Search results for: confined space

Authors: Alejandra Torres-Landa López

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Introduction: Can architecture students be creative in spaces conformed by an educational infrastructure build with paradigms of the past?, this question and others related are answered in this paper as it presents the PhD research: An anthropic conflict in Mexican Higher Education Institutes, problems and challenges of the educational infrastructure in teaching and learning History of Architecture. This research was finished in 2013 and is one of the first studies conducted nationwide in Mexico that analysis the educational infrastructure impact in learning architecture; its objective was to identify which elements of the educational infrastructure of Mexican Higher Education Institutes where architects are formed, hinder or contribute to the teaching and learning of History of Architecture; how and why it happens. The methodology: A mixed methodology was used combining quantitative and qualitative analysis. Different resources and strategies for data collection were used, such as questionnaires for students and teachers, interviews to architecture research experts, direct observations in Architecture classes, among others; the data collected was analyses using SPSS and MAXQDA. The veracity of the quantitative data was supported by the Cronbach’s Alpha Coefficient, obtaining a 0.86, figure that gives the data enough support. All the above enabled to certify the anthropic conflict in which Mexican Universities are. Major findings of the study: Although some of findings were probably not unknown, they haven’t been systematized and analyzed with the depth to which it’s done in this research. So, it can be said, that the educational infrastructure of most of the Higher Education Institutes studied, is a barrier to the educational process, some of the reasons are: the little morphological variation of space, the inadequate control of lighting, noise, temperature, equipment and furniture, the poor or none accessibility for disable people; as well as the absence, obsolescence and / or insufficiency of information technologies are some of the issues that generate an anthropic conflict understanding it as the trouble that teachers and students have to relate between them, in order to achieve significant learning). It is clear that most of the educational infrastructure of Mexican Higher Education Institutes is anchored to paradigms of the past; it seems that they respond to the previous era of industrialization. The results confirm that the educational infrastructure of Mexican Higher Education Institutes where architects are formed, is perceived as a "closed container" of people and data; infrastructure that becomes a barrier to teaching and learning process. Conclusion: The research results show it's time to change the paradigm in which we conceive the educational infrastructure, it’s time to stop seen it just only as classrooms, workshops, laboratories and libraries, as it must be seen from a constructive, urban, architectural and human point of view, taking into account their different dimensions: physical, technological, documental, social, among others; so the educational infrastructure can become a set of elements that organize and create spaces where ideas and thoughts can be shared; to be a social catalyst where people can interact between each other and with the space itself.

Keywords: educational infrastructure, impact of space in learning architecture outcomes, learning environments, teaching architecture, learning architecture

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Authors: Jisong Ryu, Woosik Lee, Yonggu Jang

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The paper discusses the process of establishing a reliable test bed for verifying the usability of Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) exploration equipment based on an integrated underground spatial map in Korea. The aim of this study is to construct a test bed consisting of metal and non-metal pipelines to verify the performance of GPR equipment and improve the accuracy of the underground spatial integrated map. The study involved the design and construction of a test bed for metal and non-metal pipe detecting tests. The test bed was built in the SOC Demonstration Research Center (Yeoncheon) of the Korea Institute of Civil Engineering and Building Technology, burying metal and non-metal pipelines up to a depth of 5m. The test bed was designed in both vehicle-type and cart-type GPR-mounted equipment. The study collected data through the construction of the test bed and conducting metal and non-metal pipe detecting tests. The study analyzed the reliability of GPR detecting results by comparing them with the basic drawings, such as the underground space integrated map. The study contributes to the improvement of GPR equipment performance evaluation and the accuracy of the underground spatial integrated map, which is essential for urban planning and construction. The study addressed the question of how to verify the usability of GPR exploration equipment based on an integrated underground spatial map and improve its performance. The study found that the test bed is reliable for verifying the performance of GPR exploration equipment and accurately detecting metal and non-metal pipelines using an integrated underground spatial map. The study concludes that the establishment of a test bed for verifying the usability of GPR exploration equipment based on an integrated underground spatial map is essential. The proposed Korean-style test bed can be used for the evaluation of GPR equipment performance and support the construction of a national non-metal pipeline exploration equipment performance evaluation center in Korea.

Keywords: Korea-style GPR testbed, GPR, metal pipe detecting, non-metal pipe detecting

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Authors: Imbesat Daudi

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Islamophobia, which is a billion-dollar industry, is widespread, especially in the United States, Europe, India, Israel, and countries that have Muslim minorities at odds with their governmental policies. Hatred of Islam in the West did not evolve spontaneously; it was methodically created. Islamophobia's current format has been designed to spread on its own, find a space in the Western psyche, and resist its eradication. Hatred has been sustained by neoconservative ideologues and their allies, which are supported by the mainstream media. Social scientists have evaluated how ideas spread, why any idea can go viral, and where new ideas find space in our brains. This was possible because of the advances in the computational power of software and computers. Spreading of ideas, including Islamophobia, follows a sine curve; it has three phases: An initial exploratory phase with a long lag period, an explosive phase if ideas go viral, and the final phase when ideas find space in the human psyche. In the initial phase, the ideas are quickly examined in a center in the prefrontal lobe. When it is deemed relevant, it is sent for evaluation to another center of the prefrontal lobe; there, it is critically examined. Once it takes a final shape, the idea is sent as a final product to a center in the occipital lobe. This center cannot critically evaluate ideas; it can only defend them from its critics. Counterarguments, no matter how scientific, are automatically rejected. Therefore, arguments that could be highly effective in the early phases are counterproductive once they are stored in the occipital lobe. Anti-Islamophobic intellectuals have done a very good job of countering Islamophobic arguments. However, they have not been as effective as neoconservative ideologues who have promoted anti-Muslim rhetoric that was based on half-truths, misinformation, or outright lies. The failure is partly due to the support pro-war activists receive from the mainstream media, state institutions, mega-corporations engaged in violent conflicts, and think tanks that provide Islamophobic arguments. However, there are also scientific reasons why anti-Islamophobic thinkers have been less effective. There are different dynamics of spreading ideas once they are stored in the occipital lobe. The human brain is incapable of evaluating further once it accepts ideas as its own; therefore, a different strategy is required to be effective. This paper examines 1) why anti-Islamophobic intellectuals have failed in changing the minds of non-Muslims and 2) the steps of countering hatred. Simply put, a new strategy is needed that can effectively counteract hatred of Islam and Muslims. Islamophobia is a disease that requires strong measures. Fighting hatred is always a challenge, but if we understand why Islamophobia is taking root in the twenty-first century, one can succeed in challenging Islamophobic arguments. That will need a coordinated effort of Intellectuals, writers and the media.

