Applying fuzzy-set theoretic poverty measures within a developmental local government context : the Khayelitsha - Mitchell's Plain case study

Includes bibliographical references (leaves 100-108).This paper attempts to demonstrate the importance of the linkage between the presence of poverty and the nature of governance, something largely omitted from poverty studies in South Africa. The context of this investigation was the establishment of the new local government model (i.e. Developmental Local Government), which puts governance at the forefront of addressing poverty effectively. The new governance model adopts a multidimensional poverty paradigm in its Integrated Development Planning (IDP). However, in this study we have examined whether the approach adopted (i.e. Basic Needs) is necessarily the best multidimensional approach available. We have given preference to the capabilities approach with its emphasis on well-being where people are the beneficiaries of development rather than the basic needs approach where the emphasis is on goods and services as a means to good life. Sen's Capabilities Approach was operationalised by adopting a relatively new methodology (Le. fuzzy-set theoretic poverty measures) for measuring multidimensional poverty in the Khayelitsha Mitchell's Plain (KMP) magisterial district using the Census 2001 dataset. Our results show that unemployment, housing and low incomes need the most attention in KMP. Furthermore, the fuzzy-set measures, which view poverty as opaque and vague, yield more detailed policy information, thus preventing the single-policy response dominating many IDPs at present. As a medium term policy response, it is suggested that the implementation of the extended public works programme in KMP has the potential to significantly address both the material and non-material capability failure existing in KMP

Artificial Intelligence-based Cybersecurity for Connected and Automated Vehicles

The damaging effects of cyberattacks to an industry like the Cooperative Connected and Automated Mobility (CCAM) can be tremendous. From the least important to the worst ones, one can mention for example the damage in the reputation of vehicle manufacturers, the increased denial of customers to adopt CCAM, the loss of working hours (having direct impact on the European GDP), material damages, increased environmental pollution due e.g., to traffic jams or malicious modifications in sensors’ firmware, and ultimately, the great danger for human lives, either they are drivers, passengers or pedestrians. Connected vehicles will soon become a reality on our roads, bringing along new services and capabilities, but also technical challenges and security threats. To overcome these risks, the CARAMEL project has developed several anti-hacking solutions for the new generation of vehicles. CARAMEL (Artificial Intelligence-based Cybersecurity for Connected and Automated Vehicles), a research project co-funded by the European Union under the Horizon 2020 framework programme, is a project consortium with 15 organizations from 8 European countries together with 3 Korean partners. The project applies a proactive approach based on Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning techniques to detect and prevent potential cybersecurity threats to autonomous and connected vehicles. This approach has been addressed based on four fundamental pillars, namely: Autonomous Mobility, Connected Mobility, Electromobility, and Remote Control Vehicle. This book presents theory and results from each of these technical directions

Towards Improving the Properties and Furthering Acceptance of Advanced Technology Nuclear Fuels

To avoid detrimental environmental impacts from climate change, the world community needs to push for the use of clean energy technologies. Development of proposed advanced technology nuclear fuels supports efforts to ensure nuclear energy is included as a non-carbon emitting source of electricity generation. Advanced technology nuclear fuels, also referred to as accident tolerant fuels (ATFs), have received renewed interest for use in the current nuclear reactor fleet as well as in advanced reactor technologies due to their high uranium loading, desirable thermophysical properties, and performance under irradiation as compared to the benchmark oxide fuel. A limiting consideration for the implementation of these ATFs is their poor performance in oxidative and corrosion conditions, as well as challenges associated with synthesis and fabrication. As a full understanding of these ATFs has not been achieved, this work aims to advance the state of knowledge related to these fuels and their composites in corrosion conditions, their grain growth mechanisms, and includes efforts to improve thermal conductivity in the benchmark oxide fuel using these ATFs. Chapter Two presents a study of uranium mononitride (UN) and UN composites with uranium dioxide (UO2) under hydrothermal corrosion conditions to assess the mechanism of degradation at elevated temperatures, identified as secondary phase formation at the grain boundaries leading to pellet collapse. Chapter Three combines experimental and theoretical studies of composite systems, UN-Zr and UN-Y, for the purposes of improving the corrosion resistance of monolithic UN. The results indicate the formation of undesirable secondary phases in the sintered materials and provided insight to the atomic level structural changes which occurred due to the addition of the metallic constituents. An extensive review (included as Appendices A, B, and C) of the state of the literature for oxidation performance of UN, triuranium disilicide (U3Si2), uranium carbide (UC), and uranium diboride (UB2), was performed to identify the challenges and opportunities to alloyed and composite architectures of these ATF candidates to mitigate corrosion behavior. In addition, an understanding of the microstructural evolution during the fabrication of various fuel forms, such as grain growth, is important in predicting its performance under irradiation (e.g., fracture, creep, fission gas release, thermal conductivity, etc.). Accordingly, it is important to understand the driving force behind grain growth and the factors which influence it. Chapter Four presents a fundamental study on grain growth in conventionally sintered UN. The study identified the most likely mechanism and proposed an activation energy for grain growth with a discussion on the factors that influenced it, as well as the lack of expected texture present in the sintered samples. Chapter Five describes work on successful incorporation of uranium diboride (UB2, another ATF candidate) to a UO2 matrix via conventional fabrication and sintering methods, for the purposes of improving overall thermal conductivity of the bulk composite. Presented together, this work provides foundational inquiry and analysis which can be used to further research on ATF candidates and assist in acceleration of qualifying these fuels for use in the current and future nuclear reactor fleets

