London at work

This chapter offers a detailed consideration of London’s labour market, exploring the high degree of seasonality that applied in a reconstruction of London’s Roman working year. The harbour relied on inputs of manual labour and ox-drawn haulage, serving the needs of dozens of vessels docked against the quays or beached on the river foreshore. Demand was intensive during the summer sailing season, but negligible in the winter. London’s construction industry was similarly labour-intensive and seasonal. These demands combined to present high levels of labour demand from spring to autumn, interrupted by slack winters of underemployment. Some needs may have been met by seasonal immigration from the countryside, but a lack of evidence for knowledge exchange between town and country suggests that this was not on a large scale. It is more likely that labour, perhaps including a relatively high proportion of slaves, was redirected into industry and craft production as stock was built up against spring needs. The chapter reviews the evidence for these shops and workshops, and for industrial production in and around Roman London. Particular emphasis is given to the importance of shipbuilding, and the demand this placed on supplies of timber and iron. Other industries to receive attention include potting, tanning and leatherworking, and glassmaking.

Cutting Edge Fabrication: Investigating Timber Sheet Materials with Robotic Fabrication

<p>Timber sheet materials have been used in the same manner for decades despite having a vital role in the construction industry. This often results in indistinguishable surfaces with no identity. The research developed in this thesis is the creation of a workflow to create a self-supporting structure from sheet materials using robotic fabrication and computational tools. Timber sheet materials is the key focus for this research, as timber is a material that can be altered in a variety of ways. Japanese timber connections were a strong influence for this research, due to its prolonged life span and sustainable advantages. In the past, timber fabrication techniques have been limited due to design limitations. Current technology, specifically parametric software combined with the robotic arm was explored to find how it can create timber connections to connect sheet materials at different angles. This method was utilised to repurpose the concept of sheet materials towards a complex structure, which adopted the idea of mass customisation over mass production. Prototypes of timber connections were created to develop an outcome that will structurally support itself. The outcome of each prototype was evaluated and compared with one another to establish which connection would be most suited to bring forward to the self-supporting structure. Computational simulations were used to explore individual structures which created panels that were automatically flattened in the software. This allowed the digital file to be transferred to the robotic arm to be milled. Using the robotic arm was an advantage, as it can rotate around six-axis giving multiple degrees of design freedom which broadened the range of construction techniques that can be used with sheet materials. There is a high chance of human error with manual labour, therefore precision is a positive attribute of the robotic arm. The precision helped minimise waste compared to manual labour. This thesis presented an opportunity for the design/construction industry to adopt a new workflow to bring leading-edge technology to focus on sustainable materials and to steer away from the repetitions evident in buildings today.</p>

Cutting Edge Fabrication: Investigating Timber Sheet Materials with Robotic Fabrication

<p>Timber sheet materials have been used in the same manner for decades despite having a vital role in the construction industry. This often results in indistinguishable surfaces with no identity. The research developed in this thesis is the creation of a workflow to create a self-supporting structure from sheet materials using robotic fabrication and computational tools. Timber sheet materials is the key focus for this research, as timber is a material that can be altered in a variety of ways. Japanese timber connections were a strong influence for this research, due to its prolonged life span and sustainable advantages. In the past, timber fabrication techniques have been limited due to design limitations. Current technology, specifically parametric software combined with the robotic arm was explored to find how it can create timber connections to connect sheet materials at different angles. This method was utilised to repurpose the concept of sheet materials towards a complex structure, which adopted the idea of mass customisation over mass production. Prototypes of timber connections were created to develop an outcome that will structurally support itself. The outcome of each prototype was evaluated and compared with one another to establish which connection would be most suited to bring forward to the self-supporting structure. Computational simulations were used to explore individual structures which created panels that were automatically flattened in the software. This allowed the digital file to be transferred to the robotic arm to be milled. Using the robotic arm was an advantage, as it can rotate around six-axis giving multiple degrees of design freedom which broadened the range of construction techniques that can be used with sheet materials. There is a high chance of human error with manual labour, therefore precision is a positive attribute of the robotic arm. The precision helped minimise waste compared to manual labour. This thesis presented an opportunity for the design/construction industry to adopt a new workflow to bring leading-edge technology to focus on sustainable materials and to steer away from the repetitions evident in buildings today.</p>

Justification of the geometric dimensions of drum sorting machine

This article presents the results of research to determine the basic geometric dimensions of a drum sorting machine designed for potato sorting. A critical analysis of the current situation in this area has been carried out. A number of research works have been studied aimed at developing special methods to reduce manual labour and improve the quality of sizing and sorting potatoes. At the same time, it is important to sort by size with a low level of product damage, with high productivity. Known mechanical and robotic machines used for sorting potatoes: roller, drum, conveyor (belt) and combined. And also, with the help of machine and computer vision, laser backscattering of light, ultrasonic, visual and spectral analysis systems, optical, acoustic intelligent sorting systems. Among the mechanical ones, the drum sorting machine is the simplest in design. The disadvantage of this machine is that during operation the product to be sorted is only in the lower part of the drum, i.e. only part of the work surface is used. To eliminate the abovementioned disadvantage, a new design of the machine is recommended. Where the sorting surface is made of elastic mesh, the size of the holes increased in the direction of movement of the ends along the sorting surface. The ends are connected and pulled together on two drums. The holes of the elastic mesh material vary in size, the size of the holes increases from the beginning to the end of the sorting surface. The drum can be in a truncated cone or a cylinder shape. To ensure the efficient operation of the proposed machine, mathematical calculations are derived, including geometric and kinematic parameters.

