Predicting the Appraised Unit Value of Unimproved Parcels in San Francisco, CA Using LEED Sustainable Site Credit Criteria, Parcel area, Zoning, and Population Density

Nowadays many people recognize the need for sustainable development more than ever because of improper urban sprawl, rapid exhaustion of natural resources, and serious environmental problems. Emission of carbon dioxide from transportation sources causes severe air contamination, and this will increase due to the continued use of private vehicles. Thus, local governments are trying to keep public transit on a satisfactory level due to rising commuting time for cities. The U.S. Census shows that the majority of people would prefer to use their private automobile rather than utilize existing mass transit systems. Therefore, it is up to local governments to consider setting up more efficient alternative mass transit systems to deal with the increasing pollution caused by automobiles. Organizations adopt certain environmental standards for many different reasons, such as commitment to environmental issues affecting their industry. Other organizations could also benefit, both economically and environmentally, by utilizing such standards. The LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) rating system is one of the more commonly-used environmental standards which presents guidelines for making decisions regarding land development while preserving the environment. However, only a few studies have attempted to evaluate this voluntary rating system which makes it difficult to justify the motivation of organizations that have adopted such voluntary standards. In this respect, this research primarily aims to explore the economic influence on the market value of undeveloped land through an analysis of public transportation in San Francisco, CA. Population density and area of each parcel are the factors considered to make the predictive model more powerful. Findings in this study show that LEED PTA (Public Transportation Accessibility) criteria, and population density significantly affect the appraised land unit value in specific purposed zones. Particularly, the economic impact of public transportation accessibility tended to be positive. With these findings, the statistical model for predicting land value was created. The result of this research can assist developers to make better site selections to accelerate the growth of sustainable construction

Autofocus and Back-Projection in Synthetic Aperture Radar Imaging.

Spotlight-mode Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) imaging has received considerable attention due to its ability to produce high-resolution images of scene reflectivity. One of the main challenges in successful image recovery is the problem of defocusing, which occurs due to inaccuracies in the estimated round-trip delays of the transmitted radar pulses. The problem is most widely studied for far-field imaging scenarios with a small range of look angles since the problem formulation can be significantly simplified under the assumptions of planar wavefronts and one-dimensional defocusing. In practice, however, these assumptions are frequently violated. MultiChannel Autofocus (MCA) is a subspace-based approach to the defocusing problem that was originally proposed for far-field imaging, with a small range of look angles. A key motivation behind MCA is the observation that there exists a low-return region within the recovered image, due to the weak illumination near the edges of the antenna footprint. The strength of the MCA formulation is that it can be easily extended to more realistic scenarios with polar-format data, spherical wavefronts, and arbitrary terrain, due to its flexible linear-algebraic framework. The main aim of this thesis is to devise a more broadly effective autofocus approach by adopting MCA to the aforementioned scenarios. By forming the solution space in a domain where the defocusing effect is truly one-dimensional, we show that drastically improved restorations can be obtained for applications with small to fairly wide ranges of look angles. When the terrain topography is known, we utilize the versatile backprojection-based imaging methods in the model formulations for MCA to accurately account for the underlying geometry. The proposed extended MCA shows reductions in RMSE of up to 50% when the underlying terrain is highly elevated. We also analyze the effects of the filtering step, the amount of wave curvature, the shape of the terrain, and the flight path of the radar, on the reconstructed image via backprojection. Finally, we discuss the selection of low-return constraints and the importance of using terrain elevation within MCA formulation.PHDElectrical Engineering: SystemsUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/135868/1/zzon_1.pd

Overcoming polar‐format issues in synthetic aperture radar multichannel autofocus

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/166214/1/rsn2bf00419.pd

Self-Directed Learning in the Workplace: Implications for the Legislation of Trade Union Education in South Korea

The purpose of this study is to theorize self-directed learning (SDL) in the workplace from the perspectives of human resource development (HRD), adult education (AdEd), and lifelong learning in order to suggest the implications for the legislation of trade union education (TUE) in South Korea. Since legislation at the national level can promote workers‘ participation in TUE in the context of SDL for industrial democracy through humanization of education, the South Korean government should provide trade unions with appropriate legislative, financial, and administrative support. Keywords: self-directed learning, trade union education, adult education

Corporate Universities and Adult Education: Implications for Theory and Practice

The purpose of this paper is to explore characteristics of corporate universities (CUs) from the adult education (AdEd) perspective in order to identify implications for AdEd theory and practice. Through an integrative literature review of CUs, the differences among CUs, human resource development centers, and traditional universities are investigated. Considering the AdEd characteristics of CUs, such as individuals’ learning and qualifications/certifications of higher education, the partnership/collaboration model of CU is suggested in terms of workplace learning, which is the overlapping field of HRD and AdEd. Ultimately, to promote participatory AdEd in the workplace, nations should play crucial roles in providing administrative and financial support to CUs

Teachers’ perceptions of changes to teaching practice and the influence of professional development: Experienced EFL teachers in South Korea

This multiple-case study investigated experienced English-as-a-foreign-language (EFL) teachers’ perceptions of changes to teaching practice as a result of professional development (PD) in South Korea. The study used one-on-one semi-structured interviews as the primary data source to capture teachers’ views on changes to their practice and the impact of their PD experiences. The study drew upon cultural historical activity theory as a theoretical framework and the literature on PD and teacher change to understand the relationship between PD and teacher change, and the influences on this relationship. This study found that various aspects of the teachers’ context – the English education curriculum, teacher culture, the school environment, and education policy – and the complex interrelationship among these factors led these teachers to develop a passive attitude towards PD learning and implementation. So, despite engaging in diverse PD experiences over their career, they rarely considered implementing changes within their teaching practice. This study revealed these experienced EFL teachers’ overarching concern about their levels of English proficiency. It showed that they were inclined to value newly qualified teachers’ capability over their own long teaching experience. They felt isolated within a stagnant teacher culture where they perceived that there was limited support for professional development from either school or education policy. Finally, they felt caught between the conflicting demands of the English education curriculum and classroom teaching. These experienced EFL teachers might be encouraged to develop a more positive attitude if their expertise and capacity were acknowledged as valuable. This would require an investment of time and effort to allow them to prepare for and contribute to PD learning and implementation. Orchestrated efforts from policymakers, school administrators, and teachers could help bring about substantial changes in experienced teachers’ teaching practice and enable them to share their expertise with other educators