scholarly journals SENSORS TO QUANTIFY COASTAL SCHEME FLOOD RESISTANCE AND RESILIENCE

2020 ◽  
pp. 3
Author(s):  
Jenny Brown ◽  
Margaret Yelland ◽  
Rebecca Morris ◽  
Beth Strain
Keyword(s):  
Field Data ◽  
Cost Benefit ◽  
Mangrove Forests ◽  
Hazard Management ◽  
Sea Levels ◽  
Flood Resistance ◽  
Coastal Resilience ◽  
Rising Sea Levels ◽  
The Cost ◽  
The Impact

In England about 5 million properties are at risk of flooding. Socio-economic growth, rising sea levels and extreme weather will exacerbate this issue in the next 100 years. Building coastal resilience is vital worldwide to save people from the impact of flooding and the costs of damage and insurance. In Australia the use of mussel reefs and mangrove forests combined with man-made structures are being trialed to see how well they protect shorelines. Ways to measure the evolving effectiveness of nature-based hazard management are now required to determine the cost-benefit over various management epochs. Using capacitance-wire technology we have developed innovative systems to measure the required field data: overtopping, wave, water level and inundation conditions at the land-sea interface.Recorded Presentation from the vICCE (YouTube Link): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9IpZpOPW3I&feature=youtu.be

scholarly journals Cost efficient internet of things based smart farm system for rural farmers: Leveraging design thinking approach

2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 111-120
Author(s):  
Segun Adebayo ◽  
Ozichi Emuoyibofarhe ◽  
Tolulope Awofolaju
Keyword(s):  
Design Thinking ◽  
Agricultural Sector ◽  
Cost Benefit ◽  
Design Development ◽  
Impact Performance ◽  
Farm Productivity ◽  
Cost Benefit Ratio ◽  
Cost Efficient ◽  
The Cost ◽  
The Impact

Farmers are faced with challenges of producing enough food and the use of traditional methods seems not to keep pace with the ever-growing demand of the populace thus creating increased concern in food scarcity. Although it has been identified that smart tools will enhance the production pace needed in the Agricultural sector, unfortunately, most of these tools are designed for farmers without their inputs, thus creating tools that are not meeting demands. This study focused on a farmer-centered design, development, and deployment approach to improving farm productivity. The design thinking approach was used to identify the specific need of the farmers in selected areas, ideas were created using brainstorming sessions involving experts in the field, and prototypes were developed and deployed to evaluate the impact performance. The result shows that the proposed system improved the cost-benefit ratio of crop farming from 2.14 to 2.26. This is a 12% productivity increase.

The Impact of Climate Change in the Modern Enterprise

2011 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 26-35 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anastasios Danos ◽  
Konstantina Boulouta
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Critical Infrastructure ◽  
Extreme Weather Events ◽  
Sea Levels ◽  
Weather Patterns ◽  
Changing Climate ◽  
Modern Enterprise ◽  
The World ◽  
Rising Sea Levels ◽  
The Impact

This article analyses the profound and rapid climate changes that have taken place worldwide in the past two decades and their effects on modern enterprise. Reducing greenhouse gas emissions and developing strategies to adapt to and counterbalance future impacts of climate change sustainably are among the most pressing needs of the world today. Global temperatures are predicted to continue rising, bringing changes in weather patterns, rising sea levels, and increased frequency and intensity of extreme weather events. Such climatic events can have a major impact on households, businesses, critical infrastructure and vulnerable sections of society, as well as having a major economic impact. Therefore, society must prepare to cope with living in a changing climate. The effects of a changing climate have considerable impacts on modern enterprises. In some parts of the world, these impacts are increasingly becoming evident.

scholarly journals Firms Political Connections and Winning Government Contracts

2016 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 19 ◽  
Author(s):  
Saidatou Dicko
Keyword(s):  
Cost Benefit ◽  
Political Connections ◽  
Government Contracts ◽  
Competitive Advantages ◽  
Governmental Organizations ◽  
Canadian Context ◽  
Cost Benefit Ratio ◽  
Corporate Actions ◽  
The Cost ◽  
The Impact

