Academic literature on the topic 'Casual Creative Environments'

Motivation is imperative because it affects our lives every day. Motivation is the innate drive for all of our activities. All of our behaviors, actions, hope, and beliefs are altered by our inner drive to flourish. Our motives for achievement can range from living needs to satisfying creative needs or realizing success in competitive endeavors. These basic physiological motivational drives alter our natural behavior in different environments. Motivation refers to the dynamics of our practice, which involves our needs, desires, and ambitions in life. It can be well-defined as the driving force trailing all the actions of an individual. The influence of an individual’s needs and enjoy both have a substantial impact on the direction of their behavior. It is placed on your feelings and achievement-related goals. There are different forms of motivation, including external, intrinsic, physiological, and achievement motivation. There are also more adverse forms of motivation. Attainment motivation is based on reaching success and achieving all of our desire in life. It has been imagined in many diverse ways. It can be forwarded as the need for progress or the attainment of quality. Individuals will fill their needs through different means and are driven to succeed for varying reasons, both internal and external. Achievement motives include the need for success and the fear of failure. These are the more predominant reasons that direct our behavior towards positive and negative consequences. The goals of the study were to find the levels, to find the significant association of achievement motivation and achievement based on locality, type of management, type of family and monthly income and to see the correlation between Achievement Motivation and Achievement. Survey Method was used for the present study. 300 higher secondary students were accepted by casual sampling technique from the more senior secondary schools of Kanyakumari district. Percentage Analysis, Mean, Standard Deviation, Chi-square, and Correlation were the statistical techniques used. SPSS analyst zed data and the results arrived. Based on the findings, suggestive measures for improvement were provided.

The purpose of this article is to examine the effects of working conditions in part-time and casual work on worker stress and the consequences for their workplaces. Data were collected through interviews with occupational health and safety representatives, and focus groups and interviews with workers in retail trade. Results show that job insecurity, short- and split-shifts, unpredictability of hours, low wages and benefits in part-time and casual jobs in retail sector, and the need to juggle multiple jobs to earn a living wage contribute to stress and workplace problems of absenteeism, high turnover and workplace conflicts. Gendered work environments and work-personal life conflicts also contribute to stress affecting the workplace. Equitable treatment of part-time and casual workers, treating workers with respect and dignity, and creating a gender-neutral, safe and healthy work environment can help decrease stress, and in turn, can lead to positive workplace outcomes for retail workers.

Purpose Using the holistic approach to migrant exclusion, the purpose of this paper is to examine the refugee crisis as a preparation stage for future exclusion in the host countries. In previous migration analyses, the preparation stage involved only the country of origin, where people were becoming acclimatized to casual and low-status work and an ethos of survival. In the refugee crisis, this important stage spans across three spaces: the country of origin, Turkey as an intermediate stage and the hotspots of Greece. Design/methodology/approach This is a qualitative research that was based on 22 semi-structured interviews with refugees from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan who live in the hotspot of Moria which is situated in Lesvos, Greece. Findings The research shows that in the first two countries of the preparation stage, refugees have become accustomed to casual and low-status jobs, which results in the loss of their labor identity and the development of instrumental work orientations. Similarly, the living conditions at the hotspots are so problematic that refugees are becoming desperate to escape this environment. These can have serious consequences for integration in the host countries, as refugees become pacified and at the same time strongly inclined to enter casual and low-status employment. Both developments can drastically undermine the refugees’ relation to the societies of the host countries. Originality/value The paper suggests that, given the preparation stage in these three settings, migration policy in the host countries should focus on recognizing long marginalization processes, immediately decongesting the hotspots and pay particular emphasis on the acknowledgment or creation of skills that can distance refugees from casual and low-status work.

Purpose – IT-based supply chain performance is co-created through inter-organizational business processes. This research is motivated to explore how business value of IT in supply chain is co-created in downstream process and probe into the possible complementary effect of relational resources from retailers and customers during the cooperative process. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach – A model is proposed to conceptualize the process with three dimensions and six constructs, which emerges a causal link between organization resources application, e-supply chain capability (ESCC) and process performance. And then the research model was validated using partial least squares with data collected from 128 manufacturing firms in China. Findings – The results provide broad support for the following: the casual relationship among inter-organizational resources interaction, ESCC and process performance; the mediating role of ESCC in the e-CRM process is more significant than that in e-ordering process; and there is the moderating effect between relational resources and internal resources in e-CRM process. Practical implications – It offers guidelines for managers to plan the roles played by resource, capabilities and performance for e-supply chain success in multi-firm environments. Originality/value – This study provides a novel perspective and offers important implications for e-supply chain research and practice, by exploring intermediate factors and shedding light on the process of co-creating business value of IT in supply chain.

The biggest challenge humanity is facing right now is to curtail the outspread of COVID-19. To make this successful, people need to adopt precautions of social interaction and health hygiene, as recommended by WHO. Recent evidence indicates that the public tends to take a casual approach towards this recommendation, especially those which pertain to social distancing. Using the health belief model as a guiding theory, we recommend public awareness campaigns to focus on creating awareness regarding the potential benefits of the preventive approach, seriousness, and susceptibility of disease. Besides, authorities should also create an environment so that people face fewer barriers in adopting preventive measures. We also highlighted the potential role of positive psychology during COVID-19.

Based on the qualitative analysis of data from workshops and interviews with teenagers from eight countries, this article aims to determine the degrees of productive, narrative, and aesthetic knowledge that teenagers put into practice when they create their media contents. From a theoretical framework that links teens, informal learning environments, and participatory cultures, the findings point toward three types of teenage produsers: casual, aspirational, and expert. Each type is representative of different aspects of production in terms of the types of media contents produced; the planning of the production process; the application of narrative and aesthetic values when creating; and the motivations behind the production. The study concludes with an invitation to rethink what participatory culture means in the light of teenagers’ production practices.

This article builds upon earlier research (McDaniel & Fiore, 2010) in which the authors presented case studies focused on the design and development of two original ethical learning video games. Through this case study and a review of relevant literature, the authors explored the content creation of, and theoretical rationale for, the design and development of ethics games. Both games were geared toward an undergraduate student audience as casual learning games to be completed in a few hours of gameplay. To update and expand this original work, the authors reviewed contemporary research on identity, cognition, and self in relation to video game environments as well as literature dealing more specifically with ethics and video games. From this literature base and their applied design experiences, the authors offer ten guidelines as best practices to follow for aspiring ethics game developers.

Culture is system of idea and act as a result of human creation. A culture becomes history when their community leave it. A language, as part of culture, becomes dead when a speech community leave it. Preserving culture and language is important to keep our identity and civilization. This research shows how Javanese speech community keep their use of Javanese to maintain their culture in Northern Semarang as Javanese environment by taking the data from Junior Highschool students. The result shows that most of them still maintain Javanese, especially the lowest level of Javanese (Ngoko) to talk to their friend in casual situation. Few of them understand the highest level of Javanese (Krama) to honor the older. They are also able to write and read Javanese letters since it is taught as a school subject with local content. Javanese language and culture maintenance is supported by the local government to promote Semarang tourism industry to gain more benefit for the local people and the local government. Preserving culture by maintaining the language must be supported by the environment by using it in daily conversation and teaching it in school to make the young generation understand and use the language.

Social networking has become one of the most popular communication tools to have evolved over the past decade, making it a powerful new information sharing resource in society. To date realising the potential of Social Networking Sites (SNSs) beyond their leisure uses has been severely restricted in a number of areas. This paper focuses on the application of SNSs in a learning environment and the impact this could have on academic practices. While undoubtedly, due to the very casual nature of social networking, there are serious concerns over how it could be integrated in a learning environment; the potential positive outcomes are many and varied. As a communication tool, its effectiveness is already manifesting in the millions who use these networks to communicate on a daily basis. So it is conceivable that educators should be able to create a learnscape - an environment for formal and informal learning - that adheres to educational guidelines, but also harnesses the social support system of these on-line communities. This paper examines the risks involved in the creation of this new learning ecology, and explores the challenges faced by both technology experts and teachers in delivering a truly innovative and effective new approach to education.

