Community Participation in Urban Planning: the Case of Managing Green Spaces in Kumasi,Ghana

The entrenched position now taken by participatory planning in urban planning practice has made the call for community participation in the planning process now higher than ever. Community participation has been well-acknowledged to give local people a voice in planning decisions. This paper assessed the level of participation by local people in the management of urban green spaces. Using a case study research approach, Kumasi city, once the garden city of Africa was selected as the study area. The Kumasi city authorities, and residents including opinion leaders, and officials of allied bodies on green spaces constituted the study’s target population. A blend of qualitative research techniques such as in-depth interviews, focus group discussion, and personal observation was employed whilst theoretical sampling technique was adopted. It was found out that the participation of the local people in the management of green space was low. The local people were neither consulted nor informed on green space projects (parks and gardens) by the city authorities. They were also not empowered to self-facilitate initiatives on green spaces and passively involved in final decisions on green spaces. To correct the situation, it is recommended that features of the communicative planning theory such as dialogue, consensus building, and facilitative leadership should be given attention in the urban planning system of Kumasi especially on green space projects.     

Coriolis mass flowmeters: Overview of the current state of the art and latest research

This paper is an update of the overview given by Baker RC [Coriolis flowmeters: Industrial practice and published information. Flow Meas Instrum 1994;5(4):229–46]. Overviews about mass flowmetering are also given in Baker RC [Flow measurement handbook. Cambridge University Press; 2000]. Furthermore, Drahm W and Linnartz H [Coriolis-massflowmeters: State of the art review and innovations. In: Proceedings FLUCOME 2003. 2003] reported about latest innovations in Coriolis technology.

The published information of the last decade is reviewed and the conclusions of the different papers are briefly described.     

DSC-cell - A versatile tool to study thermo-oxidation of aviation lubricants

The versatility of a differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) cell in studying thermal and/or thermal-oxidative degradation of lubricants is shown using ester-based aviation turbine oils as an example. The following applications are discussed: 1. quality control of fresh and used oils by pressure differential scanning calorimetry; 2. influence of metal catalysis on oil degradation; 3. identification of volatile degradation products by PDSC gas chromatography-mass spectrometry via a TENAX trap; 4. determination of spontaneous ignition temperatures; 5. influence of metall metal oxides, wear debris and oil degradation products on ignition behaviour; 6. inhibition of spontaneous ignition by antioxidants.     

Validation of scales measuring attitudes, self-efficacy, and intention related to smoking among middle school students.

Attitudes toward smoking, self-efficacy to avoid smoking, and smoking intention, widely cited correlates of youth smoking prevention, are often measured in large-scale youth tobacco surveys. The psychometric properties of these scales have not been well studied among middle school youth. We examined the factorial, discriminate, and convergent validity of these scales among sixth to eighth graders from a convenience sample of 22 Texas middle schools (51.2% female; 51.21% White, 32.1% Hispanic, 16.9% African American, and 8.8% Other; 67.8% nonsmokers, 21.9% experimental smokers; 3.3% former smokers; and 7.6% current smokers). Confirmatory factor analysis and invariance testing suggest that smoking attitudes, self-efficacy, and intention have evidence of construct validity in this multiethnic sample, and the scales are appropriate to assess these constructs among middle school adolescents. Additional studies are needed to establish additional evidence of validity of these constructs in other middle school samples and other subgroups (e.g. current, experimental, and former smokers). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

On the internal structure of weakly nonlinear bores in laminar high Reynolds number flow

The paper deals with the internal structure of hydraulic jumps in near-critical single-layer flows which replaces the discontinuities predicted by hydraulic theory if viscous effects acting inside a thin laminar boundary layer are properly accounted for. In the limit of large Reynolds number this leads to a structure problem formed by the classical triple-deck equations supplemented with a novel nonlinear interaction relationship which allows for the passage through the critical state. Hydraulic jumps are shown to represent eigensolutions of the structure problem where this passage is achieved by the local thickening of the boundary layer which acts as a viscous hump. The effects of detuning and dispersion due to streamline curvature and surface tension on the internal structure of hydraulic jumps are studied in detail. In addition, the interaction of hydraulic jumps with surface mounted obstacles is investigated.     

