Search results for: restorative environment

Authors: Najmehossadat Enjoo

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Beautification means all mindfully measurements to improve quality of urban environment which makes the city more suitable for its inhabitants' life. Purpose of beautification is to provide an environment in which all citizens take pleasure. Beautification aims at urban environment's quality improvement. In space among buildings and constructions some supplementary elements are required to furnish urban life; equipment like house furniture makes life possible in a space surrounded with stones, concrete, and glass. Such elements regulate the flow of movement, rest, recreation and stress in a city and exhilarate it. Urban furniture is the common term used for such facilities and capabilities. Nowadays, experience and application of urban elements have proved that to what extent using proper equipment and furniture can positively affect the citizens and users of urban environments.

Keywords: urban servitudes, urban design, urban furniture, visage of city

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Authors: Baoshan Wei, Shuai Han, Xing Zhang

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Local obstacle avoidance is critical for mobile robot navigation. It is a challenging task to ensure path optimality and safety in cluttered environments. We proposed an Environment Aware Dynamic Window Approach in this paper to cope with the issue. The method integrates environment characterization into Dynamic Window Approach (DWA). Two strategies are proposed in order to achieve the integration. The local goal strategy guides the robot to move through openings before approaching the final goal, which solves the local minima problem in DWA. The adaptive control strategy endows the robot to adjust its state according to the environment, which addresses path safety compared with DWA. Besides, the evaluation shows that the path generated from the proposed algorithm is safer and smoother compared with state-of-the-art algorithms.

Keywords: adaptive control, dynamic window approach, environment aware, local obstacle avoidance, mobile robots

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Authors: Seyed Mohammad Nasir Mousavi, Pasha Hejazi, Maryam Ebrahimian Dehkordi

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In order to study the Mutual effect of genotype × environment for the percent of oil index in sunflower items, an experiment was accomplished in form of complete random block designs in four iteration in four diverse researching station comprising Esfahan, Birjand, Sari, and Karaj. Complex variance analysis showed that there is an important diversity between the items under investigation. The results pertaining the coefficient variation of items Azargol and Vidoc has respectively allocated the minimum coefficient of variations. According to the results extrapolated from Shokla stability variance, the Items Brocar, Allison and Fabiola, are among the stable genotypes for oil percent respectively. in the biplot GGE, the location under investigations divided in two super-environment, first one comprised of locations naming Esfahan, Karaj, and Birjand, and second one were such a location as Sari. By this point of view, in the first super-environment, the Item Fabiola and in the second Almanzor item was among the best items and crops.

Keywords: sunflower, stability, GGE bipilot, super-environment

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Authors: Sithandazile Masuku

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Introduction: Public health approaches to offender mental health are driven by international policies and frameworks in response to the disproportionately large representation of people with mental health problems within the offender pathway compared to the general population. Public health service innovations include mental health courts in the US, restorative models in Singapore and, liaison and diversion services in Australia, the UK, and some other European countries. Mental health nurses are at the forefront of offender health service innovations. In the U.K. context, police custody has been identified as an early point within the offender pathway where nurses can improve outcomes by offering assessments and share information with criminal justice partners. This scope of nursing practice has introduced challenges related to skills and support required for nurses working at the interface of health and the criminal justice system. Parallel literature exploring experiences of nurses working in forensic settings suggests the presence of compassion fatigue, burnout and vicarious trauma that may impede risk harm to the nurses in these settings. Published research explores mainly service-level outcomes including monitoring of figures indicative of a reduction in offending behavior. There is minimal research exploring the experiences of liaison and diversion nurses who are situated away from a supportive clinical environment and engaged in complex autonomous decision-making. Aim: This paper will share qualitative findings (in progress) from a PhD study that aims to explore the experiences of liaison and diversion nurses in one service in the U.K. Methodology: This is a qualitative interview study conducted using an Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis to gain an in-depth analysis of lived experiences. Methods: A purposive sampling technique was used to recruit n=8 mental health nurses registered with the UK professional body, Nursing and Midwifery Council, from one UK Liaison and Diversion service. All participants were interviewed online via video call using semi-structured interview topic guide. Data were recorded and transcribed verbatim. Data were analysed using the seven steps of the Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis data analysis method. Emerging Findings Analysis to date has identified pertinent themes: • Difficulties of meaning-making for nurses because of the complexity of their boundary spanning role. • Emotional burden experienced in a highly emotive and fast-changing environment. • Stress and difficulties with role identity impacting on individual nurses’ ability to be resilient. • Challenges to wellbeing related to a sense of isolation when making complex decisions. Conclusion Emerging findings have highlighted the lived experiences of nurses working in liaison and diversion as challenging. The nature of the custody environment has an impact on role identity and decision making. Nurses left feeling isolated and unsupported are less resilient and may go on to experience compassion fatigue. The findings from this study thus far point to a need to connect nurses working in these boundary spanning roles with a supportive infrastructure where the complexity of their role is acknowledged, and they can be connected with a health agenda. In doing this, the nurses would be protected from harm and the likelihood of sustained positive outcomes for service users is optimised.