As an artist and junior researcher for the project “Public Transport as Public Space,” my aim is to understand atmospheres on urban public transport and the ways in which they can be changed through performative public art practice. Indefinite yet powerful, atmospheres, which emerge in the relation between a perceived environment and perceiving bodies (Böhme 2017), can be created deliberately through aesthetic work and used as a tool for shaping certain experiences and behaviors in public space (Allen 2006). For instance, visually attractive public artworks permanently integrated into the public transport environment may create atmospheres of safety and comfort, navigating passengers through this regulated public space. On the other hand, on public transport, where unacquainted people must travel shoulder to shoulder, different atmospheres emerge not only through material modifications but also through unexpected encounters and events (Bissell 2010). In this sense, performative public art interventions can intentionally “drum up the ambience” (Thibaud 2015) and imbue the atmosphere of commutes with elements that are surprising and out of the ordinary. This paper outlines some of my art projects, which aim to carefully disrupt casual rides on public transport by creating moments of strangeness and humor.

Many cities have tried to replicate Silicon Valley’s innovation culture to achieve similarly successful innovation ecosystems and tech-focused start-ups despite criticism about its class division, overly ambitious shareholders, and neglect of societal and environmental issues. This study examines innovation precursors in Casual Creative Environments, e.g., coworking spaces or maker spaces, finding opportunities for alternative approaches to innovation. Case studies of Casual Creative Environments focusing on social innovation set examples that innovation approaches can be more inclusive and create social and environmental impacts. Findings are reflected in social, spatial and temporal precursors to innovation and translated into managerial and policy guidelines.

Educators need to understand how virtual learning has advanced outside of institutional learning management systems and how people think, interact and perceive themselves in virtual spaces that are not tied to traditional learning. This chapter is a case study of an educator's gaming guild that explored virtual learning when transitioning from a social guild, which participated in casual raiding to embarking on progressive raiding. Guild leaders and members approached this progressive raiding as an opportunity to use their knowledge of learning strategies to develop the group's social metacognition. If educators want to transcend the limitations of learning management systems in predominantly text based courses, they need to understand and appreciate the identity and roles taken on by learners in virtual environments and the networked presence that takes place in organizations such as guilds. Guilds function as a learning organization that fosters identity development among members especially as data analytics are reviewed during collective and individual debriefing after raids.

The role of geometry and arithmetic in ancient building is common knowledge, but it has seldom been proved by measured drawing. This chapter looks for the remote origins of design criteria and ancient canons, and their application in representative antique and medieval architecture. Architectural design had to reflect the universal cosmic Order and Harmony and the ancient and medieval architect-designer had to rely on the same intangible instruments, i.e. the geometry and the arithmetic’s, created by the Divine Geometer. The geometry of forms and the numbers of quantities and dimensions served as a mayor instrument for developing coherent modulation in the design and the structure of the building and his environment. They also served as a symbol and an allegorical sign to convey intangible messages from the commissioner. Metric analysis reveals this evident design practices and their probable semantic content. This is illustrated in the analysis of six cases: the Cheops pyramid at Memphis, the Pantheon at Rome, the Charlemagne’s Palace Chapel at Aachen, the Our Lady’s Cathedral at Chartres, the S. Francis Basilica at Assisi and the Castel del Monte at Andria. This historic examples should inspire modern creative design and modern sustainable construction.

An aspect of plant distribution that has intrigued biogeographers for over 200 years is the occurrence of similar biotas in widely separated regions. The North American flora has affinities with several such areas: the Mediterranean, the dry regions of South America, eastern Asia, and eastern Mexico. The origin of some patterns is relatively clear, while for others hypotheses are just now being formulated. During times when the dogma of permanence of continents and ocean basins held sway, explanations for these disjunctions required imaginative thinking that often bordered on the bizarre. The pendulum or schwingpolen hypothesis was offered to explain the perceived bipolar distribution of several taxa (Gnetum, Magnolia, Pinus section Taeda; Simroth, 1914). By this view, the Earth swings in space like a pendulum, creating regular fluctuations in environments and often causing the symmetrical placement of taxa at two points on opposite sides of the Earth. Other disjunctions were explained by casually placing geophysically impossible land bridges at any point in time between any two sites where the presence of similar communities seemed to call for land connections (see review in Simpson, 1943). The presence of teeth of Hipparion, an ungulate related to the horse, in Europe and South Carolina-Florida prompted French geologist Leonce Joleaud to propose a land bridge extending from Florida through the Antilles to North Africa and Spain. Subsequently, to accommodate eight new passengers, it was broadened to encompass the entire region from Maryland and Brazil across to France and Morocco and its life was prolonged to include virtually all of the Tertiary. With the later discovery that there were periodicities in similarity between Old World and New World Cenozoic faunas, the continents were envisioned as moving back and forth like an accordion. George Gaylord Simpson, who favored the North Atlantic land bridge to connect North America and Europe, was beside himself with these theories and characterized Joelaud’s as “the climax of all drift theories.” The bridge became well established in the literature even though it never existed in the Atlantic Ocean (Marvin, 1973). Udvardy (1969) plotted all the Cretaceous and Tertiary land bridges postulated for the South Pacific up to 1913.

