Physical Infrastructure Research Articles

The better bandit: decentralised infrastructure, crypto-States, and the rematerialisation of virtual worlds

ABSTRACT This paper examines the role of hardware security as the basis for order in the decentralised metaverse. It does this by considering the infrastructural tools and governance practices at the heart of KONG Land, an example of a blockchain-based decentralised autonomous organisation (DAO) and decentralised physical infrastructure network (DePIN) project. KONG Land manufactures open-source microchips to create verifiable hardware that anyone can use or integrate into their own application. KONG Land’s focus on the materiality of infrastructure led them to pursue a governance model as a digital-physical, politically decentralised polity. By foregrounding the physicality and affordances of decentralised efforts to manufacture microchips, this paper shows how rematerialising digital domains leads back to questions of statehood and its purpose and provides an explanation for emerging sovereignties. Building on Olson’s (1993. Dictatorship, democracy, and development. American Political Science Review, 87(3), 567–576) theory of the stationary bandit, the paper positions projects like KONG Land as an attempt to create a ‘better bandit’ – one that sets out to provide its citizens with a superior level of security than that offered by either nation states or the corporate metaverse, with the intention of creating the conditions for Web3 production and expansion.

Geographic Information System Design for Irrigation System Performance Index Main Network

Irrigation plays an important factor in supporting agricultural land productivity to improve agricultural production. This is achieved by maintaining a sustainable irrigation system through an effective and efficient irrigation system. One method to asses is by using the Irrigation System Performance Index (IKSI). This study designs an information system for IKSI in the main network system. The assessment of IKSI follows PERMEN PU NO.32/2007, with parameters such as physical infrastructure assessment, crop productivity, supporting facilities, personnel organization, documentation, and P3A. The purpose of this system is to determine the operation and maintenance (O&M) strategies and non-physical management strategies. The Main Network SIG IKSI design includes functionalities such as (i) a data folder system, (ii) an imaging system, (iii) GIS, and (iv) an evaluator of physical and non physical irrigation systems. The results of the program in the Antirogo irrigation area show an IKSI the main network value for physical infrastructure of 85,0% and non physical strategies (crop productivity, supporting facilities, personnel organization, documentation, and P3A) of 70,0% until 80,0%. The results shows that the physical infrastructure needs to be carried out regularly and non-physical strategies need to be maintained and improved. Keywords: Association of Farmer Water Users, Geographic Information System, Irrigation System Performance Index, Irrigation, PAKSI.

Research-Driven Solutions for Enhancing Leadership in Competence-Based Curriculum Implementation in Kenyan Secondary Schools

Abstract: The study adopted a systematic review to analyze AI solutions in enhancing leadership in the implementation of CBC in junior secondary schools in Kenya. The study focuses on challenges relating to inadequate training of teachers, inappropriate resource allocation, and stakeholder engagement. We adopted Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) and Distributed Leadership Theory. The findings reveal that AI may enhance educational leadership by the implementation of real-time monitoring, preparation of teaching resources, and managing the institution more effectively. Moreover, the impeding factors for AI penetration in educational institutions are physical infrastructure, lack of digital literacy, and local conditions. In this regard, the study recommends partnerships between educational institutions and companies manufacturing technology equipment and digital training programs. Further research will focus on the development of specific AI applications to fit the Kenyan educational setup for serving all stakeholders: students, teachers, and school administrators.

Engineering indigenous dispossession and plantation slavery in the Southeast Gulf coast

In this paper we examine the activities of US Army topographers and engineers in the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint (ACF) watershed during the violent transformation of the region from the heartlands of the Creek confederacy to US territorial control. A vital waterway for the Creek in the late eighteenth century, the rivers would become an important transportation network in the US plantation economy by the early nineteenth century. We emphasize that the army made its initial infrastructural improvements in the region to provide security for the plantation system. Army engineering in the ACF watershed began in the struggle for the Gulf borderlands, as white American settlers, British forces, Indigenous peoples, and Black maroons fought for control over the contested terrain. US engineers and topographers produced territorial knowledge and physical infrastructure to facilitate the occupation of Indigenous territory and elimination of potential spaces of Black freedom. Topographic knowledge would later serve as the foundation for restructuring the land as property, naturalizing its possession by white plantation owners. Similarly, roads and waterway improvements, created to facilitate troop movements, would later serve as vital transportation infrastructure for settlement and expanding plantation slavery. This paper demonstrates how military engineering techniques designed to secure the Nation in the context of race war subsequently provided the coordinates for reorganizing the land within an emergent plantation economy inside its territorial borders.

