positively affected the chance of diversification in off-farm activities while the on-farm income of households is negatively affected the chance of diversification. Similarly, the multinomial logistic regression model estimate revealed that agroecological zone, on-farm income, available technical skills, household savings, and access to electricity are positively related and significantly influenced the household’s choice of employment into off-farm wage employment. The off-farm self-employment diversification choice is significantly influenced by on-farm income, available technical skills, household savings, total livestock owned, and access to electricity. Moreover, the result showed that the factors that affect the choice of farm households to engage in both off-farm wage and self-employment are ecological zone, education status, on-farm income, available technical skills, household own saving, market access, total livestock owned, access to electricity and road access. Thus, due attention should be given to addressing the demographic, socio-economic, and institutional constraints to strengthen off-farm income diversification strategies to improve the income of rural households.

Keywords: off-farm, incoem, diversification, logit model

Procedia PDF Downloads 23