Keywords: islamophobia, Islam and violence, anti-islamophobia, demonization of Islam

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Authors: Qianwei Cheng, A. K. M. Mahbubur Rahman, Anis Sarker, Abu Bakar Siddik Nayem, Ovi Paul, Amin Ahsan Ali, M. Ashraful Amin, Ryosuke Shibasaki, Moinul Zaber

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Thomas Friedman, in his famous book, argued that the world in this 21st century is flat and will continue to be flatter. This is attributed to rapid globalization and the interdependence of humanity that engendered tremendous in-flow of human migration towards the urban spaces. In order to keep the urban environment sustainable, policy makers need to plan based on extensive analysis of the urban environment. With the advent of high definition satellite images, high resolution data, computational methods such as deep neural network analysis, and hardware capable of high-speed analysis; urban planning is seeing a paradigm shift. Legacy data on urban environments are now being complemented with high-volume, high-frequency data. However, the first step of understanding urban space lies in useful categorization of the space that is usable for data collection, analysis, and visualization. In this paper, we propose a pragmatic categorization method that is readily usable for machine analysis and show applicability of the methodology on a developing world setting. Categorization to plan sustainable urban spaces should encompass the buildings and their surroundings. However, the state-of-the-art is mostly dominated by classification of building structures, building types, etc. and largely represents the developed world. Hence, these methods and models are not sufficient for developing countries such as Bangladesh, where the surrounding environment is crucial for the categorization. Moreover, these categorizations propose small-scale classifications, which give limited information, have poor scalability and are slow to compute in real time. Our proposed method is divided into two steps-categorization and automation. We categorize the urban area in terms of informal and formal spaces and take the surrounding environment into account. 50 km × 50 km Google Earth image of Dhaka, Bangladesh was visually annotated and categorized by an expert and consequently a map was drawn. The categorization is based broadly on two dimensions-the state of urbanization and the architectural form of urban environment. Consequently, the urban space is divided into four categories: 1) highly informal area; 2) moderately informal area; 3) moderately formal area; and 4) highly formal area. In total, sixteen sub-categories were identified. For semantic segmentation and automatic categorization, Google’s DeeplabV3+ model was used. The model uses Atrous convolution operation to analyze different layers of texture and shape. This allows us to enlarge the field of view of the filters to incorporate larger context. Image encompassing 70% of the urban space was used to train the model, and the remaining 30% was used for testing and validation. The model is able to segment with 75% accuracy and 60% Mean Intersection over Union (mIoU). In this paper, we propose a pragmatic categorization method that is readily applicable for automatic use in both developing and developed world context. The method can be augmented for real-time socio-economic comparative analysis among cities. It can be an essential tool for the policy makers to plan future sustainable urban spaces.

Keywords: semantic segmentation, urban environment, deep learning, urban building, classification

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Authors: Muhammad Nasar-u-Minallah, Dagmar Haase, Salman Qureshi

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Rapid urbanization significantly change land use, urban nature, land surface vegetation cover, and heat distribution, leading to the formation of urban heat island (UHI) effect and affecting the healthy growth of cities and the comfort of human living style. Past information and present changes in Land Surface Temperature (LST) and urban landscapes could be useful to geographers, environmentalists, and urban planners in an attempt to shape the urban development process and mitigate the effects of urban heat islands (UHI). This study aims at using Satellite Remote Sensing (SRS) and GIS techniques to develop an approach for assessing the urban nature and UHI effects in Lahore, Pakistan. The study employed the Radiative Transfer Method (RTM) in estimating LST to assess the SUHI effect during the interval of 20 years (2000-2020). The assessment was performed by the available Landsat 7/ETM+ and Landsat 8/OIL_TIRs data for the years 2000, 2010, and 2020 respectively. Pearson’s correlation and normalized mutual information were applied to investigate the relationship between green space characteristics and LST. The result of this work revealed that the influence of urban heat island is not always at the city centers but sometimes in the outskirt where a lot of development activities were going on towards the direction of expansion of Lahore, Pakistan. The present study explores the usage of image processing and spatial analysis in the drive towards achieving urban greening of Lahore and a sustainable urban environment in terms of urban planning, policy, and decision making and promoting the healthy and sustainable urban environment of the city.

Keywords: urban nature, urban heat islands, urban green space, land use, Lahore

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Authors: João F. A. Martos, Felipe J. Costa, Sergio N. P. Laiton, Bruno C. Lima, Israel S. Rêgo, Paulo P. G. Toro

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Nowadays, the scramjet is a topic that has attracted the attention of several scientific communities (USA, Australia, Germany, France, Japan, India, China, Russia), that are investing in this in this type of propulsion system due its interest to facilitate access to space and reach hypersonic speed, who have invested in this type of propulsion due to the interest in facilitating access to space. The Brazilian hypersonic scramjet aerospace vehicle 14-X B is a technological demonstrator of a hypersonic airbreathing propulsion system based on the supersonic combustion (scramjet) intended to be tested in flight into the Earth's atmosphere at 30 km altitude and Mach number 7. The 14-X B has been designed at the Prof. Henry T. Nagamatsu Laboratory of Aerothermodynamics and Hypersonics of the Institute for Advanced Studies (IEAv) in Brazil. The IEAv Hypersonic Shock Tunnel, named T3, is a ground-test facility able to reproduce the flight conditions as the Mach number as well as pressure and temperature in the test section close to those encountered during the test flight of the vehicle 14-X B into design conditions. A 1-m long stainless steel 14-X B model was experimentally investigated at T3 Hypersonic Shock Tunnel, for freestream Mach number 7. Static pressure measurements along the lower surface of the 14-X B model, along with high-speed schlieren photographs taken from the 5.5° leading edge and the 14.5° deflection compression ramp, provided experimental data that were compared to the analytical-theoretical solutions and the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations. The results show a good qualitative agreement, and in consequence demonstrating the importance of these methods in the project of the 14-X B hypersonic aerospace vehicle.

