335 research outputs found

    Digital Innovations for a Circular Plastic Economy in Africa

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    Plastic pollution is one of the biggest challenges of the twenty-first century that requires innovative and varied solutions. Focusing on sub-Saharan Africa, this book brings together interdisciplinary, multi-sectoral and multi-stakeholder perspectives exploring challenges and opportunities for utilising digital innovations to manage and accelerate the transition to a circular plastic economy (CPE). This book is organised into three sections bringing together discussion of environmental conditions, operational dimensions and country case studies of digital transformation towards the circular plastic economy. It explores the environment for digitisation in the circular economy, bringing together perspectives from practitioners in academia, innovation, policy, civil society and government agencies. The book also highlights specific country case studies in relation to the development and implementation of different innovative ideas to drive the circular plastic economy across the three sub-Saharan African regions. Finally, the book interrogates the policy dimensions and practitioner perspectives towards a digitally enabled circular plastic economy. Written for a wide range of readers across academia, policy and practice, including researchers, students, small and medium enterprises (SMEs), digital entrepreneurs, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and multilateral agencies, policymakers and public officials, this book offers unique insights into complex, multilayered issues relating to the production and management of plastic waste and highlights how digital innovations can drive the transition to the circular plastic economy in Africa. The Open Access version of this book, available at https://www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC-BY-NC-ND) 4.0 license

    Grounds for a Third Place : The Starbucks Experience, Sirens, and Space

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    My goal in this dissertation is to help demystify or “filter” the “Starbucks Experience” for a post-pandemic world, taking stock of how a multi-national company has long outgrown its humble beginnings as a wholesale coffee bean supplier to become a digitally-integrated and hypermodern cafĂ©. I look at the role Starbucks plays within the larger cultural history of the coffee house and also consider how Starbucks has been idyllically described in corporate discourse as a comfortable and discursive “third place” for informal gathering, a term that also prescribes its own radical ethos as a globally recognized customer service platform. Attempting to square Starbucks’ iconography and rhetoric with a new critical methodology, in a series of interdisciplinary case studies, I examine the role Starbucks’ “third place” philosophy plays within larger conversations about urban space and commodity culture, analyze Starbucks advertising, architecture and art, and trace the mythical rise of the Starbucks Siren (and the reiterations and re-imaginings of the Starbucks Siren in art and media). While in corporate rhetoric Starbucks’ “third place” is depicted as an enthralling adventure, full of play, discovery, authenticity, or “romance,” I draw on critical theory to discuss how it operates today as a space of distraction, isolation, and loss

    ACARORUM CATALOGUS IX. Acariformes, Acaridida, Schizoglyphoidea (Schizoglyphidae), Histiostomatoidea (Histiostomatidae, Guanolichidae), Canestrinioidea (Canestriniidae, Chetochelacaridae, Lophonotacaridae, Heterocoptidae), Hemisarcoptoidea (Chaetodactylidae, Hyadesiidae, Algophagidae, Hemisarcoptidae, Carpoglyphidae, Winterschmidtiidae)

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    The 9th volume of the series Acarorum Catalogus contains lists of mites of 13 families, 225 genera and 1268 species of the superfamilies Schizoglyphoidea, Histiostomatoidea, Canestrinioidea and Hemisarcoptoidea. Most of these mites live on insects or other animals (as parasites, phoretic or commensals), some inhabit rotten plant material, dung or fungi. Mites of the families Chetochelacaridae and Lophonotacaridae are specialised to live with Myriapods (Diplopoda). The peculiar aquatic or intertidal mites of the families Hyadesidae and Algophagidae are also included.Publishe

    Smart contract and web dapp for tracing sustainability indicators in the textile and clothing value chain

