Sustainable Housing and Urban Construction

Since the beginning of time, the built environment has been an integral part in providing shelter needs for men, women and children. Maslow (1943) formulated that shelter is a basic requirement of humans. In the future, humans will have to construct sustainable shelter otherwise would they would risk depleting resources for subsequent generations. Construction is an example of a multitasking activity. The lifecycle of construction can be broken into phases. Achieving building sustainability in modern environment requires a better understanding of environmental impacts. Impacts such as climate change, associated costs, as well as utilising benchmarking scale to measure across a whole range of building types and occupancies. This report will discuss building sustainability, the constraints that stake holders of built environment face, and the role of architects in the process of constructing sustainable buildings. Conceptually, sustainability is allowing present generation to meet its needs without depriving later generations of a way to meet theirs. According to Meckler (2004), building sustainability means to â€Å"provide a safe, healthy, comfortable indoor environment while simultaneously limit the reduction of the earth’s natural resources†. Architects, with their unique position within the built environment, are well equipped to meet the challenges of sustainability in the built environment. The building and construction industry possesses a high ability to be innovative (Meckler 2004), and through this innovation that it would create new methods and processes resulting in constructing improved sustainable buildings that can be serve as subsequent year’s benchmark to beat. The construction industry has invested in research and development into sustainability in order to gain a clearer understanding the effect of building on the environment and reducing the impact of buildings on the environment. The common goal is to be â€Å"energy efficient†. Being energy efficient does not equate to being energy sustainable. The energy from the traditional fossil sources cannot be supplied without using further considerable amount of energy in supplying it. The efficiency of the energy lifecycle starting from the raw extraction of resources, preparation, transport, conversion and distribution to application may be up to 20%. To equate this in simple terms is that it takes approximately 5kWh to deliver 1kWh of energy for consumption. So in order to consume 1kWh of energy, the real term consumption is actually 6kWh. Numerous studies internationally have shown that operational energy consumes the main amount of total energy use in buildings during a typical service lifespan of approximately 50 years. This accounts for about 85–95% of total energy use (Thormark, 2005). From a residential perspective, there should be a focus more on the sustainable development of the residential buildings and urban constructions. The fundamental reason new and more energy-efficient technologies continue to be ignored and the technologies that are applied rarely perform as efficiently as they should is because of a lack of accountability for building energy performance in current building design and operation practices. The building and construction industry in Australia has made significant progress forward in the last 5 years to improve their environmental performance. This improvement has been in response to increased attention from local and state government policies regarding to Ecological Sustainable Development (ESD), as well as the availability of holistic environmental rating tools such as the Green Building Council of Australia’s Green Star rating tools. Architects factor in climatic variables into their thoughts as they design and plan houses, premises and buildings (Alnaser & Flanagan 2007). In hot dry regions such as in the Northern Territory, the built environment should be planned compactly to reduce the amount of surfaces exposed to solar radiation. In warm humid regions such as in Queensland, buildings should be openly spaced to maximize air movement between individual buildings. This would reduce the structure operational energy consumption and maximise Green Star rating. Green building is a tremendous growth area in design, construction and building materials. Green building has gained momentum due to the rise in energy costs and cost of building materials. The happy medium is somewhere between a combination of passive measures through optimal building design and active measures achieved through efficient mechanical system designed to control the indoor climate. These active measures mentioned above include utilizing renewable energy, such as solar energy, wind energy and geothermic energy, improving thermal performance of building structure, utilising daylight and energy efficient lightings, and developing new sustainable building materials (Thormark, 2005). Another aspect of sustainability that is often neglected is social sustainability. Social sustainability can be thought of as qualitative indicators that complement the development process. Some social sustainability objectives are to provide adequate local services and facilities to serve the development, to provide housing to meet the needs of the population, to provide high quality, habitable developments and where possible