Search results for: urban public

Authors: Barna Arnold Keserű

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In the last few years (what is called by many scholars the big data era) artificial intelligence (hereinafter AI) get more and more attention from the public and from the different branches of sciences as well. What previously was a mere science-fiction, now starts to become reality. AI and robotics often walk hand in hand, what changes not only the business and industrial life, but also has a serious impact on the legal system. The main research of the author focuses on these impacts in the field of private law, with special regards to liability and intellectual property issues. Many questions arise in these areas connecting to AI and robotics, where the boundaries are not sufficiently clear, and different needs are articulated by the different stakeholders. Recognizing the urgent need of thinking the Committee on Legal Affairs of the European Parliament adopted a Motion for a European Parliament Resolution A8-0005/2017 (of January 27th, 2017) in order to take some recommendations to the Commission on civil law rules on robotics and AI. This document defines some crucial usage of AI and/or robotics, e.g. the field of autonomous vehicles, the human job replacement in the industry or smart applications and machines. It aims to give recommendations to the safe and beneficial use of AI and robotics. However – as the document says – there are no legal provisions that specifically apply to robotics or AI in IP law, but that existing legal regimes and doctrines can be readily applied to robotics, although some aspects appear to call for specific consideration, calls on the Commission to support a horizontal and technologically neutral approach to intellectual property applicable to the various sectors in which robotics could be employed. AI can generate some content what worth copyright protection, but the question came up: who is the author, and the owner of copyright? The AI itself can’t be deemed author because it would mean that it is legally equal with the human persons. But there is the programmer who created the basic code of the AI, or the undertaking who sells the AI as a product, or the user who gives the inputs to the AI in order to create something new. Or AI generated contents are so far from humans, that there isn’t any human author, so these contents belong to public domain. The same questions could be asked connecting to patents. The research aims to answer these questions within the current legal framework and tries to enlighten future possibilities to adapt these frames to the socio-economical needs. In this part, the proper license agreements in the multilevel-chain from the programmer to the end-user become very important, because AI is an intellectual property in itself what creates further intellectual property. This could collide with data-protection and property rules as well. The problems are similar in the field of liability. We can use different existing forms of liability in the case when AI or AI led robotics cause damages, but it is unsure that the result complies with economical and developmental interests.

Keywords: artificial intelligence, intellectual property, liability, robotics

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Authors: Priya Madhuri P., Kamini J., Jayanthi S. C.

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Rooftop rainwater harvesting is a crucial practice to address water scarcity, pollution, and flooding. This study aims to estimate the rooftop rainwater harvesting potential (RRWHP) for Suryapet, India, using building footprint data and average rainfall data. The study uses rainfall grids from the India Meteorological Department and Very High Resolution Satellite data to capture building footprints and calculate the RRWHP for a five-year period (2015-2020). Buildings with an area of more than 20 square meters are considered. A conservative figure of 60% efficiency for the catchment area is considered. The study chose 31,770 buildings with an effective rooftop area of around 1.56 sq. km. The city experiences annual rainfall values ranging from 791 mm to 987 mm, with August being the wettest month. The projected annual rooftop rainwater harvesting potential is 1.3 billion litres.

Keywords: buildings, rooftop rainwater harvesting, sustainable water management, urban

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Authors: Arun Perumbilavil Anand

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For the past few years, the state of Kerala has been witnessing a large inflow of migrant workers from other states of the country, which emerged as a result of demographic transition and Gulf emigration. The in-migration patterns in Kerala have changed over the time with the migrants having a higher residence history bringing their families to the state, thereby making the process more complicated and divergent in its approach. These developments have led to an increase in the young migrant population at least in some parts of the state, which has opened up doubts and questions related to their future in the host society. At this juncture, the study ponders into the factors that are associated with the assimilation and wellbeing of migrant children in the society of Kerala. As one of the objectives, the study also analyzed the influence and role played by the educational institutions (both public and private) in meeting the needs and aspirations of both the children and their parents. The study gains significance as it tries to identify various impediments that hinder the cognitive skill formation and behaviour patterns of the migrant children in the host society. Data and Methodology: The study is based on the primary data collected through a series of interviews and interactions held with parents, children, and teachers of different educational institutions, including both public and private. The primary survey also made use of research techniques like observation, in-depth interviews, and case study method. The study was conducted in schools in the Kanjikode area of the Palakkad district in Kerala. The findings of the study are on the basis of a survey conducted in four schools and 40 migrant children. Findings: The study found that majority of the children have wholly integrated and assimilated into the host society. The influence of the peer group was quite visible in giving stimulus to the assimilation process. Most of the children do not have any emotional or cultural sentiments attached to their state of origin, and they consider Kerala as their ‘home state’ and the local language (Malayalam) as their ‘mother tongue'. The study could also find that the existing education system in the host society fails to meet the needs and aspirations of migrants as well as that of their children. On a comparative scale, to some extent, private schools have succeeded in fulfiling the special requirements of the migrant children. An interesting point that the study could pinpoint at is that the children of the migrants show better health conditions and wellbeing than compared to the natives, which is usually addressed as an epidemiologic paradox. As a concluding remark, the study recommends the inclusion concept of inclusive education into the education system of the state with giving due emphasis on those who are at higher risk of being excluded or marginalized, along with fostering increased interaction between diverse groups.