Recent advances in design, fabrication, and programming technologies enable the rapid digital manufacturing of functional robotic systems. Novices can quickly fabricate mechanical frames thanks to 3D printers and cut-and-fold techniques and quickly program the control behavior of a robot using modern software environments. However, there is still not a systematic way to design custom printed circuit boards (PCB). In this work, we propose a hierarchical approach that allows casual users to quickly and easily create PCBs. A drag-and-drop graphical interface allows users to intuitively assemble PCBs from a library of predesigned, parameterized components, and a script-based infrastructure automatically composes all of the electronic systems based on user inputs. The final output is a fabrication-ready electronic design. Within this framework, we also propose a verification analysis that allows the user to quickly check that the developed design conforms to electrical constraints like voltage, current, and power limitations. Finally, we validate the proposed co-design environment with experimental results through the realization of a teleoperated segway robot.

The paper focuses on characterizing a current design trend —sometimes called neo-craftsmanship— that uses manual processes to create unique objects. About a century ago, pioneers of modern architecture and design pushed their primary trend towards prototypes definition in their massive industrial —mechanical and serial— production. Nowadays, an opposite impulse can be identified looking for monotypes definition —single products or from limited series—, with high manual intervention and capable of being customized to assume the individuality of each user. On one side, creative strategies used by mo-dernist designers founded their design process on objective criteria: rational, functional or economic. Nevertheless, in this other case, designers prefer subjective criteria based on expressiveness, significant forms, chance or casual associations. In some way, this trend supposes a return to the art and industry debate between crafts and design that presided over the genesis of the modern movement. It is possible to find this trend not only in post-industrial societies but also in those in their process of industrialization, where it appears as a differentiated alternative. In this last case, design methodologies or strategies are applied to push an economic development best based on sustainable exploitation of local resources or applying traditional productive techniques, skills or capacities. Finally, the paper identifies and proposes study cases as representative examples in product design and architectural activities to illustrate this trend. Some of them can also be connected to design strategies aligned with environmental sustainability positions: reuse, reduction and recycling of materials and products; preference for low-polluting industrial processes; water and energy saving; life cycle management; local production and consumption; and so on.

El sector de la moda está en constante evolución para proponer productos innovadores a partir de necesidades propias o creadas para la población, surgiendo los textiles inteligentes como una opción de material textil que permiten ampliar la interacción con los ecosistemas, pero de los cuales se carece conocimiento; por lo tanto, se requiere de un proceso de culturalización para que se tengan la información adecuada para el manejo, cuidado y aprovechamiento por parte de la población. La importancia de la aplicación de esta tecnología en la indumentaria cotidiana se refuerza con el argumento del autor Martín, J. R. S. (2007), que indica que «Los textiles inteligentes se conocen como aquellos capaces de alterar su naturaleza en respuesta a la acción de diferentes estímulos externos, físicos o químicos, modificando alguna de sus propiedades, principalmente con el objetivo de conferir beneficios adicionales al usuario» (p.3). Esta condición permite ampliar el campo de uso de los textiles a otros sectores industriales como la moda y que se adapten al contexto actual de la población. La integración de tecnología en las industrias culturales y creativas es un cambio que las empresas deben incorporar para fortalecer el mercado; según (Boletín tecnológico de textiles inteligentes de la superintendencia de industria comercio, 2016) «una estrategia tecnológica en materia de productos con funcionalidades especiales o interacciones diferentes, pasa por establecer mecanismos de definición de necesidades reales de los usuarios finales, su contexto de uso con el exterior y la generación de valores de marca a partir de esta dinámica» (p.19). En el desarrollo del proyecto de investigación de «Textiles inteligentes pasivos en la indumentaria en Medellín» sea desarrollado por medio de la metodología de Design Thinking las características del consumidor urbano de Medellín en la actualidad, entendiendo que se encuentra en constante evolución de acuerdo a lo que el mercado le ofrezca para mejorar la calidad de vida, pero tiene la falencia de no aplicarla de forma adecuada debido al desconocimiento de la misma por la falta de divulgación y sensibilización sobre el tema. De acuerdo a lo anterior, el impacto del proyecto está en el desarrollo de una propuesta de indumentaria cotidiana de tipo casual, con insumos locales, que sean asequibles en el mercado con el valor agregado de textiles inteligentes que interactúen con los ecosistemas y que formen parte de la economía de las industrias culturales y creativas. Por todo ello, las ciudades deben ser analizadas y gestionadas como cualquier otro tipo de ecosistema (The European Environment State and Outlook 2010 Urban environment. EEA, 2011), siendo así una propuesta creativa funcional y estética, para garantizar el acceso de estos productos y así, abarcar la diversa población en Medellín y adicionalmente, impulsar un nuevo mercado en el sector moda dentro de la cuarta revolución industrial.

