Local Infrastructure Research Articles

Landslide risk assessment combining kernel extreme learning machine and information value modeling-A case study of Jiaxian Country of loess plateau, China

Landslide risk mapping can be an effective reference for disaster mitigation and land use planning, but the modelling process involves multidisciplinary knowledge which leads to its complexity. In this study, Jiaxian County in Shaanxi Province on the Loess Plateau of China, served as the study area, primarily characterized by Quaternary loess-covered geomorphology, with an average rainfall of about 400 mm annually. Soil erosion and human engineering activities have contributed to significant slope failures, posing threats to local residents and infrastructure. A reasonable inventory of landslides in the region was established by field survey combined with aerial imagery, allowing for characterization of their development and spatial distribution. Nine thematic maps related to landslide occurring and three vulnerability maps were prepared as influencing factors for landslide risk assessment. Subsequently, landslide susceptibility and hazard were evaluated using a kernel extreme learning machine (KELM) and information value (IV) model, followed by map validation. A decision table was then employed to generate the landslide risk map. The results of landslide hazard mapping showed that the historical landslide events were mainly developed in the central part of the study area, particularly concentrated near the developed river network. Integration of overall risk elements suggested that landslide risks in the study area were generally at a low level. Besides, a total of 0.25 % and 2.05 % of the areas were classified as having very high and high landslide risk levels, respectively, where 65.11 % of inventory landslides occurred. Therefore, the proposed procedure is a valuable tool for assessing landslide risk in Jiaxian Country.

LEVERAGING DIGITAL HEALTH TECHNOLOGIES: ADMINISTRATIVE STRATEGIES FOR ENHANCING PUBLIC HEALTH OUTCOMES IN UNDERSERVED COMMUNITIES

Integrating digital health technologies in public health systems has shown potential to enhance healthcare delivery, particularly in underserved communities. However, the differential impact of varying regional infrastructure and policies remains less explored. Objectives: This study investigates the impact of digital health technologies on improving public health outcomes in underserved communities. Methods: A mixed-methods study was conducted across three major cities in Punjab (Lahore, Faisalabad, and Multan), targeting underserved urban and rural populations. Three hundred healthcare administrators, policymakers, and digital health professionals from public and private healthcare settings participated. Data collection involved structured surveys, in-depth interviews, and focus groups. The geographical analysis assessed the variation in digital health adoption across different cities, factoring in urbanization levels and local infrastructure availability. The statistical analysis of the study variables was done using the SPSS 26 software, where multivariate regression analysis was conducted, and geographical mapping of health outcomes was also done. Results: Studies performed on the feedback revealed critical regional differences. In Lahore, which has an excellent urban setting and governmental policies covering telemedicine, the increase was 65% (p < 0. 01), while in Faisalabad and Multan, where internet facilities are not very strong and facing problems regarding funding, the increase was 50 and 45%, respectively. Reducing chronic disease management hospital readmissions was found to be 35% in Lahore and Faisalabad and 28% in Multan, signifying that digital health infrastructures influence patient outcomes. The administrative strategies, including policy changes, provider training, and other related programs, were found to have made quite a significant contribution, the contribution of which was estimated to be around 70%, the result being the coefficient of changes in the success of the implementation of the digital health notion (r = 0. 74, p < 0. 001). Conclusion: Lahore is also the beneficiary of digital health adoption, while the rural areas in Faisalabad and Multan need more investment in infrastructure and digital health literacy programs to realize comparable benefits.

Issues of LNG producing companies entering the eastern markets and ways to overcome them

This article is devoted to identifying the features of the еastern liquefied natural gas (hereinafter referred to as LNG) markets and new opportunities for entering them. The purpose of this article is to study the problems of LNG producing companies entering the еastern markets and ways to overcome them. The work analyses the current state of the еastern LNG markets and their development prospects, existing barriers, including those caused by the conflict in the Middle East, and possible consequences of the escalation of the conflict. The authors consider the issues of developing localised infrastructure and technological solutions that increase the efficiency of supply chains, meet specific market needs and provide a competitive advantage in the еastern markets. Logframe and comparative analysis, systems approach, and modelling have been used in the research process. As a result, the study has identified a number of challenges for LNG producers, primarily related to geopolitical complexities, regulatory environment, and market development dynamics, to innovations, ecological norms, and understanding regional tensions that may impact supply chains and trade agreements. The findings of the article can be used when domestic companies develop strategies to enter the еastern LNG markets with existing contracts or expand them.