to preserve local culture and heritage. In any actual development, there is a need for other supporting elements to make it appealing and sustainable. An integral part of the development is to provide high quality energy efficient buildings for community activities such as musicals and outdoor space for open markets. By having such gatherings, the community will get a sense of ownership and will utilise the facility frequently. A salient aspect of sustainable development is to provide a mix of housing structures of all different types (Zhu & Lin, 2003). In order to achieve the objective of providing affordable housing; designs and construction must be of high quality and yet utilises minimal resources. Wherever possible, cultural heritage should be preserved through the reutilising of local valued buildings. If cultural preservation is achieved, the architectural design for the developments will reflect local heritage and use local materials. According to Williams and Dair (2007), there are 9 commonly identifiable barriers to achieving sustainability. Some of these barriers are: 1. Sustainability measure was not considered by stakeholders 2. Sustainability measure was not required by client (includes purchasers, tenants and end users) 3. The sustainability measure cost too much (in some cases the investor would not fund) Unless sustainability is on the agenda of the local planning government, stakeholders are unlikely to voluntarily put sustainability measures on their agenda. Stakeholders were simply bypassing sustainability issues altogether. As with most local government planning policies, there are strict guidelines regarding social objectives, such as meeting housing needs. If a policy is active at the forefront of development then they appeared on stakeholders’ agendas. Many architects have the ability to succeed in achieving a higher star rating for energy efficiency for their built environment projects. They have been doing so for a while. The challenges of sustainability in the future should not be construed as extra attachments to how architects have designed in the past. Architects have the inherent ability to go back to the drawing board and to reinvent the design process to reflect the buildings needed for the future. Architects have a vital role to play. They are a part of key decision making mechanism in the building and construction industry. Going forward, their role will be inextricably linked to producing sustainable outcomes. There are many indicators for sustainable building design (Smith 2001). (a)Identifying possible sources to generate renewable electricity on location, i. e. like Building-Integrating Photovoltaic (BIPV). (b)Minimal usage of fossil fuel energy sources used during the lifetime of the building. (c)Ensuring that building management systems are user friendly simple to operate. (d)Implementing passive or active solar energy while employing heating and cooling systems which are fine tuned to the needs of the occupants with air-conditioning used only in exceptional circumstances. As we progress into the future, the need to provide shelter increases due to population growth. The building structures needed for this growing demand have to be environmentally and socially sustainable. There is a global increase in awareness of the diminishing supply of traditional fossil fuel resources. Fossil fuels make up the core heating and cooling energy consumption presently. In order to achieve sustainability and leave the next generation able to meet their needs, there are short term increased economic costs as the transition from traditional dependent on fossil fuels to alternative energy sources. These barriers have to be overcome and the role of the architect in the overall schema is extremely important. They possess the necessary design skills to adapt to the changing needs and produce sustainable commercial and residential . REFERENCES †¢N. W. Alnaser_, R. Flanagan (2007). The need of sustainable buildings construction in the Kingdom of Bahrain. Building and Environment 42 (2007) 495–506 †¢T. HARTMAN. (2008). A Vision for Energy Performance Integrating performance – monitoring initiatives to improve building sustainability. HPAC Engineering †¢ May 2008 †¢Maslow, A. H, (1943). A THEORY OF HUMAN MOTIVATION, Originally Published in Psychological Review, 50,370-396. 1943 †¢C. McCabe. (2006). Environmental Sciences and Pollution Management. Sustainable building design in Australia. Eco-Architecture: Harmonisation between Architecture and Nature. Vol. 1, pp. 237-245. 7 Jun 2006. †¢M. Meckler. (2004). Achieving Building Sustainability through Innovation Engineered Systems. †¢L. Nervenga. Specifying for Sustainability. Architecture Australia 1904-2006 †¢FS Smith. Architecture in a climate of a change: a guide to sustainable design. UK: Architectural Press, An imprint of Butterworth-Heinemann; 2001. †¢C. Thormark. (2005). The effect of material choice on the total energy need and recycling potential of a building. Building and Environment 41 (2006) 1019–1026 †¢K Williams & C Dair (2007). What Is Stopping Sustainable Building in England? Barriers Experienced by Stakeholders in Delivering Sustainable Developments. Sustainable Development Sust. Dev. 15, 135–147 †¢Yingxin Zhu, Borong Lin (2003). Sustainable housing and urban construction in China. Energy and Buildings 36 (2004) 1287–1297

