The Territorial Dimension: The Component of Business Strategy that Prevents the Generation of Social Conflicts

Taking advantage of economic opportunities has led to numerous conflicts between society and business in various geographies of the world. Companies have developed social responsibility programs to prevent and manage these types of problems. However, some authors comment that these programs lack a strategic vision. Starting with the Working with People model, created for the field of rural development planning, this paper proposes a methodology to prevent the generation of social conflicts from business strategy: the territorial dimension. The proposal emphasizes that local development support prevents the generation of social conflicts. Finally, an experience in Peru, a country that has been characterized in recent years by high economic growth and also by the presence of social conflicts that have stopped entrepreneurship is analyzed.

Sobre los aeropuertos verdes: marco para la evaluación ambiental suficiente de una construcción bajo interpretación transversal

En el estudio buscamos caracterizar el análisis de la SOSTENIBILIDAD (Suficiencia) del CICLO DE VIDA de una INFRAESTRUCTURA AEROPORTUARIA centrándonos en la evaluación de los aspectos SOCIALES (de forma Interdisciplinaria o Transversal) que le afectan y considerando todos los AGENTES involucrados (ingenieros/ operadores/ mantenedores/ usuarios/ stakeholders/ etc.). La complejidad de las interacciones entre los edificios y su entorno hace que sea difícil definir y evaluar con precisión la sostenibilidad de un edificio. Las NORMAS AMBIENTALES para la construcción (unas pocas existentes y algunos en fase de desarrollo) se centran en la sostenibilidad ECONÓMICA, SOCIAL Y AMBIENTAL que caracteriza a un edificio, siendo los aspectos socio-económicos difíciles de evaluar. En consecuencia, los métodos existentes para la evaluación de la construcción sostenible (por ejemplo, LEED, BREEAM, SBTool) tienden a superar los aspectos ambientales pues son más fáciles de evaluar de manera cuantitativa. Así desde el punto de vista holístico (global) y utilizando la teoría de sistemas complejos, la sostenibilidad debe ser evaluada, en parte, utilizando los INDICADORES DE SOSTENIBILIDAD SOCIALES Y ECONÓMICOS para cubrir todos los factores de Sostenibilidad. El estudio propone una metodología para valorar la sostenibilidad en la construcción aeroportuaria a través de la evaluación de los indicadores sostenibles de la construcción (SKPIs) sin y superando las carencias presentadas. Para ello hemos implementado una herramienta de evaluación de la sostenibilidad, donde: Puede evaluar, en primer aproximación e independientemente, la sostenibilidad del CICLO DE VIDA de la INFRAESTRUCTURA AEROPORTUARIA Puede COMPLETAR otras herramientas comerciales disponibles (ej. BREEAM, LEED), bajo un enfoque ECONÓMICO-SOCIAL y complementando el enfoque ambiental La evaluación de los KPIs se realiza por medio de TECNOLOGÍAS Y ESTRATEGIAS SOSTENIBLES, cuya aplicación supondría un aumento de la sostenibilidad del edificio La herramienta propuesta considera la complejidad y transdisciplinariedad del problema, fundada en un SISTEMA DE CRÉDITOS fácil de usar. Así el programa diseñado permite el análisis y la comparación del CICLO DE VIDA de la INFRAESTRUCTURA AEROPORTUARIA: Abarcando las etapas de construcción (diseño, operación, mantenimiento, etc.) Incluyendo a todos los agentes de construcción (ocupantes, stakeholders, constructores, etc.) Finalmente, se aporta un ejemplo teórico de una INFRAESTRUCTURA AEROPORTUARIA (Terminal Aeroportuaria) para fijar, demostrar y discutir el estudio presentado Abstract We seek to characterize the sustainability analysis of the life cycle of a building focus us on the evaluation of social aspect. From a holistic point of view and using complex systems theory, sustainability must be evaluated, in part, using social key performance indicator (KPI) to cover all factors of sustainability. The most remarkable of the proposed framework is to provide a methodology to achieve the sustainability in construction through the assessment of social KPIs. Besides we implement a tool to assess sustainability, where this tool could complete other commercial tools available (e.g. BREEAM, LEED). The proposed tool considers the complexity and trans-disciplinary of the problem. The procedure is based on a credit system easy to use. It also allows analysis and comparison of the boundary conditions of the building, embracing construction stages (design, operation), involving all the building agents (occupants, stakeholders, etc.)

Design evaluation of a prototype user interface to support a guideline-based decision support system in gestational diabetes

Gestational Diabetes (GD) has increased over the last 20 years, affecting up to 15% of pregnant women worldwide. The complications associated can be reduced with the appropriate glycemic control during the pregnancy.

