Current Approaches in Science and Technology Research Vol. 2

The infrastructure development managed by local governments which starts from pre-construction to the occupation of the building needs a sustainable development approach for sustainability. Since the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio, all sectors of society have been in the process of pursuing sustainability within their specific contexts. Development planning involved various stages and design inputs from various design consultants such as architects, town planner and engineers. Therefore, local governments ‘staff should have a better understanding of sustainable development. Accordingly, this research focus is aimed on the role of the Local Governments with regards to knowledge transfer practices towards sustainable development. Another intended study is to provide an in-depth and better understanding the strength and weaknesses and other relevant factors that promote or hinder the implementation of Sustainable Development. This study is to contribute to the enrichment of knowledge on the role of Local Governments in Sustainable Development.

The paper aims at discussing techniques for managing one implementation issue that often arises in the application of particle filters: sample impoverishment. Dealing with such problem can significantly improve the performance of particle filters, and can make the difference between success and failure. Sample impoverishment occurs because of the reduction in the number of truly distinct sample values. Eventually, all of the particles will collapse to the same va1ue, and the problem is intensified when modelling errors occur. A simple solution can be to increase the number of particles, which can quickly lead to unreasonable computational demands and often only delays the inevitable sample impoverishment. There are more intelligent ways of dealing with this problem, such as roughening and prior editing, procedures to be discussed herein. The nonlinear particle filter is based on the bootstrap filter for implementing recursive Bayesian filters. The application consists of determining the orbit of an artificial satellite using real data from the GPS receivers. The nonlinear problem of orbit determination consists essentially of estimating values that completely specify the body trajectory in the space, processing a set of observations, like space GPS receivers on-board the satellite. From this set is possible to obtain nonlinear measurements (pseudo-ranges) that can be processed to estimate the orbital state. The standard differential equations describing the orbital motion and the GPS measurements equations are adapted for the nonlinear particle filter, so that the bootstrap algorithm is also used for estimating the orbital state. The evaluation will be done through convergence speed and computational implementation complexity, comparing the bootstrap algorithm results obtained for each technique that deals with sample impoverishment. Based on the analysis of such criteria, the advantages and drawbacks of the implementations will be presented.

The Sumava National Park (NP), the largest protected area of its kind in Central Europe, is as interesting as it is problematic (historical development, conflicts between regional development and landscape protection). In order to evaluate the success of the Park’s policies, local park inhabitants’ attitudes were assessed over a ten-year period. Two surveys (N = 181 and N = 200) were conducted in August, 1998 and 2008. The questionnaires consisted of 43 queries from three thematic areas; (a) socio-demographic data, (b) environment and nature conservation, and (c) sustainable tourism and local development. The comparison of the results 1998 with 2008 showed that the Park inhabitants perceived living in the Park as improving and the scheme for nature conservation as either “optimal” or “more strict”. The surveys also showed the loss of job opportunities as the most prevalent local concern. In a cluster analysis based on perceptions of (a) the Park, (b) the environment and (c) Park Administration, subjects were divided into four opinion groups ranging from “optimists” to “grumblers”. The most “positive (optimistic)” group saw little connection between the Park’s existence and job losses, while the most “negative” group saw a strong connection in that regard. The Park management succeeded not only in handling the situation, but also in using it favorably throughout to improve the social climate amongst locals and also their acceptance of the NP.

All nuclei of elements consist of successive chain of nuclei of helium. Stability of nuclei of helium is provided by an exchange by mesons between nucleons. Division of uranium 235U takes place in a chain where value of energy of separation of nucleus of helium 4He close to the zero. The nucleus of helium consists of two protons and two neutrons.