The built environment is more predictive of cardiometabolic health than other aspects of lifestyle in two rapidly transitioning Indigenous populations.

Many subsistence-level and Indigenous societies around the world are rapidly experiencing urbanization, nutrition transition, and integration into market-economies, resulting in marked increases in cardiometabolic diseases. Determining the most potent and generalized drivers of changing health is essential for identifying vulnerable communities and creating effective policies to combat increased chronic disease risk across socio-environmental contexts. However, comparative tests of how different lifestyle features affect the health of populations undergoing lifestyle transitions remain rare, and require comparable, integrated anthropological and health data collected in diverse contexts. We developed nine scales to quantify different facets of lifestyle (e.g., urban infrastructure, market-integration, acculturation) in two Indigenous, transitioning subsistence populations currently undergoing rapid change in very different ecological and sociopolitical contexts: Turkana pastoralists of northwest Kenya (n = 3,692) and Orang Asli mixed subsistence groups of Peninsular Malaysia (n = 688). We tested the extent to which these lifestyle scales predicted 16 measures of cardiometabolic health and compared the generalizability of each scale across the two populations. We used factor analysis to decompose comprehensive lifestyle data into salient axes without supervision, sensitivity analyses to understand which components of the multidimensional scales were most important, and sex-stratified analyses to understand how facets of lifestyle variation differentially impacted cardiometabolic health among males and females. Cardiometabolic health was best predicted by measures that quantified urban infrastructure and market-derived material wealth compared to metrics encompassing diet, mobility, or acculturation, and these results were highly consistent across both populations and sexes. Factor analysis results were also highly consistent between the Turkana and Orang Asli and revealed that lifestyle variation decomposes into two distinct axes-the built environment and diet-which change at different paces and have different relationships with health. Our analysis of comparable data from Indigenous peoples in East Africa and Southeast Asia revealed a surprising amount of generalizability: in both contexts, measures of local infrastructure and built environment are consistently more predictive of cardiometabolic health than other facets of lifestyle that are seemingly more proximate to health, such as diet. We hypothesize that this is because the built environment impacts unmeasured proximate drivers like physical activity, increased stress, and broader access to market goods, and serves as a proxy for the duration of time that communities have been market-integrated.

Imagining Just and Sustainable Food Futures: Using Interactive Visualizations to Explore the Possible Land Uses and Food Systems Approaches in Revelstoke, Canada

Food systems are linked to multiple critical sustainability issues such as climate change, environmental degradation, and growing socioeconomic inequalities, and there is a clear need for transformative changes in how food systems are imagined and enacted. For transformations to occur, local governments and stakeholders must be able to consider achievable and desirable futures that involve radically different reconfigurations of space and land use. Based in Revelstoke, Canada, this study uses interactive visualization methods to engage local government and food systems stakeholders in an exploration of three future food systems scenarios that center on changes in food supply, food affordability, and food governance. An interactive visualization tool was developed using the Unity3D game engine, which visualizes how transformations of an underutilized railway site in Revelstoke may appear in 2100. The visualizations were presented to the study participants (n = 10) through an online, Zoom-based workshop, where ‘walkthroughs’ of the scenarios were performed by the researchers and the participants subsequently provided feedback. The results of this study indicate that visualization tools can elicit emotional responses, convey human relationships with food and nature, communicate power dynamics, and incorporate social justice considerations. The results also show that the visualization’s representation of local infrastructure and services, the completeness of a virtual environment, and the plausibility of a depicted future affect the user assessment of the visualized scenarios.