Function and form of U.S. cities

The relationship between urban form and function is a complex challenge that can be examined from multiple perspectives. In this study, we propose a method to characterize the urban function of U.S. metropolitan areas by analyzing trip patterns extracted from the 2017 National Household Travel Survey. To characterize urban form, we employ measures that capture road network topology. We cluster cities based on both form and function and subsequently compare these clusters. Our analysis of 52 U.S. metropolitan areas identifies 7 distinct clusters of cities that exhibit similar travel behavior, suggesting that diverse mobility patterns can be effectively grouped into a few universal classes. The observed disparity between the urban-function clustering and the urban-form clustering suggests that travel behavior in the U.S. is not strongly influenced by the physical infrastructure of the city.

CONVENIENCE STORES AS CARE INFRASTRUCTURE FOR OLDER ADULTS: The Crisis of Care in Tokyo, Japan

AbstractConvenience stores are essential facilities for older people living in cities, but there is a lack of discussion about the relation thereof to care for older people. An emerging phenomenon in Japan, one of the countries with the most rapidly aging population, is that convenience stores are also becoming a form of care infrastructure. In this article, I focus on this phenomenon in a time of care crisis by examining convenience stores in Tokyo, Japan, through the framework of care infrastructure. I combine descriptive statistics, government and corporate reports with interviews with 15 older adults in Tokyo to assess the potential and challenges of convenience stores as entities that contribute to their care. The findings of my study indicate that convenience stores may contribute to the care of older people because of their proximity, multifunctionality, sociality and sheltering nature, while challenges relate to affordability, equity and fairness. In the conclusion, I offer some suggestions regarding opportunities for and challenges to expanding care in aging cities by rethinking the potential of convenience stores as social and physical infrastructure.

Exploring Determinants of Effective Implementation of an Innovation Within Health Care: Qualitative Insights from Program Champions on Implementing One-at-a-Time Therapy Within Addictions and Mental Health Services in New Brunswick.

Government of New Brunswick implemented One-at-a-Time (OAAT) therapy, a single-session approach to care, within Addiction and Mental Health (A&MH) services. We conducted interviews to understand determinants of implementation from program champions. Champions of the OAAT therapy implementation (N = 19; Child/Youthn = 8, Adultn = 11) working within A&MH services and school districts were recruited through the provincial implementation team. Transcripts were synthesized using thematic analysis. Determinants were organized as facilitators and barriers in accordance with the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research (CFIR). Thematic analysis resulted in 18 themes and 5 recommendations. Facilitators within the inner setting included: (1) need for change and perceived benefits of OAAT therapy; (2) compatibility of OAAT therapy with previous practice and service processes; and (3) support received from champions and colleagues. Insufficient resources (e.g., staff and physical infrastructure), and a culture that favored long-term therapy were barriers. Navigating age of consent, and implementation around COVID-19 were barriers within the outer setting. Facilitators within the implementation process domain included: (1) interconnected teams across sites, regions and the province; (2) collaborative implementation planning; (3) flexibility to tailor implementation at sites; and (4) mentorship provided by champions. Insufficient standardization of the implementation and limited representation among affected parties (e.g., community partners) were barriers within the implementation process. This study elucidated determinants that influenced implementation of a new service delivery within an Eastern Canadian provincial health care system. Findings can serve as a heuristic for organizations looking to enact similar implementation initiatives.

