Project Area Research Articles

A Study on the Impact of Home Occupant Characteristics on Housing Renewal and Improvement in Management-type Residential Environment Improvement Project Areas in Seoul: Focusing on the Moderating Effect of Home Occupancy Status

A Study on the Impact of Home Occupant Characteristics on Housing Renewal and Improvement in Management-type Residential Environment Improvement Project Areas in Seoul: Focusing on the Moderating Effect of Home Occupancy Status

Role of Pacific Ocean climate in regulating runoff in the source areas of water transfer projects on the Pacific Rim

Over the past two decades, more frequent and intense climate events have seriously threatened the operation of water transfer projects in the Pacific Rim region. However, the role of climatic change in driving runoff variations in the water source areas of these projects is unclear. We used tree-ring data to reconstruct changes in the runoff of the Hanjiang River since 1580 CE representing an important water source area for China’s south-north water transfer project. Comparisons with hydroclimatic reconstructions for the southwestern United States and central Chile indicated that the Pacific Rim region has experienced multiple coinciding droughts related to ENSO activity. Climate simulations indicate an increased likelihood of drought occurrence in the Pacific Rim region in the coming decades. The combination of warming-induced drought stresses with dynamic El Niño (warming ENSO) patterns is a thread to urban agglomerations and agricultural regions that rely on water transfer projects along the Pacific Rim.

Financing infrastructure projects: a review of definitional issues and thematic areas

The purpose of the article is to identify current problems and thematic areas of financing infrastructure projects. To do this, both a systematization of approaches is carried out on the basis of thematic analysis and a review of Russian and foreign sources is done. A methodological plurality of definitions of the main categories was discovered. Inductively identified thematic areas of research cover: general trends in the development of types of economic infrastructure, microanalysis of the creation of specific infrastructure facilities and local needs for infrastructure development, local economic impact of individual types of infrastructure, cross-sectoral effects of infrastructure development, integration aspects of the creation of infrastructure facilities, infrastructure in the context of sustainable development, features of instruments and forms of financing infrastructure projects, infrastructure facilities as a separate class of investment assets.

Granular satellite data to assess the potential for nature based solutions at a national scale: a proof of concept with data from Rwanda and Lesotho

ABSTRACT Nature-based Solutions (NbS) form a substantial part of cost-efficient climate change mitigation options. However, public financial flows towards NbS have been limited. Among the factors impeding investments in NbS are challenges in reliable remote project identification and comparison. In this article, we demonstrate a technological solution to these challenges. Using cloud-based satellite data processing and the proliferation of open geospatial data, we developed a methodology to map NbS suitability based on a set of biophysical, pedological, hydrological and climatological criteria. To provide a proof of concept, we identify potential project areas for eight types of NbS in Rwanda and Lesotho. Building on these spatially-explicit NbS suitability data layers (accessible at https://williamouellette.users.earthengine.app/view/ncs-potential), we develop marginal abatement cost curves for projects in Rwanda and Lesotho. We thus provide a proof of concept for remote identification and project comparison. These technological developments can help investors, such as multilateral donors or governments, alleviate additionality concerns that are implied by local project selection. Key Policy Insights Investment in climate change mitigation through Nature-based Solutions (NbS) is limited, in spite of the large, cost-efficient potential for achieving national and global goals. Remote project identification and comparison can help alleviate some of the impediments to international investment in NbS. Such remote identification and comparison of NbS projects is now possible because of breakthroughs in cloud-based satellite data processing technologies and increased availability of geospatial data. We present a proof of concept, establishing marginal abatement cost curves for climate change mitigation through NbS in Rwanda and Lesotho. Coupled with the institutional improvements necessary to create a reliable intergovernmental carbon credit market, these technological developments have the potential to boost international investment in NbS.

