The Infona portal uses cookies, i.e. strings of text saved by a browser on the user's device. The portal can access those files and use them to remember the user's data, such as their chosen settings (screen view, interface language, etc.), or their login data. By using the Infona portal the user accepts automatic saving and using this information for portal operation purposes. More information on the subject can be found in the Privacy Policy and Terms of Service. By closing this window the user confirms that they have read the information on cookie usage, and they accept the privacy policy and the way cookies are used by the portal. You can change the cookie settings in your browser.
The increase in chronic illnesses globally has sparked a need for home-based healthcare interventions. In the African context, home-carers play a preponderant role in addressing the shortage of trained healthcare professionals by providing primary healthcare services. These nursing care activities offered by the home-carers generate medical waste in homes. There is a need to be concerned about medical...
The European Union (EU) Member States and the European Commission (EC) are investing substantial funds in research and development (R&D) on technologies and innovative solutions for European and international disaster management, risk reduction as well as general crisis preparedness and response. The German Aerospace Center (DLR) has intensively been working in these R&D programs for many...
Over the past 12 years, the Peugeot Center for Engineering Service in Developing Communities at Lipscomb University, in conjunction with Lipscomb University's Engineering Missions, has completed nearly 50 projects in 6 different countries and served over 10,000 people. The Peugeot Center has a vision of providing opportunities for engineering students and professionals to work alongside one other...
Unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs) and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are promising assets to support rescue operations in natural or man-made disasters. Most UGVs and UAVs deployed in the field today depend on human operators and reliable network connections to the vehicles. However, network connections in challenged environments are often lost, thus control can no longer be exercised. In this paper,...
Proper healthcare is one of the fundamental needs of human beings. However, the doctor-to-patient ratio in developing and underdeveloped countries, especially in remote rural areas is quite low. A smart digital stethoscope, which can make preliminary health monitoring by itself and communicate with a doctor from remote areas can minimize such problem. Though there are several such devices from various...
Agriculture is one of the main needs for human to survive. Agriculture has to tackle many problems like changing climate, water shortage, changing soil quality, etc. Due to the increasing demand for cereals and other crops for daily usage by the consumers there is a need for smarter implementation of irrigation and also develop farming methods that alter the basic eco systems and is less harmful to...
Natural disasters such as earthquakes and tsunamis often have a devastating effect on human life and cause noticeable damage to infrastructure. Active research has been ongoing to mitigate the impact of these catastrophes and preclude the economic losses. The existing methods that utilize pre-event and post-event images not only require the immediate and guaranteed availability of the appropriate...
The Servai Mesh and new Serval Mesh Extender 2.0 low-cost, weather-proof, open-source, infrastructure-communications device is being piloted in Vanuatu during 2017 with the support of the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trades Pacific Humanitarian Challenge. This pilot will test the applicability and utility of the Serval Mesh software and hardware in one of the world's most disaster-prone...
Solar direct-drive (SDD) appliances including refrigerators and freezers are widely used for storing vaccines and other medical products in locations without reliable mains electricity. The capacity of the solar array powering an SDD appliance must be large enough to provide sufficient compressor runtime during periods of reduced solar irradiance. SDD appliance solar arrays therefore create useful...
HF and VHF radios retain considerable operational benefits for disaster communications. In particular, they can be the only available communications channel into a disaster zone, and are capable of communications over tens to thousands of kilometers. However, their bandwidth is extremely limited, as low as 1 bit/second, which has previously limited their utility as a backbone for public telecommunications...
Blindness is a natural curse but it does not mean blind people are not able to experience the world that a normal person does. Around 2 million people are visually challenged in Pakistan. They have to tackle daily routine tasks with such a precision including walking which poses a number of different obstacles hindering their passage. Generally, a blind person takes a white-cane as a supporting tool,...
The great strength of satellite communications for humanitarian applications is independence of terrestrial infrastructure. However, satellite telecommunications systems typically suffer high recurrent costs, for example, monthly service charges, which are levied on each terminal device. This makes the pre-provision of satellite communications in disaster-prone regions very expensive. This is especially...
Set the date range to filter the displayed results. You can set a starting date, ending date or both. You can enter the dates manually or choose them from the calendar.