Search results for: green public space

Authors: Krima M. Rohela, Raja Sabarinath Sundaralingam

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Humans have been launching rockets since the beginning of the space age in the late 1950s. We have come a long way since then, and the success rate for the launch of rockets has increased considerably. With every successful launch, there is a large amount of junk or debris which is released into the upper layers of the atmosphere. Space debris has been a huge concern for a very long time now. This includes the rocket shells released from the launch and the parts of defunct satellites. Some of this junk will come to fall towards the Earth and burn in the atmosphere. But most of the junk goes into orbit around the Earth, and they remain in orbits for at least 100 years. This can cause a lot of problems to other functioning satellites and may affect the future manned missions to space. The main concern of the space-debris is the increase in space activities, which leads to risks of collisions if not taken care of soon. These collisions may result in what is known as Kessler Syndrome. This debris can be removed by a space-based laser targeting system. Hence, the matter is investigated and discussed. The first step in this involves launching a satellite with a high-power laser device into space, above the debris belt. Then the target material is ablated with a focussed laser beam. This step of the process is highly dependent on the attitude and orientation of the debris with respect to the Earth and the device. The laser beam will cause a jet of vapour and plasma to be expelled from the material. Hence, the force is applied in the opposite direction, and in accordance with Newton’s third law of motion, this will cause the material to move towards the Earth and get pulled down due to gravity, where it will get disintegrated in the upper layers of the atmosphere. The larger pieces of the debris can be directed towards the oceans. This method of removal of the orbital debris will enable safer passage for future human-crewed missions into space.

Keywords: altitude, Kessler syndrome, laser ablation, Newton’s third law of motion, satellites, Space debris

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Authors: Hossein Anaraki-Ardakani

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A green and efficient one-pot synthesis of benzylamino coumarin derivatives by a three-component condensation of 4-hydroxycoumarin, cyclic secondary amine, and aromatic aldehyde in the presence of ZrO2 nanoparticles (NPs) as a heterogeneous catalyst in water at room temperature has been reported.

Keywords: 3-benzyl substituted coumarin derivative, ZrO2 nanoparticles (NPs), green synthesis, multicomponent reaction

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Authors: Paulino V. Tavares, Ana L. Romao

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Public governance represents an articulated arrangement, dynamic and interactive, present in the exercise of authority aimed at strengthening the decision-making procedure in public administration with transparency, accountability, responsiveness and capable of to emerge control and social empowerment, to pursue and achieve the objectives efficiently and with the effectiveness desired by the collective, respecting laws and providing social, institutional and economic equility in society. With this, using a multidimensional approach with the application of three questionnaires to a universe of twenty Counselors of the Courts of Auditors (Brazil), twenty professionals of public administration (Brazil), twenty Government/Provincial Counselors (South Africa), and twenty South African professionals of public administration, the present work aims to capture what is the perception about the efficiency and equility of public policies in Brazil and South Africa. With this, up until now, 30 responses have been obtained, and the results indicate that, in Brazil, 65% affirm due to the inefficiency of public policies, 70% point out that they do not believe in the equility of these same policies. In South Africa, the results indicate that 45% believe in government efficiency, and, with regard to the equility of public policies, 65% do not believe. In Brazil, the research reveals at least three reasons for this result, that is, lack of planning, lack of clear objectives of public policies, and lack of information on the part of society, while in South Africa, so far, research has not identified a specific reason for this result.

Keywords: efficiency, equility, governance, public policy

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Authors: Mohadese Oghbaee, Borna Firouzi

