Design Errors: Inefficiency or Carelessness of Designer?

Design defects are experienced in many projects; the difference is only in the extent of occurrence. This technical note discusses a design error case in a building project in Nepal, where the designer made the wrong assumptions in roof treatment work for waterproofing as well as for heat insulation purposes. From the investigation of the problem, it was found that the waterproofing polymer was not applied directly over concrete slab top. Use of heavy concrete block as a heat insulation material also helped to increase the leakage problem. The problem evoked loss of prestige for project officials, the design consortium, and the contractor.     

Media as Educator,Media as Disruptor: Conceptualizing the Role of Social Context in Media Effects

We document how social contexts serve to refract media effects. We theorized the relationship between media use and individual‐level knowledge (and attitude) would be stronger when community‐level knowledge (and attitude) was low than when it was high. Data come from a national survey (N = 12,608 women and 1,237 men) conducted in Nepal. Knowledge and stigma toward people living with HIV were the 2 dependent variables. Hypotheses were tested 12 times: across the use of 3 media (newspaper, radio, television) × 2 study outcomes (knowledge and attitudes) × 2 genders. Predicted interactions were supported in 9 of the 12 tests. Findings point to the need to take into account the role of community factors in theorizing about media effects.     

Dragons Adrift: The New Chinese Landscape

The work of New York-based artist Nancy Wolf is preoccupied with the relationship between people and the contemporary city. Here she explains how a meeting with scholar and poet Lap Lam in Hong Kong provided much of the inspiration for her work in China, which she describes as ‘a commentary on the enormous changes in today's Chinese landscape created by Modernist architecture and urban planning’.     

Relationship between mechanisms and activities at the time of pedestrian injury and activity limitation among school adolescents in Kathmandu, Nepal

This study assessed the relationship between pedestrian activity at the time of injury, the type of vehicle involved and resulting activity limitation among school adolescents in the Kathmandu and Lalitpur districts of Nepal. A cross-sectional study of 1557 students in grades 6–8 across 14 schools was conducted using a self-administered questionnaire from August to September 2003. Twenty-three percent of adolescents reported pedestrian injuries, 38% were from urban and 21% from semi-urban areas. Adolescents were commonly injured by motorcycles and motor vehicles while crossing the road; however, while walking and playing, they were commonly injured by bicycles and motorcycles. Bicycles and motor vehicles were less likely to be involved in injury while crossing the roads and playing, respectively (p < 0.001). Activity was more likely to be limited for a longer period of time (>7 days) with injuries endured while crossing the road (p < 0.001). In urban areas, boys and girls were more likely to be injured while crossing the road and walking, respectively (p < 0.05), and both were commonly injured by motorcycles. In semi-urban areas, boys and girls were commonly injured while walking and were more likely to be injured by motorcycles and bicycles, respectively (p < 0.05). In both areas, more boys than girls were injured while playing. These findings have important implications for pedestrian safety interventions in poor countries.     

Potential and bottlenecks of the carbon market: The case of a developing country,Nepal

The majority of clean development mechanism (CDM) projects are confined to a few countries. For many developing nations, entry into the carbon market, either through CDM or others, has been difficult. Thus, rationalizing CDM projects and the carbon market as a tool for sustainable development is often questioned. Many developing countries, such as Nepal, lack a quantification of CO₂ reduction potential and an assessment of bottlenecks necessary for the carbon market. In this context, this paper assesses the potential emission reductions from major sectors of Nepal and the accompanying bottlenecks of the carbon market. The analyses provide indications of the type and scale of the carbon mitigation opportunities in key sectors such as waste management, biogas utilization, promotion of electric vehicles, rice cultivation, bio-energy utilization, brick making, hydropower development and a few others. These might be helpful to decision-makers in Nepal as well as to the process of re-orienting CDM and other carbon markets to better understand the bottlenecks of developing countries.     

EMERGING HYBRIDITY AND THE NEW VERNACULAR LANDSCAPE

The vernacular landscape, defined by pragmatic adaptation, must shift from subject of scholarship to realm of design operations. The vernacular is dynamic, constantly redefined at the intersections of continuity and change. It provides the necessary foundations for a discipline expanding in pursuit of resiliency and adaptive response. The landscape of Nepal’s Mustang district, peripheral to the Nepali state for most of its history, is being shaken by seismic economic, infrastructural, and demographic shifts. In response to emerging continuities and discontinuities, its landscape is being remade as a hybrid landscape, a new vernacular. This practice of hybridization must continue to evolve where new resources and opportunities emerge at the intersections of continuity and change.     

尼泊尔瓦菩萨层控型铜矿床地质特征及找矿前景分析

尼泊尔瓦菩萨铜矿位于尼泊尔东部。通过地质勘查、岩(矿)石鉴定及化学分析、电子探针分析等手段,基本查明了该矿床地质特征,该矿床类型为叠加改造的沉积变质型层控型铜矿。矿区主要出露前寒武系米德兰群塞提组绿泥石千枚岩,既是容矿岩层,又是矿体的直接围岩。铜矿体形态呈层状、似层状、透镜体状,受背斜及层间裂隙控制。矿体走向近南北,倾角2°～30°,矿体长数十米至数百米,矿层厚1～10.72 m,矿区铜平均品位3.53%。目前矿床储量达中型规模。根据其周边塞提组相同层位多地发现的铜矿(化)点及物探激电测量异常,预测在该层位有可能找到大型铜矿床。     

Analysis of household access to drinking water,sanitation, and waste disposal services in urban areas of Nepal

In recent years, researchers have paid increasing attention to the provision of access to clean and sufficient drinking water, sanitation facilities, and proper waste management in developing countries. This paper examines household access to these services in urban areas of Nepal by studying the comprehensive data of the Nepal Living Standard Survey (NLSS) for the 1995-1996, 2003–2004, and 2010–2011 periods. Multinomial logit models are employed to identify and analyse potentially influential factors. We find that education levels, household wealth, and distance to markets are among the significant determinants of household access to safe and secure drinking water, flush toilets connected to septic tanks, and proper liquid and solid waste disposal. Households located in relatively developed regions, such as the Midwest and Far West, tend to have better access to these services compared to households located in the ecologically sensitive mountainous regions. Education and employment opportunities are also relevant to service access in urban areas of Nepal. Stakeholder involvement and effective governmental intervention are also necessary.     

From an open-access to a state-controlled resource: the case of groundwater in the Kathmandu Valley,Nepal

Groundwater is no longer an open-access resource in Kathmandu. Perceptions of groundwater are changing from an “infinite” to a “finite” resource and the role of the government from supply developer to caretaker of the resource. In this context, this paper aims to unfold how perceptions of groundwater in Kathmandu Valley, Nepal, are changing from an open-access resource to an overexploited, depleted, degraded, vulnerable and state-controlled resource. In the process, it produces an aggregated picture of resource availability, development dynamics, impacts and responses in the area; suggests some “soft-path” approaches for groundwater management; and discusses implications of the experience for other areas.