Infant and Young Child Feces Management and Enabling Products for Their Hygienic Collection, Transport, and Disposal in Cambodia.

In Cambodia, children's feces are rarely disposed of in an improved sanitation facility. This study examines current practices and the role that enabling products may play in increasing hygienic management of infant and young child (IYC) feces in households with access to improved sanitation. A survey was conducted with the primary caregiver of a child under 5 years of age in 130 homes with an improved latrine in 21 villages across two provinces in Cambodia. Two focus group discussions per province were conducted after the survey to obtain caregiver feedback on new enabling products for hygienic management. Among caregivers, 63% reported child feces disposal in an improved latrine but only 36% reported doing so consistently. Besides child age, years of latrine ownership, caregiver age, consistency of adult latrine use, and presence of child feces management tools in the latrine were associated with hygienic disposal. The youngest caretakers with the newest latrines and youngest children were least likely to dispose of IYC feces hygienically, representing a key target group for interventions to improve hygienic disposal in Cambodia. Reusable diapers, child-friendly potties, and possibly latrine seats, that offer child safety, time and cost savings, and easy disposal and cleaning could potentially facilitate hygienic disposal for these ages

Understanding concurrent earcons: applying auditory scene analysis principles to concurrent earcon recognition

Two investigations into the identification of concurrently presented, structured sounds, called earcons were carried out. One of the experiments investigated how varying the number of concurrently presented earcons affected their identification. It was found that varying the number had a significant effect on the proportion of earcons identified. Reducing the number of concurrently presented earcons lead to a general increase in the proportion of presented earcons successfully identified. The second experiment investigated how modifying the earcons and their presentation, using techniques influenced by auditory scene analysis, affected earcon identification. It was found that both modifying the earcons such that each was presented with a unique timbre, and altering their presentation such that there was a 300 ms onset-to-onset time delay between each earcon were found to significantly increase identification. Guidelines were drawn from this work to assist future interface designers when incorporating concurrently presented earcons

Thermal Behavior of Mixtures of Perlite and Phase Change Materials in a Simulated Climate

Carefully controlled and well documented experiments have been done for two candidate configurations to control the heat load on a conditioned space. The 2:1 PCM/perlite mixture and the 6:1 PCM/perlite mixture, both on a weight basis, accomplished thermal control. The 2:1 system seemed to have enough PCM to be effective and involve a much larger fraction of its PCM in diurnal freezing and melting than the 6:1 system. It is a good starting point for engineering design of an optimum thermal control system. The results from the 2:1 system were reproduced with the computer program HEATING to prove that we know the relevant mechanisms and thermophysical properties of the PCM used in the system. Even without a model for the supersaturation and hysteresis that this material exhibited, HEATING reproduced the heat fluxes to the conditioned space in the experiments accurately enough to mirror the good thermal control performance of the system. The modified sensible heat capacity that was used in HEATING is a handy way to account for phase change effects and could be used in a subroutine to compute hourly phase change effects for whole building models like DOE-2. The experiments were done with PCM/perlite mixtures sealed in small methylmethacrylate boxes and covered top and bottom by XPS. The boxes allowed precise placement of the instrumentation used to follow the phase change effects. The XPS gave high R-value per unit thickness. A more practical prototype configuration such as PCM/perlite hermetically sealed in plastic pouches between layers of batts or blown-in insulation should be tested over a larger cross section. A good candidate is the whole attic cavity of the manufactured home test section used in the present work. Use of a PCM that does not exhibit supersaturation and hysteresis would make interpretation of the results easier. If the results of the larger scale test areas are as encouraging as the test cell results, a whole house model with a phase change algorithm should be constructed to optimize the configuration for the climate in which it will perform

The Long Period, Massive Binaries HD 37366 and HD 54662: Potential Targets for Long Baseline Optical Interferometry

We present the results from an optical spectroscopic analysis of the massive stars HD 37366 and HD 54662. We find that HD 37366 is a double-lined spectroscopic binary with a period of 31.8187 +/- 0.0004 days, and HD 54662 is also a double lined binary with a much longer period of 557.8 +/- 0.3 days. The primary of HD 37366 is classified as O9.5 V, and it contributes approximately two-thirds of the optical flux. The less luminous secondary is a broad-lined, early B-type main-sequence star. Tomographic reconstruction of the individual spectra of HD 37366 reveals absorption lines present in each component, enabling us to constrain the nature of the secondary and physical characteristics of both stars. Tomographic reconstruction was not possible for HD 54662; however, we do present mean spectra from our observations that show that the secondary component is approximately half as bright as the primary. The observed spectral energy distributions (SEDs) were fit with model SEDs and galactic reddening curves to determine the angular sizes of the stars. By assuming radii appropriate for their classifications, we determine distance ranges of 1.4 - 1.9 and 1.2 - 1.5 kpc for HD 37366 and HD 54662, respectively.Comment: 27 pages, 8 figures, Accepted for publication in Ap

