THE STUDY OF DOMOTICS FOR GREEN SERVER ROOM INFRASTRUCTURE

Server rooms everywhere face a continuous problem: energy costs. These costs come from running the servers more often than necessary, including college settings where students’ use of servers for projects can be sparse and lacks continuity. The University of New Hampshire at Manchester (UNH-M) has such a server room with these problems. domotics stood out from the rest when researching possible solutions. domotics is the study of applications of information technology to create intelligent home environments and can be used to conserve energy. In this work we thoroughly examine common domotics solutions to determine the best one to apply to a server room setting to save energy. We demonstrate a solution that is both cost-conscious as well as simple to implement. This is done by developing a prototype tool based on the X10 protocol that allowed for easy and efficient power management for a series of servers. The result is a significant reduction in energy waste for the UNH-M server room over the course of a year with a relatively simple installation process. These estimated results are also compared to the overall energy analysis of the academic building it is housed in. This analysis focused on the monthly usage of energy, a survey of faculty habits, and finally the impact of the solar panels on the building

It Takes A Village: Engaging Families to Support Student Transitioning Into A New School

Students face many barriers throughout their education and school transitions have always been a significant challenge for many. Moving to a new school always comes with a host of challenges whether you are moving into kindergarten as a 5-year old or moving to a four-year university as an 18-year old. Schools attempt many different interventions at each of these levels but one common theme, that transcends through a student’s entire journey and increases the chances of a success, is engaging families throughout its entirety. Parents are typically much more involved in a student’s earlier years of school, typically elementary school, but this engagement seems to decrease as a student gets older and moves into different schools. Having parents involved early in their child’s education is vitally important for adolescent development, it is just as important to keep them engaged throughout all of it, every transition is just as important as the previous. Using families as a tool and a resource to help a student through these difficult times in school will help all students become more successful academically, socially, and behaviorally. There are many barriers to increasing family involvement. Some of these barriers are due to family circumstances such as busy schedules and childcare needs but some of these barriers (often unknowingly) are from the school and district itself like inherent biases from staff and teachers or a (perceived or actual) lack of communication between school and home. Overcoming these barriers and making a stronger connection between school and home remains a critical intervention to aid students in making transitions between schools

Risky facilities: analysis of crime concentration in high-rise buildings

This paper investigates the security of high rise high density accommodation at the Gold Coast – a premier Australian holiday destination. Surfers Paradise has one of the highest population densities in Australia at 3,279 persons per square kilometre and over 70 percent of the residential population live in buildings classed as high density within a mix of tourist apartments and units. The paper explores how the levels of place management and guardianship relate to the volume and mix of crimes occurring in high-rise apartment buildings. • Foreword: Current town planning and housing policies suggest that in the very near future, housing density in major Australian cities will be much higher than current levels. To date, little attention has been paid to how these policy shifts will impact levels of crime and fear of crime. The aim of this research is to contribute to the development of strategic policy for the secure management of high-density housing. By analysing actual rates and types of crime, guardianship levels, building management styles and perceptions of fear of crime, the research will reveal how planning policies and high-rise building management styles can coalesce to create safer vertical communities. The research focuses on high-rise apartments and touristic buildings on the Gold Coast (specifically Surfers Paradise) and identifies the disproportionate concentration of crimes among a handful of buildings. Results may help state and local governments in Australia to avoid repeating the housing policy mistakes experienced by other countries

The impacts of urbanisation and climate change on urban flooding and urban water quality: a review of the evidence concerning the United Kingdom