Keywords: assimilation, Kerala, migrant children, well-being

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Authors: Elizabeth A. Montero

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The project contemplated in this study particularly aimed at enabling public school children of ages ten to twelve who belong to low and middle income families. The pupils were provided training on communication, work, computer and social skills. In this study, the researcher hypothesized that children given the opportunity to develop a skill through guidance and proper supervision will significantly learn, improve and develop a skill. Since children’s minds are highly absorbent like a sponge absorbing anything within its capacity to take, it is ideal and necessary that education should provide an environment that is rich offering an array of meaningful experiences. The context of this study is well balanced since it catered to the children’s communication, work, computer and social skills.

Keywords: Munting Kamay, Munting Gawa, children’s development training, UCU experience

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Authors: Mentor Sulollari

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Albania, according to (UNU-EHS) United Nations University, Institute for Environment and Human Security studies for 2015, is listed as the number one country in Europe for the possibility to be caught by natural catastrophes. This is conditioned by unstudied human activity, which has seriously damaged the environment. Albanian part of Ohrid graben that lies in Southeast of Albania, is endangered by landslides and floods, as a result of uncontrolled urban development and low level of investment in infrastructure, rugged terrain in its western part and capricious climate caused by global warming. To be dealt with natural disasters, which cause casualties and material damage, it is important to study them in order to anticipate and reduce damages in future. As part of this study is the construction of natural hazards map, which show us where they are distributed, and which are the vulnerable areas. This article will also be dealing with socio-economic and environmental costs of those events and what are the measures to be taken to reduce them.

Keywords: flooding, landslides, natural catastrophes mapping, Pogradec, lake Ohrid, Albanian part of Ohrid graben

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Authors: Olga Kononova, Sergey Lyapin

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Global information society requirements are transparency and reliability of data, as well as ability to manage information resources independently; particularly to search, to analyze, to evaluate information, thereby obtaining new expertise. Moreover, it is satisfying the society information needs that increases the efficiency of the enterprise management and public administration. The study of structurally organized thematic and semantic contexts of different types, automatically extracted from unstructured data, is one of the important tasks for the application of information technologies in education, science, culture, governance and business. The objectives of this study are the contextual knowledge typologization, selection or creation of effective tools for extracting and analyzing contextual knowledge. Explication of various kinds and forms of the contextual knowledge involves the development and use full-text search information systems. For the implementation purposes, the authors use an e-library 'Humanitariana' services such as the contextual search, different types of queries (paragraph-oriented query, frequency-ranked query), automatic extraction of knowledge from the scientific texts. The multifunctional e-library «Humanitariana» is realized in the Internet-architecture in WWS-configuration (Web-browser / Web-server / SQL-server). Advantage of use 'Humanitariana' is in the possibility of combining the resources of several organizations. Scholars and research groups may work in a local network mode and in distributed IT environments with ability to appeal to resources of any participating organizations servers. Paper discusses some specific cases of the contextual knowledge explication with the use of the e-library services and focuses on possibilities of new types of the contextual knowledge. Experimental research base are science texts about 'e-government' and 'computer games'. An analysis of the subject-themed texts trends allowed to propose the content analysis methodology, that combines a full-text search with automatic construction of 'terminogramma' and expert analysis of the selected contexts. 'Terminogramma' is made out as a table that contains a column with a frequency-ranked list of words (nouns), as well as columns with an indication of the absolute frequency (number) and the relative frequency of occurrence of the word (in %% ppm). The analysis of 'e-government' materials showed, that the state takes a dominant position in the processes of the electronic interaction between the authorities and society in modern Russia. The media credited the main role in these processes to the government, which provided public services through specialized portals. Factor analysis revealed two factors statistically describing the used terms: human interaction (the user) and the state (government, processes organizer); interaction management (public officer, processes performer) and technology (infrastructure). Isolation of these factors will lead to changes in the model of electronic interaction between government and society. In this study, the dominant social problems and the prevalence of different categories of subjects of computer gaming in science papers from 2005 to 2015 were identified. Therefore, there is an evident identification of several types of contextual knowledge: micro context; macro context; dynamic context; thematic collection of queries (interactive contextual knowledge expanding a composition of e-library information resources); multimodal context (functional integration of iconographic and full-text resources through hybrid quasi-semantic algorithm of search). Further studies can be pursued both in terms of expanding the resource base on which they are held, and in terms of the development of appropriate tools.

