Past Meets Future: Sustainable Development Approaches for Historic Towns

Authors: Evelyn M. Ortiz & Arjun Patel

Abstract:

The historic town of Badami with its many temples has been in existence for over 15 centuries. Badami or Vatapi as it was historically known as the capital city of the Eastern Chalukyas also known as the Chalukyas of Badami. The Chalukyas of Badami who were an offshoot of the Kadambas of Banavasi chose this place for strategic reasons. The sandstone cliffs acted as natural barriers and the first line of defense against any attack by land, secondly, the cliffs also created the Agastya tank which stored rain water runoff to feed the town. But what distinguishes Badami from other such fort towns across the subcontinent is the fact that these very same sandstone cliffs also lend themselves to carving. This resulted in a profusion of carving strewn around the hillside. Rock cut cave temples, as well as free standing structural temples, came up in, on and around these sandstone cliffs under the patronage of the Chalukyan Kings. The old town of Badami thus grew around the western edge of the Agastya tank, dotted with temples of different idioms including Nagara, Dravida and the unique Badami idiom culminating in the exquisite Bhoothnatha temple. Over the centuries Badami was a part of many Kingdoms that ruled the Deccan, who left their impressions behind through varied built forms that include temples, palaces, forts tombs and so on. While this ancient town has continued its evolution with minimal changes over the centuries, it is currently under threat due to various factors that are inevitable in any development process. This paper looks at how development efforts in historic towns need to take into consideration the fact that intangible aspects of heritage are linked to tangible built forms and preserving one without the other would be a hollow exercise that will result in a town that will become a mere caricature of itself to pander to the tourist circuit.

Page: 1 – 10
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Fostering Environmental Responsibility: Student Involvement in Biliran Province State University’s Eco-Friendly Initiatives

Authors: Adelina V. Stefanovska & Elena T. Markovic

Abstract:

The main goal of this study was to assess the level of students’ involvement in the Eco-friendly schools’ program of the university. The research employed the use of descriptive – correlational survey design. The sample for the study consisted of 489 students selected from six colleges using random sampling technique. The respondents of the study were the third year and fourth year students who were officially enrolled in the different colleges in the University.

Data collected were analyzed using inferential and descriptive statistics. The result of the study indicates that the students have high level of involvement in the eco-friendly schools’ program in the university which revealed a high sense of responsibility in the protection and improvement of the environment. The study proves that the respondents’ age and sex had no direct bearing with the level of involvement in the eco-friendly schools’ program of the University. The results also indicate that the college where the students were enrolled had a direct influence on the level of involvement in the Eco-friendly schools’ program. The study concluded that Environmental education should be strengthen in its implementation and should be expanded at all levels which could result into a sustainable development of the school environments.

Page: 11 – 16
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Influence of Suction/Injection on Peristaltic Pumping of Hyperbolic Tangent Fluids in Porous Channels

Authors: Dr. Matthew J. Turner, Dr. Abigail L. Hayes & Dr. Ahmed F. Youssef

Abstract:

The flow of peristaltic hyperbolic tangential fluid past porous walls with suction/injection is investigated. The regular perturbation method has been implemented to establish the appropriate expressions for velocity and pressure rise per wavelength by means of the assumptions of long wavelength and low valued Renolds number. The impact of numerous parameters on the pumping physical characteristics per wavelength is discussed graphically. It is recognized that the rising of the power law index of hyperbolic tangent fluid, rises the pressure in pumping region.

Page: 17 – 22
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Early Detection of Indoor Fires with IoT: A Raspberry Pi-Based Approach

Authors: Miss Emily Clarke, Miss Sarah Mitchell, Miss Olivia Harris & Miss Charlotte Evans

Abstract:

Unexpected fire ,at times, is dangerous and cause loss of people and property. Live inspection by video surveillance cameras and fire detection by image processing using Open CV and Raspberry Pi is a novel and efficient method. A vision based system is adopted to increase the detection rate and lower the fault alert rate. Levels of flame-high or low, are identified by edge detection techniques using different experts by combining factors like color, shape and motion of the fire. GSM technology is incorporated which helps to share the location information to the nearest fire station .The microcontroller functions to activate the fire alarm as well as the exact sprinkler rather than activating all of them to suppress the fire .