Study region: United Kingdom (UK). Study focus: Climate change and urbanization pose significant threats for flooding and water quality in urban areas. This paper reviews the evidence concerning the combined impacts of urbanisation and climate on the urban water environment of inland catchments of the United Kingdom and assesses the degree of confidence in reported directions of change and response. It also assesses the utility of the evidence for setting environmental legislation and managing the urban water environment in the future and identifies knowledge gaps that limit effective and management interventions. New hydrological insights: There is a lack of nationally research focused on the dual impacts of climate change and urbanisation on flooding and water quality in UK urban areas. This is despite there being a clear acceptance that flood risk is increasing, water quality is generally not meeting desirable levels, and that combined population and climate change projections pose a pressing challenge. The available evidence has been found to be of medium-high confidence that both pressures will result in (i) an increase in pluvial and fluvial flood risk, and (ii) further reduction in water quality caused by point source pollution and altered flow regimes. Evidence concerning urban groundwater flooding, diffuse pollution and water temperature was found to be more sparse and was ascribed a low-medium confidence that both pressures will further exacerbate existing issues. The confidence ascribed to evidence was also found to reflect the utility of current science for setting policy and urban planning. Recurring factors that limit the utility of evidence for managing the urban environment includes: (i) climate change projection uncertainty and suitability, (ii) lack of sub-daily projections for storm rainfall, (iii) the complexity of managing and modelling the urban environment, and (iv) lack of probable national-scale future urban landuse projections. Suitable climate products are increasingly being developed and their application in applied urban research is critical in the wake of a series of extreme flooding events across the UK and timely for providing state-of-the-art evidence on which to base possible future water quality legislation in a post Brexit-WFD era

Introduced Species and the Issue of Animal Welfare

Recently, considerable debate has been heard about the control or elimination of introduced or exotic animals on publicly held U.S. lands. Species introductions, whether intentional or unintentional, seem to be an inevitable result of human activities. Still, they may result in economic and ecological problems: It has been estimated that over 90 percent of all such introductions have been harmful in some respect. Control of exotics can be accomplished through containment, shooting, poisoning, reintroduction of native predators, the introduction of disease organisms, live capture and removal, and reproductive inhibition

Introduced Species and the Issue of Animal Welfare

Recently, considerable debate has been heard about the control or elimination of introduced or exotic animals on publicly held U.S. lands. Species introductions, whether intentional or unintentional, seem to be an inevitable result of human activities, but they may result in both economic and ecological problems: It has been estimated that over 90 percent of all such introductions have been harmful in some respect. Control of exotics can be accomplished through containment, shooting, poisoning, reintroduction of native predators, introduction of disease organisms, live capture and removal, and reproductive inhibition. Those who must make decisions about the fate of introduced species need to seek a balance between the rights of the individual animals and preserving the viability of whole ecosystems. One important consideration is that, although the control of exotic animal populations may adversely affect individual sentient beings, inaction may cause widespread suffering to many species and consequent loss of biological diversity

Opportunities for Public Aquariums to Increase the Sustainability of the Aquatic Animal Trade

The global aquatic pet trade encompasses a wide diversity of freshwater and marine organisms. While relying on a continual supply of healthy, vibrant aquatic animals, few sustainability initiatives exist within this sector. Public aquariums overlap this industry by acquiring many of the same species through the same sources. End users are also similar, as many aquarium visitors are home aquarists. Here we posit that this overlap with the pet trade gives aquariums significant opportunity to increase the sustainability of the trade in aquarium fishes and invertebrates. Improving the sustainability ethos and practices of the aquatic pet trade can carry a conservation benefit in terms of less waste, and protection of intact functioning ecosystems, at the same time as maintaining its economic and educational benefits and impacts. The relationship would also move forward the goal of public aquariums to advance aquatic conservation in a broad sense. For example, many public aquariums in North America have been instrumental in working with the seafood industry to enact positive change toward increased sustainability. The actions include being good consumers themselves, providing technical knowledge, and providing educational and outreach opportunities. These same opportunities exist for public aquariums to partner with the ornamental fish trade, which will serve to improve business, create new, more ethical and more dependable sources of aquatic animals for public aquariums, and perhaps most important, possibly transform the home aquarium industry from a threat, into a positive force for aquatic conservation. Zoo Biol. 32:1-12, 2013. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc