Search results for: Urban

Authors: Chioma Ifeoma Agbasimelo, Stephen Afam Kenechukwu

Abstract:

The study examined consumers’ responses to non-traditional marketing communication strategies in advertising herbal products. The study identified the following non-traditional marketing communication strategies: (a) trado-instrumental marketing strategy, (b) trado-demonstrative marketing strategy, and (c) trado-iconographic marketing strategy. Anchored on the Black Box Theory, it adopted the survey design of three metropolises (Awka, Onitsha, and Nnewi) in Anambra State, Nigeria. Major findings indicated that among the identified strategies, the trado-instrumental marketing strategy is the most dominant strategy. Other strategies: (b) trado-demonstrative marketing strategy and (c) trado-iconographic marketing strategy, are sparingly used in semi-urban cities. It also found that consumers’ preferences and adoption of non-traditional marketing communication were minimal. Based on the findings, there is a need to create a unified system of integration of both traditional and non-traditional marketing communication strategies due to technology interfaces.

Keywords: Advertising, consumers’ responses, herbal products, non-traditional marketing communication strategies.

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Authors: Jalil Emadi, Masoud Nasri, Ali Najafi, Yousef Moradi Shahgharyeh

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Development of cities and villages, agricultural farms and industrial regions in abutment and/or in the course of streams and rivers or in prone flood lands has been caused more notations in hydrology problems and city planning topics. In order to protection of cities against of flood damages, embankment construction is a desired and scientific method. The cities that located in arid zones may damage by floods periodically. Zavvareh city in Ardestan township(Isfahan province) with 7704 people located in Ardestan plain that has been damaged by floods that have flowed from dominant mountainous watersheds in past years with regard to return period. In this study, according to flowed floods toward Zavvareh city, was attempt to plan suitable hydraulic structures such as canals, bridges and collectors in order to collection, conduction and depletion of city surface runoff.

Keywords: Flood, flood way, executive consideration, embankment, surface runoff network, Zavvareh.

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Authors: M. Meftahi, M. Hoseinzadeh, S. A. Naeini

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Selection of soil bearing capacity is an important issue that should be investigated under different conditions. The bearing capacity of foundation around of soil slope is based on the active and passive forces. On the other hand, due to extension of urban structures, it is inevitable to put the foundations together. Concerning the two cases mentioned above, investigating the behavior of adjacent foundations which are constructed besides soil slope is essential. It should be noted that, according to the conditions, the bearing capacity of adjacent foundations can be less or more than mat foundations. Also, soil reinforcement increases the bearing capacity of adjacent foundations, and the amount of its increase depends on the distance between foundations. In this research, based on numerical studies, a method is presented for evaluating ultimate bearing capacity of adjacent foundations at different intervals. In the present study, the effect of foundation width, the center to center distance of adjacent foundations and reinforced soil has been investigated on the bearing capacity of adjacent foundations beside soil slope. The results indicate that, due to interference of failure surfaces created under foundation, it depends on their intervals and the ultimate bearing capacity of foundation varies.

Keywords: Adjacent foundation, bearing capacity, reinforcements, settlement, numerical analysis.

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Authors: Marichela Sepe

Abstract:

Massive use of places with strong tourist attraction with the consequent possibility of losing place-identity produces harmful effects on cities and their users. In order to mitigate this risk, areas close to such places can be identified so as to widen the visitor-s range of action and offer alternative activities integrated with the main site. The cultural places and appropriate activities can be identified using a method of analysis and design able to trace the identity of the places, their characteristics and potential, and to provide a sustainable improvement. The aim of this work is to propose PlaceMaker as a method of urban analysis and design which both detects elements that do not feature in traditional mapping and which constitute the contemporary identity of the places, and identifies appropriate project interventions. Two final complex maps – the first of analysis and the second of design – respectively represent the identity of places and project interventions. In order to illustrate the method-s potential; the results of the experimentation carried out in the Trevi-Pantheon route in Rome and the appropriate interventions to decongest the area are illustrated.

Keywords: Place-identity, PlaceMaker method, sustainablefruition, tourist attractions.