Application of Deadlock Risk Evaluation of Architectural Models

Software architectural evaluation is a key discipline used to identify, at early stages of a real-time system (RTS) development, the problems that may arise during its operation. Typical mechanisms supporting concurrency, such as semaphores, mutexes or monitors, usually lead to concurrency problems in execution time that are difficult to be identified, reproduced and solved. For this reason, it is crucial to understand the root causes of these problems and to provide support to identify and mitigate them at early stages of the system lifecycle. This paper aims to present the results of a research work oriented to the development of the tool called ‘Deadlock Risk Evaluation of Architectural Models’ (DREAM) to assess deadlock risk in architectural models of an RTS. A particular architectural style, Pipelines of Processes in Object-Oriented Architectures–UML (PPOOA) was used to represent platform-independent models of an RTS architecture supported by the PPOOA –Visio tool. We validated the technique presented here by using several case studies related to RTS development and comparing our results with those from other deadlock detection approaches, supported by different tools. Here we present two of these case studies, one related to avionics and the other to planetary exploration robotics. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Clean Coal Technologies Scenario and Evaluation of Present CO2 Dwindling Initiatives to Approach Zero Emission Power Stations By Coal Combustion. Deployment Situation and Evaluation Study

In the present uncertain global context of reaching an equal social stability and steady thriving economy, power demand expected to grow and global electricity generation could nearly double from 2005 to 2030. Fossil fuels will remain a significant contribution on this energy mix up to 2050, with an expected part of around 70% of global and ca. 60% of European electricity generation. Coal will remain a key player. Hence, a direct effect on the considered CO2 emissions business-as-usual scenario is expected, forecasting three times the present CO2 concentration values up to 1,200ppm by the end of this century. Kyoto protocol was the first approach to take global responsibility onto CO2 emissions monitoring and cap targets by 2012 with reference to 1990. Some of principal CO2emitters did not ratify the reduction targets. Although USA and China spur are taking its own actions and parallel reduction measures. More efficient combustion processes comprising less fuel consuming, a significant contribution from the electricity generation sector to a CO2 dwindling concentration levels, might not be sufficient. Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) technologies have started to gain more importance from the beginning of the decade, with research and funds coming out to drive its come in useful. After first researching projects and initial scale testing, three principal capture processes came out available today with first figures showing up to 90% CO2 removal by its standard applications in coal fired power stations. Regarding last part of CO2 reduction chain, two options could be considered worthy, reusing (EOR & EGR) and storage. The study evaluates the state of the CO2 capture technology development, availability and investment cost of the different technologies, with few operation cost analysis possible at the time. Main findings and the abatement potential for coal applications are presented. DOE, NETL, MIT, European universities and research institutions, key technology enterprises and utilities, and key technology suppliers are the main sources of this study. A vision of the technology deployment is presented.

Territory and the governmentalisation of social reproduction: parliamentary enclosure and spatial rationalities in the transition from feudalism to capitalism

Recent applications of Foucauldian categories in geography, spatial history and the history of town planning have opened up interesting new perspectives, with respect to both the evolution of spatial knowledge and the genealogy of territorial techniques and their relation to larger socio-political projects, that would be enriched if combined with other discursive traditions. This article proposes to conceptualise English parliamentary enclosureea favourite episode for Marxist historiography, frequently read in a strictly materialist fashioneas a precedent of a new form of sociospatial governmentality, a political technology that inaugurates a strategic manipulation of territory for social change on the threshold between feudal and capitalist spatial rationalities. I analyse the sociospatial dimensions of parliamentary enclosure’s technical and legal innovations and compare them to the forms of communal self-regulation of land use customs and everyday regionalisations that preceded it. Through a systematic, replicable mechanism of reterritorialisation, enclosure acts normalised spatial regulations, blurred regional differences in the social organisation of agriculture and erased the modes of autonomous social reproduction linked to common land. Their exercise of dispossession of material resources, social capital and community representations is interpreted therefore as an inaugural logic that would pervade the emergent spatial rationality later known as planning.

Evaluation of angle-dependent absorption: Computer simulation and listening test for an objective and subjective evaluation