Keywords: liaison and diversion, nurse experiences, offender health, staff wellbeing

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Authors: Michael Gidey Gebru

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Most DEA models operate in a static environment with input and output parameters that are chosen by deterministic data. However, due to ambiguity brought on shifting market conditions, input and output data are not always precisely gathered in real-world scenarios. Fuzzy numbers can be used to address this kind of ambiguity in input and output data. Therefore, this work aims to expand crisp DEA into DEA with fuzzy environment. In this study, the input and output data are regarded as fuzzy triangular numbers. Then, the DEA model with fuzzy environment is solved using a multi-objective method to gauge the Decision Making Units’ efficiency. Finally, the developed DEA model is illustrated with an application on real data 50 educational institutions.

Keywords: efficiency, DEA, fuzzy, decision making units, higher education institutions

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Authors: Nivedita Roy, Aparajita Chattopadhyay

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Gender discrimination is already one of the major factors why India is still in the list of the 3rd World Countries, but, when it comes to gender inclusion in the environmental arena, this umbrella concept is quite unheard of by our countrymen. The main objective was to assess gender equality for the environment through calculating Environment and Gender Index on a country level, India, in this case. 22 states out of 29 were considered for calculation. Also, out of the 72 countries chosen by IUCN to calculate EGI, the lower middle income group of countries was chosen to assess the position of India, also a lower middle income group country, among them. Linear Regression is executed through SPSS and simple graphs and tables are prepared through MS-EXCEL for analysis. India portrays good governance, reporting activities well to the UN but in terms of basic livelihood and gender equality, the performance is comparatively weak.

Keywords: environment, gender, livelihood, rights, participation, development, conservation

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Authors: Amao Funmilayo Lanrewaju, T. Ogunlade

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The paper examines the causes and characteristics of informal settlements and outdoor advertisement in the evaluation of quality of environment. The paper identifies the problems that have aided informal settlements to: Urbanization, poverty, growth of informal sector, non-affordability of land and housing shortage. The paper asserts that the informal settlements have serious adverse effects on the people’s health, their built environment and quality of life. The secondary data was obtained from books, journals and seminar papers. The paper argues that, although the urban upgrading possesses great potential for improving quality of built environment in informal settlements, there is a need to repackage the upgrading exercise so that majority can benefit from it. It is necessary to incorporate community participation into the urban upgrading in order to assist the very poor that cannot take care of their housing consumption needs. Therefore, government is encouraged to see informal settlements as a solution to new city planning rather than problem to the urban areas. This paper suggests the implementation of policies and planning, physical infrastructural development, social economic improvement, environment and health improvement. Government, private and communities interventions on informal settlements are required in order to prevent further decay for sustainable development.

