Good Quality Environment Research Articles

Preliminary Study on the Wind Flow Simulation Over a Biophilic City

Biophilic city refers to the affiliation of the cities to conserve the natural environment and strive to achieve high connections with the green surroundings. As cities face swift urbanization, the green lungs of vegetation and forestry are sacrificed to accommodate buildings and infrastructures needed by the increasing population. Via biophilic design approach, countries like Singapore and New Zealand have proven that they are able to reclaim the nature and green environment for better quality of lives. This preliminary study is therefore aimed to develop the biophilic climate-conscious design for an area by focusing on the biophilic way of sustaining natural wind condition. This is due to the fact that the disturbance on natural wind condition might lead to bad ventilation or other significant modified wind flow such as gust, where in worst case scenario, may cause disaster cause by abnormal wind. As a result, this paper is expected to discover an appropriate wind flow simulation for wind flow map of a chosen potential area which is useful in guiding the local authorities towards future development of naturally environment.

Ageing and Elderly Care in Kerala

This article presents an overview of the elderly in Kerala and describes various dimensions of elderly care and concerns, based on data from the Kerala Ageing Survey (KAS) 2013, conducted by the Centre for Development Studies (CDS), Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala. The article looks into the main issues, policies and programmes related to ageing and elderly care practices in Kerala and also addresses the basic care response at three levels: household, institutional and society. The ageing process in Kerala is witnessing an increase in the ratio of elderly population along with fundamental changes in families and communities. Hence, in order to accommodate the needs of the ageing population in society, various systems need to be reconstructed. The concerns and issues surrounding the ageing population requires long-term attentiveness and forward planning, where policies must be adopted with consideration for cultural and social contexts. Care for the elderly should focus on a holistic combination of health care, socio-economic protection and provision of a suitable environment for better quality of life.

An Initiative to Find Better Energy Option for Growing India: Jatropha Oil

Energy is vital role input for economic growth in industries and agriculture. Fossil fuel are depleting at a faster rate due to exploitation besides increasing the environmental protection cost. Search for renewable energy source and their technology development is of paramount importance to have a balanced and buoyant environment for better quality of life. Thus this situation compels us to explore new avenues which can be used as fuel for Diesel Engines. The esters of vegetables oil and animal fats are known as Bio diesel and these are basically used as an alternative fuel for Diesel Engines. This Paper deals with the prospects of obtaining Bio diesel from Jatropha Oil. Jatropha Curcas is a renewable non- edible plant, which can be seen as a wild hardy plant grown in the arid and semi-arid regions of the country. This can easily be grown on the degraded soils having low fertility and moisture. The Jatropha seeds are very useful since they contain 50-60% oil. To conclude, this study will discuss the process of conversion of Jatropha Oil into Biodiesel by using transesterification process.

Ocular disorders in stroke patients in a tertiary hospital in Nigeria.

Stroke is a medical emergency of public health importance which affects the physical, mental, and emotional well-being of its victims. Management and rehabilitation are cumbersome for patients and caregivers. Ocular involvement and visual loss could further increase the burden of care. To determine the prevalence of ocular disorders in patients with stroke in a Tertiary Hospital in Nigeria. A descriptive hospital-based study was performed on all consenting and conscious adult patients aged 18 years and above with a diagnosis of stroke made within 1-year who were admitted to the stroke ward or attended the stroke clinic of the Neurology Unit in the Department of Medicine, University of Benin Teaching Hospital, Benin City from October 2013 to December 2013. A total of 170 eyes of 85 patients were studied with a mean age of 66.08 years ± 10.99; range 43-88 years. There was a male: female ratio of 2.6:1. Ocular abnormalities were documented in 95.5% of the patients. A presenting visual acuity of ≥6/18 was found in 66.7%. Mild ptosis and exotropia were seen in 2.9% and 0.6% of the eyes respectively. Intraocular pressure was between 10-21 mmHg in 87.7% eyes while 11.8% eyes had afferent pupillary defects. Cataract was seen in 71.8% eyes and optic nerve head changes in 48.8% eyes which includes temporal disc pallor and glaucomatous optic neuropathy in 29.4% and 14.2% eyes, respectively. Abnormalities found in the retina include retinal hemorrhages in 10.6% eyes, cotton wool spots in 2.4% eyes, and hard exudates in 7.8% eyes. Retinal vascular abnormalities were documented in 32.4% eyes. Visual complaints following stroke were documented in 9.6% of the patients. Ocular abnormalities are present in patients with stroke, mostly due to predisposing risk factors for stroke, and age-related changes. Routine ophthalmic evaluation is suggested in the management of patients with cerebrovascular accident in our environment for better quality of care.

