Urban Development Simulator: An interactive decision support tool for urban planners enabling citizen’s participation.

The Urban Development Simulator is currently under development within the FP7 EU project urbanAPI (2011-2014). The simulation tool is developed for the city of Ruse in remote northern Bulgaria at the Romanian border as a support for the local urban planners and politicians to evaluate high level planning decisions defined as use cases. The tool is developed as generic simulation framework, thus the framework can be applied for other cities too, to generate tailor-made urban planning support tools, if the necessary geospatial data about future planning scenarios and related statistical data describing the socio-economic state and future expectations are available. The tool enables urban planners to estimate the impact of different urban development scenarios and visualises spatial changes through dynamic GIS maps depicting the results of the simulations. It is based on the analysis of geospatial data and uses an Agent-based modelling approach to simulate the development in the city. While other urban development simulation tools usually model urban growth in the urban fringe, the Urban Development Simulator concentrates on intra-urban development, as the City of Ruse turns out as a shrinking city which is starting to recover since the last years – reorganizing the intra-urban structure. The tool has a complex user interface and a web interfaces to interact with the local citizens. Thus different planning scenarios and their effects can be visualized (also in 3D) via the web interface and the opinion of the local residents can be involved into the planning decisions by voting for selected planning decisions as preference of the citizens. The spatial pattern of the preferences serves as an input for the parameterization of the Agent-based model to simulate the development trends within the different areas of the city. Scenarios can be simulated what would be, if the urban planners would follow the citizens’ preferences. This enables the decision makers to adapt their urban development plans by considering the preferences of the citizens. Effects on e.g. the final energy demand and CO2 emissions for residential buildings are further calculated for the different development scenarios. The model runs as a Java web-start application and is hosted on a server at the AIT with remote access for the Ruse users. For the model development the simulation platform MASGISmo (Multimethod Agent-based (ABM) System dynamics (SD), GIS modelling platform) has been applied, a framework originally developed during several prior projects to combine a bottom up agent-based simulation method (ABM) with a top down – system dynamics (SD) approach. This platform is programmed in Java connected to several external tools as a PostgreSQL (PostGIS) database, Vensim a (SD) tool and uses RepastJ as core ABM tool. For the purpose of the Urban Development Simulator the GIS capability of the platform was enhanced with more powerful GIS features, thus new planning scenarios can directly be introduced within the tool by the urban planners. The paper will concentrate on the description of the structure of the Urban Development Simulator, further more explain the participatory citizen’s integration

Effectiveness of MAEA's interactive science programs in terms of African-American students' attitudes and classroom learning environment

The effectiveness of MAEA’s interactive science programs was investigated for a sample of 269 disadvantaged African-American students in Columbus, Ohio, in terms of students’ perceptions of their science classroom learning environment and attitudes. Whereas pretest-posttest changes were statistically nonsignificant for comparison schools, MAEA students experienced significant improvements in classroom cooperation and teacher support and in attitude to inquiry and enjoyment of science classes

Decision makers\u27 experience of participatory dynamic simulation modelling: Methods for public health policy

Background: Systems science methods such as dynamic simulation modelling are well suited to address questions about public health policy as they consider the complexity, context and dynamic nature of system-wide behaviours. Advances in technology have led to increased accessibility and interest in systems methods to address complex health policy issues. However, the involvement of policy decision makers in health-related simulation model development has been lacking. Where end-users have been included, there has been limited examination of their experience of the participatory modelling process and their views about the utility of the findings. This paper reports the experience of end-user decision makers, including senior public health policy makers and health service providers, who participated in three participatory simulation modelling for health policy case studies (alcohol related harm, childhood obesity prevention, diabetes in pregnancy), and their perceptions of the value and efficacy of this method in an applied health sector context. Methods: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with end-user participants from three participatory simulation modelling case studies in Australian real-world policy settings. Interviewees were employees of government agencies with jurisdiction over policy and program decisions and were purposively selected to include perspectives at different stages of model development. Results: The ‘co-production’ aspect of the participatory approach was highly valued. It was reported as an essential component of building understanding of the modelling process, and thus trust in the model and its outputs as a decision-support tool. The unique benefits of simulation modelling included its capacity to explore interactions of risk factors and combined interventions, and the impact of scaling up interventions. Participants also valued simulating new interventions prior to implementation in the real world, and the comprehensive mapping of evidence and its gaps to prioritise future research. The participatory aspect of simulation modelling was time and resource intensive and therefore most suited to high priority complex topics with contested options for intervening. Conclusion: These findings highlight the value of a participatory approach to dynamic simulation modelling to support its utility in applied health policy settings

Including Generative Mechanisms in Project scheduling using Hybrid Simulation

Scheduling is central to the practice of project management and a topic of significant interest for the operations research and management science academic communities. However, a rigour-relevance gap has developed between the research and practice of scheduling that mirrors similar concerns current in management science. Closing this gap requires a more accommodative philosophy that can integrate both hard and soft factors in the construction of project schedules. This paper outlines one interpretation of how this can be achieved through the combination of discrete event simulation for schedule construction and system dynamics for variable resource productivity. An implementation was built in a readily available modelling environment and its scheduling capabilities tested. They compare well with published results for commercial project scheduling packages. The use of system dynamics in schedule construction allows for the inclusion of generative mechanisms, models that describe the process by which some observed phenomenon is produced. They are powerful tools for answering questions about why things happen the way they do, a type of question very relevant to practic

