Effectiveness of neighbourhood retrofit strategies in mitigating the urban heat island in Salcedo Village, Philippines

Salcedo Village has become more susceptible to urban heat effects because of its continuous development. This study investigates urban retrofit strategies that effectively mitigates the heat through modelling and simulation in ENVI-met. It is identified to have a maximum of 1-1.4K heat increase over 100% of its area, recorded during December 23:00 at 2m from the ground. The temperature increase is used to measure the effectiveness of the neighbourhood retrofit strategies: provision of grass, water and trees at ground level, increase in vegetated area, and Leaf Area Density of trees, and pedestrian walk albedo. The effectiveness of each strategy is quantified by its temperature difference and percentage area affected, compared with the 2014 Case model. The most effective strategy is the Leaf Area Density of trees, followed by the increase in vegetated area and the planting of trees; while all the others showed insignificant effect. The individual effects of these strategies, however are relatively small compared to the 1-1.4K heat. It was found through a combined test case that the application of these strategies together can make, but not limited to 1-1.5K change over 26% of the area

Direct electrodeposition of aluminium nano-rods

Electrodeposition of aluminium within an alumina nano-structured template, for use as high surface area current collectors in Li-ion microbatteries, was investigated. The aluminium electrodeposition was carried out in the ionic liquid 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride:aluminium chloride (1:2 ratio). First the aluminium electrodeposition process was confirmed by combined cyclic voltammetry and electrochemical quartz crystal microbalance measurements. Then, aluminium was electrodeposited under pulsed-potential conditions within ordered alumina membranes. A careful removal of the alumina template unveiled free standing arrays of aluminium nano-rods. The nano-columns shape and dimensions are directly related to the template dimensions. To our knowledge, this is the first time that direct electrodeposition of aluminium nano-pillars onto an aluminium substrate is reported

The Taxpayers’ Charter: a case study in tax administration

The Australian Taxpayers’ Charter was introduced in 1997 and a revised version in November 2003. This is therefore an appropriate time to review the contribution of this initiative. This paper traces the development of such modern charters and then specifically the development of tax charters. The Australian Taxpayers’ Charter and the Australian Tax Office’s (Tax Office) experience with it are then examined. Among other possible advantages, the Charter may be used as a measure of the Tax Office’s performance. Taxpayers’ views regarding the extent to which the Tax Office meets its obligations under the Taxpayers’ Charter as expressed in two surveys of Australian voters (N = 2040 and 374) are presented. Generally the taxpayers are supportive. The results of the survey also upport the Tax Office view that the Charter fits in with compliance policy. Finally, the Charter demonstrates how initiatives in tax administration might be successfully achieved

The Citizen’s Charter: how such initiatives might be more effective

In Public Policy and Administration Taylor (1999) concluded that the charter system was inadequate to safeguard consumers’ and citizens’ interests and that they would have to have a greater input to ensure success. Following its introduction in 1991, the Charter initiative certainly made an impact and by 1997 there were 40 main charters and perhaps 10 000 local ones. However since then the original Citizen’s Charter has, in the words of one commentator, ‘perished, or at least atrophied’ Drewry (2002, p. 12). There is little doubt that it could have been more effective. For example, tax charters seem to have had more success – indeed the UK Taxpayers’ Charter pre-dates the Citizen’s Charter, having been introduced in 1986. This paper therefore reviews the Charter initiative in the light of the development of tax charters and describes a particularly successful one – the Australian Taxpayers’ Charter – that continues to provide a clear focus on twelve basic principles of tax administration. An important factor in the Australian success appears to be the more strategic approach taken with respect to the implementation, monitoring and development of its Taxpayers’ Charter. The paper also presents relevant results of two surveys (N = 2040 and 2374) on the extent to which Australian voters consider the Australian Tax Office adheres to the principles outlined in the Charter. The evidence is consistent with Taylor’s (1999) views and concludes that initiatives such as the Citizen’s Charter would benefit from more strategic or systematic preparation that incorporates the views and expertise of a wide range of stakeholders before being introduced and for the initiative to become an integral part of the approach to standards of service thereafter

Collective action problems:Disentangling possible feedback loops between government policies and the public’s value-change

Solving collective action problems, such as poverty reduction or climate change, depends on interactions between governments' and voters' preferences regarding pro-social actions. This paper examines whether the overall direction of change in pro-social public policy precedes public value-change, rather than the other way around. We examine change in the public’s pro-social values in six European countries, as measured by the European Social Survey (ESS) during 2002-2012. In these countries, we conducted an expert survey to rate governmental policy that expresses these values over the same period, thereby examining value-change in governmental policy. The chronological comparison of value-change of the public with that of respective governments suggests that changes in pro-social government policies may drive public value-change rather than vice versa. This complements previous studies focused on the opinion-policy connection. Possible political implications are discussed. The promising findings of this initial study point to the importance of conducting larger-scale future studies