Addressing coordination problems in residential buyouts: Experimental evidence for managed retreat in the face of climate change-related threats

Voluntary home buyouts can be an effective way to protect homeowners from severe and repeated flood risk while also benefiting the local community by creating flood control areas and reducing local infrastructure costs. Successful implementation of residential buyout programs is complicated by homeowners’ (unobservable) attachment to place and community. In the presence of such preferences, standard posted price offers at fair market value are generally too low to induce a majority of homeowners to move, resulting in spatially fragmented (checkerboarded) buyout patterns, which can be troublesome from both a community and environmental perspective. To help resolve the resulting coordination problem, we experimentally test two acquisition mechanisms from the land conservation literature in the residential flood buyout context, posted price offers and reverse auctions, and pair them with two additional program features, agglomeration bonuses and target constraints (also known as provision points—a threshold required for the buyout to be implemented). Using an induced-value approach, we show that both reverse auctions and agglomeration bonuses are effective at increasing contiguity in this setting by inducing more homeowners to accept buyout offers and to move away from the neighborhood. However, reverse auctions have the advantage of being flexible enough to accommodate heterogeneity in place and community attachment. If external benefits are non-linearly increasing in the number of contiguous residential lots acquired, adding a target constraint to a reverse auction is a potential avenue for effective future buyouts.

Thrombolysis for Ischemic Stroke Despite Recent Ingestion of Direct Oral Anticoagulants - A Growing Dilemma Also in India.

The administration of intravenous thrombolysis (IVT) for patients with acute ischemic stroke who have recently ingested direct oral anticoagulants (DOACs) presents a clinical challenge due to the perceived increased risk of intracranial hemorrhage (ICH). Traditional guidelines from the US and European authorities advise against IVT within 48 h of last DOAC ingestion, unless specific coagulation tests indicate safety. However, emerging observational studies suggest that IVT might be safe in selected patients. A US stroke registry study and a global multicenter cohort study both reported no significant increase in symptomatic ICH among patients on DOACs compared to those not on anticoagulants. A systematic review of all published observational studies further supported these findings, showing comparable bleeding rates and functional outcomes in DOAC-treated patients. Reversal agents like idarucizumab for dabigatran have demonstrated potential in facilitating safer IVT administration, though logistical and cost-related barriers limit their widespread use. The variability in global guidelines reflects differing approaches to risk assessment and resource availability, highlighting the need for individualized treatment decisions. In India, the increasing prevalence of atrial fibrillation and stroke as well as prescription of DOACs necessitate adapted guidelines that consider local health-care infrastructure. Despite the promising observational data, the lack of randomized controlled trials underscores the need for further research to establish robust evidence for IVT use in this context. Collaborative international efforts and inclusion of diverse patient populations in future studies will be crucial to refine treatment protocols and improve outcomes for stroke patients on DOACs.

Exploring the Challenges of Recruiting Older People for a Randomised Trial Assessing the Feasibility of Treating White Coat Hypertension in the UK General Practices: A Mixed-methods study.

There is a recognised association between white coat hypertension (WCH) and adverse cardiovascular outcomes in older adults. However, there is no consensus on the management of WCH in this group. The objective of the Hypertension in the Very Elderly Trial (HYVET-2) study was to assess the feasibility of randomising 100 patients > 75years with WCH from General Practice in the UK to treatment or usual care. The study did not randomise any patients. In this follow-up study, we sought to explore the reasons for not recruiting. Furthermore, using a mixed-methods study design, staff from 29 General Practice (GP) sites and the Clinical Research Network (CRN) in Kent, Surrey, and Sussex (KSS), UK, were sent an online questionnaire about local research facilities and infrastructure, and HYVET-2 study methodology and target population demographics. Nineteen (19) individuals responded to the online questionnaires (15 primary care staff, 4 CRN staff). Moreover, using a framework approach, we identified six themes summarising challenges to HYVET-2 recruitment. These themes are established approaches of primary care towards managing WCH in older people, target patient demographics, study design complexity, patient- facing study documents, limited research resources in primary care, and identification of eligible patients using existing coding. Our experience showed that recruiting older people from primary care to a WCH study was not feasible. A national scoping survey amongst primary care physicians in the UK, as well as robust patient and public involvement (PPI) targeting older people with WCH, might improve recruitment in future studies addressing the management of WCH in older people.

Knowledge, Attitudes, and Perceptions of Maternity Care Providers on the Implementation of Calcium Supplementation during Pregnancy in Three Public Hospitals in Argentina: A Qualitative Study.

