Urban integrated meteorological observations: practice and experience in Shanghai, China

Observations of atmospheric conditions and processes in citiesare fundamental to understanding the interactions between the urban surface and weather/climate, improving the performance of urban weather, air quality and climate models, and providing key information for city end-users (e.g. decision-makers, stakeholders, public). In this paper, Shanghai's urban integrated meteorological observation network (SUIMON) and some examples of intended applications are introduced. Its characteristics include being: multi- purpose (e.g. forecast, research, service), multi-function (high impact weather, city climate, special end-users), multi-scale (e.g. macro/meso-, urban-, neighborhood, street canyon), multi-variable (e.g. thermal, dynamic, chemical, bio-meteorological, ecological), and multi- platform (e.g. radar, wind profiler, ground-based, satellite based, in-situ observation/ sampling). Underlying SUIMON is a data management system to facilitate exchange of data and information. The overall aim of the network is to improve coordination strategies and instruments; to identify data gaps based on science and user driven requirements; and to intelligently combine observations from a variety of platforms by using a data assimilation system that is tuned to produce the best estimate of the current state of the urban atmosphere

BIM-based Generative Modular Housing Design and Implications for Post-Disaster Housing Recovery

The adverse social and financial impacts of catastrophic disasters are increasing as population centers grow. After disastrous events, the government agencies must respond to post-disaster housing issues quickly and efficiently and provide sufficient resources for the reconstruction of destroyed and damaged houses for full rehabilitation. However, post-disaster housing reconstruction is a highly complex process because of the large number of projects, shortage of resources, and heavy pressure for delivery of the projects after a disastrous event. This complexity and lack of an inconsistent, systematic approach for planning lead to an ad-hoc decision-making process and inefficient recovery. This research explored modular construction as a highly time-efficient approach to tackle the abovementioned challenges and facilitate the housing reconstruction process. Firstly, this research investigated the feasibility of using the modular construction method for rapid post-disaster housing reconstruction through a targeted literature review and survey of subject matter experts to broaden the understanding of modular construction-based post-disaster housing reconstruction, benefits, and barriers. Second, this research focused on improving the design and pre-planning phase of modular construction that can facilitate the successful implementation of modular construction in a post-disaster situation. To this end, a BIM-based generative modular housing design system was developed by using Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs) to automate the entire design process by incorporating manufacturing and construction constraints to fit the needs of the modular construction method. The framework was further extended by developing an optimization model to optimize the modularization strategy in the early design phase which was capable of reflecting the entire multi-stage process of modular construction (production, transportation, and assembly), and considering both individual project’s requirements and post-disaster housing reconstruction portfolio’s requirements. The outcomes of this study fit the MC industry that may be used by designers and modular housing companies looking to automate their design process. It is also expected to provide critical benchmarks for planners, decision-makers, and community developers to facilitate their decision-making process on considering modular construction as an efficient way for mass post-disaster housing reconstruction and addressing communities’ housing needs following a disastrous event

Progress Report Circular Economy in the Netherlands

The progress on the project From Waste to Resource is described for each different action per operational objective

中国の伝統的な住宅における調理室の蓄熱壁及びサンルームに基づく室内環境の改善

The research aim of this paper was to put forward a cooking heating wall system with an additional sunlight room, focusing on the analysis of the impact of this system on improving the indoor temperature. It was verified that this system is effective for indoor heating in residential buildings. The ratio of walls to other elements is also an important factor affecting the heating of the system. In future research, this viewpoint can be used as the main research direction. First, the main elements affecting the indoor temperature can be determined based on the local geographical environment and climatic conditions to further determine the proportion of walls and major elements, so as to optimize the system. 1. By comparing the heating conditions of traditional residential buildings with or without the new passive system, the heat load reduction when adopting the new system in winter was estimated. 2. In the absence of solar radiation, the heating effects of the ordinary heating system and the new passive system were analyzed. The purpose was to calculate the heating rate, the time required, and the decrease in the annual heat load of the building. 3. Considering the presence or absence of solar radiation, the new system was compared to the ordinary heating of residential buildings to simulate and calculate the change in indoor temperature, heating efficiency, heating time, and the value of the annual building heat load.北九州市立大

An integrated spatial-participatory framework for flood risk mitigation in the semiarid region of Brazil

