Although urban green infrastructure [UGI] is increasingly characterized as an asset because it simultaneously serves critical social and environmental functions, few planning tools or research approaches exist where multiple functions are integrated into a systemic spatial analysis. Accordingly, this report examines the utility of ergonomics as a methodological approach to integrate the natural and social sciences and forge a deeper understanding of UGI multifunctionality. Five administrative districts in Dresden [Germany] were selected as a study area to carry out this analysis. Mixed methods were used to categorize and measure various social and environmental functions of UGI cases, and outcomes analyzed for spatial clustering in GIS. Results from this study provide strong evidence that combining social and environmental variables can significantly inform the way UGI networks are perceived and valued. / text

The State of Illinois and Federal government have designated one of three major rail corridors bisecting Springfield, Illinois, to be retrofitted to accommodate future high-speed rail traffic. The three corridors that bisect the city are known as the 3rd Street, 10th Street, and 19th Street corridors, each running north to south through the central city area. The approved plan completely decommissions the 3rd Street Corridor while expanding the 10th Street corridor to serve rail traffic currently using both of these corridors. Traffic to run along the expanded 10th Street corridor will include Amtrak's high-speed rail passenger service between St. Louis, Missouri, and Chicago, Illinois. The decommissioning of the 3rd Street Corridor in Springfield presents an opportunity for green infrastructure development in the form of a linear park. More broadly, this report argues that increasing quality of life amenities via the redevelopment of rail infrastructure provides a viable alternative economic development strategy for cities facing stagnant growth. / text

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A political boundary divided the City of Shenzhen in 1978. The southern portion is designated as a Special Economic Zone (SEZ), while the northern region remains a part of hinterland China. The divide creates a geographical and psychological chasm in the administrative and ontological existence of Shenzhen. The locals dubbed this border “the Second Line”. The Second Line and SEZ were a part of Chairman Deng Xiaoping’s open and reform economic policies in 1978. The SEZs were designated areas along the southeast coast of China for the socialist state’s experimentation with global capitalism. After years of wars, revolution and repression of the individual pursuit of capital, Shenzhen underwent extraordinary urban and economic development, growing from clusters of villages holding 300 000 residents to a megalopolis of more than a million in one decade. The Second Line drove uneven urban and economic growth in the Shenzhen SEZ. The radical speed of development and opportunities brought workers from rural areas of China. They made up the economic and urban substructure of the city, but were excluded from urban social welfare. Shenzhen’s industries rooted in instability and disposability of labour discouraged the settlement of the floating population. The thesis proposal conceptually commemorates the site of the Second Line, and pays homage to its crucial role in the urban and economic formation of Shenzhen. At the urban scale, it acts as a public infrastructure, providing a framework for interface between the segregated territories of the city. The social housing component of the proposal is an architectural response and challenge to policies that allow for the migration of rural workers without provisions for everyday life. The proposal subverts the divisive ideology of the boundary through inhabitation, and creates a space of dwelling on the Second Line.

In general, the main purpose of a structural control system is to apply powerful control techniques that improve the behaviour of civil structures under various kinds of dynamic loading. The first part of this thesis presents novel applications of posicast and input shaping control schemes that have never previously been applied in the field of structural control. Numerical simulations of a benchmark three-story building with an MR damper are used to verify the efficiency of the proposed control theories. The superiority and effectiveness of the suggested schemes at reducing the structure’s responses were demonstrated using six evaluation criteria and by comparison to results achieved with well-established classical control schemes. Moreover, a comprehensive procedure for generating scaled real ground motion records appropriate for a seismic analysis and design of structures using the linear spectrum matching technique is presented based on a seismic hazard study.To efficiently control a structure, it is necessary to estimate its real-life dynamical behaviour. This is usually done using the Structural Identification approach, which is also addressed in this thesis. Structural Identification is commonly utilized to bridge the gap between the real structure and its modeled behaviour. It can also be used to evaluate the structure’s health, detect damage, and assess efficiency. Despite the extensive development of parametric time domain identification methods, their relative merits and the accuracy with which they predict the behaviour of vibrating structures are largely unknown because there have been few comparative studies on their performance under diverse test conditions, and they have not been verified against real-life data gathered over extended periods of time.Thus, the second part of this thesis focuses on applications of parametric and non-parametric models based on the Structural Identification approach in order to clarify their potential and applicability. In addition, a new strategy is proposed that combines this approach with techniques based on Singular Value Decomposition (SVD) and Complex Mode Indicator Function (CMIF) curves to detect structural damage.The methods developed in this work are used to predict the vertical frequencies of the top storey in a multi-storey building prefabricated from reinforced concrete in Stockholm, and to detect and locate damage in a benchmark steel frame. In addition, the non-parametric structural identification approach is used to investigate variation in the modal characteristics (frequency, damping, and mode shapes) of a steel railway bridge. / <p>Godkänd; 2015; 20150303 (taredr); Nedanstående person kommer att disputera för avläggande av teknologie doktorsexamen. Namn: Tarek Edreees Saaed Alqado Ämne: Konstruktionsteknik/Structural Engineering Avhandling: Structural Control and Identification of Civil Engineering Structures Opponent: Professor Francesc Pozo, Department of Applied Mathematics III, Escola Universitària d’Enginyeria Tècnica Industrial de Barcelona (EUETIB), Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya Comte d’Urgell, Barcelona, Spanien Ordförande: Professor Jan-Erik Jonasson vid Avd för byggkonstruktion och produktion, Institutionen för samhällsbyggnad och naturresurser, Luleå tekniska universitet Tid: Torsdag den 26 mars 2015, kl 10.00 Plats: C305, Luleå tekniska universitet</p>