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Authors: Arpan Dwivedi, Yogesh Pahariya

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In this paper, optimal design of hybrid standalone power supply system (SAPS) is done for off grid applications in remote areas where transmission of power is difficult. The hybrid SAPS system uses two primary energy sources, wind and solar, and in addition to these diesel generator is also connected to meet the load demand in case of failure of wind and solar system. This paper presents mathematical modeling of 1.4 MW hybrid SAPS system for rural electrification. This paper firstly focuses on mathematical modeling of PV module connected in a string, secondly focuses on modeling of permanent magnet wind turbine generator (PMWTG). The hybrid controller is also designed for selection of power from the source available as per the load demand. The power output of hybrid SAPS system is analyzed for meeting load demands at urban as well as for rural areas.

Keywords: SAPS, DG, PMWTG, rural area, off grid, PV module.

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Authors: Kawinphat Lertpongmanee

Abstract:

The problems of trafficking human beings were continuously violent in Thailand. The problems occurred from a variety of factors such as unemployment, agricultural workers’ urban immigration, sex tour, attitude of materialism society, divorced family, unsavourily effected law, and officers’ ignorance. The purposes of this study were to study the structure, connection, a number of trafficking human beings in Thailand. Qualitative and quantitative and results of previous research were used in this research. The previous procurers, interested persons, experienced people, human beings-aiding organization, and women-children rights organization were interviewed in depth. The field was used in a variety of regions. The findings showed that the structure and connection of trafficking human beings and their values are $8,750 million. There are 240,000 people in trafficked human beings. The trend of trafficking human beings grows continuously. It is changed according to economic circumstance, society and culture, and law. The state must be aware of its problem. The law is enacted by adding high penalty for serious fear.

Keywords: Human Trade, Prostitution trafficking, trafficking in women and children.

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Authors: Carilette Fourie, Chris Cloete

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The occurrence of traditional authorities and tribal land within South Africa results in unique developmental trends and challenges. Tribal communities, typically located in rural environments, are perceived to be severely affected by poverty and poor living conditions relative to their urban counterparts. The exact extent of the socio-economic disparity between tribal and non-tribal communities is addressed in this paper. After adjustment of available census data to correspond with the delineation of tribal and non-tribal land in the Kwazulu-Natal province, seven selected socio-economic indicators were compared. The investigation revealed that although tribal areas are characterised by low employment rates and educational levels, a young population, fairly large household sizes, lower access to basic services and lower income households that are highly dependent on social grants, tribal area populations do have moderate levels of education, access to formal housing and relatively good access to services.

Keywords: KwaZulu-Natal, tribal areas, traditional authority, socio-economic, well-being.

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Authors: Milena M. Melo, Jane M. Santos, Severine Frere, Valderio A. Reisen, Neyval C. Reis Jr., Maria de Fátima S. Leite

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Although there had been a many studies that shows the impact of air pollution on physical health, comparatively less was known of human behavioral responses and annoyance impacts. Annoyance caused by air pollution is a public health problem because it can be an ambient stressor causing stress and disease and can affect quality of life. The objective of this work is to evaluate the annoyance caused by air pollution in two different industrialized urban areas, Dunkirk (France) and Vitoria (Brazil). The populations of these cities often report feeling annoyed by dust. Surveys were conducted, and the collected data were analyzed using statistical analyses. The results show that sociodemographic variables, importance of air quality, perceived industrial risk, perceived air pollution and occurrence of health problems play important roles in the perceived annoyance. These results show the existence of a common problem in geographically distant areas and allow stakeholders to develop prevention strategies.

Keywords: Air pollution, annoyance, industrial risks, perception of pollution, public health, settled dust.

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Authors: Mehdi Saati, Mohammad Bagheri, Fatemeh Zamanian

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One of the most important parameters to develop and manage urban areas is appropriate selection of land surface to develop green spaces in these areas. In this study, in order to identify the most appropriate sites and areas cultivated for ornamental species in Jiroft, Landsat Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+) images due to extract the most important effective climatic and adaphic parameters for growth ornamental species were used. After geometric and atmospheric corrections applied, to enhance accuracy of multi spectral (XS) bands, the fusion of Landsat XS bands by IRS-1D panchromatic band (PAN) was performed. After field sampling to evaluate the correlation between different factors in surface soil sampling location and different bands digital number (DN) of ETM+ sensor on the same points, correlation tables formed using the best computational model and the map of physical and chemical parameters of soil was produced. Then the accuracy of them was investigated by using kappa coefficient. Finally, according to produced maps, the best areas for cultivation of recommended species were introduced.

