212 research outputs found
Fecal Sludge Management: a comparative assessment of 12 cities
This paper outlines the findings of a fecal sludge management (FSM) initial scoping study in twelve cities. This short, desk-based study used innovative tools to assess the institutional context and the outcome in terms of the amount of fecal sludge safely managed. A range of cities was included in the review, all in low- and middle-income countries. None of the cities studied managed fecal sludge effectively, although performance varied. Where cities are seeking to address fecal sludge challenges the solutions are, at best, only partial, with a focus on sewerage which serves a small minority in most cases. FSM requires strong city-level oversight and an enabling environment that drives coordinated actions along the sanitation service chain; this was largely absent in the cities studied. Based on the findings of the review a typology of cities was developed to aid the identification of key interventions to improve FSM service delivery. Additional work is recommended to further improve the tools used in this study in order to enable better understanding of the FSM challenges and identify appropriate operational solutions
Fecal Sludge Management: analytical tools for assessing FSM in cities
This paper describes the results of a research study which aimed in part to develop a method for rapidly assessing fecal sludge management (FSM) in low- and middle-income cities. The method uses innovative tools to assess both the institutional context and the outcome in terms of the amount of fecal sludge safely managed. To assess FSM outcomes, a fecal sludge matrix and accompanying flow diagram was developed to illustrate the different pathways fecal sludge takes from containment in water closets, pits and tanks, through to treatment and reuse/disposal. This was supplemented by an FSM service delivery assessment (SDA) tool which measures the quality of the enabling environment, the level of service development and the level of commitment to service sustainability. The tools were developed through an iterative process of literature review, consultation and case studies. This paper considers previous work done on FSM, suggest reasons why it is often neglected in favour of sewerage, and highlights the importance of supporting the increasing focus on solving the FSM challenge. The tools are presented here as useful initial scoping instruments for use in advocacy around the need for a change in policy, funding or indeed a city’s overall approach to urban sanitation
Diagnostics for assessing city-wide sanitation services
Abstract
This paper presents results of research that has developed a set of diagnostic and decision-support tools for assessing sanitation services city-wide. It highlights features of the tools and illustrates key results from their validation through application in five cities worldwide. Collective use of these tools reveals and explains the complexities of the enabling environment and political economy within which sanitation services are delivered. Results present not only the status quo of services but also reasons for them being so. The tools have proven effective in guiding the collection, analysis and discussion of evidence, as a precursor to detailed feasibility studies, necessary to ultimately plan appropriate city-wide sanitation interventions.</jats:p
Geologically recent areas as one key target for identifying active volcanism on Venus
The recently selected NASA VERITAS and DAVINCI missions, the ESA EnVision, the Roscosmos Venera-D will open a new era in the exploration of Venus. One of the key targets of the future orbiting and in situ investigations of Venus is the identification of volcanically active areas on the planet. The study of the areas characterized by recent or ongoing volcano-tectonic activity can inform us on how volcanism and tectonism are currently evolving on Venus. Following this key target, Brossier et al. (2022, https://doi.org/10.1029/2022GL099765) extend the successful approach and methodology used by previous works to Ganis Chasma in Atla Regio. Here we comment on the main results published in Brossier et al. (2022, https://doi.org/10.1029/2022GL099765) and discuss the important implications of their work for the future orbiting and in situ investigation of Venus. Their results add further lines of evidence indicating possibly recent volcanism on Venus
Underground railroads: citizen entitlements and unauthorized mobility in the antebellum period and today
In recent years, some scholars and prominent political figures have advocated the deepening of North American integration on roughly the European Union model, including the creation of new political institutions and the free movement of workers across borders. The construction of such a North American Union, if it included even a very thin trans-state citizenship regime, could represent the most significant expansion of individual entitlements in the region since citizenship was extended to former slaves in the United States. With such a possibility as its starting point, this article explores some striking parallels between the mass, legally prohibited movement across boundaries by fugitive slaves in the pre-Civil War period, and that by current unauthorized migrants to the United States. Both were, or are, met on their journeys by historically parallel groups of would-be helpers and hinderers. Their unauthorized movements in both periods serve as important signals of incomplete entitlements or institutional protections. Most crucially, moral arguments for extending fuller entitlements to both groups are shown here to be less distinct than may be prima facie evident, reinforcing the case for expanding and deepening the regional membership regime
Internally Electrodynamic Particle Model: Its Experimental Basis and Its Predictions
The internally electrodynamic (IED) particle model was derived based on
overall experimental observations, with the IED process itself being built
directly on three experimental facts, a) electric charges present with all
material particles, b) an accelerated charge generates electromagnetic waves
according to Maxwell's equations and Planck energy equation and c) source
motion produces Doppler effect. A set of well-known basic particle equations
and properties become predictable based on first principles solutions for the
IED process; several key solutions achieved are outlined, including the de
Broglie phase wave, de Broglie relations, Schr\"odinger equation, mass,
Einstein mass-energy relation, Newton's law of gravity, single particle self
interference, and electromagnetic radiation and absorption; these equations and
properties have long been broadly experimentally validated or demonstrated. A
specific solution also predicts the Doebner-Goldin equation which emerges to
represent a form of long-sought quantum wave equation including gravity. A
critical review of the key experiments is given which suggests that the IED
process underlies the basic particle equations and properties not just
sufficiently but also necessarily.Comment: Presentation at the 27th Int Colloq on Group Theo Meth in Phys, 200
The International Urban Energy Balance Models Comparison Project: First Results from Phase 1
A large number of urban surface energy balance models now exist with different assumptions about the
important features of the surface and exchange processes that need to be incorporated. To date, no com-
parison of these models has been conducted; in contrast, models for natural surfaces have been compared
extensively as part of the Project for Intercomparison of Land-surface Parameterization Schemes. Here, the
methods and first results from an extensive international comparison of 33 models are presented. The aim of
the comparison overall is to understand the complexity required to model energy and water exchanges in
urban areas. The degree of complexity included in the models is outlined and impacts on model performance
are discussed. During the comparison there have been significant developments in the models with resulting
improvements in performance (root-mean-square error falling by up to two-thirds). Evaluation is based on a
dataset containing net all-wave radiation, sensible heat, and latent heat flux observations for an industrial area in
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The aim of the comparison is twofold: to identify those modeling ap-
proaches that minimize the errors in the simulated fluxes of the urban energy balance and to determine the
degree of model complexity required for accurate simulations. There is evidence that some classes of models
perform better for individual fluxes but no model performs best or worst for all fluxes. In general, the simpler
models perform as well as the more complex models based on all statistical measures. Generally the schemes
have best overall capability to model net all-wave radiation and least capability to model latent heat flux
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