Keywords: quality of environment, informal settlements, urban upgrading, outdoor advertisement

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Authors: Rania Abdulkareem Aboubakr Mahdaly Ammar

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The aortic valve (AV) is a complex mechanical environment that includes flexure, tension, pressure and shear stress forces to blood flow during cardiac cycle. This mechanical environment regulates AV tissue structure by constantly renewing and remodeling the phenotype. In vitro, ex vivo and in vivo studies have explained that pathological states such as hypertension and congenital defects like bicuspid AV ( BAV ) can potentially alter the AV’s mechanical environment, triggering a cascade of remodeling, inflammation and calcification activities in AV tissue. Changes in mechanical environments are first sent by the endothelium that induces changes in the extracellular matrix, and triggers cell differentiation and activation. However, the molecular mechanism of this process is not very well understood. Understanding these mechanisms is critical for the development of effective medical based therapies. Recently, there have been some interesting studies on characterizing the hemodynamics associated with AV, especially in pathologies like BAV, using different experimental and numerical methods. Here, we review the current knowledge of the local AV mechanical environment and its effect on valve biology, focusing on in vitro and ex vivo approaches.

Keywords: aortic valve mechanobiology, bicuspid calcification, pressure stretch, shear stress

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Authors: Mayur Chaudhari, Ashutosh Gaikwad, Shubham Kavathale, Aditya Mule, Dilip Panchal, Puja Verma

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The purpose of this investigation was to locate restorative bio-materials for the manufacture of implants and crowns. A three-dimensional (3D) finite element analysis (FEA) was carried out to evaluate the stress distribution in the implant and abutment with several types of bio-materials and various prosthetic crowns. While the dental implant, abutment, and screw were subjected to a vertical impact force, the effects of mechanical characteristics such as Young's modulus and Poisson's ratio were evaluated and contrasted. Crowns are made from zirconia, cobalt, ceramic, acrylic resin, and porcelain materials. Implants are made from materials such as titanium, zirconia, PEEK, and CFR-PEEK. SolidWorks was used to create the 3D geometry, and Ansys Software was used to analyze it. The results show that using CFR-PEEK implants and an acrylic resin crown resulted in less bone stress than using alternative materials. In order to reduce the amount of stress on the bone and possibly prevent implant failure, the study's findings support the use of a CFR PEEK implant, abutment, and crown in bruxism patients.

Keywords: biomaterials, implant, crown, abutment

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Authors: Pavan Shah

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In an Embedded system, Virtualization and visualization technology can provide us an effective response and measurable work in a software development environment. In addition to work of virtualization and virtualization can be easily deserved to provide the best resource sharing between real-time hardware applications and a healthy environment. However, the virtualization is noticeable work to minimize the I/O work and utilize virtualization & virtualization technology for either a software development environment (SDE) or a runtime environment of real-time embedded systems (RTMES) or real-time operating system (RTOS) eras. In this Paper, we particularly focus on virtualization and visualization overheads data of network which generates the I/O and implementation of standardized I/O (i.e., Virto), which can work as front-end network driver in a real-time operating system (RTOS) hardware module. Even there have been several work studies are available based on the virtualization operating system environment, but for the Virto on a general-purpose OS, my implementation is on the open-source Virto for a real-time operating system (RTOS). In this paper, the measurement results show that implementation which can improve the bandwidth and latency of memory management of the real-time operating system environment (RTMES) for getting more accuracy of the trained model.

Keywords: virtualization, visualization, network driver, operating system

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Authors: Mabel Ortiz, Claudio Díaz

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This paper explores Chilean pre-service teachers' perceptions about the provision of corrective feedback in a wiki environment during the collaborative writing of an argumentative essay. After conducting a semi-structured interview on 22 participants, the data were processed through the content analysis technique. The results show that students have positive perceptions about corrective feedback, provided through a wiki virtual environment, which in turn facilitates feedback provision and impacts language learning effectively. Some of the positive perceptions about virtual feedback refer to permanent access, efficiency, simultaneous revision and immediacy. It would then be advisable to integrate wiki-based feedback as a methodology for the language classroom and collaborative writing tasks.