Keywords: contextual knowledge, contextual search, e-library services, frequency-ranked query, paragraph-oriented query, technologies of the contextual knowledge extraction

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Authors: Bagus Indrawan Hardi

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Cellular Automata are widely used in land use modeling, it has been proven powerful to simulate land use change for small scale in many large cities in the world. In this paper, we try to implement CA for land use modeling in unique city in Indonesia, Karawang. Instead the complex numerical implementation, CA are simple, and it is accurate and also highly dependable on the on the rules (rule based). The most important to do in CA is how we form and calculate the neighborhood effect. The neighborhood effect represents the environment and relationship situation between the occupied cell and others. We adopted 196 cells of circular neighborhood with 8 cells of radius. For the results, CA works well in this study, we exhibit several analyzed and proceed of zoomed part in Karawang region. The rule set can handle the complexity in land use modeling. However, we cannot strictly believe of the result, many non-technical parameters, such as politics, natural disaster activities, etc. may change the results dramatically.

Keywords: cellular automata (CA), land use change, spatial dynamics, urban sprawl

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Authors: Mark Lindquist

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This paper presents preliminary results of exploratory empirical research investigating the effect of viewing 3D landscape visualizations in virtual reality compared to a computer monitor, and how sound impacts perception. Five landscape types were paired with three sound conditions (no sound, generic sound, realistic sound). Perceived realism, preference, recreational value, and biodiversity were evaluated in a controlled laboratory environment. Results indicate that sound has a larger perceptual impact than display mode regardless of sound source across all perceptual measures. The results are considered to assess how sound can impact landscape preference and spatiotemporal understanding. The paper concludes with a discussion of the impact on designers, planners, and the public and targets future research endeavors in this area.

Keywords: landscape experience, perception, soundscape, virtual reality

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Authors: D. Hilton

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The importance and significance of this research is based upon the fundamental knowledge reported in the scientific literature that physical activity is inversely associated with obesity. In addition, it is recognized there is a global epidemic of sedentariness while at the same time it is known that morbidity and mortality are associated with physical inactivity and as a result of overweight or obesity. Hence this small study in school students is an important area of research in our community. An application submitted in 2005 for the inaugural Public Health Education Research Trust [PHERT] Post Graduate Research Scholarship scheme organized by the Public Health Association of Australia [PHAA] was awarded 3rd place within Australia. The author and title was: D. Hilton, Methods to increase physical activity in school aged children [literature review, a trial using pedometers and a policy paper]. Third place is a good result, however this did not secure funding for the project, as only first place received $5000 funding. Some years later within Australia, a program commenced called the Global Children's Challenge [GCC]. Given details of the 2005 award above were included an application submission prepared for Parkhill Primary School [PPS] which is located in Victoria, Australia was successful. As a result, an excited combined grade 3/ 4 class at the school [27 students] in 2012 became recipients of these free pedometers. Ambassadors for the program were Mrs Catherine Freeman [OAM], Olympic Gold Medalist – Sydney 2000 [400 meters], while another ambassador was Mr Colin Jackson [CBE] who is a Welsh former sprint and hurdling athlete. In terms of PPS and other schools involved in 2012, website details show that the event started on 19th Sep 2012 and students were to wear the pedometer every day for 50 days [at home and at school] aiming for the recommended 15,000 steps/day recording steps taken in a booklet provided. After the finish, an analysis of the average step count for this school showed that the average steps taken / day was 14, 003 [however only a small percentage of students returned the booklets and units] as unfortunately the dates for the program coincided with school holidays so some students either forgot or misplaced the units / booklets. Unfortunately funding for this program ceased in 2013, however the lasting impact of the trial on student’s knowledge and awareness remains and in fact becomes a good grounding for students in how to monitor basic daily physical activity using a method that is easy, fun, low cost and readily accessible.

Keywords: walking, physical activity, exercise, Australian school

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Authors: Sai S. Hari, Shriram Ramanujam, Unnati Trivedi

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The advent of mass transit systems like rail, metro, maglev, and various other rail based transport has pacified the requirement of public transport for the masses to a great extent. However, the abatement of the demand does not necessarily mean it is managed efficiently, eloquently or in an encapsulating manner. The primary problem identified that the one this paper seeks to solve is the dipsomaniac like manner in which the compartments are occupied. This problem is solved by using a comparison of an empty train and an occupied one. The pixel data of an occupied train is compared to the pixel data of an empty train. This is done using canny edge detection technique. After the comparison it intimates the passengers at the consecutive stops which compartments are not occupied or have low occupancy. Thus, redirecting them and preventing overcrowding.

