KISS (Keep It Sustainable and Smart): A Research and Development Program for a Zero-Emission Small Crafts

This paper reviews a state-of-the-art zero emission propulsion system for a battery-powered small craft. The main aspects considered are the available propulsion systems, energy storage, and dock battery charging. This underlying activity is part of the KISS project, a research and development program in the frame of the EU-funded “Piano Operativo Regionale CALABRIA FESR-FSE 2014–2020 ASSE I–PROMOZIONEDELLA RICERCA E DELL’INNOVAZIONE”, which is aimed at designing and building a physical prototype. Its hull form is based on previous research conducted by the authors, and the powering performances were preliminarily predicted by CFD simulation. The KISS project represents a successful example of an electric small craft with performances and a mission profile comparable to competitors with conventional propulsion. Such a target has been achieved by a concurrent design that considers the hull form, engine, propulsion system, and energy storage onboard. Safety issues and the regulatory frame are also highlighted

A Smart Rural Project for Tourism of Madeira Island

Everywhere, there are cities, regions and countries which are struggling in order to reach a good position in terms of attractiveness, whether to catch more inhabitants or to get more visitants. All-over the world, cities like Bangkok in Thailand, Dubai in the United Arab Emirates or London in the United Kingdom, are witnessing, every year, a process of massive tourism. Many of these touristic places are very well-known as smart cities, because of their people, infrastructures, economy, governance, mobility, environment or simply their smart lifestyle. The rankings focused on the territories’ performances are on the top of the agenda at the global scale. On the opposite side of the popularity coin, there are the small places, settled in rural areas, which are struggling to keep the few inhabitants who still remain there, and to attract visitors, as a way of boosting their social and economic dynamics. In this sense, this article is focused on the study of rural areas and tourism, to understand how small local communities in rural areas can use the smart cities knowledge and through tourism promote the economical local development. It will present a project solution for tourism purposes having as case study the tiny rural settlement of Fajã de Baixo, near to the Calheta in Madeira island, Portugal. The result shows that small rural settlements have an opportunity in touristic terms, using requirements of smart mobility and environmental solutions, promoting local identity, which is their main tourist attractiveness.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

I Can Make a Difference

Reflection: In today�s world, it is easy to be discouraged and to question the extent to which we can make a difference in the life of another especially if we feel that we are not rich or smart enough to act. The story I can Make a Difference is actually a reminder of the important role we play in our lives. It is a reminder that we should help each other whenever we can even in small ways. The classroom discussions encourage the students to take their time to remember that they have made and they can keep making small changes in their own context. The activity of making an animated video aims to offer the students opportunities to practice writing a short story that might inspire their classmates, teachers and people outside their classroom

Older Adults and Technology: Adoption and Acceptance Comes from Relationships and Encouragement from Younger Generations

As technology progresses, older generations are being given ‘smart’ devices and are adopting these devices to keep up with daily life. Stereotypes posit that the different generational groups perspectives on each other and the digital divide prohibit older generations from adopting new technologies. At the Wood Country Center on Aging located in Bowling Green Ohio, the small group communication class of Bowling Green State University teaches tablet classes once a week to interested older adults. Classes were observed using the STAM (Senior Technology and Acceptance Model), specifically the acceptance phase, over six weeks with narrative and phenomenological research methods. Observing and assisting four small groups teaching older adults different categories of smart tablets, conclusions were made on why older adults accept the technology and even come back for further classes. At the end of the project, it was found that the more positive and genuinely encouraging the students were, the more the older adults consistently attended classes and engaged in learning. Despite rumors of barriers of an age and digital divide, social cues, the relationships made, and the environment play a part in the motivation of technological diffusion in older adult’s daily life

Technology Selection for Big Data and Analytical Applications

The term Big Data has become pervasive in recent years, as smart phones, televisions, washing machines, refrigerators, smart meters, diverse sensors, eyeglasses, and even clothes connect to the Internet. However, their generated data is essentially worthless without appropriate data analytics that utilizes information retrieval, statistics, as well as various other techniques. As Big Data is commonly too big for a single person or institution to investigate, appropriate tools are being used that go way beyond a traditional data warehouse and that have been developed in recent years. Unfortunately, there is no single solution but a large variety of different tools, each of which with distinct functionalities, properties and characteristics. Especially small and medium-sized companies have a hard time to keep track, as this requires time, skills, money, and specific knowledge that, in combination, result in high entrance barriers for Big Data utilization. This paper aims to reduce these barriers by explaining and structuring different classes of technologies and the basic criteria for proper technology selection. It proposes a framework that guides especially small and mid-sized companies through a suitable selection process that can serve as a basis for further advances

