Digital inclusion - the vision, the challenges and the way forward

This paper considers the vision and aspiration of digital inclusion, and then examines the current reality. It looks beyond the rhetoric to provide an analysis of the status quo, a consideration of some facilitators and challenges to progress and some suggestions for moving forward with renewed energy and commitment. The far-reaching benefits of digital inclusion and the crucial role it plays in enabling full participation in our digital society are considered. At the heart of the vision of universal digital inclusion is the deceptively simple goal to ensure that everyone is able to access and experience the wide-ranging benefits and transformational opportunities and impacts it offers. The reality is a long way from the vision: inequality of access still exists despite many national campaigns and initiatives to reduce it. The benefits and beneficiaries of a digital society are not just the individual but all stakeholders in the wider society. Research evidence has shown that the critical success factors for successful digital participation are (i) appropriate design and (ii) readily available and on-going ICT (Information and Communication Technology) support in the community. Challenges and proven solutions are presented. The proposition of community hubs in local venues to provide user-centred ICT support and learning for older and disabled people is presented. While the challenges to achieve digital inclusion are very considerable, the knowledge of how to achieve it and the technologies which enable it already exist. Harnessing of political will is necessary to make digital inclusion a reality rather than a vision. With the cooperation and commitment of all stakeholders actualisation of the vision of a digitally inclusive society, while challenging, can be achieved and will yield opportunities and rewards that eclipse the cost of implementation

Acylation and alkylation of 1, 3-dimethoxybenzene in polyphosphoric acid

Products of the reaction of 3-halo- and 3-ethoxypropionic acids with 1,3-dimethoxybenzene (4) in polyphosphoric acid have been shown to be 2',4'-dimethoxy-3-(2,4-dimethoxyphenyl)-propiophenone (6) and 1,5-bis[3-(2,4-dimethoxyphenyl)-3-keto-propyl]-2,4-dimethoxybenzene (15) and these have been prepared by unambiguous syntheses. 2',4'-Dimethoxy-3-ethoxypropiophenone (3a) and 2',3,4'- trimethoxypropiophenone (3d) have been synthesized by the reaction of 3-chloro-2',4'-dimethoxypropiophenone (3c) with ethanol and methanol respectively

Analytical and Experimental Investigation of Flow Through a Turbine Vane Cascade .

Present day military aero-gas turbines demand higher stage loadings for turbines so as to meet the growing for higher thrust/power with fuel consumption. This calls for improved methods of blade element profiles. Details of a computer code developed for the design of blade elements for the prescribed distribution of surface velocity (Mach number) based on Stanitz's inverse methods are presented in this paper. Effects of boundary layer growth on the blade surface has also been incorporated in this code. Turbine vane was designed making use of this program and a four-bladed cascade was fabricated. It was tested in a blow down wind tunnel for different blowing pressures and stagger angles. Mach number distribution was determined from measured static pressure on the suction and pressure surfaces of the blade. Based on stream filament technique a computer code was developed to predict the characteristics of flow thorough a blade cascade. Results of this study show reasonable agreement between experimentally obtained Mach number distribution and the initially prescribed as well as analytically predicted Mach number distributions

Free energy analysis of binary alloys at phase transition

Order-disorder transformation in alloys is a fascinating and extensively studied problem for many years. This transformation has been studied widely using the two state Ising model. But vacancies are not considered in two state Ising model, which may play an important rule in determining the composition of stable configuration. So we used three state Ising model which takes vacancies also at lattice sites. To make a realistic study we haveincluded kinetic energy of the particles in the total Hamiltonian