The aim of this study was to explore maternity care providers' knowledge, attitudes, and perceptions about the use of calcium supplements during pregnancy for the prevention of preeclampsia in three hospitals from Metropolitan Buenos Aires, Argentina. We conducted semi-structured interviews and followed a thematic analysis framework. Maternity care providers' knowledge, attitudes, and practices regarding calcium supplementation during pregnancy are linked to barriers to the potential implementation of calcium supplementation. Free provision of calcium supplements by the government, coupled with training that reinforces the scientific evidence supporting their use to prevent preeclampsia, along with documented recommendations from credible sources, would be crucial to ensure that health providers adopt the use of calcium supplements in antenatal care. Future studies should assess pregnant women and policymakers' perceptions about calcium supplementation during pregnancy, as well as local infrastructure to provide access to free-of-charge calcium supplements in antenatal care settings. Economic evaluation with local information could inform policymakers and advocate for the implementation of strategies to reduce preeclampsia.

Dynamic Rupture and Strong Ground-Motion Simulations of the 8 January 2022 Ms 6.9 Qinghai Menyuan Earthquake

Abstract The 2022 Ms 6.9 Qinghai Menyuan, China, earthquake is the most destructive earthquake to have occurred near the Lenglongling fault at the western segment of the Qilian–Haiyuan fault since 2016 Ms 6.4 Menyuan earthquake. The 2022 earthquake generated surface rupture measuring about 30 km with an unexpected maximum offset larger than 2.6 m in the epicentral area, and severely damaged the local infrastructure and transportation. To analyze the possible causes of the large surface slip and to reveal the rupture process, we modeled the dynamic rupture and strong ground motion of the 2022 Menyuan earthquake using the curved-grid finite-difference method. In the simulation, the geometry of the fault is constructed based on the observed trace of the surface ruptures. The background tectonic stress field is assumed to be uniform, and the slip-weakening law with the constant friction coefficients is adopted. Our modeling results showed that the rupture model with a focal depth of 6 km and a rupture width of 10 km provides a good fit to the observed surface slips and the field records. We also investigated the effects of the focal depth and the rupture size on the surface slips. It is found that under the same conditions, the dynamic rupture models with a larger rupture size generated greater coseismic slips at the surface. However, only the model with a relatively smaller rupture width produced an Mw∼6.7 event similar to the Menyuan earthquake. In contrast, the influence of the focal depth is less significant. The decrease of the focal depth only leads to a slight increase in surface slip. Our results illustrated that a surface-breaking rupture with a relatively narrow width may physically control the general characteristics of the earthquake. This study provides a new insight into the rupture dynamics of the 2022 Menyuan earthquake.

Over-gastronomy: conceptualisation of the problems in gastronomy

ABSTRACT Gastronomy tourism creates significant attraction for destinations, putting pressure on them due to excessive interest and demand. In this context, the research examines the excess caused by gastronomy tourism in Barcelona and analyses how local foods’ commercialisation affects local communities’ sustainability. In this study, qualitative research methods were used to examine 4308 Tripadvisor reviews from 397 businesses by content analysis, resulting in seven themes: problems related to culinary culture, problems related to local culture, service problems, infrastructure problems, economic problems, environmental problems, and safety problems. The study shows that Barcelona’s gastronomy tourism can threaten residents’ culinary culture and negatively impact the sustainability of local communities and the tourist experience.

Effects of Community Assets on Major Health Conditions in England: A Data Analytic Approach.