Keywords: 14-X, CFD, hypersonic, hypersonic shock tunnel, scramjet

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Authors: Ballout Amor, Yasmina Bouchahm, Lacheheb Dhia Eddine Zakaria

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Several studies all around the world were conducted on the phenomenon of the urban heat island, and referring to the results obtained, one of the most important factors that influence this phenomenon is the mineralization of the cities which means the reducing of evaporative urban surfaces, replacing vegetation and wetlands with concrete and asphalt. The use of vegetation and water can change the urban environment and improve comfort, thus reduce the heat island. The trees act as a mask to the sun, wind, and sound, and also as a source of humidity which reduces air temperature and surrounding surfaces. Water also acts as a buffer to noise; it is also a source of moisture and regulates temperature not to mention the psychological effect on humans. Our main objective in this paper is to determine the impact of vegetation, ponds and fountains on the urban micro climate in general and on the thermal comfort of people along the Independence square in the Algerian city of Sétif, which is a semi-arid climate, in particularly. In order to reach this objective, a comparative study between different scenarios has been done; the use of the Envi-met program enabled us to model the urban environment of the Independence Square and to study the possibility of improving the conditions of comfort by adding an amount of vegetation and water ponds. After studying the results obtained (temperature, relative humidity, wind speed, PMV and PPD indicators), the efficiency of the additions we've made on the square was confirmed and this is what helped us to confirm our assumptions regarding the terms of comfort in the studied site, and in the end we are trying to develop recommendations and solutions which may contribute to improve the conditions for greater comfort in the Independence square.

Keywords: comfort in outer space, urban environment, scenarisation, vegetation, water ponds, public square, simulation

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Authors: V. Thomas, O. Delaune, W. Hennig, S. Hoover

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Measurement of radioactive isotopes of atmospheric xenon is used to detect, locate and identify any confined nuclear tests as part of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT). In this context, the Alternative Energies and French Atomic Energy Commission (CEA) has developed a fixed device to continuously measure the concentration of these fission products, the SPALAX process. During its atmospheric transport, the radioactive xenon will undergo a significant dilution between the source point and the measurement station. Regarding the distance between fixed stations located all over the globe, the typical volume activities measured are near 1 mBq m⁻³. To avoid the constraints induced by atmospheric dilution, the development of a mobile detection system is in progress; this system will allow on-site measurements in order to confirm or infringe a suspicious measurement detected by a fixed station. Furthermore, this system will use beta/gamma coincidence measurement technique in order to drastically reduce environmental background (which masks such activities). The detector prototype consists of a gas cell surrounded by two large silicon wafers, coupled with two square NaI(Tl) detectors. The gas cell has a sample volume of 30 cm³ and the silicon wafers are 500 µm thick with an active surface area of 3600 mm². In order to minimize leakage current, each wafer has been segmented into four independent silicon pixels. This cell is sandwiched between two low background NaI(Tl) detectors (70x70x40 mm³ crystal). The expected Minimal Detectable Concentration (MDC) for each radio-xenon is in the order of 1-10 mBq m⁻³. Three 4-channels digital acquisition modules (Pixie-NET) are used to process all the signals. Time synchronization is ensured by a dedicated PTP-network, using the IEEE 1588 Precision Time Protocol. We would like to present this system from its simulation to the laboratory tests.

Keywords: beta/gamma coincidence technique, low level measurement, radioxenon, silicon pixels

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Authors: Walid Chakroun, Sorour Alotaibi, Nesreen Ghaddar, Kamel Ghali

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This study aims at determining the extent to which occupant control of microenvironment influences, improves thermal sensation and comfort, and saves energy in spaces equipped with ceiling personalized ventilation (CPV) system assisted by chair fans (CF) and desk fans (DF) in 2 experiments in a climatic chamber equipped with two-station CPV systems, one that allows control of fan flow rate and the other is set to the fan speed of the selected participant in control. Each experiment included two participants each entering the cooled space from transitional environment at a conventional mixed ventilation (MV) at 24 °C. For CPV diffuser, fresh air was delivered at a rate of 20 Cubic feet per minute (CFM) and a temperature of 16 °C while the recirculated air was delivered at the same temperature but at a flow rate 150 CFM. The macroclimate air of the space was at 26 °C. The full speed flow rates for both the CFs and DFs were at 5 CFM and 20 CFM, respectively. Occupant 1 was allowed to operate the CFs or the DFs at (1/3 of the full speed, 2/3 of the full speed, and the full speed) while occupant 2 had no control on the fan speed and their fan speed was selected by occupant 1. Furthermore, a parametric study was conducted to study the effect of increasing the fresh air flow rate on the occupants’ thermal comfort and whole body sensations. The results showed that most occupants in the CPV+CFs, who did not control the CF flow rate, felt comfortable 6 minutes. The participants, who controlled the CF speeds, felt comfortable in around 24 minutes because they were preoccupied with the CFs. For the DF speed control experiments, most participants who did not control the DFs felt comfortable within the first 8 minutes. Similarly to the CPV+CFs, the participants who controlled the DF flow rates felt comfortable at around 26 minutes. When the CPV system was either supported by CFs or DFs, 93% of participants in both cases reached thermal comfort. Participants in the parametric study felt more comfortable when the fresh air flow rate was low, and felt cold when as the flow rate increased.

Keywords: PMV, thermal comfort, thermal environment, thermal sensation

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Authors: Nirupama Sam

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COVID-19, the greatest pandemic since the turn of the century, presents several issues for urban planners, the most significant of which is determining appropriate mitigation techniques for creating pandemic-friendly and resilient public spaces. The study is conducted in four stages. The first stage consisted of literature reviews to examine the evolution and transformation of public spaces during pandemics throughout history and the role of public spaces during pandemic outbreaks. The second stage is to determine the factors that influence the success of public spaces, which was accomplished by an analysis of current literature and case studies. The influencing factors are categorized under comfort and images, uses and activity, access and linkages, and sociability. The third stage is to establish the priority of identified factors for which a questionnaire survey of stakeholders is conducted and analyzing of certain factors with the help of GIS tools. COVID-19 has been in effect in India for the last two years. Kerala has the highest daily COVID-19 prevalence due to its high population density, making it more susceptible to viral outbreaks. Despite all preventive measures taken against COVID-19, Kerala remains the worst-affected state in the country. Finally, two live case studies of the hardest-hit localities, namely Subhash bose park and Napier Museum park in the Ernakulam and Trivandrum districts of Kerala, respectively, were chosen as study areas for the survey. The responses to the questionnaire were analyzed using SPSS for determining the weights of the influencing factors. The spatial success of the selected case studies was examined using the GIS interpolation model. Following the overall assessment, the fourth stage is to develop strategies and guidelines for planning public spaces to make them more efficient and robust, which further leads to improved quality, safety and resilience to future pandemics.