FENCING AND INFRASTRUCTURE CONDITIONS OF AGRICULTURAL SETTLEMENTS: THE CASE OF THE IRMÃ ADELAIDE SETTLEMENT IN MIRACEMA DO TOCANTINS

The objective of this text is to analyze the fencing and the conditions of the housing, water, health and transportation infrastructure in the agrarian settlement of Irmã Adelaide in Miracema do Tocantins. The time frame of the analysis is from the year 2000, when the expropriation of the Boa Nova Farm, with an area of ​​4,766.2740 ha and approximately 106 families in the settlement, was already underway. The article is the result of theoretical and empirical research for a master's dissertation. The methodology applied to prepare the text was initially based on a bibliographic review on the topic under discussion and, secondly, on empirical research through fieldwork with the application of interviews. Agrarian settlements are created based on public policies due to the need to implement agrarian reform to meet the social and economic demands of rural workers. In practice, the agrarian reform policy creates agrarian settlement projects from the National Institute of Colonization and Agrarian Reform (INCRA). However, during empirical research it was found that the physical and social infrastructure conditions are precarious and do not fully meet the social demands of the settlers.

Assessing Heterogeneity in Governance Outcome: Evidence from Local Government Institutional Capacity Self-Assessment (LISA) in Nepal

Local Government Institutional Capacity Self-Assessment (LISA) is a tool for local governments to evaluate their own performance in Nepal. A key strength of LISA is its self-evaluation approach, which assesses local government workflows and achievements to identify the strengths and weaknesses for improving governance and development delivery. It facilitates the critical analysis of periodic plans, financial management, and governance delivery while promoting the development of quantifiable indicators and enhancing local government capacity on a larger scale. It covers ten dimensions for the evaluation such as Governance Approach, Organization and Administration, Annual Budgeting and Planning Management, Financial Management, Public Service Delivery, Judicial Proceedings, Physical Infrastructure, Social Inclusion, Environment Protection and Disaster Management, and Collaboration and Coordination. Each dimension includes a set of major indicators and sub-indicators, with a total of 100 indicators cumulatively across all dimensions. It broadly encompasses accomplishments and evaluation methods through three distinct approaches: Totalitarian Approach, Procedural Order, and Quantitative Results. This study of evaluation approaches, multi-dimensional scope and LISA scores of 749 local governments (published by the ministry after Quality Assurance) for the Fiscal Year 2022/23 by Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) divulges the heterogeneity in local governance. The study results reveal that, through the three evaluation approaches, the ten categorized dimensions each contribute differently to governance outcomes. These variations highlight how each dimension's unique impact can influence overall performance. The direction and strength of their relationships can predict how changes in one area might impact another. The newly institutionalized governance framework, along with its assessment technique, serves as a valuable tool for promoting balanced regional development and improving local governance. By maintaining institutional bricolage, addressing the exit-voice dichotomy, and facilitating yardstick competition, this evaluation process effectively integrates diverse local needs and promotes the whole of the government. Thus, moving beyond a blanket approach, governing policies in Nepal must adopt targeted and tailored strategies that account for the diverse realities and heterogeneity in local governance outcomes.

Derivation of surface models using satellite imagery deep learning architectures with explainable AI

Global mapping of urban morphology and human settlement is an area of great interest, with significant scientific and humanitarian value. Current approaches for high-resolution surface modeling using aerial LiDAR are impressive and useful, but it is impractical for application on a global scale. This is due to technical challenges (efficiency of coverage, etc), as well as cost. These are significant obstacles, particularly in the less wealthy regions of the world, many of which are experiencing the greatest increase in population and physical infrastructure. Advances in satellite imagery and deep learning are now enabling the lower resolution alternative, but one which is more scalable with global application. This paper examines the efficacy of four state-of-the-art deep learning architectures (DeepLabv3+, SegNet, U-Net, and U-Net++) for application to Digital Surface Modeling (DSM), particularly for urban districts. The study considered New York City as the test area, using satellite based Radar backscatter images and visible and near infrared images for surface model development, along with high resolution LiDAR based surface height model of the city. We performed a quantitative evaluation using metrics such as Root Mean Squared Error (RMSE), Mean Absolute Error (MAE) and R-Squared, and a qualitative analysis to identify the best performing model. U-Net++ proved to be the most effective, with superior accuracy in capturing key urban features. In addition, we employed Explainable Artificial Intelligence (XAI) techniques, such as Gradient-Weighted Class Activation Mapping (GRAD-CAM) and Saliency Maps, to improve model interpretability, revealing important information about decision-making processes and highlighting critical input features. The results of this study contribute to the advancement of remote sensing techniques for urban analysis, with potential applications. Despite the overall success, the study also identified challenges, such as the loss of detailed building shapes in the predicted DSMs and the influence of optical shadowing and SAR-induced quiescence on model performance.

