Plan Dimensions Research Articles

A Projection-Based Evolutionary Algorithm for Multi-Objective and Many-Objective Optimization

Many-objective optimization problems (MaOPs) are challenging optimization problems in scientific research. Research has tended to focus on algorithms rather than algorithm frameworks. In this paper, we introduce a projection-based evolutionary algorithm, MOEA/PII. Applying the idea of dimension reduction and decomposition, it divides the objective space into projection plane and free dimension(s). The balance between convergence and diversity is maintained using a Bi-Elite queue. The MOEA/PII is not only an algorithm, but also an algorithm framework. We can choose a decomposition-based or dominance-based algorithm to be the free dimension algorithm. When it is an algorithm framework, it exhibits a better performance. We compare the performance of the algorithm and the algorithm with the MOEA/PII framework. The performance is evaluated by benchmark test instances DTLZ1-7 and WFG1-9 on 3, 5, 8, 10, and 15 objectives using IGD-metric and HV-metric. In addition, we investigated its superior performance on the wireless sensor networks deployment problem using C-metric. Moreover, determining objective domain for the objects of the wireless sensor networks deployment problem reduces the time and makes the solution set more responsive to user needs.

Goal-Pursuit Tendencies and Retirement Planning: A Time-Lagged and Multi-Dimensional Investigation

Abstract Existing studies regarding retirement planning have suggested that demographic variables, retirement-related characteristics, and work-related factors are closely associated with retirement planning. However, the importance of individual goal-pursuit tendencies within a multi-dimensional framework of retirement planning has been overlooked. As retirement planning is conceptualized as a multi-faceted and goal-directed behavior, the absence of these concepts within the literature presents an important theoretical and empirical gap. Drawing upon the dual-process model of coping, the current study examined the incremental effects of tenacious goal pursuit (TGP) and flexible goal adjustment (FGA) on four dimensions of retirement planning (i.e., financial planning, health planning, interpersonal/leisure planning, and work planning). Data from 377 Chinese older workers at two time points showed that FGA rather than TGP was positively associated with financial, health, and interpersonal/leisure planning. Further, FGA demonstrated incremental predictive validity over TGP. This study contributes to the retirement planning literature by investigating how older adults’ goal-related dispositions may impact their retirement planning in different arenas. Practical implications of our findings, limitations, and future research directions are also discussed.

The Research of Foreign Language Signs in Beijing Road from the Perspective of Spolsky’s Language Policy Theory

Foreign language signs are used in providing message towards foreigners, including information, indication, warning, etc. While traveling in foreign countries, those correct signs play a crucial role in showing direction, introducing spots and keeping people away from danger and so on. However, the Beijing Road Cultural Tourism Zone, which receives a large number of foreign visitors, sets up some foreign language signs with wrong English translations. Moreover, as a tourism card of Guangzhou City, in the study of situation of foreign language sigs translation, the Beijing Road Cultural Tourism Zone have not yet been studied as an example. Therefore, this thesis chooses to research on it. Based on the three dimensions of language practices, language ideology, and language planning of Spolsky’s language policy theory, this thesis adopts questionnaires and field surveys to investigate and analyze the current situation and its reasons of the English translation of foreign language signs on the Beijing Road Cultural Tourism Zone of Guangzhou City. The survey shows that there are many situations with the translation of foreign language signs on Beijing Road, such as translating in pinyin and non-use of the English translation, as well as inconsistent translation, omission of translation, literal translation, and spelling errors. The above situation is a reflection of the completeness of Cantonese pinyin system and the Guangzhou government’s cultural protection, the government’s strong language sovereignty ideology and uneven language service ideology of the people involved, and the inadequate language planning in regulations formulation, translation standard publicity and translators’ management. Finally, this thesis proposes several strategies to provide certain reference proposals for Guangzhou city to formulate and improve relative language policies.

Mid Rise Building having Oblique Column with and without Damper: A Review

Abstract: As the modern culture of living develops, conventional regular shaped buildings are getting outdated with new designs of complex irregular shaped structures. That irregularity became the new mode of measuring the modernity and development of that society. The complex shapes demands the need of designing irregular shaped structural elements too. One of that structural elements is oblique columns. The Oblique columns are inclined or slanted or rotated at an angle to reference line. Oblique columns are stiffer and the initial stiffness of the reinforced concrete frames largely depends upon the stiffness of oblique column. For oblique column of below 90°, there will be a decrease in plan dimensions and for above 90°, there will be increase in plan dimensions as we reach upper floors. It affects the lateral stiffness of these buildings. Compared to standard columns, oblique columns of below 90° have lesser storey shear values and oblique columns of above 90° have higher storey shear values. Stiffness of reinforced concrete frames with oblique columns depends on the distribution of oblique columns. The lateral loads are resisted by structure with oblique columns of below 90°, the highest storey displacement is less in oblique structure as compared to the easy RC Frame building. The building is analyzed with and without viscous dampers. In this review paper, attempts are made to review the previous studies related to buildings with oblique columns and dampers. It aims at consolidating the outcomes of several attempted kinds of research to improve the overall stability of the buildings with oblique column.

Influencing factors analysis of adaptability of cancer patients to return-to-work

To clarify the adaptability of cancer patients to return to work and explore its influencing factors. A cross-sectional study. From March to October 2021, 283 cancer patients in the follow-up period were recruited from the oncology departments of four secondary and above hospitals and cancer friendship associations in Nantong city using self-developed scale of adaptability to return to work for cancer patients by convenience sampling method. The contents included general sociodemographic data, disease-related data, cancer patients' readability to work Scale, Medical Coping Style Questionnaire, Social Support Rating Scale, Family Closeness and Readability Scale, General self-efficacy Scale and Social impact Scale. Paper questionnaires were used for face-to-face data collection, and SPSS17.0 was used for statistical analysis. Univariable analyses and multiple linear regression analysis were conducted. The overall score of cancer patients' adaptability to return to work was (87.05±20.255), (22.54±4.234) for the dimension of focused rehabilitation, (32.02±9.013) for the dimension of reconstruction effectiveness, and (32.49±9.023) for the dimension of adjustment planning. Multiple linear regression analysis showed that the current return to full-time work (β =0.226, P 0.05), the current return to non-full-time work (β =0.184, P 0.05), yield response (β = -0.132, P 0.05), and general self-efficacy (β =0.226, P 0.05) could affect their return to work adaptation. The results of status quo and influencing factors showed that the adaptability of cancer patients to return to work was generally higher in this study. Cancer patients who had participated in work, had lower yield coping scores and stigma scores, and higher self-efficacy scores and family adjustment and intimacy scores had better adaptability to return to work again. It has been approved by the Human Research Ethics Committee of the Affiliated Hospital of Nantong University (Project No.202065).

“The Past We Step Into and How We Repair It”

Problem, research strategy, and findings Anti-racist futures in urban and regional planning require repairing the White supremacist harms that have structured our metropolitan areas and patterns of living. What would constitute the appropriate dimensions for a reparative planning practice? Focusing here on the harms of anti-Black racism, answering these questions requires a deep engagement with the rich tradition of Black radical thought and debates in political philosophy and planning theory about urban justice. We begin by engaging with recent discussions in planning theory regarding definitions of urban justice. We then draw from threads of Black radical thought, identifying central insights from and tensions among Black nationalist, Marxist, feminist, abolitionist, and environmental justice movements. From these themes in Black radical thought, we present key dimensions of reparative planning and apply them to three case studies. Takeaway for practice Reparative planning must involve at a minimum at least three dimensions: public recognition, material redistribution, and social and spatial transformation. For this third, transformative dimension, we identify five principles for reparative planning: creating spaces for Black joy, advancing material redistribution, attending to intersectionality, building new democratic institutions grounded in and with the participation of non-elites, and constructing environmentally just futures. In practice, Black-led movements for economic democracy at the local level are creating examples of what grassroots reparative planning could be by creating joyful spaces for dialogue, education, and cultural production; building cooperative, nonextractive financial institutions that are redistributive; developing the capacity for broad, grassroots participatory democracy; designing structures for community control of projects that advance racial equity; and prioritizing efforts that help repair local ecosystems.