Gas-liquid absorption involves the transfer of one or more volatile organic compound species from gas phase into a liquid absorbent in a packed-bed column that contains one or more sections of packing materials. In this study, perlite from Lamba, Albay, Bicol was used in the production of packing material. The objectives of the study are to develop and characterize a packing material using a geopolymer derived from perlite and to design a packed column for the absorption of ammonia gas. The study determines the ideal perlite-Na2SiO3 concentration, packing factor, and L/D ratio. Three perlite-Na2SiO3 concentrations (45%, 60%, 75% wt. Na2SiO3) were subjected to various tests such as: thermal stability, chemical resistance, and compressive strength. The 45% wt. Na2SiO3 exhibited the least weight loss and the highest compressive strength making this geopolymerized perlite a potential packing material for gas absorption with a packing factor of 0.00175 ft^-1. Based on the results, a packed column was designed for the absorption of ammonia gas with an L/D ratio of 2.5.

The highly industrialized and densely populated city of Tarapur provides ideal conditions for the study of the effects of urban stresses on plants. The foliar surface of plants is an important receptor of atmospheric pollutants hence it is very crucial to select suitable plant species for urban environment. Tithonia diversifolia a member of Asteraceae was exposed to five different sites during the dry season of 2011. The transplants were exposed for thirty days. The above grounds phytomass dry weight, shoot length, total chlorophyll content and dust fall were recorded. The readings were compared with a control which was a relatively clean area. The decrease in all the parameters was observed when compared to control. There was a marked seasonal variation in all the parameters. Shoot length and chlorophyll content are more reliable parameters for air quality indication and in identifying Tithonia diversifolia as important indicator species. Urban air quality affects the health of humans, animals, and plants equally. Hence it becomes necessary to monitor the air quality for taking the abatement measures and understanding the effect of air pollutants on living organisms.

A set of regulatory and technical documents regulate the design and operation of thermal power plants (TPPs) in the Russian Federation. It is important to coordinate legal, environmental, and other TPP indicators with specialists of various profiles during the initial design stage, as well as establish a general concept and structure for the station. There are no documents regulating this procedure in the Russian Federation's conventional professional criteria. A methodology and a family of IDEF standards covering all stages and aspects of design were developed and adopted as national standards in a number of countries, including individual products in Russia, at the end of the twentieth and beginning of the twenty-first centuries.  The IDEF technique is written in a visual graphical language that can be used for interprofessional communication. The implementation of the IDEF0 specification at the initial design stage of thermal power plants is discussed in this paper. IDEF standards should complement technical standards. These will speed up the design process and increase the efficiency of TPP operation.

Analysis of a research report shedding a disquieting light on the reasons that were identified for diagnosing a constantly increasing number of children as suffering from ADD/ADHD and subsequent prescription of Ritalin and other psychostimulants. This study attempted to identify, without success, whether learning problems observed in some children could be due to some brain pathology.

Mobile robots can be used for carrying cargos and this type of mobile robots is called automated guided vehicle. The need for automating cargo management in a manufacture environment is urgent. Recent advance in big data and artificial intelligence areas has made it possible. As we known, most cargoes are transported using autonomously guided vehicles or manpower. Many autonomously guided vehicles follow paths that are predefined and usually marked by labels that can be easily found by vehicles. The use of predefined path for vehicle navigation greatly limits the deployment of autonomously guided vehicles. A few vehicles use high accuracy Light Laser Detection and Ranging for sensing and guidance. In this paper, a low-cost and precise method for mobile robots has been developed. Considering the high nonlinearity of UWB ranging data, a least square method is used to find optimal locations and a gradient decent approach is applied for fast convergence to the optimal results. The proposed method is also able to diagnose the ultra-wide band data and will throw away any data corrupted by noise. Therefore, the robustness is obtained. The robot is likely to achieve much higher accuracy when it is located in the central region of other UWB anchors, which is a known in a satellite positioning system.

