Sustainable use of ecosystem services under multiple risks – a survey of commercial cattle farmers in semi-arid rangelands in Namibia

Studying the sustainable use of ecosystem services under uncertainty requires the consideration of the stochastic dynamics of the system under study, risk and time preferences, risk management strategies and normative views pertaining to sustainability. To gather this information for an important ecological-economic system, we conducted a survey of commercial cattle farmers in semi-arid rangelands of Namibia, a system that features risks on various space and time scales. Here we present a description of the research aims, design and conduction of the survey, and analyze and discuss the homogeneity and representativeness of our survey population. The survey consisted of a mail-in questionnaire and in-field experiments. We combined two existing farm-address databases, reaching 77% of the estimated 2,500 cattle farmers. The return rate of questionnaires exceeded 20%, and response rate to individual questions surpassed 95% and 90% for the majority of non-sensitive and sensitive questions, respectively. Distinct sub-sample groups within the survey population did not differ in the analyzed characteristics with the exception of ethnicity, regional location of farmland and an intentionally induced bias for residency on farm. It has turned out that we have undersampled distinct population segments of farmers, such as indigenous farmers or farmers not belonging to the main interest group of commercial cattle farming. Notwithstanding, we consider the survey to be highly successful, yielding a rich dataset which allows diverse analyses.survey, cattle farming, semi-arid, rangeland management, sustainability, risk

Sustainable Packaging Design Visually Explained Guidebook Prototype

As the fields of graphic and packaging design continue to evolve, it is important to keep their applications sustainable and green. Unaware graphic and packaging designers need to have an easy-to-comprehend source of information about sustainability. Developing an educational information graphics guidebook prototype has potential to serve as a unique tool for understanding the need for sustainable packaging design. The purpose of it is to eases the understanding of a complex system and enables users to discover relationships and connections among design, economy, environment, and society. This prototype project involved designing a comprehensive sustainability symbol set where no satisfactory symbol set existed. The symbol set is intended to simplify the basics of sustainable packaging design for international audiences through educational information graphics content. A survey was conducted to gather over 600 symbols from royalty free sources. After the collection was refined and evaluated, during the design process, sketches for the symbol set were created using feedback from advisors, consultants, professionals, and students. Using biomimicry, the golden ratio was adapted as a grid system for unity, solidity, and effective use of space and ink. The second part of this project outlines a model for the guidebook\u27s content. The first section was developed as a theoretical base to see the relationships, interaction, and connections between packaging design, related systems, networks, and the people involved. Section 2 of the table of contents provides a road map for the reader. In particular serves as a practical guide for the specific culture of Kuwait, as a case study. This section provided the big picture for the context of Kuwait, recommended sustainable strategies for consumer acceptance and adaptability based on four survey results. This research intends to benefit graphic design educators, researchers, professionals, and students

Urban Green Space Accessibility in Ilorin City, Nigeria

Urban green space (UGS) is a very important determinant of social and environmental fairness. Many developing countries are faced with a dearth of public green spaces and Ilorin in Nigeria is no exception. Despite the numerous benefits of these facilities, they are still the target of encroachment by other land uses. The study assesses green space distribution in Ilorin City, using the World Health Organization (WHO) standard  indicators to evaluate its accessibility and availability. The primary instruments used are the Geographic Information System (ArcMap 10.3), Google Earth Engine (GEE), and administrative shapefiles of Ilorin West and South Local Government Areas. The results show that UGS is inadequate and only one out of the fourteen wards in the city meets the WHO 9m2green space standard and also offers 64.2 percent public access within a 300m distance radius. This result implies that Ilorin is not developing along the path of sustainability since the dearth of green space predisposes its inhabitants to immense danger. A recommendation was made for the design of a comprehensive green space master plan for the city. This shall put a check on the city's growth to foster sustainable development