Keywords: argumentative essay, focused corrective feedback, perception, wiki environment

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Authors: Imad M. Assali

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Recently, the world main problem is a global warming and climate change affecting both outdoor and indoor environments, especially the air quality (AQ) as a result of vast migration of people from rural areas to urban areas. Therefore, cities became more crowded and denser from an irregular population increase, along with increasing urbanization caused many problems for the environment such as increasing the land prices, changes in life style, and the new buildings are not adapted to the climate producing uncomfortable and unhealthy indoor building conditions. As interior environments are the places that create the most intimate relationship with the user. Consequently, the indoor environment quality (IEQ) for buildings became uncomfortable and unhealthy for its occupants. The symptoms commonly associated with poor indoor environment such as itchy, headache, fatigue, and respiratory complaints such as cough and congestion, etc. The symptoms tend to improve over time or even disappear when people are away from the building. Therefore, designing a healthy indoor environment to fulfill human needs is the main concern for architects and interior designer. However, this research explores how occupant expectations and environmental attitudes may influence occupant health and satisfaction within the context of the indoor environment. In doing so, it reviews and contributes to the methods and tools used to evaluate only the indoor environment quality (IEQ) components of building performance. Its main aim is to review the literature on indoor human comfort. This is followed by a review of previous papers published related to human comfort. Finally, this paper will provide possible approaches in design level of healthy buildings.

Keywords: sustainable building, indoor environment quality (IEQ), occupant's health, active system, sick building syndrome (SBS)

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Authors: Tayyab Ahmad, Gerard Healey

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The potential role of higher education institutes in sustainable development cannot be undermined. In this regard, it is important to investigate the established concept of sustainability in such institutes to explore the room for further improvement. In this paper, a case study of the University of Melbourne is conducted, and the institute’s commitments towards sustainability are examined by a detailed qualitative review of its policy and design standard documents. These documents are reviewed as through these; the institute portrays its vision of building environment facilities, which it aspires to procure and use. From detailed review, it is realized that these documents are updated at different times, creating the potential for mismatch between them. The occurrence of different goals and objectives in different documents is highlighted, and the interrelationships between different goals and operational objectives are explored. The role of the university aspired goals/objectives in terms of built environment sustainability is discussed, and the gaps in the articulation of goals and operational objectives are highlighted. Recommendations are provided for enhancing the built environment sustainability at the University of Melbourne.

Keywords: university, design standards, policy, sustainability, built environment

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Authors: Zhao Haoyue

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Due to the combined effects of climate change, urban expansion, and population growth, various environmental issues, such as urban heat islands and pollution, arise. Therefore, reliable information on urban environmental climate is needed to address and mitigate the negative effects. The emergence of urban climate maps provides a practical basis for urban climate regulation and improvement. This article takes Shapingba District, Chongqing City, as an example to study the construction method of urban thermal environment climate maps based on GIS spatial analysis technology. The thermal load, ventilation potential analysis map, and thermal environment comprehensive analysis map were obtained. Based on the classification criteria obtained from the climate map, corresponding protection and planning mitigation measures have been proposed.

Keywords: urban climate, GIS, heat island analysis, urban thermal environment

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Authors: Tripureshwari Paul

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We are born with nature molded by nurture. Studies have confirmed the productive role of genes and environment on an individual. This study examines the relationship of parental genotype values on the intellectual ability of their children. Keeping in mind that academic achievement-learning capacity of student through normative education, a function of exposure to family environment and pathology with intellectual quotient of the individual. Purposive sampling was used and children between ages 11 and 12 years and their respective parents were involved. Raven’s Standard Progressive Matrices (RSPM), Family Pathology Scale (FPS) and Family Environment Scale (FES) were administered. The results found significant relationship of Offspring IQ to Parental IQ, maternal IQ demonstrating higher values of correlation. Female IQ was significant to maternal IQ and male IQ was significant to paternal IQ. With Academic Achievement not significantly correlated to IQ, it was determined that Competitive framework, freedom to expression and Recreational Orientation in family affect a child’s intellectual performance.

