Thesis and Research Data Repository Leeds Beckett University
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Energy Consumption Estimation of CI CD Pipeline Agents
No full textThe lack of flexibility and delays in the software delivery processes led to the creation of DevOps practices, such as CI/CD pipelines, to automate the process of building and deploying applications. These tools are widely used today in software development environments. However, there is little research on the sustainability involved in these processes. This study uses Intel Power Gadget to estimate the power consumption of a server running the CI/CD of a Node.js application on two different platforms: cloudbased pipelines from Microsoft Azure cloud, and GitHub Actions. Moreover, the manual build and deployment without automation tools were also calculated for comparison with the CI/CD approach. The study revealed that although not using automation tools generates slightly less energy consumption, there is no significant difference between using cloud-based pipelines and manually building and deploying an application. It is therefore concluded that the use of DevOps could be sustainable when using cloud services and optimizing the pipeline architecture.</p
Adoption of Offsite Manufacturing in Housing Sector: Challenges, Benefits and Future Opportunities
No full textOver several years, reliance on traditional onsite 'brick and mortar' construction, which is slow and prone to errors, has failed to address the growing issue of housing shortfall. Building houses is in high demand all across the world. To tackle the housing shortfall, the sector is adopting modern construction methods like as offsite manufacturing. Offsite manufacturing has been proposed as a suitable method for building new homes in various countries by academics and practitioners. They thoroughly documented the benefits in terms of building cost, speed, and quality. Although this technology has several important advantages, its present utilisation in the building sector is limited. The definitions, history, and terms used in different countries about the technology are presented. To find the reasons and fill the gap, the current study aims to investigate and explore the barriers to adopting offsite manufacturing in the housing sector and also, the benefits of utilizing offsite manufacturing. An expert questionnaire survey was designed for the findings in the literature review and sent to the stakeholders, there were 25 responses. The responses are statistically analysed. The results identified the barriers to the wider adoption as lack of design flexibility, negative image, lack of manufacturers, and previous experience and advantages in terms of scheduling, cost, time, productivity, reduction in construction waste, and increase in health and safety. Furthermore, the research explored how to improve the better use of offsite manufacturing in the housing sector. A theoretical framework was presented for better outputs by implementing offsite manufacturing in the housing sector.</p
The Progression of Awareness of Circular Economic Principles within Civil Engineering
No full textCircular Civil Engineering is applying the circular economic principles to civil engineering. The circular economy is a model of production and consumption, which results in absolute minimal waste. Some of the main challenges to its implementation include lack of policies, design for end of life, unclear circular economy framework, and lack of awareness. This research focuses on the awareness and knowledge on the subject within students and postgraduates in industry. The data for this project was collected through an online survey and resulted in most of respondents having a relation with the University of the West of England. The survey focused on how confident students and postgraduates are on their knowledge, as well as researching previous implementation of the circular economy in universities and the working industry. This research found that progression of awareness has been made over the years, but not on a large enough scale</p
Does distribution and type of aid affect internal migration following a cyclone? Evidence from Bangladesh
No full textWith the increasing frequency of extreme climatic events, it becomes crucial to understand the impacts of different post-cyclonic aid on human mobility. The identification of post-disaster mobility factors is important for planners to prioritise and respond accordingly. This paper explores the impacts of aid in form of food, cash, and agricultural inputs on internal migration following a series of cyclones on the southern coastal area of Bangladesh. Impacts of sources of aid such as institutional or social network sources were also analysed. 472 households across 16 blocks (moujas) were selected for participation, using a stratified sampling strategy. Data were captured via a survey which included individual and household-level demographic, migration, and aid-receipt following cyclones. Data were analysed using a mixture of descriptive and inferential statistical methods. Multinomial logistic regression revealed that migration was significantly higher among households which did not receive institutional food aid. More specifically, non-receipt of food aid and cash aid after a cyclone, different sources of income, non-availability of alternative sources of income, lack of land ownership, and severity of cyclone increased migration among the households where a minority of household members migrated. In contrast, non-receipt of food aid and severity of cyclone were found to be significant factors to increase migration among the households where a majority of household members migrated. We argue that the decision to migrate of the households where a majority of members migrated increased with the increase of severity of cyclone.</p
Supply Chain Risk Management Research (interview transcripts)
No full textQuestionnaire, consent form, and transcript on supply chain resilience and risk management strategies. Data collected on 17 August 2022. </p
Family Involvement in Diet and Exercise Interventions among Children in Nigeria
No full textChildhood malnutrition is a major public health concern with serious implications. This thesis comprising of three studies (i) A mixed methods systematic-type review on studies in developing countries focused on parental influences on optimal diet, physical activity, and body mass index of children. (Study 1). (ii) Exploring views of children, parents, and other stakeholders on the influences on potential diet and physical activity interventions among children in Nigeria (Study 2). (iii) Evaluating potential intervention components and outcome measures for promoting a healthy diet, physical activity and improved water, sanitation, and hygiene practices (WASH) among children in Nigeria (Study 3).
