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Comparative mode choice analysis of university staff commuting travel preferences
Get PDFSurveying citizen preferences on transportation modes when commuting is a major issue in urban transport planning. Most of the current methods approach the problem through the attributes of choices thus forecasting the demand indirectly. This paper aims to analyze a survey of commuting students and university staff by two direct preference models: the Analytic Hierarchy Process and the Best-Worst Method. Both techniques are based on pairwise comparisons; consequently, the commuting transport alternatives can be directly compared with each other, and the results are comparable, too. However, the two methods differ in the number and the nature of comparisons and in the consistency check, thus they can be regarded as competitors. A real-world case study on commuting student groups provides a better understanding of the proposed methodology. As a result, it can be stated that despite their low utilization in the transportation field, both the Analytic Hierarchy Process and the Best-Worst Method are applicable to mode choice preference surveys, and they produce comprehensive final outcomes. Therefore, the well-known tools of mode choice can be extended by Multi-Criteria-Decision-Making techniques to increase the efficiency of transport demand prediction. The extension is beneficial to avoid the bias of other methods in converting attribute evaluations to real mode choice decision, as both models, especially the Best-Worst approach, requires less cost and time than the mainstream techniques
The future container throughput for inland shipping on the traditional Rhine: a SARIMAX approach
Get PDFInland container shipping is confronted with significant challenges, both on the demand and supply side. In line with the 2019 Green Deal’s ambitious goals and 2020 Sustainable and Smart Mobility Strategy, the European Commission presented an ‘Inland Waterway Transport Action plan 2021-2027’ with the target of shifting more freight across inland waterways. However, the COVID-19 pandemic together with the low water level raise interest in how these could impact the throughput for container transport on the inland waterways. In this research, the scope is on the container throughput for inland container transport on the traditional Rhine. This study first identifies the market drivers for containerized inland navigation in the medium run and then selects the SARIMAX method to analyse Inland Waterway Transport (IWT) volumes. The model application shows that the throughput for inland container transport on the traditional Rhine is impacted on by periods of low water and the weakening of the economy caused by COVID-19. The results of the study suggest that if the IWT container market is impacted by the identified factors, the throughput for containerized IWT is expected to decline by 8.9% in 2023 relative to the volumes in 2020. The research might act as a decision support tool for analysis, management and planning for policymakers and stakeholders
Sites of Narrativity and Spatial Debate: Fences in Neighbourhoods in the Port of Riga
Get PDFBased on an ethnographic study of the neighbourhoods in the vicinity of the Port of Riga, the article examines people’s engagement with fences surrounding the territory of the port. It reacts to an observation that walls, fences and their materiality are underrepresented in research. Focusing on human engagement with the narrativity of the physical world, the article treats port’s fences as ‘storied matter’. This includes, first, an observation that these built structures constitute a narrative subject matter frequently appearing in the interviews of the lower Daugava residents. In addition, the discursivity of the Port of Riga’s fences is contemplated as constituted by their function, enforced or disputed by spatial forms of discourse (signposts, warnings, graffiti) and shaped via symbolic activities of the involved parties, which both address place-appropriation issues and transform the communicative character of these spatial objects.
