Search results for: sustainability fluctuation

Authors: Maziar Asefi

Abstract:

Built environments have a large impact on environmental sustainability and if it is not considered properly can negatively affect our planet. The application of transformable intelligent building systems that automatically respond to environmental conditions is one of the best ways that can intelligently assist us to create sustainable environment. The significance of this issue is evident as energy crisis and environmental changes has made the sustainability the main concerns in many societies. The aim of this research is to review and evaluate the importance and influence of transformable intelligent structure on the creation of sustainable architecture. Intelligent systems in current buildings provide convenience through automatically responding to changes in environmental conditions, reducing energy dissipation and increase of the lifecycle of buildings. This paper by analyzing significant intelligent building systems will evaluate the potentials of transformable intelligent systems in the creation of sustainable architecture and environment.

Keywords: Transformable, Sustainable architecture, Intelligent building system, Environment condition

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Authors: Shaikha AlSanad , Andrew Gale, Rodger Edwards

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Buildings and associated construction methods have a significant impact on the environment. As construction activity increases in Kuwait, there is a need to create design and construction strategies which will minimize the environmental impact of new buildings. Green construction is a design philosophy intended to improve the sustainability of construction by the minimization of resource depletion and CO2 emissions throughout the life cycle of buildings. This paper presents and discusses the results of a survey that was conducted in Kuwait, with the objective of investigating the awareness of developers and other stakeholders regarding their understanding and use of green construction strategies. The results of the survey demonstrate that whilst there seems to be a reasonable level of awareness amongst the stakeholders, this awareness is not currently well reflected in the design and construction practices actually being applied. It is therefore concluded is there is a pressing need for intervention from Government in order that the use of sustainable green design and construction strategies becomes the norm in Kuwait.

Keywords: Sustainability, Sustainable construction, Green Building, Environmental assessment

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Authors: M. Bittencourt, E. K. Yanful, D. Velasquez, A. E. Jungles

Abstract:

The CMLP building was developed to be a model for sustainability with strategies to reduce water, energy and pollution, and to provide a healthy environment for the building occupants. The aim of this paper is to investigate the environmental effects of energy used by this building. A LCA (life cycle analysis) was led to measure the real environmental effects produced by the use of energy. The impact categories most affected by the energy use were found to be the human health effects, as well as ecotoxicity. Natural gas extraction, uranium milling for nuclear energy production, and the blasting for mining and infrastructure construction are the processes contributing the most to emissions in the human health effect. Data comparing LCA results of CMLP building with a conventional building results showed that energy used by the CMLP building has less damage for the environment and human health than a conventional building.

Keywords: Environmental Impacts, Green buildings, Life CycleAnalysis, Sustainability

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Authors: M. Izvercianu, L. Ivascu

Abstract:

This paper presents an innovative computer system that contributes to sustainable development of the enterprise. The research refers to a rethinking of traditional systems of collaboration and risk assessment, present in any organization, leading to a sustainable enterprise. This concept integrates emerging tools that allow the implementation and exploitation of the collective intelligence of the enterprise, allowing the exchange of contextual, agile and simplified information, and collaboration with networks of customers and partners in an environment where risks are controlled. Risk assessment is done in a systemic way: the enterprise as the system compared to the contained departments and the enterprise as a subsystem compared to: families of international standards and sustainability-s responsibilities. The enterprise, in this systemic vision, responds to the requirements that any existing system to operate continuously in an indefinite future without reaching key resource depletion. The research is done by integrating collaborative science, engineering, management, psychology, obtaining thus a cornerstone of sustainable development of the enterprise.