Deep Learning-Based Pest Surveillance System for Sericulture

Every year sericulture farmers lose a sizeable amount of revenue because of pest attacks on silkworms. In 2011 the annual production of silk is fall by about 50% because of pest attacks [1]. To prevent these losses constant monitoring of the environment is required. But this constant surveillance can’t be achievable by manual labour force but it can be achievable by using deep learning techniques. This article presents a deep learning system that is trained and tested for detecting invasive species which can cause harm to silkworms such as Oecophylla smargdina, Vespa orientalis, Sycanus collaris, Hierodulla bipapilla, Canthecona furcellata, Blepharipa zebina and Apanteles glomeratus.

South Africa and the Fourth Industrial Revolution

The Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) is widely predicted to transform what have been manual-labour-dominated sectors in the production of goods and offering of services while driving wages down. South Africa is largely no exception, although we also note some unevenness and contradictory trends in this chapter. 4IR also presents numerous opportunities for the South African government, businesses, and consumers in terms of economic growth, efficiency, and cost-effectiveness. We conduct a review of recent trends in the 4IR worldwide and focus on such trends in South Africa through wages, key sectors, corporate sentiment, as well as government expenditure in research and development. There is indication that the country has a mismatch in the skills being produced and those required by the 4IR, while its GERD is substantially below the global average for 4IR leadership and equitable participation. 4IR Commission recommendations propose reforms, but over them looms the slow rate of implementation due to past poor execution of other plans in the digital and communications spheres.

Provincializing Bollywood

This book situates Bhojpuri cinema within the long history of vernacular media production, which was kick-started by audio cassettes and spurred on further with VCDs and DVDs. The emergence of multiplex-malls and the evacuation of single-screen theatres all over north India, at a time of massive real estate development, particularly in peninsular Indian cities, which required working class migrants’ ‘manual labour’ also prepared the ground for new linguistic consolidations and cultural forms. Investigating the historical, theoretical and empirical bases of Bhojpuri media production, the book tries to make sense of cinema within the ‘comparative media crucible’, in which film history sits alongside floods, droughts, musical traditions, gendered segregation, real estate boom, libidinal youth cultures, urban resettlements and highway modernities. The book grapples with Bhojpuri media from within Hindi film history, from the vantage point of provincial north India, in the light of the socio-technical upheavals of the last three decades. Foregrounding the libidinal energies, language politics and curatorial informalities, the book argues that Bhojpuri cinema could be conceptualized via the logic of overflow. Animated by libidinal affordances which have breached all formal embankments, it thrives on a curious blend of scandalizing and moralizing overtones.

Poverty and Education: Attainments and Challenges for Tribal Communities

Various educational policies and government initiatives at the national level in India have aimed at improving the literacy rate of the tribal communities. However, even after 73 years of independence, the literacy levels of the tribal people have not risen to the desired levels. On top, there is the issue of high dropout rates (Ministry of Tribal Affairs, Statistics Division, Government of India, 2013, Statistical Profile of Scheduled Tribes in India, https://tribal.nic.in/ST/StatisticalProfileofSTs2013.pdf ; 70.9%, according to a recent study) among the Tribals (Rupavath, 2016a, Review Pub Administration Management, 4, p. 183). In such a situation, it is important to find out why tribal communities are still lagging behind in the education sector. This study will deal with the various aspects of access to education for the tribal communities. It will also try to examine the linkage between poverty and education. This is considered important since literacy can mean much more than mere bookish knowledge. A literate person can be expected to have more awareness about matters of importance to him or her. On the employment front, a literate person can have wider livelihood options—and not be confined to pursue occupations which largely entail manual labour. At the same time, a literate person would know more about his or her legitimate entitlements and be in a better position to avail of these. It is one thing for the government to reserve vacancies for candidates belonging to the deprived sections of society. It is equally important for more persons hailing from these sections to know about these and utilize these. Education can be a means for such persons to optimally utilize the opportunities available to them. It is a proven fact that students learn better and retain more when they are active participants in the teaching–learning process. For the purpose of this study, two districts—Anantapur and Vishakhapatnam (in Andhra Pradesh), and Hyderabad district (in Telangana)—have been selected for a detailed examination. The study will include not only the availability of infrastructure but also participation of the tribal students in the classroom discussions. The study will utilize both purposive and random sampling methods.

Characteristics of the Levels of Mechanisation in Arc Welding

Improvement of quality, reduction of the subjective possibilities of faults may be facilitated with the help of the technically rational and economically justifiable mechanisation of productive serial production as well as the use of the wide range of hardware and software IT possibilities. Mechanisation is usually understood as the mechanisation of technological operations that may otherwise be performed by manual operations (human movements and effort). Mechanisation is therefore the substitution, in whole or in part, of manual labour with the help of specialised equipment and the mechanical operation of the various movements. The present article examines the particular features of mechanisation in the field of outstandingly high significance in industrial applications, i.e. arc welding, assisting the forms of training applied in the specialty area.