Forensic Investigation Capabilities of Microsoft Azure: A Comprehensive Analysis and Its Significance in Advancing Cloud Cyber Forensics

This article delves into Microsoft Azure’s cyber forensic capabilities, focusing on the unique challenges in cloud security incident investigation. Cloud services are growing in popularity, and Azure’s shared responsibility model, multi-tenant nature, and dynamically scalable resources offer unique advantages and complexities for digital forensics. These factors complicate forensic evidence collection, preservation, and analysis. Data collection, logging, and virtual machine analysis are covered, considering physical infrastructure restrictions and cloud data transience. It evaluates Azure-native and third-party forensic tools and recommends methods that ensure effective investigations while adhering to legal and regulatory standards. It also describes how AI and machine learning automate data analysis in forensic investigations, improving speed and accuracy. This integration advances cyber forensic methods and sets new standards for future innovations. Unified Audit Logs (UALs) in Azure are examined, focusing on how Azure Data Explorer and Kusto Query Language (KQL) can effectively parse and query large datasets and unstructured data to detect sophisticated cyber threats. The findings provide a framework for other organizations to improve forensic analysis, advancing cloud cyber forensics while bridging theoretical practices and practical applications, enhancing organizations’ ability to combat increasingly sophisticated cybercrime.

Foreign Aid, Infrastructure, and the Inclusive Growth Agenda in Sub‐Saharan Africa

ABSTRACTThis study examines the contingency effect of infrastructure (disaggregated into physical and digital) in the relationship between foreign aid and inclusive growth in Sub‐Saharan Africa (SSA). We employ macro data for 41 SSA countries and the dynamic system GMM estimator for the empirical analysis. We find that (i) foreign aid promotes inclusive growth in SSA, (ii) whereas transport infrastructure enhances inclusive growth, energy infrastructure, sanitation infrastructure, and digital infrastructure are statistically insignificant, and (iii) only transport infrastructure amplifies the inclusive growth‐enhancing effect of foreign aid. Across the digital and physical infrastructure domains, we find that the contingency effect of the latter is rather remarkable. Our threshold analysis also indicates that for digital infrastructure and transport infrastructure to condition complementary policies to foster inclusive growth in SSA, minimum thresholds of 22% and 57.8% are required. We conclude that comprehensive transport infrastructural development is key if foreign aid is to enhance inclusive growth in SSA.

The impact of digitalization on the development of e-commerce and its legal regulation