The broader determinants of health including a wide range of community assets are extremely important in relation to public health outcomes. Multiple health conditions, multimorbidity, is a growing problem in many populations worldwide. This paper quantified the effect of community assets on major health conditions for the population of England over six years, at a fine spatial scale using a data analytic approach. Community assets, which included indices of the health system, green space, pollution, poverty, urban environment, safety, and sport and leisure facilities, were quantified in relation to major health conditions. The health conditions examined included high blood pressure, obesity, dementia, diabetes, mental health, cardiovascular conditions, musculoskeletal conditions, respiratory conditions, kidney and liver disease, and cancer. Cluster analysis and dendrograms were calculated for the community assets and major health conditions. For each health condition, a statistical model with all community assets was fitted, and model selection was performed. The number of significant community assets for each health condition was recorded. The unique variance, explained by each significant community asset per health condition, was quantified using hierarchical variance partitioning within an analysis of variance model. The resulting data indicate major health conditions are often clustered, as are community assets. The results suggest that diversity and richness of community assets are key to major health condition outcomes. Primary care service waiting times and distance to public parks were significant predictors of all health conditions examined. Primary care waiting times explained the vast majority of the variances across health conditions, with the exception of obesity, which was better explained by absolute poverty. The implications of the combined findings of the health condition clusters and explanatory power of community assets are discussed. The vast majority of determinants of health could be accounted for by healthcare system performance and distance to public green space, with important covariate socioeconomic factors. Emphases on community approaches, significant relationships, and asset strengths and deficits are needed alongside targeted interventions. Whilst the performance of the public health system remains of key importance, community assets and local infrastructure remain paramount to the broader determinants of health.

Diversity of Free-Living Amoebae in New Zealand Groundwater and Their Ability to Feed on Legionella pneumophila.

Free-living amoebae (FLA) are common in both natural and engineered freshwater ecosystems. They play important roles in biofilm control and contaminant removal through the predation of bacteria and other taxa. Bacterial predation by FLA is also thought to contribute to pathogen dispersal and infectious disease transmission in freshwater environments via the egestion of viable bacteria. Despite their importance in shaping freshwater microbial communities, the diversity and function of FLA in many freshwater ecosystems are poorly understood. In this study, we isolated and characterized FLA from two groundwater sites in Canterbury, New Zealand using microbiological, microscopic, and molecular techniques. Different methods for groundwater FLA isolation and enrichment were trialed and optimized. The ability of these isolated FLA to predate on human pathogen Legionella pneumophila was assessed. FLA were identified by 18S metagenomic amplicon sequencing. Our study showed that Acanthamoeba spp. (including A. polyphaga) and Vermamoeba veriformis were the main FLA species present in both groundwater sites examined. While most of the isolated FLA co-existed with L. pneumophila, the FLA populations in the L. pneumophila co-culture experiments predominantly consisted of A. polyphaga, Acanthamoeba spp., Naegleria spp., V. vermiformis, Paravahlkampfia spp., and Echinamoeba spp. These observations suggest that FLA may have the potential to act as reservoirs for L. pneumophila in Canterbury, New Zealand groundwater systems and could be introduced into the local drinking water infrastructure, where they may promote the survival, multiplication, and dissemination of Legionella. This research addresses an important gap in our understanding of FLA-mediated pathogen dispersal in freshwater ecosystems.

Exploring Xylazine Awareness, Health Impacts, and Harm Reduction Strategies: Findings From a Multimethods Study in Lowell, Massachusetts.

Xylazine, an adulterant in local drug supplies, has been detected in approximately 30% of opioid samples submitted for testing in Massachusetts. A better understanding of local risks, harms, and use preferences is needed to combat xylazine-related impacts on local communities. Through the STOP-OD Lowell study, we aimed to assess local xylazine awareness through in-depth interviews with local community stakeholders (n = 15) and local people who use drugs (PWUD; n = 15) and surveys with local PWUD (n = 94). The qualitative interviews focused on the current drug landscape and knowledge of adulterants in Lowell, and the results informed subsequent survey design. Through our survey, we examined whether PWUD were aware of xylazine and their willingness to use xylazine test strips. Most community stakeholders and PWUD had limited awareness about the presence and impact of xylazine as an adulterant. Forty-seven (50%) survey respondents were aware of xylazine. When provided with more information about xylazine, 65% of all respondents expressed a willingness to use xylazine test strips. PWUD who had received naloxone training, reported using with others, and using tester shots were more willing to use xylazine test strips. Our findings are congruent with existing literature that indicates that there is limited awareness of xylazine among PWUD, and they consider xylazine an unwanted adulterant. We also found that PWUD who use other harm reduction measures are more willing to use xylazine test strips. The increase in xylazine warrants additional community-level interventions such as wound management and local testing infrastructure. Further research is needed to understand better the impacts associated with xylazine use, effective harm reduction techniques, and perceptions of xylazine test strips.