Keywords: urban design, public space, covid-19, post-pandemic, public spaces

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Authors: Nikhil A. Gavhane, Sachin Shah, Ishant S. Mahajan, Pawan D. Bahekar

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Introduction: Millions of people are affected with dengue fever every year, which drives up healthcare expenses in many low-income countries. Organ failure and other serious symptoms may result. Another worldwide public health problem is sickle cell anaemia, which is most prevalent in Africa, the Caribbean, and Europe. Dengue epidemics have reportedly occurred in locations with a high frequency of sickle cell disease, compounding the health problems in these areas. Aims and Objectives: This study examines dengue infection in sickle cell disease-afflicted pre-schoolers. Method:This Retrospective cohort study examined paediatric patients. Young people with sickle cell disease (SCD), dengue infection, and a control group without SCD or dengue were studied. Data on demographics, SCD consequences, medical treatments, and laboratory findings were gathered to analyse the influence of SCD on dengue severity and clinical outcomes, classified as severe or non-severe by the 2009 WHO classification. Using fever or admission symptoms, the research estimated acute illness duration. Result: Table 1 compares haemoglobin genotype-based dengue episode features in SS, SC, and controls. Table 2 shows that severe dengue cases are older, have longer admission delays, and have particular symptoms. Table 3's multivariate analysis indicates SS genotype's high connection with severe dengue, multiorgan failure, and acute pulmonary problems. Table 4 relates severe dengue to greater white blood cell counts, anaemia, liver enzymes, and reduced lactate dehydrogenase. Conclusion: This study is valuable but confined to hospitalised dengue patients with sickle cell illness. Small cohorts limit comparisons. Further study is needed since findings contradict predictions.

Keywords: dengue, chills, headache, severe myalgia, vomiting, nausea, prostration

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Authors: Eloise Thomson

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The COVID-19 global pandemic challenged our normative conceptualization of teaching across all age levels, requiring the transition to remote instruction, in some instances, literally overnight. Included in the rapidly changing education environment was the delivery of early childhood education. In Victoria, Australia, the capital city, Melbourne, became known as the most locked down city in the world. This presentation examines the ways educators used social media to collaborate with families before the COVID-19 pandemic and during the lockdown phase through the use of a Third Space conceptual framework and case study methodology. As a first step, the paper examines how social media may offer new opportunities for collaborative practice between educators and families. Second, the data is outlined and discussed with respect to collaborative practice and quality. Finally, a postscript then allows for insight into how educators’ practice of using social media to collaborate with families has been impacted by the COVID-19 global pandemic. Finally, the implications of the ways in which educators are using social media to collaborate with families are discussed. The use of social media in early-childhood education has the potential to provide a valuable platform for educators to connect with families and students. However, the use of social media by educators uncovered a dialogue of ‘quality’ and appeared to be dominated by evidence around compliance and attaining quality in a very specific, and perhaps narrow, way. The findings suggest a culture of compliance that is dominated by outcomes, standards and assessments and that this has changed the dynamics by which educators engage with families. Furthermore, findings highlighted the disparity between educators' and families' understanding of the intent of the collaborations themselves. This research was significant as it exposed the ways in which educators are engaging with social media, resulting in a discussion on the intent of collaborations, the questioning of imposed quality, and the notion that quality is measurable and exists in only one form.

Keywords: collaboration, compliance, early childhood, third space, pedagogy of caring, social media

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Authors: Shuyu Zhang

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The waterfront historical district, as a type of historical districts on the verge of waters such as the sea, lake, and river, have a relatively special urban form. In the past preservation and renewal of traditional historic districts, there have been many discussions on the land range, and the waterfront and marginal spaces are easily overlooked. However, the waterfront space of the historic districts, as a cultural landscape heritage combining historical buildings and landscape elements, has strong ecological and sustainable values. At the same time, Suzhou and Venice, as sister water cities in history, have more waterfront spaces that can be compared in urban form and other levels. Therefore, this paper focuses on the waterfront historic districts in Venice and Suzhou, establishes quantitative evaluation indicators for environmental perception, makes analogies, and promotes the renewal and activation of the entire historical district by improving the spatial quality and vitality of the waterfront area. First, this paper uses multi-source data for analysis, such as Baidu Maps and Google Maps API to crawl the street view of the waterfront historic districts, uses machine learning algorithms to analyze the proportion of cultural landscape elements such as green viewing rate in the street view pictures, and uses space syntax software to make quantitative selectivity analysis, so as to establish environmental perception evaluation indicators for the waterfront historic districts. Finally, by comparing and summarizing the waterfront historic districts in Venice and Suzhou, it reveals their similarities and differences, characteristics and conclusions, and hopes to provide a reference for the heritage preservation and renewal of other waterfront historic districts.

Keywords: waterfront historical district, cultural landscape, perception, multi-source Data

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Authors: Rami Qaoud, Alkama Djamal

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When we ask about the impact of rising architectural façade in improving the terms physical urban ambiance inside the free space for urban fabric. Considered as bringing back life and culture values and civilization to these cities. And This will be the theme of this search. Where we have conducted the study about the relationship that connects the empty and full of in the urban fabric in terms of the density construction and the architectural elevation of its façade to street view. In this framework, we adopted in the methodology of this research the technical field experience. And according to three types of Street engineering(H≥2W, H=W, H≤0.5W). Where we conducted a field to raise the values of the physical ambiance according to three main axes of ambiance. The first axe 1 - Thermal ambiance. Where the temperature values were collected, relative humidity, wind speed, temperature of surfaces (the outer wall-ground). The second axe 2- Visual ambiance. Where we took the values of natural lighting levels during the daytime. The third axe 3- Acoustic ambiance . Where we take sound values during the entire day. That experience, which lasted for three consecutive days, and through six stations of measuring, where it has been one measuring station for each type of the street engineering and in two different way street. Through the obtained results and with the comparison of those values. We noticed the difference between this values and the three type of street engineering. Where the difference the calorific values of air equal 4 ° C , in terms of the visual ambiance the difference in the direct lighting natural periods amounted six hours between the three types of street engineering. As well in terms of sound ambience, registered a difference in values of up 15 (db) between the three types. This difference in values indicates The impact of rising architectural façade in improving the physical urban ambiance within the free field - street- for urban fabric.

Keywords: street, physical urban ambience, rising architectural façade, urban fabric

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Authors: Francisco Velez, Juan David Gomez

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Dispersion effects on the Scattering for a semicircular canyon in a micropolar continuum are analyzed, by using a computational finite element scheme. The presence of microrotational waves and the dispersive SV waves affects the propagation of elastic waves. Here, a contrast with the classic model is presented, and the dependence with the micropolar parameters is studied.

