The structural variability of quarters and residential areas in the historical texture of the city of Yazd based on Islamic rules and jurisprudence: a case study of Golchinan quarter

According to many researchers and scholars, religious beliefs can be considered as the most influential factor in forming Muslim urban spaces and their architectural elements. In fact, historical cities reflect the culture and beliefs of their residences. Among all historical places in Iranian cities, the historical texture of the city of Yazd, especially the quarters since the age of Qajar dynasty, are well preserved. The present study aims at identifying the Islamic principles and values influencing the formation of architectural spaces and the extent of their applications in one of the historical quarters known as Golchinan. The results of the conformation of the theoretical findings with the data acquired from field studies revealed that almost 90% of the urban and architectural spaces (e.g. residential areas, mosques, bazaars, and pathways) in Yazd are directly influenced by Islamic principles. In other words, there is a strong conformity between the accepted Islamic values of the society and what actually was applied to urban constructions during Qajar dynasty.     

Large neighborhood search for the bike request scheduling problem

This paper introduces an efficient algorithm for the bike request scheduling problem (BRSP). The BRSP is built around the concept of request, defined as the pickup or dropoff of a number of identical items (bikes) at a specific station, within a certain time window, and with a certain priority. The aim of the BRSP is to sequence requests on (and hence determine the routes of) a set of vehicles, in such a way that the sum of the priorities of the executed requests is maximized, all time windows are respected, and the capacity of the vehicles is not exceeded. The generation of the set of requests is explicitly not a part of the problem definition of the BRSP. The primary application of the BRSP, from which it derives its name, is to determine the routes of a set of repositioning vehicles in a bike sharing system, although other applications exist. The algorithm introduced in this paper is based on a set of related greedy randomized adaptive search procedure followed by variable neighborhood descent (GRASP + VND) operators embedded in a large neighborhood search (LNS) framework. Since this paper presents the first heuristic for the BRSP, a computational comparison to existing approaches is not possible. We therefore compare the solutions found by our LNS heuristic to those found by an exact solver (Gurobi). These experiments confirm that the proposed algorithm scales to realistic dimensions and is able to find near‐optimal solutions in seconds.     

Creative clusters in the regeneration of Valletta and the cultural politics of Strait Street

The paper aims to unfold the narrative of development in a creative cluster project for the regeneration of Strait Street in Valletta, Malta. This is approached by first examining the distinctive, historically contentious background of the neighbourhood and, thereafter, unpacking the development narrative of policy documents and the discursive and material constructs about the creative city approach to regeneration strategies in the city. Using a ‘system-wide’ analytical framework, this material is then scrutinized to gain an understanding of the specificities involved and, finally, discuss the crucial features of the key dimensions elucidating the potential strengths and weaknesses of the case     

Systematic literature review on city logistics: overview,classification and analysis

City logistics is one of the significant branches of supply chain management, dealing with the logistics and transportation activities in urban areas. This research area has recently appropriated an exponential growth of publications. This paper presents a bibliometric analysis along with a systematic literature review to organise the results of surveying more than 370 papers and research works published since 2010. We identify the top contributing research topics. The most common keywords used in the city logistics literature are referred to in order to propose six research categories identifying the main innovative research perspectives.     

海绵城市建设PPP项目委托代理契约分析

针对海绵城市PPP(Public-Private Partnership)项目建设、运营管理问题,为了降低由于项目参与的各方掌握信息、地位的不对称而产生的道德风险、维护各参与方的合法权益,基于一定的前提假设,构建海绵城市建设PPP项目契约模型,利用优化理论分别从代理企业和政府方两个主体的效用对模型的各个参数相关关系进行了分析,并利用数值模拟讨论了监控机制各参数对政府方监控意愿的影响。最后,结合常德市海绵城市PPP项目建设的案例,分别分析在当前考核机制下项目在建设、运营期可能存在的问题,并提出了相应的对策以解决这些问题。结果表明:代理企业的监控和激励措施具有互补性,海绵工程项目风险来源广泛,企业为规避风险会偏好零风险的固定收益,设定监控机制能激励企业更加努力的工作。     

Cold and wet: Diatoms dominate the phytoplankton community during a year of anomalous weather in a Great Lakes estuary

As sentinels of climate change and other anthropogenic forces, freshwater lakes are experiencing ecosystem disruptions at every level of the food web, beginning with the phytoplankton, a highly responsive group of organisms. Most studies regarding the effects of climate change on phytoplankton focus on a potential scenario in which temperatures continuously increase and droughts intersperse heavy precipitation events. Like much of the conterminous United States in 2019, the Muskegon River watershed (Michigan, USA) experienced record-breaking rainfall accompanied by unusually cool temperatures, affording an opportunity to explore how an alternate potential climate scenario may affect phytoplankton. We conducted biweekly sampling of environmental variables and phytoplankton in Muskegon Lake, a Great Lakes Area of Concern that connects to Lake Michigan. We compared environmental variables in 2019 to the previous eight years using long-term data from the Muskegon Lake Observatory buoy, and annual monitoring excursions provided historical phytoplankton data. Under cold and wet conditions, diatoms were the single dominant division throughout the entire growth season – an unprecedented scenario in Muskegon Lake. In 10 of the 13 biweekly sampling days in 2019, diatoms comprised over 75% of the phytoplankton community in the lake by count, indicating that the spring diatom bloom persisted through the fall. Additionally, phytoplankton seasonal succession and abundance patterns typically seen in this lake were absent. In a world experiencing reduced predictability, increased variability, and regional climate anomalies, studying periods of extreme weather events may offer insight into how natural systems will be affected and respond under future climate scenarios.     

城市隧道照明设计探讨

根据近些年的城市隧道工程设计经验,介绍了隧道照明的设计依据、标准及基本要求,分析了城市隧道照明设计的照明标准值、灯具布置、应急照明、照明控制、配线、节能措施等方面内容,并对隧道照明工程设计实例进行了探讨。     

Potential pitfalls of smart city development: A study on parking mobile applications (apps) in Hong Kong

Smart cities are built upon information and communication technologies (ICTs) to enable a broad range of advanced services. Through a comprehensive literature review, this study identified four pitfalls brought by the pervasive application of ICT, including information insecurity, privacy leakage, information islands, and digital divide. Therefore, a questionnaire survey together with 27 interviews was conducted in Hong Kong to investigate how the public perceived these pitfalls within the context of mobile apps providing real-time parking information which form a major part of smart mobility. System insecurity and privacy leakage were found to arouse worries among the app-users while their awareness of protecting personal data was found to have room for improvement. Islands of real-time parking information occur as a result of the lack of collaboration among private carpark operators. Digital divide existed widely among the disadvantaged groups and the problem cannot be solved by mere provision of ICT facilities. Overall, technologies alone cannot make a city smart or smarter. It is the suitable way in which ICTs are used to serve all citizens that matters.     

CNG-电混动公交车道路行驶工况与排放特性研究

CNG-电公交车以天然气作为发动机燃料,辅以电机共同驱动的混合动力车辆,车辆行驶速度低、启动频繁等特性,发动机实际运行工况与型式检验工况具有较大差异。为研究其实际行驶工况与排放特性,选取4辆国V排放标准的CNG-电混合动力公交车,往返于市区与城郊,使用PEMS(portable emission measurement system)实时收集车辆行驶及NO_X排放数据。结果表明,发动机运行工况集中于中低功率段,与型式检验工况差异较大,污染物排放集中于发动机切入车辆传动系统的临界车速附近。