The BCR Corridors at QU are notorious for wayfinding difficulties of end-users in the building complex. These navigation problems appear to arise due to the repetitive similarity of individual parts in its modular design, highly localized impediments to readability and visibility such as shading device screens and temporary installations, and the relationship of those different parts composing the collective whole of the BCR Corridors to the immediate surrounding context of the QU campus (Figure 1). The purpose of the “Complexity and Use in Building Evaluation” research project (CUBE2: QUST-2-CENG-2019-12) is to build on the research success of the post-occupancy cluster in the first demonstration project (CUBE1: QUST-2-CENG-2018-9). It includes continuing to develop a detailed post-occupancy dataset of movement and space use in buildings at QU. The goal is to contribute positively to future design refinements, alterations, and design of new university buildings at QU. We want to help create a world-class center of education and research where space use, interaction, and innovation are tactically ‘woven’ into the design and planning of the campus at various scales of the built environment. In the CUBE1 study, Major et al. (2019) were able to graphically illustrate building program/use and movement/space use patterns. It included quantifying the relationship between movement and spatial layout, and the significance of other end-user activities such as sitting and interacting in the common areas of the QU Women’s Engineering Building. It also included identifying adaptive re-use of classrooms and storage spaces for laboratory and office uses, leading to a shortage of storage spaces in the building. There was a consistent relationship (R^2=0.68, p < 0.001) between sitting and interacting unrelated to accessibility or metric area, i.e., the availability of seating was the dominant factor for casual encounter, mostly of students. Finally, there was a weak but consistent relationship (R^2=0.38, p < 0.001) between spatial layout and movement flows using space syntax modeling when allowing for the strongly programmatic differences (classrooms versus faculty offices) in different wings of the building (Major et al., 2019) (Figure 2). The post-occupancy evaluation findings in the CUBE1 project were largely consistent with previous results of space syntax research over the last 30 years for generative layouts such as office buildings, colleges, and research laboratories. Those results include the generative role of spatial layout for movement and casual encounter in buildings, the prescriptive effects of strong programmatic aspects (in this case, classroom location and course schedules) in causing some spaces to over-perform/underperform for some types of uses, most usually movement, and the singular importance for the provision of seating to facilitate consistent and robust use of spaces whether at the building or urban level (Hillier and Penn, 1991; Hillier, 1996; Hillier et al., 1996; Major et al., 2019; Sailer et al., 2016).

"La nascita dell’agricoltura segna, agli inizi della civiltà, la costituzione delle due più antiche professioni al mondo: l’agronomo e l’architetto. … L’agronomo in grado di comprendere la qualità del terreno e sapere come trattare le sementi, e l’architetto in quanto deputato all’organizzazione creativa del nuovo ambiente umano, ovvero la gestione dello spazio che racchiude la zona nella quale si concentrano le attività e la vita degli agricoltori”. Ecco la nascita della città, uno dei tre assi portanti del convegno “Città, Memoria, Gente” in cui si inseriva la sessione “Architettura, Sostenibilità, Energia” che ho moderato. Senza la città i tre temi della sessione non avrebbero lo stesso portato. Un casale isolato nella campagna è un’architettura, è sostenibile e produce la propria energia, almeno quella alimentare per i suoi abitanti. Ci interessava però mettere a fuoco il meccanismo che unisce gli edifici al loro essere insieme in un agglomerato che si è fatto città, dove si intessono relazioni umane, dove si creano condizioni di sostenibilità, dove si consuma ma si può produrre energia. "The birth of agriculture marks the beginning of civilization, the formation of the two oldest professions in the world: the agronomist and the architect. The agronomist ... able to understand the quality of the land and to know how to treat the seeds, and the architect as deputy of the creative organization of the new human environment, such as the management of the space that encloses the area where activities and the lives of farmers are concentrated" (Sergio Di Cori Modigliani, “La narrativa esistenziale di Territorio zero”, in Territorio Zero, per una società a emissioni zero e chilometri zero, a cura di Livio De Santoli e Angelo Consoli, Minimum fax, Roma, 2013). Here it is the birth of the “Cities”, one of the three themes of the conference "Cities, Memory, People" where the session "Architecture, Sustainability, Energy ", which I moderated, was. Without the city the three themes of the session would not have brought the same. An isolated house in the countryside is an architecture, it is sustainable and produces its own energy, at least feed its inhabitants. We were interested, however, to focus on the mechanism that links the buildings to their being together in a cluster that has made the city where human relations weave, where sustainable conditions could be created, where it is possible to consume as well to produce energy.