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The emergence of the Internet and more specifically the formation of social media has provided the ground for paying attention to new types of content dissemination. In recent years, Social media users share information, communicate with others, and exchange opinions on social events in this space. Many of the information published in this space are suspicious and produced with the intention of deceiving others. These contents are often called "fake news". Fake news, by disrupting the circulation of the concept and similar concepts such as fake news with correct information and misleading public opinion, has the ability to endanger the security of countries and deprive the audience of the basic right of free access to real information; Competing governments, opposition elements, profit-seeking individuals and even competing organizations, knowing about this capacity, act to distort and overturn the facts in the virtual space of the target countries and communities on a large scale and influence public opinion towards their goals. This process of extensive de-truthing of the information space of the societies has created a wave of harm and worries all over the world. The formation of these concerns has led to the opening of a new path of research for the timely containment and reduction of the destructive effects of fake news on public opinion. In addition, the expansion of this phenomenon has the potential to create serious and important problems for societies, and its impact on events such as the 2016 American elections, Brexit, 2017 French elections, 2019 Indian elections, etc., has caused concerns and led to the adoption of approaches It has been dealt with. In recent years, a simple look at the growth trend of research in "Scopus" shows an increasing increase in research with the keyword "false information", which reached its peak in 2020, namely 524 cases, reached, while in 2015, only 30 scientific-research contents were published in this field. Considering that one of the capabilities of social media is to create a context for the dissemination of news and information, both true and false, in this article, the classification of strategies for spreading fake news in social networks was investigated in social events. To achieve this goal, thematic analysis research method was chosen. In this way, an extensive library study was first conducted in global sources. Then, an in-depth interview was conducted with 18 well-known specialists and experts in the field of news and media in Iran. These experts were selected by purposeful sampling. Then by analyzing the data using the theme analysis method, strategies were obtained; The strategies achieved so far (research is in progress) include unrealistically strengthening/weakening the speed and content of the event, stimulating psycho-media movements, targeting emotional audiences such as women, teenagers and young people, strengthening public hatred, calling the reaction legitimate/illegitimate. events, incitement to physical conflict, simplification of violent protests and targeted publication of images and interviews were introduced.

Keywords: fake news, social network, social events, thematic analysis

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Authors: Torkan Jabbariraad

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This study explores the role of private regulation as a mode of governance that engages non-state actors in establishing and implementing rules or standards for public goods or services. It examines the various forms, functions, and effects of private regulation on the rule of law and human rights and considers the role and duties of public authorities in monitoring and supporting private regulation. It contends that private regulation should be regarded as a beneficial supplement to public regulation rather than a substitute or rival and that public authorities should find a balance between acknowledging the independence and variety of private actors and securing their accountability and legitimacy. It also recommends that applying the principles and values of good governance to private regulation can improve its quality and efficiency. The study relies on various sources and viewpoints from the literature on governance theory, public law, and human rights and suggests further research and discussion on the topic of private regulation and its consequences for society.

Keywords: private regulation, public authority, governance theory, rule of law, human rights

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Authors: Sakshi Dhruve, Ar. Sarang Barbarwar

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Public spaces are the locus of activity and interaction in any urban area. Such spaces provide identity to cities, towns or neighborhoods and define the people and culture over there. Inclusiveness is one of the core aspects of public or community spaces. With its humongous population and rapidly expanding urban areas, India needs more inclusivity in public spaces to attain true equitable development. The aim of the paper is to discuss the sensitivity of public spaces in India to the transgender community. The study shows how this community was legally included as ‘Third Gender’ in country’s legislation yet lacks social acceptance and security. It shows the challenges and issues faced by them at public spaces. The community was studied on ethnographic basis to understand their culture, lifestyle, requirements, etc. The findings have indicated towards a social stigma from people and insensitivity in designing of civic spaces. The larger objective of the study is also to provide recommendations on the design aspects and interventions in public places to increase their inclusiveness towards the transgender society.

Keywords: community spaces, ethnographic, stigma, Third Gender community

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Authors: Badr Eddine Lebrouhi, Melissa Lopez Viveros, Silvia De Los Santos, Kolthoum Missaoui, Pamela Ramirez Vidal

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Since the Paris Climate Agreement, numerous countries, including France, have committed to achieving carbon neutrality by 2050 by enhancing renewable energy capacity and decarbonizing various sectors, including aviation. In this way, the Occitanie region aspires to become a renewable energy pioneer and has focused on Toulouse's Blagnac airport—a prominent hub characterized by high-energy demands. As part of a holistic strategy to reduce the airport's energy dependency, green hydrogen has emerged as a promising alternative fuel, offering the potential to significantly enhance aviation's environmental sustainability. This study assesses the technical and economic aspects of green hydrogen production, particularly its potential to replace fossil kerosene in aviation at Toulouse-Blagnac airport. It analyzes future liquid hydrogen fuel demand, calculates energy requirements for electrolysis and liquefaction, considers diverse renewable energy scenarios, and assesses the Levelized Cost of Hydrogen (LCOH) for economic viability. The research also projects LCOH evolution from 2023 to 2050, offering a comprehensive view of green hydrogen's feasibility as a sustainable aviation fuel, aligning with the region's renewable energy and sustainable aviation objectives.

