Search results for: UActivE urban active environments

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: Salwa Mohammad Alawneh

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The ongoing humanitarian crises spur rapid and unpredicted refugee influxes resulting in demographic changes in cities. Regarding different urban systems are vulnerable in refugee neighborhoods. With the consequent social, economic, and spatial challenges, cities must respond with a more durable and sustainable approach based on urban resilience. The paper systematically approaches urban resilience to contribute to refugee spaces by reflecting on the overall urban systems of their neighborhoods. The research will review the urban resilience literature to develop an evaluation framework. The developed framework applies urban resilience more holistically in refugee neighborhoods and expands to the urban systems of social, economic, and spatial. However, the main highlight of this paper is the resilient spatial structure in refugee neighborhoods to face the internal and complex stress of refugee waves and their demographic changes. Finding a set of resilient spatial measurements and focusing on urban forms at a neighborhood scale provide vulnerability reduction and enhance adaptation capacity. As a model example, the paper applies these measurements and facilitates geospatial technologies to one of the refugee neighborhoods in Amman, Jordan, namely Al-Jubilee. The application in Al-Jubilee helps to demonstrate a road map towards a developmental pattern in design and planning by different decision-makers of inter-governmental and humanitarian organizations. In this regard, urban resilience improves the humanitarian assistantship of refugee settings beyond providing the essential needs. In conclusion, urban resilience responds to the different challenges of refugee neighborhoods by supporting urban stability, improving livability, and maintaining both urban functions and security.

Keywords: urban resilience of refugee, resilient urban form, refugee neighborhoods, humanitarian assistantship, refugee in Jordan

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Authors: Zhiyong Zheng, Xu Li, Liang Huang, Zhengliang Sun, Jianhua Xu

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Yaw angle plays a significant role in many vehicle safety applications, such as collision avoidance and lane-keeping system. Although the estimation of the yaw angle has been extensively studied in existing literature, it is still the main challenge to simultaneously achieve a reliable and cost-effective solution in complex urban environments. This paper proposes a multi-stage learning framework to estimate the yaw angle with a monocular camera, which can deal with the challenge in a more reliable manner. In the first stage, an efficient road detection network is designed to extract the road region, providing a highly reliable reference for the estimation. In the second stage, a variational auto-encoder (VAE) is proposed to learn the distribution patterns of road regions, which is particularly suitable for modeling the changing patterns of yaw angle under different driving maneuvers, and it can inherently enhance the generalization ability. In the last stage, a gated recurrent unit (GRU) network is used to capture the temporal correlations of the learned patterns, which is capable to further improve the estimation accuracy due to the fact that the changes of deflection angle are relatively easier to recognize among continuous frames. Afterward, the yaw angle can be obtained by combining the estimated deflection angle and the road direction stored in a roadway map. Through effective multi-stage learning, the proposed framework presents high reliability while it maintains better accuracy. Road-test experiments with different driving maneuvers were performed in complex urban environments, and the results validate the effectiveness of the proposed framework.

Keywords: gated recurrent unit, multi-stage learning, reliable estimation, variational auto-encoder, yaw angle

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Authors: Eugenio Ferrer Santiago

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The growing complexities of the modern world on high-end gadgets, software applications, scams, identity theft, and Artificial Intelligence (AI) make the “uninformed” the weak and vulnerable to be victims of cybercrimes. Artificial Intelligence is not a new thing in our daily lives; the principles of database management, logical programming, and garbage in and garbage out are all connected to AI. The Philippines had in place legal safeguards against the abuse of cyberspace, but self-regulation of key industry players and self-protection by individuals are primordial to attain the success of these initiatives. Data protection, Data Privacy, and Research Ethics must work hand in hand during the policy process in the course of urban planning practice in different environments. This paper focuses on the interconnection of data protection, data privacy, and research ethics in coming up with clear-cut policies against perpetrators in the urban planning professional practice relevant in sustainable communities and smart cities. This paper shall use expository methodology under qualitative research using secondary data from related literature, interviews/blogs, and the World Wide Web resources. The claims and recommendations of this paper will help policymakers and implementers in the policy cycle. This paper shall contribute to the body of knowledge as a simple treatise and communication channel to the reading community and future researchers to validate the claims and start an intellectual discourse for better knowledge generation for the good of all in the near future.