Maternal Smoking During Pregnancy

Around 12% of all pregnancies occur to women who continue to smoke throughout their pregnancy. Two thirds of those involved in maternal smoking during pregnancy are Caucasian. More than 500,000 infants each year are exposed to cigarette smoke in utero. Maternal smoking during pregnancy has been heavily linked to many infant and toddler health issues. Health issues are also apparent in women who do not smoke during pregnancy, but are regularly exposed to smoke during their pregnancy.   This applies most to those who live with a smoker, or those who work in smoking environments. It is a known fact that maternal smoking during pregnancy produces more premature births and babies with lower birth weights. Maternal smoking during pregnancy has also been associated with babies who have colic. It has been found that tobacco smoke raises levels of motilin in the blood and intestines when maternal smoking during pregnancy is apparant. These raised levels causes contractions of the stomach and intestines to increase. The increased levels of motilin can cause colic in infants, which can cause the infants pain and discomfort for months. Studies show that infants who had colic at 3 months of age had more sleep difficulties and temper tantrums at 3 years of age in comparison with those children without colic. Studies show that maternal smoking during pregnancy leads to more rebellious and aggressive infants and toddlers, helping to link smoking during pregnancy to behavior in infants and toddlers. Mothers who smoked during pregnancy also reported more negative behavior from their infants and toddlers than mothers who did not smoke during pregnancy. Studies show that maternal smoking during pregnancy can have behavioral affects on the infant well into adulthood. Question Does maternal smoking during pregnancy affect the personality (behavior, mood) of an infant and continue to have an affect into toddler hood? Hypothesis It is suspected that maternal smoking during pregnancy does indeed have an affect on the personality (behavior, mood) of an infant and continues to have an affect into toddler hood. Conducting a study on the behavior of infants born to mothers who smoked during their pregnancy, and continuing the study through their toddler years can provide adequate research for this question. This study would need to monitor the child in his or her normal environment as well as in typical social environments. The child’s behavior would then be compared to the behavior of children of the same age and developmental stage that were born to mothers who did not smoke during the pregnancy. By collecting all of the data and analyzing it, there may be a pattern of behavior differences between the children who were born to smoking mothers and those who were born to non-smoking mothers. Problems It may be difficult to pinpoint aggressive or negative behavior from children on the sole fact that their mother smoked during their pregnancy. It will be difficult to factor in behavioral and discipline techniques used by guardians of these children. It may be difficult to get mothers to admit they smoked during their pregnancy, as they may be embarrassed of their lack of attention to the health issues that may have been affected. It may be impossible to set a standard and determine what is normal rebellious behavior for an infant and toddler and what is abnormal behavior. Sources Hitti, Miranda. â€Å"Tobacco Smoke May Increase Colic†. 4 October, 2004. http://my.webmd.com/content/article/94/103060.htm. Acquired on 22 June 2005. â€Å"Infant Deaths Tied to Premature Births†. New York Times. 1 March, 1995. http://www.stat.berkeley.edu/users/statlabs/papers/sample.pdf.   Acquired on 22 June 2005. â€Å"Prenatal Smoking Data Book: Smoking and Reproductive Outcomes†.   www.cdc.com. Acquired on 22 June 2005. Schonfeld, Amy Rothman PhD.   â€Å"Dreading the ‘Terrible Twos'? Don't Smoke, Mothers Warned†.   13 April, 2000. http://my.webmd.com/content/article/23/1728_56585.htm. Acquired on 22 June 2005. ; ; Maternal smoking during pregnancy The Research Question would be â€Å"Are babies born from mothers who smoke during the pregnancy have greater chances of developing low-birth weight, compared to those born from mothers who do not smoke?†A study was conducted on pregnant women that belonged to a Maternity Hospital in Haguenau, France, in 1974.   248 pregnant women that smoked at least five cigarettes a day were defined as ‘cases’, and 196 pregnant women who did not smoke were defined as ‘controls’.Tests conducted on the placenta demonstrated higher incidences of defective trophoblasts in smokers compared to non-smokers.   The signs of intrauterine hypoxia, low birth-weight and low placental weight, were also higher in smokers compared to non-smokers.   However, the study was not able to establish a relationship between low birth-weight and low placental weight or intrauterine hypoxia (Shipra, A. Et al, 1977).Another study conducted demonstrated that mothers who smoked during one pregnancy had produced infants with lower birth-weight, compared to those infants born during pregnancy when they did not smoke.   This was irrespective of the birth order and other factors that affect the growth of the unborn baby in the utreus.   The reduction in the birth weight was directly associated with the number of cigarettes smoked.Mothers, who smoked less, produced infants on an average 90 grams less than normal, whereas those who smoked heavily developed babies on an average 533 grams below normal.   Smoking brought about the development of several lesions in the placental due to under-perfusion (which was usually periodic).   Besides, pregnancy during smoking was on an average 1.5 days shorter than without smoking (Naeye, R.L., 1978).A study was also able to demonstrate that women who quit smoking during pregnancy are able to reduce the several risks associated with pregnancy such as low birth-weight, preterm labor, spontaneous abortion, etc, and period of brea stfeeding also improved (Giglia, R.C. Et al, 2006).A study conducted in Johannesburg and Sweto, in 1990, demonstrated that women who smoked (6.1%) and used snuff (7.5%) during the pregnancy, produced babies who weight an average 2982 grams compared to babies of non-smokers who weighted 3148 grams, on an average.   However, environmental pollutants (such as passive smoking) did not significantly adversely affect the birth weight (Steyn, K., Et al, 2006).Another study conducted in Pelotas, Brazil, in 193, demonstrated that smoking in mothers produced babies on an average 142 grams below that of the non-smokers average.   The study also demonstrated that the risk of fetal retardation was higher with the extent of smoking.   However, the study did not find any relationship between preterm delivery and smoking (Horbta, H.L. Et al, 1997).Hence, it is obvious that birth-weight of the baby is directly affected to the extent of smoked (number of cigarettes) by the mother during pregnan cy.   Further studies need to be conducted on the exact manner in which smoking causes a reduction in the birth-weight of the child.References:Giglia, R.C., Binns, C.W., & Alfonso, H.S. (2006). Which women stop smoking during pregnancy and the effect on breastfeeding duration. BMC Public Health, 2696Z), 195.https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16869976?dopt=AbstractPlusHorta, B.L., Victora, C.G., Menezes, A.M., Halpern, R., & Barros, F.C. (1997). Low birthweight, preterm births and intrauterine growth retardation in relation to maternal smoking. Paediatr Perinat Epidemiol, 11(2), 140-151. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9131707?dopt=abstractplusNaeye, R. L. (1978). Effects of maternal cigarette smoking on the fetus and placenta. Br J Obstet Gynaecol, 85(10), 732-737.https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/708656?dopt=abstractplusSpira, A., Philippe, E., Spira, N., Dreyfus, J., & Schwartz, D. (1977). Smoking during pregnancy and placental pathology. Biomedicine, 27(7Z), 266-270.http s://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/588667?dopt=AbstractSteyn, K., de Wet, T., Saloojee, Y., Nel, H., & Yach D. (2006). The influence of maternal cigarette smoking, snuff use and passive smoking on pregnancy outcomes: the Birth to Ten Study. Paediatr Perinat Epidemiol, 20(2), 90-99.http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=pubmed&cmd=Retrieve&dopt=AbstractPlus&list_uids=16466427&query_hl=6&itool=pubmed_DocSum