Keywords: Toulouse-Blagnac Airport, green hydrogen, aviation decarbonization, electrolysis, renewable energy, technical-economic feasibility

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Authors: Imen Abid, Rachel Calvet, Michel Baltas

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Flavonoids are secondary metabolites that belong to a polyphenolic class, present in fruits and vegetables, playing a significant role in biological systems. The structural variations of these flavonoids are associated with many biological and pharmacological activities (antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anticancer, antibacterial, antifungal, antiviral, and antimalarial). Given their importance in plants and health-promoting roles in humans, significant efforts have been devoted towards their isolation of flavonoids and chemical elaboration (organic synthesis). But with the increasing public concern over environmental degradation and future resources, it is of great importance for chemists to come up with different approaches, less hazardous to human health and the environment. Being employed in large amounts, the solvents used in organic synthesis are high on the list of environmental pollutants. To overcome these problems, our approach is to develop unconventional processes involving solvent-free conditions. The application of mechanical forces to solvent-free or solvent-less reaction mixtures through the use of ball mills offers many advantages over traditional solvent-based strategies. It is one of the unconventional activation methods, which makes it possible to overcome the use of solvents, in the context of green chemistry and more respectful of the environment.

Keywords: organic synthesis, green chemistry, mecanochemistry, pharmaceutical molecules

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Authors: Hung-Chu Chen, Han Qi, Bauke de Vries

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Energy consumption in the urban environment has attracted numerous researches in recent decades. However, it is comparatively rare to find literary works which investigated 3D spatial analysis of urban energy demand modelling. In order to analyze the spatial correlation between urban morphology and energy demand comprehensively, this paper investigates their relation by using the spatial regression tool. In addition, the spatial regression tool which is applied in this paper is ordinary least squares regression (OLS) and geographically weighted regression (GWR) model. Normalized Difference Built-up Index (NDBI), Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), and building volume are explainers of urban morphology, which act as independent variables of Energy-land use (E-L) model. NDBI and NDVI are used as the index to describe five types of land use: urban area (U), open space (O), artificial green area (G), natural green area (V), and water body (W). Accordingly, annual electricity, gas demand and energy demand are dependent variables of the E-L model. Based on the analytical result of E-L model relation, it revealed that energy demand and urban morphology are closely connected and the possible causes and practical use are discussed. Besides, the spatial analysis methods of OLS and GWR are compared.

Keywords: energy demand model, geographically weighted regression, normalized difference built-up index, normalized difference vegetation index, spatial statistics

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Authors: Ya-Ting Liao, Chien-Chang Huang

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Green diesel is a renewable biofuel obtained from plant oil or fatty acid deoxygenation. Because the molecular structure of green diesel is similar to that of fossil fuel, green diesel can be directly used in present vehicle engines without blending with fossil fuel. In this study, mesoporous carbon-based catalysts with doped metal ions, such as Mg, Ni, or Fe, were prepared using co-polymers and gallic acid as molecular templates and carbon sources, respectively. The prepared catalysts were then applied to carry out the deoxygenation of fatty acid and waste cooking oil. To obtain the highest net energy from the produced green diesel, the catalyzed deoxygenation reaction and catalyst preparation processes were carried out under ambient conditions, respectively, to avoid using H₂ as a reagent and reducing agent. XRD, BET, SEM, EDS, FT-IR, and pyridine-IR characterized the composition and configuration of the prepared catalyst. The results display that the doped metal ions were well-dispersed in the carbon-based catalyst and the surface of the catalysts was rich in Lewis acid sites after the catalysts were calcined at the proper temperature. The pore size present on the catalyst was 9-11 nm. To catalyze the deoxygenation of fatty acid by the prepared catalysts at 320℃ under H₂-free conditions, high fatty acid conversion (99%) and high selectivity for hydrocarbons (78%) were obtained when the ratio of doped Ni to doped Mg was optimized.