Keywords: Enterprise 2.0, ISO, Risk management, Sustainable development

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Authors: Ntloana Hlabishi Peter

Abstract:

The availability of public transportation modes and qualitative infrastructure is a burning issue that affects urban sustainability. Public transportation is indispensable in providing adequate transportation means to people at an affordable price, and it promotes public transport reliance. Burgersfort town has a critical condition on the urban public transportation infrastructure which affects the bus and taxi public transport modes and the existing infrastructure. The municipality is regarded as one of the mining towns in Limpopo Province considering the availability of mining activities and proposal on establishment of a Special Economic Zone (SEZ). The study aim is to assess the efficacy of current public transportation infrastructure and to propose relevant recommendations that will unlock the possibility of future supportable public transportation systems. The Key Informant Interview (KII) was used to acquire data on the views from commuters and stakeholders involved. There KII incorporated three relevant questions in relation to services rendered in public transportation. Relevant literature relating to public transportation modes and infrastructure revealed the imperatives of public transportation infrastructure, and relevant legislation was reviewed concerning public transport infrastructure. The finding revealed poor conditions on the public transportation ranks and also inadequate parking space for public transportation modes. The study reveals that 100% of people interviewed were not satisfied with the condition of public transportation infrastructure and 100% are not satisfied with the services offered by public transportation sectors. The findings revealed that the municipality is the main player who can upgrade the existing conditions of public transportation. The study recommended that an intermodal transportation facility must be established to resolve the emerging challenges.

Keywords: Public transportation, modes, infrastructure, urban sustainability.

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Authors: Redha Elhuni, M. Munir Ahmad

Abstract:

The main purpose of this research is to construct a generic model for successful implementation of Total Quality Management (TQM) in Oil sector, and to find out the effects of this model on the organizational sustainability development (OSD) performance of Libyan oil and gas companies using the structured equation modeling (SEM) approach. The research approach covers both quantitative and qualitative methods. A questionnaire was developed in order to identify the quality factors that are seen by Libyan oil and gas companies to be critical to the success of TQM implementation. Hypotheses were developed to evaluate the impact of TQM implementation on O SD. Data analysis reveals that there is a significant positive effect of the TQM implementation on OSD. 24 quality factors are found to be critical and absolutely essential for successful TQM implementation. The results generated a structure of the TQMSD implementation framework based on the four major road map constructs (Top management commitment, employee involvement and participation, customer-driven processes, and continuous improvement culture).

Keywords: TQM, CQFs, Oil & Gas, OSD, Libya.

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Authors: Tanima Bhattacharya, Joy Sen

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To transform a space into a better livable and sustainable zone, United Nations Summit in New York 2015, has decided upon 17 sustainable development goals (SDGs) that approach directly to achieve inclusive, people-centric, sustainable developments. Though sustainability has been majorly constructed by four pillars, namely, Ecological, Economic, Social and Cultural, but it is essentially reduced to economic and ecological consideration in the context of developing countries. Therefore, in most cases planning has reduced its ambit to concentrate around the tangible infrastructure, ignoring the fundamentals of socio-cultural heritage. With the accentuating hype of infrastructural augmentation, lack of emphasis of traditional concerns like ethnicity and social connection have further diluted the situation, disintegrating cultural continuity. As cultural continuity lacks its cohesion, it’s growing absence increasingly acts as a catalyst to degrade the heritage structures, spaces around and linking these structures, and the ability of stakeholders in identifying themselves rooted in that particular space. Hence, this paper will argue that sustainability depends on the people and their interaction with their surroundings, their culture and livelihood. The interaction between people and their surroundings strengthen community building and social interaction that abides by stakeholders reverting back to their roots. To assess the socio-cultural sustainability of the city of Kolkata, two study areas are selected, namely, an old settlement from the northern part of the city of Kolkata (KMA), imbued with social connection, age-old cultural and ethnic bonding and, another cluster of new high-rises coming up in the Newtown area having portions of planned city extension on the eastern side of the city itself. Whereas, Newtown prioritizes the surging post-industrial trends of economic aspiration and ecological aspects of urban sustainability; the former settlements of northern Kolkata still continue to represent the earliest community settlement of the British-colonial-cum native era and even the pre-colonial era, permeated with socio-cultural reciprocation. Thus, to compare and assess the inlayed organizational structure of both the spaces in the two cases, selected areas have been surveyed to portray their current imageability. The argument of this paper is structured in 5parts. First, an introduction of the idea has been forwarded, Secondly, a literature review has been conducted to ground the proposed ideas, Thirdly, methodology has been discussed and appropriate case study areas have been selected, Fourthly, surveys and analyses has been forwarded and lastly, the paper has arrived at a set of conclusions by suggesting a threefold development to create happy, healthy and sustainable community.