Keywords: scattering, semicircular canyon, wave dispersion, micropolar medium, FEM modeling

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Authors: Ayse Ozbil, Gorsev Argin, Demet Yesiltepe

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Data for this cross-sectional study were drawn from questionnaires conducted in 10 elementary schools (1000 students, ages 12-14) located in Istanbul, Turkey. School environments (1600 meter buffers around the school) were evaluated through GIS-based land-use data (parcel level land use density) and street-level topography. Street networks within the same buffers were evaluated by using angular segment analysis (Integration and Choice) implemented in Depthmap as well as two segment-based connectivity measures, namely Metric and Directional Reach implemented in GIS. Segment Angular Integration measures how accessible each space from all the others within the radius using the least angle measure of distance. Segment Angular Choice which measures how many times a space is selected on journeys between all pairs of origins and destinations. Metric Reach captures the density of streets and street connections accessible from each individual road segment. Directional Reach measures the extent to which the entire street network is accessible with few direction changes. In addition, socio-economic characteristics (annual income, car ownership, education-level) of parents, obtained from parental questionnaires, were also included in the analysis. It is shown that surrounding street network configuration is strongly associated with both walk-mode shares and average walking distances to/from schools when controlling for parental socio-demographic attributes as well as land-use compositions and topographic features in school environments. More specifically, findings suggest that the scale at which urban form has an impact on pedestrian travel is considerably larger than a few blocks around the school.

Keywords: Istanbul, street network layout, urban form, walking to/from school

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Authors: Upasana G. Singh, Meera Gungea

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Learning is no more confined to the traditional classroom, teacher, and student interaction. Many universities offer courses through the Open and Distance Learning (ODL) mode, attracting a diversity of learners in terms of age, gender, and profession to name a few. The ODL mode has surfaced as one of the famous sought-after modes of learning, allowing learners to invest in their educational growth without hampering their personal and professional commitments. This mode of learning, however, requires that those who ultimately choose to adopt it must be prepared to undertake studies through such medium. The purpose of this research is to assess whether students who join universities offering courses through the ODL mode are ready to embark and study within such a framework. This study will be helpful to unveil the challenges students face in such an environment and thus contribute to developing a framework to ease adoption and integration into the ODL environment. Prior to the implementation of e-learning, a readiness assessment is essential for any institution that wants to adopt any form of e-learning. Various e-learning readiness assessment models have been developed over the years. However, this study is based on a conceptual model for e-Learning Readiness Assessment which is a ‘hybrid model’. This hybrid model consists of 4 main parameters: 1) Technological readiness, 2) Culture readiness, 3) Content readiness, and 4) Demographics factors, with 4 sub-areas, namely, technology, innovation, people and self-development. The model also includes the attitudes of users towards the adoption of e-learning as an important aspect of assessing e-learning readiness. For this study, some factors and sub-factors of the hybrid model have been considered and adapted, together with the ‘Attitude’ component. A questionnaire was designed based on the models and students where the target population were students enrolled at the Open University of Mauritius, in undergraduate and postgraduate courses. Preliminary findings indicate that most (68%) learners have an average knowledge about ODL form of learning, despite not many (72%) having previous experience with ODL. Despite learning through ODL 74% of learners preferred hard copy learning material and 48% found difficulty in reading learning material on electronic devices.

Keywords: open learning, distance learning, student readiness, a hybrid model

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Authors: Jonathan Martino, Kristof Harri

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In some cases, the increase in computing resources makes simulation methods more affordable. The increase in processing speed also allows real time analysis or even more rapid tests analysis offering a real tool for test prediction and design process optimization. Vibration tests are no exception to this trend. The so called ‘Virtual Vibration Testing’ offers solution among others to study the influence of specific loads, to better anticipate the boundary conditions between the exciter and the structure under test, to study the influence of small changes in the structure under test, etc. This article will first present a virtual vibration test modeling with a main focus on the shaker model and will afterwards present the experimental parameters determination. The classical way of modeling a shaker is to consider the shaker as a simple mechanical structure augmented by an electrical circuit that makes the shaker move. The shaker is modeled as a two or three degrees of freedom lumped parameters model while the electrical circuit takes the coil impedance and the dynamic back-electromagnetic force into account. The establishment of the equations of this model, describing the dynamics of the shaker, is presented in this article and is strongly related to the internal physical quantities of the shaker. Those quantities will be reduced into global parameters which will be estimated through experiments. Different experiments will be carried out in order to design an easy and practical method for the identification of the shaker parameters leading to a fully functional shaker model. An experimental modal analysis will also be carried out to extract the modal parameters of the shaker and to combine them with the electrical measurements. Finally, this article will conclude with an experimental validation of the model.

Keywords: lumped parameters model, shaker modeling, shaker parameters, state-space, virtual vibration

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Authors: Maria Luz Macasinag

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This study aims to determine and to examine critically successful family-owned higher educational institutions towards identifying the attributes and practices that may likely have led to their success. This research is confined to private, non-sectarian, family-owned higher institutions of learning that have been operating for more than fifty years, had only one founder and had at least two transitions in terms of generation. The criteria for selecting family-owned universities to be part of the cases under investigation include institutions (1) with increasing enrollment over the past five years, with level III accreditation status, (3) with good performance in the Board examinations in most of its programs and (4) with high employability of graduates. The study uses the multiple case study method. A model based on the cross-case analysis of the attributes and practices of all the case studies of successful family- owned higher institutions of learning is the output. The paper provides insights to current and future school owners and administrators in the management of their institutions for competitiveness, sustainability and advancement. This research encourages the evaluation of how the ideas that may lead to the success of schools owned by families in developing a sense of community, a reciprocal relationship among colleagues, the students and other stakeholders will result to the attainment of the vision and mission of the school. The study is beneficial to entrepreneurs and to business students whose know-how may provide insights that would be helpful in guiding prospective school owners. The commission on higher education and the Department of Education stand to benefit from this academic paper for the guidance that they provide to family-owned educational institutions. Banks and other financial institutions may find valuable ideas from this academic paper for the purpose of providing financial assistance to colleges and universities that are family-owned. Researchers in the field of educational management and administration may be able to extract from this study related topics for future research.