Study 1 findings showed increasing parental associations of income, educational level, and socioeconomic status was associated with less favourable BMI status among children. Peer influence facilitated and parental perceptions of weight, household level, and a limited income were barriers to optimal diet, physical activity, and BMI in children. The review also indicated a lack of intervention and qualitative studies conducted in Nigeria, and a need to address this integrating a focus on undernutrition and WASH.
Studies 2 and 3 took place in a suburban multi-ethnic community in Lagos, Nigeria from 2018- 2020. Study 2 involved parents, school children, teachers, school heads, community leaders, health workers, and civil servants in the health and education sector recruited using purposive and theoretical sampling strategies. Three phases of qualitative semi structured interviews and focus group discussions were conducted with 32 adults and 16 children. Participants voiced active partnership between communities and schools as essential to addressing barriers to diet and physical activity interventions. Activities for engaging families in interventions such as health literacy teaching for parents in local dialects were suggested. Mixed methods were used in Study 3.
Acceptability and feasibility of 12 school and community intervention sessions and the Global School‐based Student Health Survey (diet, PA, hygiene knowledge/practices questionnaire and body mass index (BMI) measures) were evaluated. Participants included 130 children aged 8-15 yrs. Three children and their parents took part in qualitative interviews. All 12 planned intervention sessions were delivered with 100% participation, and approval by parents and children. Timing of sessions, integration of activities into school curriculum were potential barriers to sustainability. Researcher capacity and school timing impacted on the completion of the survey and measurements (n=59; 45% response rate); however, there were no missing questionnaire data.</p
The New ‘Forest’: A Pony’s Perspective
No full textThe New Forest National Park in Hampshire, England, is home to many species, including New Forest Ponies. However, the park is slowly losing its biodiversity as the New Forest eco-system is very delicately balanced so small changes have long lasting effects which are almost impossible to undo. This contribution will argue that the processes of tourism and commodification are generating new risks. Deploying an exploration of Beck’s (1992) theory on ‘risk society’, and the uncertainty that the world now brings, this reflection will determine if and how these risks are causing the decline of the New Forest and the consequential effects on the ponies that live there.</p
Public space in Rzeszów as a modernist vision of green areas within the city
No full textOver the past few decades, there have been various appraisals of the quality of modernist public space in Rzeszów, a city in southeast Poland. In the late 1980s, public open spaces located between residential buildings were often criticized, but in the 21st-century, following the experiences of dense urban dex velopment, the advantages of the modernist vision of greenery in cities are increasingly appreciated. Rzeszów, whose development has been carefully planned in accordance with modern ideas since the 1930s, seems to be a perfect example of a city where public green spaces play a key role within urban space. The observations of the Athens Charter, access to natural light and fresh air were at the core of the vision of the future of cities, could be fully realized in the urban space of Rzeszów, the planning and implementation of which followed this vision until the 1980s.</p
Role of Financial Incentives in promoting Disaster Resilience of the housing sector
No full textInvesting in resilience demands massive funding, one of the critical causes for the current under-investment in resilience. The housing sector predominantly experiences destructive consequences in the face of natural hazards, initiating paramount losses in any region. Therefore, improving the disaster resilience of the housing sector has substantial importance in many aspects. Unfortunately, despite the continuous efforts to develop a resilient housing sector and a built environment where it belongs, losses are replicating with increased intensity and frequency. The resilient construction methodology's technical know-how has already been discussed broadly. However, encouraging communities to invest in disaster-resilient technologies remains challenging. Accordingly, it is necessary to provide additional funding support via incentives and enablers to promote disaster resilience in the housing sector. Incentives are rewards for actions that exceed the minimum level of compliance and act as inducements for improved performance. Amidst the different incentives, financial incentives become significant as they reduce funding constraints for resilient investments. Accordingly, the paper presents the role of financial incentives in promoting disaster resilience in the housing sector. A desk review and semi-structured interviews were used to collect the relevant data. Finally, qualitative content analysis and thematic analysis have summarised the findings. The need and the role of financial incentives in embedding disaster resilience are established through this study by identifying the current practices, challenges, and prerequisites. The establishment of financial incentives for disaster resilience practices will be instrumental in developing a resilience pathway for the future.</p
Dock-to-Dock: Multimodal Freight Transportation in Coastal Regions Challenges, Opportunities, and Benefits
No full textThe Dock to Dock (D2D) project defines the primary infrastructure for future electric freight transport solutions between coastal cities, in particular the energy infrastructure (battery charging/hydrogen refuelling) required for ground vehicles, and urban air mobility and autonomous vessels. We assess typical use cases against economic, environmental, and technological constraints. Our exploitation process involves end-users and stakeholders e.g seaports, airports, autonomous shipbuilders, and electric aircraft manufacturers. We demonstrate and assist in selecting the most promising use case for commercial exploitation to help the UK create and grow its hydrogen transport economy and meet its net-zero ambitions.</p