The UK Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) is responsible for safe and secure management of spent nuclear fuel. Magnox fuel is held at some Magnox reactor sites and at Sellafield where it is reprocessed using a number of facilities. It is intended that all Magnox fuel will be reprocessed as described in the published Magnox Operating Programme (MOP) [1]. In the event, however, that a failure occurs within the reprocessing plant, the NDA has initiated a programme of activities to explore alternative contingency options for the management of wetted Magnox spent fuel. Magnox fuel comprises metallic uranium bar clad in a magnesium alloy, both of which corrode if exposed to oxygen or water. Consequently, contingency options are required to consider how best to manage the issues associated with the reactivity of the metals. Questions such as whether Magnox spent fuel needs to be dried, how it might be conditioned, how it might be packaged and held in temporary storage until a disposal facility becomes available, all require attention. During storage in the presence of water, the corrosion of Magnox fuel produces hydrogen (H2) gas, which requires careful management. When uranium reacts with hydrogen in a reducing environment, the formation of uranium hydride (UH3) may occur, which under some circumstances can be pyrophoric, and might create hazards which may affect subsequent retrieval and/or repackaging (e.g. for disposal). Other factors that may affect the choice of a viable contingency option include criticality safety, environmental impacts, security and Safeguards and economic considerations. Magnox fuel has been successfully dry-stored as intact fuel elements in CO2- and air-filled primary and secondary cells at Wylfa Power Station, UK. Storage of some fuel elements in the Wylfa secondary cells has been carried out successfully for over 25 years. Other relevant experience includes the French UNGG (Uranium Naturel Graphite Gaz) and U.S. Hanford N-Reactor spent fuels, both of which have been retrieved and dried after decades of wet storage. The dried fuels are respectively stored in sealed canisters in modular vault stores at Cadarache (CASCAD) and Hanford (Canister Storage Building). The applicability of these and other potential store designs, such as concrete and metal casks and silos, to the storage of Magnox spent fuel is discussed.