Keywords: ordered mesoporous carbon, catalysts, hydrocarbons, deoxygenation

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Authors: Manjari Rai

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Urbanization is an inevitable process of development of human society and an outcome of economic development and scientific and technological progress. While urbanization process in promoting the development of human civilization, also no doubt, urban landscape has been a corresponding impact. Urban environment has suffered unprecedented damage majorly due to the increase in urban population density and heavy migration rate, traffic congestion, and environmental pollution. All this have however led to a major ecological degradation and imbalance. As lands are used for the rapid and unplanned urbanization, the green lands are diminished, and severe pollution is created by waste products. Plastic, the most alarming waste at landfill sites, is yet uncontrolled. Therefore, initiatives must be taken to reduce plastic mediated pollution and increase green application. However, increasing green land is not possible due to the landfill by urban structures. In order to create a harmonious environment, sustainable development in the urban landscape becomes a matter of prime focus. This paper thus discusses the concept of ecological design combined with the urban landscape design, green landscape design on urban structures and sustainable development through the use of recyclable waste materials which is also a low costing approach of urban landscape design.

Keywords: ecological, degradation sustainable, landscape, urban

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Authors: Chaohong Pan

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Through public diplomacy on social media, governments have attempted to influence foreign public opinion. What is the impact of digital public diplomacy? Public diplomacy research often relies on content analysis to study the strategies employed by communicators but has rarely examined its actual impact on the audience. In addition, we do not know if giving a communicator an explicit label, as Twitter does with “government account”, would change the effects of the messages. Can the government label reduce the percussiveness of public diplomacy messages by sending a warning signal? Using a 2 × 2 survey experiment, the present paper contributes to the study of public diplomacy by randomly exposing American participants to four types of tweets from Chinese diplomats. The stimulus materials vary in terms of the tweets’ content (“positive-china” vs. “negative-US) and Twitter government labels (with vs. without the labels). I found that positive tweets about China have a significant positive effect on Americans’ attitudes toward China, whereas negative tweets about the US have little effect on their opinions. Furthermore, positive-China tweets are effective only on China-related issues, which indicates that Chinese diplomats’ tweets have limited effects on shaping a foreign audience’s attitudes toward their own country. Lastly, I find that labels largely have no impact on a diplomatic tweet’s effect. These results contribute to our understanding of the effects of public diplomacy in the digital age.

Keywords: public diplomacy, china, foreign public opinion, twitter

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Authors: Isa Muhammad Zumo

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The African Great Green Wall (GGW) is a significant initiative in northern Nigeria because it promotes land restoration and conservation utilizing both commercial and species of forest trees while also helping to mitigate desertification and hazards from the sand dunes and shifting Sahara deserts. Conflicts and weather, however, pose a significant danger to the achievement of these goals. The scientific method for monitoring the vegetation dynamics since inception has not received the required attention, despite the African Development Bank (ADB)'s help in funding the project and its integration into the state's development plans for GGW initiatives. This study will monitor the changes in the vegetation cover of the great green wall within Yobe State Nigeria from 2014 to 2023. The vegetation dynamics will be monitored using Landsat 8 Operational Land Imager (OLI) for 6 years at 2 years intervals. The result will show the fluctuations in the vegetation cover density within the period of study. This will guide the design and implementation of policies of the GGW in achieving its objectives. The result can also contribute to the realization of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) Target 13.2: Integrate climate change measures into national policies, strategies, and planning.

Keywords: monitoring, green wall, Landsat 8, Nigeria

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Authors: Mekamı Hayet, Bounoua Nacer, Benabderrahmane Sidahmed, Taleb Ahmed

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Pose estimation is an important task in computer vision. Though the majority of the existing solutions provide good accuracy results, they are often overly complex and computationally expensive. In this perspective, we propose the use of dimensionality reduction techniques to address the problem of facial pose estimation. Firstly, a face image is converted into one-dimensional time series using Hilbert space filling curve, then the approach converts these time series data to a symbolic representation. Furthermore, a distance matrix is calculated between symbolic series of an input learning dataset of images, to generate classifiers of frontal vs. profile face pose. The proposed method is evaluated with three public datasets. Experimental results have shown that our approach is able to achieve a correct classification rate exceeding 97% with K-NN algorithm.

Keywords: machine learning, pattern recognition, facial pose classification, time series

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Authors: Siva Prasad Peddi

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Silver nanoparticles were successfully synthesized from silver nitrate through a rapid green synthesis method using Eclipta prostrata leaf extract as a reducing cum stabilizing agent. The experimental procedure was readily conducted at room temperature and pressure, and could be easily scaled up. The silver nanoparticles thus obtained were characterized using UV-Visible Spectroscopy (UV-VIS) which yielded an absorption peak at 416 nm. The biomolecules responsible for capping of the bio-reduced silver nanoparticles synthesized using plant extract were successfully identified through FTIR analysis. It was evinced through Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM), and X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis that the silver nanoparticles were crystalline in nature and spherical in shape. The average size of the particles obtained using Scherrer’s formula was 27.4 nm. The adopted technique for silver nanoparticle synthesis is suitable for large-scale production.