Keywords: Art innovation, current scenario assessment, heritage, imageability, socio-cultural sustainability.

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Authors: Ahmet Diken, Tahsin Karabulut

Abstract:

The factor which developing countries are in need is capital. Such countries make an effort to increase their income in order to meet their expenses for employment, infrastructure, superstructure investments, education, health and defense. The sole income of the countries is taxes collected from businesses. The businesses should drive profit and return in order to be able to toll. In a world where competition exists, different strategies may be followed by business in developing countries and they must specify their target markets. İn order to minimize cost and maximize profit, SMEs have to concentrate on target markets and select cost oriented strategy. In this study, a theoretical model is suggested that SME firms have to act as cluster between each other, and also must be optimal provider for large scale firms. SMEs’ policy must be supported by public. This relationship can benefit large scale firms to have brand over the world, and this organization increases value added for developing countries.

Keywords: Competitiveness, sustainability, SMEs, developing countries.

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Authors: Jin-Lung Guan, Jyh-Cherng Gu, Chun-Wei Huang, Hsin-Hung Chang

Abstract:

This investigation develops a revisable method for estimating the estimate value of equivalent 10 Hz voltage flicker (DV₁₀) of a DC Electric Arc Furnace (EAF). This study also discusses three 161kV DC EAFs by field measurement, with those results indicating that the estimated DV₁₀ value is significantly smaller than the survey value. The key point is that the conventional means of estimating DV₁₀ is inappropriate. There is a main cause as the assumed Q_max is too small.

Although DC EAF is regularly operated in a constant MVA mode, the reactive power variation in the Main Transformer (MT) is more significant than that in the Furnace Transformer (FT). A substantial difference exists between estimated maximum reactive power fluctuation (DQ_max) and the survey value from actual DC EAF operations. However, this study proposes a revisable method that can obtain a more accurate DV₁₀ estimate than the conventional method.

Keywords: Voltage Flicker, dc EAF, Estimate Value, DV10.

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Authors: Tarek Elhasia, Bernd Noche, Lima Zhao

Abstract:

In recent years, sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) has been widely researched in academic domain. However, due to the traditional operational role and the complexity of supply chain management in the cement industry, a relatively small amount of research has been conducted on cement supply chain simulation integrated with sustainability criteria. This paper analyses the cement supply chain operations using the Push-Pull supply chain frameworks, the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology; and proposal integration approach, proposes three supply chain scenarios based on Make-To-Stock (MTS), Pack-To-Order (PTO) and Grind- To-Order (GTO) strategies. A Discrete-Event Simulation (DES) model of SSCM is constructed using Arena software to implement the three-target scenarios. We conclude with the simulation results that (GTO) is the optimal supply chain strategy that demonstrates the best economic, ecological and social performance in the cement industry.

Keywords: Cement industry, simulation, supply chain management (SCM), sustainability.

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Authors: Simon Samwel Msanjila

Abstract:

Networked environments which provide platforms for business organizations are configured in different forms depending on many factors including life time, member characteristics, communication structure, and business objectives, among others. With continuing advances in digital technologies the distance has become a less barrier for business minded collaboration among organizations. With the need and ease to make business collaborate nowadays organizations are sometimes forced to co-work with others that are either unknown or less known to them in terms of history and performance. A promising approach for sustaining established collaboration has been establishment of trust relationship among organizations based on assessed trustworthiness for each participating organization. It has been stated in research that trust in organization is dynamic and thus assessment of trust level must address such dynamic nature. This paper assesses relevant aspects of trust and applies the assessed concepts to propose a semi-automated system for the management of Sustainability and Evolution of trust in organizations participating in specific objective in a networked organizations environment.

Keywords: Trust evolution, trust sustainability, networked organizations, dynamic trust.

