Sustainable Environment for Elderly People

The paper is focused on extremely important issue of an aging population and the related need to explore, develop and extend prospective forms of sustainable environment for the elderly. Having in mind the persisting grow of ageing population the task is getting extremely large economic and social effect. Prospective trends in development of manmade environment for elderly people and their relevance to the Bulgarian situation are investigated. The relevance was considered from several points of view – economic, climatic, socio-cultural etc. Selected diploma projects of architecture students from NBU are outlined as good practice examples. 

Sustainable Environment for Elderly People

The paper is focused on extremely important issue of an aging population and the related need to explore, develop and extend prospective forms of sustainable environment for the elderly. Having in mind the persisting grow of ageing population the task is getting extremely large economic and social effect. Prospective trends in development of manmade environment for elderly people and their relevance to the Bulgarian situation are investigated. The relevance was considered from several points of view – economic, climatic, socio-cultural etc. Selected diploma projects of architecture students from NBU are outlined as good practice examples. 

ENERGY POVERTY ALLEVIATION – A STEP FOR SUSTAINABLE ENERGY TRANSITION

The paper investigates the issue of fuel poverty and its presence in the Bulgarian context. The focus of the analysis is on the potential for alleviation and – in the long term – elimination of energy poverty through the implementation of measures for energy efficient retrofit of residential multi-story apartment housing. An effective strategy tackling this topic at local scale is a key prerequisite for the achievement of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) with particular relevance for SDG 7 Affordable and Clean Energy and SDG 11 Sustainable Cities and Communities. Achieving the optimal ratio of saved energy versus financial resources is the key to renovating housing at scale sustainably and efficiently. Energy poverty as a phenomenon is linked to the combined effect of three main factors - low household income, high energy costs and low energy efficiency of housing. There is a broad scientific consensus that this phenomenon has a serious negative impact on the quality of life and citizens’ health and wellbeing. Furthermore, energy poverty contributes to a huge waste of energy and also affects the physical dimension of the sustainable development of the built environment. Therefore, energy poverty exacerbates deficits and discrepancies for territorial economies and communities.Eliminating the problem of “fuel poverty” is often considered to be impossible without the support of the affected households through subsidies. Subsidies invested in energy-efficient housing reconstruction result in immediate savings in housing heating costs, which in turn leads to a tangible reduction in the “fuel poverty” experienced by residents of reconstructed housing. Energy efficient housing reconstruction (retrofit) is the fastest and most efficient (in terms of public resources) way to combat energy poverty. The financial resources required to enable these activities could also be obtained or complemented through financial engineering schemes with third party involvement

Livable Architecture - Urban issues and Housing

The presentation focuses on Eastern European Urban and Housing Development - common features and Bulgarian specifics. Critical review on social housing activities in EU countries. Pilot housing projects as a tool for shaping the prospective policies and strategies in Bulgarian housing

Digitalization of Bulgarian Cultural Heritage

The research of historical heritage is related to creation, storage and distribution of visual information about them. With the development of digital technologies, the three-dimensional scanning and visual regeneration of buildings of cultural heritage combined with 3D virtual reconstruction is becoming increasingly important tool for understanding and reconstructing the past. Instead of expensive laser scanning, cheaper photogrammetric methods for creating and processing of spatial (3D) images of historical and architectural monuments are finding a growing application. The article analyses the opportunities for use of different ICT tools, including inexpensive digital imaging options for preservation and exhibiting of large and diverse Bulgarian cultural heritage

Housing policy in Bulgaria. Recent history, current projects and future trends

The first attempts to look at the housing-related issues as an integral component of the national socioeconomic struсture were made in Bulgaria during the 1970s and 1980s during the advancement of the urban and spatial planning. This was, however, done mainly in the theoretical realm and did not inform governance decisions under the then existing political and economic conditions. This book is an attempt to analyse housing and housing policy in the context of the heightened conflict between the natural and man-made environment on a global scale. This conflict is ubiquitous. It necessitates a thorough re-evaluation of fundamental systemic values of the modern civilisation, determining it – economic, financial, ideological. The idea for sustainable development has multiple dimensions and many of these relate to housing and its potential contribution to sustainability. This book aims to foster scientific research and development of adequate governance policies in the field of housing, a truly interdisciplinary area, essential part of the spatial, economic and social fabric of Bulgaria. More specifically, it addresses major issues facing housing policy in Bulgaria based on an analysis of the theoretical and practical lessons from European countries