Keywords: data privacy, data protection, urban planning, research ethics

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Authors: Deepa Shokeen, Bani Tamber Aeri

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Food choice is a complex process influenced by the interplay of multiple factors, including physical, socio-cultural and economic factors comprising macro or micro level food environments. While a clear understanding of the relationship between what we eat and the environmental context in which these food choices are made is still needed; it has however now been shown that food environments do play a significant role in the obesity epidemic and increasing cardio-metabolic risk factors. Evidence in other countries indicates that the food environment may strongly influence the prevalence of obesity and cardio-metabolic risk factors among young adults. Although in the Indian context, data does indicate the associations between sedentary lifestyle, stress, faulty diets but very little evidence supports the role of food environment in influencing cardio-metabolic health among employed adults. Thus, this research is required to establish how different environments affect different individuals as individuals interact with the environment on a number of levels. Methodology: The objective of the present study is to assess the effect of selected food and nutrition environments with emphasis on worksite environment and to analyse its impact on the food choices and dietary behaviour of the employees (25-45 years of age) of the organizations under study. In the proposed study an attempt will be made to randomly select various worksite environments from Delhi and NCR. The study will be conducted in two phases. In phase I, Information will be obtained on their socio-demographic profile and various factors influencing their food choices including most commonly consumed foods and most frequently visited eating outlets in and around the work place. Data will also be gathered on anthropometry (height, weight, waist circumference), biochemical parameters (lipid profile and fasting glucose), blood pressure and dietary intake. Based on the findings of phase I, a list of the most frequently visited eating outlets in and around the workplace will be prepared in Phase II. These outlets will then be subjected to nutrition environment assessment survey (NEMS). On the basis of the information gathered from phase I and phase II, influence of selected food and nutrition environments on food choice, dietary behaviour and prevalence of cardio-metabolic risk factors among employed adults will be assessed. Expected outcomes: The proposed study will try to ascertain the impact of selected food and nutrition environments on food choice and dietary intake of the working adults as it is important to learn how these food environments influence the eating perceptions and health behavior of the adults. In addition to this, anthropometry blood pressure and biochemical assessment of the subjects will be done to assess the prevalence of cardio-metabolic risk factors. If the findings indicate that the work environment, where most of these young adults spend their productive hours of the day, influence their health, than perhaps steps maybe needed to make these environments more conducive to health.

Keywords: food and nutrition environment, cardio-metabolic risk factors, India, worksite environment

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Authors: Basman Elhadidi, Islam Elqatary, Osama Saaid, Hesham Othman

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An active slat is developed to increase the lift and delay the separation for a DU96-W180 airfoil. The active slat is a fixed slat that can be closed, fully opened or intermittently opened by a rotating vane depending on the need. Experimental results show that the active slat has reduced the mean pressure and increased the mean velocity on the suction side of the airfoil for all positive angles of attack, indicating an increase of lift. The experimental data and numerical simulations also show that the direction of actuator vane rotation can influence the mixing of the flow streams on the suction side and hence influence the aerodynamic performance.

Keywords: active slat, flow control, experimental investigation, aerodynamic performance

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Authors: J.Zambrano Nájera, M.Gómez Valentín

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Increases in urbanization during XX century, have brought as one major problem the increased of sediment production. Hydraulic erosion is one of the major causes of increasing of sediments in small urban catchments. Such increments in sediment yielding in header urban catchments can caused obstruction of drainage systems, making impossible to capture urban runoff, increasing runoff volumes and thus exacerbating problems of urban flooding. For these reasons, it is more and more important to study of sediment production in urban watershed for properly analyze and solve problems associated to sediments. The study of sediments production has improved with the use of mathematical modeling. For that reason, it is proposed a new physically based model applicable to small header urban watersheds that includes the advantages of distributed physically base models, but with more realistic data requirements. Additionally, in this paper the model proposed is compared with a lumped model, reviewing the results, the advantages and disadvantages between the both of them.