Technology in our everyday life Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Technology in our everyday life - Essay Example If someone from the last century, or even the fifties, were to be picked up and dropped smack in the middle of any modern city today, they would surely feel what a science fiction film viewer would, albeit a higher degree of shock. I think life today has become a hodge-podge of gadgetry and mad science. We use something fantastically gimmicky for nearly everything we do: we swipe our fingers over sleek slabs of glass and aluminum to communicate with each other; we laugh or smile or cry while we stare at luminous surfaces of yet more slates of cool metal; and, we gain access into buildings by speaking magic words into the air. This is exactly what it would seem like to someone who had never come across a touch-screen phone, a personal computing tablet or modern-day voice recognition technology. It is often seen that one type of technology, out of a freak chance, may behave erratically in the presence of other appliances. I would quote the example of mobile phone interference. Mobile c ommunication technology, while one of the greatest breakthroughs of science is considered dangerous and hence prohibited for use on aircraft or in gas stations! The mobile signals responsible for carrying voice and data may interfere with an aircraft’s sensitive navigational equipment and can cause a spark enough to ignite gasoline fumes. Furthermore, they must not be brought into close proximity with pacemakers and medical equipment.

Performance Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 2

Performance Management - Essay Example Performance management systems make use of the fact that performance is increased on the part of all concerned and there is no shortfall as concerns to commitment, dedication and devotion when at work. What this performance management system does is to ensure that the right people get the bonuses, incentives and so on as well as point out the ones who have fallen short on the company’s expectations over a period of time. This would help in giving them rewards and incentives which will eventually make one and all happy at the end. Also this will continue their desire to achieve more and more within a specified period of time and thus come into the good books of the company. In return, they can be given all these rewards so that they could be encouraged in line with their work attitudes. Moreover, the people who lag behind with regards to their work schedules and dedication levels will stand up and take notice and thus would want to be counted as the effective and efficient ones within the company as well. The role of organizations in the maintenance of these systems is also very paramount. The difference from the annual appraisals and so on lies in the fact that the traditional manner of doing things relies more on the basis of paper work where a lot of time, effort and money is rather wasted to state the least. The role played by the organizations in advancing their performance management systems is immense since a lot of the population depends on them for their needs and wants. This is met in a fair manner courtesy the E-government initiative adopted by several different companies and organizations. All such innovations which help and facilitate the related process must indeed be given thumbs up since these try to solve the miseries of the people and it is because of these people that the performance management systems are put into place originally. This further pinpoints the fact that the deployment of an efficient performance management