Keywords: Locate ornamental species, Remote Sensing, Adaphic parameters, ETM+, Jiroft

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Authors: Mukesh Singh Boori, Venerando Eustáquio Amaro, Helenice Vital

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The present study has been carried out with a view to calculate the coastal vulnerability index (CVI) to know the high and low sensitive areas and area of inundation due to future SLR. Both conventional and remotely sensed data were used and analyzed through the modelling technique. Out of the total study area, 8.26% is very high risk, 14.21% high, 9.36% medium, 22.46% low and 7.35% in the very low vulnerable category, due to costal components. Results of the inundation analysis indicate that 225.2 km² and 397 km² of the land area will be submerged by flooding at 1m and 10m inundation levels. The most severely affected sectors are expected to be the residential, industrial and recreational areas. As this coast is planned for future coastal developmental activities, measures such as industrializations, building regulation, urban growth planning and agriculture, development of an integrated coastal zone management, strict enforcement of the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) Act, monitoring of impacts and further research in this regard are recommended for the study area.

Keywords: Coastal planning, land use, satellite data, vulnerability.

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Authors: Mona Lisa M. Oliveira, Nara A. Policarpo, Ana Luiza B. P. Barros, Carla A. Silva

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Selective catalytic reduction systems for nitrogen oxides reduction by ammonia has been the chosen technology by most of diesel vehicle (i.e. bus and truck) manufacturers in Brazil, as also in Europe. Furthermore, at some conditions, over-stoichiometric ammonia availability is also needed that increases the NH₃ slips even more. Ammonia (NH₃) by this vehicle exhaust aftertreatment system provides a maximum efficiency of NOx removal if a significant amount of NH₃ is stored on its catalyst surface. In the other words, the practice shows that slightly less than 100% of the NOx conversion is usually targeted, so that the aqueous urea solution hydrolyzes to NH₃ via other species formation, under relatively low temperatures. This paper presents a model based on neural networks integrated with a road vehicle simulator that allows to estimate NH₃-slip emission factors for different driving conditions and patterns. The proposed model generates high NH₃slips which are not also limited in Brazil, but more efforts needed to be made to elucidate the contribution of vehicle-emitted NH₃ to the urban atmosphere.

Keywords: Ammonia slip, neural-network, vehicles emissions, SCR-NOx.

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Authors: Xuran Zhang, Huiru Chen

Abstract:

In recent years, China has made great efforts to cultivate and develop the housing rental market, especially the rental-type public housing, which has been paid attention to by all sectors of the society. This paper takes Hangzhou rental-type public housing as the research object, and divides it into three development stages according to the different supply modes of rental-type public housing. Through data collection and field research, the paper summarizes the spatial characteristics of rental-type public housing from the five perspectives of spatial planning, spatial layout, spatial integration, spatial organization and spatial configuration. On this basis, the paper proposes the optimization of the spatial layout. The study concludes that the spatial layout of rental-type public housing should be coordinated with the development of urban planning. When planning and constructing, it is necessary to select more mixed construction modes, to be properly centralized, and to improve the surrounding transportation service facilities.  It is hoped that the recommendations in this paper will provide a reference for the further development of rental-type public housing in Hangzhou.

Keywords: Hangzhou, rental-type public housing, spatial distribution, spatial optimization.

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Authors: Yun-Pang Flötteröd, Jakob Erdmann

Abstract:

The human behaviors during evacuations are quite complex. One of the critical behaviors which affect the efficiency of evacuation is route choice. Therefore, the respective simulation modeling work needs to function properly. In this paper, Simulation of Urban Mobility’s (SUMO) current dynamic route modeling during evacuation, i.e. the rerouting functions, is examined with a real case study. The result consistency of the simulation and the reality is checked as well. Four influence factors (1) time to get information, (2) probability to cancel a trip, (3) probability to use navigation equipment, and (4) rerouting and information updating period are considered to analyze possible traffic impacts during the evacuation and to examine the rerouting functions in SUMO. Furthermore, some behavioral characters of the case study are analyzed with use of the corresponding detector data and applied in the simulation. The experiment results show that the dynamic route modeling in SUMO can deal with the proposed scenarios properly. Some issues and function needs related to route choice are discussed and further improvements are suggested.

