Development and prioritization of socio-economic strategies to elevate public participation in natural resource management using TOPSIS approach; Case Study: Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari Province (Iran)

Proper implementation of the participatory projects to conserve national natural resources has become much more important over the recent decades. This socio-economic research seeks developing effective strategies to increase public participation in experts' opinions of Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari Province (Iran), in order to achieve sustainable and integrated management of natural resources. In the first step, the literature review led to the identification of 57 social parameters influencing public participation in the province. In the second step, from the parameters identified, with the help of the Delphi technique, 15 parameters were finalized by experts. This led to the formulation of the effective socioeconomic strategies in the study area. The next step was to prioritize these parameters. For this purpose, the Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) was used in Topsis solver software. The study’s statistical population was comprised of the executive experts of Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari Province. The results of the prioritization indicated that the strategy of "the development of alternative livelihoods (A6)" ranks first with normal weight of 0.31, followed by "focus on profitable projects (A2)" with the normal weight of 0.2, and "strengthening social cohesion and trust (A7 )" with the normal weight of 0.12, as the most important strategies to increase public participation. The results of this study can be used by managers and executive decision-makers to protect natural resources and increase feasibility of management activities in Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari Province.Keywords: Strategies effective on public participation, Delphi technique, Executive experts, TOPSIS, Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari Provinc

Electroactive polymers for sensing.

Electromechanical coupling in electroactive polymers (EAPs) has been widely applied for actuation and is also being increasingly investigated for sensing chemical and mechanical stimuli. EAPs are a unique class of materials, with low-moduli high-strain capabilities and the ability to conform to surfaces of different shapes. These features make them attractive for applications such as wearable sensors and interfacing with soft tissues. Here, we review the major types of EAPs and their sensing mechanisms. These are divided into two classes depending on the main type of charge carrier: ionic EAPs (such as conducting polymers and ionic polymer-metal composites) and electronic EAPs (such as dielectric elastomers, liquid-crystal polymers and piezoelectric polymers). This review is intended to serve as an introduction to the mechanisms of these materials and as a first step in material selection for both researchers and designers of flexible/bendable devices, biocompatible sensors or even robotic tactile sensing units.This is the final version of the article. It first appeared from The Royal Society Publishing via https://doi.org/10.1098/rsfs.2016.002

Functional conductive nanomaterials via polymerisation in nano-channels: PEDOT in a MOF.

Reactions inside the pores of metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) offer potential for controlling polymer structures with regularity to sub-nanometre scales. We report a wet-chemistry route to poly-3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene (PEDOT)-MOF composites. After a two-step removal of the MOF template we obtain unique and stable macroscale structures of this conductive polymer with some nanoscale regularity.The project is funded through the European Research Council (ERC) grant (grant number: EMATTER 280078). AKC thanks the Ras Al Khaimah Center for Advanced Materials (RAK-CAM). JDWM and MF acknowledge funding through a Discovery Grant from The Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC). TW thanks the China Scholarship Council (CSC) for funding and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council of the UK (EPSRC) Centre for Doctoral Training in Sensor Technologies and Applications (grant number: EP/L015889/1) for support. SH acknowledges the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation for funding. SS is funded through a scholarship from the Cambridge Overseas Trust. JSB thanks the Isaac Newton Trust for financial support for the FEI Tecnait TEM. The authors would also like to show the gratitude to Phenom-World for the use of the Phenom Pro X SEM and Dr Suman-Lata Sahonta for the help with Raman spectroscopy.This is the final version of the article. It first appeared from the Royal Society of Chemistry at http://dx.doi.org/10.1039/c6mh00230g

Fabrication and non-linear modeling of conducting polymer-based actuators : toward catheter and tactile display applications

The low voltage operation and relatively high strain response of conducting polymer actuators have made their use in different applications of great interest. In this thesis, modeling and characterization of the chemoelectromechanical behaviour of the linear freestanding and bending trilayer conducting polymer-based actuators are presented. In the modeling approach, a combination of state space representation and a two-dimensional RC transmission line was employed to develop the time domain model. Electrical and ionic conductivities and also Young’s modulus versus oxidation state were measured and incorporated into the model. Significant changes in conductivity and Young’s modulus make using a non-linear model necessary for accurate modeling. Implementation of the non-linear functions for electrical and mechanical properties in the model is one of the major advantages of the modeling approach. Capability of the model to predict the linear strain and radius of curvature for bending trilayer actuators versus time and position with good agreement with experiments are shown in this thesis. Voltage drop along the length of the film, away from the attachment point and the variation in electrical conductivity with state of charge along this length necessitated the use of a 2D non-linear model to obtain effective predictions of response for the film dimension used. Tubular actuators using conducting polymers as the active material for a catheter application are developed. Laser micromachining to pattern the actuators is demonstrated. A 0.95 mm diameter device is shown to achieve a 22 mm radius of curvature under activation of 2 V. A closed form beam bending model for trilayer actuators with tubular and rectangular cross sections is derived. These formulations predict the radius of curvature as a function of applied voltage and free strain considering different Young’s modulus for conducting polymer layers. This derivation is also useful for other multilayer actuators. The force generated by trilayer actuators is an important parameter which is investigated in this work. Mathematical derivation and simulations are employed to determine this parameter. Some solutions and their effects on force generated by trilayer actuators are presented to show how the force can be enhanced for tactile interface application.Applied Science, Faculty ofMechanical Engineering, Department ofGraduat

Transparent and conformal \u27piezoionic\u27 touch sensor

A polyurethane hydrogel based touch sensor with high transparency and conformability is demonstrated. Polyurethane hydrogels swollen with various electrolytes were compressed at a pressure of 30 kPa, simulating a fingertap on a conventional touch screen device. Unlike ionic polymer metal composite and conducting polymer trilayer sensors, where electrodes render the sensors opaque and relatively rigid, the electrodes used in this work are metal wires or strips, separated from each other by regions of transparent film, enabling transparency and compliance. The voltages and currents observed when the perturbation is above one electrode are on the order of 10(-2) V and 10(-7) A, relative to a second electrode that is approximately 1 cm away. The sign of voltage and current signals detected from perturbations made between electrodes is determined by relative proximity to each electrode, and the magnitude appears to decrease with increasing distance from the electrodes. These observations suggest that it may be possible to discriminate the location of touch based on signals transmitted to the edges of an ionically conductive film. A model to describe the inhomogeneous ionic distribution and predict the resultant voltage and current is presented to qualitatively explain the sensing, based on the Donnan potential

Toward electroactive catheter design using conducting interpenetrating polymer networks actuators

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Stacking trilayers to increase force generation

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Characterization and dynamic charge dependent modeling of conducting polymer trilayer bending

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Ion Transport in Polymer Composites with Non-Uniform Distributions of Electronic Conductors

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