Improving Knowledge, Attitude, Motivation, and Behavior of Weak Economic Communities Responding to Covid-19 ang Making Latrines Safe for the Environment (Experiment in the Lowlands of South Sulawesi)

The aims of the study were to determine: (1) knowledge, attitudes, motivation, and behavior of the economically weak community in tackling Covid-19 and making safe latrines for the environment before and after the experiment on how to cope with Covid-19 and making latrines that were safe for the environment and 2) the effect of the experiment on increasing the knowledge, attitudes, motivation, and behavior of the economically weak community in tackling Covid-19 and making safe latrines for the environment in the low-lying areas of South Sulawesi. This type of research is quasi-experimental. The research location is in the lowland area. The experimental area is Manorang Salo Village and the control area is Laringgi Village, Marioriawa District, Soppeng Regency. The two areas were selected by purposive sampling method. The samples of the experimental group and the control group were 30 families each. The experimental model used is the pretest-posttest control group design. The analysis used is descriptive statistical analysis and infrensial statistical analysis. The inferential model is an independent t test. The results of the study are as follows: (1) knowledge, attitudes, motivation, and behavior of the economically weak community in tackling Covid-19 and making safe latrines for the environment before being given an experiment are in the low category and after the experiment are in the high category, (2) the effect of The experiment was very significant in increasing the knowledge, attitudes, motivation, and behavior of the economically weak community in dealing with Covid-19 and making safe latrines for the environment in the low-lying areas of South Sulawesi.

The Effects of Pedestrian Environments on Walking Behaviors and Perception of Pedestrian Safety

We investigated the effects of pedestrian environments on parents’ walking behavior, their perception of pedestrian safety, and their willingness to let their children walk to school. This study was a simulated walking environment experiment that created six different pedestrian conditions using sidewalks, landscape buffers, and street trees. We used within subjects design where participants were exposed to all six simulated conditions. Participants were 26 parents with elementary school children. Sidewalks, buffer strips, and street trees affected parents’ decisions to: walk themselves; let their children walk to school; evaluate their perception whether the simulated environment was safe for walking. We found that the design of pedestrian environments does affect people’s perceptions of pedestrian safety and their willingness to walk. The presence of a sidewalk, buffer strip, and street trees affected parents’ decision to walk, their willingness to let their children walk to school and perceived the pedestrian environment as safer for walking. The effects of trees on parents’ walking and perception of pedestrian safety are greater when there is a wide buffer rather than a narrow buffer. It was found that parents are more cautious about their children’s walking environments and safety than their own.

Schedule Thinning Following Functional Communication Training: Effects of Chained and Multiple Schedules

Functional communication training (FCT) is used to reduce rates of problem behavior by teaching communicative responses that access functionally equivalent reinforcers. During FCT, the communicative response is typically placed on a dense schedule of reinforcement that is unlikely to be maintained in the natural environment. Experiment 1 evaluated the effects of two schedule-thinning procedures (chained schedules and multiple schedules) on problem behavior maintained by escape from demands for three participants following FCT. The chained and multiple-schedule procedures were effective in reducing rates of problem behavior. Compliance increased under both schedules, but the chained schedule resulted in higher levels of compliance with two participants. In Experiment 2, participants’ preference for the chained or multiple-schedule procedure was evaluated using a modified concurrent-chain procedure. One participant preferred the chained schedule. One participant preferred the multiple schedule. One participant did not appear to discriminate between conditions.

Stress relaxation of porcine tendon under simulated biological environment: experiment and modeling

Purpose: The aim of the study was to investigate the viscoelastic response in the low and high physiological strain with the use of experimental and modeling approach. Methods: Viscoelastic response in the low, transition and high physiologic strain (3, 6 and 9%) with consideration of simulated biological environment (0.9% saline solution, 37 °C) was measured in relaxation tests. Preconditioning of tendons was considered in the testing protocol and the applied range of load was obtained from tensile testing. The quasi-linear viscoelasticity theory was used to fit experimental data to obtain constants (moduli and times of relaxation), which can be used for description of the viscoelastic behavior of tendons. The exponential non-linear elastic representation of the stress response in ramp strain was also estimated. Results: Differences between stress relaxation process can be seen between tendons stretched to the physiological strain range (3%) and exceeding this range (6 and 9%). The strains of 6% and 9% showed a similar stress relaxation trend displaying relatively rapid relaxation for the first 70 seconds, whereas the lowest strain of 3% displayed relatively slow relaxation. Conclusions: Results of the model fitting showed that the quasi-linear viscoelastic model gives the best fit in the range of low physiological strain level.

Paul Rudolph’s and Carlo Scarpa’s Interaction with the Environment

This paper examines how Paul Rudolph and Carlo Scarpa design buildings in a seemingly harsh environment to connect occupants to that which is around them. It involves the study of Fondazione Quarini Stampalia and Camping Fusina by Scarpa, along with the Umbrella House and the Healy Guest House by Rudolph, analyzing the buildings through methods of site visits, photography, and drawing. Specifically, it analyzes how the architects frame the environment, experiment with view, explore visible connection of the ground, planning for the inevitable flooding that will occur, and creating a feeling of safety for people to positively interact with what is around them. This study determines that while all these methods are important in designing buildings, it is how the architects develop an appreciation of the environment by the occupants that is imperative in designing for the future of Florida. For a more resilient Florida that can handle the environmental pressure being forced on it while also developing a design language that makes Florida’s architecture stand out.

A Geometric Calibration Method of Hydrophone Array Based on Maximum Likelihood Estimation with Sources in Near Field

Considering the requirement of the near-field calibration under strong underwater multipath condition, a high-precision geometric calibration method based on maximum likelihood estimation is proposed. It can be used as both auxiliary-calibration and self-calibration. According to the near-field geometry error model, the objective function of nonlinear optimization problem is constructed by using the unconditional maximum likelihood estimator. The influence of multipath on geometric calibration is studied. The strong reflections are considered as the coherent sources, and the compensation strategy for auxiliary-calibration is realized. The optimization method (differential evolution, DE) is used to solve the geometry errors and sources’ position. The method in this paper is compared with the eigenvector method. The simulation results show that the method in this paper is more accurate than the eigenvector method especially under high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and multipath environment. Experiment results further verify the effectiveness.