Keywords: silver nanoparticles, green synthesis, characterization, Eclipta prostrata

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Authors: Yuan Xu, Xun Liang, Meina Zhang

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The rise and attenuation of the public opinion broadcast of an emergent accident, in the social network, has a close relationship with the dynamic development of its subevents cluster. In this article, we take Tianjin Port explosion's subevents as an example to research the dynamic propagation discipline of Internet public opinion in a sudden accident, and analyze the overall structure of dynamic propagation to propose four different routes for subevents clusters propagation. We also generate network diagrams for the dynamic public opinion propagation, analyze each propagation type specifically. Based on this, suggestions on the supervision and guidance of Internet public opinion broadcast can be made.

Keywords: network dynamic transmission modes, emergent subevents clusters, Tianjin Port explosion, public opinion supervision

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Authors: Angel Pérez Sánchez

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In 1929, a light redshift was discovered in distant galaxies and was interpreted as produced by galaxies moving away from each other at high speed. This interpretation led to the consideration of a new source of energy, which was called Dark Energy. Redshift is a loss of light wave frequency produced by galaxies moving away at high speed, but the loss of frequency can also be produced by the friction of light waves on their way to Earth. This friction is impossible because outer space is empty, but if it were not empty and a medium existed in this empty space, it would be possible. The consequences would be extraordinary because Universe acceleration and Dark Energy would be in doubt. This article presents evidence that empty space is actually a medium occupied by different particles, among them the most significant would-be Graviton or Higgs Boson, because let's not forget that gravity also affects empty space.

Keywords: Big Bang, dark energy, doppler effect, redshift, starlight frequency reduction, universe acceleration

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Authors: E. Neidhardt

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Mobility is not only an aspect of personal freedom, but for many people mobility is also a requirement to be able to satisfy the needs of daily life. They must buy food, get to work, or go to the doctor. Many people are dependent on public transport to satisfy their needs. Especially in rural areas with a low population density this is difficult. In these areas it is often not cost-effective to provide public transport with sufficient coverage and frequency. Therefore, the available public transport is unattractive. As a result, people use their own car, which is not desirable from a sustainable point of view. Children and some elderly people also do not have this option. Sometimes people organize themselves and volunteer transport services are created, which function similarly to the demand-oriented taxis. With a platform for demand-oriented transport, we want to make the available public transport more usable and attractive by linking scheduled transport with voluntary transport services.

Keywords: demand-oriented, HubChain, living lab, public transport

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Authors: Belakhdar Salah Brahim

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The Urban management is a major element of social control of public space and thus the functioning of society. As such, it is a key element of a social conception of sustainable development. Also, it is a cross-cutting sector that relies on land management, infrastructure management, habitat management, management of social services, the management of economic development, etc. This study aims to study how urban management focusing on the study of problems related to urban waste management in developing countries. It appears from the study that the city management is to improve infrastructure and urban services in order to increase the city's development and improve living conditions in cities. It covers various aspects including management of urban space, economic management, administrative management, asset management or infrastructure and finally waste management. Environmental management is important because it solves the pollution problems of life and preserve resources for future generations. Changing perceptions of waste has led to the definition of new policies for integrated waste management requirements appropriate to the urban site.

Keywords: urbanization, urban management, environmental management, waste management

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Authors: O. Hinrichs, H. Franz, G. Reiter

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Electron guns have a key function in a series of thermal processes, like EB (electron beam) melting, evaporation or welding. These techniques need a high-intensity continuous electron beam that defocuses itself due to high space charge forces. A proper beam transport throughout the magnetic focusing system can be ensured by a space charge compensation via residual gas ions. The different pressure stages in the EB gun cause various degrees of compensation. A numerical model was installed to simulate realistic charge distributions within the beam by using CST-Particle Studio code. We will present current status of beam dynamic simulations. This contribution will focus on the creation of space charge ions and their influence on beam and gun components. Furthermore, the beam transport in the gun will be shown for different beam parameters. The electron source allows to produce beams with currents of 3 A to 15 A and energies of 40 keV to 45 keV.

