Black Cloud Research Articles

The Team Using Video Games To Help Fight Climate Change

Extracts of the interview of Max Musau and Marc Rigaudis by Faustine Ngila Nation Newspaper Nairobi KENYA … Max Musau, former head of innovation at United States International University Africa (USIU) in Nairobi and Marc Rigaudis former Film Production director at the same university have teamed up to develop a video game to get the conversation of climate change and futurism active -- even among the young.Dubbed Jiwe Studios, the online game downloadable from the web is the meeting point of literature and technology, equipping children with digital skills as they play a game based on the current geo-political happenings, where Africa has become the battleground.… In Marc Rigaudis’s screenplay titled Usoni (Swahili for ‘the future’), he paints a picture of a Global North ravaged by the effects of climate change, forcing populations to seek refuge in the Global South – Africa.In his 160-page piece of art, Ophelia, the protagonist, initially from the El-Molo community in Kenya, runs away from her Paris home, and starts to trace her way back to her motherland...In an apocalyptic vision in 2063, Rigaudis foresees that Europe is covered by a black cloud and the sun has disappeared. Following a chain of catastrophes mainly caused by human abuse, Mother Nature reacts in a grand finale with all the volcanoes erupting, blocking the sun, blocking life. People from the North have to escape to the South, to Africa, where the sun still shines. A pure analogy with what is happening nowadays with many Africans trying to cross the Mediterranean sea and too often losing their life because the African sun which burns their skin is not shining for them! A replica of what is happening now but in complete reverse.

Love and emotions at the time of COVID-19

COVID-19 has already swept millions of lives and created the deep black cloud made up of negative emotions. Analysis of origin of negative emotions from previous experiences indicates diversity in thinking, reasoning, self-centeredness and lack of empathy give rise to human vices which are difficult but not impossible to overcome by resurrection of positive emotions like love, empathy, motivation for good deeds and philanthropic activities. Complex interplay of positive and negative emotions orchestrated by intricately associated neuronal circuits, neurotransmitters coupled with endocrinal influence holds responsible for human behavior, considered as the root of human civilization, is currently facing existential crisis during COVID-19 pandemic. Human civilization is experiencing unique psychosocial problems through emerging COVID-19 pandemic. Depression, panic buying, herd behavior, infodemic, immense sufferings of marginalized people, surge of addictive behavior, racism, domestic violence, rape, divorce, financial constraints, stigmatization, all stem from negative emotions and lack of positive vibes amidst the rally of death and sorrows. COVID-19 and surge of negative emotions are the two pandemics which conjointly causing major mental health threat. Cultivations and practice of positive emotions and triumph of optimistic octet over sinister septet are desirable to save Mother Nature and her habitats from the cruel claws of this pandemic.

Environmental impacts assessment of rice straw brick as a substitutional sustainable building material in Assiut University Hospital Clinic.

The rice straw burning in all the Egyptian governorates is seasonally occurring, an environmental disaster called the Black Cloud. This study's main goal is to conduct the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and Building Information Modeling (BIM) methods. Thus, the LCA of four brick types: (1) fired clay, (2) cement, (3) sand, and (4) rice straw has been compared. The BIM has been used to gather the building construction components to build the four LCA scenarios using the PRe SimaPro. The results have been presented by the single score and weighting method using the IMPACT 2002+ method with midpoint and endpoint (Pt) results. (1) Regarding the midpoint results, the fired clay brick has recorded the worst environmental impact with 30.10 Pt. In contrast, the rice straw brick has verified the lowest effects with 1.31 Pt. (2). Regarding the endpoint results, the highest value of human health has been assigned to the fired clay brick type with 11.4 Pt and the rice straw brick with 0.633 Pt. The highest resource depletion impacts have been pointed out the fired clay and cement brick with 7.29 Pt and 6.53 Pt, respectively. A novel framework for integrating LCA and BIM has been conducted on a proposed building during the early phases. The article has also introduced an approach to eliminating the Egyptian life cycle inventory database shortage as the LCA applications in Egypt are scarce. Moreover, it can help the concerned legislative bodies and the decision-makers.