The Kummer confluent hypergeometric function and some of its applications in the theory of azimuthally magnetized circular ferrite waveguidesJournal of Telecommunications and Information Technology, 2005, nr 3

Examples of the application of the confluent hypergeometric functions in miscellaneous areas of the theoretical physics are presented. It is suggested these functions to be utilized as a universal means for solution of a large number of problems, leading to: cylindrical, incomplete gamma, Coulomb wave, Airy, Kelvin, Bateman, Weber’s parabolic cylinder, logarithmic-integral and exponential integral functions, generalized Laguerre, Poisson-Charlier and Hermit polynomials, integral sine and cosine, Fresnel and probability integrals, etc. (whose complete list is given), which are their special cases. The employment of such an approach would permit to develop general methods for integration of these tasks, to generalize results of different directions of physics and to find the common features of various phenomena, governed by equations, pertaining to the same family. Emphasis is placed here on the use of the Kummer function in the field of microwaves: the cases of normal and slow rotationally symmetric TE modes propagation in the azimuthally magnetized circular ferrite waveguide are considered. Lemmas on the properties of the argument, real and imaginary parts, and positive purely imaginary (real) zeros of the function mentioned in the complex (real) domain, of importance in the solution of boundary-value problem stated for normal (slow) waves, are substantiated analytically or numerically. A theorem for the identity of positive purely imaginary and real zeros of the complex respectively real Kummer function for certain parameters, is proved numerically. Tables and graphs support the results established. The terms for wave transmission are obtained as four bilaterally open intervals of variation of the quantities, specifying the fields. It turns out that the normal (slow) modes may exist in one (two) region(s). The theoretically predicted phase curves for the first waves of the two TE sets examined show that the structure explored is suitable for ferrite control components design

ProDataMarket: A data marketplace for monetizing linked data

Linked data has emerged as an interesting technology for Publishing structured data on the Web but also as a powerful mechanism for integrating disparate data sources. Various tools and approaches have been developed in the semantic Web community to produce and consume linked data, however little attention has been paid to monetization of linked data. In this paper we introduce a data marketplace – proDataMarket – that enables data providers to generate, advertise, and sell linked data, and data consumers to purchase linked data on the marketplace. The marketplace was originally designed with a focus on geospatial linked data (targeting property-related data providers and consumers) but its capabilities are generic and can be used for data in various domains. This demo will highlight the capabilities offered to the providers and consumers of the data made available on the marketplace.publishedVersio

Microwave radiometry in monitoring and emergency mapping of water seepage and dangerously high groundwaters, Journal of Telecommunications and Information Technology, 2007, nr 1

Detailed and geo-referenced maps identifying the locations of saturated and dry levees can be produced using microwave radiometric measurements from a light aircraft or helicopter, and integrated with GPS for positioning and orientation. The development of synergetic remote sensing technology for raised groundwater and seepage detection by the joint use of microwave and optical data along with GIS databases is an effective and most contemporary way of supporting risk assessment and facilitating disaster prevention and management. In this paper we present a remote sensing microwave technology for monitoring and detection of areas of water seepage through irrigation constructions, levees and dykes as well as for revealing areas with dangerously high groundwater level. The possibility for emergency response mapping, integrated with GPS and GIS data, facilitates the risk assessment and management services. The passive microwave radiometry (PMR) is based on spectral measurements in the millimetre to decimetre range of wavelengths. Compared to other remote sensing techniques, such as colour and infrared photography, thermal images and lidar, PMR is the only technology taking measurements under the earth’s surface and therefore is very well suited for water seepage and underground water monitoring in a fast and reliable way