Selective oxidation of alcohols by combinatorial catalysis

High-throughput synthesis and screening of polyoxometalate (POM) and supported-metal libraries have been developed for the selective aerobic oxidation of alcohols to the corresponding aldehydes/ketones in the liquid phase. Libraries consisting of 96 catalysts were prepared in multi-well reactors and screened for catalytic activity using TLC, GC and NMR detection methods. Promising hits identified in the high-throughput primary screens were successfully scaled up and optimized in conventional laboratory test units. Isolated yields confirm high selectivities of more than 90% with quantitative conversions. Substrates tested include primary and secondary alcohols. Specific results will be presented for hydroxymethyl-substituted heterocycles and bicyclo-octanols.     

Analysis of the Design-Build Delivery Method in Air Force Construction Projects

The design-build (DB) method for construction project delivery continues to grow in both the private and public sector; additionally, research has shown that the DB method outperforms the design-bid-build (DBB) method. The Air Force has applied the results of these previous research efforts to its military construction (MILCON) program without performing empirical studies to validate the approach. Therefore, the objective of this study was to compare the performance of the DB delivery method with the traditional DBB approach for the Air Force MILCON program. Data related to 835 (278 DB and 557 DBB) MILCON projects for fiscal years 1996–2006 were subsequently analyzed. The DB method had better performance in three of six metrics with the performance being significantly better for cost growth and the number of modifications per million dollars. The traditional DBB method performed significantly better in terms of total project time. Furthermore, the DB method was best suited for various facility types. This study provides empirical evidence of how the DB method provides an advantage over the traditional DBB method for Air Force MILCON projects.     

Iterative algorithm for optimal fiducials under weak perspective projection

In previous work, we designed space fiducials with the aim of making camera pose determination as noise‐insensitive as possible. These fiducials turned out to be sets of points that formed concentric regular polyhedra. Here, we apply an idea of Dementhon and Davis and test and analyze an iterative linear algorithm in conjunction with our optimal fiducials to increase the accuracy of the computed camera pose. We also analyze under what circumstances this iterative algorithm is guaranteed to converge to the correct solution. Comprehensive computer simulations illustrate the behavior of the algorithm and the degree of improvement in pose determination in case of convergence. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Imaging Syst Technol, 19, 27–36, 2009     

Evolution of Microstructure and Mechanical Properties of Oxide Dispersion Strengthened Steels Made from Water-Atomized Ferritic Powder

Nano-structured oxide dispersion strengthened (ODS) steels produced from a 410L stainless steel powder prepared by water-atomization was studied. The influences of Ti content and milling time on the microstructure and the mechanical properties were analysed. It was found that the ODS steels made from the Si bearing 410L powder contained Y–Ti–O, Y–Ti–Si–O, Y–Si–O, and TiO₂ oxides. Most nanoparticles produced after 80 h of milling were aggregated nanoparticles; however, after 160 h of milling, most aggregated nanoparticles dissociated into smaller individual nanoparticles. Perfect mixing of Y and Ti was not achieved even after the longer milling time of 160 h; instead, the longer hours of milling rather resulted in Si incorporation into the Y–Ti–O rich nanoparticles and a change in the matrix morphology from an equiaxed microstructure to a tempered martensite-like microstructure. The overall micro-hardness of the ODS steel increased with the increase of milling time. After 80 and 160 h, the microhardnesses were over 400 HV, which primarily resulted from the finer dispersed nanoparticles and in part to the formation of martensitic phases. Tensile strength of the 410L ODS steels was comparable with that of ODS steel produced from gas-atomized powder.