Although typically associated with the provision of low-cost holiday accommodation, for over 30 years city-based caravan parks have provided an unrecognised source of permanent housing to the lower end of the market. Due to their often dilapidated condition and the demographic profile of their residents, caravan parks do not fit within the Australian housing ideal and are often considered enclaves of despondency. Residents are subject to harsh stereotypes and are often referred to as ??trailer trash?? ?? a tag which originated in the USA. However the reality is that caravan parks provide significant social benefits and are unique living environments for their permanent residents. This research involved an extensive discourse analysis complemented by in-depth interviews with caravan park residents and industry stakeholders, which found that the residential experience is typically based on solidarity, companionship, pride and a true sense of belonging. As urban land prices in Australia have increased exponentially and the footprints of its capital cities continue to grow, large parcels of under-developed land accommodating caravan parks have become ??land banks?? ripe for redevelopment. While it is the park owner??s prerogative to maximise profit, individuals and households are being displaced with little or no compensation, to make way for more lucrative land uses. With deficiencies in the public housing system and the failure of the housing market to provide an adequate level of low-cost accommodation, caravan park residents face an uncertain future, even homelessness. However, the understated impact of this trend is the social implications which affect some of the community??s most vulnerable members. The loss of home, community disintegration and feelings of insecurity appear to be disregarded in the planning process, and this trend seems certain to continue with a lack of responsibility and strategic vision by the government. For this reason, the continued closure of Sydney??s caravan parks should not be tolerated for the purpose of land profiteering. A comprehensive all-of-government and industry response is urgently required to address the threats to Sydney??s caravan parks and to develop mitigation strategies aimed at reducing the resultant outcomes for their vulnerable residents.

A imprimaÃÃo betuminosa pode ser definida como a aplicaÃÃo de uma camada de material asfÃltico sobre uma base granular, com a finalidade de melhorar suas qualidades tecnolÃgicas. Nos pavimentos das rodovias de baixo volume de trÃfego o papel da imprimaÃÃo à ainda mais importante para o seu desempenho, tendo em vista a reduzida espessura dos seus revestimentos, aliada à sua pouca ou inexistente funÃÃo estrutural. Esse trabalho tem como objetivo principal investigar os principais fatores que influenciam na penetraÃÃo da imprimaÃÃo betuminosa para bases de pavimentos de rodovias de baixo volume de trÃfego do estado do CearÃ. Para tanto, foram coletadas amostras de solos na regiÃo do agropÃlo Baixo Jaguaribe, o qual foi selecionado pela sua importÃncia no cenÃrio econÃmico e social do estado. As amostras coletadas foram submetidas aos ensaios de caracterizaÃÃo, granulometria conjunta, Proctor, CBR e expansÃo na energia intermediÃria. Para preparaÃÃo dos corpos de prova submetidos aos ensaios de imprimaÃÃo foi realizada uma adaptaÃÃo do processo de compactaÃÃo executado no cilindro Proctor para o cilindro Marshall. Os materiais betuminosos empregados para execuÃÃo dos ensaios de imprimaÃÃo foram a emulsÃo RM-1C, o asfalto diluÃdo CM-30 e uma mistura produzida a partir da adiÃÃo do lÃquido da castanha de caju (LCC), ao cimento asfÃltico de petrÃleo (CAP). Os resultados obtidos do experimento revelaram que a imprimaÃÃo à uma operaÃÃo bastante complexa, que sofre a interferÃncia de diversos fatores, tais como: o tipo e a taxa de ligante aplicado, as condiÃÃes de preparo da superfÃcie da base, umidade de compactaÃÃo, etc. Verificou-se tambÃm, que o LCC pode ser utilizado satisfatoriamente, à luz da penetraÃÃo, como diluente asfÃltico. / Bituminous prime coat can be defined as the application of an asphalt film layer on a granular base, for the improvement of its technological qualities. In pavements subjected to the role of the prime coats is even more important due to the reduced thickness of the surface and its low or inexistent structural function. The purpose os this work is to investigate the main factors that affect the penetration of the bituminous prime coat in bases layers with traffic low volume in the state of CearÃ. Soil samples were collected in the agrozone of Baixo Jaguaribe. This region was selected because of importance in the economic and social scene of the state. The collected samples were submitted to characterization tests, gradation, Proctor, CBR and expansion considering the intermediate energy. An adaptation of the compacting process was done for preparing the samples submitted to the prime coat tests. The change in the procedure consisted in compacting through the Marshall cylinder, instead of the Proctor cylinder. The procedures of the Villiborâs methodology were adapted, as well. The bituminous materials used in the prime coat tests were the emulsion RM-1C and cutback CM-30. It was also used a binder produced with the addition of the liquid of the cashew nut (LCC) to the asphalt cement. Results observed of the experiments had disclosed that the prime coat is a complex material, itâs affect by many factors, such as: the type and the rate the applied binder, the preparing conditions of the base surface, moisture content in compaction, etc. It was also verified that the LCC can satisfactorily be used as cutback, observing the parameter of penetration.