Page: 23 – 26
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A Survey on Chromosome Image-Based Approaches for Down Syndrome Diagnosis

Authors: Sofia Almeida & Dr. Helena Marques

Abstract:

Down syndrome (DS) is one of the numerical abnormality which is characterized by a change in the chromosome number. Down syndrome is a genetic disorder with genome dosage imbalances and micro[1]duplication of human chromosome 21. It is usually associated with a group of serious diseases, including intellectual disabilities, cardiac diseases, physical abnormalities, and other abnormalities. In the existing methods we use various classifiers such as k-means, SVM and ANN. In our proposed method, the down syndrome is detected from the G-banded metaphase chromosomes. The abnormal chromosomes are classified using CNN (Convolution Neural Network).

Page: 27 – 30
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Mapping Agricultural Risks: Climate Change and Drought Analysis in Sabarkantha with Geoinformatics

Authors: Dr. Daniel W. Harper, Dr. Olivia M. Bennett & Dr. Johan E. Lindstrom

Abstract:

Drought is a long duration dry period in natural Climate Cycle.it is defined as “Severe water shortage”. In recent years, Geographic Information System (GIS) and Remote Sensing (RS) have played a key role in studying different types of hazards either man-made or natural. This Study stresses upon the use of GIS and RS in the field of climate change and drought impact on agriculture. Different indices were computed using Landsat-7 data of January 2002 and Landsat-8 data of February 2018 as well as meteorological data for drought severity assessment in Sabarkanta district, Gujrat State. The indices generated include Normalize Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) for 2002 and 2018 and meteorological data based Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI), and Aridity Index (AI). Correlation analysis was performed between NDVI, SPI and AI. SPI and AI values were incorporated to get the spatial pattern of meteorological based drought. NDVI threshold were Identified to get the Agricultural Drought risk. Large historical datasets are required to study drought condition of the study area, to study complex interrelationship between spatial data and meteorological data. In this study, the drought prone areas in the Sabarkantha district were identified by using RS and GIS technology and drought risk areas were delineate by integration of satellite images and meteorological information in GIS environment.

Page: 31 – 41
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Student and Educator Perspectives on the Quality of Physical Education at President Ramon Magsaysay State University, Zambales

Authors: Alejandro R. Fernández

Abstract:

An assessment of the implementation of Physical Education Program of President Ramon Magsaysay State University (formerly Ramon Magsaysay Technological University) in Zambales, Philippines was the main objective of the present study. Program evaluation of the Physical Education Program is towards providing quality learning opportunities, appropriate instruction, meaningful and challenging content for all learners. A total of thirty two Physical Education teachers from the seven campuses of the said University participated in the study which was conducted during the Second Semester, year 2016. The study employed descriptive research design, quantitative in its analysis and used survey questionnaire as data gathering instrument. Findings reveal that the PE Curricular Aims; Contents of PE course; Teacher Qualification needed from PE educators; Teaching Methods appropriate for PE course instruction; Assessment of the students’ acquired knowledge and developed skills were always implemented. However, ensuring the suitability of the Learning Environment and acquiring and maintaining Facilities and Equipment in teaching PE were sometimes implemented. Big class size and unfavorable attitudes of students towards Physical Education were the encountered issues and problems in the PE Program implementation while the least of the concerns were on facilities and equipment and of materials for instruction and seminars and trainings for the implementers.