The impact of time management on making and taking managerial decisions: A study of commercial banks operating in the municipality of Zliten

This study aimed to assess the influence of time management on the making and administrative decisiontaking,for managers and employees of commercial banks operating in the municipality of Zliten. The study sample was represented by (240) individuals from the study community. the questionnaire form was used to collect data, where it was distributed to (240) employees of commercial banks in the municipality of Zliten, and the number of analyzable forms was (224) forms. The researchers used hierarchical regression and Constructivist modeling by the Amos technique. The study has conducted that the time management affects the decision-making process more than it affects decision-Taking, and that the dimensions of time planning and organization have an impact on decisionmaking, but they did not affect decision-taking. And there is no influence of directing time on both decisionmakingand decision-Taking

Beleaguered City, Beleaguered Planet

Abstract This article sets out to analyze the connections between three different but related phenomena (capitalist globalization, the Anthropocene, and the coronavirus epidemic) through the lens of iconic buildings and spaces and the cities in which they are mostly found. I argue that the transnational capitalist class uses cities as competitors in a global system of lucrative investment opportunities. Capitalist globalization is widely implicated in the Anthropocene (signifying human impacts on the Earth system, usually destructive) and together they facilitate the spread of the coronavirus. The concept of “administrative evil” is mobilized to highlight the ethical dimensions of city planning, and the increasingly “beleaguered city.”

Seam Modelling and Reserve Calculation for Lignite Field in Adana-Tufanbeyli (Turkey)

Since the first investment in mining operations is very high, so, it is absolutely important to model the field inthree dimensions for appropriate planning and cost analysis. The whole data set belonging to the geological, geophysicaland drilling exploration studies carried out in the field should be evaluated as a package. In the modelling phase, thecomputer-aided tri-dimensional mining software has been used instead of the classical reserve calculation methods beingutilized in previous years. Thus, more realistic and shorter results are achieved. In the present work, three-dimensionalseam modelling of the Adana-Tufanbeyli (Turkey) lignite field was carried out. In modelling, the coal horizon of thefield was examined. Then, the sub-seam levels in the horizon were determined and after examining their geometricrelationships with each other, three sub-seams were defined. Seam composites were prepared by the downhole methodto make the analysis results of different sizes uniform. It is possible to make block quality estimations, which will be thebasis for reserve calculations, by creating variograms in different directions. Variograms are first created in the verticaldirection and then in the horizontal direction respectively, to obtain the necessary parameters. The nugget effect andstructural distance parameters were obtained from the created variogram models. To assign quality estimation values onthe block model, the Kriging method was used when the number of data was sufficient, and the inverse distance methodwas applied, when it was insufficient. As a result of this modelling study, a total of 355.617.194 tons of lignite reserveswith an average calorific value of 1.153 Kcal/kg were determined in the field.

Predicting Preservice Science Teachers' TPACK through ICT usage.

Designing effective and efficient learning environments by integrating recent educational technologies into the teaching process has become an important goal of education for nearly two decades. However, earlier studies showed that a higher level of technology knowledge does not guarantee the development of TPACK. At this point, studies guided by the transformative approach defining TPACK as a unique knowledge revealed encouraging results for a better understanding of technology-integrated instruction. This study aims to investigate to what extent ICT usage categories predict preservice science teachers' TPACK. Totally 326 preservice science teachers with a mean age of 21.62 (SD = 1.41) from seven different universities participated. For that purpose, a correlational study was conducted. The ICT-TPACK-Science Scale and the ICT Usage Questionnaire were used to collect data. Six separate multiple regression analyses were conducted to predict TPACK measures using ICT measures. Results indicated that approximately a third of the variability in total-TPACK scores can be accounted for by three ICT measures. The relative importance of individual predictors is arranged in the following order desktop software, emerging ICTs, and hardware. As for the dimensions of the ICT-TPACK-Science Scale, the overall effect of the ICT predictors decreased in the following order: Designing, implementing, planning, proficiency, and ethics. Emerging ICTs made the highest contribution to the designing and proficiency dimensions; while desktop software made the highest contribution to the implementing, planning, and ethics dimensions. To sum up, this study describes the association between ICT usage and TPACK in the view of the transformative ICT-TPACK-Science framework. The utilization and transformation of ICT tools as a cognitive partner for effective and efficient science teaching in different TPACK dimensions needs further investigation.