The influence of invariant horizontal projection area constraint on shape optimization of free-form surface structure with openings

Free-form curved surface shell roof is favored by architects, but the openings for daylighting will decline its mechanical properties. In the shell shape optimization under the vertical load, when the outer contour of the openings or the shell changes, the total load of the structure also changes with the changes in its horizontal projection area. This contradicts the premise of structural optimization, that is, to maintain the principle of unchanging total loads. To solve this problem, the invariant horizontal projection area of the shell was taken as constraints in the shell shape optimization in which the objective function was structural strain energy and optimization design variables were internal and external boundary points of the curved surfaces with openings, and the key points on the curved surface which were design variables of the overall shape of the curved surface. The numerical examples verified the validity of the method, and the influence of the invariant horizontal projection area constraint of the curved surface with openings on the optimization results of the minimum strain energy, optimization with the frequency constraint, and the initial surface with the different support distribution were discussed. The results of the numerical examples showed that the invariant horizontal projection area constraint has a greater impact on the results of the curved surface with opening optimization, and its influence should be considered in the engineering design.

Interactive tools for explaining multidimensional projections for high-dimensional tabular data

We present a set of interactive visual analysis techniques aiming at explaining data patterns in multidimensional projections. Our novel techniques include a global value-based encoding that highlights point groups having outlier values in any dimension as well as several local tools that provide details on the statistics of all dimensions for a user-selected projection area. Our techniques generically apply to any projection algorithm and scale computationally well to hundreds of thousands of points and hundreds of dimensions. We describe a user study that shows that our visual tools can be quickly learned and applied by users to obtain non-trivial insights in real-world multidimensional datasets. We also show how our techniques can help understanding a real-world dataset containing quantitative, ordinal, and categorical attributes.

Vegetation response to large-scale mountain excavation and city construction projects on the Loess Plateau of China

Since 2012, the “Mountain Excavation and City Construction” (MECC) project has been implemented extensively on the Loess Plateau of China, transforming gullies into flat land for urban sprawl by leveling loess hilltops to fill in valleys. However, this unprecedented human activity has caused widespread controversy over its unknown potential ecological impacts. Quantitative assessment of the impacts of the MECC project on the vegetation is key to ecological management and restoration. Taking the largest MECC project area on the Loess Plateau, Yan'an New District (YND), as the study area, this study investigated the spatiotemporal pattern of vegetation dynamics before and after the implementation of the MECC project using a multitemporal normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) time series from 2009 to 2023 and explored the response of vegetation dynamics to the large-scale MECC project. The results showed that the vegetation dynamics in the YND exhibited significant spatial and temporal heterogeneity due to the MECC project, with the vegetation in the project-affected areas showing rapid damage followed by slow recovery. Vegetation damage occurred only in the project-affected area, and 84 % of these areas began recovery within 10 years, indicating the limited impact of the large-scale MECC project on the regional vegetation. The strong correlation between vegetation dynamics and the MECC project suggested that the destruction and recovery of vegetation in the project-affected areas was mainly under anthropogenic control, which highlights the importance of targeted ecological policies. Specifically, the MECC project induced local anthropogenic damage to the plant population structure during the land creation period, but regeneration and rational allocation of the vegetation were achieved through urbanization, gradually forming a new balanced ecological environment. These findings will contribute to a full understanding of the response of vegetation to such large-scale engineering activities and help local governments adopt projects or policies that facilitate vegetation recovery.

Assessment on the heterogeneity and roughness of fracture surface of steel fiber reinforced concrete

The characterization of fracture morphology in steel fiber reinforced concrete (SFRC) remains an area of limited study. This research investigates the influence of heterogeneity on fracture surfaces in SFRC across various surface sizes, sampling intervals (δ), and directions. Utilizing point-cloud matching technique, fracture morphologies are characterized to analyze damages in the heterogeneous fracture process zone. Four roughness parameters, i.e., root mean square deviation (Sq), arithmetic average height (Sa) distribution, surface area to projective area (RS) and root mean square of directional derivatives (Z2–3D), are used to quantify morphology. Results reveal that as surface size arises, Sq and Sa increase with their ratio (Sq/Sa) approaching 1.25, while the ratios of Sq and Sa to size length decrease following a double-exponential decay model, indicating a size scale dependence. Meantime, roughness anisotropy, characterized by coefficient of variations in directional Z2–3D values, declines. RS and Z2–3D exhibit higher sensitivity to textural features than surface size, showing a δ-dependence. As δ rises, RS and Z2–3D sharply decrease, whereas Sq, Sa and Sq/Sa stabilize. This analysis highlights the significance of Z2–3D in providing insights into fracture morphological features and heterogeneity of SFRC.