The UK Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) is responsible for safe and secure management of spent nuclear fuel. Magnox spent fuel is held at some Magnox reactor sites and at Sellafield where it is reprocessed using a number of facilities. It is intended that all Magnox fuel will be reprocessed, as described in the published Magnox Operating Plan (MOP) [1]. In the event, however, that a failure occurs within the reprocessing plant, the NDA has initiated a programme of activities to explore alternative contingency options for the management of wetted Magnox spent fuel. Magnox fuel comprises metallic uranium bar clad in a magnesium alloy, both of which corrode if exposed to oxygen or water. Consequently, contingency options are required to consider how best to manage the issues associated with the reactivity of the metals. Questions of whether Magnox spent fuel needs to be dried, how it might be conditioned, how it might be packaged, and held in temporary storage until a disposal facility becomes available, all require attention. A review of potential contingency options for Magnox fuel was conducted by Galson Sciences Ltd, UKAEA and the NDA. During storage in the presence of water, the corrosion of Magnox fuel produces hydrogen (H2) gas, which requires careful management. When uranium reacts with hydrogen in a reducing environment, the formation of uranium hydride (UH3) may occur, which under some circumstances can be pyrophoric, and might create hazards which may affect subsequent retrieval and/or repackaging (e.g. for disposal). Other factors that may affect the choice of a viable contingency option include criticality safety, environmental impacts, security and Safeguards and economic considerations. At post-irradiation examination (PIE) facilities in the UK, Magnox spent fuel is dried as a result of storage in air at ambient temperatures. Early French UNGG (Uranium Naturel Graphite Gaz) fuel was retrieved from pond storage at Cadarache, dried using a hot gas drying technique, oxidised and packaged in sealed canisters and placed in interim storage at the CASCAD (CASemate CADarache) facility. In the US, spent fuels including the Zircaloy clad Hanford N-Reactor fuels were cold vacuum dried and Idaho legacy aluminium clad metallic uranium fuels were hot vacuum dried; the dried fuel was then packaged in sealed and vented canisters (at Hanford and Idaho, respectively) for interim storage. With regard to conditioning and packaging, several different approaches have been reviewed, including encapsulation in cementitious grout or polymer, high-temperature vitrification or ceramicisation, and solution in acid or alkali solution followed by cementation or vitrification (without reprocessing). All of these approaches require further research in order to be evaluated and developed further for application to formerly wetted Magnox fuel. A variety of containers have been developed for the transport, storage and/or disposal of spent fuel in radioactive waste management programmes worldwide. Wetted Magnox spent fuel could be packaged in a container, with reservations about the potential formation of UH3 in a sealed environment where reducing conditions may develop. The applicability of different combinations of drying, conditioning and packaging techniques to the preparation of Magnox spent fuel for long-term storage and eventual disposal are discussed.