Keywords: administration practices, attributes, family-owned schools, success factors

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Authors: Linna Li

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The capability to move around places is doubtless very important for individuals to maintain good health and social functions. People’s activities in space and time have long been a research topic in behavioral and socio-economic studies, particularly focusing on the highly dynamic urban environment. By analyzing groups of people who share similar activity patterns, many socio-economic and socio-demographic problems and their relationships with individual behavior preferences can be revealed. Los Angeles, known for its large population, ethnic diversity, cultural mixing, and entertainment industry, faces great transportation challenges such as traffic congestion, parking difficulties, and long commuting. Understanding people’s travel behavior and movement patterns in this metropolis sheds light on potential solutions to complex problems regarding urban mobility. This project visualizes people’s trajectories in Greater Los Angeles (L.A.) Area over a period of two months using Twitter data. A Python script was used to collect georeferenced tweets within the Greater L.A. Area including Ventura, San Bernardino, Riverside, Los Angeles, and Orange counties. Information associated with tweets includes text, time, location, and user ID. Information associated with users includes name, the number of followers, etc. Both aggregated and individual activity patterns are demonstrated using various geovisualization techniques. Locations of individual Twitter users were aggregated to create a surface of activity hot spots at different time instants using kernel density estimation, which shows the dynamic flow of people’s movement throughout the metropolis in a twenty-four-hour cycle. In the 3D geovisualization interface, the z-axis indicates time that covers 24 hours, and the x-y plane shows the geographic space of the city. Any two points on the z axis can be selected for displaying activity density surface within a particular time period. In addition, daily trajectories of Twitter users were created using space-time paths that show the continuous movement of individuals throughout the day. When a personal trajectory is overlaid on top of ancillary layers including land use and road networks in 3D visualization, the vivid representation of a realistic view of the urban environment boosts situational awareness of the map reader. A comparison of the same individual’s paths on different days shows some regular patterns on weekdays for some Twitter users, but for some other users, their daily trajectories are more irregular and sporadic. This research makes contributions in two major areas: geovisualization of spatial footprints to understand travel behavior using the big data approach and dynamic representation of activity space in the Greater Los Angeles Area. Unlike traditional travel surveys, social media (e.g., Twitter) provides an inexpensive way of data collection on spatio-temporal footprints. The visualization techniques used in this project are also valuable for analyzing other spatio-temporal data in the exploratory stage, thus leading to informed decisions about generating and testing hypotheses for further investigation. The next step of this research is to separate users into different groups based on gender/ethnic origin and compare their daily trajectory patterns.

Keywords: geovisualization, human mobility pattern, Los Angeles, social media

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Authors: Garima Sarkar

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The main purpose of the present paper is to investigate the development and progress achieved by women in the decision-making sphere and to access the level of their political-participation in Parliamentary Elections of Malaysia and their status in overall Malaysian political domain. The paper also focuses on the role and status of women in the major political parties of the state both the parties in power as well as the parties in opposition. The primary objective of the study is to focus on the major hindrances and social malpractices faced by women and also Muslim women’s access to justice in Malaysia. It also demonstrates the linkages between national policy initiatives and the advancement of women in various areas, such as economics, health, employment, politics, power-sharing, social development and law and most importantly evaluating their status in the dominant religion of the nation. In Malaysia, women’s political participation is being challenged from every nook and corner of the society. A high percentage of women are getting educated, forming a significant labor force in present day Malaysia, who can be employed in the manufacturing sector, retail trade, hotels and restaurant, agriculture etc. Women today consist of almost half of the population and exceed boys in the tertiary sector by a ratio of 80:20. Despite these achievements, however, women’s labor force engagement remains confined to ‘ traditional women’s occupations’, such as those of primary school teachers, data entry clerks and organizing polls during elections and motivating other less enlightened women to cast their votes. In the political arena, the past few General Elections of Malaysia clearly exhibited a slight change in the number of women Members of Parliament from 10.6% (20 out of 193 Parliamentary seats in 1999) to 10.5% (23 out of 219 Parliamentary seats in 2004). Amidst the political posturing for the recent General Election in 2013 of Malaysia, women’s political participation remains a prime concern in Malaysia. It is evident that while much of the attention of women revolves around charitable assistance, they are much less likely to be portrayed as active participants in electoral politics and governance. According to the electoral roll for the third quarter of 2012, 6,578,916 women are registered as voters. They represent 50.2% of the total number of the registered voters. However, this parity in terms of voter registration is not reflected in the number of elected representatives at the Parliamentary level. Only 10.4% of sitting Members of Parliament are women. The women’s participation in the legislature and executive branches are important since their presence brings the spotlight squarely on issues that have been historically neglected and overlooked. In the recent 2013 General Elections in Malaysia out of 35 full ministerial position only two, or 5.7% have been filled by women. In each of the 2009, 2010, and in the present 2013 Cabinet members, there have only been two women ministers, with this number reduced to one briefly when the Prime Minister appointed himself placeholder in the Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development. In the recent past, in its Election Manifesto, Barisan Nasional made a pledge of ‘increasing the number of women participating in national decision-making processes’. Even after such pledges, the Malaysian leadership has failed to mirror the strong presence of women in leadership positions of public life which primarily includes politics, the judiciary and in business. There has been a strong urge to political parties by various gender-sensitive groups to nominate more women as candidates for contesting elections at the Parliamentary as well as at the State level. The democratization process will never be truly democratic without a proper gender agenda and representation. Although Malaysia signed the Beijing Platform for Action document in 1995, the state has a long way to go in enhancing the participation of women in every segment of Malaysian political, economic and cultural. There has been a small percentage of women representation in decision-making bodies compared to the 30% targeted by the Beijing Platform for Action. Thus, democratization in terms of representation of women in leadership positions and decision-making positions or bodies is essential since it’s a move towards a qualitative transformation of women in shaping national decision-making processes. The democratization process has to ensure women’s full participation and their goals of development and their full participation has to be included in the process of formulating and shaping the developmental goals.

Keywords: women, gender equality, Islam, democratization, political representation, Parliament

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Authors: Dimitris Varsamis, Nicholas Karampetakis

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It is well known that any interpolating polynomial P(x,y) on the vector space Pn,m of two-variable polynomials with degree less than n in terms of x and less than m in terms of y has various representations that depends on the basis of Pn,m that we select i.e. monomial, Newton and Lagrange basis etc. The aim of this paper is twofold: a) to present transformations between the coordinates of the polynomial P(x,y) in the aforementioned basis and b) to present transformations between these bases.

Keywords: bivariate interpolation polynomial, polynomial basis, transformations, interpolating polynomial

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Authors: Rakibul Islam Sagor, Sadia Ibnat Raisa

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Many nations across the globe, including Dhaka, are facing challenges in meeting the needs for a satisfactory quality of life due to the combination of a growing population and limited land resources. As a result, maximum spaces in modern cities are engulfed by concrete infrastructure, and there are hardly any open spaces in the urban neighborhoods. Although vertical movement has predominantly been employed for residential and commercial applications, the notion of vertical recreational and sports facilities remains unsettled. The primary objective of this study is to explore the feasibility of implementing vertical adaptations in urban recreational spaces, drawing upon the principles of high-rise theory. This article presents an analysis of the open spaces in Gulshan, Dhaka, focusing on the evaluation of the demand for open recreational and sports facilities that adequately cater to the existing population of the region. Initially, the study tried to identify and examine all potential open spaces within the designated area. Following that, an acceptable place is selected utilizing space syntax analysis, which takes into account the most conveniently accessible space for social interactions in the neighborhood. In addition, socioeconomic conditions of the area have been studied in order to determine the feasibility of the area. Finally, the study presented viable options for vertical urban sports facilities in the context of Dhaka, Bangladesh. Additionally, it seeks to develop strategies for maximizing the use of vertical expansions, thereby promoting a healthier and more active lifestyle among the city's residents. This approach aims to effectively handle the issue of limited land availability and enhance the efficiency of recreational areas around the globe.