Urban Green Space Accessibility in Ilorin City, Nigeria

Urban green space (UGS) is a very important determinant of social and environmental fairness. Many developing countries are faced with a dearth of public green spaces and Ilorin in Nigeria is no exception. Despite the numerous benefits of these facilities, they are still the target of encroachment by other land uses. The study assesses green space distribution in Ilorin City, using the World Health Organization (WHO) standard  indicators to evaluate its accessibility and availability. The primary instruments used are the Geographic Information System (ArcMap 10.3), Google Earth Engine (GEE), and administrative shapefiles of Ilorin West and South Local Government Areas. The results show that UGS is inadequate and only one out of the fourteen wards in the city meets the WHO 9m2green space standard and also offers 64.2 percent public access within a 300m distance radius. This result implies that Ilorin is not developing along the path of sustainability since the dearth of green space predisposes its inhabitants to immense danger. A recommendation was made for the design of a comprehensive green space master plan for the city. This shall put a check on the city's growth to foster sustainable development

Habitat for Humanity Apartment Complex Redesign

This project consists of the redesign of a three-story apartment complex for Habitat for Humanity that will be constructed in Walnut Creek, CA in 2017. A project in Fremont, CA served as the basis for the design. However, the height of the complex in Fremont exceeded the Walnut Creek Building Code height limitations, making the redesign of this timber structure necessary. The challenge was to reduce the structural space between stories to 9.5 inches in order to achieve comfortable interior clearances and meet the City of Walnut Creek’s height restriction. The structural components for Building Type A in the Las Juntas Way Apartment Complex were designed. Initially, a sawn lumber design was completed. However, this design did meet the target structural depth. Therefore, a design using TJI-joists was completed. This alternative met the target structural depth. From there, a lateral force resisting system with connection details and a mat foundation were designed. A cost analysis confirmed that the TJI-joist design was a cost-effective alternative. For sustainability, a Green Point Rating Checklist was completed. Lastly, a three-dimensional model was created using Revit, a four-dimensional Building Information Modeling technology. All structural drawings and calculations were submitted to Habitat for Humanity for use in the final design

Smart Manufacturing

This book is a collection of 11 articles that are published in the corresponding Machines Special Issue “Smart Manufacturing”. It represents the quality, breadth and depth of the most updated study in smart manufacturing (SM); in particular, digital technologies are deployed to enhance system smartness by (1) empowering physical resources in production, (2) utilizing virtual and dynamic assets over the Internet to expand system capabilities, (3) supporting data-driven decision-making activities at various domains and levels of businesses, or (4) reconfiguring systems to adapt to changes and uncertainties. System smartness can be evaluated by one or a combination of performance metrics such as degree of automation, cost-effectiveness, leanness, robustness, flexibility, adaptability, sustainability, and resilience. This book features, firstly, the concepts digital triad (DT-II) and Internet of digital triad things (IoDTT), proposed to deal with the complexity, dynamics, and scalability of complex systems simultaneously. This book also features a comprehensive survey of the applications of digital technologies in space instruments; a systematic literature search method is used to investigate the impact of product design and innovation on the development of space instruments. In addition, the survey provides important information and critical considerations for using cutting edge digital technologies in designing and manufacturing space instruments

Criteria of design for deconstruction applied to dairy cows housing: a case study in Italy

ArticleThis work aims at presenting the design process of a new barn for dairy cows. Project embraces several concepts that are rather new to the dairy industry and will deeply affect its environmental, economic and social sustainability. The barn will be built o n a green field site located in Cervasca (CN) in the region of Piedmont. Building has been designed applying the emerging principle of "design for deconstruction" extensively. A series of constructive solutions was developed allowing for complete end - of - li fe disassembly and reuse of building materials. Structural system will consist of locally sourced timber connected by steel joints. Foundations will be realized by means of chestnut wood piles driven into the ground. The employment of an alternative housin g system for dairy cows based entirely on cultivated pack will allow limiting the use of cast - in - place concrete, which is largely employed in conventional dairy barns. The cultivated pack needs a large space per cow leading the building to be particularly extended. The large covered area combined with the high snow load of the building site posed several challenges. Accumulation of snow on the roof would increase dramatically the structural load and therefore construction costs. Therefore, the building will consist of several 12m - large modules with 4m free space between them. Given the unusual shape of the barn and the limited use of concrete for flooring, the development of efficient systems for livestock management required the study of dedicated solutions . A first module, already realized to collect useful information for final design, is described