Keywords: academic achievement, environment, family environment, family pathology, genotype, intelligence quotient, maternal IQ, paternal IQ

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Authors: Firdaus Khairi Abdul Kadir, Nazihah Rusli, Noor Aisyah Abdul Aziz

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Islam is a comprehensive religion encompassing all aspects of society’s life such as social, economic, political, cultural and environmental. The environment is part of the manifestation of God’s greatness which has pearls of wisdom, bestowed upon human beings to make them realize that everything is in the hands of God (Allah SWT). However, the equilibrium of nature could be disturbed from the excessive exploitation by humans’ hands. As a caliph on this earth, it is the responsibility of human beings to look after the environment proactively. Besides, Islam calls for the execution of accountable development and respecting the principles of sustainability. Therefore, this study focuses on the role of human beings as caliphs on this earth who are responsible for nature and their acts in conserving and preserving the environment based on the approach of religious education. This study also used the research method of the survey library.

Keywords: environment, human beings, caliph, tauhid, Allah SWT

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Authors: Sri Ratna Rahayu, Oktia Woro Kasmini Handayani, Lourensiana Y. S. Ngaga, Imade Sudana, Irwan Budiono

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Malaria is an infectious disease that still cannot be solved in Kori village, West Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia, where the most of people live in rumah panggung (Stilts House). The purpose of this study was to know whether there were the effects of rumah panggung environment, social culture, and behavior on malaria incidence in the Kori village. A cross-sectional study was performed to explore the effects of rumah panggung environment, social culture and behavior on malaria incidence. This study recruited 280 respondents, who live in the rumah panggung, permanent residents in Kori village, were age above 17 years old, and suffered from malaria in the past year. The collected data were analyzed with path analysis. The results of this study showed that the environment of rumah panggung and behavior have a direct effect on the incidence of malaria (p < 0.05). It could be concluded that improvement of environmental conditions of rumah panggung, sociocultural, and behavioral changes to maintain a healthy environment are needed to reduce the malaria incidence.

Keywords: Rumah panggung, socio-cultural, behavior, Malaria

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Authors: Xuechen Gui, Jian Ge, Senmiao Li

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In recent years, green buildings in China have been developing rapidly and have developed into a wide variety of types, of which office building is a very important part. In many green office buildings, the energy consumption of building operation is high; the indoor environment quality needs to be improved, and the level of occupants’ satisfaction is low. This paper conducted a one-year measurement of operational performance of a green office building in Zhejiang Province. The measurement includes energy consumption of the building's one-year operation, the quality of the indoor environment and occupants’ satisfaction in different seasons. The energy consumption is collected from the power bureau. The quality of the indoor environment have been measured at different measuring points including offices, meeting rooms and reception for the whole year. The satisfaction of occupants are obtained from questionnaires. The results are compared with given standards and goals and the reasons why occupants are dissatisfied with the indoor environment are analyzed. Regarding energy consumption, the energy consumption of the building operational performance is much higher than the standard. Regarding the indoor environment, the temperature and humidity meet the standard for most of the time, but fine particulate matter (PM2.5) concentration is pretty high. Regarding occupants satisfaction, occupants have a higher expectation for indoor air quality even when the indoor air quality is well and occupants prefer a relatively humid environment. However the overall satisfaction is more than 80%, which indicates that occupants have a higher tolerability.

Keywords: green office building, energy consumption, indoor environment quality, occupants satisfaction, operational performance

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Authors: Aliyu Mohammed Lawal

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The problems placed on the environment as a result of energy generation and usage in Nigeria is: potential damage to the environment health by CO, CO2, SOx, and NOx, effluent gas emissions and global warming. For instance in the year 2004 in Nigeria energy consumption was 58% oil and 34% natural gas but about 94 million metric tons of CO2 was emitted out of which 64% came from fossil fuels while about 35% came from fuel wood. The findings from this research on how to alleviate these problems are that long term sustainable development solutions should be enhanced globally; energy should be used more rationally renewable energy resources should be exploited and the existing emissions should be controlled to tolerate limits because the increase in energy demand in Nigeria places enormous strain on current energy facilities.