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Authors: Camelia Iuliana Lungu, Chirața Caraiani, Cornelia Dascălu

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The business strategy of any company wanting to be competitive on the market should be designed around the concept of intangibles, with an increasingly decisive role in knowledge transfer of the biggest corporations. Advancing the research in these areas, this study integrates the two approaches, emphasizing the relationships between the components of intellectual capital and corporate social responsibility. The three dimensions of intellectual capital in terms of sustainability requirements are debated. The paper introduces the concept of sustainable intellectual capital and debates it within an assessment model designed on the base of key performance indicators. The results refer to the assessment of possible ways for including the information on intellectual capital and corporate responsibility within the corporate strategy. The conclusions enhance the need for companies to be ready to support the integration of this type of information the knowledge transfer process, in order to develop competitive advantage on the market.

Keywords: Corporate social responsibility, corporate strategy, intellectual capital, sustainability

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Authors: Panida Jongsuksomsakul

Abstract:

This study of the ‘happiness’ and ‘sustainability’ in the community of Donkeaw, Amphoe Mae Rim, Chiang Mai Province during the non-election period in Thailand, noted that their happiness levels are in the middle-average range. This was found using a mixed approach of qualitative and quantitative methods (N = 386, α = 0.05). The study explores indicators for six aspects of well-being and happiness, including, good local governance, administrative support for the health system that maintains people’s mental and physical health, environment and weather, job security and a regular income aids them in managing a sustainable lifestyle. The impact of economic security and community relationships on social and cultural capital, and the way these aspects impact on the life style of the community, affects the sustainable well-being of people. Moreover, living with transparency and participatory communication led to diverse rewards in many areas.

Keywords: Communication, happiness, well-being, Donkeaw community, social and cultural capital.

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Authors: M. Tadi, M. Hadi Mohammad Zadeh, Ozge Ogut

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Although how cities’ forms are structured is studied, more efforts are needed on systemic comprehensions and evaluations of the urban morphology through quantitative metrics that are able to describe the performance of a city in relation to its formal properties. More research is required in this direction in order to better describe the urban form characteristics and their impact on the environmental performance of cities and to increase their sustainability stewardship. With the aim of developing a better understanding of the built environment’s systemic structure, the intention of this paper is to present a holistic methodology for studying the behavior of the built environment and investigate the methods for measuring the effect of urban structure to the environmental performance. This goal will be pursued through an inquiry into the morphological components of the urban systems and the complex relationships between them. Particularly, this paper focuses on proximity, referring to the proximity of different land-uses, is a concept with which Integrated Modification Methodology (IMM) explains how land-use allocation might affect the choice of mobility in neighborhoods, and especially, encourage or discourage non-motived mobility. This paper uses proximity to demonstrate that the structure attributes can quantifiably relate to the performing behavior in the city. The target is to devise a mathematical pattern from the structural elements and correlate it directly with urban performance indicators concerned with environmental sustainability. The paper presents some results of this rigorous investigation of urban proximity and its correlation with performance indicators in four different areas in the city of Milan, each of them characterized by different morphological features.

Keywords: Built environment, ecology, sustainable indicators, sustainability, urban morphology.

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Authors: Nasser Erfani Majd, Mojtaba Lotfizad

Abstract:

In this paper, an ultra low power and low jitter 12bit CMOS digitally controlled oscillator (DCO) design is presented. Based on a ring oscillator implemented with low power Schmitt trigger based inverters. Simulation of the proposed DCO using 32nm CMOS Predictive Transistor Model (PTM) achieves controllable frequency range of 550MHz~830MHz with a wide linearity and high resolution. Monte Carlo simulation demonstrates that the time-period jitter due to random power supply fluctuation is under 31ps and the power consumption is 0.5677mW at 750MHz with 1.2V power supply and 0.53-ps resolution. The proposed DCO has a good robustness to voltage and temperature variations and better linearity comparing to the conventional design.