Keywords: canny edge detection, comparison, encapsulation, redirection

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Authors: Geyang Xia

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In many countries, governments have responded to the growing demand for educational resources through school district systems, and there is substantial evidence that school district systems have been effective in promoting inter-district and inter-school equity in educational resources. However, the scarcity of quality educational resources has brought about varying levels of education among different school districts, making it a common choice for many parents to buy a house in the school district where a quality school is located, and they are even willing to bear huge commuting costs for this purpose. Moreover, this is evidenced by the fact that parents of families in school districts with quality education resources have longer average commute lengths and longer average commute distances than parents in average school districts. This "unequal traveling" under the influence of the school district system is more common in school districts at the primary level of education. This further reinforces the differential hierarchy of educational resources and raises issues of inequitable educational public services, education-led residential segregation, and gentrification of school district housing. Against this background, this paper takes Nanjing, a famous educational city in China, as a case study and selects the school districts where the top 10 public elementary schools are located. The study first identifies the spatio-temporal behavioral trajectory dataset of these high-quality school district households by using spatial vector data, decrypted cell phone signaling data, and census data. Then, by constructing a "house-school-work (HSW)" commuting pattern of the population in the school district where the high-quality educational resources are located, and based on the classification of the HSW commuting pattern of the population, school districts with long employment hours were identified. Ultimately, the mechanisms and patterns inherent in this unequal commuting are analyzed in terms of six aspects, including the centrality of school district location, functional diversity, and accessibility. The results reveal that the "unequal commuting" of Nanjing's high-quality school districts under the influence of the school district system occurs mainly in the peripheral areas of the city, and the schools matched with these high-quality school districts are mostly branches of prestigious schools in the built-up areas of the city's core. At the same time, the centrality of school district location and the diversity of functions are the most important influencing factors of unequal commuting in high-quality school districts. Based on the research results, this paper proposes strategies to optimize the spatial layout of high-quality educational resources and corresponding transportation policy measures.

Keywords: school-district system, high quality school district, commuting pattern, unequal traveling

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Authors: Katharina Eberhardt, Florian Klaus Kaiser, Frank Schultmann

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Last-mile distribution is one of the most critical parts of a disaster relief operation. Various uncertainties, such as infrastructure conditions, resource availability, and fluctuating beneficiary demand, render last-mile distribution challenging in disaster relief operations. The need to balance critical performance criteria like response time, meeting demand and cost-effectiveness further complicates the task. The occurrence of disasters cannot be controlled, and the magnitude is often challenging to assess. In summary, these uncertainties create a need for additional flexibility, agility, and preparedness in logistics operations. As a result, strategic planning and efficient network design are critical for an effective and efficient response. Furthermore, the increasing frequency of disasters and the rising cost of logistical operations amplify the need to provide robust and resilient solutions in this area. Therefore, we formulate a scenario-based bi-objective optimization model that integrates pre-positioning, allocation, and distribution of relief supplies extending the general form of a covering location problem. The proposed model aims to minimize underlying logistics costs while maximizing demand coverage. Using a set of disruption scenarios, the model allows decision-makers to identify optimal network solutions to address the risk of disruptions. We provide an empirical case study of the public authorities’ emergency food storage strategy in Germany to illustrate the potential applicability of the model and provide implications for decision-makers in a real-world setting. Also, we conduct a sensitivity analysis focusing on the impact of varying stockpile capacities, single-site outages, and limited transportation capacities on the objective value. The results show that the stockpiling strategy needs to be consistent with the optimal number of depots and inventory based on minimizing costs and maximizing demand satisfaction. The strategy has the potential for optimization, as network coverage is insufficient and relies on very high transportation and personnel capacity levels. As such, the model provides decision support for public authorities to determine an efficient stockpiling strategy and distribution network and provides recommendations for increased resilience. However, certain factors have yet to be considered in this study and should be addressed in future works, such as additional network constraints and heuristic algorithms.