Hablar de periferia hoy implica deber revisar el significado mismo de la palabra. La de frontera parece la definición más apta para describir la periferia contemporánea, pudiéndose aplicar a todos los asentamientos a baja densidad que, en las últimas décadas, inexorablemente rodearon las grandes ciudades - y, no solamente las grandes - yendo a ocupar territorios casi siempre ex agrícolas. Una periferia que se caracteriza básicamente por ser “incompleta”, obvio efecto del incumplimiento de los procesos, tanto espontáneos como planificados, que la produjeron. La escena romana es un extenso colector de periferias, diferentes y no homogéneas, por lo general deterioradas, nacidas a partir del final de la Segunda Guerra Mundial y el crecimiento de las cuales llegó hasta hoy siguiendo parcialmente el dibujo de un plan urbanístico. Sin embargo la periferia espontánea posee casi siempre rasgos afirmados de una “calidad” que en ésas planificadas es escasa o totalmente ausente. Son periferias heterogéneas sobre todo de carácter ilegal que unen la ausencia substancial de espacios públicos de relación, de “lugares centrales”, a una provisionalidad que acentúe el carácter de periferia de las mismas. Las primeras periferias nacen de la “necesidad” - vivir, trabajar, descansar - en un momento en el cual la administración pública no puede o no quiere hacer frente a la cuestión de la vivienda; en el curso de los años este modelo de asentamiento se consolida y comienza a auto reproducirse, cambiando peligrosamente sus características hasta perder su carácter de “necesidad”. La casa individual con jardín, lejos del centro de la ciudad, se transformó en uno de los desiderata más difusos de los últimos años, de donde las ciudades comenzaron a ser contaminadas verdaderamente en gran parte - en círculo vicioso - por el trafico generado de aquellos que viven en las periferias lecha y deben llegar cotidianamente al centro de la ciudad con medios privados. La gente se ha “acostumbrado” a vivir en estas periferias heterogéneas y el problema de la “ausencia de ciudad” no viene mas percibido como un problema primario pero las exigencias se limitan a más servicios y mejor movilidad, pública y privada. Entonces, en treinta años se transformó el concepto de vivienda, el de ciudad y el de periferia. Pero a este fenómeno se acompaña una decadencia sensible de la calidad de la vida y, por lo tanto, del ambiente. Hay un vínculo muy estrecho entre nacimiento y difusión de las periferias e inicio del proceso, aun en acto, de difusión y dispersión urbana. El punto de ruptura de la tradición del asentamiento, esa cultura de orígenes antiguas y casi universales que se transmitió probablemente oralmente de padre en hijo y que era, por todos, conocida, se pone a fines de los años sesenta e inicio de los setenta. Una transformación que lleva a un asentamiento difuso de carácter residencial, con densidad muy baja (menos de 15 hab/ha. y menos de 1 m3/m2), unido a los centros principales por medio de algunas rutas o, en los casos más afortunados, de infraestructuras ferroviarias con las cuales fueron garantizadas las conexiones con los lugares del estudio y del trabajo y del tiempo libre. Se transformaron las modalidades de vivir, trabajar, descansar, adaptándose a lo que venía de vuelta en vuelta ofrecido por las ciudades. Frecuentemente la población se organizó para remediar, incluso ilegalmente, a las decisiones o las no-decisiones de las públicas administraciones, yendo así a diseñar un sistema territorial que es cada vez más difuso e menos poli céntrico que pero se caracteriza por gravitar sobre las grandes áreas urbanas y para manifestar en modo cada vez más acentuado los caracteres de mono funcionalidad difícilmente manejable en términos de eficacia de servicios y equipamientos públicos. Esta investigación sobre la periferia italiana y en particular romana se desarrolló utilizando técnicas de diagnósticos tradicionales soporte de ayuda de medios innovadores que ahora entraron a formar parte de las herramientas del urbanista: fotos satelitales, videos, internet. El recurso a tales medios permitió poder seguir mejor las transformaciones del territorio mismo en vivo, permitiendo al mismo tiempo la comparación con distintas fuentes informativas. Técnicas y fuentes innovadoras que no pueden sustituir al hombre pero que pueden facilitar mucho el trabajo de los operadores del sector, incluso en términos didáctico y de difusión de los conocimientos. *** ENG: To talk about periphery today implies the need of reviewing the meaning of the word itself. “Border” seems to be the most appropriate definition to describe the contemporary periphery, being it applicable to all the low density settlements that, in the last decades, inexorably surrounded big cities - and, unfortunately, not only those - occupying territories that generally used to be for agriculture. A periphery that is characterized basically for being “incomplete”, as a natural consequence of the interruption of the processes, as much spontaneous as planned, that produced it. The Roman scene is an extensive collector of peripheries, different and non homogenous, generally deteriorated, born since the end of World War II and which are still growing, only partially according to a general urban plan. Nevertheless the spontaneous periphery shows almost always established characteristics of a “quality” that are little or totally present in those planned. They are heterogeneous peripheries mainly of illegal character that unite the substantial absence of public spaces for social relation, of “central places”, to a provisional state that stresses their character of periphery. The first peripheries were born from the “necessity” - to live, to work, and to rest - in a period when the public administration could not or did not want to address the problem of settlements; during the years, this model of settlements have consolidated and begun to replicate itself, dangerously changing its typical features until losing its character of “necessity”. The private house with garden far from downtown, has become one of the most diffuse desiderata of the last years, when the cities began to be polluted because of - in a vicious circle - the traffic generated by those living in the peripheries and obliged to reach downtown every day. People get used to live in these heterogeneous peripheries that combine the absence of spaces for social relation and a provisional state stressing the character of periphery. And they do not perceive the “absence of the city” as a major problem, but only ask for more services and better mobility, both public and private. In thirty years, the idea of living, city and periphery was transformed. But this phenomenon goes with a sensible decay of the quality of life and of the environment. There is a very strict relation between birth and diffusion of the peripheries and the beginning of the process, still in place, of urban diffusion and dispersion. The breakthrough point of the settlements tradition - that culture of old and almost universal origins that was transmitted probably orally of father in son and that was by all well-known – can be put by the end of the Sixties and beginning of the Seventies. A transformation that brings to a diffuse settlements of residential character, with very low density (less than 15 hab/ha and less than 1 m3/m2), connected to the main cities by means of some routes or, in the most lucky cases, of railway infrastructures ensuring the connections with the places of study, work and spare time. The patterns of living, working and resting changed and adapted to what was offered by the cities. Frequently, the population was ready to remedy, even illegally, to the decisions or the not-decisions of the public administrations, thus creating a territorial system that is more and more widespread and less polycentric, which is characterized for weighing on the great urban areas and for showing in a more and more marked way the characters of hardly manageable mono functionality in terms of effectiveness of services and public infrastructures. This investigation on the Italian, and in particular Roman , periphery was carried out by using techniques of traditional analysis together with innovative tools that are now considered of normal use for the city planner: photos satellite, videos, Internet. The use of such means allowed following the transformations of the territory better and in real time, at the same time allowing the comparison with different informative sources. These innovative techniques and sources cannot replace the human resource but can very much facilitate the work of the operators of the sector, also in terms of teaching and diffusion of knowledge.