This scientific article is devoted to the analysis of key aspects that arise in connection with the digitalization of the economy and the growth of electronic commerce. The impact of technology on business models, legal regulation of electronic transactions, protection of consumer rights and cyber security issues are investigated. The article emphasizes that digitization opens new opportunities for business, in particular through the implementation of digital platforms, omnichannel strategies and process automation. Digital platforms such as Amazon and Alibaba are becoming important tools for business globalization as they facilitate access to international markets, reduce the need for physical infrastructure, and enable the integration of business processes. The legal regulation of electronic transactions and contracts has been studied. It is noted that the development of e-commerce requires legal certainty, regarding electronic signatures, electronic documents and digital identifiers. There are differences in approaches to these issues in different countries, which creates challenges for cross-border trade. In Ukraine, this issue is regulated by the Law «On electronic identification and electronic trust services», which meets EU standards, particularly the eIDAS Regulation. Challenges related to the protection of consumer rights in the digital economy are analyzed. Consumers face new risks such as privacy breaches and fraud in the online environment. International standards, such as GDPR, ensure a high level of personal data protection, while Ukrainian legislation needs further harmonization with international norms to increase the level of consumer rights protection. The policy of cyber security in the field of implementation of legal relations in electronic commerce was studied. Data protection, cybercrime prevention and information security are becoming key challenges for national governments and international organizations. It is important to implement international standards, such as PCI DSS, which guarantee the security of payment card data during their processing and storage. The fact that digitalization, on the one hand, requires adaptation of legal regulation to new conditions, but on the other hand, creates new opportunities for improving legal mechanisms, is summarized. Studying these aspects allows for a deeper understanding of how to adapt legal systems to further the development of e-commerce and ensure a balance between innovation and the protection of the rights of participants in the digital economy.

Paying Up

This article describes the mechanisms by which the Puerto Rico Highways and Transportation Authority (PRHTA), a state agency created “para dar al pueblo las mejores carreteras” (to give the people the best highways), has exacerbated uneven resource distribution in Puerto Rico. The PRHTA has functioned as a conduit for regressive restructuring—the work of building financial and physical infrastructures that transfer public wealth to elites. The function of the PRHTA is emblematic of how this politics of regressive social transfer is enabled by colonial capture—the articulation of colonial structures of governance to insulate political-economic power and public institutions from grass-roots and electoral mandates. This paper’s first section offers a brief historical background of the refashioning of Puerto Rico’s colonial politics since the 2016 debt crisis and the longer durée infrastructures to which these political changes pertain. The second section argues that, prior to 2016, political officials refashioned Puerto Rico’s public highways as revenue corridors for global capital in ways that anticipated and fostered the crisis. Contracts between the PRHTA, financial institutions, and private toll road operators reshaped key transportation infrastructures as avenues for the continuing capture of public resources through service fees and payments to bondholders. The final section discusses the material resources that these “public” services effectively transfer to private interests. Compared to median income from 2012 to 2021, the data on tolling rates begin to suggest, although hardly describe in full, the inequitable economic effects of these politics.

Another Provision: Co-Designing Communal Food Infrastructures in East London

We describe a participatory art/research project envisioning alternative infrastructures enabling food as a Universal Basic Service in the context of food poverty and the cost of living crisis. The four-year process involving people who have received food aid as well as food activists was co-produced with the National Food Service, a mutual aid group trialling new models for a more just food system. Modelling our creative research on this group’s careful engagement to build communal structures based on a “solidarity not charity” model of mutual care, we devised a process of infrastructural co-design and creative visioning for more just urban food futures. We reflect on the interplay of physical and social infrastructures and the role of food in care and mutual aid settings.

Economic and Social Development under Rana Regimes in Nepal: A Historical Analysis

This research paper explores the economic and social development in Nepal during the Rana (1846 1951) regimes. It critically analyzes the impact of political dynamics on infrastructure, industry, and social services. The Rana regime perpetuated stagnation through autocratic rule, monopolistic control, and exploitation of state resources, resulting in negligible advancement in physical infrastructure, industry, and social services. This paper aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of the obstacles to development in Nepal during the Rana Regime and the legacy they left on the nation's socio-economic landscape.

Post construction infrastructural adaptation of social practices in Dhaka’s under flyover spaces

Transportation infrastructures often impose a rigid and controlled formation over the organic dynamism of urban areas. This blend of infrastructure and urban context redefines transportation systems beyond their purely functional roles, creating opportunities for new land uses, social interactions in the spaces beneath them. The management and adaptation of these urban void spaces under elevated infrastructure can become either assets or liabilities, particularly under the unique conditions prevalent in the Global South Megacities. Using participatory action research datasets and zoning models, this study explores the spatial relationships between physical infrastructure and its contextually accommodating opportunities. This article highlights how the squatter community under the Tejgaon-Nabisco Flyover in Dhaka, Bangladesh, autonomously organizes and utilizes these spaces, fostering adaptive place-making and developing local economic practices supported by the flyover’s structural elements.