Keywords: humanitarian logistics, bi-objective optimization, pre-positioning, last mile distribution, decision support, disaster relief networks

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Authors: Nynke de Jong, Inge G. P. Duimel-Peeters

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The flipped classroom as an instructional strategy and a type of blended learning that reverses the traditional learning environment by delivering instructional content, off- and online, in- and outside the classroom, has been implemented in a 4-weeks module focusing on ageing in Europe at the Maastricht University. The main aim regarding the organization of this module was implementing flipped classroom-principles in order to create meaningful learning opportunities, while educational technologies are used to deliver content outside of the classroom. Technologies used in this module were an online interactive real time lecture from England, two interactive face-to-face lectures with visual supports, one group session including role plays and team-based learning meetings. The cohort of 2015-2016, using educational technologies, was compared with the cohort of 2014-2015 on module evaluation such as organization and instructiveness of the module, who studied the same content, although conforming the problem-based educational strategy, i.e. educational base of the Maastricht University. The cohort of 2015-2016 with its specific organization, was also more profound evaluated on outcomes as (1) experienced duration of the lecture by students, (2) experienced content of the lecture, (3) experienced the extent of the interaction and (4) format of lecturing. It was important to know how students reflected on duration and content taken into account their background knowledge so far, in order to distinguish between sufficient enough regarding prior knowledge and therefore challenging or not fitting into the course. For the evaluation, a structured online questionnaire was used, whereby above mentioned topics were asked for to evaluate by scoring them on a 4-point Likert scale. At the end, there was room for narrative feedback so that interviewees could express more in detail, if they wanted, what they experienced as good or not regarding the content of the module and its organization parts. Eventually, the response rate of the evaluation was lower than expected (54%), however, due to written feedback and exam scores, we dare to state that it gives a good and reliable overview that encourages to work further on it. Probably, the response rate may be explained by the fact that resit students were included as well, and that there maybe is too much evaluation as some time points in the program. However, overall students were excited about the organization and content of the module, but the level of self-directed behavior, necessary for this kind of educational strategy, was too low. They need to be more trained in self-directness, therefore the module will be simplified in 2016-2017 with more clear and fewer topics and extra guidance (step by step procedure). More specific information regarding the used technologies will be explained at the congress, as well as the outcomes (min and max rankings, mean and standard deviation).

Keywords: blended learning, flipped classroom, public health, self-directness

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Authors: Ghulam Mustafa, Richard Glavee-Geo

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This study examined the relationship between traditional variables of organizational structure (formalization and centralization), employee work related self-efficacy and employee subjective performance. The study further explored the moderating role of formalization and centralization on the link between employee self-efficacy and job performance. Five hypotheses were tested using a sample of employees from a large public organization in Pakistan. The results indicated a significant positive relationship between employee self-efficacy and job performance. Regarding the direct effects of formalization and centralization on self-efficacy, the results showed that formalization relates positively while centralization has a negative impact on self-efficacy. However, the results revealed no empirical evidence to confirm the hypotheses that formalization and centralization strengthen or weaken the relationship between self-efficacy and job performance.

Keywords: centralization, formalization, job performance, self-efficacy

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Authors: Jiayue Zhao, Hongjuan Wu, Guiwen Liu

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Old neighborhoods with a large elderly population depend on community-based elderly care facilities (community-based ECFs) for aging-in-place. Yet, due to scarce and scattered land, the facilities face inequitable distribution. This research uses spatial equity theory to measure the spatial equity of community-based ECFs in old neighborhoods. Field surveys gather granular data and methods, including coverage rate, Gini coefficient, Lorenz curve, and G2SFCA. The findings showed that coverage is substantial but does not indicate supply is a match to demand, nor does it imply superior accessibility. The key contributions are that structuring spatial equity framework considering elderly residents’ travel behavior. This study is dedicated to the international literature on spatial equity from the perspective of travel behavior and could provide valuable suggestions for the urban planning of old neighborhoods.

Keywords: community-based ECFs, elderly residents’ travel behavior, old neighborhoods, spatial equity

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Authors: Yi-De Liu

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Cultural tourism is one of the largest and fastest growing global tourism markets and the cultures are increasingly being used to promote cities and to increase their competitiveness and attractiveness. One of the major forms of cultural tourism development undertaken throughout Europe has been the staging of a growing number of cultural events. The event of European Capitals of Culture (ECOC) is probably the best example of the new trends of cultural tourism in Europe, which is therefore used in this article to demonstrate some of the key issues surrounding the event-led strategy for cultural tourism development. Based on the experience of the 2008 ECOC Liverpool, UK, the study’s findings point to a number of ways in which the ECOC constitutes a boost for the development of cultural tourism in terms of realising experience economy, enhancing city image, facilitating urban regeneration, promoting cultural production and consumption, as well as establishing partnerships. This study is concluded by drawing some critical factors that event and tourism organisers should consider.