Digital inclusion: the vision and reality

The benefits of a digitally inclusive society are vast and the need for such inclusion is now a requirement for full participation in our society. While the basic concept of universal digital inclusion is simple, the reality is a long way from the vision. Despite efforts to reduce it, inequality of access still exists. The beneficiaries of a digital society are not just the individual, but all stakeholders in the wider society. While the challenges to achieve a fully inclusive digital society are considerable, the knowledge of how to create such a society already exists. The creation of local venues f or inclusively designed ICT (Information and Communications Technology), support and learning in familiar places along with the harnessing of political will could make such a society a reality rather than a vision. With the cooperation of all stakeholders , actualisation of the vision of a digitally inclusive society, while challenging, will yield opportunities that eclipse the cost of implementation

Electron beam induced deposition of silacyclohexane and dichlorosilacyclohexane: the role of dissociative ionization and dissociative electron attachment in the deposition process

We present first experiments on electron beam induced deposition of silacyclohexane (SCH) and dichlorosilacyclohexane (DCSCH) under a focused high-energy electron beam (FEBID). We compare the deposition dynamics observed when growing pillars of high aspect ratio from these compounds and we compare the proximity effect observed for these compounds. The two precursors show similar behaviour with regards to fragmentation through dissociative ionization in the gas phase under single-collision conditions. However, while DCSCH shows appreciable cross sections with regards to dissociative electron attachment, SCH is inert with respect to this process. We discuss our deposition experiments in context of the efficiency of these different electron-induced fragmentation processes. With regards to the deposition dynamics, we observe a substantially faster growth from DCSCH and a higher saturation diameter when growing pillars with high aspect ratio. However, both compounds show similar behaviour with regards to the proximity effect. With regards to the composition of the deposits, we observe that the C/Si ratio is similar for both compounds and in both cases close to the initial molecular stoichiometry. The oxygen content in the DCSCH deposits is about double that of the SCH deposits. Only marginal chlorine is observed in the deposits of from DCSCH. We discuss these observations in context of potential approaches for Si deposition.CWH likes to thank Luc van Kessel, Kerim Arat and Sebastiaan Lokhorst for their assistance with the Monte Carlo simulations of Figure 10. OI acknowledges supported from the Icelandic Center of Research (RANNIS) Grant No. 13049305(1-3) and the University of Iceland Research Fund. RKTP acknowledges a doctoral grant from the University of Iceland Research Fund and financial support from the COST Action CM1301; CELINA, for short term scientific missions (STSMs)Peer Reviewe

Spectrophotometric determination of trace amounts of cadmium with iodide and methyl violet

445-446A selective spectrophotometric method based on the interaction of an anionic iodo complex of cadmium with methyl violet has been described for the determination of trace amounts of cadmium. The developed method is precise, accurate and has been applied to determination of cadmium at trace levels (25 ppb) in sea water and high purity samples of indium and zinc materials

Biochemical characterization and 16s rRNA sequencing of different bacteria from textile dye effluents

Environmental pollution has been identified as a major problem in the modern world. Dyeing effluents have become a vital source of water pollution. Release of coloured textile effluents is undesirable in the aquatic environment as they reduce light penetration, thereby affecting aquatic life and limits utilization of the water media. In Tirupur, the textile factories discharge millions of litres of untreated effluents into the drains that eventually empty into river, Noyyal. The release of coloured compound into water bodies is undesirable not only because of their impact on photosynthesis of aquatic plants but also due to the carcinogenic nature of these dyes and their breakdown products. The ability of bacterial strains isolated from the dye effluent of textile mill sites. Morphological and biochemical characterization was done to identify isolates and was found to be Pseudomonas spp, Bacillus spp and Serattia spp. The isolated strains were finally identified by 16S rRNA sequence analysis. Bacteria are generally identified by 16S rRNA sequencing. The rRNA is the most conserved (least variable) gene in all cells. They were identified as Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Bacillus amyloliquefaciens and Serattia liquefaciens. The sequences were deposited in GENBANK. The accession numbers were KU041528, KU041530 and KU041531 respectively. The identification was conformed by 16S rRNA sequencing. Keywords: Textile Dye Effluents, Bacteria, 16S rRNA, NCBI