Keywords: vertical sports, urban open spaces, social interaction, recreational activities

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Authors: Elisabeth Pedersen

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Representations and interpretations of womanhood and female sexualities bring forth various questions regarding gender norms, and the implications of these norms, which are permeating and repetitive within various societies. Literature is one form of media which provides the space to represent and interpret women, their bodies, and sexualities, and also reveals the power of language as an affective and affected force. As literature allows an opportunity to explore history and the representations of gender, power dynamics, and sexuality through historical contexts, this paper uses engaged theory through a comparative analysis of two work of literature, The Duchess of Malfi by John Wester, and The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner. These novels span across space and time, which lends to the theory that repetitive tropes of womanhood and female sexuality in literature are influenced by and have an influence on the hegemonic social order throughout history. It analyzes how the representation of the dichotomy of male chivalry and honor, and female purity are disputed and questioned when a woman is portrayed as sexually emancipated, and explores the historical context in which these works were written to examine how socioeconomic events challenged the hegemonic social order. The analysis looks at how stereotypical ideals of womanhood and manhood have damaging implications on women, as the structure of society provides more privilege and power to men than to women, thus creating a double standard for men and women in regards to sexuality, sexual expression, and rights to sexual desire. This comparative analysis reveals how strict gender norms are permeating and have negative consequences. However, re-reading stories through a critical lens can provide an opportunity to challenge the repetitive tropes of female sexuality, and thus lead to the embrace of the complexity of female sexuality and expression.

Keywords: femininity, literature, representation, sexuality

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Authors: Chiara Barone

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In Naples, the visible architecture is only what emerges from the underground. Caves and tunnels cross it in every direction, intertwining with each other. They are not natural caves but spaces built by removing what is superfluous in order to dig a form out of the material. Architects, as sculptors of space, do not determine the exterior, what surrounds the volume and in which the forms live, but an interior underground space, perceptive and sensitive, able to generate new emotions each time. It is an intracorporeal architecture linked to the body, not in its external relationships, but rather with what happens inside. The proposed aims to reflect on the design of underground spaces in the Neapolitan city. The idea is to intend the underground as a spectacular museum of the city, an opportunity to learn in situ the history of the place along an unpredictable itinerary that crosses the caves and, in certain points, emerges, escaping from the world of shadows. Starting form the analysis and the study of the many overlapping elements, the archaeological one, the geological layer and the contemporary city above, it is possible to develop realistic alternatives for underground itineraries. The objective is to define minor paths to ensure the continuity between the touristic flows and entire underground segments already investigated but now disconnected: open-air paths, which abyss in the earth, retracing historical and preserved fragments. The visitor, in this way, passes from real spaces to sensitive spaces, in which the imaginary replaces the real experience, running towards exciting and secret knowledge. To safeguard the complex framework of the historical-artistic values, it is essential to use a multidisciplinary methodology based on a global approach. Moreover, it is essential to refer to similar design projects for the archaeological underground, capable of guide action strategies, looking at similar conditions in other cities, where the project has led to an enhancement of the heritage in the city. The research limits the field of investigation, by choosing the historic center of Naples, applying bibliographic and theoretical research to a real place. First of all, it’s necessary to deepen the places’ knowledge understanding the potentialities of the project as a link between what is below and what is above. Starting from a scientific approach, in which theory and practice are constantly intertwined through the architectural project, the major contribution is to provide possible alternative configurations for the underground space and its relationship with the city above, understanding how the condition of transition, as passage between the below and the above becomes structuring in the design process. Starting from the consideration of the underground as both a real physical place and a sensitive place, which engages the memory, imagination, and sensitivity of a man, the research aims at identifying possible configurations and actions useful for future urban programs to make the underground a central part of the lived city, again.

Keywords: underground paths, invisible ruins, imaginary, sculpted forms, sensitive spaces, Naples

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Authors: Kourosh Ghaffari, Baghaei Azhang

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This study aims to address two main questions whether a camp designed for refugees will affect their quality of life and how to effectively incorporate ecotech architecture into the architectural design of a refugee camp. The current study planned to ensure that the final design reflects the principles of ecotech architecture in most refugee camps. The design process has taken into account various factors, including flexibility, diversity in the camp space according to the ecotech approach, expandability in the building, spatial hierarchy in the design of camp spaces, and the assignment of territories and space sanctuaries to refugees. It should be noted that this study is not a research-oriented type of study and is only limited to collecting information and making hypotheses and questions related to the plan. The researchers attempted to provide a general summary of similar domestic and foreign examples and examine them in similar conditions using the ecotech architecture. The research method utilized in this study was qualitative. Afterwards, the climate studies of the target area, citing and paying attention to the criteria and points extracted from the theoretical framework, reaching the desired conclusion and examining similar examples were followed. Additionally, placement on the site, compliance with relevant standards and regulations, attention to the content and physical program, and addressing the idea and its evolution in all the details of the plan were presented. The data collection procedure included observation and library studies, and the design method was to determine and recognize the subject and examine similar samples. In conclusion, the principles of theoretical foundations, the design protocols in ecotech architecture and the scope of the study are dealt. Furthermore, the site analysis, the design process and the final plan are presented.