Artificial Intelligence-based Cybersecurity for Connected and Automated Vehicles

The damaging effects of cyberattacks to an industry like the Cooperative Connected and Automated Mobility (CCAM) can be tremendous. From the least important to the worst ones, one can mention for example the damage in the reputation of vehicle manufacturers, the increased denial of customers to adopt CCAM, the loss of working hours (having direct impact on the European GDP), material damages, increased environmental pollution due e.g., to traffic jams or malicious modifications in sensors’ firmware, and ultimately, the great danger for human lives, either they are drivers, passengers or pedestrians. Connected vehicles will soon become a reality on our roads, bringing along new services and capabilities, but also technical challenges and security threats. To overcome these risks, the CARAMEL project has developed several anti-hacking solutions for the new generation of vehicles. CARAMEL (Artificial Intelligence-based Cybersecurity for Connected and Automated Vehicles), a research project co-funded by the European Union under the Horizon 2020 framework programme, is a project consortium with 15 organizations from 8 European countries together with 3 Korean partners. The project applies a proactive approach based on Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning techniques to detect and prevent potential cybersecurity threats to autonomous and connected vehicles. This approach has been addressed based on four fundamental pillars, namely: Autonomous Mobility, Connected Mobility, Electromobility, and Remote Control Vehicle. This book presents theory and results from each of these technical directions

Scalable Nanophotonic Light Management Design for Solar Cells

The current trend in wide adoption of solar energy is encouraging in the context of current projections of increasing energy consumption and the dire need to decrease carbon emissions. The solar industry has expanded due to scientific advances in the power conversion efficiency of solar modules. In order maintain a rapid pace of adoption and further decrease electricity costs, converting each photon becomes increasingly important. This work focuses on nanophotonic approaches to increasing the power conversion efficiency of different solar photovoltaic designs. The projects voluntarily impose certain design constraints in order to be compatible with the large scale manufacturing needed by the solar industry. A focus was given to designs that can leverage the promising technology of nanoimprint lithography. Amorphous silicon tandem cells with embedded nanophotonic patterning attempted to increase absorption while minimizing materials and time costs. Simulated designs of Copper Indium Gallium Diselenide absorbers showed that the management of excited carriers is equally as important as light management in decreasingly thin absorber layers. Near perfect anti-reflection structures were given a detailed physical analysis to better describe the fundamental physics of near zero reflection due to nanocones printed on solar cell encapsulation glass. Experimental results agreed with the theoretical analysis, and showed that these nanostructures further increased absorbed photocurrent by trapping light in the encapsulation glass. Finally, a unique device in the form of a tandem luminescent solar concentrator/silicon solar module was proposed and analyzed as a low cost and adaptable technology for increased solar power conversion efficiency. Key to this design was discovery of new, near-perfect components for light management. Exciting and innovative designs are proposed to control the light-matter interaction within these devices. Study of a photonic luminescent solar concentrator predicted that luminescence can be trapped in photonic crystal slab waveguides with near zero loss. Rigorous experimental efforts to characterize a multitude of near-perfect samples help guide these designs toward their final goals

Advanced Modeling, Control, and Optimization Methods in Power Hybrid Systems - 2021

The climate changes that are becoming visible today are a challenge for the global research community. In this context, renewable energy sources, fuel cell systems and other energy generating sources must be optimally combined and connected to the grid system using advanced energy transaction methods. As this reprint presents the latest solutions in the implementation of fuel cell and renewable energy in mobile and stationary applications such as hybrid and microgrid power systems based on the Energy Internet, blockchain technology and smart contracts, we hope that they will be of interest to readers working in the related fields mentioned above

The intractable refugee gap in the Nordics: can human rights make a difference?