Keywords: cultural tourism, event tourism, cultural event, European capital of culture, Liverpool

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Authors: J. Racedo, J. Torres

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Globalization has led to a worldwide competition for participation in markets of goods and productive factors, with significant effects on transports requirements. The port industry has not been an exception to this event, in fact, it has received increasing attention in recent years due to its crucial role on international trade. Because of this, the measurement of port performance has become an important issue in transport policy. Port performance and port efficiency has been widely studied in the last decades, resulting in noteworthy contributions to improving the industry competitiveness. In this paper, we aim to present a review of the literature on port performance and the relation between this concept and transport policies. This study has the objective to describe the approaches that have been developed in recent years, and especially those that include the modeling of public policies. Finally, we highlight existing gaps in this field, as well as possible directions for future research.

Keywords: port performance, port efficiency, transport, policy

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Authors: Oluropo Stephen Ilesanmi, Oluwole Ayodele Alejo

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Architectural education, beyond training the students to become architects, impacts in them the appreciation of the responsibilities relating to public health, safety, and welfare. Architecture is no longer a personal philosophical or aesthetic pursuit by individuals, rather, it has to consider everyday needs of the people and use technology to give a liveable environment. In the present age, architectural education must have to grapple with the recent integration of technology, in particular, facilities offered by information and communication technology. Electronic technologies have moved architecture from the drawing board to cyberspace. The world is now a global village in which new information and methods are easily and quickly available to people at different poles of the globe. It is the position of this paper that in order to remain relevant in the ever-competing forces within the building industry, architectural education must show the impetus to continue to draw from technological advancements associated with the use of computers.

Keywords: architecture, education, communication, information, technology

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Authors: Yasuhiro Sato, Kodai Noma, Kenta Sawada, Kazumasa Adachi, Yoshinori Matsuura, Saori Iwanaga

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RFID system is used to identify objects such as passenger identification in public transportation, instead of linear or 2-dimensional barcodes. Key advantages of RFID system are to identify objects without physical contact, and to write arbitrary information into RFID tag. These advantages may help to improve maritime safety and efficiency of activity on the sea. However, utilization of RFID system for maritime scenes has not been considered. In this paper, we evaluate the availability of a generic RFID system operating on the sea. We measure RSSI between RFID tag floating on the sea and RFID antenna, and check whether a RFID reader can access a tag or not, while the distance between a floating buoy and the ship, and the angle are changed. Finally, we discuss the feasibility and the applicability of RFID system on the sea through the results of our preliminary experiment.

Keywords: RFID, experimental evaluation, RSSI, maritime use

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Authors: Turki M. Habeebullah, Abdel Hameed A. A. Awad, Said Munir, Atif M. F. Mohammed, Essam A. Morsy, Abdulaziz R. Seroji

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Street dust has been knoweldged as an important source of air pollution. It does not remain deposited in a place for long, as it is easily resuspended back into the atmosphere. Street dust is a complex mixture derived from different sources: Deposited dust, traffic, tire, and brake wear, construction and demolition processes. The present study aims to evaluate the elementals ”iron, calcium, lead, cadmium, nickel, silicon, and selenium” and microbial “bacteria and fungi” contents associated street dust at the holy mosque areas. The street dust was collected by sweeping an arera~1m2 along the both sides of the road. The particles with diameter ≤ 1.7 µm constitued the highest percentages of the total particulate ≤45 µm. Moreover, The crustal species: iron and calcium were found in the highest concentrations, and proof that demolition and constricution were the main source of street dust. Also, the low biodiversity of microorganisms is attributed to severe weather conditions and characteristics of the arid environment.

Keywords: dust, microbial, environment, street

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Authors: Hoyoung Lee, Dong-Kyu Kim, Seung-Young Kho, R. Eddie Wilson

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This study quantifies a decrement in freeway capacity during rainfall. Traffic and rainfall data were gathered from Highway Agencies and Wunderground weather service. Three inter-urban freeway sections and its nearest weather stations were selected as experimental sites. Capacity analysis found reductions of maximum and mean pre-breakdown flow rates due to rainfall. The Kruskal-Wallis test also provided some evidence to suggest that the variance in the pre-breakdown flow rate is statistically insignificant. Potential application of this study lies in the operation of real time traffic management schemes such as Variable Speed Limits (VSL), Hard Shoulder Running (HSR), and Ramp Metering System (RMS), where speed or flow limits could be set based on a number of factors, including rainfall events and their intensities.

Keywords: capacity randomness, flow breakdown, freeway capacity, rainfall

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Authors: Ayşe Coban, Orhan Coban, Haldun Soydal, Sükrü Sürücü

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While health is a source of prosperity for individuals, it is also one of the most important determinants of economic growth for a country. Health, by increasing the productivity of labor, contributes to economic growth. Therefore, countries should give the necessary emphasis to health services. The primary aim of this study is to analyze the changes occurring in health services in Turkey by examining the developments in the sector. In this scope, the second aim of the study is to reveal the place of health expenditures in the Turkish economy. As a result of the analysis in the dataset, in which the 1999-2013 periods is considered, it was determined that some increase in health expenditures took place and that the increase in the share of health expenditures in GDP was too small. Furthermore, analysis of the results points out that in financing health expenditures, the public sector is prominent compared to the private sector.