OLES: An instrument for refining the design of e-learning environments

Designing and implementing effective e-learning is a complex process, which involves many factors. Lecturers need to constantly consider, evaluate and adjust these factors to provide effective e-learning environments for students. In this paper, we report on the design and development of the Online Learning Environment Survey (OLES), an instrument which can be used to gather and represent data on students' ‘actual’ (experienced) and ‘preferred’ (ideal) learning environments. We describe the use of this instrument in blended learning environments with university classes, illustrating how OLES can be used by educators striving for good practice in the design of effective online learning environments

Liselerin Öğrenme Ortamlarının Belirlenmesine Yönelik Bir Kümeleme Analizi Çalışması

Learning environment profiles perceived in high schools were investigated by means of hierarchical cluster analysis. Employing stratified random sampling procedure, data was collected from 985 students at 22 schools, those who study in 6 general, 13 Anatolian and 3 vocational high schools located across 12 different districts of Istanbul. By hierarchical cluster analysis, students’ perceptions were clustered and classified into 4 school learning environment profiles, namely “technology-rich & ideal” (profile A), “positive” (profile B), “moderately positive” (profile C) and “negative” (profile D) learning environments. It was revealed that 42.7% of general high school students and 53.1% of vocational high school students perceived “moderately positive learning environment” in their schools on the first rank, whereas 41.8% of Anatolian high school students mostly perceived “positive learning environment”. “Technology-rich & ideal” environment was ranked first among vocational high school students with 11.2 %

Urban Development and Infrastructure Cost Modelling for Managing Urban Growth in Latin American Cities

Rapid urban growth presents considerable challenges to cities in Latin America and calls for tools and mechanisms that can help identify priority areas of work and enable integrated responses for urban sustainability, especially with regard to access and delivery of infrastructure services. The concentration of population, however, generates high demand for services. When the expansion of the supply of services is inadequate, significant deficits emerge in the coverage and quality of infrastructure and services, including housing. These problems are compounded by weak urban governance. (IDB, 2015) Thus solutions are required to secure sustainable urban development considering financing limits of cities authorities as well quality of life and environment. Infrastructure planning can either respond to urban growth providing supply by following the demand or it can pro-actively shape urban development in a resource efficient way by providing supply directing the demand. Thus appropriate infrastructure design can serve as an instrument for “soft” urban growth management. AIT (Austrian Institute of Technology) has been contracted by the IDB (Inter-American Development Bank) to develop a tool (model) to simulate urban expansion triggered by infrastructure development and to estimate related infrastructure costs. The tool allows simulating different urban development scenarios based on different assumption on population behaviour and criteria triggering this behaviour. The tool called UIDS (Urban and Infrastructure Development Simulator) allows testing infrastructure networks extensions and estimates the expected infrastructure costs to assist cities in resource efficient as well as cost efficient infrastructure design. Backbone of the tool is a spatially explicit micro-simulation of urban expansion conducted through an agent-based model (ABM) as well as AIT’s MASGISmo simulation platform making use of the RePastJ environment for ABM modeling and R-statistics as well as a PostgreSQL/PostGis database and a GeoServer for Web Map Services (WMS). Single agents representing households of different socioeconomic classes trigger land cover and land use change within an area by moving to certain places. To model dwelling suitability for the agent classes the urban-region landscape is described through attractiveness layers representing different characteristics increasing (or decreasing) the suitability of potential urban expansion areas. The additional infrastructure costs for road network, water- and sanitation network, electricity and gas network, are estimated based on costs per unit (e.g. km pipeline, area covered etc.) and the related supply ratio. Based on the new dwelling allocations the infrastructure costs related to water and sanitation, transportation, and energy are calculated as distribution and connection costs and aggregated to total costs for the city, which are compared between different urban development scenarios

Real and ideal perception of the intelligent classroom environment of future teachers

The proliferation of information and communication technology tools in the last years has led many teachers to review the way they teach and structure their learning environments. The growth of technological applications in teaching and the training of future teachers is not only gaining momentum; it is also becoming an important part of the current educational scene. The objectives of this study were to adapt and validate the Real and Ideal Intelligent Classroom Questionnaires (REQSC) and (IEQSC), and to determine if there were significant differences in the perception that future teachers had of the real and ideal environment of intelligent classrooms. A quantitative methodology was used, applying the statistical software SPSS 23 for the factor analysis. The results indicated that both questionnaires showed a valid and reliable internal consistency. The real and ideal perceptions of the use of technology as a learning tool and access to information make it clear that it is currently being used correctly. It is important that future teachers acquire adequate skills for their use and research in different topics

Can we use Hare’s psychopathy model within forensic and non-forensic populations? An empirical investigation

Although psychopathy construct (SRP-SF) was assessed among various samples, prior research did not investigate whether the model proposed by Hare and colleagues can be used to capture psychopathy scores derived from forensic and non-forensic populations. The main objective of the current study was to test dimensionality, construct validity, and factorial invariance of the SRP-SF within prison (N = 730) and student (N = 2,506) samples. Our results indicate that the SRP-SF measure cannot be used in the same way within forensic and non-forensic samples, which may be due to the inclusion of criminal/antisocial traits as an integral part of psychopathy