It is often postulated that third, faraway non-adjacent countries, the Nordics for example, collaborate with UNHCR, to permanently resettle a few refugees on a quota basis, as a ground to provide a durable solution to one of the most intractable refugee situations. Although, the decision is discretionary and benevolent, it is nonetheless grounded in international customary law since, normatively, refugees are to be protected from acts of persecution, scenes of desolation and other glaring human rights abuses, even by States which are yet to sign or formally ratify the Refugee Convention and the Refugee Protocol. The sought-after solution, however, often becomes a short-term palliative because, nearly half of the refugees partially, intermittently, or never participate in gainful employment. The act violates one of the most fundamental and internationally recognized right to work. Under similar circumstances, other social and economic rights are also violated because, human rights are universal, indivisible, and interdependent and interrelated. The violation results in the Refugee Gap, which calls for crafting remedies even when the causal linkages, the prima facie evidences, sound too remote from justiciability. This thesis approached the Gap using a novel method, by means of a multidisciplinary approach. It looked at the discrete events that cause and perpetuate the Gap, and how the natural consequences are captured and synthesized, using principles and norms developed from international human rights, regional as well as domestic jurisprudence. In the short-term, even when economic and social rights are fully respected at minimum level, the Gap is ineluctable because of refugees’ endogenous vulnerabilities. In the long-term, however, the Gap is symptomatic of the States’ partial failure to respect, protect, and fulfil, the ipso facto human rights obligations. Finally, the exogenous factors which refugees have no much control over, are so powerful, that crafting remedies becomes an intricate process. Therefore, the panacea to the Gap and the full realization of refugees’ right to work, inter alia, cannot be achieved without full commitment from authorities

2D Steep Transistor Technology: Overcoming Fundamental Barriers in Low-Power Electronics and Ultra-Sensitive Biosensors

In order to sustain the unprecedented growth of the Information Technology, it is necessary to achieve dimensional scalability along with power reduction, which is a daunting challenge. In this dissertation, two-dimensional (2D) materials are explored as promising materials for future electronics since they can, not only enable dimensional scaling without degradation of device electrostatics but it is also shown here, that they are highly potential candidate for interconnects and passive devices. 2D semiconductors are investigated for transistor applications, and novel approach for doping using nanoparticle functionalization is developed. It is also demonstrated that these materials can lead to ideal transfer characteristics. Aimed towards on-chip interconnect and inductor applications, the first detailed methodology for the accurate evaluation of high-frequency impedance of graphene is presented. Using the developed method the intricate high-frequency effects in graphene such as Anomalous Skin Effect (ASE), high-frequency resistance and inductance saturation, intercoupled relation between edge specularity and ASE and the influence of linear dimensions on impedance are investigated in detail for the first time. While 2D materials can address the issue of dimensional scalability, power reduction requires scaling of power supply voltage, which is difficult due to the fundamental thermionic limitation in the steepness of turn-ON characteristics or subthreshold swing (SS) of conventional Field-Effect-Transistors (FETs). To address this issue, a detailed theoretical and experimental analysis of fundamentally different carrier transport mechanism, based on quantum mechanical band-to-band tunneling (BTBT) is presented. This dissertation elucidates an underlying physical concept behind the BTBT process and provides clear insight into the interplay between electron and hole characteristics of carriers within the forbidden gap during tunneling. Moreover, a novel methodology for increasing the BTBT current through incorporation of metallic nanoparticles at the tunnel junction is proposed and theoretically analyzed, followed by experimental demonstration as proof of concept, which can open up new avenues for enhancing the performance of Tunneling-Field-Effect-Transistors (TFETs). This dissertation, also establishes, for the first time, that the material and device technology which have evolved mainly with an aim of sustaining the glorious scaling trend of Information Technology, can also revolutionize a completely diverse field of bio/gas-sensor technology. The unique advantages of 2D semiconductor for electrical sensors is demonstrated and it is shown that they lead to ultra-high sensitivity, and also provide an attractive pathway for single molecular detectability- the holy grail for all biosensing research. Moreover, it is theoretically illustrated that steep turn-ON characteristics, obtained through novel technology such as BTBT, can result in unprecedented performance improvement compared to that of conventional electrical biosensors, with around 4 orders of magnitude higher sensitivity and 10-fold lower detection time. With a view to building ultra-scaled low power electronics as well as highly efficient sensors, new generation of van-der Waal's BTBT junctions combining 2D with 3D materials is proposed and experimentally demonstrated, which not only retain the advantages of 2D films but also leverages the matured doping technology of 3D materials, thus harnessing the best of both worlds. These attributes are instrumental in the achievement of unprecedented BTBT current, which is more than 3 orders of magnitude higher than that of best reported 2D heterojunctions till date. Finally, with the optimization of the novel heterojunctions, this dissertation also achieves a significant milestone, furnishing the first experimental demonstration of TFETs based on 2D channel material to beat the fundamental limitation in subthreshold swing (SS). This device is the first ever TFET, in a planar architecture to achieve sub-thermionic SS over 4 decades of drain current, a necessary characteristic prescribed by the International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors and in fact, the only TFET to date, to achieve so, in any architecture and in any material platform, at a low power-supply voltage of 0.1 V. It also represents the world's thinnest channel sub-thermionic transistor, thus, cracking the long-standing issue of simultaneous dimensional and power supply scalability and hence, can lead to a paradigm shift in information technology as well as healthcare

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