Keywords: erosion, hydrologic modeling, urban runoff, sediment modeling, sediment yielding, urban planning

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Authors: Rana Sameeh

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The city is the greatest symbol of human civilization and has been built for safety and comfort. However, uncontrolled urban growth caused some anonymous and unsightly images of the cities such as unused or abandoned spaces. When social interaction is missed in a public space it means the public space is lost since public spaces reflect the social life and interaction of people. Accordingly; this space became one of the most meaningless parts of the cities and has broken the continuity of the urban fabric. Lost urban spaces are the leftover unstructured landscape within the urban fabric. They are generally the unrecognized urban areas that are in need of redesign, since they have a great value that can add to their surrounding urban context. The research significance lies within the importance of urban open spaces, their value and their impact on the urban fabric. The research also addresses the reuse and reclamation of lost urban spaces in order to increase the percentage of green areas along the urban fabric, provide urban open spaces, develop a sustainable approach towards urban landscape and enhance the quality of the public open space and user experience. In addition, the reuse of lost space will give it the identity and function it lacks while also providing places for presence, spending time and observing. Creating continuity in a broken urban fabric represents an exploratory process in the relationship between infrastructure and the urban fabric and seeks to establish an architectural solution to leftover space within the city. In doing so, the research establishes a framework (criteria) for adaptive reuse of lost urban space throughout inductive and deductive methodology, analytical methodology; by analyzing some relevant examples and similar cases of lost spaces and finally through field methodology; by applying the achieved criteria on a case study in Alexandria and carrying on SWOT analysis and evaluation of the potentials of this case study.

Keywords: adaptive reuse, lost urban space, quality of public open space, urban fabric

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Authors: Arun Kumar

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For the present study a total of 219 women, from urban and rural areas of Sagar district of central India were selected. The mean age at menarche of rural women was found 13.89±1.17 years and for urban women, it was 13.78±1.12 years. The difference between the mean age at menarche of urban and rural women was statistically insignificant (t=0.580, p≤0.05). Mean age at menopause among rural women was (47.4±4.92). The difference between the mean of urban and rural women was statistically insignificant (t=0.739 and p≤0.05). These findings indicate that rural women experience menopause at a later age as compared to their urban counterparts.

Keywords: menarche, menopause, urban, rural, Bidi workers

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Authors: I. P. Singh, Ajesh Kumar Kapoor

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Rapid globalization have led to a change towards massive uncontrolled urbanization. Whereas during initial years negligence was there in the name of development, growth and vision toward healthier and better tomorrow. Considering the scenario of developing nations (India) where 70% of their population is living on 30% (urban areas) of their total land available. The need of an hour is to consider the ethical values of each and every person living in urban fringes, whereby the sustainable urban development is promoted which encompasses the move toward low carbon developments. It would help reviving a city lung space and reducing carbon credits as per Kyoto Protocol 1991. This paper would provide an overview about Indian scenario of current urban areas, ongoing developments, series of regulatory policy measures, materials innovative use and policies framed and opted for low carbon development.

Keywords: urban sustainability, indicators for sustainable development, low carbon development, Indian Policies toward low carbon development

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Authors: Elvis Enowbeyang Tarkang

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Background: Since students in high schools in Cameroon fall within the age group hardest hit by HIV/AIDS, it is assumed that these students might be exposed to sexual risk behaviours. Sexual risk behaviours include engaging in unprotected sexual intercourse, early sexual debut, multiple sexual partners and coerced or forced sex, and these behaviours might predispose youth to HIV transmission. However, little has been explored on the sexual risk behaviours of high school learners in Cameroon. This study aimed at examining the sexual risk behaviours of high school students in an urban town of Cameroon. Method: A quantitative cross sectional design was adopted, using a self-administered questionnaire to collect data from a disproportional stratified simple random sample of 480 (240 male and 240 female) grade 10 to grade 12 students from two participating secondary school in Limbe in the Southwest region of Cameroon August 2014. Descriptive and Chi square statistics were calculated using statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 20 software program at the level 0.05. Results: Majority of the respondents, 63.4% reported being sexually active, of whom only 33.2% used condoms consistently. Up to 37% of the sexually active respondents had multiple sexual partners in the past one year before the study, while 23% had multiple sexual partners during the study period. The mean age of first sex was 15.4 years. Among Christians, Pentecostals, 17 (58.6%) were more likely to have experienced sexual coercion than non-Pentecostals, 111 (42.2%) (p= 0.000). Christians, 41 (10.3%) were more likely to have been forced into first sex than Muslims, 0 (0.0%); while among the Christians, Pentecostals, 6 (15.0%) were more likely to have been forced into first sex than non-Pentecostals, 35 (10.9%) (p=0.004). Among the Christians, Pentecostals, 16 (66.7%) were more likely to have experienced sex by age 16 years than non-Pentecostals, 125 (64.1%) (p= 0.000). Students who lived in rented places, 32 (22.7%) were more likely to have had multiple sexual partners than those who lived in their parents’ houses, 35 (18.1%) (p= 0.000). Males, 36 (16.0%) were likely to have had multiple concurrent sexual partners than females, 14 (6.0%) (p=0.002). Students who used condoms consistently, 25 (33.3%) were more likely to have a higher perception of risk of contracting HIV than those who did not use condoms consistently, 38 (29.9%) (p=0.002). Students who lived in their parents’ houses, 35 (35.4%) were more likely to use condoms consistently during sex, than those who lived in rented places, 31 (29.8%) (p=0.021). Students who passed their examinations, 57 (30.9%) were more likely to have used condoms consistently than those with low academic profiles, 24 (27.9%) (p= 0.034). Conclusions and Recommendations: Gender, lack of parental control, religion, academic profile, poverty, place of residence and perception of risk of HIV infection were the main factors associated with sexual risk behaviours among students in urban Cameroon. The findings indicate that sexual risk behaviours exist among high school students in Limbe urban town of Cameroon. There is need for campaigns and interventions to bring about sexual behaviour change.