Keywords: digitally controlled oscillator (DCO), low power, jitter; good linearity, robust

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Authors: H. Bevrani, A. G. Tikdari, T. Hiyama

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Optimal load shedding (LS) design as an emergency plan is one of the main control challenges posed by emerging new uncertainties and numerous distributed generators including renewable energy sources in a modern power system. This paper presents an overview of the key issues and new challenges on optimal LS synthesis concerning the integration of wind turbine units into the power systems. Following a brief survey on the existing LS methods, the impact of power fluctuation produced by wind powers on system frequency and voltage performance is presented. The most LS schemas proposed so far used voltage or frequency parameter via under-frequency or under-voltage LS schemes. Here, the necessity of considering both voltage and frequency indices to achieve a more effective and comprehensive LS strategy is emphasized. Then it is clarified that this problem will be more dominated in the presence of wind turbines.

Keywords: Load shedding, emergency control, voltage, frequency, wind turbine.

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Authors: Naomi Grigoryan, Alexandros Loutsioli Daskalakis, Anna Elisse Uy, Yihe Huang, Aude Laurent (Webanck)

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In response to the building and construction sectors accounting for a third of all energy demand and emissions, the European Union has placed new laws and regulations in the construction sector that emphasize material circularity, energy efficiency, biodiversity, and social impact. Existing design tools assess sustainability in early-stage design for products or buildings; however, there is no standardized methodology for measuring the circularity performance of building components. Existing assessment methods for building components focus primarily on carbon footprint but lack the comprehensive analysis required to design for circularity. The research conducted in this paper covers the parameters needed to assess sustainability in the design process of architectural products such as doors, windows, and facades. It maps a framework for a tool that assists designers with real-time sustainability metrics. Considering the life cycle of building components such as façades, windows, and doors involves the life cycle stages applied to product design and many of the methods used in the life cycle analysis of buildings. The current industry standards of sustainability assessment for metal building components follow cradle-to-grave life cycle assessment (LCA), track Global Warming Potential (GWP), and document the parameters used for an Environmental Product Declaration (EPD). Expanding on the MCI with additional indicators such as the Water Circularity Index (WCI), the Energy Circularity Index (ECI), the Social Circularity Index (SCI), Life Cycle Economic Value (EV), and calculating biodiversity risk and uncertainty, the assessment methodology of an architectural product's impact can be targeted more specifically based on product requirements, performance, and lifespan. Broadening the scope of LCA calculation for products to incorporate aspects of building design allows product designers to account for the disassembly of architectural components. For example, the MCI for architectural products such as windows and facades is typically low due to the impact of glass, as 70% of glass ends up in landfills due to damage in the disassembly process. The low MCI can be combatted by expanding beyond cradle-to-grave assessment and focusing the design process on disassembly, recycling, and repurposing with the help of real-time assessment tools. Design for Disassembly and Urban Mining has been integrated within the construction field on small scales as project-based exercises, not addressing the entire supply chain of architectural products. By adopting more comprehensive sustainability metrics and incorporating uncertainty calculations, the sustainability assessment of building components can be more accurately assessed with decarbonization and disassembly in mind, addressing the large-scale commercial markets within construction, some of the most significant contributors to climate change.

Keywords: Architectural products, early-stage design, life cycle assessment, material circularity indicator.

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Authors: D. Ouahdi, R. Ladjeroud, I. Habi

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The distance protection mainly the impedance relay which is considered as the main protection for transmission lines can be subjected to impedance measurement error which is, mainly, due to the fault resistance and to the power fluctuation. Thus, the impedance relay may not operate for a short circuit at the far end of the protected line (case of the under reach) or operates for a fault beyond its protected zone (case of overreach). In this paper, an approach to fault detection by a distance protection, which distinguishes between the faulty conditions and the effect of overload operation mode, has been developed. This approach is based on the symmetrical components; mainly the negative sequence, and it is taking into account both the effect of fault resistance and the overload situation which both have an effect upon the reliability of the protection in terms of dependability for the former and security for the latter.

Keywords: Distance Protection, Fault Detection, negative sequence, overload, Transmission line.

