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Comparative study of VSP binning methods for estimating fuel consumptions of LDVs on urban roads
Get PDFThe micro-scale fuel consumption model is a tool commonly used to evaluate the effect of traffic flow conditions on vehicle fuel consumptions, which is an essential step in developing traffic management strategies for saving fuels. In developing any micro-scale fuel consumption model, the Vehicle Specific Power (VSP) binning method has been widely adopted in recent years as a fundamental approach. Existing studies have shown that the high distribution frequency when VSP=0 contributes to high fuel consumptions, so a question quickly emerged about whether VSP=0 should be designed as an independent VSP bin in the VSP binning method. This paper strives to compare different VSP binning methods for Light-Duty Vehicles (LDVs) on urban roads in Beijing in terms of their effects on the estimation of fuel consumptions. After collecting and processing field vehicle activity data and fuel consumption data, three VSP binning methods are proposed for the study. Then, total fuel consumptions and fuel consumption factors are calculated by using the proposed VSP binning methods as well as the second-by-second and average travel speed data. Finally, the estimation accuracy of total fuel consumptions and fuel consumption factors based on the three different VSP binning methods are compared for LDVs on urban roads. The study proves that an independent VSP bin at VSP=0 is indeed necessary, which can improve the estimation accuracy on both total fuel consumptions and fuel consumption factors
Embedding physics into technology: Infrared thermography and building inspection as a teaching tool-a new participated strategy approach to the physics of heat transfer and energy saving for professional schools
No full textWe describe an inquiry-based path about heat conduction as part of a multidisciplinary project on energy saving in a professional school in a province close to Milan, Italy. The teaching-learning process dealt with heat losses in buildings detected with a thermal camera. Three consecutive activities were implemented: direct detection by the students of heat leakages due to thermal bridges in the school structure; simple standard technology laboratory activities on heat transfer, planned and performed by the students themselves; and finally a series of guided laboratory experiences with a thermal camera, to develop and clarify the previous lab activities on thermal conductivity. Key motivations of the project were creating a link between the study of thermodynamics and its application to the real world; increasing students\u27 motivation by using an Inquiry Based Science Education (IBSE) approach; and studying if and how the infusion of a cutting-edge, and therefore science-attracting, technology (thermography) might foster the teaching-learning process, thus becoming a concrete cognitive tool promoting the students\u27 approach to the scientific methodology
The Effect of Common Currency on Economic Growth: Evidence from CEMAC Custom Union
Get PDFSeveral attempts to establish common currency by regional trade blocs have been carried out in Africa and the continent is home to two existing common currency unions using the CFA francs, respectively. This paper focuses on the effects of common currency on economic growth in the CEMAC custom union. The study applies the sharp regression discontinuity design model to analyse the causal effects of the common currency on economic growth. The causal effects are identified by exploiting the discontinuity of the individual currency in favour of a regional one. This is a done by evaluating the value of GDP per capita as a proxy for economic growth before and after the implementation of the common currency in 1994. Our findings show that the monetary policy change instituted in the CEMAC region in 1994 has not played any significant role in promoting economic growth in the CEMAC region. Instead, the CEMAC customs union has performed on average poorly compare to its predecessor UDEAC and its regional counterpart such as UEMOA that uses a similar currency with similar exchange rate
Assessment of Public Sector Service Quality: Gauging Experiences and Perceptions of Racial Profiling
Get PDFThe absence of a culturally competent public sector workforce has led to increased public scrutiny and heightened levels of distrust. In the field of public safety, this is particularly important due to the sensitive nature of the task performed and the historically strained relationships that exist between racial minorities and law enforcement. Using national survey data to gauge the prevalence of citizen’s experiences and perceptions of racial profiling, this research reveals significant discrepancies amongst minorities and their white counterparts. In response, this research encourages public officials and agencies to eliminate inconsistencies in their interactions with the citizenry as a whole. Furthermore, it appeals to public administration scholars to address these issues in their classrooms as well as in their future research. Combined, these efforts can bring awareness and help mitigate the disparate delivery and administering of public-sector services
Oil Politics and Land Tenure Changes in Uganda: Understanding the Curse of Dispossession in the Albertine Region
Get PDFAlthough oil wealth has been applauded for being a sine qua non for development because of its profitability, its lucrativeness to global capitalism has empowered global powers and increased marginalization and poverty in the Oil Village Communities (OVCs) of developing countries. The thrust of this study was to analyze different ways oil politics influences land tenure changes and alienation of local citizens’ land rights through the process of land dispossession in Uganda’s Albertine region. Anchored within accumulation by dispossession discourse, the study used qualitative approach and employed in-depth interviews, focused group discussions, observations and documentary reviews as data collection instruments. Findings indicate that oil politics influenced land tenure changes through two causal mechanisms: disruption of existing land governance structures and the reconstitution of land interests in the Albertine region. These were manifested through compulsory large-scale land acquisitions for oil infrastructural developments such as oil refinery, central processing facilities and oil processing plants and the swift transfer of land holdings from customary to freehold land tenure relations. Consequently, short notice massive evictions, alienation of citizens’ land rights and inadequate or delayed land compensations pushed citizens to the land margins and suffered from the curse of dispossession. To realize inclusive development, there is need to consider all dimensions of development and restore the safety valves of the affected people, rather than fronting capitalist ideological conceptions that sideline the interests of the majority poor