Keywords: Cameroon, high school students, HIV/AIDS, Limbe urban town, sexual risk behaviours

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Authors: Meenakshi Pappu

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The term, 'urban ecology' has often been misconstrued by the educational practitioners as well as the researchers as a study under a single discipline i.e., the environmental sciences. One who has done research extensively in this study would always argue that urban ecology is not a study under a single discipline, but it is a study across disciplines such as social sciences and other sciences like architecture, engineering, planning, ecology, geography, biology, economics, sociology, anthropology, psychology and health sciences. The aim of this paper is to discuss at length the scope of Urban Ecology as an interdisciplinary study. The paper highlights the nuances of urban ecology as a study across disciplines and the challenges and the implications it holds for future research by conducting a qualitative survey in the particular areas.

Keywords: educational practitioners, interdisciplinary, researchers, urban ecology

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Authors: Basman Elhadidi, Islam Elqatary, Osama Mohamady, Hesham Othman

Abstract:

An active slat is developed to increase the lift and delay the separation for a DU96-W180 airfoil. The active slat is a fixed slat that can be closed, fully opened or intermittently opened by a rotating vane depending on the need. Experimental results show that the active slat has reduced the mean pressure and increased the mean velocity on the suction side of the airfoil for all positive angles of attack, indicating an increase of lift. The experimental data and numerical simulations also show that the direction of actuator vane rotation can influence the mixing of the flow streams on the suction side and hence influence the aerodynamic performance.

Keywords: active slat, flow control, DU96-W180 airfoil, flow streams

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Authors: Ahmad Sharif Ahmadi, Yoshitaka Kajita

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With massive population expansion and fast economic development in last decade, urban land has increasingly expanded and formed high informal development territory in Kabul city. This paper investigates integrated urbanization trends in Kabul city since the formation of the basic structure of the present city using GIS and remote sensing. This study explores the spatial and temporal difference of urban land expansion and land use categories among different time intervals, 1964-1978 and 1978-2008 from 1964 to 2008 in Kabul city. Furthermore, the goal of this paper is to understand the extent of urban land expansion and the factors driving urban land expansion in Kabul city. Many factors like population expansion, the return of refugees from neighboring countries and significant economic growth of the city affected urban land expansion. Across all the study area urban land expansion rate, population expansion rate and economic growth rate have been compared to analyze the relationship of driving forces with urban land expansion. Based on urban land change data detected by interpreting land use maps, it was found that in the entire study area the urban territory has been expanded by 14 times between 1964 and 2008.

Keywords: GIS, Kabul city, land use, urban land expansion, urbanization

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Authors: Mohammad Reza Mohammadian, Dariush Sattarzadeh, Mir Mohammad Javad Poor Hadi Hosseini

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Population growth, urban development and urban buildup have disturbed the balance between the nature and the city, and so leading to the loss of quality of sustainability of proximity to rivers. While in the past, the sides of urban rivers were considered as urban green space. Urban rivers and their sides that have environmental, social and economic values are important to achieve sustainable development. So far, efforts have been made at various scales in various cities around the world to revitalize these areas. On the other hand, biophilic design is an innovative design approach in which attention to natural details and relation to nature is a fundamental concept. The purpose of this study is to provide an integrated framework of urban design using the potential of urban rivers (in order to increase sustainability) with a biophilic design approach to be used in cities in developing countries. The methodology of the research is based on the collection of data and information from research and projects including a study on biophilic design, investigations and projects related to the urban rivers, and a review of the literature on sustainable urban development. Then studying the boundary of urban rivers is completed by examining case samples. Eventually, integrated framework of urban design, to design the boundaries of urban rivers in the cities of developing countries is presented regarding the factors affecting the design of these areas. The result shows that according to this framework, the potential of the river banks is utilized to increase not only the environmental sustainability but also social, economic and physical stability with regard to water, light, and the usage of indigenous materials, etc.