Comparative Study on Dynamic Analysis of Diagrid Bracings and Shear Wall in Different Locations in Terms of Sustainability using ETABS

This paper aimed to provide insights about the diagrid and shear wall structural system and, the comparison has been done to find out which system is sustainability, cost-effective, and superior in resisting lateral load for the buildings which is located in earthquake zone V. The plan area and dimensions of the building in consideration are 625 m2, 25m x 25 m respectively and have 30 stories with an overall height of 91 meters. ETABS software is used to model and analyze all of the buildings following IS 1893:2016, the building location is presumed to be in seismic zone V, with an importance factor of 1.5. Fundamental period (T, seconds), story drift, base shear, lateral displacement, and overturning moment of structures are the structural parameters used to determine the response of the building. The dynamic response of the structure is determined using response spectrum analysis. According to the findings, the diagrid structural system is more cost-effective and sustainable. Because the consumption of material is significantly reduced in the diagrid structure.

Smart City for Sustainable Development: Applied Processes from SUMP to MaaS at European Level

Urban areas constitute one of the main issues of sustainability as defined by the United Nations with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The recent smart city concept represents a way for achieving the urban sustainability goals. The European Commission (EC) bases the smart city concept on three pillars: energy, transport and Information and Communication Technologies (ICT). The main objective of the paper is to investigate the European smart city process, by focusing on urban mobility and their interconnections with the other two pillars. The methodological approach of territorial planning is used by identifying the plan dimensions and then analyzing the processes at master and sectorial level. The applied processes are verified with a review of the European documents that constitute the rules for defining and implementing the smart city concept. European guidelines indicate the SUMP as the integrated master plan that contributes to reach the convergence among energy, transport and ICT processes. By focusing on people mobility sector, European cities are implementing the Mobility as a Service (MaaS) plan at the sectorial level. This implies the necessity to enhance the knowledge of mobility phenomenon, in relation to emerging ICT and their impact on energy consumptions. The contribution of the work is given by the identification of a planning and implementation path focused on smart city, in urban areas, which connects the general goals of Agenda 2030 with the daily implications for citizens and therefore with the specific results. The paper results are useful: from one side, for researchers that work on advancements of theories, and from another side, for planners and decision makers to explore the European attempts towards urban sustainability and the real implementations on urban mobility systems.

Development and Evaluation of an Experiential Career Planning Assignment to Train Students to Assess Organizational Fit.

Determining if an employment opportunity will be a good match can feel daunting, especially for veterinary graduates entering the workforce. To ease this transition, veterinary educators traditionally have attempted to provide career support through interspersed didactic lectures on career options and the preparation of employment documents. While well intended, this approach fails to address the multiple dimensions of effective career planning or the reality that career planning is a lifelong endeavor. For a career planning teaching modality to be effective, it must address all stages of career planning and provide a framework that can be adapted throughout a career. Here we describe how a four-stage career-planning model, utilized throughout higher education, was employed to create a career planning assignment for guiding students in assessing organizational fit. We describe how student feedback was used to inform revisions, resulting in an improved educational experience as measured by students' perceptions of the utility of the assignment. Additional recommendations based on instructor reflection are provided to guide creation and implementation of future assignments. Given the growing support for professional skills training in veterinary medical education, we view incorporation of such learning activities as essential to preparing students to enter the modern veterinary workplace.

Navigating Cultural Difference in Planning: How Cross-Border Adaptation Nurtured Cosmopolitan Competence Among U.S.-Taught Chinese Practitioners