Keywords: Evacuation, microscopic traffic simulation, rerouting, SUMO.

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Authors: Haifeng Jiao, Chuankun Rao

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Due to the Rapid Urbanization in China, the influence of metropolises to surrounding areas grows by a tremendous speed in developed region. One of the most obvious influences is the expansion of the urban built-up areas which covers the land belongs to small towns. Around metropolitan fringe, the boundary between city and village becomes more and more obscure. So being the most sensitive area, the small towns on the fringe of metropolises have the special meaning on the research into the small towns- development. This paper chooses Sandun Town in Hangzhou of Zhejiang Province as an example, emphatically focus on aspects such as the central area proliferation, the industrial shift, the position effect, the subway effect and the commercial development, reviews a few problems of small towns in the future and the important problems in their planning by the analysis of the characteristics of the present conditions and the developing motive mechanism, so that guides small towns to develop properly by liking with these small towns and center metropolises.

Keywords: Metropolitan fringe, Small towns, Sandun Town, Motive mechanism.

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Authors: A. A. K. Abou-Arab, M. A. Abou Donia, Sherif R. Mohamed, A. K. Enab

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Lead being a toxic heavy metal that mankind is exposed to the highest levels of this metal. There are different sources of environmental pollution with lead as lead alkyl additives in petrol and manufacturing processes. The contaminated atmosphere in urban and industrial areas by lead in Egypt may lead to the contamination of foods beside the other different sources. The present investigation studied the risk assessment of lead in some Egyptian edible vegetables and fruits collected from different environments in Greater Cairo Governorate, i.e. industrial, heavy traffic and rural areas. A total of 325 leafy and fruity vegetables and fruits samples belonging to 11, 6 and 4 different species, respectively were randomly collected from markets of the three main models. Data indicated the variation of lead levels in different three areas. The highest levels of lead were detected in the samples collected from industrial and traffic areas. However, the lowest levels were found in the rural areas. It could be concluded that determination of lead levels in foods from different localities and environments at regularly is very important.

Keywords: Heavy metals, Lead, Vegetables, Fruits, Environments.

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Authors: Fardin Boustani, Mohammad Hosein Hojati

Abstract:

Groundwater is one of the most important water resources in Fars province. Based on this study, 95 percent of the total annual water consumption in Fars is used for agriculture, whereas the percentages for domestic and industrial uses are 4 and 1 percent, respectively. Population growth, urban and industrial growth, and agricultural development in Fars have created a condition of water stress. In this province, farmers and other users are pumping groundwater faster than its natural replenishment rate, causing a continuous drop in groundwater tables and depletion of this resource. In this research variation of groundwater level, their effects and ways to help control groundwater levels in aquifer of the Niriz plains in Fars plain were evaluated .Excessive exploitation of groundwater in this aquifer caused the groundwater levels fall too fast or to unacceptable levels. The average drawdown of the groundwater level in this plain were 9.1 meters during 1997 to 2004. The purpose of this study is to evaluate water level changes in the Niriz Aquifer in the Fars province in order to determine the areas of greatest depletion, the cause of depletion, and predict the remaining life of the aquifer.

Keywords: Aquifer, ground water depletion, water table

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Authors: Javad Majrouhi Sardroud, Mukesh C. Limbachiya

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Construction projects generally take place in uncontrolled and dynamic environments where construction waste is a serious environmental problem in many large cities. The total amount of waste and carbon dioxide emissions from transportation vehicles are still out of control due to increasing construction projects, massive urban development projects and the lack of effective tools for minimizing adverse environmental impacts in construction. This research is about utilization of the integrated applications of automated advanced tracking and data storage technologies in the area of environmental management to monitor and control adverse environmental impacts such as construction waste and carbon dioxide emissions. Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) integrated with the Global Position System (GPS) provides an opportunity to uniquely identify materials, components, and equipments and to locate and track them using minimal or no worker input. The transmission of data to the central database will be carried out with the help of Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM).

Keywords: Clear environment, Construction industry, RFID.