Keywords: effluent gas, emissions, NOx, SOx

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Authors: Ruoyu Mao

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The fast-paced and high-stress lifestyle of modern cities is an important cause of mental health problems and chronic physical diseases, and at the same time, all kinds of health problems will react to physical and mental stress, further aggravating the health risks; therefore, stress adjustment should be considered as an important perspective of the spatial environment to intervene in the health of the population. The purpose of this paper is to analyse the structural and therapeutic characteristics of the built environment of urban parks, to analyse the path of its effect on the stress adjustment of the population, and to summarise the mechanism of the built environment of urban parks to intervene in the health of the population from the perspective of stress adjustment.

Keywords: stress adjustment, health interventions, urban parks, built environments

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Authors: Dimitar Karastoyanov, Todor Penchev

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The paper presents the research of a kind of autonomous mobile robots, intended for work and adaptive perception in unknown and unstructured environment. The objective are robots, dedicated for multi-sensory environment perception and exploration, like measurements and samples taking, discovering and putting a mark on the objects as well as environment interactions–transportation, carrying in and out of equipment and objects. At that ground classification of the different types mobile robots in accordance with the way of locomotion (wheel- or chain-driven, walking, etc.), used drive mechanisms, kind of sensors, end effectors, area of application, etc. is made. Modular system for the mechanical construction of the mobile robots is proposed. Special PLC on the base of AtMega128 processor for robot control is developed. Electronic modules for the wireless communication on the base of Jennic processor as well as the specific software are developed. The methods, means and algorithms for adaptive environment behaviour and tasks realization are examined. The methods of group control of mobile robots and for suspicious objects detecting and handling are discussed too.

Keywords: mobile robots, wireless communications, environment investigations, group control, suspicious objects

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Authors: T. Pastraporn, J. Panida, P. Gasamapong, N. Jintana

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The study of inclusive educational environment of exceptional and normal children at the regional centre for special education aimed to establish guidelines for creating an environment for inclusive education. Buildings utilization of thirty-five elementary schools providing inclusive educational program in Bangkok were analyzed to study the following aspects: 1) The environment of exceptional and normal students’ inclusive classes at the regional centre for special education 2) The patterns of the environment suited to the exceptional and normal students’ inclusive classes 3) Environmental management policies for the inclusive classes of exceptional and normal students. Information was gathered from surveys, observations, questionnaires, document analysis, interviews, and non-experimental research. The findings showed that the usable spaces in school buildings were designated to enhance the three kinds of social learning experience: 1) Support class control 2) Help developing students’ personality consisting of physical, verbal and emotional expressions that are socially accepted 3) Recognition and learning, which are needed for the increasing of learning experience, were caused by having an interaction with the environment. Thus, the school buildings’ space designation positively affected the environmental management of exceptional and normal students’ inclusive classes.

Keywords: learning environment, inclusive education, school buildings, exceptional and normal children

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Authors: N. Tabatadze

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The research aim is to study the physical and mechanical characteristics of hydraulic concrete in the surface active environment. The specific goal is to obtain high strength and low deformable concrete based on nano additives, resistant to the aggressive environment. As result of research, the alkali-silica reaction was improved (relative elongation 0,122 % of admixture instead of 0,126 % of basic concrete after 14 days). The aggressive environment impact on the strength of heavy concrete, fabricated on the basis of the hydraulic admixture with the penetrating waterproof additives also was improved (strength on compression R28=47,5 mPa of admixture instead of R28=35,8 mPa). Moreover, water absorption (W=0,59 % of admixture instead of W=1,41 %), water tightness (R14=37,9 mPa instead R14=28,7 mPa) and water-resistance (B=18 instead B=12). The basic parameters of concrete with admixture was improved in comparison with basic concrete.