Keywords: beam dynamic simulation, space charge compensation, thermionic electron source, EB melting, EB thermal processing

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Authors: Billy Angel B. Bayot, Hubert Clyde Z. Guillermo, Daniela Eve Margaret S. Olano, Lian Angeli Kaye E. Suarez

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A utilization of Nipa palm fibers (Nypa fruticans) and Asian green mussel shells (Perna viridis) as additive materials in making fiber-reinforced concrete was carried out. The researchers collected Asian green mussel shells and Nipa palm fibers as additive materials in the production of fiber-reinforced concrete and were used to make 3 Setups containing 20g, 15g, and 10g of Nipa palm fiber varying to 10g, 20g, 30g of Asian green mussel shell powder and a traditional concrete with respect to curing period 7, 14, and 28 days. The concrete blocks were delivered to the UP Institute of Building Materials and Structures Laboratory (CoMSLab) following each curing test in order to evaluate their compressive strength. Researchers employed a Two-Way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and determined that curing days, concrete mixture, and the combined curing days with concrete have an effect on the compressive strength of concrete. ANOVA results indicating significant differences had been subjected to post hoc analysis using Tukey's HSD. These results then yielded the comparison of each curing time and different concrete mixtures with traditional concrete, which comes to the conclusion that a longer curing period leads to a higher compressive strength and Setup 3 (30g Asian green mussel shell with 10g Nipa palm fiber) has the larger mean compressive strength, making it the best proportion among the fiber-reinforced concrete mixtures and the only proportion that has significant effect to traditional one. As a result, the study concludes that certain curing times and concrete mix proportions of Asian green mussel shell and Nipa palm fiber are critical determinants in determining concrete compressive strength.

Keywords: Asian green mussel shells (Perna viridis), Nipa palm fibers (Nypa fruticans), additives, fiber-reinforced concrete

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Authors: Benmoussa Rachid, Deguio Roland, Dubois Sebastien, Rasovska Ivana

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Implementation of LARG (Lean, Agile, Resilient, Green) practices in the supply chain management is a complex task mainly because ecological, economical and operational goals are usually in conflict. To implement these LARG practices successfully, companies’ need relevant decision making tools allowing processes performance control and improvement strategies visibility. To contribute to this issue, this work tries to answer the following research question: How to master performance and anticipate problems in supply chain LARG practices implementation? To answer this question, a risk management approach (RMA) is adopted. Indeed, the proposed RMA aims basically to assess the ability of a supply chain, guided by “Lean, Green and Achievement” performance goals, to face “agility and resilience risk” factors. To proof its relevance, a logistics academic case study based on simulation is used to illustrate all its stages. It shows particularly how to build the “LARG risk map” which is the main output of this approach.

Keywords: agile supply chain, lean supply chain, green supply chain, resilient supply chain, risk approach

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Authors: Alina M. Udall, Judith de Groot, Simon de Jong, Avi Shankar

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There are many ways in which environmentally significant behavior can be explained. Dominant psychological theories, namely, the theory of planned behavior, the norm-activation theory, its extension, the value-belief-norm theory, and the theory of habit do not explain large parts of environmentally significant behaviors. A new and rapidly growing approach is to focus on how consumer’s identities predict environmentally significant behavior. Identity may be relevant because consumers have many identities that are assumed to guide their behavior. Therefore, we assume that many identities will guide environmentally significant behavior. Many identities can be relevant for environmentally significant behavior. In reviewing the literature, over 200 identities have been studied making it difficult to establish the key identities for explaining environmentally significant behavior. Therefore, this paper first aims to establish the key identities previously used for explaining environmentally significant behavior. Second, the aim is to test which key identities explain environmentally significant behavior. To address the aims, an online survey study (n = 578) is conducted. First, the exploratory factor analysis reveals 15 identity factors. The identity factors are namely, environmentally concerned identity, anti-environmental self-identity, environmental place identity, connectedness with nature identity, green space visitor identity, active ethical identity, carbon off-setter identity, thoughtful self-identity, close community identity, anti-carbon off-setter identity, environmental group member identity, national identity, identification with developed countries, cyclist identity, and thoughtful organisation identity. Furthermore, to help researchers understand and operationalize the identities, the article provides theoretical definitions for each of the identities, in line with identity theory, social identity theory, and place identity theory. Second, the hierarchical regression shows only 10 factors significantly uniquely explain the variance in environmentally significant behavior. In order of predictive power the identities are namely, environmentally concerned identity, anti-environmental self-identity, thoughtful self-identity, environmental group member identity, anti-carbon off-setter identity, carbon off-setter identity, connectedness with nature identity, national identity, and green space visitor identity. The identities explain over 60% of the variance in environmentally significant behavior, a large effect size. Based on this finding, the article reveals a new, theoretical framework showing the key identities explaining environmentally significant behavior, to help improve and align the field.

