A Comparative Study on the Energy Consumption of PHP Single and Double Quotes

This paper is an enhanced version of the paper presented at the SEEDS Conference (Olaoluwa, et. al, 2015). The increasing rate of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emission resulting from the use of IT and other human activities to the atmosphere has become a major source of concern. It is imperative for the IT sector to ensure that its products are effective and energy efficient accompanied by mitigated negative impact on the environment. Reducing energy consumption of IT products is a key to contributing towards a greener environment. Another alternative is to produce energy efficient codes for software applications. In programming or scripting languages, an end result can be achieved in more than one way. For example, in PHP, a print command can be executed using a single quote and can also be achieved using a double quote. They have similar functions with similar quality of the intended outcomes. The aim of this research is conduct an investigation on the energy consumption of selected PHP scripts that perform similar functions: print single and double quote; echo single and double quote, etc… The Joulemeter energy measuring tool is used to measure the amount of energy consumed when run the various PHP scripts

A double-blind, randomized, comparative study of the use of a combination of uridine triphosphate trisodium, cytidine monophosphate disodium, and hydroxocobalamin, versus isolated treatment with hydroxocobalamin, in patients presenting with compressive neuralgias

CONTEXT: This paper reports on the results of treatment of compressive neuralgia using a combination of nucleotides (uridine triphosphate trisodium [UTP] and cytidine monophosphate disodium [CMP]) and vitamin B(12). OBJECTIVES: To assess the safety and efficacy of the combination of nucleotides (UTP and CMP) and vitamin B(12) in patients presenting with neuralgia arising from neural compression associated with degenerative orthopedic alterations and trauma, and to compare these effects with isolated administration of vitamin B(12). METHODS: A randomized, double-blind, controlled trial, consisting of a 30-day oral treatment period: Group A (n=200) receiving nucleotides + vitamin B(12,) and Group B (n=200) receiving vitamin B(12) alone. The primary study endpoint was the percentage of subjects presenting pain visual analog scale (VAS) scores ≤20 at end of study treatment period. Secondary study endpoints included the percentage of subjects presenting improvement ≥5 points on the patient functionality questionnaire (PFQ); percentage of subjects presenting pain reduction (reduction in VAS scores at study end in relation to pretreatment); and number of subjects presenting adverse events. RESULTS: The results of this study showed a more expressive improvement in efficacy evaluations among subjects treated with the combination of nucleotides + vitamin B(12), with a statistically significant superiority of the combination in pain reduction (evidenced by VAS scores). There were adverse events in both treatment groups, but these were transitory and no severe adverse event was recorded during the study period. Safety parameters were maintained throughout the study in both treatment groups. CONCLUSION: The combination of uridine, cytidine, and vitamin B(12) was safe and effective in the treatment of neuralgias arising from neural compression associated with degenerative orthopedic alterations and trauma

ENERGY CONSUMPTION OF MOBILE PHONES

Battery consumption in mobile applications development is a very important aspect and has to be considered by all the developers in their applications. This study will present an analysis of different relevant concepts and parameters that may have an impact on energy consumption of Windows Phone applications. This operating system was chosen because limited research related thereto has been conducted, even though there are related studies for Android and iOS operating systems. Furthermore, another reason is the increasing number of Windows Phone users. The objective of this research is to categorise the energy consumption parameters (e.g. use of one thread or several threads for the same output). The result for each group of experiments will be analysed and a rule will be derived. The set of derived rules will serve as a guide for developers who intend to develop energy efficient Windows Phone applications. For each experiment, one application is created for each concept and the results are presented in two ways; a table and a chart. The table presents the duration of the experiment, the battery consumed in the experiment, the expected battery lifetime, and the energy consumption, while the charts display the energy distribution based on the main threads: UI thread, application thread, and network thread

A WEB-BASED ENVIRONMENTAL TOOLKIT TO SUPPORT SMES IN THE IMPLEMENTATION OF AN ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

