Urban transport sustainability indicators: Application of Multi-View Black-Box (MVBB) framework

In a recent work Nathan and Reddy (2011a) have proposed a Multi-view Black-box (MVBB) framework for development of sustainable development indicators (SDIs) for an urban setup. The framework is flexible to be applied to any domain or sector of urban system. In this paper the proposed MVBB framework is applied for transportation sector of Mumbai city. The paper begins with a discussion on transportation sector and its unsustainability links and trends. It outlines the concept of sustainable transportation system and reviews some of the prominent sustainable transportation indicator initiatives. In order to formalize sustainable development indicators (SDIs) for transportation sector, the study collates the indicators from literature, placed them in Mumbai's context and classified them into the three dimensions of urban sustainability-economic efficiency, social wellbeing and ecological acceptability.Sustainable transportation system, Potential indicators, Urban sustainability, MVBB, Transport indicators, Economic efficiency, Social wellbeing, Ecological acceptability

Comparative analysis of the productivity levels achieved through the use of panelised prefabrication technology with those of traditional building system : a thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Construction, School of Engineering & Advanced Technology, Massey University, Albany, New Zealand

Several studies have documented benefits of prefabricated building system compared to the traditional approach. Despite the acknowledged benefits of prefabrication, its application is generally low in the New Zealand construction industry. This low uptake is largely attributed to the fact that the documented benefits of prefabrication technology are anecdotal, or based on investigations of isolated case studies. This study aims to contribute to filling this knowledge gap by analysing cost savings, time savings, and productivity improvement achievable by the use of panelised prefabrication in place of the traditional building system. A two-phased mixed method of research was adopted for the study. The first phase involved the use of case study-based archival research to obtain qualitative data from records of 151 completed building projects in three cities of New Zealand – Auckland, Christchurch and Wellington. The second phase involved the use of questionnaire survey to obtain feedback from industry stakeholders. Results showed that the use of panelised prefabrication in place of traditional building system contributed to 21 percent cost saving, 47 percent time saving and 10 percent average improvement in the productivity outcomes in the building projects. Results further showed that 17 factors could significantly influence the levels of benefits achievable with the use of prefabrication technology. ‘Building type’ and ‘location’ were the factors having the most significant influence on the benefits achievable by the use of panelised prefabrication in place of the traditional building systems. Other factors that influence the benefits of prefabrication included (in diminishing order of influence): logistics, type of prefabrication, scale/repeatability, standardisation, contractor’s level of innovation, environmental impact, project leadership, type of procurement, whole of life quality, site conditions, site layout and client’s nature

La valutazione degli apprendimenti scolastici. Un quadro internazionale.

Partendo da alcune domande-guida (chi valuta? con quali obiettivi si valuta? che cosa si valuta? come si valuta?), questo contributo intende presentare sinteticamente, sulla base delle più recenti indagini comparative internazionali, alcuni tratti essenziali dei sistemi nazionali di valutazione degli apprendimenti scolastici nell’area OECD.Starting with some guiding questions (who does assess? what are the objectives of the assessment? what is assessed? how is assessed?), the purpose of this paper is to introduce a summary of academic learning assessment in the OECD area, on the basis of the most recent international surveys

What we have learned about policy-research linkage from providing a rapid response facility for international healthcare comparisons to the Department of Health in England

In this paper we reflect on our experience of providing a rapid response facility for international healthcare policy comparisons to the English Department of Health. We examine the challenges of developing sustained relationships with policy officials while providing an 'on-demand' service in an environment with high turnover of policies and staff. It may be easier for policy makers to draw on researchers in such a setting than for researchers to foster 'linkage and exchange' relationships with policy makers. Under the facility, knowledge transfer has mostly been from researchers to policy officials, affording us little insight into the policy process or the impact of our work

Brazilian Atmospheric Inventories – BRAIN: a comprehensive database of air quality in Brazil