De-carbonized energy initiative with bio-cell-distributed stations using GIS geodesic tools towards circular economy

De-carbonized energy implementation involves experts to integrate inter-connected strategic objectives. Pragmatic sustainable development requires substitution of fossil-fuel energy with cleaner energy. Simultaneously, demonstrating circular economy through waste-to-energy concept is another perspective to foster renewable energy resources. Biomass energy has the highest share in the renewable energy plan of most countries. UNDP (United Nation Development Program) has established a project to provide rural areas with bio cells that intake only animal waste. In the light of rural sustainable development, as part of this research proposal, bio cells can be upgraded by local manufacturers to be fuelled with crop residue, which will reduce crop residue burn. Instead of crop residue burn in open areas, polluting the Cairo skies with a black cloud or smog and endangering urban environmental health through escalating urban heat island phenomenon, agriculture waste can be utilized as an energy source of biofuels, bio-power or even bio-by-products to substitute liquefied petroleum gas or integrated within UNDP project upgrade. The novelty of this research is demonstrating bio cells in distributed stations at fire-hotspot location to supply decarbonized energy resources for communities rehabilitated within the GIS geodesic buffer. These distributed stations support LEED-ND rating system criteria of on-site energy generation. Such demonstration at fire spots through developing brownfield zones is a sustainable opportunity for misused zones. Numerical calibration of Orduz energy potential equation developed in 2011 shows that the generated bioenergy is 531.59 PJ, equivalent to 1.48E + 11 kWh annually. Such feasible sustainable development strategy through energy resources convergence promotes self-sufficient clusters.

Effect of Mulching Type on Growth and Yield of Two Cauliflower Varieties (Brassica Oleracea L. Var. Botrytis)

A field experiment was conducted in the research station of the Horticulture and Landscape Department, College of Agriculture, Tikrit University; to study the effect of mulch type on the growth and yield of two varieties of cauliflower during the 2017 – 2018 season. The experiment was carried out according to the split -plot layout within Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) and three replicates. Mulch types; black and yellow polyethylene in addition to the control treatment (non-mulch) were in the main plots, and varieties of cauliflower (Fuji Yama and White Cloud) were placed in sub-plots. Means were compared using Duncan multiple range test at 5% probability level. Results showed that there were no significant differences between mulching types in plant height, curd weight, curd length, and shoot weight. Meanwhile, there were significant increases in the number of leaves, leaf length, stem weight, compared with control. Curd diameter and chlorophyll contents increased significantly under black polyethylene mulching compared with both yellow mulching and control. On the other hand, there was no significant difference between the two varieties in all studied vegetative and yield parameters except leaf length which showed a significant increase with White Cloud variety (31.778 cm) compared with Fuji Yama (29.926 cm). The interaction between black mulching and White Cloud variety was significantly superior in the number of leaves (18.333 leaf.plant-1), plant height (8.083 cm), leaf length (34.556 cm), and chlorophyll contents (45.567 SPAD). The interaction between black mulching and Fuji Yama variety gave a significant increase in curd diameter (17.500 cm). Meanwhile, the treatments did not show any significant change in other characteristics of plants.

Investigating the Economic and Environmental Effect of Integrating Sugarcane Bagasse (SCB) Fibers in Cement Bricks

The accumulation of organic waste is one of the most serious problems facing developing countries. Developing countries getting rid of their wastes by dumping them in the waste landfill and this effect negatively the environment. Moreover, these wastes attract a lot of insects which thread the public health and cause many diseases. This research intended to merge the organic wastes into construction industry and turn it into a useful cheap building material. In an attempt to reduce the initial costs of building materials, sugarcane bagasse (SCB) was used as an additive in the structural brick industry. This study aims to develop cheap building bricks from integrating sugarcane bagasse (SCB) with cement brick mixture to achieve environmental, social and economic sustainability factors by reducing the black cloud and hence its effect on human health. Removing sugarcane bagasse (SCB) that produced from juice shops in Egyptian streets, affect the visual image of the street as well as the quality of Egyptians life. Moreover, integrating wastes in construction industry will improve street appearance and improves environmental conditions by reducing local climate pollution (carbon dioxide emissions and black clouds). The research used experimental method to measure the structural properties of the new cement brick that is integrated with SCB. The results revelled that replacing cement with 1.5% sugarcane bagasse content, will preserve the structural performance of the bricks with respect to ductility and higher strength. In addition, the proposed integration will reduce the initial cost of building materials and this action will affect the price of the Egyptian real estate market.

I have the floor: Naturopathy or Naturosophy?