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Authors: Subramaniam Chandran

Abstract:

This paper examines the interplay of policy options and cost-effective technology in providing sustainable distance education. A case study has been conducted among the learners and teachers. The emergence of learning technologies through CD, internet, and mobile is increasingly adopted by distance institutes for quick delivery and cost-effective factors. Their sustainability is conditioned by the structure of learners and well as the teaching community. The structure of learners in terms of rural and urban background revealed similarity in adoption and utilization of mobile learning. In other words, the technology transcended the rural-urban dichotomy. The teaching community was divided into two groups on policy issues. This study revealed both cost-effective as well as sustainability impacts on different learners groups divided by rural and urban location.

Keywords: Distance Education, Mobile Learning, Policy, Technology

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Authors: M. Sumida

Abstract:

An experimental investigation was performed on pulp liquid flow in straight ducts with a square cross section. Fully developed steady flow was visualized and the fiber concentration was obtained using a light-section method developed by the author et al. The obtained results reveal quantitatively, in a definite form, the distribution of the fiber concentration. From the results and measurements of pressure loss, it is found that the flow characteristics of pulp liquid in ducts can be classified into five patterns. The relationships among the distributions of mean and fluctuation of fiber concentration, the pressure loss and the flow velocity are discussed, and then the features for each pattern are extracted. The degree of nonuniformity of the fiber concentration, which is indicated by the standard deviation of its distribution, is decreased from 0.3 to 0.05 with an increase in the velocity of the tested pulp liquid from 0.4 to 0.8%.

Keywords: Fiber Concentration, Flow Characteristic, Pulp Liquid, Straight Duct.

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Authors: Magdi M. E. Zumrawi

Abstract:

Crossing culverts are essential element of rural roads. The paper aims to investigate failures of recently constructed wadi-crossing pipe culverts in Sennar state and provide necessary remedial measures. The investigation is conducted to provide an extensive diagnosis study in order to find out the main structural and hydrological weaknesses of the culverts. Literature of steel pipe culverts related to construction practices and common types of culvert failures and their appropriate mitigation measures were reviewed. A detailed field survey was conducted to detect failures and defects appeared on the existing culverts. The results revealed that seepage of water through the embankment and foundation of the culverts leads to excessive erosion and scouring causing sever failures and damages. The design mistakes and poor construction were detected as the main causes of culverts failures. For sustainability of the culverts, various remedial measures are recommended to be considered in urgent rehabilitation of the existing crossings.

Keywords: Culvert, erosion, failure, sustainability.

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Authors: Liming Zhang

Abstract:

In this paper, a new adaptive Fourier decomposition (AFD) based time-frequency speech analysis approach is proposed. Given the fact that the fundamental frequency of speech signals often undergo fluctuation, the classical short-time Fourier transform (STFT) based spectrogram analysis suffers from the difficulty of window size selection. AFD is a newly developed signal decomposition theory. It is designed to deal with time-varying non-stationary signals. Its outstanding characteristic is to provide instantaneous frequency for each decomposed component, so the time-frequency analysis becomes easier. Experiments are conducted based on the sample sentence in TIMIT Acoustic-Phonetic Continuous Speech Corpus. The results show that the AFD based time-frequency distribution outperforms the STFT based one.

Keywords: Adaptive fourier decomposition, instantaneous frequency, speech analysis, time-frequency distribution.

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Authors: Mohammad Saraj Sharifzai, Keisuke Kitagawa, Mohammad Kamil Halimee, Javid Habib, Daishi Sakaguchi

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The overall goal of this paper is to examine the suitability and potential of the policies addressing the sustainability and affordability of housing for returnees, and to determine the impact of this policy on housing delivery for Afghan refugees. Housing is a central component of the settlement experience of refugees. A positive housing situation can facilitate many aspects of integration. Unaffordable, and unsafe housing, however, can cause disruptions in the entire settlement process. This paper aims to identify a suite of built forms for housing that is both affordable and environmentally sustainable for Afghan refugees. The result was the development of a framework that enables the assessment of the overall performance of various types of housing development in all zones of the country. There is very little evidence that the present approach of housing provision to the vagaries of market forces has provided affordable housing, especially for Afghan refugees. There is a need to incorporate social housing into the policy to assist people who cannot afford to have their own houses.