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    Mestrado em Engenharia InformĂĄtica na Escola Superior de Tecnologia e GestĂŁo do Instituto PolitĂ©cnico de Viana do CasteloNa sociedade atual, o tĂȘxtil e vestuĂĄrio Ă© um dos maiores setores de mercado do mundo. O rĂĄpido crescimento desta indĂșstria estĂĄ a ter impactos sem precedentes na sustentabilidade do planeta, respondendo por consequĂȘncias negativas ambientais, sociais e de saĂșde. As tendĂȘncias da fast-fashion, juntamente com a falta de transparĂȘncia na cadeia de valor tĂȘxtil global, somam-se a cenĂĄrios desfavorĂĄveis para o mundo, Ă  medida que os nĂ­veis crescentes de poluição e consumo de recursos dentro da cadeia de valor atingem mĂĄximos histĂłricos a cada ano que passa. O ciclo de vida de uma peça de roupa precisa de se adaptar a um modelo econĂłmico regenerativo em vez de linear, que acaba no equivalente a um caminhĂŁo de lixo de produtos tĂȘxteis sendo descartado num aterro sanitĂĄrio a cada segundo [1]. NĂŁo sĂł as indĂșstrias precisam de reformular os seus processos para circularizar as suas cadeias de valor e promover açÔes sustentĂĄveis, mas tambĂ©m os consumidores precisam de participar do processo de manter os produtos no cĂ­rculo da cadeia de valor, pois cabe a eles decidir o destino final de um produto vestuĂĄrio aquando o seu fim da vida Ăștil. Com estas questĂ”es em mente, esta dissertação visa desenvolver duas soluçÔes que possam mitigar os problemas a cima mencionados e promover açÔes sustentĂĄveis rumo a uma economia circular na cadeia de valor do tĂȘxtil e vestuĂĄrio. Uma solução business-to-business baseada em smart contracts do Hyperledger Fabric para gerir a cadeia de valor do tĂȘxtil e vestuĂĄrio com funcionalidade de rastreabilidade foi desenvolvida como prova de conceito para apoiar as reivindicaçÔes de sustentabilidade dos participantes na cadeia de valor, da fibra Ă  peça final de vestuĂĄrio. A actual funcionabilidade de rastreabilidade desenvolvida no smart contract fornece aos operadores da cadeia de valor a capacidade de rastrear um lote atĂ© Ă  sua origem, contudo, tambĂ©m limita a escalabilidade devido ao aumento exponencial do tamanho do bloco, especialmente se considerarmos uma cadeia de valor circular. Para os consumidores, foi proposta uma aplicação descentralizada business-to-consumer-to-consumer com elementos de eco-gamificação para promover o envolvimento e motivação do utilizador para a realização de tarefas que contribuam para a adoção de uma economia circular na cadeia de valor do tĂȘxtil e vestuĂĄrio. ApĂłs testar a usabilidade da aplicação com o questionĂĄrio AttrakDiff, concluiu-se que o sistema precisa de focar a sua usabilidade em prol de um produto orientado Ă  tarefa em vez da orientação pessoal atual da aplicação a fim de promover açÔes que contribuam para a economia circular da cadeia de valor do tĂȘxtil e vestuĂĄrio.In today’s society, Textile and Clothing (T&C) is one of the biggest market sectors world wide.The sheer size and fast growth of this industry is having unprecedented impacts on sustainability, accounting for negative environmental, social and health consequences. The fast-fashion trends along side the lack of transparency in the global T&C value chain add up to unfavorable scenarios for the world as the increas- ing levels of pollution and resource consumption within the value chain reach historic highs with every year that passes. The lifecycle of a clothing item needs to adapt to a regenerative economic model instead of a linear one that ends up in the equivalent of a garbage truck full of textiles being disposed into a landfill every second [1]. Not only do the industries need to revamp their processes to circularize their value chains and promote sustainable actions, but the consumers also need to partake in the process of keeping the products in the value chain loop as it is up to them to make the final decision upon the end-of-life of an item of clothing. With these issues in mind,this dissertation aims to develop two solutions that can mitigate the aforementioned problems and promote sustainable actions towards a circular economy in the T&C value chain. A Proof-of-Concept (PoC) Business-to-Business (B2B) T&C value chainmanagement smart contract solution builton Hyperledger Fabric with traceability features was developed to support the sustainability claims of participants in the value chain, from fiber to garment. The current traceability feature developed into the smart contract provides value chain operators the capabilities to trace a batch back to its origin, however, it also constraints scalability due to the exponential in crease in block size specially if considering a circular value chain. For the consumers, a Business-to-Consumer-to-Consumer (B2C2C) Decentralized Application (DApp) was proposed with eco-gamification elements fo rpromoting the user’s engagement and motivation to complete tasks that contribute for the adoption of a circular economy in the T&C value chain. After testing the consumer DApp’s usability with the AttrakDiff survey, it was concluded that the system needs to focus it susability towards a task-oriented product instead of the current self-oriented results in order to promote actions that contribute to the circular economy of the T&C value chain

    International Academic Symposium of Social Science 2022

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    This conference proceedings gathers work and research presented at the International Academic Symposium of Social Science 2022 (IASSC2022) held on July 3, 2022, in Kota Bharu, Kelantan, Malaysia. The conference was jointly organized by the Faculty of Information Management of Universiti Teknologi MARA Kelantan Branch, Malaysia; University of Malaya, Malaysia; Universitas Pembangunan Nasional Veteran Jakarta, Indonesia; Universitas Ngudi Waluyo, Indonesia; Camarines Sur Polytechnic Colleges, Philippines; and UCSI University, Malaysia. Featuring experienced keynote speakers from Malaysia, Australia, and England, this proceeding provides an opportunity for researchers, postgraduate students, and industry practitioners to gain knowledge and understanding of advanced topics concerning digital transformations in the perspective of the social sciences and information systems, focusing on issues, challenges, impacts, and theoretical foundations. This conference proceedings will assist in shaping the future of the academy and industry by compiling state-of-the-art works and future trends in the digital transformation of the social sciences and the field of information systems. It is also considered an interactive platform that enables academicians, practitioners and students from various institutions and industries to collaborate

