Public Works and Housing Infrastructure Planning using Environmental Carrying Capacity Consideration:Case Study on Planning Dam Development in Kalimantan Island, Indonesia

This article aims to explain how the environmental carrying capacity indicators could benefit public works and housing infrastructure planning. Law No. 32/2009 about environmental protection and management stated that the government is obliged to implement the Strategic Environment Assessment (SEA/KLHS) in the preparation of policies, plans, and/or programs that have the potential to cause environmental impacts and/or risks. This research aims to understand the process of using ecosystem services as part of the environmental carrying capacity. This approach would be relevant to the public works and housing infrastructure planning and is related to the National Medium Term Development Plan (RPJMN) goals in considering the environmental carrying capacity. This means that if the development of infrastructure does not meet the criteria of the environmental carrying capacity, it will cause negative impacts that could lead to futile infrastructures. The process of considering the environmental carrying capacity will be explained in quantitative methodology as an analysis process with a matrix as an overlay result. The overlay result will be interpreted as the basic information on whether a building in that location is feasible or not for carrying capacity conditions. The overlay result will be used as a basis for providing suggestions and recommendations

Designing efficient intranet applications

Mobile agents are a quite new and interesting paradigm for the implementation of distributed systems. As with most distributed systems, mobile agent applications are usually developed and installed without regarding performance aspects. Typically, methods and tools for capacity planning differ fundamentally from methods and tools for system development, thus system developers often avoid additional modelling and planning effort. This dissertation helps to solve this problem by presenting an approach to easy integrate performance modelling into the development process of mobile agent applications. Most mobile agent applications contain the same basic scenarios, which include stationary agents with the role of servers and mobile agents as clients. Based on these scenarios, this dissertation describes a new modelling approach and a methodology for capacity planning of mobile agent systems with an emphasis on intranet applications. The core idea of the new modelling approach is to directly integrate byte code of real agents in a simulation environment. Thus, it is not necessary to describe agents’ behaviour on a high abstraction level. Their behaviour results from their program code. To build performance models, a system developer mainly has to specify the infrastructure of the mobile agent system and parameters for time consumption. Moreover, this dissertation focuses on providing algorithms to increase the efficiency of simulation models of mobile agent systems. As existing approaches are not applicable to the presented modelling technique, new methods are developed which consider special features of mobile agent systems and which regard the objectives of this dissertation. A methodology for capacity planning of general heterogeneous IT systems is adjusted to mobile agent systems according to the developed modelling techniques. The modelling concepts and the methodology for capacity planning are first presented and explained. They are implemented using the mobile agent platform Tracy1 and the simulation package JavaDEMOS2. Finally, the applicability of these approaches are demonstrated by a realistic case study

Creating Responsive Information Systems with the Help of SSADM

In this paper, a program for a research is outlined. Firstly, the concept of responsive information systems is defined and then the notion of the capacity planning and software performance engineering is clarified. Secondly, the purpose of the proposed methodology of capacity planning, the interface to information systems analysis and development methodologies (SSADM), the advantage of knowledge-based approach is discussed. The interfaces to CASE tools more precisely to data dictionaries or repositories (IRDS) are examined in the context of a certain systems analysis and design methodology (e.g. SSADM)

Regional targeting of the Russian economic policy: an institution for spatial planning of territories

This article aims at assessing the state of Russian economy amid lower energy prices and the “exchange of sanctions” and identifying the priorities for Russian economic policy as a universal institution capable to support the stability and systemic character of development. It proposes to use the optimization of inter-budgetary relations in Municipality—Region—Federal Center system in order to initiate the process of spatial development of Russian territories by involving the regional and municipal capabilities in the development processes. All Russian citizens are recommended to adopt a more rigorous and responsible attitude towards the Constitution as the Basic Law, which received support from people and defines strategic priorities for the long-term development of Russia. The article provides a rationale for the methodology of optimizing the inter-budgetary relations between the Federation, its subjects and municipalities through a science-based division of powers and responsibilities for the socio-economic outcomes at each level. It proposes to involve the experts and the public in the development of a national plan for socio-economic and social development, the main priorities of which should be the improvement in the quality and effectiveness of public administration and spatial development of Russian territories. The author makes the case for the mechanisms and institutions that can connect the regions and territories to the implementation of such national plan. The conclusions and recommendations proposed in this article can be used by the federal authorities when drafting and adopting the laws and other regulatory acts on the distribution of powers and optimization of the budgetary process. They can also be used by regional and municipal authorities when planning and designing the spatial development of their territories.This article has been prepared with the financial support provided by the Grant from the Russian Science Foundation No. 14–18–00456 “Substantiating the geo-, eco-, socio-economic approach to the development of strategic natural and resource capacity of northern little-studied territories within The Arctic—Central Asia investment project.