The Earth in the Land: Internationalism, Regional Culturalism, and Cosmopolitanism in 1960s Films from Soviet Ukraine

Abstract In the film history of the Ukrainian ssr, the Thaw is regarded as the era of the rebirth of a national Ukrainian cinema. Both films celebrating regional diversity and films merely drawing on local crews and infrastructure are said to have contributed to a national film culture. I look at three distinct approaches to the Soviet concept of multinationality to show that the rebirth of a national cinema was characterized by approaches that did not claim a distinct national identity for Ukraine. Instead, directors facing regional diversity either transcended Ukraine’s cultural environment (through internationalism), undercut it (through what I call regional culturalism), or ignored it altogether (through cosmopolitanism). With the help of this typology, I point to the complex cultural politics of the time. The Soviet Ukrainian films I discuss exemplarily were not part of a common national project at the time, though they may have contributed to it as time passed.

An AI-Based Method for Estimating the Potential Runout Distance of Post-Seismic Debris Flows

The widely distributed sediments following an earthquake presents a continuous threat to local residential areas and infrastructure. These materials become more easily mobilized due to reduced rainfall thresholds. Before establishing an effective management plan for debris flow hazards, it is crucial to determine the potential reach of these sediments. In this study, a deep learning-based method—Dual Attention Network (DAN)—was developed to predict the runout distance of potential debris flows after the 2022 Luding Earthquake, taking into account the topography and precipitation conditions. Given that the availability of reliable precipitation data remains a challenge, attributable to the scarcity of rain gauge stations and the relatively coarse resolution of satellite-based observations, our approach involved three key steps. First, we employed the DAN model to refine the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) data, enhancing its spatial and temporal resolution. This refinement was achieved by leveraging the correlation between precipitation and regional environment factors (REVs) at a seasonal scale. Second, the downscaled GPM underwent calibration using observations from rain gauge stations. Third, mean absolute error (MAE), mean square error (MSE), and root mean square error (RMSE) were employed to evaluate the performance of both the downscaling and calibration processes. Then the calibrated precipitation, catchment area, channel length, average channel gradient, and sediment volume were selected to develop a prediction model based on debris flows following the Wenchuan Earthquake. This model was applied to estimate the runout distance of potential debris flows after the Luding Earthquake. The results show that: (1) The calibrated GPM achieves an average MAE of 1.56 mm, surpassing the MAEs of original GPM (4.25 mm) and downscaled GPM (3.83 mm); (2) The developed prediction model reduces the prediction error by 40 m in comparison to an empirical equation; (3) The potential runout distance of debris flows after the Luding Earthquake reaches 0.77 km when intraday rainfall is 100 mm, while the minimum distance value is only 0.06 km. Overall, the developed model offers a scientific support for decision makers in taking reasonable measurements for loss reduction caused by post-seismic debris flows.

Reimagining energy infrastructure for justice: Power, politics, and institutional work in India’s 2.05 GW Pavagada solar park

India has positioned itself as a leader in transitioning its energy sector to renewable sources, with ambitious targets and policies in place. Large-scale grid-integrated renewable energy plants have been identified as the most efficient option. Scholarly arguments differ regarding the impacts of renewables-led transitions, with some emphasizing positive environmental, economic, and social outcomes, while others highlight the potential for reinforcing asymmetrical power relations and unjust outcomes. Viewing the energy transition as a socio-technical process, we utilize a recent conceptualisation of the relationship between institutional work and infrastructures to analyze the unfolding power dynamics and its influence on socially just outcomes. Theoretically, we draw on the ‘Triple-Re’ framework, which distinguishes three interrelated domains of institutional work in socio-technical transitions: reimagining, recoding, and reconfiguring of infrastructures. Through a process tracing approach, we study the planning and realization of India's Pavagada Solar Park to understand the interactions among actors, institutions, policies, and material contexts at various spatial and temporal scales. Field observations, interviews, and archival research reveal how discursive dynamics and the recoding of rules and policies have facilitated land and resource mobilization, resulting in changes to ownership models, local infrastructure, land use, ecosystems, and occupational structures. We argue that recognizing and understanding these outcomes are crucial for achieving socially just outcomes in the context of renewable energy infrastructure.

