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Food and financial insecurity are becoming prominent issues facing much of the developing world. As population densities in these already resource constrained regions continue to increase, it is inherent that a source of sustainable income and a reliable food source be provided, especially to rural populations. Mushroom cultivation is an environmentally benign, sustainable source of nourishment that...
Solar thermal energy has the potential to supply clean energy for applications such as heating or cooking, however times of high solar intensity are often misaligned with the diurnal or seasonal demand for thermal energy. Solar thermochemical energy storage systems (STESS) based on reversible reactions are promising solutions due to their high volumetric energy density and ability to store energy...
The Raspberry Pi Single Board Computer (SBC) family has gained popularity in diverse areas, while education remains to be the fundamental driver behind the design. Low cost kits are provided, specifically for education, by the Raspberry Pi Foundation in conjunction with Google. These kits and modifications for optimal educational outcomes, and an enriched experience will be briefly discussed. The...
Human breast milk is considered the gold standard for infant nutrition, as breast milk is the only substance that is able to provide infants with the necessary nutrients in their first six months of life. Infants who are fed mother's breast milk are at lower risk for developing a variety of infections and autoimmune diseases and often display better developmental and cognitive performance compared...
Adoption rates and performance metrics of wheelchairs in low-resource settings are thought to vary significantly based on the type of wheelchair distributed and after-sales services provided. Several organizations have been innovating on low-cost wheelchairs, developing ruggedized designs to better withstand off-road usage. The benefits provided by these wheelchairs, however, have been difficult to...
Big Data and Big Data Analytics are a set of emerging technologies that allow researchers, organizations, and businesses to draw actionable insights from large data sets. A primary source of such large data sets are those created in a healthcare or medical context. This can include data from, but not limited to, electronic health records, mobile applications (mHealth), diagnostic equipment, genomics,...
Drawing inspiration from the psychological literature on social change [e.g., 1, 2], we classify approaches to development engineering into three categories based on the depth, sustainability, and scalability of the resultant change within a community. In this context, we define “first-order change” as charity or direct service, in which a donor meets the immediate needs of a beneficiary; we define...
This document presents the development of a right-hand biomechanical prosthesis. This artificial limb provides range of motion to a person whose hand has been amputated at the wrist level, allowing them to grab objects through a cylindrical grip, lateral grip, tip grip and twisting of the wrist, helping the patient to perform daily activities like drinking water, holding pens, typing, and holding...
Urinary tract infections (UTIs) are one of the most common infections in developing countries such as Kenya. Despite this, their prevalence is virtually unknown from a patient's perspective, especially in rural communities. Worldwide, it is estimated that one in two women will contract a UTI during their lifetimes. More specifically, UTI incidence rates are nearly 20 percent higher in the developing...
Brazil has 5.570 cities politically independent and yet entitled to manage urban land, no matter their technical or financial resources for that. Although informal land tenure is commonly associated to major metropolitan areas in Brazil, recent urbanization processes of cities inward the country's territory has led to informal land occupation of entire central districts. Informality is defined, in...
Lithium-ion batteries are currently the most widely used form of energy storage in electric vehicles. They have a high vitality thickness with a potential for higher limits, they don't need prolonged priming when they're new. However, they're subject to aging rapidly even when they aren't being used. Being able to predict the life expectancy of these batteries can prove to be beneficial in order to...
Augmenting educational opportunities for rural village girls in India has been highlighted as a significant Millennium Development Goal (MDG) necessary to help eradicate poverty in developing countries. The role of proper electrification in rural villages, another MDG, plays a significant role in providing necessary energy for educational needs. In a small village in the state of Jharkhand, India...
During conflicts such as climatic catastrophe, war etc. in various countries, including underdeveloped countries, there has been a lack of experienced medical personnel leading to a significant rise in the death toll. To overcome this crisis, a real time automatic injecting device (AID) with robust vein detection is presented in this paper. This device is capable of automatically injecting medicines...
Timely and robust diagnosis of plant diseases and nutrient deficiencies play a major role in management of crop yield. Automation is a low cost alternative to human experts and can help to detect early onset of crop diseases which aids faster decision making and in giving recommendations to farmers to curb yield loss. We have developed a smart-phone based participatory sensing application for agriculture...
The UN Millennium Development Goals have in recent years understood and emphasized the critical connection between rural poverty and health issues, and lack of any or proper electrification. Although Indian village electrification has been a priority for the government for a number of years, it is a huge task given the millions of households residing in rural areas. Further, not all claims of village...
Solar energy kiosks in developing countries are commonly designed with battery storage as daytime energy production does not coincide with an evening peak consumption. Curtailment of excess solar energy production can occur when current load and battery storage charging is not high enough during peak solar generation hours. Valuation of the options for coping with this phenomena, after a system is...
Microgrids using renewable energy generators and energy storage are being suggested as a solution to rural electrification for many developing countries, even those with existing transmission / distribution networks. This is being driven by the rapidly falling costs of both solar and energy storage. However, the technology is changing rapidly in this area and existing technical standards often do...
Hybrid solar / diesel / battery microgrids are being suggested as a solution to rural electrification for many developing countries, even those with existing transmission / distribution networks. One question is how to balance the sizing of the various subsystems. Energy from photovoltaic systems is now far cheaper than even the lowest fuel-only costs for diesel generators. However, solar is only...
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