Keywords: environmentally significant behavior, factor analysis, place identity, social identity

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Authors: Elżbieta Antczak

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Cities offer important opportunities for economic development and for expanding access to basic services, including health care and education, for large numbers of people. Moreover, green areas (as an integral part of sustainable urban development) present a major opportunity for improving urban environments, quality of lives and livelihoods. This paper examines, using spatial concentration and spatial taxonomic measures, regional diversification of greenery in the cities of Poland. The analysis includes location quotients, Lorenz curve, Locational Gini Index, and the synthetic index of greenery and spatial statistics tools: (1) To verify the occurrence of strong concentration or dispersion of the phenomenon in time and space depending on the variable category, and, (2) To study if the level of greenery depends on the spatial autocorrelation. The data includes the greatest Polish cities, categories of the urban greenery (parks, lawns, street greenery, and green areas on housing estates, cemeteries, and forests) and the time span 2004-2015. According to the obtained estimations, most of cites in Poland are already taking measures to become greener. However, in the country there are still many barriers to well-balanced urban greenery development (e.g. uncontrolled urban sprawl, poor management as well as lack of spatial urban planning systems).

Keywords: greenery, urban areas, regional spatial diversification and concentration, spatial taxonomic measure

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Authors: Blessings Masuku

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Background: Considering that Africa is urbanizing faster than any other region globally, managing cities in the global South has become the centerpiece for the New Urban Agenda (i.e., a shared vision of how we rethink, rebuild, and manage our cities for a better and more sustainable future). This study is centered on governance and planning of urban informality practices with particular reference to the relationship between the state, informal actors (e.g., informal traders and informal dwellers), and other city stakeholders who are public space users (commuters, businesses, and environmental activists), and how informal actors organize themselves to lobby the state and claim for their rights in the city, and how they navigate their everyday livelihood strategies. Aim: The purpose of this study is to examine and interrogate contemporary approaches, policy and regulatory frameworks to urban spatial planning and management of informality in one of South Africa’s busiest and major cities, Johannesburg. Setting: The study uses the metropolitan region of the city of Johannesburg, South Africa to understand how this contemporary industrial city manages urban informality practices, including the use of public space, land zoning and street life, and paying a closer look at what progress has been made and gaps in their inclusive urban policy frameworks. Methods: This study utilized a qualitative approach that includes surveys (open-ended questions), archival research (i., e policy and other key document reviews), and key interviews mainly with city officials, and informality actors. A thematic analysis was used to analyze the data collected. Contribution: This study contributes to large urban informality scholarship in the global South cities by exploring how major cities particularly in Africa regulate and manage informality patterns and practices in their quest to build “utopian” smart cities. This study also brings a different perspective on the hacking ways used by the informal actors to resist harsh regulations and remain invisible in the city, which is something that previous literature has barely delved in-depth.

Keywords: inclusive planning and governance, infrastructure systems, livelihood strategies urban informality, urban space

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Authors: Kozik Renata, Leśniak Agnieszka, Plebankiewicz Edyta

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Contracting authorities in the public sector are obligated to apply the principles provided for in the Polish law for the evaluation and selection of contractors. To analyze the methods of contractors, applied in practice by public clients, the notices of contract award results for construction works were analyzed. The analysis shows that the procedure selected more and more often is open to competitive bidding, where the assessment of the competence of contractors is not very precise, as well as non-competitive bidding, i.e. single source procurement. The share of procurement procedures, where the only criterion is price, is increasing. The solution to the problems existing here might be the introduction of one of the forms of pre-selection of contractors. The article also briefly discusses verification systems for companies applying for public contracts used in EU countries.