Demand side management through energy efficiency measures for the sustainable energy future of Pakistan

Pakistan is facing energy crises due to localized shortages, market manipulation, infrastructure disruption, rising demand, governance issues, climate and geopolitical events. In this situation Demand Side Management (DSM) is a promising solution to overcome the problem of energy crises. DSM strategy helps to manage consumer demand through energy conservation rather than to addition of new power capacity. In this study, Low Emissions Analysis Platform (LEAP) develops an energy model for Pakistan for the period 2022–2050. Three scenarios has been to constructed namely Baseline (BAS), Green Energy Policy (GEP), and Energy Efficiency (ENE) to predict the future energy demand, production, carbon emissions and the investment cost which covers capital, operational and maintenance costs. The model results suggest that DSM targets should be achieved through the implementation of ENE scenario. Predicted energy production and consumption under the ENE scenario are substantially less than those under the BAS scenario. The country can meet its 635.83,000 GWh energy demand with its 747.15,000 GWh energy production. Non-renewable sources produce 171.27,000 GWh, whilst renewable sources produce 575.88,000 GWh. According to this scenario, by 2050, CO2 emissions will be produced around 93.16 million metric tons, requiring an investment cost of $46.80 billion for building new power capacity. The study provides a roadmap with a suggestive optimal balance between energy saving with DSM approach and utilizing renewable energy production to meet energy demand for different sectors of the economy.

Evaluating accessibility benefits and ridership of bike-transit integration through a social equity lens

Integration of bike usage and transit services is an effective way to enhance accessibility for both transportation modes. Using high-resolution transit data, the study analyzes bike-transit multimodal accessibility and usage patterns through a social equity lens. Two types of accessibility increment are studied: bicycle increment to public transit – the benefits of using bicycle for transit riders, and transit increment to cycling – the merits of using transit for cyclists. Results show that bike-transit integration benefits both public transit riders and cyclists, expanding their accessible opportunities by up to 70% and enabling longer trips for cyclists while providing continuous benefits for public transit users. Meanwhile, better infrastructure significantly improves multimodal accessibility, resulting in more increment for public transit riders but less increment for cyclists. The paper also shows the spatiotemporal patterns of multimodal ridership. The research highlights disparities in bike-transit activities for Black communities due to inadequate local biking infrastructure. Black people majority neighborhoods enjoy less increment compared to other neighborhoods for shorter and very long trips; they also have disproportionately lower multimodal ridership despite much higher transit ridership and better transit access. Enhancing biking infrastructure in these areas can improve physical accessibility increment and promote social equity. The paper provides practical insights for transit planning, emphasizing the importance of connecting bike lanes and creating safer streets for cycling.

Co-deployment of bioenergy with carbon capture and storage in the UK: Growth or gridlock?

This study critically evaluates a BECCS-Hub within the North-West Industrial Carbon Capture cluster using advanced digital twin modelling via the Carbon Navigation System and detailed biomass mapping. It investigates five distinct BECCS supply chains at the Protos site, each reflecting novel configurations that closely align with upcoming BECCS projects within the UK. This research highlights significant carbon performance and scalability variations, crucial for aligning with evolving BECCS business models. A key finding is the essential role of biomass security and adaptability in uncertain future biomass availability and heightened intra-BECCS competition. The study reveals potential gridlock scenarios where intense competition for biomass could severely limit the scalability and efficiency of BECCS operations, especially under high competition scenarios. These gridlocks could significantly hinder strategic BECCS deployments by constraining resource availability and complicating logistics, thus impacting the pursuit of the UK's Net-Zero goals. The findings underscore the need for diverse and adaptable deployment strategies that account for biomass availability, technological feasibility, and local infrastructure—factors pivotal to achieving scalable and efficient BECCS operations. Advocating a nuanced, integrated approach to managing biomass competition and optimise resource use, the paper calls for proactive strategic planning and adaptability in BECCS deployment. By leveraging modelling innovations, the study aligns BECCS operations with the UK's stringent Net-Zero objectives and specific business models for BECCS. Such an approach will enhance the sustainable and efficient deployment of BECCS technologies in a competitive and rapidly evolving energy landscape.