The problem is embedded archetype information within the infinite potentiality of the cosmos. So does any human pathology, syndrome, disease, and unhealthy lifestyle. But this potentiality in our days shows an alarming increase. The COVID 19 pandemic is a good example. A single-cell organism, equipped with an unseen -for the naked eye- protein (SARS-CoV-2 S), has created a worldwide pandemonium. All of a sudden, from a “zoonotic” animal origin (and not an artificial one) virus, our external environment and internal ecosystem are in jeopardy. A black cloud of fear, confusion, disorder, madness, insecurity, agony, illness and death is swirling like the perfect storm around us. And all these frightening “bat-terfly effects” from a tiny, invisible intruder. However, if you see the whole phenomenon from a different perspective (anamorphosis), sometimes from something big, one can understand the offset powers of something small; the abstract notions of size, level, symmetry and balance (equilibrium). The more we zoom into the complex world of the problem, our microscope-like attitude enlarges it. As a result, we get absorbed and, one by one, become coalesced, making it bigger and bigger. But the truth is that a minuscule virus is inside a big world, and not a big world inside a tiny virus. And this world is not a beautiful place. It is not a moral, righteous, reasonable creation of angels.

Buruldum-isä Saraldum-isä: The Introduction of a Declamation in the Gonbad Manuscript of Dädä Qorqut or about the Being Cloud

Dresden and Vatican manuscripts as a text based on declamation (soylama). 17th declamation, which is included in the manuscript and which also includes the story of Kazan’s heroics, is noted as expressed in the language of Qazan. In this declamation, Salur Qazan started describing himself with a metaphorical saying that he was ‘cloud, smoke and misty’. Beginning of the declamation with words about the sky in this way is in harmony with the other declamations in the text. However, in order to resolve these words, it will be necessary to understand the expression of burulma and saralma and what it means by being a ‘cloud’. According to our study, burulmaq and saralmaq is an expression parallel to be angry and the cloud is part of the stereotypes about intimidating the enemy. Such as the lion’s roar, the roar of the cloud is a symbol of wrath which is a glorified feature of heroes. The word bulut ‘cloud’ that describes Qazan, should be considered with the accolades used for Qazan such as kara bulut örgüni ‘black cloud thunder?’ and dumanlı dağ börisi ‘the wolf of the smoky mountain’.

Ghost Girl Misses Mirrors

112 M JAIME ZUCKERMAN Ghost Girl Misses Mirrors • & masturbation. Is there anything more affirming of existence? She tries the dryer, closes her eyes & concentrates during the sex scenes on your TV. She sticks her non-pinkie in the socket & your lights blink on but Ghost Girl stays heartbreakingly turned off. She’s no voyeur but she can’t help overhearing. She’d give anything for membrane, blood flow. Touch, then turmoil. To distract, Ghost Girl goes for a stroll, but windows reflect (not her) only treetops as inverted black clouds. Her mood is still a black cloud. So she storms to the city reservoir & swallows the whole damn lake, including the brown fish & broken shopping cart & missing body. She feels green & full & empty at the same time. She lets the water spill & settle back where it belongs. Ghost Girl tries her old favorite: riding the commuter rail to anywhere & nowhere. She rides on top & lets the wind flood her, forgetting everything but the rush of time & place 113 speeding past: houses with their warm kitchenettes & toppled play sets. Lynn, Ipswich, Pride’s Crossing, she rides through the forgotten space between rail & life that fills with what they call golden hour. Everything, even Ghost Girl, is lit with this light. She might feel a twinge, a touch of warmth, like pleasure, her non-finger to her non-lips. ...

From Ukrainian linguocultural space. Хмара (Hmara)

The article considers the image word хмара which is among the important constituents of Ukrainian linguocultural space; the peculiarities of its semantic content are defined, the specific character of the way the mythological implications are expressed in various folk literature genres is outlined. Special attention is paid to the nominative polyphony of the concept ʻхмараʼ (literary ‘cloud’), to the existing variations in the naming units and to image representations. In the national linguistic worldview, there are numerous common-language naming units with the meaning ‘cloud’, which accentuate the specific character of the visual perception of the named phenomena. Very diversified evaluative characteristics of the analised image serve as markers of the linguocultural significance of the semantics of the word хмара. Among the secondary nomination units that denote cloud, attention should be paid to the zoomorphic images which are closely connected with the myths that are fundamental to archaic cultures and are condensedly represented in the mythologems of the sky serpent, sky cow and sky horses. The value significant opposition of the black and white clouds that is realised in the stereotypical folk images of horses is singled out. Folk texts register the historic dynamics of the mythological characters connected with cloud (serpent → witch). The extensive nominative field of the cloud denotatum registers the rootedness of the anylysed phenomenon in the folk culture and literature. The functional specialization of the image word хмара in the texts of incantations, folk fairy tales and lyrical songs is analysed. The evaluative ambivalence of cloud is emphasized. The paradigm of poetic use of the image word хмара in folk poetic texts and texts of fiction shows the peculiarities of the development of its evaluative semantics towards detailed representation of mental states, emotions. The derivational nest with the root -хмар‑ is given, its denotative versatility is pointed out.