Cultural Competency in Capacity Building

Discusses different capacity building approaches to improving cultural competency that are informed by community participation and multicultural organizational development

Participatory approach for integrated basin planning with focus on disaster risk reduction : the case of the Limpopo river

This paper defends the idea that a participatory approach is a suitable method for basin planning integrating both water and land aspects. Assertions made are based on scientific literature review and corroborated by field experience and research carried out in the Limpopo River basin, a transboundary river located in southern Africa which is affected by periodical floods. The paper explains how a basin strategic plan can be drafted and disaster risk reduction strategies derived by combining different types of activities using a bottom-up approach, despite an institutional context which operates through traditional top-down mechanisms. In particular, the "Living with Floods" experience in the lower Limpopo River, in Mozambique, is described as a concrete example of a disaster adaptation measure resulting from a participatory planning exercise. In conclusion, the adopted method and obtained results are discussed and recommendations are formulated for potential replication in similar contexts of the developing world

Determining Utility System Value of Demand Flexibility From Grid-interactive Efficient Buildings

This report focuses on ways current methods and practices that establish the value to electric utility systems of distributed energy resource (DER) investments can be enhanced to determine the value of demand flexibility in grid-interactive efficient buildings that can provide grid services. The report introduces key valuation concepts that are applicable to demand flexibility that these buildings can provide and links to other documents that describe these concepts and their implementation in more detail.The scope of this report is limited to the valuation of economic benefits to the utility system. These are the foundational values on which other benefits (and costs) can be built. Establishing the economic value to the grid of demand flexibility provides the information needed to design programs, market rules, and rates that align the economic interest of utility customers with building owners and occupants. By nature, DERs directly impact customers and provide societal benefits external to the utility system. Jurisdictions can use utility system benefits and costs as the foundation of their economic analysis but align their primary cost-effectiveness metric with all applicable policy objectives, which may include customer and societal (non-utility system) impacts.This report suggests enhancements to current methods and practices that state and local policymakers, public utility commissions, state energy offices, utilities, state utility consumer representatives, and other stakeholders might support. These enhancements can improve the consistency and robustness of economic valuation of demand flexibility for grid services. The report concludes with a discussion of considerations for prioritizing implementation of these improvements

Management and Control of Domestic Smart Grid Technology

Emerging new technologies like distributed generation, distributed storage, and demand-side load management will change the way we consume and produce energy. These techniques enable the possibility to reduce the greenhouse effect and improve grid stability by optimizing energy streams. By smartly applying future energy production, consumption, and storage techniques, a more energy-efficient electricity supply chain can be achieved. In this paper a three-step control methodology is proposed to manage the cooperation between these technologies, focused on domestic energy streams. In this approach, (global) objectives like peak shaving or forming a virtual power plant can be achieved without harming the comfort of residents. As shown in this work, using good predictions, in advance planning and real-time control of domestic appliances, a better matching of demand and supply can be achieved.\ud \u

A Three-Step Methodology to Improve Domestic Energy Efficiency

Increasing energy prices and the greenhouse effect lead to more awareness of energy efficiency of electricity supply. During the last years, a lot of technologies have been developed to improve this efficiency. Next to large scale technologies such as windturbine parks, domestic technologies are developed. These domestic technologies can be divided in 1) Distributed Generation (DG), 2) Energy Storage and 3) Demand Side Load Management. Control algorithms optimizing a combination of these techniques can raise the energy reduction potential of the individual techniques. In this paper an overview of current research is given and a general concept is deducted. Based on this concept, a three-step optimization methodology is proposed using 1) offline local prediction, 2) offline global planning and 3) online local scheduling. The paper ends with results of simulations and field tests showing that the methodology is promising.\u

Towards a participatory evaluation methodology: the Southern African pilot learning process

This is draft of a paper by Boston University professor Ann Seidma