Factors affecting the technical efficiency of potato production under the command area of the PMAMP project in Nepal: The case of Bajhang district

Factors affecting the technical efficiency of potato production under the command area of the PMAMP project in Nepal: The case of Bajhang district

Scan Time Reduction by Fewer Projections - an Approach for Circular and Spherical Trajectories

For most computed tomography scans a circular or helical trajectory is used to acquire the necessary radiographic projections. However, these standard trajectories are not necessarily the best choice since the shape of the inspected object is not considered which leads to a suboptimal sampling of the part. In contrast, workpiece-specific and more efficient scan strategies hold the potential for time and cost savings. Such adaptions might be of particular interest for future robotic CT systems that allow greater flexibility in the positioning of X-ray tube, object, and detector than conventional setups or multi-source applications with predefined positions by the setup. We propose a scan planning algorithm to adapt the acquisition trajectory considering the shape of the investigated part. For this task, we present an algorithm that is able to identify the projections from a set of projections that contribute most to the reconstruction of the object. As input information, only the localization of the area of interest and projections from the feasible range of motion are necessary. Also, a reasonable amount of projections to pick from needs to be provided, which can originate from an earlier scan or computer simulations that consider the range of motion of the available CT setup. The optimization method has been implemented for circular and spherical trajectories and can be extended towards arbitrary acquisition paths. Since for modern CT systems the duration for the scan itself takes significantly longer than the reconstruction, this approach appears to be well-suited to significantly reduce the throughput time if several identical parts need to be inspected. Additionally, new applications such as inline CT are conceivable and certain artifacts can be suppressed if spherical trajectories are used instead of circular ones. For the subsequent reconstruction itself no previous knowledge of the object is included, i.e. the reconstruction workflow does not need to be modified. We demonstrate the capabilities of the optimization method for two industrial relevant examples and show that a scan time reduction of more than 50 % is feasible for some cases by reducing the number of acquired projections. Furthermore, for all investigated projection numbers and parts the optimized trajectory yields an identical to clearly improved image quality in the reconstructed volume than the reference trajectories.

Implementing a digital rare disease case-finding tool in UK primary care: a qualitative study of health professionals' experience.

Rare diseases affect millions of people globally, with a lifetime incidence of 1 in 17. They are complex, multisystem, severe disease, and patients experience a diagnostic delay averaging 5.6 years with associated misdiagnoses, inappropriate treatments, and anxiety. MendelScan is a digital case-finding tool that uses structured primary care data to identify patients at risk of being affected by one of a series of rare diseases. This qualitative study explored primary healthcare professionals' experiences of implementing this technology. To develop an understanding of primary healthcare professionals' experiences of implementing MendelScan with a focus on their perception of the technology and its implementation, challenges and opportunities. A qualitative appraisal of implementing MendelScan using descriptive analysis of surveys and semi-structured interviews with professionals. A total of 11 professionals from the two project areas participated. Participants included GPs, nurses, a genetic counsellor, and healthcare managers.Participants reported that they received adequate support, the project increased confidence in integrating genetics in primary care, and that it may improve inequity in rare disease diagnosis. Professionals' reservations were related to knowledge, time commitments, primary care pressures, contacting patients, data sharing and confidentiality, and overcoming clinical resistance in sharing data with a non-NHS external body. This study provides a valuable insight into the experiences of primary care professionals using a novel tool to identify rare diseases. The potential of this tool is promising with benefits for skill development. Large-scale implementation faces challenges related to primary care capacity, data, and funding.