The emerging landscape of water governance in Egypt post COVID-19
Get PDFThe COVID-19 crisis has caused a major reshuffle in the core of water governance principles, including food security, water productivity, self-sufficiency and water allocation to high-value us- ers. The pandemic, as a sudden external driver, impacted such principles; this impact was noticed through the effects of the lockdown on exports of crops and supplies, as well as the reduced labour workforce. This article introduces a framework to analyse the effects of the pandemic on the water sector since traditional indicators and data do not capture the initial shock of the first wave of the pandemic. The framework is operationalized and applied to study the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Egyptian water sector and on how it shapes water governance. The article analyses those changes in the urban water sector and in the agricultural sector. It analyses the effects it has on the urban water system, as the sector moves towards digitalization and safe- guarding urban water supplies. In the agricultural sector, Egypt’s position on self-sufficiency and food security policy changes in food imports and exports is analysed. Analysing the two sectors will allow us to see how COVID-19 could have changed the present and translated it into possible pathways for future water governance in Egypt. Moreover, the COVID-19 crisis has created op- portunities for sustainable water governance in Egypt that can help deal with future crises. In ad- dition, there are slow, creeping effects of climate change that Egypt has experienced when Cairo experienced a severe urban flood. The article draws insights from the past on how COVID-19 has changed the present and translates them into future pathways for possible water governance in Egypt. Assessment of the reliability of the water sector undergoing crises or pandemic situations is crucial to facilitate decision-making so as to evolve action plans that can maintain the water availability for the people and safeguard essential services
Design and Fabrication of Shell Structures: Aided by Radial Basis Functions and Reconfigurable Mechanisms
Get PDFShell structures carry loads with their thin yet curved shapes. Being thin means shells require little material, which is desirable for minimizing embodied carbon footprints. However, the feature of being curved implies shells require immense effort to design and fabricate. To address the challenges, this dissertation consists of three parts: developing a design algorithm based on radial basis functions (RBFs), inventing a fabrication technique based on reconfigurable mechanisms, and producing prototypes based on the new algorithm and mechanism.
The first part of this dissertation introduces a new algorithm based on RBFs for designing smooth membrane shells, which is more versatile than existing methods. The algorithm can generate membranes with both tensile and compressive stresses. It can also tweak an initial shape to meet free-edge conditions. It can also incorporate horizontal loads in the form-finding process.
The second part of the dissertation presents a new system of flat-to-curved mechanisms, which allows a shell to be fabricated in a flat configuration and deployed into a double-curved state. Such a mechanism consists of panels connected by tilted hinges. The mechanism can contract non-homogeneously and change its Gaussian curvature.
The last part of this dissertation demonstrates the integral application of the RBFs form-finding algorithm and the flat-to-curved mechanisms. The prototypes designed and produced deliver form-found shapes that have spans ranging from 0.2 to 4 meters.
This dissertation contributes to the development and distribution of shell structures by developing computer algorithms and digital fabrication techniques to minimize the hurdles of designing and fabricating shell structures
Advancing Transparency: Connecting glass with heat – An experimental approach to the implementation of heat bonding into glass connection design for structural applications
No full textGlass is transparent and that differentiates it from most other building materials. As a result it has played a significant role in the development of architecture, given that its use is not only driven by its functionality as a protective layer, but by its ability to transmit light and hence define spaces. The use of glass has typically brought designers, engineers and builders to the limits of their abilities, whether this was driven by the processing and handling of the material, or the limitationin the understanding of its design capacity. The transparency of the material is of incredible value but it also poses challenges when working with glass; The way it is connected is always visible. As a result, the connections and connectivity of glass are one of the most important considerations when designing with it, both technically and architecturally and in particular for structural applications. In the past century, glass has increasingly been used as a structural component. However its inherent brittleness typically still requires opaque metal connections to transfer load. These connections define contemporary glass architecture – firstly, because they are immediately apparent in a transparent structure and, secondly, as they are part of the engineering design language. However, designers and architects are still aiming to increase the transparency of glass enclosures and structures, leading to a demand to further reduce the visibility of structural connections within the glass. This research aims to address the connectivity of glass through experimental testing of heat bonded glass-glass connections that form a fully transparent atomic bond. Applications for transparent connections are addressed through case studies that explore various novel transparent bonding techniques
Understanding the decision-making process in homeowner energy retrofits: From behavioral and transaction cost perspectives