Keywords: urban rivers, biophilic design, urban sustainability, nature

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Authors: Reza Mokhtari Malekabadi, Leila Jalalabadi, Zahra Kiyani Ghaleh No

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Today, systems of management and urban planning, attempt to reach more sustainable development through monitoring developments, urban development and development plans. Monitoring of changes in the urban places and sustainable urban development accounted a base for the realization of worthy goals urban sustainable development. The importance of women in environmental protection programs is high enough that in 21 agenda has been requested from all countries to allocate more shares to women in their policies. On the other hand, urban waste landfill has become one of the environmental concerns in modern cities. This research assumes that the impact of women on recycling, reduction and proper waste landfill is much more than men. For this reason, three districts; Yousef Abad, Heshmatieh and Nezam Abad are gauged through questionnaire and using the analytical research hypothesis model. This research will be categorized as functional research. The results have shown that noticing the power of women, their participation towards realization of the development objectives and programs can be used in solving their problems.

Keywords: citizens, urban, environmental, sustainability, solid waste, Tehran

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Authors: Nükhet Konuk, N. Gamze Turan, Yüksel Ardalı

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Cities play a vital role in the social fabric of countries and in national and regional economic growth worldwide; however, the environmental effects of such growth need to be assessed and managed better. The critical and most immediate problems faced by cities of developing countries are the health impacts of urban pollution that derive from inadequate water, sanitation, drainage and solid waste services, poor urban and industrial waste management, and air pollution. As globalization continues, earth's natural processes transform local problems into international issues. The aim of this study is to provide a broad overview of the pollution from urban wastes and emissions in Turkey which is a developing country. It is aimed to underline the significance of reorganizing the institutional tools in a worldwide perspective in order to generate coherent solutions to urban problems, and to enhance urban quality.

Keywords: environmental pollution, developing countries, environmental degradation, urban environmental problems

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Authors: Carmela Mariano

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The literature, the scientific and disciplinary debate related to the impacts of climate change on the territory has highlighted, in recent years, the need for climate-proof and resilient tools of urban planning that adopt an integrated and inter-scalar approach for the construction of urban regeneration strategies by the objectives of the European Strategy on adaptation to climate change, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Climate Conference. This article addresses the operational implications of urban climate resilience in urban planning tools as a priority objective of policymakers (government bodies, institutions, etc.) to respond to the risks of climate change-related impacts on the environment. Within the general framework of the research activities carried out by the author, this article provides a critical synthesis of the analysis and evaluation of some case studies from the Italian national context, which enabled, through an inductive method, the assessment of the process of implementing the adaptation to climate change within the regional urban planning frameworks (regional urban laws), specific regional adaptation strategies or local adaptation plans and within the territorial and urban planning tools of a metropolitan or local scale. This study aims to identify theoretical–methodological, and operational references for the innovation and integration of planning tools concerning climate change that allow local planners to test these references in specific territorial contexts to practical adaptation strategies for local action.

Keywords: urban resilience, urban regeneration, climate-proof-planning, urban planning

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Authors: Yan Jia China

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The ruins is a kind of historical intention, which is also the current real existence of developing city. Zen culture of ancient China has a profound esthetic emotion, similarly, the west establish the concept of aesthetics of relic along with the Romanism’s (such as Rousseau etc.) sentiment to historical ruins at the end of 18th century. Nowadays, with the decline of traditional industrial society as well as the rise of post-industrial age, contemporary society must face the ruins and garbage problem which is left by industrial society. Commencing from the perspective of emotion and memory, this paper analyzes the importance for emotional needs as well as their existing status of several projects, such as the Capital Steelworks in Beijing (industrial devastation), the Shibati old section in Chongqing (urban slums) and the Old Hurva Synagogue in Jerusalem (ruins of war). It emphasizes urban design which is started from emotion and the sustainable development of city memory through managing the urban ruins which is criticized by people with the perspective of ecology and art.