Keywords: health, health service, health expenditures, Turkey

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Authors: Krambia-Kapardis Maria, Neophytidou Christina

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Lobbying is an inherent aspect within the democratic regimes across the globe. Although it can provide decision-makers with valuable knowledge and grant access to stakeholders in the decision-making process, it can also lead to undue influence and unfair competition at the expense of the public interest if it not transparent. Given the multi-level governance structure of the EU, it is no surprise that the EU policy-making arena has become a place-to-be for lobbyists. However, in order to ensure that influence is legitimate and not biased of any business interests, lobbying must be effectively regulated. A comparison with the US and Canadian lobbying regulatory framework and utilising some good practices from EU countries it is apparent that lobbying is the Achilles’ heel to transparency in the EU. It is evident that EU institutions suffer from ineffective regulations and could in fact benefit from a more robust, mandatory and better implemented system of lobbying regulation.

Keywords: EU, lobbying regulation, transparency, democratic regimes

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Authors: Aynur Kazaz, Yusif Inusah

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In the bid to improve transparency and efficiency as well as to reduce the cost of the public procurement process, Ghana started implementing an electronic Government Procurement System, known as the Ghana Electronic Procurement System (GHANEPS) in November 2019. The implementation of e-tendering technology is new to the stakeholders. Therefore, this research is aimed to identify the critical barriers to e-tendering implementation in the Ghanaian construction industry. Examples of barriers to e-tendering implementation were first identified through a literature review, and questionnaires and interview questions were prepared to gather the data. This study contributes to the in-depth understanding of global e-tendering barriers in the Ghanaian construction industry. The findings could help researchers, practitioners, and governments make strategic investment decisions and overcome e-tendering challenges.

Keywords: barriers, challenges, construction industry, e-procurement, e-tendering

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Authors: Ronghui (Kevin) Zhou

Abstract:

This research intends to explore the enactment of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD), in term of the ESD concept, in primary schools in China, and investigate the factors that have positively or negatively impacted the outcome of ESD in urban primary schools in China. The proposed research question is: how is the ESD concept perceived and enacted by the local education stakeholders. This research is conducted in multiple primary schools in China and has questionnaired and interviewed multiple education stakeholders, including school principals, school teachers, and bureau from the municipal Ministry of Education. Factor analysis, regression analysis, and critical discourse analysis are adopted to interpret and analyze the data. The preliminary findings suggest that contested ESD definition, education system pressures, education policy enforcement, and power dynamics between stakeholders are the key factors that have determined to what degree is ESD enacted, and to what extent is ESD practiced in primary schools in China.

Keywords: education for sustainable development, China, primary education, case study

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Authors: Andrea Szabó Nagy, János Szabó, Zsófia Csanádi, József Erdős

Abstract:

The main objective of this study was to assess the seasonal variation of atmospheric polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) concentrations associated with PM10 in an urban site of Győr, Hungary. A total of 112 PM10 aerosol samples were collected in the years of 2012 and 2013 and analyzed for PAHs by gas chromatography method. The total PAH concentrations (sum of the concentrations of 19 individual PAH compounds) ranged from 0.19 to 70.16 ng/m3 with the mean value of 12.29 ng/m3. Higher concentrations of both total PAHs and benzo[a]pyrene (BaP) were detected in samples collected in the heating seasons. Using BaP-equivalent potency index on the carcinogenic PAH concentration data, the local population appears to be exposed to significantly higher cancer risk in the heating seasons. However, the comparison of the BaP and total PAH concentrations observed for Győr with other cities it was found that the PAH levels in Győr generally corresponded to the EU average.

Keywords: air quality, benzo[a]pyrene, PAHs, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons

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Authors: Luís Felipe da Cunha Mendonça

Abstract:

Normally, rural roads do not have any type of coating, and when they have any coating, they have a high maintenance cost due to the characteristics of natural materials. The Steel Aggregate has specific technical characteristics, which considerably reduce the maintenance costs of rural roads with the execution of the Primary Coating. For use as a primary coating, it must be mixed with clay due to the physical-chemical properties of the material. The application is mainly in the Primary Coating of rural roads due to the cementitious property in the presence of water, offering greater resistance to wear caused by traffic and consequently a longer useful life of the coating. The Steel Aggregate executed on rural roads has reduced particulate emissions and offers normal traffic in any weather condition, as well as creating sustainability. Contribute to the quality of life of communities through improvements in the conditions of rural and urban unpaved roads. Leading to substantial savings in maintenance. Because the durability, if applied correctly, is about 3 years, but if annual monitoring is carried out, it can be extended for more than 5 years.