M. Tech. / In the past the policy for the provision of low-cost housing was not very effective because the context of the development planning was characterized by fragmentation, segregation and isolation from the targeted communities. The reason for this is that these development programmes were not participatory and that they contributed to dependency rather than empowerment of communities. Selected case studies have shown that without the involvement of the community in planning and decision-making, low-cost housing projects cannot meet the needs and demands of the community for improvement in an effective and efficient way. One of the basic principles of the Reconstruction and Development Programme is that development projects should be people-driven. The policy framework clearly states that ‘delivery systems in housing will depend upon community participation’. This current study sought to determine whether delivery systems in low-cost housing projects have made this paradigm shift – that they are participatory and needs-driven. The study is descriptive and issue-oriented and is limited to understanding the process of low-cost housing provision to newly-urbanised Africans in Soshanguve, a peri-urban settlement in the City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality. Using a semi-structured questionnaire, interviews were conducted with 100 respondents, who were either male or female heads of households. The study gave respondents an opportunity to share their experiences regarding the process of community participation in housing provision.

The study was premised by the apparent lack of sustainability and poor quality of low cost housing of Botswana. The overall aim of the study was to investigate the possibility of integration of sustainability and resource efficiency into housing practice. The research first conducted a desk study into the low cost housing industry of Botswana which was followed by a survey in a representative area of Gaborone, the capital city of Botswana. The survey was in the form of a situational analysis which was conducted through user questionnaires. This was followed by structured interviews that were administered to stakeholders to gain insight into housing and design practice. In order to investigate the performance of different types of existing low cost housing, the following parameters were identified; planning and implementation, housing design, the building envelope and its response to its environment, materials and resources used in low cost housing, their application and consumption pattern. The study found that sustainable, energy conscious design of housing makes a considerable difference to the building’s thermal performance, user comfort, health, appropriate use of resources and the environment. It results in cost savings for services by the occupants, reduces institutional expenditure on programmes and maintenance costs, and reduces the negative impact on the environment by the building sector. Following the research, the study found that for successful integration of sustainability and energy efficiency in low cost housing for Botswana, there must be a balance in the integration of three primary elements; energy efficient housing, culture and regional identity and the environment. Institutional low cost housing was targeted as the first point of intervention for better impact. The study recommended a phased implementation approach. The output of the study was a framework for the integration of these strategies into new and existing housing for the institutional low cost housing sector. / Dissertation (MArch)--University of Pretoria, 2008. / Architecture / unrestricted

Investigation of potential implementation of low-cost business model in passenger railway transportation. Analysis of techniques used in different industries and evaluation of potential of such techniques.

A market for a low-cost vibration protection device in the rotating machine industry has been identified that satisfies the needs of small firms unable to afford and sustain a condition monitoring operation. In this project, a system is developed that satisfies the need for a low-cost, conservative, configurable and intuitive device that can perform vibration measurements on a range of gearboxes and make an inference as to the level of vibrations coming from the bearings on the shafts. The inference made by the device, derived from the frequency content of the measured signal, may be used by the operator of the gearbox to make a judgment of whether to have the gearbox investigated by a competent authority. In order to assist this investigation, a vibration history of the device is stored, both in time and frequency domain formats, as well as a full history of the relevant diagnostic information. To reach this point of maturity, the project evolved through three different hardware configurations. The various iterations were tested within the scope for which they were designed and the lessons learned after each test was incorporated into the next iteration. The final iteration incorporated all the refinements of the system up to that point as well as the anticipated scope of further development into the commercial realm. To verify the inference credibility of the device, the results of the final specification of the device was evaluated against data obtained from the condition monitoring department of SASOL in Secunda. The results were analysed on two accounts. Firstly the signal reproduction accuracy was evaluated, which established how accurately the signal was digitized and how the processing algorithms performed. Secondly, the inference accuracy was gauged against the practices of SASOL. On both accounts, the final device performed satisfactorily. The end result of this project is considered a ‘near-commercial ready’ prototype with all the hardware on-board for user interaction, signal processing, 3rd party viewing of the data and future expandability. / Dissertation (MEng)--University of Pretoria, 2014. / tm2015 / Mechanical and Aeronautical Engineering / MEng / Unrestricted