    Abstract Book

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    Proceedings of APP 11th ANNUAL CONVENTION AND 5th INDO SWISS CONFERENCE 16 – 17, DEC-2022 &nbsp

    Accessibility of Health Data Representations for Older Adults: Challenges and Opportunities for Design

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    Health data of consumer off-the-shelf wearable devices is often conveyed to users through visual data representations and analyses. However, this is not always accessible to people with disabilities or older people due to low vision, cognitive impairments or literacy issues. Due to trade-offs between aesthetics predominance or information overload, real-time user feedback may not be conveyed easily from sensor devices through visual cues like graphs and texts. These difficulties may hinder critical data understanding. Additional auditory and tactile feedback can also provide immediate and accessible cues from these wearable devices, but it is necessary to understand existing data representation limitations initially. To avoid higher cognitive and visual overload, auditory and haptic cues can be designed to complement, replace or reinforce visual cues. In this paper, we outline the challenges in existing data representation and the necessary evidence to enhance the accessibility of health information from personal sensing devices used to monitor health parameters such as blood pressure, sleep, activity, heart rate and more. By creating innovative and inclusive user feedback, users will likely want to engage and interact with new devices and their own data

    ATR-FTIR Spectroscopy-Linked Chemometrics:A Novel Approach to the Analysis and Control of the Invasive Species Japanese Knotweed

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    Japanese knotweed (Reynoutria japonica), an invasive plant species, causes negative environmental and socio-economic impacts. A female clone in the United Kingdom, its extensive rhizome system enables rapid vegetative spread. Plasticity permits this species to occupy a broad geographic range and survive harsh abiotic conditions. It is notoriously difficult to control with traditional management strategies, which include repetitive herbicide application and costly carbon-intensive rhizome excavation. This problem is complicated by crossbreeding with the closely related species, Giant knotweed (Reynoutria sachalinensis), to give the more vigorous hybrid, Bohemian knotweed (Fallopia x Bohemica) which produces viable seed. These species, hybrids, and backcrosses form a morphologically similar complex known as Japanese knotweed ‘sensu lato’ and are often misidentified. The research herein explores the opportunities offered by advances in the application of attenuated total reflection Fourier transform infrared (ATR-FTIR) spectroscopy-linked chemometrics within plant sciences, for the identification and control of knotweed, to enhance our understanding of knotweed biology, and the potential of this technique. ATR-FTIR spectral profiles of Japanese knotweed leaf material and xylem sap samples, which include important biological absorptions due to lipids, proteins, carbohydrates, and nucleic acids, were used to: identify plants from different growing regions highlighting the plasticity of this clonal species; differentiate between related species and hybrids; and predict key physiological characteristics such as hormone concentrations and root water potential. Technical advances were made for the application of ATR-FTIR spectroscopy to plant science, including definition of the environmental factors that exert the most significant influence on spectral profiles, evaluation of sample preparation techniques, and identification of key wavenumbers for prediction of hormone concentrations and abiotic stress. The presented results cement the position of concatenated mid-infrared spectroscopy and machine learning as a powerful approach for the study of plant biology, extending its reach beyond the field of crop science to demonstrate a potential for the discrimination between and control of invasive plant species

    Unobtrusive Implementation of Wireless Electronics into Clothing

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    Research in flexible and stretchable electronics (FSE) has gained significant momentum in recent years due to being mechanically durable without compromising electrical performance. Newer materials and manufacturing methods are studied for efficiently developing FSEs. These materials and methods can be applied to the widespread development of wearable electronics, particularly clothing-integrated electronics. However, seamlessly integrating clothing into electronics has been quite challenging, where achieving an optimal balance between electrical performance and mechanical reliability is a key issue. This thesis aims to find innovative and novel solutions for integrating electronics into clothing, which could be mechanically durable, with limited compromise to their electrical functionality. This thesis combines 3D printing with passive radio frequency identification (RFID) technology to develop wireless platforms integrated into clothing. 3D printing was used to create encapsulants in which electronic components and antennas, designed with conductive yarns and textiles, were embedded. The wireless platforms developed in this study were tested for their mechanical reliability and evaluated for their wireless performance. This study then extended to RFID sensor development, where stimuli responsive materials were 3D printed onto textiles, and wireless performance concerning stimuli response were observed. This study observed that 3D printing encapsulated RFID-based wireless platforms functioned well regarding their wireless performance, despite exposure to moisture and mechanical stress. Although in their preliminary stages, the sensor platforms were also optimally responsive to moisture and temperature changes. Future studies include further evaluating the 3D printing parameters and materials for better mechanical reliability and more extensive studies on the sensor platforms. The wireless platforms developed in this study can be further developed for applications related to health care, logistics, security, and sensing applications
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