As flooding continues to impact cities worldwide, engineering studies are focused on finding best strategies for Flood Risk Reduction (FRR) aiming mainly to the return of the pre-development state (before urban growth). However, current approaches provide a minor reflection of how communities at risk can adapt, reorganise, and sustain changes for the future. This thesis contributes to this context, by including the perspective of FRR as a “social phenomenon”, enabling the discussion of (1) why some places experience catastrophic risk impacts with losses of properties and lives, and (2) what are the barriers and challenges to move FRR forward in vulnerable regions. In this context, the main objective of this thesis is to develop an integrated spatial-participatory framework for FRR in a Brazilian vulnerable area, the semiarid region. The framework was applied in the city of Campina Grande, located in Paraiba state. Campina Grande represents a middle-sized city with more than 400,000 inhabitants who face urban growth, social inequalities, water-related disasters, pluvial flooding (FR), and water shortage (WSR) risks. The integrated framework was built with the assumption that characterising the current NEEDS, enlightens the selection of appropriate ACTIONS and solutions for FRR in the local scale (i.e., NEEDS for ACTION). The framework combines participatory planning strategies with spatial tools, such as ArcGIS Pro (ESRI), Cellular Automata Dual-DrainagE Simulation (CADDIES) model, and Storm Water Management Model (SWMM). The participatory approach entitled as the PLANEJEEE Project (To Plan Extreme Events – “Planeje Eventos Extremos” in Portuguese) was formulated with the participation of residents, local authorities and specialists. 255 people participated of different strategies, including online and in-person surveys, informal meetings, workshops, and focus groups in 2019 and 2021. Results from the surveys shows that socio-economic, geographical, informational and contextual factors impact the risk perception and coping capacity of residents. When comparing FR and WSR perceptions, findings shows that resources related to information (communication), incentives and trust should be provided for improving residents’ coping capacity before, during, and after the water-related events. Also, FRR challenges and future solutions are discussed in relation to issues with management, legislation, governance, society, and collaboration. The approach also developed mappings with spatial datasets for representing the current and future distribution of flood hazard, vulnerability and exposure. These maps show how residents are differently exposed and vulnerable to flood risk, leading to more inequalities in the city. The thesis is concluded with the analysis of Nature-Based Solutions (NBS), green roofs, rain gardens, permeable pavement, green areas, and rainwater harvesting for Campina Grande. Findings show that solutions can provide environmental, social and economic benefits for the city, especially when they are combined; however, benefits are varied and located in different areas in the city. Benefits are context-specific, influenced by the place's inherent aspects, such as current needs, the location, and the application area. The thesis finalises with a discussion about how territorial exposure and vulnerability are linked spatial inequalities. Finally, recommendations for FRR in the Brazilian context are provided

Plastics waste trade and the environment

Europe is at crossroads regarding its management of plastic, plastic waste and the plastic waste trade. Rapidly growing amounts of plastic have negative environmental and climate impacts. Plastic and plastic waste are traded worldwide. Exporting plastic waste from the EU to Asia is a means of dealing with insufficient recycling capacities in the EU. Waste import restrictions in China have shifted exports to other countries. Because some types of plastic waste have been added to the United Nations Basel Convention, the option of exporting plastic waste is becoming increasingly difficult. This requires policymakers, business and other actors to build a more robust and circular economy for plastic in Europe. Annual global plastic production has increased from 2 to 380 million tonnes since 1950 and is projected to double by 2035 and almost quadruple by 2050. European countries lack the capacity to manage growing amounts of plastic waste in circular and sustainable ways. In early 2019, the EU exported around 150 000 tonnes of plastic waste per month. This figure was about twice as high in 2015 and 2016 - up to 300.000 tons monthly - when exports went to China and Hong Kong primarily. Import restrictions are the reason for the decrease and shift in exports of plastic waste to other countries in Asia. Poor management of plastic waste has negative environmental and climate effects, such as deposits of plastic and microplastics appearing on land and in rivers and oceans worldwide. Plastic contributes to climate change through greenhouse gas emissions from production and from waste management, and to harmful effects from chemicals and water use. There is little knowledge or transparency about how plastic waste imported from the EU is managed in other countries.Recent restrictions on imports of plastic waste in China, combined with some types of plastic being added to the Basel Convention, is likely to further decrease EU exports. This poses the risk of increased incineration and landfilling of plastic waste in Europe. The EU must find circular and climate-friendly ways of managing its plastic waste e.g. by increasing reuse and recycling

A Reference Architecture and a Software Platform for Engineering Internet of Things Search Engines