Air Pollution Estimation in Erbil City Center Using Box Mathematical Model

Erbil city center, topographically, is a low basin surrounded by highlands from all sides and is characterized as relatively humid weather during the autumn, winter and spring days. These factors with the increasing number of cars in the street, added to the vast number of private electric generators using poor quality of fuels caused the high level of air pollution in the basin and black clouds over the city. In this paper, the concentration of accumulated pollutants was estimated at different points by using a known mathematical model called “Fixed Box Model”. This mathematical model was developed and processed, by researchers, using computer mat lab to calculate the concentrations of pollutants in Erbil's city center at any time of the day in different levels. The collected data of the contributing cars, trucks and electric generators were processed by the developed model and shows that the accumulated pollutants, on the breathing level 4 hours after the morning rash time, were as follows: NOx= 300 µg/m3, HC= 54 µg/m3, CO= 350 µg/m3, PM2.5= 9 µg/m3, PM Brake= 0.15 µg/m3and CO2= 2.04*104 µg/m3 which may often be the reason for the black cloud appearing over Erbil’s city center.

The Silver Lining in the Black Cloud of COVID-19

Little did we imagine that the effects of COVID-19 would ultimately make us a stronger and more accessible clinic. The sudden halt of providing in-person services clouded the entire University of Exeter clinical programme with uncertainty. However, we could not simply stop our clinical provision – we had existing clients that still needed assistance, as well as students who were taking the clinic as a module. Furthermore, we wanted to continue servicing the community. To consider converting to a remote service, there are fundamental questions a university clinical programme must address: Why does the clinic exist? What are the goals of the clinic and can they still be achieved by a remote service? This paper outlines the process of converting our in-person clinic to a remote service, by detailing steps taken such as developing a remote operating student training manual, establishing a new case triage system, utilising Zoom sessions, and developing a user focused website. It reflects upon the process of finding effective ways of communicating and collaborating with students and clients, while managing and mitigating the potential barriers to technology. Both the successes and the challenges taught us more about the human connection and the human experience. Ultimately, the lessons learned from a swift shut down to reopening a fully remote clinic made us better organised, better communicators, and more accessible for clients. Once we safely return to in-person meetings, the value gained in providing a remote service will remain embedded in our offering, committing us to a hybrid service of in-person and remote meetings to provide a better service to our clients. For the next academic year, our strengthened service enables us to move seamlessly between a fully remote service and our new hybrid model with minimal disruption, should COVID-19 continue to cast a dark cloud.

The Silver Lining in the Black Cloud of COVID-19

Little did we imagine that the effects of COVID-19 would ultimately make us a stronger and more accessible clinic. The sudden halt of providing in-person services clouded the entire University of Exeter clinical programme with uncertainty. However, we could not simply stop our clinical provision – we had existing clients that still needed assistance, as well as students who were taking the clinic as a module. Furthermore, we wanted to continue servicing the community. To consider converting to a remote service, there are fundamental questions a university clinical programme must address: Why does the clinic exist? What are the goals of the clinic and can they still be achieved by a remote service? This paper outlines the process of converting our in-person clinic to a remote service, by detailing steps taken such as developing a remote operating student training manual, establishing a new case triage system, utilising Zoom sessions, and developing a user focused website. It reflects upon the process of finding effective ways of communicating and collaborating with students and clients, while managing and mitigating the potential barriers to technology. Both the successes and the challenges taught us more about the human connection and the human experience. Ultimately, the lessons learned from a swift shut down to reopening a fully remote clinic made us better organised, better communicators, and more accessible for clients. Once we safely return to in-person meetings, the value gained in providing a remote service will remain embedded in our offering, committing us to a hybrid service of in-person and remote meetings to provide a better service to our clients. For the next academic year, our strengthened service enables us to move seamlessly between a fully remote service and our new hybrid model with minimal disruption, should COVID-19 continue to cast a dark cloud.