Politics by Aristotle Mere Life and Good Life Essay

Politics by Aristotle Mere Life and Good Life - Essay Example According to Aristotle, freedom is affected by the constrains that arises in our normal life. On the other hand good life is positive in one way as it empowers the youth to be in a position to take leadership roles and accept to be ruled. Through this, we can be in a position to give our priorities right or wrong. According to Aristotle, good life comprises varied ideals in its ethical concerns. In philosophy, there is broad attachment of ethical virtues to external produce. What affects the public people’s life, are the basic ethical virtues. These include ambition, and courage. In achieving these virtues, then it calls for need to be politically active and take political roles and getting involved in court proceedings. External goods refers to useful factors that accompany ethical virtues like power, honor and wealth. The best source of happiness in human beings is friends and family members (Aristotle 23). Aristotle defines politics in various scopes of participation in politics. Good life does not necessarily root from citizenship. To maintain a good life, one needs to create an atmosphere that is politically stable. A politically stable community is a community that has life and property security. In life, if one is denied or has no access to political nature, then it implies that you are staying alone or staying in a community that does not recognize importance of the politics in life (Aristotle 76). Human beings differ and some may decide to live a political society despite the law and order and moral law that the society provides and the opportunity that is engaged in participating in politics. Household arises out of the essential natural instincts that demands reproduction and material survival. This is because Aristotle did not put more emphasis in politics and he does not relegate household values. Household is not confiding to the standards of meeting the natural instincts. Thus for a household to be

Indiana State University School of Music Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Indiana State University School of Music - Essay Example The concert also aims at promoting and showing off the talents in the faculty of artists by offering them a chance to compare their undertakings to the skills and techniques used by the performers. This can, not only give them courage in presenting to the audience, but also give them chances for them to find opportunities outside their institution. This is because, there were no limitations of inviting the audience, and hence, the local industry in the theatre metrics and media could find their way in to select for the best actor. This means that, the concert can be an opening opportunity to express the capabilities as they build experiences due to the interactions with the experts in the industry. The title of the concert shows that Sharilyn Spicknail will feature the rest of the colleagues with a violin. Martha Krasnican featured the concert with the piano together with Kurt Fowler who plays cello. The featured group seemed to rock the jazz styles as the rhythm system can justify. Playing the instruments with their styles seemed to be the common goal of the artistic student as there are always some conflicts in rhyming to most of the learners, which is the biggest challenge. Nevertheless, the concert is deemed to correct the anomalies in the 2012-2013 season. In the events program, one can note that there are four pieces to be presented in the concert. The first two pieces do not have any spate sections, hence they are performed continuously. After the two performances, an intercession break is given and then the last two are acted in each after the other. According to the program, each piece has three sections or movements, which the audience can be easily, count its end although occasionally the composer without any silence always connects the movements. The titles of the movements indicate the characters or the speed to be used by the composer on each movement in a piece. These movement’s titles can be of any language although most of them are Italian since it was the first international language of the music industry. Having three movements each, a piece was named with the author name at the end and the years of its composition in order to draw the attentions of the audience of when each piece existed and the surrounding techniques involved. This also helps the audience to identify various genres or its evolution from year to the other.

POLICY MEMO PAPER ON DOMESTIC POVERTY Research Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

POLICY MEMO ON DOMESTIC POVERTY - Research Paper Example Therefore, conservatives believe that the solutions to the United States poverty level indices should emphasize more on higher marriages rates, personal responsibility, and fewer births out of wedlock. However, on the other side, liberals believe that the solutions to the poverty level indices in the United States can be addressed by focusing attention on the negative impacts of cutting government budgets for anti-poverty programs, the need for instituting early childhood development programs and addressing the negative effects of proving tax reliefs to the wealthy. According to report from the Bread for the World Institute about 12.9% of people in the United states are poor, implying that 1/8 people you come across in the United States at least one is poor. In addition, the report further states that about 12.1% are also food insecure, sometimes referred to us â€Å"at risk of hunger† Therefore, it is not a coincidence that food and poverty rates are at the same levels. Thus, this is a vivid implication that the despite the sweeping of the 1990s welfare reforms and the recent year’s economic growth in the United States, domestic poverty still remains a big challenge (Melissa and Benjamin, 2014). The concept of welfare reforms in the U.S. is not a new idea. The Federal government has been responsible for funding low-income Americans’ subsidy programs in the past years with the aim of reducing poverty to enable low-income families attain self-sufficiency through e.g. TANF program (Office of Family Assistance, 1999). For instance, some of the objectives of the TANF program are: Superficially, the objectives aforementioned seem not be advocating for the permanent stay of the low income earners in the welfare programs, but with the initiation of the welfare programs by the Federal government, the problem of poverty has worsened over the years regardless of the achievements made economically. Therefore, the involvement of