Keywords: cultural heritage, urban ruins, ecology, emotion, sustainable urban memory

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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: Dharshika Rajalingam, Jeffery W. Peng

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Acinetobacter baumannii is a challenging threat to global health, recognized as a multidrug-resistant pathogen. -lactamase is one of the principal resistant mechanisms developed by A. baumannii to survive against -lactam antibiotics. OXA24/40 is one of the types of -lactamases, a well-documented carbapenem hydrolyzing class D -lactamases (CHDL). It was revealed that OXA24/40 showed resistivity against doripenem, one of the carbapenems, by two different mechanisms as hydrolysis and -lactonization. Furthermore, it undergoes genetic mutations to broaden the -lactamase activity to survive against antibiotic environments. One of the crucial characterizations of prokaryotes to develop adaptation is post-translational modification (PTM), mainly phosphorylation. However, the PTM of OXA24/40 is an unknown feature, and the impact of PTM on antibiotic resistivity is yet to be explored. We approached these hypotheses using NMR and MS techniques and found that the OXA24/40 could be phosphorylated in vitro. The Ser81 at the active STFK motif of OXA24/40 of catalytic pocket was identified as the site of phosphorylation using 1D 31P NMR experiment, whereas S81 is required to form an acyl-enzyme complex between enzyme and -lactam antibiotics. The activity of completely phosphorylated OXA24/40 wild type against doripenem revealed that the phosphorylation of active Ser inactivates the -lactamases activity of OXA24/40. The 1D 1H CPMG NMR-based activity assay of phosphorylated OXA24/40 against doripenem confirmed that both deactivating mechanisms are inhibited by phosphorylation. Carbamylated Lysine at the active STFK motif is one of the critical features of CHDL required for the acylation and deacylation reactions of the enzyme. The 1D 13C NMR experiment confirmed that the K84 of phosphorylated OXA24/40 is de-carbamylated. Phosphorylation of OXA24/40 affects both active S81 and carbamylated K84 of OXA24 that are required for the resistivity of -lactamase. So, phosphorylation could be one of the reasons for the genetic mutation of OXA24/40 for the development of antibiotic resistivity. Further research can lead to an understanding of the effect of phosphorylation on the clinical mutants of the OXA24-like -lactamase family on the broadening of -lactamase activity.

Keywords: OXA24/40, phosphorylation, clinical mutants, resistivity

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Authors: Elif Berna Var

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Cultural, physical, socio-economic, or politic changes occurred in urban areas might be resulted in the decaying period which may cause social problems. As a solution to that, urban renewal projects have been used in European countries since World War II whereas they have gained importance in Turkey after the 1980s. The first attempts were mostly related to physical or economic aspects which caused negative effects on social pattern later. Thus, social concerns have also started to include in renewal processes in developed countries. This integrative approach combining social, physical, and economic aspects promotes creating more sustainable neighbourhoods for both current and future generations. However, it is still a new subject for developing countries like Turkey. Concentrating on Trabzon-Turkey, this study highlights the importance of socially sustainable urban renewal processes especially in historical neighbourhoods where protecting the urban identity of the area is vital, as well as social structure, to create sustainable environments. Being in the historic city centre and having remarkable traditional houses, Ortahisar is an important image for Trabzon. Because of the fact that architectural and historical pattern of the area is still visible but need rehabilitations, it is preferred to use 'urban rehabilitation' as a way of urban renewal method for this study. A project is developed by the local government to create a secondary city centre and a new landmark for the city. But it is still ambiguous if this project can provide social sustainability of area which is one of the concerns of the research. In the study, it is suggested that social sustainability of an area can be achieved by several factors. In order to determine the factors affecting the social sustainability of an urban rehabilitation project, previous studies have been analysed and some common features are attempted to define. To achieve this, firstly, several analyses are conducted to find out social structure of Ortahisar. Secondly, structured interviews are implemented to 150 local people which aims to measure satisfaction level, awareness, the expectation of them, and to learn their demographical background in detail. Those data are used to define the critical factors for a more socially sustainable neighbourhood in Ortahisar. Later, the priority of those factors is asked to 50 experts and 150 local people to compare their attitudes and to find common criterias. According to the results, it can be said that social sustainability of Ortahisar neighbourhood can be improved by considering various factors like quality of urban areas, demographical factors, public participation, social cohesion and harmony, proprietorial factors, facilities of education and employment. In the end, several suggestions are made for Ortahisar case to promote more socially sustainable urban neighbourhood. As a pilot study highlighting the importance of social sustainability, it is hoped that this attempt might be the contributory effect on achieving more socially sustainable urban rehabilitation projects in Turkey.