<p>This study investigates the impact of political connections on the awarding of government contracts to Canadian companies.<strong> </strong>Two-stage least squares (2SLS) analyses were performed on a sample of S&amp;P/TSX companies from 2010 to 2014 inclusively.<strong> </strong>The results show that political connections are positively and significantly associated with the winning of government contracts. Politically connected firms obtain more government contracts and higher contract values than non-connected firms. Political connections thus appear to be directly associated with securing government contracts in the Canadian context. Firms can view political connections as a non-market, long-term strategy to help them gain competitive advantages and improve their performance. Accordingly, they tend to appoint directors and managers taking these connections and the advantages that can be gained into account. However, they must seriously consider the cost-benefit ratio of this strategy. For example, the costs incurred could be ethical in nature and firms could find themselves in a position of conflict of interest that could lead to extensive negative media exposure.<strong> </strong>These results alert regulatory and governmental organizations to the need for them to remain vigilant and to strengthen corporate governance regulations to prevent the excesses and abuses that could arise from firms’ political actions.<strong> </strong>Our study is the first to demonstrate a direct relationship between corporate political connections and government contracts in the Canadian context. The results confirm the growing interdependence between politics and business, particularly the increase in the number of corporate actions intended to influence government decisions.</p>

scholarly journals Climate Adaptation Plans in the Context of Coastal Settlements: The Case of Portugal

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (20) ◽  
pp. 8559
Author(s):  
Francesca Dal Cin ◽  
Martin Fleischmann ◽  
Ombretta Romice ◽  
João Pedro Costa
Keyword(s):  
Urban Areas ◽  
Essential Role ◽  
Climate Adaptation ◽  
Coastal Planning ◽  
Sea Levels ◽  
Response Plan ◽  
Rising Sea Levels ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Relationship

The impact of sea-level rise on coastal towns is expected to be a major challenge, with millions of people exposed. The climate-induced risk assessment of coastal areas subject to flooding plays an essential role in planning effective measures for adaptation plans. However, in European legislation, as well as in the regional plans adopted by the member states, there is no clear reference to urban settlement, as this concept is variable and difficult to categorise from the policy perspective. This lack of knowledge makes it complicated to implement efficient adaptation plans. This research examines the presence of the issue in Portugal’s coastal settlements, the European coastal area most vulnerable to rising sea levels, using the case of seashore streets as the most exposed waterfront public urban areas. Using the morphometric classification of the urban fabric, we analyse the relationship between urban typology and legislative macro-areas aimed at providing integrated adaptation plans. The study suggests that there is only a minimal relationship between the proposed classification and the geographical zones currently identified in coastal planning policies. Such incongruence suggests the need for change, as the policy should be able to provide a response plan tailored to the specificities of urban areas.

scholarly journals Student Perceptions of a Trial of Electronic Text Matching Software: A Preliminary Investigation

2005 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 31-43
Author(s):  
D. Green ◽  
◽  
I. Lindemann ◽  
K. Marshall ◽  
G. Wilkinson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Student Perceptions ◽  
Preliminary Investigation ◽  
Cost Benefit ◽  
Perceived Usefulness ◽  
Detection Methods ◽  
Potential Benefits ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
The Cost ◽  
The University ◽  
The Impact

It is accepted that using electronic detection methods has benefits within an overall strategy to promote academic integrity in an institution. Little attention has been paid to obtaining student perceptions to evaluate the cost/benefit of using such methods. This study reports on the evaluation of a trial of Turnitin software. 728 students responded to a survey about their thoughts on plagiarism and being involved in the trial. This study found that students were generally unsure about the benefits and whether the university should use the software. In particular, two groups of students showed significant differences to the rest of the students sampled. While Non English Speaking Background (NESB) students reported higher levels of perceived usefulness of the software, they also reported higher levels of anxiety about the impact on them. Law students reported lower levels of perceived usefulness of the software and higher levels of concern and mistrust. The impact of such perceptions on the learning environment needs to be investigated. Special attention may be needed in introducing such software to different groups of students in order to limit possible deleterious effects and enhance potential benefits.

scholarly journals Ecoutopia from Fiction to Fact: An Interview with Heather Alberro

2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 44-47
Author(s):  
Heather Alberro
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
New York ◽  
Human Being ◽  
Sea Levels ◽  
Stephen Hawking ◽  
Ecological Consideration ◽  
History Of ◽  
Rising Sea Levels ◽  
Paris Climate Agreement ◽  
The Impact

