Search results

As climate change shocks and stresses increasingly affect urban areas in developing countries, resilience is imperative for the purposes of preparation, recovery and adaptation. This study aims to investigate demographic characteristics and social networks that influence the household capacity to prepare, recover and adapt when faced with prolonged droughts or erratic rainfall events in Mbale municipality in Eastern Uganda.

A cross-sectional research design was used to elicit subjective opinions. Previous studies indicate the importance of subjective approaches for measuring social resilience but their use has not been well explored in the context of quantifying urban resilience to climate change shocks and stresses. This study uses 389 structured household interviews to capture demographic characteristics, social networks and resilience capacities. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used for analysis.

The ability of low-income households to meet their daily expenditure needs, household size, and networks with relatives and non government organizations (NGOs) were significant determinants of preparedness, recovery and adaptation to prolonged droughts or erratic rainfall events.

The results imply that policymakers and practitioners have an important role vis-à-vis encouraging activities that boost the ability of households to meet their daily expenditure needs, promoting small household size and reinforcing social networks that enhance household resilience.

Even the low-income households are substantially more likely to prepare for and recover from prolonged droughts or erratic rainfall events if they can meet their daily expenditure needs. This finding is noteworthy because the poorest in society are generally the most vulnerable to hazards.

The application of new technologies requires, however, modern rolling mills. Indeed, in manufacturing plants of older types, strict compliance with the developed rolling regimes is not always feasible. Improving the mechanical properties in such cases is possible only by means of cooling. Compressive deformation behavior of carbon–manganese (C-Mn) grade has been investigated at temperatures ranging from 800-900°C and strain rate from 0.01-50 s−1 on Gleeble-3800, a thermo-mechanical simulator. Simulation studies have been conducted mainly to observe the microstructural changes for various strain rate and deformation temperatures at a constant strain of 0.5 and a cooling rate of 20°C s−1.

The project begins with simulation of a hot rolling condition using the thermo-mechanical simulator; this was followed by microstructural examination and identification of phases present by using an optical microscope for hot-rolled coil and simulated samples; grain size measurement and size distribution studies; and optimization of finishing temperature, coiling temperature and cooling rate by mimicking plant processing parameters to improve the mechanical properties.

As the strain rate and temperature increase, pearlite banding decreases gradually and finally gets completely eliminated, thereby improving the mechanical properties. True stress–strain curves were plotted to extrapolate the effect of strain-hardening and strain rate sensitivity on austenite (γ) and austenite–ferrite (γ-a) regions. To validate the effect of strain rate and temperature over the grain size, the hardness of simulated samples was measured using the universal hardness tester and the corresponding tensile strength was found from the standard hardness chart.

The results of the study carried out have projected a new technology of thermo-mechanical simulation for the studied C-Mn grade. These results were used to optimize the plant processing parameter like finishing and coiling temperature and finishing stands strain rate.

By controlling the hot rolling conditions like finishing, coiling temperature and cooling rate, structures differing in mechanical properties can be obtained for the same material. Accurate understanding of a structure being formed when different temperatures are applied enables the control of the process that assures intended structures and mechanical properties are achieved.