Keywords: hydraulic concrete, alkali-silica reaction, water absorption, water-resistance

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Authors: Bacha Zakaria

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This study aimed to investigate the reality of humane treatment and work environment problems for nurses in public hospitals and their repercussions on the patients arriving there. In this curve, our field study was based on a sample of nurses in Algiers hospitals estimated at 100 nurses. The questionnaire prepared by the two researchers was applied face to face with the nurses, and after obtaining and analyzing the data, we concluded the most important results: The presence of many problems in the work environment, such as work pressures, lack of appreciation, verbal and physical violence, risk of infection, poor salary and incentives, working during fatigue, administrative problems etc. And accordingly, The embodiment of humane dealing with patients requires providing a humane work environment for nurses and dealing with them humanely so that they embody positive behaviors while dealing with patients.

Keywords: nursing, future, family-focused care, health equity

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Authors: Jiangping Wang

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This presentation describes the design and implementation of PaaS (platform as a service) cloud-based labs that are used in database-related courses to teach students practical skills. Traditionally, all labs are implemented in a desktop-based environment where students have to install heavy client software to access database servers. In order to release students from that burden, we have successfully deployed the cloud-based solution to support database-related courses, from which students and teachers can practice and learn database topics in various database courses via cloud access. With its development environment, execution runtime, web server, database server, and collaboration capability, it offers a shared pool of configurable computing resources and comprehensive environment that supports students’ needs without the complexity of maintaining the infrastructure.

Keywords: PaaS, database environment, e-learning, web server

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Authors: Adedayo Jeremiah Adeyekun, Samuel Oluwagbemiga Ishola

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This paper aimed to identify the significance of sustainability in the built environment, the economic and environmental importance to building and construction projects. Sustainability in the built environment has been a key objective of research over the past several decades. Sustainability in the built environment requires reconciliation between economic, environmental and social impacts of design and planning decisions made during the life cycle of a project from inception to termination. Planning for sustainability in the built environment needs us to go beyond our individual disciplines to consider the variety of economic, social and environmental impacts of our decisions in the long term. A decision to build a green residential development in an isolated location may pass some of the test of sustainability through its reduction in stormwater runoff, energy efficiency, and ecological sustainability in the building, but it may fail to be sustainable from a transportation perspective. Sustainability is important to the planning, design, construction, and preservation of the built environment; because it helps these activities reflect multiple values and considerations. In fact, the arts and sciences of the built environment have traditionally integrated values and fostered creative expression, capabilities that can and should lead the sustainability movement as society seeks ways to live in dynamic balance with its own diverse needs and the natural world. This research aimed to capture the state-of-the-art in the development of innovative sustainable design and planning strategies for building and construction projects. Therefore, there is a need for a holistic selection and implication approach for identifying potential sustainable strategies applicable to a particular project and evaluating the overall life cycle impact of each alternative by accounting for different applicable impacts and making the final selection among various viable alternatives.

Keywords: sustainability, built environment, planning, design, construction

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Authors: Muhammad Yasir Babar, Ebrahim Panah

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Over the past 20 years, internet has seen continual advancement and with the advent of online technology, various types of web-based games have been developed. Games are frequently being used among different age groups from baby boomers to generation Z. Games are not only used for entertainment but also utilized as a learning approach transmitting education to a level that is more interesting and effective for students. One of the popular web-based education games is Kahoot with growing popularity and usage, which is being used in different fields of studies. However, little knowledge is available on university students’ perception of Kahoot environment and application for learning subjects. Hence, the objective of the current study is to investigate students’ perceptions of Kahoot application and environment as a learning tool. The study employed a survey approach by distributing Google Forms –created questionnaire, with high level of reliability index, to 62 students (11 males and 51 females). The findings show that students have positive attitudes towards Kahoot application and its environment for learning. Regarding Kahoot application, it was indicated that activities created using Kahoot are more interesting for students, Kahoot is useful for collaborative learning, and Kahoot enhances interest in learning lesson. In terms of Kahoot environment, it was found that using this application through mobile is easy for students, its design is simple and useful, Kahoot-created activities can easily be shared, and the application can easily be used on any platform. The findings of the study have implications for instructors, policymakers and curriculum developers.