In the literature it is generally assumed that activities of voluntary membership based associations operating in stable institutional environments are multi-faceted, contributing simultaneously to societal, economic and political spheres. This article, drawing on the concept of functions of non-profit organizations investigates, whether the multi-functional character of associations holds true in the context of transitional Russia. The paper examines the relative importance of the advocacy, community building and service delivery functions, fulfilled by different types of associations. The original empirical data from exploratory interviews with 15 leading experts on associational activities was triangulated by a confirmatory survey of 215 associations across Russia. The results confirm that the absolute majority of the examined associations are multifunctional. Advocacy is considered to be the most important function for all types of associations. The findings suggest that business associations and intermediary unions are more active in policy advocacy directed toward the government, while liberal professional societies are more engaged in public advocacy addressing society at large. This study highlights importance of domestic associations for countries in transition as an institutional infrastructure of organized civil society, democratic development and market economy.

M.Comm. / Each year, in an attempt to alleviate poverty, government invests large parts of the budget to provide infrastructure to poor households in South Africa. This not only necessitates an understanding of the effectiveness of government’s infrastructure delivery rate to address poverty in South Africa, but also raises important questions on how the poor can be identified. In recent years, countries have moved away from traditional broad poverty measures such as gross national income (GNI) per capita and Human Development Index (HDI). Information on poverty and other household information are more often collected through household surveys. From these surveys, monetary and non-monetary poverty measures can be used to identify the poor. By making use of a monetary poverty measure such as expenditure, per capita household expenditure can be calculated. Households are divided into quintiles based on their per capita household expenditure, and the bottom 20 and 40 per cent are usually the benchmark for households to be identified as being poor. This is analysed in terms of the poor’s access to services and other household characteristics. Qualitative regression models have gained more recognition in econometrics, especially in the social sciences field. Information collected from household surveys is often qualitative, or binary in nature. Due to the non-linear nature of binary-dependent variable models, logit and probit models were appropriate for this study. The maximum likelihood method, within the binary choice framework, was employed to determine the extent to which infrastructure delivery and other household characteristics have an impact on poverty. The results provided empirical evidence that infrastructure investment can significantly reduce the likelihood that a household will be poor, given a set of characteristics.

The ability to interoperate between systems, people, and organizations is considered an important issue within eHealth in order to deliver patient centered care. The achieving and improving of interoperability is a complex undertaking involving the evolution of an information infrastructure, sharing of knowledge and resources, governance of the interoperation between organizations, people and work practices, and handling of economic and legal matters. This thesis contributes with practical knowledge on improving interoperability, based on active participation in and empirical studies of improving interoperability in ePrescribing. A case study describes and analyzes the evolution of ePrescribing in Sweden since the early pioneering years in 1980s, its growth and consolidation before the reregulation of the pharmacy market in 2009. Apractical theory on ePrescribing is presented. A unique field experimental study measuring improvement of interoperability in ePrescribing, before and after a major intervention to improve the quality of ePrescriptions between 2004 and 2009 is presented. Furthermore, a practical theory on interoperation and interoperability is presented. Interoperability is seen as the exercised capability of organizations through their agents to interoperate in a shared work practice in an effective, efficient, and satisfactory manner based on a common ground in a mediated, prescriptive, and non-personal communicative setting using an information infrastructure for mediating interoperation.

The work provides basic information about the infrastructure of Belarus. The work is divided into five chapters. each of them provides information about rail, auto, aviation and water transport. The last chapter is devoted to statistic data that show the development of transport in Belarus in recent years.

Thesis (M.M. (Finance & Investment))--University of the Witwatersrand, Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, Graduate School of Business Administration, 2013. / The lack of a framework for selecting appropriate funding mechanisms results in costly and inefficient financing of public infrastructure projects in South Africa. The purpose of this research was to determine the nature, the utilisation and the appropriateness of various public infrastructure financing mechanisms. Twenty major public infrastructure projects were used to conduct the exploratory study of public infrastructure financing practices in South Africa. Although the research found that South African financing practices were similar to practices in developed economies, it was also found that the capacity of public institutions to manage infrastructure projects needed strengthening. The research further found that markets for other mechanisms had to be developed further to provide more financing options. Finally, a conceptual framework that provides a consistent and systematic process in selecting appropriate and efficient public infrastructure financing decisions was proposed.