Human is at the heart of the story of climate change in the Anthropocene where, according to Dipesh Chakrabarty (2012), human behaviors have influenced the environment and created a distinct geological epoch. Current climate change issues are largely human induced. This implies that the human species is now part of the natural history of the planet.  In November 2016, Stephen Hawking warned that humanity has 1000 years to leave the earth due to climate change, but in his most recent BBC documentary aired on June 15, 2017 called Expedition New Earth, he suggested humans have just 100 years left before doomsday. In spite of such warnings and writings, Donald Trump withdrew America from the Paris Climate Agreement on June 2017, on the same day, satellite images showed that a huge mass of ice in an area of ​​five thousand square kilometres was breaking away from the Antarctic continent under the impact of rising temperature. It seems that Trump’s act is beyond ecological consideration as he believes the agreement could “cost America as much as 2.7 million lost jobs by 2025”. Projections of climate change, however, have shown horrible scenarios involving a central economic metropolis such as New York losing much of its lands because of rising sea levels. The inhabitants of such areas will have to uproot their communities and cultures to move to less vulnerable lands. Thus, it is important to examine how ecoutopian literature is responding to the conditions of the human being in this epoch. In the following interview, Heather Alberro has answered to some questions on climate change, the conditions of human being in the Anthropocene, and the role of literature and culture in relation to environmental issues.

scholarly journals The Impact of Climate Change on Cultural Security

2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 1-27
Author(s):  
Dominika Krupocin ◽  
Jesse Krupocin
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Global Scale ◽  
Human Migration ◽  
National Language ◽  
Extreme Weather Events ◽  
Sea Levels ◽  
Regional Conflicts ◽  
Rising Sea Levels ◽  
Cultural Reality ◽  
The Impact

Climate change is one of the greatest challenges and most pressing issues faced by humanity in the modern era. Extreme weather events, changes to world ecosystems, species extinction, disruption of animal and human migration, resource shortages, socio-economic concerns, outbreaks and pandemics, as well as domestic and international conflicts represent only a few select potential climate change consequences. Regrettably, when considering the issues pertinent to climate change, one of the oft-overlooked areas is cultural security. Rising sea levels will lead to some of the world’s islands and coastal cities essentially being erased from Earth, resulting in the destruction, and possibly even the disappearance, of their cultural heritage. Inhabitants of endangered and unlivable areas are likely to drive mass exodus on a global scale, and forcibly displaced persons who find themselves in a new socio-cultural reality face countless challenges that will hinder their sense of cultural security. The most immediate concerns are related to the potential eruption of local and regional conflicts, emergence of negative social behaviors, disappearance of national language and cultural identity, and statelessness due to a loss of habitable lands, all of which pose severe threats to cultural security.

scholarly journals Next level proctored exam for proficiency testing in Primary Care Education: an observatory study on efficiency and accuracy and on exam outcome. (Preprint)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Birgitte Schoenmakers ◽  
Johan Wens
Keyword(s):  
Background Noise ◽  
Negative Impact ◽  
Cost Benefit ◽  
Critical Event ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Test Accuracy ◽  
Primary Care Education ◽  
Technical Issues ◽  
The Cost ◽  
The Impact

BACKGROUND The COVID19 pandemic affected education and assessment and led to a complex planning. Therefore, we organised the proficiency test for admission to Family Medicine as a proctored exam. To prevent from fraud we developed a virtual supervisor app tracking and tracing candidates’ behaviour. OBJECTIVE To assess efficiency and accuracy of the proctored exam procedure and to test the impact on the exam scores. METHODS The app operates on three levels to register events: recording of actions, analyses of behaviour and live supervision. Each suspicious event is given a score. To assess efficiency we inventoried the technical issues and the interventions. To test accuracy we counted the number of suspicious students and behaviours. To test the impact of the supervising app on students’ exam outcome we compared the scores between the proctored and the on campus group. Candidates were free to register for off or on campus participation. RESULTS 593 candidates subscribed to the exam: 472 (79%) candidates used the supervisor app and 121 (20%) were on campus. Test results of both groups were comparable. We registered 15 technical issues in off campus context. Two candidates experienced a negative impact on the exam due to the technical issue. The app detected 22 candidates with a suspicious level >1, mainly increased due to background noise. All events occurred without fraud purpose. CONCLUSIONS This pilot study demonstrated that a supervisor app with recording and registration behaviour is able to detect suspicious events without an impact on the exam. Background noise was the most critical event. There was no fraud detected. A supervisor app registering and recording behaviour to prevent from fraud during exams is efficient and not affecting the exam outcome. In future research, a controlled design should compare the cost-benefit balance between the complex intervention of the supervisor app and the combination of the candidates’ awareness of being monitored with a safe exam browsing plug in. CLINICALTRIAL Not applicable

scholarly journals Comparative Impact of Individual Quarantine vs. Active Monitoring of Contacts for the Mitigation of COVID-19: a modelling study