Keywords: application, environment, Kahoot, learning tool

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Authors: Cory Cannon

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In the current era of shrinking budgets, increasing amounts of worldwide natural disasters, state and non-state initiated conflicts within the world. The response has involved multinational coalitions to conduct effective military operations. The need for a Knowledge Management strategy when developing these coalitions have been overlooked in the past and the need for developing these accords early on will save time and help shape the way information and knowledge are transferred from the staff and action officers of the coalition to the decision-makers in order to make timely decisions within an ever changing environment. The aim of this paper is to show how Knowledge Management has developed within the United States military and how the transformation of working within a Combined/ Joint environment in both the Middle East and the Far East has improved relations between members of the coalitions as well as being more effective as a military force. These same principles could be applied to multinational corporations when dealing with cultures and decision-making processes.

Keywords: civil-military, culture, joint environment, knowledge management

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Authors: Aaron Walayat

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Protection of the environment in international law has been one of the most developed in the context of international humanitarian law. This paper examines the history of the protection of the environment in times of armed conflict, beginning with the traditional notion of restraint observed in antiquity towards the obligation to protect the environment, examining the treaties and agreements, both binding and non-binding which have contributed to environmental protection in war. The paper begins with a discussion of the ancient concept of restraint. This section examines the social norms in favor of protection of the environment as observed in the Bible, Greco-Roman mythology, and even more contemporary literature. The study of the traditional rejection of total war establishes the social foundation on which the current legal regime has stemmed. The paper then studies the principle of restraint as codified in international humanitarian law. It mainly examines Additional Protocol I of the Geneva Convention of 1949 and existing international law concerning civilian objects and the principles of international humanitarian law in the classification between civilian objects and military objectives. The paper then explores the environment’s classification as both a military objective and as a civilian object as well as explores arguments in favor of the classification of the whole environment as a civilian object. The paper will then discuss the current legal regime surrounding the protection of the environment, discussing some declarations and conventions including the 1868 Declaration of St. Petersburg, the 1907 Hague Convention No. IV, the Geneva Conventions, and the 1976 Environmental Modification Convention. The paper concludes with the outline noting the movement from codification of the principles of restraint into the various treaties, agreements, and declarations of the current regime of international humanitarian law. This paper provides an analysis of the history and significance of the relationship between international humanitarian law as a major contributor to the growing field of international environmental law.

Keywords: armed conflict, environment, legal regime, restraint

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Authors: Christiena Van Der Bank, Marjone Van Der Bank, Ronelle Prinsloo

Abstract:

The constitutional right to a healthy environment and the constitutional duty imposed on the state actively to protect the environment fulfill the specific duties to prevent pollution and ecological degradation and to promote conservation. The aim of this paper is to draw attention to the relationship between child rights and the environment. The focus is to analyse government’s responses as mandated with section 24 of the Bill of Rights for ensuring the right to a clean and healthy environment. The principle of sustainability of the environment encompasses the notion of equity and the harm to the environment affects the present as well as future generations. Section 24 obliges the state to ensure that the legacy of future generations is protected, an obligation that has been said to be part of the common law. The environment is an elusive and wide concept that can mean different things to different people depending on the context in which it is used for example clean drinking water or safe food. An extensive interpretation of the term environment would include almost everything that may positively or negatively influence the quality of human life. The analysis will include assessing policy measures, legislation, budgetary measures and other measures taken by the government in order to progressively meet its constitutional obligation. The opportunity of the child to grow up in a healthy and safe environment is extremely unjustly distributed. Without a realignment of political, legal and economic conditions this situation will not fundamentally change. South Africa as a developing country that needs to meet the demand of social transformation and economic growth whilst at the same time expediting its ability to compete in global markets, the country will inevitably embark on developmental programmes as a measure for sustainable development. The courts would have to inquire into the reasonableness of those measures. Environmental threats to children’s rights must be identified, taking into account children’s specific needs and vulnerabilities, their dependence and marginalisation. Obligations of states and violations of rights must be made more visible to the general public.

Keywords: environment, children rights, pollution, healthy, violation

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