Get PDFIn 2020, owner-occupied housing accounted for 57% of the housing stock in the Netherlands. Homeowners are fully responsible for the implementation of energy retrofits. Moreover, the processes of energy retrofitting are complex and homeowners face problems such as finding financial support, reliable information and contractors. The complexity of implementing energy retrofits may discourage homeowners from continuing the process and achieving the expected benefits. Behavioural aspects and transaction costs (TC) are among the most important factors influencing consumer decision-making processes. Behavioural factors primarily illustrate a range of personal, contextual, and external factors that influence the decision-making process of homeowners. These include cognitive awareness and biases, attitudes and beliefs, experience and skills, homeowner characteristics, sociodemographic characteristics, property characteristics, and the behaviour of others. TC are any hidden costs that influence decision making but are not included in the direct physical costs of renovation services and products. This dissertation developed an integrated framework of behavioural factors and TC that impede the decisionmaking process for energy retrofits. Key findings include (1) the significant importance of behavioural factors and TC barriers. (2) the behavioural factors are particularly important in the early stages of energy retrofits and the TC barriers after the final decision. (3) the importance of behavioural factors and TC barriers differs according to the type of energy retrofit and non-energy retrofit. (4) Accounting for cognitive biases significantly improves the prediction of households\u27 actual decisions about energy retrofits. This modelling is more accurate than the model that assumes households make rational decisions
Discomfort glare from daylight in classrooms
Get PDFProvision of daylight without the risk of discomfort glare is one of the aspects that determine the quality of the classroom environment. Although discomfort glare from daylight is under investigation for a long time, a knowledge gap concerning the applicability of the existing metrics to the spatial conditions of the classroom is identified in this work. An investigation on the applicability of existing metrics to the prediction of discomfort glare in classrooms has been carried out based on two experimental studies. The analysis shows that the existing metrics have poor predictive ability particularly in the sitting positions away from the window light source. A study is then carried out to investigate how can more appropriate predictive models of discomfort glare be developed, based on three different methods. A modification of the Daylight Glare Probability (DGP) equation produced a significantly better discomfort glare model than any of the metrics that have been studied in this work. Following this finding, a new metric, DGPlog(Ev)new, is proposed. The produced metric suggests that discomfort glare in the classroom is better identified based on a range of equations for different sitting positions or that new variables that account for sitting position need to be included in a predictive model of discomfort glare for these spaces. A set of architectural design guidelines towards a discomfort glare free classroom is then proposed, based on the newly produced model and on the collected data
Optimising the Use of National CORS Data in the Context of Thailand: Policy outlooks from a data ecosystem perspective
Get PDFThis dissertation concerns the optimisation of the use of spatial data from the National Continuously Operating Reference Stations (NCORS) in Thailand. Thailand, among many countries, has established NCORS to observe and process the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) signals into spatial data to improve the positional accuracy in spatially related activities. Despite many potential user groups, only some of them appeared actually to use NCORS data. In order to investigate and recommend policy venues to encourage the use of NCORS data, this research formulates an NCORS data ecosystem concept, applies the concept to identify the gaps in NCORS data use in Thailand, and examines the policies to address the identified gaps. The research shows that Open Data is a prerequisite to make data available to the maximum extent, but not a guarantee that the data also will be used. Next to Open Data, also users, including Open Data intermediaries, must be empowered. The facilitating conditions should be satisfied to enable users to use the data. These conditions require time to take effect. Only then will the spatial data not be kept away in hidden places but will become accessible and usable for as many users as possible in Thailand and deliver social and economic benefits reported in other countries
Factors influencing post-earthquake reconstruction spatial transformations: An examination of the reconstruction of the historical centre in Venzone, Friuli region, Italy (1976–2006)
Get PDFAmong all Italy’s city reconstructions after earthquake disasters, only the 1976 Friuli earthquake reconstruction was completed among publicly funded projects. Numerous studies have been conducted on the lessons learned from policymaker and city planner perspectives, with some examining the mid-term reconstruction evaluations by using the Haas recovery and reconstruction model. However, few long-term evaluations have been conducted on the spatial transformation of historical centres. This study examined the spatial transformation of the historical centre in Venzone, which was one of the most earthquake affected settlements in the Friuli region. The evaluation of the reconstruction process revealed the influencing factors for the spatial post-earthquake reconstruction transformation process in Venzone’s historical centre. To guide project implementation, the first influential factor was to define the primary streets and squares, to which reconstruction priority was given. The second factor was to have only one primary technician in charge of all design projects in one town block. The third factor was the appointment of an architect to prepare the reconstruction plan and act as the overall project coordinator. Those influential factors should be referenced in long-term planning in the earthquake reconstruction of Italian historical town centre