Keywords: ecotech architecture, livable city, shelter, refugee camp

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Authors: Ana Cristina García-Luna Romero

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This document seeks to reflect on the urban project from its conceptual identity root. In the first instance, a proposal is made on how the city project is sustained from the conceptual root, from the logos: it opens a way to assimilate the imagination; what we imagine becomes a reality. In this way, firstly, the need to use language as a vehicle for transmitting the stories that sustain us as humanity can be deemed as an important social factor that enables us to social behavior. Secondly, the need to attend to the written language as a mechanism of power, as a means to consolidate a dominant ideology or a political position, is raised; as it served to carry out the modernization project, it is therefore addressed differences between the real and the literate city. Thus, the consolidated urban-architectural project is based on logos, the project, and planning. Considering the importance of materiality and its relation to subjective well-being contextualized from a socio-urban approach, we question ourselves into how we can look at something that is doubtful. From a philosophy perspective, the truth is considered to be nothing more than a matter of correspondence between the observer and the observed. To understand beyond the relative of the gaze, it is necessary to expose different perspectives since it depends on the understanding of what is observed and how it is critically analyzed. Therefore, the analysis of materiality, as a political field, takes a proposal based on this research in the principles in transgenesis: principle of communication, representativeness, security, health, malleability, availability of potentiality or development, conservation, sustainability, economy, harmony, stability, accessibility, justice, legibility, significance, consistency, joint responsibility, connectivity, beauty, among others. The (urban) human being acts because he wants to live in a certain way: in a community, in a fair way, with opportunity for development, with the possibility of managing the environment according to their needs, etc. In order to comply with this principle, it is necessary to design strategies from the principles in transgenesis, which must be named, defined, understood, and socialized by the urban being, the companies, and from themselves. In this way, the technical status of the city in the neoliberal present determines extraordinary conditions for reflecting on an almost emergency scenario created by the impact of cities that, far from being limited to resilient proposals, must aim at the reflection of the urban process that the present social model has generated. Therefore, can we rethink the paradigm of the perception of life quality in the current neoliberal model in the production of the character of public space related to the practices of being urban. What we are trying to do within this document is to build a framework to study under what logic the practices of the social system that make sense of the public space are developed, what the implications of the phenomena of the inscription of action and materialization (and its results over political action between the social and the technical system) are and finally, how we can improve the quality of life of individuals from the urban space.

Keywords: cities, nature, society, urban quality of life

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Authors: N. A. Kharisa, I. Wulandari, R. Narendratama, M. I. Faisal, K. Kirana, R. Zipora, I. Arfiansah, I. Suyanto

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Acquisition of geophysical survey with magnetic method has been done in manifestation of geothermalat Candi Umbul, Grabag, Magelang, Central Java Province on 10-12 May 2013. This objective research is interpretation to interpret structural geology that control geothermal system in CandiUmbul area. The research has been finished with area size 1,5 km x 2 km and measurement space of 150 m. And each point of line space survey is 150 m using PPM Geometrics model G-856. Data processing was started with IGRF and diurnal variation correction to get total magnetic field anomaly. Then, advance processing was done until reduction to pole, upward continuation, and residual anomaly. That results become next interpretation in qualitative step. It is known that the biggest object position causes low anomaly located in central of area survey that comes from hot spring manifestation and demagnetization zone that indicates the existence of heat source activity. Then, modeling the anomaly map was used for quantitative interpretation step. The result of modeling is rock layers and geological structure model that can inform about the geothermal system. And further information from quantitative interpretations can be interpreted about lithology susceptibility. And lithology susceptibilities are andesiteas heat source has susceptibility value of (k= 0.00014 emu), basaltic as alteration rock (k= 0.0016 emu), volcanic breccia as reservoir rock (k= 0.0026 emu), andesite porfirtic as cap rock (k= 0.004 emu), lava andesite (k= 0.003 emu), and alluvium (k= 0.0007 emu). The hot spring manifestation is controlled by the normal fault which becomes a weak zone, easily passed by hot water which comes from the geothermal reservoir.

Keywords: geological structure, geothermal system, magnetic, susceptibility

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Authors: Hana Porkertová, Pavel Doboš

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Based on a research project studying the experience of visually disabled people with urban space in the Czech Republic, the conference contribution discusses the limits of social-science methodologies used in sociology and human geography. It draws on actor-network theory, assuming that science does not describe reality but produces it. Methodology connects theory, research questions, ways to answer them (methods), and results. A research design utilizing ableist methodologies can produce ableist realities. Therefore, it was necessary to adjust the methods so that they could mediate blind experience to the scientific community without reproducing ableism. The researchers faced multiple challenges, ranging from questionable validity to how to research experience that differs from that of the researchers who are able-bodied. Finding a suitable theory that could be used as an analytical tool that would demonstrate space and blind experience as multiple, dynamic, and mutually constructed was the first step that could offer a range of potentially productive methods and research questions, as well as bring critically reflected results. Poststructural theory, mainly Deleuze-Guattarian philosophy, was chosen, and two methods were used: interviews and go-along interviews that had to be adjusted to be able to explore blind experience. In spite of a thorough preparation of these methods, new difficulties kept emerging, which exposed the ableist character of scientific knowledge. From the beginning of data collecting, there was an agreement to work in teams with slightly different roles of each of the researchers, which was significant especially during go-along interviews. In some cases, the anticipations of the researchers and participants differed, which led to unexpected and potentially dangerous situations. These were not caused only by the differences between scientific and lay communities but also between able-bodied and disabled people. Researchers were sometimes assigned to the assistants’ roles, and this new position – doing research together – required further negotiations, which also opened various ethical questions.

Keywords: ableist methodology, blind experience, go-along interviews, research ethics, scientific knowledge

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Authors: O. Delage, H. Bencherif, T. Portafaix, A. Bourdier

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The main purpose of time series analysis is to learn about the dynamics behind some time ordered measurement data. Two approaches are used in the literature to get a better knowledge of the dynamics contained in observation data sequences. The first of these approaches concerns time series decomposition, which is an important analysis step allowing patterns and behaviors to be extracted as components providing insight into the mechanisms producing the time series. As in many cases, time series are short, noisy, and non-stationary. To provide components which are physically meaningful, methods such as Empirical Mode Decomposition (EMD), Empirical Wavelet Transform (EWT) or, more recently, Empirical Adaptive Wavelet Decomposition (EAWD) have been proposed. The second approach is to reconstruct the dynamics underlying the time series as a trajectory in state space by mapping a time series into a set of Rᵐ lag vectors by using the method of delays (MOD). Takens has proved that the trajectory obtained with the MOD technic is equivalent to the trajectory representing the dynamics behind the original time series. This work introduces the singular spectrum decomposition (SSD), which is a new adaptive method for decomposing non-linear and non-stationary time series in narrow-banded components. This method takes its origin from singular spectrum analysis (SSA), a nonparametric spectral estimation method used for the analysis and prediction of time series. As the first step of SSD is to constitute a trajectory matrix by embedding a one-dimensional time series into a set of lagged vectors, SSD can also be seen as a reconstruction method like MOD. We will first give a brief overview of the existing decomposition methods (EMD-EWT-EAWD). The SSD method will then be described in detail and applied to experimental time series of observations resulting from total columns of ozone measurements. The results obtained will be compared with those provided by the previously mentioned decomposition methods. We will also compare the reconstruction qualities of the observed dynamics obtained from the SSD and MOD methods.

Keywords: time series analysis, adaptive time series decomposition, wavelet, phase space reconstruction, singular spectrum analysis

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