With small and medium sized-enterprises (SMEs) taking up the majority of the global businesses, it is important they act in an environmentally responsible manner. Environmental management systems (EMS) help companies evaluate and improve their environmental impact but they often require human, financial, and temporary resources that not all SMEs can afford. This research encompasses interviews with representatives of two small enterprises in Germany to provide insights into their understanding, and knowledge of an EMS and how they perceive their responsibility towards the environment. Furthermore, it presents a toolkit created especially for small and medium-sized enterprises. It serves as a simplified version of an EMS based on the ISO 14001 standard and is evaluated by target users and appropriate representatives. Some of the findings are: while open to the idea of improving their environmental impact, SMEs do not always feel it is their responsibility to do so; they seem to lack the means to fully implement an EMS. The developed toolkit is considered useful and usable and recommendations are drawn for its future enhancement

Development of Augmented Reality Underground Facility Management System using Map Application Programming Interface and JavaScript Object Notation Communication

With the rapid development of IT in the modern society, various kinds of information such as smart information age are provided in real time regardless of time and place. Especially, various IT devices and mobile devices using the ubiquitous concept are being widely used in real life and helping to make life convenient. Currently, various ubiquitous services and management schemes are being tried in the government business field. This paper was performed to propose an augmented reality-based system construction and service environment plan for the management of underground facilities such as gas, electricity, communication, water supply, sewerage, heating, and oil pipelines. To do this, the author used Map API and JSON communication technique. JSON can be used in JavaScript programs without parsing or serialization. Also, JSON is a text-based way to represent JavaScript object literals, arrays, and scalar data. As a result, it can be transmitted in a format that can be interpreted in fields that utilize various types of data. Using this JSON, an augmented reality-based underground facility management system was implemented. In other words, it is a system that can find and modify the location of underground objects without drawing drawings in the field through communication between the tablet and the server. Especially, it suggested a method to provide and manage the location information of GIS (NGIS, KLIS) system and the facilities embedded in the underground, and attribute information by replacing the location mark used in existing underground facilities. Through the augmented reality based underground facility management system, it is expected to be effective in terms of practicality, economics, real - time network, information provision and management, and prevention of major accidents. In addition, it will be an effective method for updating and maintaining information related to underground facilities. Finally, by applying the augmented reality-based underground facility management system, it is possible to precisely measure the underground facility survey and condition for an existing buried pipe or a new public pipeline. Through augmented reality technology, it is possible to check the facilities of obstacles as if they were right in front of you. In addition, facility management, history management, and on-site management are possible at once, and it is characterized by convergence with other IT and quick decision-making by integrating the management system

Designing for sustainable behaviour in cross-cultural contexts: a design framework

This thesis investigates the influence that cultural differences have in the designing of products and services that encourage sustainable lifestyles. This was researched through a case study of dishwashing practices in Mexico and the UK, and the development of a methodological framework for supporting designers working in cross-cultural contexts. Designers can shift user behaviour to be more responsible, and by doing this, reduce a product s impact on the use phase of its lifecycle. Nevertheless, designing products that successfully drive behaviour towards a more sustainable path can only be accomplished if they are conceived to fit the user and the specific context of interaction. In order to do so, designers must truly understand the users, and take into account the complex web of factors that lay behind individual behaviour. A comprehensive review of the literature established an understanding of human behaviour and the emergence and evolution of practices and routines. This brought to light the diverse behavioural patterns in different contexts; and was further investigated with a scoping study in two different locations (Mexico and the UK), exploring general water consuming practices in the home, specifically manual dishwashing practices. The preliminary findings shaped a study that aimed to deepen the understanding of these practices in the selected sites, involving the use of Cultural Probes and videoing people in their common kitchen environment. A robust and clear image of washing-up practices emerged with rich and detailed data presented in different media, ideal to be implemented in a design process. To this end, a series of multicultural Personas were created as the direct outcome of the Cultural Probes and the scoping study, giving way to the design studies phase of the project, carried out with industrial design students in Mexico and the UK. A design brief for sustainable washing up practices was delivered. Design experiments were used to provide interesting evidence of the influence in the design process of the designers understanding of the target user. The findings indicate that designers benefit from exploration and creativity tools tailored directly from the user-research findings in the early design process. This increases the level of empathy towards the user, particularly making it easier to design for users with different needs and contexts than the designers themselves. It also helps designers to better apply design for sustainable behaviour framework to their concept designs