Keywords: Afghan refugees, housing policy, affordability, social housing, housing provision, environmental sustainability principles, resettlement.

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

Abstract:

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 & 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: Sally Naji, Julie Gwilliam

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Climate change remains a challenging matter for the human and the built environment in the 21st century, where the need to consider adaptation to climate change in the development process is paramount. However, there remains a lack of information regarding how we should prepare responses to this issue, such as through developing organized and sophisticated tools enabling the adaptation process. This study aims to build a systematic framework approach to investigate the potentials that Neighborhood Sustainability Assessment tools (NSA) might offer in enabling both the analysis of the emerging adaptive capacity to climate change. The analysis of the framework presented in this paper aims to discuss this issue in three main phases. The first part attempts to link sustainability and climate change, in the context of adaptive capacity. It is argued that in deciding to promote sustainability in the context of climate change, both the resilience and vulnerability processes become central. However, there is still a gap in the current literature regarding how the sustainable development process can respond to climate change. As well as how the resilience of practical strategies might be evaluated. It is suggested that the integration of the sustainability assessment processes with both the resilience thinking process, and vulnerability might provide important components for addressing the adaptive capacity to climate change. A critical review of existing literature is presented illustrating the current lack of work in this field, integrating these three concepts in the context of addressing the adaptive capacity to climate change. The second part aims to identify the most appropriate scale at which to address the built environment for the climate change adaptation. It is suggested that the neighborhood scale can be considered as more suitable than either the building or urban scales. It then presents the example of NSAs, and discusses the need to explore their potential role in promoting the adaptive capacity to climate change. The third part of the framework presents a comparison among three example NSAs, BREEAM Communities, LEED-ND, and CASBEE-UD. These three tools have been selected as the most developed and comprehensive assessment tools that are currently available for the neighborhood scale. This study concludes that NSAs are likely to present the basis for an organized framework to address the practical process for analyzing and yet promoting Adaptive Capacity to Climate Change. It is further argued that vulnerability (exposure & sensitivity) and resilience (Interdependence & Recovery) form essential aspects to be addressed in the future assessment of NSA’s capability to adapt to both short and long term climate change impacts. Finally, it is acknowledged that further work is now required to understand impact assessment in terms of the range of physical sectors (Water, Energy, Transportation, Building, Land Use and Ecosystems), Actor and stakeholder engagement as well as a detailed evaluation of the NSA indicators, together with a barriers diagnosis process.

Keywords: Adaptive capacity, climate change, NSA tools, resilience, vulnerability.

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Authors: Yousef Daneshvar Rouyandozagh, Ece. K. Açikgöz

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Conservation of historical urban patterns in the traditional neighborhoods is a part of creating integrated urban environments that are socially more sustainable. Urbanization reflects on life conditions and social, physical, economical characteristics of the society. In this regard, historical zones and traditional regions are affected by dramatic interventions on these characteristics. This article focuses on the Uch Dukkan neighborhood located in Ardabil City in Azarbaijani region of Iran, which has been up to such interventions that leaded its transformation from the past to the present. After introducing a brief inventory of the main elements of the historical zone and the neighborhood; this study explores the changes and transformations in different periods; and their impacts on the quality of the environment and its social sustainability. The survey conducted in the neighborhood as part of this research study revealed that the Uch Dukkan neighborhood and the unique architectural heritage that it possesses have become more inactive physically and functionally in a decade. This condition requires an exploration and comparison of the present and the expected transformations of the meaning of social space from the most private unit to the urban scale. From this token, it is argued that an architectural point of view that is based on space order; use and meaning of space as a social and cultural image, should not be ignored. Based on the interplay between social sustainability, collective memory, and the urban environment, study aims to make the invisible portion of ignorance clear, that ends up with a weakness in defining the collective meaning of the neighborhood as a historic urban district. It reveals that the spatial possessions of the neighborhood are valuable not only for their historical and physical characteristics, but also for their social memory that is to be remembered and constructed further.

Keywords: Urban integrity, social sustainability, collective memory, social decay.