Holes of hope and uncertainty – test wells as a site of potential, exploration and the verdict on Greenland’s oil development in the 1970s and 1990s

ABSTRACT This study examines the history of oil development in Greenland with a focus on test wells – the physical sites where and when the future of Arctic oil as an energy source was established and eventually abandoned. The processes surrounding the establishment of the first offshore test wells in the 1970s and the first onshore test well in the 1990s illustrate different contexts of oil development, as well as the similarities between the different phases. Looking at these periods through the lens of infrastructural delay, an umbrella concept that unites anthropological analyses of unfinished, delayed or unrealised infrastructure, this study shows how common themes of potential, exploration and verdict emerge that accompanied the establishment of physical test wells. Based on a thematic analysis of historical scientific and policy reports as well as Greenlandic media accounts, this study brings together a top-down and a local perspective on the construction of test wells in the 1970s and 1990s. This study advances research on the history of Arctic oil development by identifying the different phases of its delay that accompanied the creation of its physical infrastructure, each of which generated different social processes of hope and despair, and which also lay the foundation for future perspectives on the use of Greenland’s subsurface beyond oil.

Explainable artificial intelligence for reliable water demand forecasting to increase trust in predictions

The “EU Artificial Intelligence Act” sets a framework for the implementation of artificial intelligence (AI) in Europe. As a legal assessment reveals, AI applications in water supply systems are categorised as high-risk AI if a failure in the AI application results in a significant impact on physical infrastructure or supply reliability. The use case of water demand forecasts with AI for automatic tank operation is for example categorised as high-risk AI and must fulfil specific requirements regarding model transparency (traceability, explainability) and technical robustness (accuracy, reliability). To this end, six widely established machine learning models, including both transparent and opaque models, are applied to different datasets for daily water demand forecasting and the requirements regarding model accuracy, transparency and technical robustness are systematically evaluated for this use case. Opaque models generally achieve higher prediction accuracy compared to transparent models due to their ability to capture the complex relationship between parameters like for example weather data and water demand. However, this also makes them vulnerable to deviations and irregularities in weather forecasts and historical water demand. In contrast, transparent models rely mainly on historical water demand data for the utilised dataset and are less influenced by weather data, making them more robust against various data irregularities. In summary, both transparent and opaque models can fulfil the requirements regarding explainability but differ in their level of transparency and robustness to input errors. The choice of model depends also on the operator's preferences and the context of the application.

The physical and virtual presence of the local state and citizens’ life satisfaction in urbanising China

China’s rapid and ongoing urbanisation has led to the expansion of the local state. The state, traditionally exhibited as physical institutions of government, has emerged virtually in recent years based on intricate network infrastructure systems, such as social media platforms. Scholars contend that a strong physical state infrastructure enhances government function and can increase citizens’ life satisfaction; in contrast, the state’s virtual presence is unlikely to exert a substantial independent impact because of its reliance on the state’s physical infrastructure. In this research, we calibrated innovative measures of the state’s physical and virtual presence. Combined with data from the 2018 Urbanisation and Quality of Life Survey conducted in 40 sampling sites undergoing rural–urban transition, we further assessed how the local state’s physical and virtual presence is associated with citizens’ self-reported life satisfaction in the context of China’s national new-type urbanisation. Our results, based on three-level mixed-effects regressions, indicate that the local state’s bricks-and-mortar institutions do not correlate with citizens’ life satisfaction; rather, the establishment of a web-based, cost-effective, transparent, and coordinated virtual presence is associated with a higher level of life satisfaction among citizens. At a time when the Chinese central government emphasises its commitment to ‘people-centred’ urbanisation, the findings offer insight into the strategies that local governments could employ to improve governance quality and enhance citizens’ well-being.