Design of Dwellings and Interior Family Space in China: Understanding the History of Change and Opportunities for Improved Sustainability Practices

This paper reviews briefly the recent history of dwelling design in China. It notes the rapid changes that have taken place since the 1980s and identifies the way contemporary procurement processes leave out the final fit-out and decoration/refurbishment. A range of stakeholders were interviewed, and access was gained to drawings and other technical data that indicated how the secondary processes were carried out. These are largely ungoverned by regulation in the same way necessary for initial design. The key group is the occupants who drive the fit-out and decoration according to personal and cultural requirements, but often with less than perfect understanding of sustainability. The interior design industry has developed rapidly over the same period and was initially lacking in professional knowledge and understanding (something which can still be found). Advice provided to dwelling occupants was based more on appearance than function and efficiency. Over the same period, beneficial modifications to construction processes have been introduced in relation to structural design, and it should be possible to do the same for sustainability-related design issues. The paper advocates: more regulation; better assessment techniques; more information and guidance for home-owners; and a greater focus on energy issue

Exploring the use of new school buildings through post-occupancy evaluation and participatory action research

This paper presents the results of the development and testing of an integrated post-occupancy evaluation (POE) approach for teachers, staff, pupils and community members using newly constructed school buildings. It focusses on three cases of UK secondary schools, demonstrating how users can be inspired to engage with the problems of school design and energy use awareness. The cases provided new insights into the engagement of school teachers, staff and young people regarding issues of sustainability, management, functional performance and comfort. The integrative approach adopted in these cases provided a more holistic understanding of these buildings’ performance than could have been achieved by either observational or more traditional questionnaire-based methods. Moreover, the whole-school approach, involving children in POE, provided researchers with highly contextualised information about how a school is used, how to improve the quality of school experiences (both socially and educationally) and how the school community is contributing to the building's energy performance. These POE methods also provided unique opportunities for children to examine the social and cultural factors impeding the adoption of energy-conscious and sustainable behaviours

Transformative spaces in the making: key lessons from nine cases in the Global South

Creating a just and sustainable planet will require not only small changes, but also systemic transformations in how humans relate to the planet and to each other, i.e., social–ecological transformations. We suggest there is a need for collaborative environments where experimentation with new configurations of social–ecological systems can occur, and we refer to these as transformative spaces. In this paper, we seek a better understanding of how to design and enable the creation of transformative spaces in a development context. We analyse nine case studies from a previous special issue on Designing Transformative Spaces that aimed to collect examples of cutting-edge action-oriented research on transformations from the Global South. The analysis showed five design phases as being essential: Problem Definition Phase; Operationalisation Phase; Tactical Phase; Outcome Phase; and Reflection Phase. From this synthesis, we distilled five key messages that should be considered when designing research, including: (a) there are ethical dilemmas associated with creating a transformative space in a system; (b) it is important to assess the readiness of the system for change before engaging in it; (c) there is a need to balance between ‘safe’ and ‘safe-enough’ spaces for transformation; (d) convening a transformative space requires an assemblage of diverse methodological frameworks and tools; and (e) transformative spaces can act as a starting point for institutionalising transformative change. Many researchers are now engaging in transdisciplinary transformations research, and are finding themselves at the knowledge–action interface contributing to transformative space-making. We hope that by analysing experiences from across different geographies we can contribute towards better understanding of how to navigate the processes needed for the urgent global transformations that are being called for to create a more equitable and sustainable planet Earth