Restoration of degraded waterlogged saline soil through subsurface drainage: Spatiotemporal soil salinity assessment using electromagnetic induction (EMI) and geographic information system (GIS) techniques

AbstractReduction in soil salinity in the entire project area is a key indicator of proper functioning of the implemented subsurface drainage (SSD) projects. Electromagnetic induction (EMI) surveys were carried out to facilitate spatiotemporal assessment of soil salinity of a SSD project site in Kahni, Haryana (India). The surveys were conducted in two time frames: immediately after the start of SSD project in 2019 and after 2 years of successful operation in 2021. The collected data of 2 surveys was used to derive a depth‐specific calibrated correlation between the observed salinity (ECe) of collected soil samples and surveyed apparent electrical conductivity (ECa) observations in vertical (ECav) and horizontal (ECah) modes. Spatiotemporal analysis of soil salinity revealed notable changes in areas under different salinity classes over a period of 2 years, indicating the impact of SSD on soil desalinization. During the course of 2 years (2019–2021) of SSD operation, area under moderate salinity (4–8 dS m−1) in the top 0–0.15 m soil increased by 54.5% while it decreased by 40% and 6.6% under high (8–12 dS m−1) and very high (12–16 dS m−1) salinity classes. The rice and wheat yields were also enhanced by 24% and 7% respectively after 2 years operation of SSD in hitherto severally waterlogged saline soils. Overall findings of this study reinforce the scope of using EMI approach to quickly and effectively assess the efficacy of subsurface drainage. Creation of measurable soil salinity maps by proposed EMI and GIS techniques can help in planning and implementing site‐specific management strategies in saline soil reclamation projects.

Influence of Aldehyde Dehydrogenase Inhibition on Stemness of Endometrial Cancer Stem Cells.

Endometrial cancer is one of the most common gynaecological malignancies. Although often diagnosed at an early stage, there is a subset of patients with recurrent and metastatic disease for whom current treatments are not effective. Cancer stem cells (CSCs) play a pivotal role in triggering tumorigenesis, disease progression, recurrence, and metastasis, as high aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH) activity is associated with invasiveness and chemotherapy resistance. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the effects of ALDH inhibition in endometrial CSCs. ECC-1 and RL95-2 cells were submitted to a sphere-forming protocol to obtain endometrial CSCs. ALDH inhibition was evaluated through ALDH activity and expression, sphere-forming capacity, self-renewal, projection area, and CD133, CD44, CD24, and P53 expression. A mass spectrometry-based proteomic study was performed to determine the proteomic profile of endometrial cancer cells upon N,N-diethylaminobenzaldehyde (DEAB). DEAB reduced ALDH activity and expression, along with a significant decrease in sphere-forming capacity and projection area, with increased CD133 expression. Additionally, DEAB modulated P53 expression. Endometrial cancer cells display a distinct proteomic profile upon DEAB, sharing 75 up-regulated and 30 down-regulated proteins. In conclusion, DEAB inhibits ALDH activity and expression, influencing endometrial CSC phenotype. Furthermore, ALDH18A1, SdhA, and UBAP2L should be explored as novel molecular targets for endometrial cancer.

Quantifying land impacts of wind energy: a regional-scale assessment in Finland

AbstractLarge-scale deployment of wind energy raises ecological concerns about land use changes. Here, we conducted a quantitative assessment of land impacts of 42 wind farms (513 turbines) from Ostrobothnia, Finland. Located on the Baltic Sea coast, Ostrobothnia is a strategic region for national wind energy targets. Our main objectives were (1) to calculate landscape metrics (e.g., habitat composition, loss and fragmentation) within wind farm project areas, (2) compare the amount of building-related deforestation between project areas and simulation-based control areas and (3) compute the overlap between project areas and regional land use plans. According to CORINE Land Cover datasets, the predominant habitats within project areas were forests (371.7 km2; 81%) and transitional forests (52.7 km2; 11%). The remaining 8% were agricultural areas (17.6 km2; 4%), waters (12.5 km2; 3%) and artificial surfaces (2.9 km2; 1%). Wind farm infrastructure corresponded to 1.4-6.0% of project areas and caused similar degrees of habitat fragmentation. Deforestation levels in project areas were higher (~ 6 times on average) than in control areas, and the micro-siting of turbines did not avoid mature forests by favouring e.g., transitional forests (which are ecologically less valuable). We found some spatial incongruence between project areas and regional land use plans, with 78 turbines falling outside the established boundaries. Our results highlight the need for careful ecological considerations in wind energy spatial planning in Finland (and countries with similar landscapes and land uses) to limit forest loss and its detrimental impacts on forest-dependent species, but also on carbon storage and sequestration.