Keywords: urban rehabilitation, social sustainability, Trabzon, Turkey

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Authors: Carmen Avilés Palacios, Camilo Muñoz Arenas, Joaquín García Alfonso, Jesús González Arteaga, Alberto Alcalde Calonge

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There is a need for review of the consumption and production models of industrialized states in accordance with the Paris Agreement and the Sustainable Development Goals (1) (OECD, 2016). This constitutes the basis of the bioeconomy (2) that is focused on striking a balance between economic development, social development and environmental protection. Bioeconomy promotes the adequate use and consumption of renewable natural resources (3) and involves developing new products and services adapted to the principles of circular economy: more sustainable (reusable, biodegradable, renewable and recyclable) and with a lower carbon footprint (4). In this context, Urban Forest Innovation Lab (UFIL) grows, an Urban Laboratory for experimentation focused on promoting entrepreneurship in forest bioeconomy (www.uiacuenca.es). UFIL generates local wellness taking sustainable advantage of an endogenous asset, forests. UFIL boosts forest bioeconomy opening its doors of knowledge to pioneers in this field, giving the opportunity to be an active part of a change in the way of understanding the exploitation of natural resources, discovering business, learning strategies and techniques and incubating business ideas So far now, 100 entrepreneurs are incubating their nearly 30 new business plans. UFIL has promoted an ecosystem to connect the rural-urban world that promotes sustainable rural development around the forest.

Keywords: bioeconomy, forestry, innovation, entrepreneurship

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Authors: Zi Zhu

Abstract:

The last decade has witnessed increasing urban environmental uprisings in China, as thousands of citizens swarmed into streets to express their deep concerns about the environmental threat and public health through various collective actions. The prevalent western approaches to collective actions, which usually treat urban riots and social movements as distinct phenomenon, have plagued an adequate analysis of the urban environmental uprisings in China. The increasing urban environmental contention can neither be categorized into riots nor social movements, as they carry the features of both: at first sight, they are spontaneous, disorganized and disruptive with an absence of observable mobilization process; however, unlike riots in the west, these collective actions conveyed explicit demand in a mostly non-destructive way rather than a pure expression of frustration. This article proposes a different approach to urban environmental uprisings in China which concerns the diminishing boundaries between riots and social movements and points to the underlying structural causes to the unique forms of urban environmental contention. Taking the urban anti-PX protests as examples, this article analyzes the societal and political structural environment faced by the Chinese environmental protesters and its influence on the origin and development of their contention.

Keywords: urban environmental uprisings, China, anti-PX protests, opportunity structure

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Authors: Yoji Yamato

Abstract:

In this paper, we propose an automatic verification technology of software patches for user virtual environments on IaaS Cloud to decrease verification costs of patches. In these days, IaaS services have been spread and many users can customize virtual machines on IaaS Cloud like their own private servers. Regarding to software patches of OS or middleware installed on virtual machines, users need to adopt and verify these patches by themselves. This task increases operation costs of users. Our proposed method replicates user virtual environments, extracts verification test cases for user virtual environments from test case DB, distributes patches to virtual machines on replicated environments and conducts those test cases automatically on replicated environments. We have implemented the proposed method on OpenStack using Jenkins and confirmed the feasibility. Using the implementation, we confirmed the effectiveness of test case creation efforts by our proposed idea of 2-tier abstraction of software functions and test cases. We also evaluated the automatic verification performance of environment replications, test cases extractions and test cases conductions.

Keywords: OpenStack, cloud computing, automatic verification, jenkins

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Authors: Fateh Adhnouss, Husam El-Asfour, Kenneth McIsaac, AbdulMutalib Wahaishi, Idris El-Feghia

Abstract:

Conceptualization is an essential component of semantic ontology-based approaches. There have been several approaches that rely on extensional structure and extensional reduction structure in order to construct conceptualization. In this paper, several limitations are highlighted relating to their applicability to the construction of conceptualizations in dynamic and open environments. These limitations arise from a number of strong assumptions that do not apply to such environments. An intensional structure is strongly argued to be a natural and adequate modeling approach. This paper presents a conceptualization structure based on property relations and propositions theory (PRP) to the model ontology that is suitable for open environments. The model extends the First-Order Logic (FOL) notation and defines the formal representation that enables interoperability between software systems and supports semantic integration for software systems in open, dynamic environments.