A Country Specific Development Model for India: An Appeal for Research and Education Support from the Association of Engineers, India

The entire world is now focusing on the Emerging Economy of India. With 1/6 th of population of the world (over 100 million) India reached a GDP growth rate of 9% in 2007-08 and even after the economic downturn following the sub-prime crisis in USA, the growth rate continued to remain 6% in 2008-09 and is likely to be 8.5% in 2010-11. However despite of the above success story, the quality of life is not showing any sign of improvement and the relative position of the country in the Human Development Index (HDI) remains unchanged being 127 th out of 177 countries. The development model that the country is following is leading to two great disasters, the first is an alarming contribution to global warming and environmental pollution due to fossil fuel based energy guzzling growth and the second being the abject poverty for nearly 1/3 rd of the population due to unacceptable maldistribution of wealth. India is a densely populated country with 4 times the population of USA and 1/3 rd of her surface area. India is the youngest nation of the world with over 50% of its population being under the age of 25 years. Roughly 1/3 rd of her population is in the middle class and above with high purchasing power, but another 1/3 rd is below the poverty line being unable to afford two square meals a day. While India is self sufficient in low-grade coal, it imports 75% of crude oil requirement resulting in a highly negative balance of trade. It is therefore imperative that the current model of economic development based on emphasis on core competencies of organizations, adoption of unbridled automation to fuel a market economy under global competition is unlikely to be sustainable in the long run. It is unfortunate that most of the dirty manufacture of the developed world, like castings, forgings, chemicals etc, is now finding its base in India and China. If the emerging economies of India and China, with 40% population of the world, follow a development model that strives towards the same per-capita fossil fuel consumption as that of USA, will the world survive? The main challenge of India is to provide gainful occupation to its burgeoning workforce in a global and highly competitive economy without damaging the ecology to the point of no return. This requires a change of focus to harness the strength of the country, which involves skill and knowledge development of the young workforce to serve the global economy along with cashing on her unmatched bio-diversity to meet the increasing shortfall in India and abroad of value added products. It is argued that the growth model for a populous country like India should not only be globally competitive but should simultaneously be eco-friendly, sustainable, employment oriented and relatively less capital Intensive. Such an Indian Model should concentrate on Agriculture and Agro-based Industries; Tourism; Information Technology; Biotechnology, Gems, jewellery. Cut-diamond and Handicrafts; Entertainment; Pharmaceuticals, Health Services, Higher Education, Alternative Energy, Precision Equipment etc. Policy support from the Govt, of India in these areas can make India an important global player, as displayed in the recent past in the area of Information Technology. The infrastructure developmental effort should concentrate on giving support to all such areas. Simultaneously we should focus on compulsory primary education, improved basic health services and protection of environment for better quality of life for the present and the future generations. The challenge for the next generation of Engineers should be to support sustainable growth with improved quality of life. The Associations of Engineers, India need to do serious brain storming on their research and training activities to provide a thrust towards achieving the above objective. Should we not accept this challenge?

Rural change and individual well-being

Much of rural Europe has witnessed vast changes over the past two decades, including major demographic and economic change. The question of how these changes have affected individual well-being and quality of life remains largely unanswered. This paper aims to shed light on this topic by employing both qualitative and quantitative research methods in the analysis of rural quality of life in Ireland, including focus groups, locally-specific surveys and two representative surveys of individuals carried out in 2001 and 2007. We use the respondents’ self-reported life satisfaction level as a proxy for their well-being to examine the determinants of quality of life and also examine how attitudes have changed over this period. Results show a consistently high life satisfaction in rural Ireland. The greatest changes are witnessed in attitudes to the provision of facilities and services. Respondents’ perceptions of the benefits and limitations of rural living remain constant between the two periods, focusing on quality of life and environmental issues. However, the main problems of rural living have shifted away from the cost of housing to access to healthcare and public transport. Issues that are found to be important at the local scale include economic indicators (for example, security of income, home ownership), dwelling characteristics, social factors (for example, belonging to the community) and environmental amenities (for example, access to green space, good-quality environment). The importance of these issues is born out by the analysis at the national scale. The paper concludes by exploring the policy implications of these findings.