Developing air quality management systems to control the impacts of air pollution requires reliable data. However, current initiatives do not provide datasets with large spatial and temporal resolutions for developing air pollution policies in Brazil. Here, we introduce the Brazilian Atmospheric Inventories (BRAIN), the first comprehensive database of air quality and its drivers in Brazil. BRAIN encompasses hourly datasets of meteorology, emissions, and air quality. The emissions dataset includes vehicular emissions derived from the Brazilian Vehicular Emissions Inventory Software (BRAVES), industrial emissions produced with local data from the Brazilian environmental agencies, biomass burning emissions from FINN – Fire INventory from the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), and biogenic emissions from the Model of Emissions of Gases and Aerosols from Nature (MEGAN) (https://doi.org/10.57760/sciencedb.09858, Hoinaski et al., 2023a; https://doi.org/10.57760/sciencedb.09886, Hoinaski et al., 2023b). The meteorology dataset has been derived from the Weather Research and Forecasting Model (WRF) (https://doi.org/10.57760/sciencedb.09857, Hoinaski and Will, 2023a; https://doi.org/10.57760/sciencedb.09885, Hoinaski and Will, 2023c). The air quality dataset contains the surface concentration of 216 air pollutants produced from coupling meteorological and emissions datasets with the Community Multiscale Air Quality Modeling System (CMAQ) (https://doi.org/10.57760/sciencedb.09859, Hoinaski and Will, 2023b; https://doi.org/10.57760/sciencedb.09884, Hoinaski and Will, 2023d). We provide gridded data in two domains, one covering the Brazilian territory with 20×20 km spatial resolution and another covering southern Brazil with 4×4 km spatial resolution. This paper describes how the datasets were produced, their limitations, and their spatiotemporal features. To evaluate the quality of the database, we compare the air quality dataset with 244 air quality monitoring stations, providing the model's performance for each pollutant measured by the monitoring stations. We present a sample of the spatial variability of emissions, meteorology, and air quality in Brazil from 2019, revealing the hotspots of emissions and air pollution issues. By making BRAIN publicly available, we aim to provide the required data for developing air quality policies on municipal and state scales, especially for under-developed and data-scarce municipalities. We also envision that BRAIN has the potential to create new insights into and opportunities for air pollution research in Brazil.​​​​​​​</p

Rethinking counterfeiting in light of the relationship between intellectual property and development

University of Technology Sydney. Faculty of Law.The thesis takes a critical approach to examine the meaning, the impact and the cause of counterfeiting within the context of the ever-increasing standards of international intellectual property right (IPR) protection and anti-counterfeiting enforcement. It finds that, while the TRIPs agreement does not require imitation to constitute counterfeiting, in practice using an identical trademark on the same goods will almost always involve product imitation as well as trademark imitation. Drawing on economic and historical studies that demonstrate the value of imitation to development, this thesis argues that counterfeiting involves product imitation that can benefit consumer welfare and the original brand owner, support the local economy in regions where counterfeiting takes place, and facilitate the development of innovative capacity in developing countries. This value of imitation is supported by the history of the early stages of development in developed countries, which adopted protectionist policies, including intellectual property policy, to encourage importation, imitation and improvement of foreign technologies and products, so as to advance their national interest in increased innovative capacity. It has been commonly accepted that strong IPR protection does not always stimulate innovation and promote development. Rather, when inappropriately designed, stringent IPR protection is very likely to stifle innovation and hamper growth. One important measure of whether IPR protection is appropriately designed depends on the balancing of such protection against the demands of development. In developing economies, the lack of innovative capacity determines that these economies still rely substantially on imitation and assimilation of foreign advanced technology and other forms of knowledge. Within this conceptual framework, this thesis argues that the prohibition of counterfeiting as illegal imitation reflects the imbalance between high standards of IPR protection and low levels of development. These arguments are further tested and confirmed in the case study of counterfeiting in China. This thesis compares several Chinese terms with similar meanings to the English word counterfeiting, and conducts a doctrinal analysis of the Chinese approach to defining and regulating counterfeiting. Based on empirical data on patent statistics and development, this thesis argues that China remains largely an imitative economy with limited innovative capacity and still relies on imitation of foreign technologies and other forms of knowledge. It is thus not surprising that China adopts a cautious attitude towards prohibiting counterfeiting, which in a sense enables the pervasiveness of imitation in its domestic society