Problem, research strategy, and findings As urban issues become globally intertwined, planning education must train future practitioners to confront cross-border, intercultural conflicts. In U.S. planning schools, although campus diversity has internationalized, it remains hotly debated how to teach global dimensions of planning. We tackled this understudied subject from the perspective of mainland Chinese practitioners who studied planning in the United States and then returned home to work. We examined how cross-border journeys shaped their career choices and their attitudes toward different planning cultures. Through in-depth interviews, we found that although intercultural struggles triggered nationalist-leaning defensiveness in some returnees, most developed bicultural appreciation, embraced plural worldviews, and pursued transformative agency locally and cross-culturally. Returnees’ intercultural competencies and expanded consciousness reflect the value of cosmopolitanism for navigating differences. Amid cultural wars and geopolitical shifts, we call for a cosmopolitan ethos in planning education and practice and invite continual dialogues about future priorities for global planning debates. Takeaway for practice When working across borders, urban professionals inevitably confront cultural differences, institutional constraints, and value conflicts. U.S.-taught Chinese practitioners helped ideas, practices, and ethics travel and take root across borders through entrepreneurial, internationalist, interventionist, and reformist approaches. This suggests that international, multicultural training can equip practitioners with cosmopolitan competencies and pluralist worldviews, which can enable them to navigate cultural–political differences, identify ethical common grounds across borders, and nudge meaningful shifts through incremental, value-aligned action.

COSTING, PLANNING AND CONTROL, AND STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT ACCOUNTING PRACTICES OF SMEs: EVIDENCE IN THE PHILIPPINES

Business organizations face new challenges in the competitive global environment, management accounting is adopted to deploy techniques for achieving efficient operations that deal with competitive advantage. Utilizing different tools and approaches, management accounting generates various financial and non-financial data to support the information needs of organization in the different areas of business. The objective of this study is to determine the extent on how SMEs in the Philippines practice the three major areas of management accounting namely, costing, planning and control, and strategic decision making. The study adopted a descriptive research design employing quantitative method of data collection and analysis. Study was conducted in Quezon province. Out of a sample size of 363 distributed among the 39 municipalities and 2 cities, only 158 participated in the study because they were the only SMEs with Management Accountant. Results show that costing is used to a “Great Extent”, as a management accounting practice in SMEs through the creation of products and services in which cost information sets the guide for the setting of sales prices to determine organizational profits. The management accounting practice of planning and control are used to a great extent by the SMEs which defines the performance to be measured and the provision of feedback keeping the strategic plan on target. The management accounting techniques used by SMEs in terms of strategic decision making are being practiced to a great extent which implies the constant engagement of SMEs in obtaining financial information in order to make strategic decisions effectively for the enhancement of their competitive advantage. The study advocates the use of management accounting practices in the dimensions of cost management, planning and control performance management and strategic decision making, which were found to significantly to impact the gaining competitive advantage and financial performance among SMEs.

Planning and Crisis, Planning in Crisis

How does a profession that prides itself on standing for the common good and working through action –not mere analysis or gesturing- demonstrate its effectiveness in a city devastated by intractable political, economic, financial, health, and social crises? In this essay, I dive into the current context of planning in Beirut (Lebanon) where I have been deeply engaged for decades. Recognizing that planning is deeply embedded in the making of the ongoing overlapping crises in the country, I propose three pathways for thinking about a possible positive role for planning in these circumstances: (i) to (re)construct a source of legitimacy for planning by reconsidering who has custody over the planning process and how the legitimacy of planning is secured; (ii) to accept a “tactical” practice in which grand schemes are replaced with tentative, experimental, and incremental micro-interventions that may succeed or not in reaching an integrated vision and, (iii) to activate the performative dimension of planning, its ability to imagine shared spaces and allow for transgressing contemporary limited realities.

Fragility Comparison for Soft Storey Infill Reduced Structures by Incremental Dynamic Analysis

A keen understanding of how a structure behaves when it is exposed to earthquake scenarios is required in order to foresee and avert the adverse effects and consequences when such a incident occurs, with the current rate of development in our country the construction of mid and high rise residential apartments are rapidly increasing but the data to understand such structures is insufficient, this data includes seismic vulnerability of structures, hazard maps of earthquake prone areas, seismic risks involved for a structure, this data provides the insight of what magnitude of risks are at hand when a earthquake scenario occurs and how to avert or minimize the losses with those risks [1]. In the present study, an effort is made to determine the behavior of soft Storey structures for various parameters when it is exposed to an earthquake ground motion; this includes the development of models analytically with the existence of soft Storey in them with different infill reductions and analyzing them, two models with varying heights and plot areas are considered for this study, this four models are modeled in such a way that different variations of soft Storey existence depending on the location of walls, percentage of infill reductions among different walls are done, a total of eight variety of models are been analyzed in both the X and Y directions. It is concluded that in all the models the fragility is higher in the models with lower lateral dimensions, as the length of the side decreases the fragility of that side is increasing. The Model without reduction performed efficiently showing less probability to collapse and that height and plan dimensions of the model are dependent on each other for the increase or decrease of fragility in a structure. If the height increases with the same model plan dimensions, the fragility of the structure also increases, if the plan dimension increases the fragility of the structure decreases.