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Authors: M.Bilal Bagbanci, Ozlem Koprulu Bagbanci

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Bursa, since the establishment of the Ottoman Empire, being on the important trade roads and having a capital accumulation as a result of silk production, was one of the first cities of modernization activities applied. Bursa maintained its importance even during the Republican Period and became one of the most important cities of the country and today is the fourth biggest and the industrialized city in Turkey. Social, political, economical and cultural changes occured with the reforms starting with the 1839 Edict of Tanzimat that aimed at modernizing the society and the government and centralizing the political power began in the Ottoman Empire. After the Tanzimat Reforms transformation of the city changed and planning processes began in Bursa according to the vision of Governors. The theresholds of the city are very important data for a sustainable planning for the city planners. Main aim of this study is to investigate the changes and transformations of the city according to the changes in the socio-economical and cultural properties for the city planners.

Keywords: Transportation, urbanization, Tanzimat reforms, modernization.

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Authors: Atul K. Desai, Jigar K. Sevalia, Sandip A. Vasanwala

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When a building is located in an urban area, it is exposed to a wind of different characteristics then wind over an open terrain. This is development of turbulent wake region behind an upstream building. The interaction with upstream building can produce significant changes in the response of the tall building. Here, in this paper, an attempt has been made to study wind induced interference effects on tall building. In order to study wind induced interference effect (IF) on Tall Building, initially a tall building (which is termed as Principal Building now on wards) with square plan shape has been considered with different Height to Width Ratio and total drag force is obtained considering different terrain conditions as well as different incident wind direction. Then total drag force on Principal Building is obtained by considering adjacent building which is termed as Interfering Building now on wards with different terrain conditions and incident wind angle. To execute study, Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) Code namely Fluent and Gambit have been used.

Keywords: Computational Fluid Dynamics, Tall Building, Turbulent, Wake Region, Wind.

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Authors: A. Khanipour, K. M. Ebrahimi, W. J. Seale

Abstract:

Due to heightened concerns over environmental and economic issues the growing important of air pollution, and the importance of conserving fossil fuel resources in the world, the automotive industry is now forced to produce more fuel efficient, low emission vehicles and new drive system technologies. One of the most promising technologies to receive attention is the hybrid electric vehicle (HEV), which consists of two or more energy sources that supply energy to electric traction motors that in turn drive the wheels. This paper presents the various structures of HEV systems, the basic theoretical knowledge for describing their operation and the general behaviour of the HEV in acceleration, cruise and deceleration phases. The conventional design and sizing of a series HEV is studied. A conventional bus and its series configuration are defined and evaluated using the ADVISOR. In this section the simulation of a standard driving cycle and prediction of its fuel consumption and emissions of the HEV are discussed. Finally the bus performance is investigated to establish whether it can satisfy the performance, fuel consumption and emissions requested. The validity of the simulation has been established by the close conformity between the fuel consumption of the conventional bus reported by the manufacturer to what has achieved from the simulation.

Keywords: Hybrid Electric Vehicle, Hybridization, LEV, HEV.

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Authors: Cheng Fang Hsu, Shinn-Jong Lin

Abstract:

This research is to explore the satisfaction for senior citizens on continuing education in Taiwan. The purpose of this research aims at the difference on teacher-s teaching, personal relationship, learning result, materials and environment. Through different sexual and living area as the background variables, a questionnaire is adopted as the methodology in this research. Three results are found in this research. In overall, senior citizens taking continuing education put the most important attention on personal relationship but materials and leaning environment put the least. There is a significant difference on personal relationship, teacher-s teaching and research result between different sexes. Female senior citizens attach more importance to teacher-s teaching and learning results but male senior citizens value on personal relationship. Another significant difference is shown on teacher-s teaching and personal relationship because of senior citizens living area. Urban senior citizens put importance on personal relationship and rural senior citizens respect teacher-s teaching more.

Keywords: Learning satisfaction, continuing education, seniorcitizens.

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Authors: Artur Krukowski, Emmanouela Vogiatzaki

Abstract:

The article presents an ongoing work in research projects such as SCAN4RECO or ARCH, both funded by the European Commission under Horizon 2020 program. The former one concerns multimodal and multispectral scanning of Cultural Heritage assets for their digitization and conservation via spatiotemporal reconstruction and 3D printing, while the latter one aims to better preserve areas of cultural heritage from hazards and risks. It co-creates tools that would help pilot cities to save cultural heritage from the effects of climate change. It develops a disaster risk management framework for assessing and improving the resilience of historic areas to climate change and natural hazards. Tools and methodologies are designed for local authorities and practitioners, urban population, as well as national and international expert communities, aiding authorities in knowledge-aware decision making. In this article we focus on 3D modelling of object geometry using primarily photogrammetric methods to achieve very high model accuracy using consumer types of devices, attractive both to professions and hobbyists alike.