Acoustic Radiation Force Impulse Imaging der Niere

Die Ultraschallelastografie ist eine innovative Methode zur Beurteilung von Gewebseigenschaften wie der Steifigkeit und Elastizität. Ziel dieser Arbeit war die Etablierung des Acoustic Radiation Force Impuls Imaging (ARFI) der Niere unter Berücksichtigung der Lokalisation des Messortes. Ein geeignetes Messprotokoll sollte erstellt werden. Im Anschluss wurden pädiatrische Patienten mit Solitärniere untersucht und die Scherwellengeschwindigkeit mit den Daten von gesunden Kontrollkindern verglichen. Für die ARFI-Elastografie wurde das iU 22 (Philips) mit C 5-1 MHz Ultraschallsonde im ersten Teil bei 10 weiblichen und 10 männlichen nierengesunden Probanden eingesetzt. Anschließend wurden im zweiten Teil 20 Kinder und Jugendliche mit Solitärniere und 20 gesunde Kinder und Jugendliche untersucht. Die Intraklassen-Korrelation zeigte die höchste Übereinstimmung der Werte im einzelnen Probanden und über alle Probanden in der Hilusregion im axialen Schnitt. Kinder mit Solitärniere wiesen eine Tendenz zu höheren Mittelwerten der Scherwellengeschwindigkeit auf als die Nieren der gesunden Kontrollen. Die Solitärnieren waren sowohl signifikant länger als auch dicker als die gesunden Nieren. Das Parenchym war bei den Solitärnieren signifikant dicker. Der Durchmesser der Nieren und die Dicke des Parenchyms korrelierten in beiden Gruppen signifikant positiv mit der Scherwellengeschwindigkeit. Eine anschließende Fallzahlplanung zeigte, dass 157 Patienten pro Gruppe nötig wären, um mit 90%-iger Wahrscheinlichkeit einen signifikanten Unterschied in der mittleren Schwerwellengeschwindigkeit von Kindern mit Solitärnieren und gesunden Kontrollen zu finden. Folgestudien unter standardisierten Bedingungen sind zur weiteren Etablierung der Methode anzustreben, um diese initialen Befunde zu bestätigen

A cross-sectional survey of internet use among university students

The last 2~decades have seen an increase in the number of reports of excessive internet use. Therefore, this study aimed to examine internet use among university students to gain more insight into the novel phenomenon of addictive internet use (AIU). Data were collected by the means of an online questionnaire sent to 4391 students. Approximately 10% of the 4391 students could be included in the statistical analysis. Of those 483 students, almost all (99.2%) used the internet, and a quarter (24.8%) showed AIU. The students used the internet mostly for information searches, random browsing, social networking, and online shopping; however, AIU was seen most often in the areas of social networking, random browsing, information searches, gaming, and pornography. One in four of the respondents showed addictive behavior in at least one area of internet use. Students with AIU in the area of random browsing were significantly less far advanced in their studies than those without AIU, and well-being was significantly poorer across AIU groups than in those who did not show AIU. The study confirms the importance of AIU, as reflected in the high prevalence of AIU among the students and the significantly lower level of well-being in those with AIU. Undifferentiated consideration of AIU does not do justice to its various facets, and future research should consider all areas of internet use, with the aim to increase understanding of the underlying mechanisms of AIU and develop more differentiated treatment approaches

Organic iron complexes enhance iron transport capacity along estuarine salinity gradients of Baltic estuaries

Rivers discharge a notable amount of dissolved Fe (1:5×109 mol yr-1) to coastal waters but are still not considered important sources of bioavailable Fe to open marine waters. The reason is that the vast majority of particular and dissolved riverine Fe is considered to be lost to the sediment due to aggregation during estuarine mixing. Recently, however, several studies demonstrated relatively high stability of riverine Fe to salinity-induced aggregation, and it has been proposed that organically complexed Fe (Fe-OM) can "survive" the salinity gradient, while Fe (oxy)hydroxides are more prone to aggregation and selectively removed. In this study, we directly identified, by X-ray absorption spectroscopy, the occurrence of these two Fe phases across eight boreal rivers draining into the Baltic Sea and confirmed a significant but variable contribution of Fe-OM in relation to Fe (oxy)hydroxides among river mouths. We further found that Fe-OM was more prevalent at high flow conditions in spring than at low flow conditions during autumn and that Fe-OM was more dominant upstream in a catchment than at the river mouth. The stability of Fe to increasing salinity, as assessed by artificial mixing experiments, correlated well to the relative contribution of Fe-OM, confirming that organic complexes promote Fe transport capacity. This study suggests that boreal rivers may provide significant amounts of potentially bioavailable Fe beyond the estuary, due to organic matter complexes