Study of climbing plant growth on different types of vertical structure

Various climbing plants can be selected as an element in the vertical greenery system. However, it should consider the species’ suitability to climb any vertical structure. This study aims to analyze the growth rates of several climbing plants in a vertical plane at different hole sizes of a wire mesh. The experimental design used in this experiment was a split-plot factorial randomized block design that consisted of two factors with three replications. The species factor consisted of Antigonon leptosus Hook, Clerodendrum thomsomniae Balf. f, and Thunbergia grandiflora Roxb., while the mesh (hole) size factor consisted of 4 cm and 6 cm. Galvanized wire mesh was used as a vertical plane, while the plane dimension in each experimental unit was 3 m in height and 0.5 m in width. The research results found the best treatments obtained in the growth of A. leptopus in a mesh size of 4 cm. A combination of A. leptopus in a mesh size of 4 cm produced the highest value in plant height, the number of leaves, the percentage of plant coverage, and increasing of flowers number. T.grandiflora and C.thomsoniae ranked second and third in growth rate, respectively

A Study on the Experiences of Higher Education Good Governance in European and North America Countries; Some Lessons Gained for Higher Education in Iran

Higher education, in order to achieve its strategic goals in society, requires governance understanding in a sustainable trend so that it can correctly define and outline its mission and step towards it firmly. Research knowledge and experiences of the advanced countries in this field may certainly contain some considerable and –sometimes - valuable lessons gained in policies for higher education systems in other countries, especially for Iranian higher education system suffering from some ineffective traditional procedures and avoiding up-to-date governance methods. In this article, by applying the research method of document analysis and using the purposeful sampling method, the identification and qualitative analysis of good governance experiences in higher education of three selected countries - including Germany, England and Canada - has been addressed in the four measures of quality affairs, academic independence and financial management. Data gatherings were done by searching contents of universities’ websites, published articles, essays, reports, governmental and academic manuscripts. Data was qualitatively analyzed at two levels of open and axial coding. From the study and analysis of the experiences of good governance in higher education of selected countries, in the dimension of quality measures, including evaluation and quality assurance in the context of agreed frameworks, multiple use of the evaluation system, validation and quality assurance, transparency and accountability, and improvement were identified as the logic of evaluation and quality assurance of higher education. Systematic synergetic management and planning, and network management based on scientific reference were experiences that were represented in the dimension of university management and planning. Morover, in the financial planning measures, experiences such as contingency budgeting based on scientific indicators, and diversity of support in providing financial resources were identified. In the end, the article, by enumerating the findings obtained from its research in the experiences of the governance of the selected countries, has recommended to all the policy makers and officials of the country's higher education to study and review them as lessons that can be learned for awareness and to create a well-considered platform in order to use them effectively, in the framework of appropriate and updated action plans in the field of governance of higher education.

Gradient-Based Differential Neural-Solution to Time-Dependent Nonlinear Optimization

In this technical article, to seek the optimal solution to time-dependent nonlinear optimization subject to linear inequality and equality constraints (TDNO-IEC), the gradient-based differential neural-solution, termed as GDN model, is proposed and researched. Notably, TDNO-IEC is first converted into the nonhomogeneous linear equation with the dynamic parameter. Second, differential neural-solution with the aid of gradient is designed. The contrastive theoretical analyses among the GDN model, gradient-based neural network (GNN), and the dual neural network (DNN) prove that the proposed GDN model has higher accuracy for eliminating the large solution error with exponential convergence. In addition, reasonable convergent time of the GDN model is guaranteed by activation functions with simple formulation. Last, an illustrative example and real-world applications, including robot motion planning and data dimension reduction and reconstruction, further validate the high availability of the proposed GDN model.