Municipal Diverging from “Bureaucracy:” A Case Study of Organizational Image in Housing Services
Get PDFThis article presents a case study of efforts of a workforce development unit within a local public housing authority to recraft its image as separate from the larger housing authority, in order to better attract participants to its optional supportive services. Using qualitative interview data with Section 8 voucher recipients and public housing authority staff, and descriptive quantitative data from a larger dataset, and drawing on theories of street-level bureaucracies and agency-client interactions, the case study finds that service recipients perceive the housing authority as a largely compliance-oriented organization that is overly bureaucratic, excessively regulating of private spheres of family life, and highly punitive. In order to attract participants to its optional supportive services, the workforce development unit recrafted its organizational identity and its external image through spatial relocation, rebranding, reallocation of workload among staff, and program redesign. The result is a workforce development unit that is highly valued and attractive to service participants, and that service seekers view as distinct from the housing authority within which the unit resides
Racial and Economic Disparities and the Correlation to Adverse Events in Minority Populations in the United States
Get PDFThe United States is a multiracial, multiethnic society. The major racial/ethnic categories in American society are white, African-American, Hispanic, Asian, and Native American. Racism, an insidious social problem in the United States since the founding of the country, is the belief that members of one or more races are inferior to members of other races. Racism in the United States has been directed primarily by the white majority against racial and ethnic minorities. Historically, the white majority has singled out racial/ethnic minority groups for differential and unequal treatment in the areas of housing, employment, education, and criminal justice. As a 20-year old young African American male, these racial disparities directly affect my future success and my peer group. Since the presidential election in 2016, racism in America has become more accepted, overt, and tolerated. Criminal justice experts distinguish between legal and extralegal factors to explain racial disparities in criminal justice. Legal factors include seriousness of the offense and prior criminal record. These are legitimate reasons for disparities because they pertain to an individual\u27s criminal behavior. Extralegal factors include race, class, and gender. These are not legitimate factors upon which to base decisions because they relate to group membership rather than criminal behavior
The Obama Criminal Justice Doctrine and International Criminal Justice
Get PDFThis papyrus reviews the doctrine of the Obama presidency on criminal justice administration and abstracts the principles for the evaluation of the foreign policy records of the Obama administration. W.E.B. Du Bois theorized the potential role of America in world peace and conflict based on a double victory strategy that also addresses injustice at home. A brief review of theories of international relations leads to the conclusion that Obama is a realist who subscribes to the democratic theory of international relations and not the socialist or radical that his opponents want to paint him. The popular democratic revolutions in the Arab world appear to support the optimism of Obama that the African philosophy of non-violence would achieve more for the international community than war-mongering. The papyrus concludes by calling on the Obama foundation to offer some of the principles of criminal justice that he outlined in his Harvard Law Review commentary to international criminal justice issues in order to avoid what he told journalists was the greatest foreign policy mistake of his presidency, Probably failing to plan for the day after what I think was the right thing to do in intervening in Libya, after the bombing of Libya by NATO force
Combating Corruption With African Restorative Justice Tradition: Suggested Steps For Nigeria
Get PDFCorruption has continued to plague countries across the world, especially those in Africa. Local and international communities have all congregated around the conviction that Western bureaucratic mechanisms can destroy and deter corruption. The heavy criticisms against them indicates failure coming from inherent contradictions and lack of political and moral will to keep corruption practices and actors at bay. African restorative justice is articulated as a viable mechanism for controlling corruption and should not be taken as a second fiddle to Western mechanisms, but suis generis a strategy with great potentials. By using African restorative justice mechanism, Nigeria will not only be cutting down corruption but attacking its root, namely, moral depravity and the aversion of social responsibility
What if the Officer Were Black or Female? The Effects of Officer Race and Gender on Arrest Decision-Making
Get PDFRace and gender in arrest decisions are some of the most enduring areas of study in policing, but the same cannot be said of research on the effect of officers’ race and gender on arrest decisions, which warrants more vigorous attention than it currently receives. Using a complete count of 136,160 arrests conducted over a period of eight years in a Midwestern city in the United States and a two-model approach, this study is intended to explain the effects of the race and gender of officers on who is arrested. Focusing on the role of conventional perceptions as well as the latent effect of police deployment practices, this study found that officers are generally more inclined to arrest members of their own racial groups, and that, holding racial backgrounds constant, female officers are more inclined than male officers to arrest racial-minority suspects, especially African Americans. The study further found that if all other factors are equal, then female officers over-arrest female suspects and male officers over-arrest male suspects. Other findings are presented, possible analytic explanations offered, and policy implications discussed. The study ends with a set of recommendations that are linked to the findings