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Corey M. Peak ◽  
Rebecca Kahn ◽  
Yonatan H. Grad ◽  
Lauren M. Childs ◽  
Ruoran Li ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Control Strategies ◽  
Emerging Infectious Diseases ◽  
Cost Benefit ◽  
Mitigation Measures ◽  
Individual Liberty ◽  
Average Delay ◽  
Active Monitoring ◽  
Serial Interval ◽  
The Cost ◽  
The Impact

SummaryBackgroundVoluntary individual quarantine and voluntary active monitoring of contacts are core disease control strategies for emerging infectious diseases, such as COVID-19. Given the impact of quarantine on resources and individual liberty, it is vital to assess under what conditions individual quarantine can more effectively control COVID-19 than active monitoring. As an epidemic grows, it is also important to consider when these interventions are no longer feasible, and broader mitigation measures must be implemented.MethodsTo estimate the comparative efficacy of these case-based interventions to control COVID-19, we fit a stochastic branching model to reported parameters for the dynamics of the disease. Specifically, we fit to the incubation period distribution and each of two sets of the serial interval distribution: a shorter one with a mean serial interval of 4.8 days and a longer one with a mean of 7.5 days. To assess variable resource settings, we consider two feasibility settings: a high feasibility setting with 90% of contacts traced, a half-day average delay in tracing and symptom recognition, and 90% effective isolation; and low feasibility setting with 50% of contacts traced, a two-day average delay, and 50% effective isolation.FindingsOur results suggest that individual quarantine in high feasibility settings where at least three-quarters of infected contacts are individually quarantined contains an outbreak of COVID-19 with a short serial interval (4.8 days) 84% of the time. However, in settings where this performance is unrealistically high and the outbreak continues to grow, so too will the burden of the number of contacts traced for active monitoring or quarantine. When resources are prioritized for scalable interventions such as social distancing, we show active monitoring or individual quarantine of high-risk contacts can contribute synergistically to mitigation efforts.InterpretationOur model highlights the urgent need for more data on the serial interval and the extent of presymptomatic transmission in order to make data-driven policy decisions regarding the cost-benefit comparisons of individual quarantine vs. active monitoring of contacts. To the extent these interventions can be implemented they can help mitigate the spread of COVID-19.FundingThis work was supported in part by Award Number U54GM088558 from the US National Institute Of General Medical Sciences.

scholarly journals Flood Management Model in Digital Era, Using SAST (Strtategic Assumption Surfacing and Testing) and the Exponential Comparison Method (ECM): A Case Study in Jakarta

2019 ◽  
pp. 1-9
Author(s):  
Kholil . ◽  
Diah Prinajati ◽  
Nikki Astarina Annisari
Keyword(s):  
Public Involvement ◽  
Field Research ◽  
Flood Management ◽  
Comparison Method ◽  
Sea Levels ◽  
Digital Era ◽  
Rising Sea Levels ◽  
The Right ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Human Losses

Flooding is a regular annual disaster in Jakarta, especially in December to February. Geographical position of Jakarta which is 40% below sea level, causes flooding not only from rain, but also from rob due to rising sea levels. In the last 5 years the impact of flooding became more serious, leading to economic and human losses. This study aims to determine the right strategy of flood mitigation by public involvement in the digital era. The method used includes combination of quality input data from experts representing BNPB (National Disaster Agency), Local Goverment, Academics, Community Leaders, Businessmen, and Practitioners, in addition to vulnerable field research. Data analysis uses the ECM (Exponential Comparison Method) and SAST (Strategic Assumption Surfacing and Testing). The result of the study indicates that the most appropriate strategy to mitigate flood disaster is establishment of “Disaster Information Center” and "Disaster alert groups” involving every stakeholder from the community. Utilization of social media, especially WhatsApp, Facebook, and Instagram has been very helpful to share information of flood, especially how to prepare an emergency action to reduce economic and human losses.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document