The Internet of Things (IoT) is here. Enabled by advances in the wireless networking and the miniaturization of embedded computers, billions of physical things have been connecting to the Internet and offering their ability to sense and react to the real-world phenomena. These abilities form the content of IoT, which enable applications such as smart-city, smartbuilding, assisted living, and supply chain automation. The Internet of Things Search Engines (IoTSE) support human users and software systems to detect and retrieve IoT content for realizing the stated applications. Due to the diversity and sensitivity of IoT content, the literature has suggested that IoTSE will emerge as a large number of small instances, each of which monitors a specific IoT infrastructure and specializes in querying a particular type of IoT content. Various internal activities (i.e., components), as well as the logical and physical arrangement of those activities (i.e., architectural patterns), will overlap between IoTSE instances. The emergence of a large number of IoTSE instances, which possess overlapping operations and architecture, highlights the need for leveraging prior components and architectural patterns in engineering IoTSE instances. However, as an IoTSE reference architecture and a software infrastructure to guide and support such reuse-centric IoTSE engineering have not existed, a majority of IoTSE instances have been engineered from scratch. This thesis aims at proposing the reference architecture and the software infrastructure to support leveraging prior components and architectural patterns in engineering IoTSE instances. The key contributions of this thesis include a reference architecture that describes the constituting components and architectural patterns of an IoTSE instance, and software infrastructure that supports utilizing the reference architecture in developing reusable, composable IoTSE components and engineering IoTSE instances from those components. In order to propose the IoTSE reference architecture, we conducted a systematic and extensive survey of over one decade of IoTSE research and development effort from both an academic and an industrial perspective. We identified commonalities among diverse classes of IoTSE instances and compiled this knowledge into a reference architecture, which defines 18 components, 13 composition patterns, and 6 deployment patterns. We assessed the reference architecture by mapping it onto two IoTSE prototypes that represent the most common types of IoTSE in the literature and possess the more complicated architecture compared to other types. In order to develop the software infrastructure, we first proposed a kernel-based approach to IoTSE engineering, which was inspired by the design of modern operating systems. In this approach, IoTSE instances operate as a collection of independently developed IoTSE components that are plugged into a shared kernel. This kernel provides essential utilities to run IoTSE components and control their interactions to fulfill the functionality of an IoTSE instance. The kernel also provides templates that simplify the development of IoTSE components that are interoperable and compliant with the proposed reference architecture. In a case study, which involves engineering an IoTSE prototype, the kernel managed to reduce the amount of new source line of code to just 30%. The kernel-based approach supports engineering a majority of prominent IoTSE types detected in the literature. To enhance its support for emerging classes of IoTSE and prepare for future features in the reuse-centric IoTSE engineering, we proposed a platform-based approach to IoTSE engineering that extends the kernel-based approach. The platform-based approach revolves around an Internet of Things Search Engine Platform – ISEP – that supports developing interoperable IoTSE components, accumulating those components, and allowing search engine operators to engineer IoTSE instance from them using any valid architectural pattern defined in the reference architecture, without modifying the implementation of the components. In a case study, the platform-based approach enabled engineering complex IoTSE instances entirely from the components of simpler ones. Both the ability to engineer various IoTSE instances from a set of components and the engineering of new IoTSE instances entirely from accumulated components are unprecedented in the IoTSE literature. Future research can focus on devising mechanisms that leverage the architecture and the infrastructure proposed in this thesis to accumulate the knowledge generated in the process of engineering IoTSE instances and use it to introduce automation gradually to IoTSE engineering. Eventually, when the automation is proven to be trustworthy and reliable, machines might compose and deploy IoTSE instances in real-time to adapt to the incoming queries and the state of the computing infrastructure. By achieving this degree of automation, we will have realized a search engine for the Internet of Things.Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Adelaide, School of Computer Science, 201

Sustainable Integrated Clean Environment for Human & Nature

In this book, the articles published in the special issue of the journal Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050), entitled “Sustainable Integrated Clean Environment for Human & Nature” are re-printed. The objective of this book is to answer the following questions regarding technical, economic, and social approaches:1. What is the current state of the environment? Is it clean?2. How can we make our environment clean and suitable for humans as well as nature?3. How can we keep our environment clean through sustainable practices? The re-printed research articles and review papers aim to cover the subjects mentioned below: 1. COVID-19 and the sustainability of a clean environment for humans and nature: visions, challenges, and solutions2. Clean technologies and nature-based approaches, including environmental remediation and resource circulation3. Global sanitation, hygiene, and public health issues4. Economic approaches, including the development of economic models, life cycle assessment, and the circular economy5. Social awareness and effective education on human rights for procuring clean air and water Through including the latest studies in the above-mentioned fields, this book addresses the technicians, economists, social activists, and decision-makers who are concerned about clean environment concepts for sustainable development of the current and next-generation through respectful interactions between humans and nature

SciTech News Volume 71, No. 1 (2017)

Columns and Reports From the Editor 3 Division News Science-Technology Division 5 Chemistry Division 8 Engineering Division Aerospace Section of the Engineering Division 9 Architecture, Building Engineering, Construction and Design Section of the Engineering Division 11 Reviews Sci-Tech Book News Reviews 12 Advertisements IEEE