Keywords: certification, contractors selection, open tendering, public investors

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Authors: Javier Parra-Domínguez, Juan Manuel Corchado

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At present, public efficiency is a concept that intends to maximize return on public investment focus on minimizing the use of resources and maximizing the outputs. The concept takes into account statistical criteria drawn up according to techniques such as DEA (Data Envelopment Analysis). The purpose of the current work is to consider, more precisely, the theoretical application of CBR (Case-Based Reasoning) from economics and computer science, as a preliminary step to improving the efficiency of law enforcement agencies (public sector). With the aim of increasing the efficiency of the public sector, we have entered into a phase whose main objective is the implementation of new technologies. Our main conclusion is that the application of computer techniques, such as CBR, has become key to the efficiency of the public sector, which continues to require economic valuation based on methodologies such as DEA. As a theoretical result and conclusion, the incorporation of CBR systems will reduce the number of inputs and increase, theoretically, the number of outputs generated based on previous computer knowledge.

Keywords: case-based reasoning, knowledge, police, public efficiency

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Authors: Jae Min Lee

Abstract:

Presence of people and intensity of activities have been widely accepted as an indicator for successful public spaces in urban design literature. This study attempts to predict the qualitative indicators, presence of people and intensity of activities, with the quantitative measurements of pedestrian counting. We conducted participant observation in Dilworth Park, Philadelphia to collect the total number of people and activities in the park. Then, the participant observation data is compared with detailed pedestrian counts at 10 exit locations to estimate the number of park users. The study found that there is a clear correlation between the intensity of social activities and automated pedestrian counts.

Keywords: automated pedestrian count, computer vision, public space, urban design

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Authors: Amira Yousef Mahrous Yousef

Abstract:

This paper includes fast fashion verses sustainable fashion or slow fashion Indian based consumers. The expression ‘Fast fashion’ is generally referred to low-cost clothing collections that considered first hand copy of luxury brands, sometime interchangeably used with ‘mass fashion’. Whereas slow fashion or limited fashion which are consider to be more organic or eco-friendly. "Sustainable fashion is ethical fashion and here the consumer is just not design conscious but also social-environment conscious". Paper will deal with desire of young Indian consumer towards such luxury brands present in India, and their understanding of sustainable fashion, how to maintain the equilibrium between never newer fashion, style, and fashion sustainability. The green fashion market is growing rapidly as eco-friendly consumers are willing to expand their organic lifestyle to include clothing. With an increasing share of fashion consumers globally, Indian consumers are observed to consider the social and environmental ethics while making purchasing decisions. While some research clearly identifies the efforts of responsible consumers towards green fashion, some argue that fashion-orientated consumers who are sensitive towards environment do not actively participate towards supporting green fashion. This study aims to analyze the current perception of green fashion among Indian consumers. A small-scale exploratory study is conducted where consumers’ perception of green fashion is examined followed by an analysis of translation of this perception into purchase decision making. This research paper gives insight into consumer awareness on green fashion and provides scope towards the expansion of ethical fashion consumption .

Keywords: inclusions, temperature gradient, HPHT synthetic fibers, polyamide fibers, fiber volume, compressive strength. gold nano clusters, copper ions, wool keratin, fluorescence

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Authors: Felib Ayman Shawky Salem

Abstract:

This paper includes fast fashion verses sustainable fashion or slow fashion Indian based consumers. The expression ‘Fast fashion’ is generally referred to low-cost clothing collections that considered first hand copy of luxury brands, sometime interchangeably used with ‘mass fashion’. Whereas slow fashion or limited fashion which are consider to be more organic or eco-friendly. "Sustainable fashion is ethical fashion and here the consumer is just not design conscious but also social-environment conscious". Paper will deal with desire of young Indian consumer towards such luxury brands present in India, and their understanding of sustainable fashion, how to maintain the equilibrium between never newer fashion, style, and fashion sustainability. The green fashion market is growing rapidly as eco-friendly consumers are willing to expand their organic lifestyle to include clothing. With an increasing share of fashion consumers globally, Indian consumers are observed to consider the social and environmental ethics while making purchasing decisions. While some research clearly identifies the efforts of responsible consumers towards green fashion, some argue that fashion-orientated consumers who are sensitive towards environment do not actively participate towards supporting green fashion. This study aims to analyze the current perception of green fashion among Indian consumers. A small-scale exploratory study is conducted where consumers’ perception of green fashion is examined followed by an analysis of translation of this perception into purchase decision making. This research paper gives insight into consumer awareness on green fashion and provides scope towards the expansion of ethical fashion consumption

Keywords: diamond, inclusions, temperature gradient, HPHT synthetic fibers, polyamide fibers, fiber volume, compressive strength. gold nano clusters, copper ions, wool keratin, fluorescence

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