Keywords: steel slag, co-product, primary coating, steel aggregate

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Authors: Shengwei Zhu, Alireza Afshani, Hirokazu Akagi

Abstract:

Ground surface settlement induced by shield tunneling is addressing increasing attention as shield tunneling becomes a popular construction technique for tunnels in urban areas. This paper discusses a 2D longitudinal FEM simulation of a tunneling case study in Japan (Tokyo Metro Yurakucho Line). Tunneling-induced field data was already collected and is used here for comparison and evaluating purposes. In this model, earth pressure, face pressure, backfilling grouting, elastic tunnel lining, and Mohr-Coulomb failure criterion for soil elements are considered. A method called ‘stress relaxation’ is also exploited to simulate the gradual tunneling excavation. Ground surface settlements obtained from numerical results using the introduced method are then compared with the measurement data.

Keywords: 2D longitudinal FEM model, tunneling case study, stress relaxation, shield tunneling excavation

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Authors: Te-Jen Chang, I-Hui Pan, Ping-Sheng Huang, Shan-Jen Cheng

Abstract:

In this paper, a fast multiplication computing method utilizing the complement representation method and canonical recoding technique is proposed. By performing complements and canonical recoding technique, the number of partial products can be reduced. Based on these techniques, we propose an algorithm that provides an efficient multiplication method. On average, our proposed algorithm is to reduce the number of k-bit additions from (0.25k+logk/k+2.5) to (k/6 +logk/k+2.5), where k is the bit-length of the multiplicand A and multiplier B. We can therefore efficiently speed up the overall performance of the multiplication. Moreover, if we use the new proposes to compute common-multiplicand multiplication, the computational complexity can be reduced from (0.5 k+2 logk/k+5) to (k/3+2 logk/k+5) k-bit additions.

Keywords: algorithm design, complexity analysis, canonical recoding, public key cryptography, common-multiplicand multiplication

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Authors: M. Bukowski, K. Kreissl

Abstract:

Social and environmental pressures in our times bear threats that often cross-border in scale, such as climate change, poverty-driven migration, demographic change as well as socio-economic developments. One of the hot topics is prevailing in many societies across Europe and worldwide, concerns 'affordable housing' and poverty-driven international and domestic migration (including displacements through gentrification processes), focusing here on the urban and regional context. The right to adequate housing and shelter is one of the recognized in the Universal Declaration of Human rights and International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, and as such considered as a human right of the second generation. The decreasing supply of affordable housing, especially in urban areas, has reached dimensions that have led to an increasing 'housing crisis'. This crisis, which has even reached middle-income homes, has an even more devastating impact on low income and poor households raising poverty levels. Therefore, the understanding of the connection between housing and poverty is vital to integrate and support the different stakeholders in order to tackle poverty. When it comes to issues of inequalities and poverty within the SDG framework, multi-faceted stakeholders with different claims, distribution of resources and interactions with other development goals (spill-over and trade-offs) account for a highly complex context. To contribute to a sustainable and fair society and hence to support the UN Sustainable Development Goals, the University of Salzburg participates in the Austrian-wide universities' network 'UniNEtZ'. Our joint target is to develop an options report for the Austrian Government regarding the seventeen SDGs, so far hosted by 18 Austrian universities. In this vein, the University of Salzburg; i.e., the Centre for Ethics and Poverty Research, the departments of Geography and Geology and the Department of Sociology and Political Science are focusing on the SDG 1 (No Poverty) and SDG 10 (Reduced Inequalities). Our target and research focus is to assess and evaluate the status of SDG 1 and 10 in Austria, to find possible solutions and to support stakeholders' integration. We aim at generating and deducing appropriate options as scientific support, from interdisciplinary research studies to 'Sustainability Developing Goals and their Targets' in action. For this reason, and to deal with the complexity of the Agenda 2030, we have developed a special Model for Inequalities and Poverty Assessment (IPAM). Through the example of 'affordable housing' we provide insight into the situation focusing on sustainable outcomes, including ethical and justice perceptions. The IPAM has proven to be a helpful tool in detecting the different imponderables on the Agenda 2030, assessing the situation, showing gaps and options for ethical SDG actions combining different SDG targets. Supported by expert and expert group interviews, this assessment allows different stakeholders to overview a complex and dynamic SDG challenge (here housing) which is necessary to be involved in an action finding process.

Keywords: affordable housing, inequality, poverty, sustainable development goals

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