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Low-cost sensors have the potential to create dense air monitoring networks that help enhance our understanding of pollution exposure and variability at the individual and neighborhood-level; however, sensors can be easily influenced by environmental conditions, resulting in performance inconsistencies across monitoring settings. During summer 2020, 20 low-cost particulate sensors were deployed with a reference PM2.5 monitor in Denton, Texas in preparation for calibration. However, from mid to late-summer, dust transported by the Saharan Air Layer moved through the North Texas region periodically, influencing the typical monitoring pattern exhibited between low-cost sensors and reference instruments. Traditional modeling strategies were adapted to develop a new approach to calibrating low-cost particulate sensors. In this study, data collected by sensors was split according to a novel dust filter into dust and non-dust subsets prior to modeling. This approach was compared with building a single model from the data, as is typically done in other studies. Random forest and multiple linear regression algorithms were used to train models for both strategies. The best performing split-model strategy, the multiple linear regression models split according to dust and non-dust subsets (combined R2 = 0.65), outperformed the best performing single-model strategy, a random forest model (R2 = 0.49). The results from this study indicate that low-cost sensor performance can be greatly influenced by the presence of dust, and that adaptive strategies, like the ones presented in this paper, are necessary when calibrating sensors in environments that may experience pollution from inconsistent sources throughout the year.

Currently, as one of the most popular technologies being discussed and experimented, the application of flying copters in different industries is facing an obvious barrier; which is how to avoid obstacles while flying. One of the industries among all is small-sized package delivery business, which is also the master topic of a series of experiments. The most popular designs that have used for the Flying Copter Obstacle Avoidance System such as lidar scanners and infrared rangefinders are significantly accurate. However, with the heavyweight, expensive price and higher power consumption, these systems cannot be put into mass production. To reduce the cost and power consumption of the Obstacle Avoidance System, an innovative vision-based low-cost Obstacle Distance Estimation System for flying copters is demonstrated in this thesis. The Fisheye Lens Camera is used to provide a broader detection range and accurate results. Compared to other standard vision-based systems, the Fish Lens Camera Distance Estimation System can provide (around 360 degrees) extensive view for obstacle detection. Through the parallax pictures captured by the camera and the trigonometric rules, the system can estimate the distance to the target obstacle with reasonable results.

Physically compliant (flexible) electronics are scientifically intriguing, mechanically complex, technologically challenging with huge socio-economical potential. The flexible electronics market is expected to grow from USD 23.92 Billion in 2018 to USD 40.37 Billion by 2023. Until now the target applications for flexible electronics have been limited to displays, solar cells, and printed batteries. A fully flexible electronic system can open up a whole new era of novel applications. On the other hand, there has been a significant growth of IoT devices worldwide. In this Ph.D. research, expanding upon the horizon of applications for flexible electronics, I explore the integration of existing “things” into the IoT ecosystem. The overarching objective is to present low-cost solutions through the use of sustainable materials as active electronic materials and employ DIY integration strategies to build “Add on” standalone sensory systems, which can be attached to any existing things like a “decal”. The add-ons can be tagged on objects or living beings including humans. The objective of using DIY methods is benefited from the low cost readily available recyclable materials which allow anyone, with a little expertise, to create customized versions of add-on modules suited to their needs. The core of the system will have flexible silicon CMOS ICs for data management, instead of conventional rigid ICs. Today, when we think of improving the performance of anything, it has to be replaced by a much more costly and sophisticated new version. By using modular add-on modules, the functionality of most things can be enhanced further without the need of replacing it entirely. On one hand, I show a low-cost add-on module that adds “smart” capabilities to a normal prescription bottle while on the other hand a smart add-on module attached to a personal belonging helps protect it from theft. Finally, a paper-based acoustic sensor housed in Styrofoam packaging will be explored to perform chronic monitoring of respiratory disease while being attached non-invasively to the chest of a human. These modules can be potential lifesavers, while costing less than a few dollars, consequently becoming a critical utility for everyone.