Facial Recognition Attendance System Using Python

Attendance marking in a school room all through a lecture isn't simplest a difficult project but additionally a time eating one at that. because of an surprisingly high variety of college students present all through the lecture there'll always be a probability of proxy attendance(s). Attendance marking with conventional methods has been an area of project. The developing need of efficient and automatic techniques of marking attendance is a growing venture within the place of face recognition. In current years, the hassle of automatic attendance marking has been broadly addressed through the usage of standard biometrics like fingerprint and Radio frequency identity tags and so on., however, these strategies lack the detail of reliability. in this proposed mission an automated attendance marking and management machine is proposed by making use of face detection and popularity algorithms. instead of the use of the conventional methods, this proposed system pursuits to increase an automatic machine that statistics the pupil's attendance by way of the use of facial popularity technology. the principle goal of this paintings is to make the attendance marking and management machine green, time saving, easy and smooth. right here faces might be recognized the usage of face popularity algorithms. The processed photo will then be compared towards the present stored document after which attendance is marked inside the database therefore. compared to present system traditional attendance marking device, this machine reduces the workload of people. This proposed gadget can be applied with 4 levels inclusive of image taking pictures, Segmentation of institution image and Face Detection, Face evaluation and popularity, Updating of Attendance in database

Neural network enabled fringe projection through scattering media

The projection of fringes plays an essential role in many applications, such as fringe projection profilometry and structured illumination microscopy. However, these capabilities are significantly constrained in environments affected by optical scattering. Although recent developments in wavefront shaping have effectively generated high-fidelity focal points and relatively simple structured images amidst scattering, the ability to project fringes that cover half of the projection area has not yet been achieved. To address this limitation, this study presents a fringe projector enabled by a neural network, capable of projecting fringes with variable periodicities and orientation angles through scattering media. We tested this projector on two types of scattering media: ground glass diffusers and multimode fibers. For these scattering media, the average Pearson’s correlation coefficients between the projected fringes and their designed configurations are 86.9% and 79.7%, respectively. These results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed neural network enabled fringe projector. This advancement is expected to broaden the scope of fringe-based imaging techniques, making it feasible to employ them in conditions previously hindered by scattering effects.

Botanical Observations on the Purulia Pumped Storage Hydropower Project Area, Bagmundi Hills, Purulia District, West Bengal

The paper presents a vegetation and floristic account of the proposed Purulia pumped storage hydropower project at Bagmundi hills, Purulia district, West Bengal. The primary impact of the project would be submerging of c. 4 sq. km. area of forest for construction of two rock filled dams. A total number of 246 species under 192 genera belonging to 78 families have been identified from the area, of which 54 species are ethnobotanically significant.

A Note on the Quality of Waters of Tiger Project Area, Similipal (Orissa)

No Abstract.

Valor económico de los servicios ecosistémicos asociados a los corredoresfluviales atlánticos en el noroeste de la Península Ibérica

Valuing the benefits of conserving river corridors is essential to recognize the contribution of this natural capital to our well-being. This study aims to quantify the economic value of welfare improvements from the restoration of Atlantic River corridor habitats in Natura 2000 Network sites in the northwest Iberian Peninsula included in the LIFE Fluvial project. The contingent valuation method was used to estimate a discrete choice econometric model of willingness to pay for actions that protect ecosystem benefits associated with riparian forest restoration, and more than 600 residents and visitors in four major project areas were surveyed in 2021. The average willingness to pay was almost € 53 per resident and year (annual benefit to residents for the use, enjoyment and knowledge of the ecosystem services provided by these sites) and € 42 per visitor and year. By extrapolating these values to the population and visitors of the most representative sample areas we got an economic value for this type of conservation action of 4.2 million euros per year, much higher than the cost of implementing the entire project (3.03 million euros).

Botanical Observations in the Balimela Project Area, Orissa

This article deals with an account of the vegetation and flora of Balimela dam project area in Koraput district of Orissa. In all a total of about 200 species of flowering plants occurring in the submerging sites are enumerated.