Thermal behavior of mixtures of perlite and phase change material in a simulated climate

A new concept for use of phase change material (PCM) in building envelopes has been investigated. The concept is called a RCR system in analogy to an electrical circuit with a capacitor between two resistors. Here, the thermal capacitance of the PCM is sandwiched between the thermal resistance of conventional insulation. The PCM used was hydrated calcium chloride dispersed in perlite and contained in watertight test cells. One cell had a PCM/perlite ratio of 2:1 by weight; the other had a 6:1 mixture. Extruded polystyrene (XPS) was the insulation below and above the PCM. Heat-flux transducers on the top and bottom of each cell as well as thermocouples from the top to the bottom of each cell allowed them to follow closely the progression of freezing and melting in the PCM as the authors subjected the cells to both steady and diurnally varying simulated outside temperatures. Computer modeling with a transient heat conduction program was successful in proving that they understood the relevant energy transfer mechanisms and thermophysical properties. For the diurnal cycles, with twice the amount of XPS below as above the PCM, much of the energy stored during daytime by melting PCM flowed to the outside at night when it froze again. Comparisons were made to the behavior of conventional insulation. With PCM, the total daily energy flow into the conditioned space below the test cells was lower and the peak flow rate was delayed in time and decreased in magnitude

Working with Children with Learning Disabilities and/or who Communicate Non-verbally: Research experiences and their implications for social work education, increased participation and social inclusion

Social exclusion, although much debated in the UK, frequently focuses on children as a key 'at risk' group. However, some groups, such as disabled children, receive less consideration. Similarly, despite both UK and international policy and guidance encouraging the involvement of disabled children and their right to participate in decision-making arenas, they are frequently denied this right. UK based evidence suggests that disabled children's participation lags behind that of their non-disabled peers, often due to social work practitioners' lack of skills, expertise and knowledge on how to facilitate participation. The exclusion of disabled children from decision-making in social care processes echoes their exclusion from participation in society. This paper seeks to begin to address this situation, and to provide some examples of tools that social work educators can introduce into pre- and post-qualifying training programmes, as well as in-service training. The paper draws on the experiences of researchers using non-traditional qualitative research methods, especially non-verbal methods, and describes two research projects, focusing on the methods employed to communicate with and involve disabled children, the barriers encountered and lessons learnt. Some of the ways in which these methods of communication can inform social work education are explored alongside wider issues of how and if increased communication can facilitate greater social inclusion

Oval Domes: History, Geometry and Mechanics

An oval dome may be defined as a dome whose plan or profile (or both) has an oval form. The word Aoval@ comes from the latin Aovum@, egg. Then, an oval dome has an egg-shaped geometry. The first buildings with oval plans were built without a predetermined form, just trying to close an space in the most economical form. Eventually, the geometry was defined by using arcs of circle with common tangents in the points of change of curvature. Later the oval acquired a more regular form with two axis of symmetry. Therefore, an “oval” may be defined as an egg-shaped form, doubly symmetric, constructed with arcs of circle; an oval needs a minimum of four centres, but it is possible also to build polycentric ovals. The above definition corresponds with the origin and the use of oval forms in building and may be applied without problem until, say, the XVIIIth century. Since then, the teaching of conics in the elementary courses of geometry made the cultivated people to define the oval as an approximation to the ellipse, an “imperfect ellipse”: an oval was, then, a curve formed with arcs of circles which tries to approximate to the ellipse of the same axes. As we shall see, the ellipse has very rarely been used in building. Finally, in modern geometrical textbooks an oval is defined as a smooth closed convex curve, a more general definition which embraces the two previous, but which is of no particular use in the study of the employment of oval forms in building. The present paper contains the following parts: 1) an outline the origin and application of the oval in historical architecture; 2) a discussion of the spatial geometry of oval domes, i. e., the different methods employed to trace them; 3) a brief exposition of the mechanics of oval arches and domes; and 4) a final discussion of the role of Geometry in oval arch and dome design

An Experimental and Analytical Evaluation of Wall And Window Retrofit Configurations: Supporting the Residential Retrofit Best Practices Guide

A Retrofit Best Practices Guide was developed to encourage homeowners to consider energy conservation issues whenever they modify their siding or windows. In support of this guide, an experimental program was implemented to measure the performance of a number of possible wall siding and window retrofit configurations. Both thermal and air-leakage measurements were made for a 2.4 x 2.4 m (8 x 8 ft) wall section with and without a 0.9 x 1.2 m (3 x 4 ft) window. The windows tested were previously well-characterized at a dedicated window test facility. A computer model was also used to provide information for the Best Practices Guide. The experimental data for walls and windows were used in conjunction with this model to estimate the total annual energy savings for several typical houses in a number of different locations