A Review: Analysis of White Space for Designing Communication Module

In this paper we propose the literature review related to analysis of White Space for Designing Communication Module. The radio frequency spectrum is an essential factor in communication network. With demand for wireless connectivity increasing, the exploitation of white space is an attractive way of making more efficient use of radio spectrum. This paper is based on the detecting the unutilized spectrum that can safely be used for broadband communication networks

Measurement of frequency occupancy levels in TV bands in urban environment in Kosovo

In this study we conduct an assessment of usage and availability of frequency bands, traditionally assigned to TV broadcasters, in urban environments in Kosovo. The assessment was performed for VHF and UHF bands at 8 different urban locations. Localized measurements indicate that a major part of these frequencies is severely under-utilized even in highly urbanized areas where a higher utilization level would be expected. Preliminary results further show that spectrum utilization level varies significantly with altitude and is much lower in indoor environments. Our initial calculations show that current percentage of availability of TV bands in tested locations varies between 87.5% and 100%. These results indicate that spectrum utilization in these bands could be greatly improved by allowing the opportunistic use of spectrum by cognitive radios and other wireless communication technologies, such as future cellular networks

A Comprehensive Survey on Networking over TV White Spaces

The 2008 Federal Communication Commission (FCC) ruling in the United States opened up new opportunities for unlicensed operation in the TV white space spectrum. Networking protocols over the TV white spaces promise to subdue the shortcomings of existing short-range multi-hop wireless architectures and protocols by offering more availability, wider bandwidth, and longer-range communication. The TV white space protocols are the enabling technologies for sensing and monitoring, Internet-of-Things (IoT), wireless broadband access, real-time, smart and connected community, and smart utility applications. In this paper, we perform a retrospective review of the protocols that have been built over the last decade and also the new challenges and the directions for future work. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first comprehensive survey to present and compare existing networking protocols over the TV white spaces.Comment: 19 page

Tales from two cities: COVID-19 and the localisation of tourism in London and Paris

Purpose - Drawing on empirical research conducted in London and Paris between July 2020 and June 2021, this research explores whether these two global metropolises may be able to take the COVID-19 crisis as an opportunity to develop more sustainable forms of urban tourism. More specifically, the study analyses whether new forms of localised tourism have developed as a result of the pandemic, how these have been nurtured and encouraged by the tourism industry in these two cities, and the implications of these trends for the sustainable development of tourism in these two cities. Design/methodology/approach - A combination of research methods was used: an online Delphi method, followed by in-depth one to one interviews with selected stakeholders and complemented by the analysis of media articles, policy documents and secondary data. Findings - The qualitative data analysis highlights some key findings: tourism sustainability gained a new importance after the pandemic, however the crisis did not bring the sustainable revolution some stakeholders wished or expected. Nonetheless in both cities tourism marketing adopted a new "hyper-local" approach with the objective of encouraging proximity tourism and involving local residents more, thus pointing to the need to review traditional definitions of the (urban) tourist. Originality/value – While the blurring between tourism and the everyday in cities has been widely discussed in tourism theory, this research provides empirical evidence from two world tourism cities, showing some of the wider, practical implications of these theoretical debates for industry and policy making in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic

Indoor thermal comfort in urban courtyard block dwellings in the Netherlands

Global warming and elevated temperatures in the Netherlands will increase the energy demand for cooling. Studying passive strategies to cope with the consequences of climate change is inevitable. This paper investigates the thermal performance of courtyard dwellings in the Netherlands. The effects of different orientations and elongations, cool roofs and pavements on indoor thermal comfort are studied through simulations and field measurements. The results show that North-South and East-West orientations provide the least and most comfortable indoor environments. Regarding materials, the use of green on roofs and as courtyard pavement is the most effective heat mitigation strategy. It was observed that the effects of wet cool roofs are much higher than of dry roofs. Cool roofs did not show a specific negative effect (heat loss) as compared to conventional asphalt roofs in winter. Some simulation results were validated through field measurement with a 0.91°C root mean square deviation

Green infrastructure planning: Unveiling meaningful spaces through Foursquare users’ preferences

The design of efficient Green Infrastructure —GI— systems is a key issue to achieve sustainable development city planning goals in the twenty-first century. This study’s main contribution is the identification of potential GI elements to better align the environmental, social and economic perspectives in the GI design by including information about the use, activities, preferences and presence of people. To achieve this, user generated content from Location Based Social Network —LBSN— Foursquare is used as a complementary data source. This involved the construction of an interdisciplinary correlation framework, between the Landscape Ecology principles and the GI elements, that included the classification of Foursquare data into grouping types. The classification considered the potential role of Foursquare venues in the GI network. Valencia City in Spain served as an illustrative case study to test the validity of the proposed method. The results suggest that Foursquare can provide a valuable insight on user perceptions of potential GI elements. Moreover, the findings indicate that user generated content from LBSNs like Foursquare can serve as a complementary tool for analysing the dynamics of urban outdoor spaces to assess GI network, thereby facilitating more effective urban planning and contributing to the social sustainability of the city.This research was funded by the Vice-rectorate of Research and Knowledge Transfer of the University of Alicante (Spain), in the context of the Program for the promotion of R&D&I. This work was developed within the scope of the research project entitled: "[LIVELYCITY] Interdisciplinary methods for the study of the city through geolocated social networks", reference GRE18-19

Building Nature: A Nature-Based Drama Therapy Method in an Urban Program

Finding a mental health center that fits the needs of an individual can take time. Some individuals must travel to different states and enter large metropolises to find the specific type of support they need for their mental health journey. This can mean that for extended periods of time, as individuals go through residential treatment, partial hospitalization programs (PHP), and/or intensive outpatient programs (IOP), they can not only find themselves in a completely new community, but also entirely removed from nature. For this reason, my thesis focused on creating a method to reconnect humans ‘trapped’ in an urban setting with the healing power and benefits of nature. I incorporated nature elements to engage as many senses as were available amid the COVID-19 pandemic guidelines for sanitation and safety. I believe that the incorporation of a nature-based drama therapy method into an adult PHP program can help improve emotional and physiological self-regulation, group cohesion, and inspire patients to reconnect with nature as a tool for their own personal growth and healing journeys