Page: 42 – 52
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Advancements and Challenges in the Performance of Third-Generation Organic Solar Cells

Authors: Hanna Svensson & Sofia Lundqvist

Abstract:

High costs and very little portability have become issues with solar panels. The new third generation solar cells that aims to overcome this disadvantage is the organic solar cells. Even though, an entirely different set of challenges has risen with this new technology, more efficient and stable structures of the same are being developed. In this paper, a basic organic solar cell and a bulk hetero junction solar cell have been analyzed in terms of their fill factors and efficiency.

Page: 53 – 58
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Gene Editing in Hematopoietic and Pluripotent Stem Cells: Insights into CRISPR/Cas9-Mediated Correction

Authors: Ali Z. Kamal & Omar M. Latif

Abstract:

According to current research, CRISPR/Cas9-mediated genome editing has shown enormous potential in the correction of genetic defects in autologous hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells (HSPCs) and induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs). Furthermore, the advancement of iPSC reprogramming technology as well as the CRISPR/Cas9 system has opened the door to new possibilities in the field of gene and cell therapy combinations. Despite the fact that there are a number of technological obstacles to overcome, CRISPR/Cas9 remains a promising therapeutic method with a great deal of potential for future gene therapy applications. Early success in treating hereditary hematological disorders opens the door to new options for treating other genetic disorders and constitutes a significant step forward in the development of gene therapy.

Page: 59 – 78
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Image Segmentation Techniques: A Review of Methods and Their Effectiveness

Authors: Emilia S. Petrovic & Lukas M. Kessler

Abstract:

Image segmentation is a method for dividing an image into multiple segments. This method helps to smooth the image in an easy way. The segmentation process is also utilized to find areas of interest of a specified image. The main purpose of this mechanism is to make image simpler and provide more information. In this paper, a survey of various segmentation techniques is provided. Several general algorithms and mechanisms for image segmentation have been developed. Since there is no universal solution to the problem of image segmentation, Therefore, these techniques must often be combined with other techniques such as optimization or deep learning to effectively solve the problem of image segmentation in the difficulty zone.

Page: 79 – 84
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Improved Koch Dipole Fractal Antenna Performance Through PSO-Based Optimization

Authors: Dr. Victor E. Daniels, Dr. Michael A. Preston & Dr. George M. Vincent

Abstract:

In this paper, simulation of PSO (Particle Swarm Optimization) based dipole fractal antenna at different UWB (Ultra Wide Band) frequencies is considered. The antenna design is based on PSO fed with KOCH dipole fractal antenna. Parametric analyses are calculated for the radiation pattern, return loss, power gain, and real, imaginary voltage impedance. The structure of the antenna is four directional star which helps in the improvement of directionality of the antenna along with the gain in power. Comparing the directivity of PSO with genetic algorithm helps in analysing PSO provides better directionality compared to GA along with reduction of Side lobes. The design and simulation work is done by using MATLAB 2012a software. These simulations were tested and plotted under different frequencies 2.5GHz, 7.5GHz and 10GHz on array elements of 9.

Page: 85 – 94
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Enhancing Women’s Security with the Safe Sole Distress Shock System

Authors: Emma White, Olivia Green, Jack Wilson & Lily Brown

Abstract:

Nowadays women are less secure and their security is the major issue. They have to undergo various difficult conditions and have to prove themselves every time in all critical conditions. So for their security and safety, government has provided security through rules and regulations to the society. Although there are many existing systems for security purpose, requirement of advanced system is arising. In order to overcome such problems smart security system for women is implemented. This paper describes safe and secured electronic system for women which comprises of an arduino controller and sensors such as temperature sensor, sweat sensor pulse rate sensor, GSM and GPS. When the women is in threat, the device senses the body parameters like heart beat rate , change in temperature and sweat rate. When the sensor crosses the threshold limit, the device gets activated and traces the location of the victim using GPS and also the buzzer will alert the surroundings. By using GSM module, the victim’s location is send to the registered contact numbers. The system also consists of a shock generation mechanism to produce non lethal electric shock in emergency situations to defend the attacker.

Page: 95 – 99
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