Keywords: 3D modeling, UAS, cultural heritage, preservation.

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Authors: Daniel Joseph Whittaker

Abstract:

This paper examines the broad array of historic sites from which Chicago common brick has emerged, and the methods this brick has been utilized within and around a new hybrid structure recently completed-and periodically opened to the public, as a private art, architecture, design, and social activism gallery space. Various technical aspects regarding the structural and aesthetic reuse methods of salvaged brick within the interior and exterior of this new Tadao Ando-designed building in Lincoln Park, Chicago, are explored. This paper expands specifically upon the multiple possible origins of Chicago common brick, as well as the extant brick currently composing the surrounding alley which is integral to demarcating the southern site boundary of the old apartment building now gallery. Themes encompassing Chicago’s archeological and architectural history, local resource extraction, and labor practices permeate this paper’s investigation into urban, social and architectural history and building construction technology advancements through time.

Keywords: Masonry construction, history brickmaking, private museums, Chicago Illinois, Tadao Ando.

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Authors: Siliang Wang, Minghui Wang, Jun Hu

Abstract:

A novel path planning approach is presented to solve optimal path in stochastic, time-varying networks under priori traffic information. Most existing studies make use of dynamic programming to find optimal path. However, those methods are proved to be unable to obtain global optimal value, moreover, how to design efficient algorithms is also another challenge. This paper employs a decision theoretic framework for defining optimal path: for a given source S and destination D in urban transit network, we seek an S - D path of lowest expected travel time where its link travel times are discrete random variables. To solve deficiency caused by the methods of dynamic programming, such as curse of dimensionality and violation of optimal principle, an integer programming model is built to realize assignment of discrete travel time variables to arcs. Simultaneously, pruning techniques are also applied to reduce computation complexity in the algorithm. The final experiments show the feasibility of the novel approach.

Keywords: pruning method, stochastic, time-varying networks, optimal path planning.

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Authors: Mohammad Hosein Hojati, Fardin Boustani

Abstract:

Groundwater is one of the most important water resources in Fars province. Based on this study, 95 percent of the total annual water consumption in Fars is used for agriculture, whereas the percentages for domestic and industrial uses are 4 and 1 percent, respectively. Population growth, urban and industrial growth, and agricultural development in Fars have created a condition of water stress. In this province, farmers and other users are pumping groundwater faster than its natural replenishment rate, causing a continuous drop in groundwater tables and depletion of this resource. In this research variation of groundwater level, their effects and ways to help control groundwater levels in aquifer of the Kavar- Maharloo plains in Fars plain were evaluated .Excessive exploitation of groundwater in this aquifer caused the groundwater levels fall too fast or to unacceptable levels. The average drawdown of the groundwater level in this plain were 17 meters during 1995 to 2006. The purpose of this study is to evaluate water level changes in the Kavar-Maharloo Aquifer in the Fars province in order to determine the areas of greatest depletion, the cause of depletion, and predict the remaining life of the aquifer.

Keywords: Aquifer , ground water depletion, water table

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Authors: I. Grigoratos, R. Monteiro

Abstract:

Regions with a significant percentage of non-seismically designed buildings and reduced urban planning are particularly vulnerable to natural hazards. In this context, the project ‘Improved Tools for Disaster Risk Mitigation in Algeria’ (ITERATE) aims at seismic risk mitigation in Algeria. Past earthquakes in North Algeria caused extensive damages, e.g. the El Asnam 1980 moment magnitude (Mw) 7.1 and Boumerdes 2003 Mw 6.8 earthquakes. This paper will address a number of proposed developments and considerations made towards a further improvement of the component of seismic hazard. In specific, an updated earthquake catalog (until year 2018) is compiled, and new conversion equations to moment magnitude are introduced. Furthermore, a network-based method for the estimation of the spatial and temporal distribution of the minimum magnitude of completeness is applied. We found relatively large values for M_c, due to the sparse network, and a nonlinear trend between M_w and body wave (m_b) or local magnitude (M_L), which are the most common scales reported in the region. Lastly, the resulting b-value of the Gutenberg-Richter distribution is sensitive to the declustering method.