Predicting the emergence of community smells using socio-technical metrics: A machine-learning approach

Community smells represent sub-optimal conditions appearing within software development communities (e.g., non-communicating sub-teams, deviant contributors, etc.) that may lead to the emergence of social debt and increase the overall project’s cost. Previous work has studied these smells under different perspectives, investigating their nature, diffuseness, and impact on technical aspects of source code. Furthermore, it has been shown that some socio-technical metrics like, for instance, the well-known socio-technical congruence, can potentially be employed to foresee their appearance. Yet, there is still a lack of knowledge of the actual predictive power of such socio-technical metrics. In this paper, we aim at tackling this problem by empirically investigating (i) the potential value of socio-technical metrics as predictors of community smells and (ii) what is the performance of within- and cross-project community smell prediction models based on socio-technical metrics. To this aim, we exploit a dataset composed of 60 open-source projects and consider four community smells such as Organizational Silo, Black Cloud, Lone Wolf, and Bottleneck. The key results of our work report that a within-project solution can reach F-Measure and AUC-ROC of 77% and 78%, respectively, while cross-project models still require improvements, being however able to reach an F-Measure of 62% and overcome a random baseline. Among the metrics investigated, socio-technical congruence, communicability, and turnover-related metrics are the most powerful predictors of the emergence of community smells.

The Etymology of Despair in the Americas

Halfway into White Noise, Don DeLillo's novel from 1985, Jack Gladney packs his family in the car and leaves town running from a black chemical cloud. The “airborne toxic event” had triggered an emergency evacuation plan: floodlights from helicopters, sirens, unmarked cars from obscure agencies, clogged roads, makeshift shelters at a Boy Scout camp where the Red Cross would dispense juice and coffee. People are confused, they seek information wherever they can, “[s]mall crowds collected around certain men.” Among generalized bewilderment, Gladney observes a few individuals moving faster and more assertively than the rest, then getting into a Land Rover. In the chaotic scene of crisis, their confidence gets his attention. “Their bumper stickers read GUN CONTROL IS MIND CONTROL” Gladney reads. And his mind wanders: “In situations like this, you want to stick close to people in right-wing fringe groups. They've practiced staying alive.”

Effect of COVID-19 outbreak on urban health and environment.

The WHO announced coronavirus disease a Public Health Emergency on 30 January 2020, and it spreads across the whole planet. Aftermath of outbreak of this disease at the global level is more frightening and panicking than anyone’s worst nightmare. With more than 23 mln positive coronavirus cases and more than 800,000 causalities all over the world, the potential of this virus cannot be undermined. This pandemic has victimized all human beings residing on 209 countries and territories of the world. It emerged as an unbeatable global challenge that the world has never witnessed before. Consequently, the affected countries have sealed their borders and made populations reside in their homes until the pandemic is over. Thus, the victims of coronavirus are not only the ones who are exposed to it but also the ones who are affected by the lockdown imposed by the governments. The paper aims to evaluate the effect of COVID-19 on air pollution of various countries. Papers indicating the relationship between air pollution levels and lockdown measures are analyzed. The dramatic U-turn from environmental degradation is definitely a silver lining in these black clouds. This paper reviews the repercussions of the pandemic in some nations, while war-like preparations continue to fight it. COVID-19 has dramatically improved the quality of air. Also, it has greatly affected the economy of various countries due to lockdown.

The Black Cloud—a classic science fiction novel from the pen of an astronomer

Throughout the long history of astronomy, scientists have repeatedly written fictional stories, which often lend themselves to use in the classroom thanks to the authors’ in-depth knowledge and an appealing storyline. This article uses the novel ‘The Black Cloud’, written by the well-known astronomer Fred Hoyle, to show which physical-astronomical tasks can be derived from it. For this purpose, the use of text excerpts as well as the whole novel is conceivable. Beyond the examples of distance determination and the thermodynamics of the atmosphere presented here, the book also offers interesting insights into the work of astronomers in the 1950s, which Hoyle was able to report on first-hand.

Working with silenced under-trial prisoners in India during the COVID-19 pandemic

ABSTRACT The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic was an entirely new challenge for the entire nation of India. As black clouds of poverty and unemployment hovered over the marginalized sections of the society, the faulty criminal justice system totally neglected its vulnerable under-trial prisoners. This story is about how one group – Ambedkar Group, endeavored to assist the highly stigmatized and silenced under-trial prisoners, who had been released on bail prior to the pandemic and nationwide lockdown. They had been left on their own with no support system or resources to survive. The Ambedkar Group decided to take up their cause.

Under a Black Cloud Glimpsing a Silver Lining: Comment on Statistical Issues and Recommendations for Clinical Trials Conducted During the COVID-19 Pandemic

I am writing with not only the hope, but also the assumption, that the current COVID-19 pandemic caused by SARS-CoV-2 (coronavirus) infections will resolve, given time, and that both human health a...

‘Did I ever tell you?’ On the power of shared failure

The black cloud that hovers over newly minted attendings is the stuff of legend. After graduation from residency and fellowship, everyone warns you that the worst complications and most complex cas...