DISTRICT DESIGN AND ROUTE PLANNING FOR CUSTOMER-RELATED FIELD OPERATIONS OF NATURAL GAS DISTRIBUTION SYSTEMS: A CASE STUDY

Dünya enerji ihtiyacının yaklaşık % 24'ü doğalgazdan karşılanmaktadır. Bir şehirde, doğal gaz dağıtım sistemi, yapım, işletme, iç tesisat ve müşteri hizmetleri olmak üzere birbirine bağlı dört ana süreçten oluşur. Bu çalışmada, dağıtım sisteminin müşteri ile doğrudan ilişkili olan müşteri hizmetleri süreçleri ele alınmıştır. Bölgesel ayrım, rota planlaması ve mobil ekip iş yükü tahsisi gibi müşteri hizmetleri süreçleri için matematiksel modeller önerilmiş ve Konya'nın yetkili doğal gaz dağıtım şirketi olan Gaznet A.Ş.'de uygulanmıştır. Önerilen modellerin performansı, mobil ekip sayısı ve iş yükü miktarı açısından mevcut sistemle karşılaştırılmıştır. Deneysel çalışmalar, önerilen sistemin mobil ekip sayısının mevcut sistemden % 37 daha düşük olduğunu göstermektedir

CLUSTERING OF TERRITORIAL AREAS: A MULTI-CRITERIA DISTRICTING PROBLEM

Endogenous resources, economic profile and socio-economic issues are the criteria that define the development level and the identity features of a territorial unit. The territorial units that organize the country, in political and administrative terms – parishes and counties –, have a hierarquical structure, which initially reflected the organization of productive activities as well as the tradition State organization. The success of development policies addressed to territorial agglomerates depends on its homogeneity and of their territorial units. Facing to this the clustering of territorial areas can be stated as a districting multi-criteria problem. Thus, this paper aims to propose a framework for obtaining homogenous territorial clusters based on a Pareto frontier that includes multicriteria related to the territorial endogenous resources, economic profile and sociocultural features. This framework is developed in two phases. First, the criteria correlated with the development at the territory unit level are determined through statistical and econometric methods. Then, a multi-criteria approach is developed to allocate each territory unit to an agglomerate of territory according to the Pareto frontier established. The framework is applied to the context of a set of parishes and counties of the Alentejo Central region, southern Portugal. Results are presented and discussed in the scope of a regional strategy of development

The Future of the Suburbs: Policy Challenges and Opportunities in Canada

Canada is often described as a highly urbanized country. Increasingly, however, researchers recognize that Canada is in fact a suburban nation. This recognition has sparked a new research agenda on the Canadian suburbs from a variety of disciplines and perspectives. In this collection of essays, four leading scholars of the Canadian suburbs discuss the opportunities and challenges of suburbanization for Canadian public policy. The essays include:   • Canada is a Suburban Nation by David Gordon • Voices from the Edges: Policy Insights from Young Suburbanites by Markus Moos and Khairunnabila Prayitno • The Future of the Suburbs: Challenges and Opportunities in Municipal Finance by David Amborski • Suburbanization and Politics by Zack Taylo

Orange Chinook

In 2015, the New Democratic Party won an unprecedented victory in Alberta. Unseating the Progressive Conservatives -- who had won every provincial election since 1971 -- they formed an NDP government for the first time in the history of the province. Orange Chinook is the first scholarly analysis of this election. It examines the legacy of the Progressive Conservative dynasty, the PC and NDP campaigns, polling, and online politics, providing context and setting the stage for the unprecedented NDP victory. It highlights the importance of Alberta's energy sector and how it relates to provincial politics with focus on the oil sands, the carbon tax, and pipelines. Examining the NDP in power, Orange Chinook draws on Indigenous, urban, and rural perspectives to explore the transition process and government finances and politics. It explores the governing style of NDP premier Rachel Notley, paying special attention to her response to the 2016 Fort McMurray wildfire and to the role of women in politics. Orange Chinook brings together Alberta's top political watchers in this fascinating, multifaceted analysis

Redefinition of the Greek electoral districts through the application of a region-building algorithm

The main purpose of this paper is the formulation of a methodological approach for the definition of homogenous spatial clusters, taking into account both geographical and descriptive characteristics. The proposed methodology, is substantiated by SPiRAL (SPatial Integration and Redistricting ALgorithm), a constrained-based spatial clustering algorithm, whose successive steps focus on the analysis of the characteristics of the areas being integrated, the designation of the spatial clusters and the validity of a joining criterion. We applied the methodological approach and used SPiRAL to solve a realistic electoral redistricting problem. Namely, the redefinition of the electoral districts of the Prefecture of Lakonia in Greece. The results demonstrate an improved layout of the study area’s electoral map as far as the problem’s criteria and constraints are concerned (adjacency, population and size), justifying in this respect the perspectives and potential of our approach in the analysis and confrontation of similar problems

Sustainability Matters

Calgary, Alberta is a culturally diverse urban metropolis. Sprawling and car-dependent, fast-growing and affluent, it is dominated by the fossil fuel industry. For 30 years, Calgary has struggled to turn sustainability rhetoric into reality. Sustainability Matters is the story of Calgary’s setbacks and successes on the path toward sustainability. Chronicling two decades of public conversations, political debate, urban policy and planning, and scholarly discovery, it is both a fascinating case study and an accessible introduction to the theory and practice of urban sustainability. A clear-eyed view of the struggles of turning knowledge into action, this book illuminates the places where theory and reality converge and presents an approach to municipal development, planning, and governance that takes seriously the urgent need to address climate change and injustice. Addressing a wide variety of topics and themes, including energy, diversity, economic development, and ecological health, Sustainability Matters is both a critique of current practice and a vision for the future that uses the city of Calgary as a microcosm to address issues faced by cities around the world. This is essential reading not only for every Calgarian working for a vibrant and sustainable future, but for all those interested in in the future of cities in a post-carbon world

Provincial and Territorial Interests in Land Use Planning and Development

Report: iv., pp.156, appendix A-G.; ill., digital file.Land use planning in Canada is in the process of undergoing a radical shift as legislation, much of which dates from the 1980s or even the 1970s, is less and less able to cope with the increasing complexity of land use issues faced in every region of the country. Growing metropolitan regions, mechanization and intensification of farming practices and a growing concern over environmental issues have radically altered the context within which planning takes place. Concerns with water quality, particularly in light of the Walkerton tragedy, as well as the advent of Intensive Livestock Operations and rapidly expanding urban fringes are at the fore of land use issues facing planners in Canada today.The Intergovernmental Committee on Urban and Regional Researc

National Appointments to Multinational Monetary Policy Making: A Role Conflict?

Territorial appointees to an independent central bank (e.g. District Federal Reserve Banks’ presidents, Governors of national central banks at the ECB’s Governing Council) are liable to confront a “role conflict” stemming from a duality of loyalties and allegiances - to the home regional territory to which they owe the appointment and to the central bank to which they are appointed. This essay examines the issue of two “principals” for a given “agent”, within the framework of a “common agency” model in European monetary policymaking. Territorial appointees cannot afford being unresponsive to their country-specific monetary preferences – as dictated by idiosyncratic social and economic structures, political orientations, cultural factors, and other determinants. Local preferences may conflict with the central bank’s mandated objectives, its social and political environment, the constellation of institutions gravitating in its orbit, which shape a given mindset and culture to which the territorial appointees are also prone to conform.monetary policy, central bank council