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Authors: Farhan Hussain, M.S.Islam

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Analytically the effect of polarization dependent loss on a high speed fiber optic communication link has been investigated. PDL and the signal's incoming state of polarization (SOP) have a significant co-relation between them and their various combinations produces different effects on the system behavior which has been inspected. Pauli's spin operator and PDL parameters are combined together to observe the attenuation effect induced by PDL in a link containing multiple PDL elements. It is found that in the presence of PDL the Q-factor and BER at the receiver undergoes fluctuation causing the system to be unstable and results show that it is mainly due to optical-signal-to-parallel-noise ratio (OSNItpar) that these parameters fluctuate. Generally the Q-factor, BER deteriorates as the value of average PDL in the link increases except for depolarized light for which the system parameters improves when PDL increases.

Keywords: Bit Error Rate (BER), Optical-signal-to-noise ratio (OSNR), Polarization-dependent loss (PDL), State of polarization (SOP).

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Authors: Danijela Tuljak-Suban, Valter Suban

Abstract:

Food as perishable goods represents a specific and sensitive part in the supply chain theory, since changing physical or chemical characteristics considerably influence the approach to stock management. The most delicate phase of this process is transportation, where it becomes difficult to ensure the stable conditions which limit deterioration, since the value of the deterioration rate could be easily influenced by the mode of transportation. The fuzzy definition of variables allows one to take these variations into account. Furthermore, an appropriate choice of the defuzzification method permits one to adapt results to real conditions as far as possible. In this article those methods which take into account the relationship between the deterioration rate of perishable goods and transportation by ship will be applied with the aim of (a) minimizing the total cost function, defined as the sum of the ordering cost, holding cost, disposing cost and transportation costs, and (b) improving the supply chain sustainability by reducing environmental impact and waste disposal costs.

Keywords: Perishable goods, fuzzy reasoning, transport by ship, supply chain sustainability.

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Authors: Yingjeng James Li, Lung-Yu Sung, Andrew S. Lin, Huan-Jyun Ciou

Abstract:

Durability of Membrane Electrode Assembly for Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells was evaluated in both steady state and accelerated decay modes. Steady state mode was carried out at constant current of 800mA/cm2 for 2500 hours using air as cathode feed and pure hydrogen as anode feed. The degradation of the cell voltage was 0.015V after such 2500 hrs operation. The degradation rate was therefore calculated to be 6uV/hr. Continuously Vigorous fluctuation of the cell voltage, which was switched between OCV and 0.2V, was employed for the accelerated decay mode. No obvious change in performance of the MEA was observed after 10000 cycles of such operation.

Keywords: Durability, lifetime, membrane electrode assembly, proton exchange membrane fuel cells.

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Authors: Rami Darwish

Abstract:

The transport industry is transitioning to sustainable industrial systems to meet its environmental targets. At the heart of this transition lies the electrification of bus systems, which involves the introduction and testing of sustainable technologies in protected environments for customer evaluation. While the transition necessitates business-model innovation, practical implementation has proven to be complex. This article delves into efforts to present the business model of a bus operator engaged in public procurement with the goal of facilitating the industry's shift towards electrification. Through an in-depth case study, the influence of public contracts’ design on the evolution of a technology and the operator's business model for electrification is explored. While the extant literature suggests that public procurement can facilitate business-model innovation and sustainable development, the findings reveal that public-contract design can limit value creation and value capture in potential business models, locking organizations into existing business models and hindering the socio-technical transition to sustainability. Interestingly, public-procurement contract design can play a pivotal role in preventing sustainable innovations from breaking through. This highlights the importance of contract design as a vehicle for dialogue between businesses and authorities that can enable systemic change. The case study also illuminates a paradoxical scenario in which the transport authority was required to reconcile the efficiency and stability required for bus transport with the potential benefits of electrification technologies promising sustainability. Finally, recommendations for navigating and addressing this tension are provided. The implications of these findings extend to the literature on discontinuous innovation and business-model innovation.

Keywords: Sustainable transition, public procurement, business-model innovation, discontinuous innovation, lock-in.

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