The seasonal variation of heavy metal contamination levels in Aba River of Abia State in Nigeria was investigated using Eichhornia crassipies. The presence of Macrophytes in Rivers is often a significant indication on the accumulation of heavy metals content in water bodies .Routine sampling was performed on bi-monthly bases to cover the Nigerian Rainy season and Harmattan season. Iron (Fe) showed more abundance with maximum concentration (69.5 mg/kg) mainly in Dec/Jan at UST, PZA, ABT and DST sampling points. The lowest concentration of iron was obtained in Apr/May for UST and DST and in Oct/Nov for PZA and ABT. Manganese showed maximum concentration (7 mg/kg) in the dry season at PZA and NBL during Oct/Nov months. The lowest concentration was in Dec/Jan at UST, PZA and ABT which were Harmattan seasons. The varied concentrations of zinc (Zn) demonstrated no pattern or trend except at Oct/Nov of ABT at value of 9.7 mg/kg, while lead (Pb) metal was significantly identified during the months of Feb/March (end of Harmattan) and April/May (beginning of Rains) during the seasonal study. Chromium metal (Cr) was uniformly distributed but significant at NBL during months of Jun/Jul. Nickel (Ni) metal was detected mainly at UST, PZA and NBL at trace levels. Copper was mainly detected during rainy seasons of Apr/May and Jun/July but remained at low concentrations when compared to other metals. Hence, UST and PZA sampling points contained the most active level of heavy metals, while Harmattan season showed the highest phyto-chemical activity of the heavy metals. Therefore Eichhornia crassipes showed metal removal in the following order Fe > Mn> Cr > Ni > Pb > Zn > Cd.

In todays modern search engines, such as Google, we can see a recording system that converts speech to text and then searches for it. This is a type of information retrieval system. Speech is an important part of human life because it allows two or more people to communicate with one another. Speech to text conversion is necessary because some people are unable to openly communicate with others, and speech to text conversion aids communication. Speech to text translation allows deaf people to communicate as well. Giving speech as input and waiting for the machine to provide the text as output is how speech translation is achieved.  Speech to Text conversion is a critical research and application area in the field of multimedia interfaces. This paper discusses the different forms of speakers and the measures involved in speech recognition. This paper also discusses how speech recognition strategies are classified.

Visual Design factors have given special attention, and have even become a trend, spreading to the art of design, particularly in outdoor advertising. In the era of International Integration of Vietnam, there is a large number of changes in advertising posters, and Visual Design factors plays a very important role in this process. Advertising poster is integrated with visual languages, creating a totally new outlock on aestheticism.

The research analyses how Visual Art factors have been expressed in outdoor advertising, especially in graphic elements, from concept to execution which is used for brands available in Vietnamese market from 2017 till now (April 2021). The area of research is Ho Chi Minh City where there is a diversity of market trends and also a place which is greatly and quickly influenced by new trends in Art and Design. This is also considered as the place that can absorb quickly new trends of Arts and Culture in creating Advertising campaigns for Vietnamese market. Besides, Ho Chi Minh city also plays as the leader in development of modern society for Vietnamese; there are many contruction projects for sky building, plazas, living space, privacy, to store belongings, and to comfortably live and work for urban population.

In this paper one new way how to surmount foregoing challenges will be described. The standard bottle and carboy shapes are well-known to us. They typically have a two-part shape, which is cylindrical (below) and conical (above) [1-3]. And we grew accustomed to it. Evidently, this is a very easy way to consume drinks (water, milk, cream, mayonnaise, beer, juice, oil, kefir and so on).  I'm not interested in debating it. But...Every thing, in practice, has both positive and negative aspects [4]. There are at least two significant negative influences, in my view. For starters, because of the conical shape of bottles, we lose usable space that we can't use in practice.  We are unable to tightly position one bottle on top of the other along the bottle's height (conical part disturbs us).The following is the second negative and significant event. Because of the conical shape of the container, there is typically a room in the narrow section where good goods can be stored without being used as food. The adhesion for products doesn’t play any negative role at all. Thin edible film helps us to save both products in full and keep the inner wall of bottle having rectangular or square shape clean too.