Scientific Opinion on the safety evaluation of the substance, 1,3,5-tris(2,2-dimethylpropanamido)benzene, CAS No. 745070-61-5, for use in food contact materials

This scientific opinion of EFSA Panel on Food Contact Materials, Enzymes, Flavourings and Processing Aids deals with the safety evaluation of the additive 1,3,5-tris(2,2-dimethylpropanamido)benzene with the CAS No. 745070-61-5, the Ref. No 95420, the FCM Substance No 784, for use as a nucleating agent/clarifier at a maximum use level of 250 mg/kg in polyprolylene (PP). Final articles are intended to be used in contact with all type of foods for short term contact (1 hour) at temperatures up to 100 ºC and/or for long term storage at ambient temperature or below. Specific migration of the substance into 3 % acetic acid, 10 % ethanol and olive oil, was measured to be up to 48 µg/kg, 79 µg/kg and 94 µg/kg, respectively. In vitro and in vivo genotoxicity tests showed no evidence for a genotoxic potential of the substance. A 90-day dietary toxicity study in Wistar rats showed no effects at any dose and the NOAEL was considered to be 961 mg/kg bw/day in males and 1104 mg/kg bw/day in females or higher. Therefore, the CEF Panel concluded that the substance 1,3,5-tris(2,2-dimethylpropanamido)benzene does not raise a safety concern for the consumer if it is used in polyolefins and the migration does not exceed 5 mg/kg food

Faktor–Faktor yang Memengaruhi Tingkat Literasi Keuangan Syariah pada Mahasiswa Muslim di Bogor

The Indonesian Financial Services Authority (OJK) has targeted college students as one of the priority targets of their financial education programs in Indonesia. This research aimed to analyze the level of Islamic financial literacy of college students in Bogor; and analyze the factors that influence their level of Islamic financial literacy. The independent variable used in this study is the score of Islamic financial literacy. While gender, university, Grade Point Average (GPA), sources of information and religiosity are used as the dependent variables. The data analysis is conducted using the descriptive analysis and Structural Equation Modeling Partial Least Square (SEM-PLS). The estimation results showed that the level of Islamic financial literacy towards Muslim students in Bogor is 50.2% and is classified as sufficient literate. The study found that gender and university have positively and significantly influenced the level of Islamic financial literacy of Muslim students in Bogor

HYPOGLYCEMIC AND ANTIHYPERLIPIDEMIC EFFECTS OF ADIANTUM CAUDATUM IN ALLOXAN INDUCED DIABETES IN RATS

ABSTRACTObjective: To investigate the hypoglycemic and antihyperlipidemic effect of a successive ethanolic extract of Adiantum caudatum (EEAC) whole plantin alloxan induced diabetic rats.Methods: Diabetes was induced in Wistar albino rats by the administration of alloxan (140 mg/kg b. w., i.p.). EEAC (200 mg/kg b. w., p.o.) wasadministered to diabetic rats for 21 days in alloxan induced diabetic rats. The effect of EEAC on blood glucose and body weight was studied in alloxaninduced diabetic rats. All these effects were compared with glibenclamide (10 mg/kg b. w., p.o.) as a reference antidiabetic drug.Results: The administration of EEAC (200 mg/kg b. w., p.o.) resulted in a significant decrease in blood glucose level and a significant increase in bodyweight in alloxan induced diabetic rats. Furthermore, EEAC showed antihyperlipidemic activity as evidenced by a significant decrease in serum totalcholesterol and triglyceride levels in alloxan induced diabetic rats.Conclusion: The results suggest that the EEAC possess a promising hypoglycemic effect in alloxan induced diabetic rats.Keywords: Hypoglycemic, Antihyperlipidemic, Adiantum caudatum, Alloxan, Diabetes