Keywords: Conversion equation, magnitude of completeness, seismic events, seismic hazard.

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Authors: Hyun-Koo Kim, Sagong Kuk, MinKwan Kim, Ho-Youl Jung

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This paper presents an effective method for detecting vehicles in front of the camera-assisted car during nighttime driving. The proposed method detects vehicles based on detecting vehicle headlights and taillights using techniques of image segmentation and clustering. First, to effectively extract spotlight of interest, a segmentation process based on automatic multi-level threshold method is applied on the road-scene images. Second, to spatial clustering vehicle of detecting lamps, a grouping process based on light tracking and locating vehicle lighting patterns. For simulation, we are implemented through Da-vinci 7437 DSP board with near infrared mono-camera and tested it in the urban and rural roads. Through the test, classification performances are above 97% of true positive rate evaluated on real-time environment. Our method also has good performance in the case of clear, fog and rain weather.

Keywords: Assistance Driving System, Multi-level Threshold Method, Near Infrared Mono Camera, Nighttime Vehicle Detection.

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Authors: Andreia Guimarães Farnese, Mateus Fernandes Réu Urban, Leandro Procópio, Renato Zângaro, Regiane Albertini

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Senescence changes include postural balance, inferring the risk of falls, and can lead to fractures, bedridden, and the risk of death. Physical activity, e.g., cardiovascular exercises, is notable for improving balance due to brain cell stimulations, but fine coordination exercises also elevate cell brain metabolism. This study aimed to verify whether the elderly person who performs fine motor activity has a balance similar to that of those who practice physical activity. The subjects were divided into three groups according to the activity practice: control group (CG) with seven participants for the sedentary individuals, motor coordination group (MCG) with six participants, and physical activity group (PAG) with eight participants. Data comparisons were from the Berg balance scale, Time up and Go test, and stabilometric analysis. Descriptive statistical and ANOVA analyses were performed for data analysis. The results reveal that including fine motor activities can improve the balance of the elderly and indirectly decrease the risk of falls.

Keywords: Balance, barapodometer, coordination, elderly.

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Authors: Zhankun Wang, Timothy Makubuya

Abstract:

The efficiency of public sports service of prefecture-level cities in Zhejiang from 2008 to 2012 was evaluated by applying the DEA method, then its influencing factors were also analyzed through Tobit model. Upon analysis, the results revealed the following; (i) the change in average efficiency of public sports service in Zhejiang present a smooth uptrend and at a relatively high level from 2008 to 2012 (ii) generally, the productivity of public sports service in Zhejiang improved from 2008 to 2012, the productivity efficiency varied greatly in different years, and the regional difference of production efficiency increased. (iii) The correlations for urbanization rate, aging rate, per capita GDP and the population density were significantly positive with the public sports service efficiency in Zhejiang, of which the most significant was the aging rate. However, the population density and per capita GDP had less impact on the efficiency of public sports service in Zhejiang. In addition, whether the efficiency of public sports services in different areas in Zhejiang reciprocates to overall benefits in public wellbeing in both rural and urban settings is still arguable.

Keywords: DEA Model, public sports service, efficiency, Tobit model, Malmquist productivity index, Zhejiang.

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Authors: Sun-Young Jang, Sung-Ah Kim, Dongyoun Shin

Abstract:

Current real-estate value estimation, difficult for laymen, usually is performed by specialists. This paper presents an automated estimation process based on big data and machine-learning technology that calculates influences of building conditions on real-estate price measurement. The present study analyzed actual building sales sample data for Nonhyeon-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, Korea, measuring the major influencing factors among the various building conditions. Further to that analysis, a prediction model was established and applied using RapidMiner Studio, a graphical user interface (GUI)-based tool for derivation of machine-learning prototypes. The prediction model is formulated by reference to previous examples. When new examples are applied, it analyses and predicts accordingly. The analysis process discerns the crucial factors effecting price increases by calculation of weighted values. The model was verified, and its accuracy determined, by comparing its predicted values with actual price increases.

Keywords: Big data, building-value analysis, machine learning, price prediction.

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