Keywords: conceptualization, ontology, extensional structure, intensional structure

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Authors: Lama Yaseen, Nourah Al-Hosain

Abstract:

A Multi-modal system in urban mobility is an essential framework for an optimized urban transport network. Many cities are still heavily dependent on vehicle transportation, dominantly using conventional fuel-based cars for daily travel. With the reliance on motorized vehicles in large cities such as Riyadh, the capital city of Saudi Arabia, traffic congestion is eminent, which ultimately results in an increase in road emissions and loss of time. Saudi Arabia plans to undergo a massive transformation in mobility infrastructure and urban greening projects, including introducing public transport and other massive urban greening infrastructures that enable alternative mobility options. This paper uses a Geographic Information System (GIS) approach that analyzes the accessibility of current and planned public transport stations and how they intertwine with massive urban greening projects that may play a role as an enabler of micro-mobility and walk-ability options in the city.

Keywords: urban development, urban mobility, sustainable mobility, Middle East

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Authors: Chitresh Kumar, Santanu Gupta

Abstract:

The research work intends to understand the process of initiation, planning and development of capital-intensive urban area level infrastructure development in East Asian Cities (specific to Indian Cities). With the onset of emphasis on sustainable urban transport, self-financed urban local bodies, it has become of utmost important to identify infrastructure and projects on a priority basis, which provide optimal utility to the urban area. Through identification of Spatial, Demographic and Socio-Economic and Political Instability Parameters and their trends for the past 60 years at the urban area and state level, the paper attempts to identify the most suitable time period when initiation of the project would become economically and demographically viable for the city.

Keywords: urban planning, regional planning, mass transit, infrastructure development, spatial planning

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Authors: Chuanphit Chumkhong

Abstract:

This research aimed 1) to study the effects of the management of Active Learning among 3rd year students enrolled in teacher’s profession courses and 2) to assess the satisfaction of the students with courses using the Active Learning approach. The population for the study consisted of 442 3rd year undergraduate students enrolled in two teacher education courses in 2015: Curriculum Development and Learning Process Management. They were 442 from 11 education programs. Respondents for evaluation of satisfaction with Active Learning management comprised 432 students. The instruments used in research included a detailed course description and rating scale questionnaire on Active Learning. The data were analyzed using arithmetic mean and standard deviation. The results of the study reveal the following: 1. Overall, students gain a better understanding of the Active Learning due to their actual practice on the activity of course. Students have the opportunity to exchange learning knowledge and skills. The AL teaching activities make students interested in the contents and they seek to search for knowledge on their own. 2. Overall, 3rd year students are satisfied with the Active Learning management at a ‘high’ level with a mean score (μ) of 4.12 and standard deviation (σ) of. 51. By individual items, students are satisfied with the 10 elements in the two courses at a ‘high’ level with the mean score (μ) between 3.79 to 4.41 and a standard deviation (σ) between to 68. 79.

Keywords: active learning teaching model, teacher’s professional courses, professional courses, curriculum and instruction teacher's

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Authors: Phibankhamti Ryngnga

Abstract:

It is a common phenomenon worldwide that farmland has been gradually converted for urban development particularly in the 21st century keeping in mind the population increase on the other hand. Since food demand and supply are not in equilibrium in urban set up, therefore, there is a need for alternative to feed the hungry urban settlers worldwide. In this regard, urban rooftop farming is the only way out to meet the growing demand for food production with the extra benefits of making our urban areas and cities greener and when the populace is exposed to nature and vegetation, it in turn provides an array of psychological benefits, from decreased anxiety to increased productivity. Bare roofs in cities absorb and then radiate heat — a phenomenon known as the “heat island effect. This increases energy usage and contributes to the poor air quality that often plagues big cities. But Urban rooftop farming do provide many solutions to help cool buildings, ultimately reducing carbon emissions, and by growing food in the communities they serve, rooftop farmers lessen the environmental impact of food transportation. This paper will emphasise the significance of Urban roof farming in the present century which in itself a multi-solution to various city problems.

Keywords: urban, roof farming, smart solution, sustainability

Procedia PDF Downloads 140