Interactive Whiteboards: Impact on Fifth-Grade Writing Skills

Given current societal emphasis on technology mixed with the community pressures to succeed in an increasingly technological world, teachers and school districts find themselves focusing efforts on integrating technology and instruction more readily in their classrooms; their goal - to improve instructional practices and keep up with the developing, tech-savvy world. This thesis project discusses several clarifying questions - How much technology should schools be expected to provide? What types of instruction would most benefit students? The research study addresses the influence of the SMART board on students’ academic development, specifically in writing with regard to motivation and literacy. The project’s central question was: What effect does students\u27 use of interactive electronic white boards have on fifth-grade writing skills? This six week study was conducted in a suburban school district in Western New York. It included nine fifth grade students as well as teaching staff at the school. Data was collected using student and teacher surveys and observations. Teacher surveys included not only the four participant classrooms but an additional 22 instructors with SMART Board technology in their own classrooms. Student activities provided were literacy enriched and centered around writing. The activities included: whole group instruction, small group instruction, independent usage, games, and mini-lessons while using the SMART board. These learning practices were directly related to the writing process, organizational formats, grammar, and editing. Research conclusions support the use of SMART Board technology as a resource to enhance and improve writing literacy and student engagement

A mechanical design of power generator using door openings for household use

Electricity is one of the most important human resources in the life of today's human being. It keeps the lights on, air conditioners and fans running throughout the hot weather and connecting people through smart phones. These household appliances will be causing higher dependency on electricity among consumers. The electricity requirements are hiking at alarming rate where the fossil fuels and other conventional resources that are being used for generation of electrical energy may no longer be sufficient to keep pace with increasing demand of the electrical energy of the world. This power generation depends on fossil fuel which also causes pollution and changes to the global climate. Thus, the main objective of this study is to propose a mechanical design of power generator which the input is from the movement of door openings. The power generator is designed and fabricated through various manufacturing processes and it consists of bevel gears, shafts and wheels. The power generator is then attached to a moving door and connected to a voltmeter. Result shows that the power generator is able to generate approximately of 12V and this is sufficient to charge a smart phone. To conclude, the designed power generator is not only environmental friendly but also has potential to be used by households because of its simple input requirement and small in size

Scaling Into the Future With Smartlinks

Citation: Bengtson, Jason. "Scaling Into the Future with Smart Links." Journal of Hospital Librarianship 12.4 (2012) : 378-383. PrintThe mobile revolution has changed the digital landscape in profound ways and it can be a struggle to keep up. A proliferation of websites have sprung up designed around the special needs of mobile devices; needs which include small screens, touch interaction, and limited bandwidth and processing power. By far the most commonly seen solution is for organizations or individuals seeking to be "mobile friendly" to create a "mobile site" mirroring their regular website. These mobile sites often showcase resources and features that would (or so the designers believe) be of particular interest to mobile users, packaged in Web design built around mobile device features. A persistent challenge is getting visitors to those sites, as anyone who has read my article about mobile redirect scripts knows. The approach to mobile, however, is evolving

Response of structures isolated with elastomeric bearings subjected to low-intensity earthquakes

When deformations of the rubber are small, its stiffness significantly increases. This increase of stiffness shortens the period of the structure and it may shift it into the resonant region in the earthquake acceleration spectrum. Therefore, the seismic isolation with elastomeric bearings may become ineffective. Due to the less effective base isolation the equipment installed in the structures can be particularly jeopardized. To identify when the standard elastomeric bearings become ineffective, a parametric study was performed. The yield force and yield displacement of bearings were varied. In this way the influence of the bearing nonlinearity and damping to the effectiveness of the base isolation was studied. The standard bilinear macro model of the elastomeric bearings could not be used in this parametric study, since it can not describe the response of the bearings in the small deformation range, realistically. Therefore, an enhanced macro model was studied and used in the analysis. Primarily, the floor acceleration spectra were analyzed since it was expected that the equipment, installed in the structures was jeopardized more than the structure itself. It was found that the standard elastomeric bearings were less effective when their response corresponding to the weaker earthquakes was more nonlinear. In these cases the applicability of the new smart semi-active elastomeric bearing, which can keep the stiffness independent of the load intensity was found feasible. This device is also briefly describe