Freeing the “Whore”: Competing Feminist Theories and the Liberatory Potential of Sex Work Policy

With a reputation as humanity’s oldest profession, sex work has been the subject of social and political debate for centuries. Feminist scholars, in particular, have given a great deal of attention to the profession, questioning whether the existence and prevalence of sex work have had a positive or negative impact on the advancement of women’s rights. This feminist debate has formed a binary between sex-positive feminists and abolitionists who starkly disagree on the role sex work plays for women, while each side simultaneously believes that their argument provides the greatest opportunity for the liberation of women from the oppressions of patriarchy. Sex-positive feminists advocate for the normalization of sex work as an avenue for women to reclaim their sexuality whereas abolitionists argue that women’s sexuality has been so deeply embedded in patriarchal structures that women can\u27t behave sexually separate from these structures. Beyond the theoretical arguments, both sides of this debate advocate for policy approaches that advance their beliefs, with sex-positivists favoring legalization or decriminalization and abolitionists pushing for criminalization. Although both sides of this debate aim to advance women’s liberation, the polarized binary feminist scholars have formed has inhibited positive policy progress regarding sex work and has even led to the emergence of a third, middle-ground body of theory. The standstill of the feminist theoretical binary has established the need for the determination of the most liberatory policy approach for sex workers so that feminist advocacy can direct its energy at the policy that will most effectively attack the patriarchal oppression women have been subjected to. As such, through this thesis, I aim to analyze and compare the impact that the criminalization and legalization of sex work have on sex workers to determine which policy approach, and the feminist theory that backs it, is more liberatory. I use Nevada and New York as my comparative case study for this research, contrasting their approach to sex work based on the impact each legal policy has on the health, safety, and perspectives of workers. Ultimately, I found that the decriminalization of sex work offers the greatest potential for liberation from harmful systems of oppression, however, I argue that policy alone is insufficient to fully deconstruct the oppressive structures that women and their sexuality exist within

The Impact of Domestic and Global Biofuel Mandates on the German Agricultural Sector

The aim of this work is to evaluate the impact of domestic and global biofuel policies on Germany's agricultural sector. The central part of our study is divided into four sections. Section 2 presents in detail the issues that make biofuels a debated topic in today's economic policies. Fundamental aspects of our energy consumption patterns and the geographic location of our natural resources are highlighted together with a quantitative analysis of the recent surge in biofuels output capacity and estimates of their near-future deployment. An introduction to current and future biofuels production technologies is coupled with an overview of recent studies that assess their net contribution to harmful gaseous emissions and energy efficiency. The concerns associated with rising food prices and their likely causes are then briefly examined. Section 3 provides a thorough description of the subsidy, taxation and protection measures granted to biofuels across the world. Current governmental policies in the EU and its member states are given special attention. Section 4 presents the current literature on economic modelling and focuses on partial equilibrium (AGLINK-COSIMO, Impact, Esim, etc.) and general equilibrium frameworks (EPPA, GTAP, etc.). Section 5 simulates the impact of domestic and global biofuel policies in Germany within a Computable General Equilibrium framework. The LEITAP model is introduced. A description of the analysed scenarios is given on the basis of the envisaged biofuel blending mandates described in section 3. The simulation results are then evaluated with respect to production, prices, international trade and land use of the relevant commodities. The outcome clearly indicates that current biofuels policies significantly affect food markets as well as land allocation. The conclusion summarizes the main findings of our study and draws a comparison with results of other publications.