The aim of this thesis is the subjective and objective evaluation of angledependent absorption coefficients. As the assumption of a constant absorption coefficient over the angle of incidence is not always held, a new model acknowledging an angle-dependent reflection must be considered, to get a more accurate prediction in the sound field. The study provides information about the behavior of different materials in several rooms, depending on the reflection modeling of incident sound waves. An objective evaluation was run for an implementation of angle-dependent reflection factors in the image source and ray tracing simulation models. Results obtained were analysed after comparison to diffuse-field averaged data. However, changes in acoustic characteristics of a room do not always mean a variation in the listener’s perception. Thus, additional subjective evaluation allowed a comparison between the different results obtained with the computer simulation and the response from the individuals who participated in the listening test. The listening test was designed following a three-alternative forced-choice (3AFC) paradigm. In each interaction asked to the subjects a sequence of either three pink noise bursts or three natural signals was alternated. These results were supposed to show the influence and perception of the two different ways to implement surface reflection –either with diffuse or angle-dependent absorption properties. Results show slightly audible effects when material properties were exaggerated. El objetivo de este trabajo es la evaluación objetiva y subjetiva del coeficiente de absorción en función del ángulo de incidencia de la onda de sonido. La suposición de un coeficiente de absorción constante con respecto al ángulo de incidencia no siempre se sostiene. Por ello, un nuevo modelo considerando la reflexión dependiente del ángulo se debe tener en cuenta para obtener predicciones más certeras en el campo del sonido. El estudio proporciona información sobre el comportamiento de diferentes materiales en distintos recintos, dependientes del modelo de reflexión de las ondas de sonido incidentes. Debido a las dificultades a la hora de realizar las medidas y, por lo tanto, a la falta de datos, los coeficientes de absorción dependientes del ángulo a menudo no se tienen en cuenta a la hora de realizar las simulaciones. Hoy en día, aún no hay una tendencia de aplicar el coeficiente de absorción dependiente del ángulo para mejorar los modelos de reflexión. Por otra parte, para una medición satisfactoria de la absorción dependiente del ángulo, sólo hay unos pocos métodos. Las técnicas de medición actuales llevan mucho tiempo y hay algunos materiales, condiciones y ángulos que no pueden ser reproducidos y, por lo tanto, no es posible su medición. Sin embargo, en el presente estudio, los ángulos de incidencia de las ondas de sonido son conocidos y almacenados en una de base de datos para cada uno de los materiales, de modo que los coeficientes de absorción para el ángulo dado pueden ser devueltos siempre que sean requeridos por el usuario. Para realizar el estudio se llevó a cabo una evaluación objetiva, por medio de la implementación del factor de reflexión dependiente del ángulo en los modelos de fuentes imagen y trazado de rayos. Los resultados fueron analizados después de ser comparados con el promedio de los datos obtenidos en medidas en el campo difuso. La simulación se hizo una vez se configuraron un número de materiales creados por el autor, a partir de los datos existentes en la literatura y los catálogos de fabricantes. Los modelos de Komatsu y Mechel sirvieron como referencia para los materiales porosos, configurando la resistividad al aire o el grosor, y para los paneles perforados, introduciendo el radio de los orificios y la distancia entre centros, respectivamente. Estos materiales se situaban en la pared opuesta a la que se consideraba que debía alojar a la fuente sonora. El resto de superficies se modelaban con el mismo material, variando su coeficiente de absorción y/o de dispersión. Al mismo tiempo, una serie de recintos fueron modelados para poder reproducir distintos escenarios de los que obtener los resultados. Sin embargo, los cambios en las características acústicas de un recinto no significan variaciones en la percepción por parte del oyente. Por ello, una evaluación subjetiva adicional permitió una comparación entre los diferentes resultados obtenidos mediante la simulación informática y la respuesta de los individuos que participaron en la prueba de escucha. Ésta fue diseñada bajo las pautas del modelo de test three-alternative forced-choice (3AFC), con treinta y dos preguntas diferentes. En cada iteración los sujetos fueron preguntados por una secuencia alterna entre tres señales, siendo dos de ellas iguales. Éstas podían ser tanto ráfagas de ruido rosa como señales naturales, en este test se utilizó un fragmento de una obra clásica interpretada por un piano. Antes de contestar al cuestionario, los bloques de preguntas eran ordenados al azar. Para cada ensayo, la mezcla era diferente, así los sujetos no repetían la misma prueba, evitando un sesgo por efectos de aprendizaje. Los bloques se barajaban recordando siempre el orden inicial, para después almacenar los resultados reordenados. La prueba de escucha fue realizada por veintitrés personas, toda ellas con conocimientos dentro del campo de la acústica. Antes de llevar a cabo la prueba de escucha en un entorno adecuado, una hoja con las instrucciones fue facilitada a cada persona. Los resultados muestran la influencia y percepción de las dos maneras distintas de implementar las reflexiones de una superficie –ya sea con respecto a la propiedad de difusión o de absorción dependiente del ángulo de los materiales. Los resultados objetivos, después de ejecutar las simulaciones, muestran los datos medios obtenidos para comprender el comportamiento de distintos materiales de acuerdo con el modelo de reflexión utilizado en el caso de estudio. En las tablas proporcionadas en la memoria se muestran los valores del tiempo de reverberación, la claridad y el tiempo de caída temprana. Los datos de las características del recinto obtenidos en este análisis tienen una fuerte dependencia respecto al coeficiente de absorción de los diferentes materiales que recubren las superficies del cuarto. En los resultados subjetivos, la media de percepción, a la hora de distinguir las distintas señales, por parte de los sujetos, se situó significativamente por debajo del umbral marcado por el punto de inflexión de la función psicométrica. Sin embargo, es posible concluir que la mayoría de los individuos tienden a ser capaces de detectar alguna diferencia entre los estímulos presentados en el 3AFC test. En conclusión, la hipótesis de que los valores del coeficiente de absorción dependiente del ángulo difieren es contrastada. Pero la respuesta subjetiva de los individuos muestra que únicamente hay ligeras variaciones en la percepción si el coeficiente varía en intervalos pequeños entre los valores manejados en la simulación. Además, si los parámetros de los materiales acústicos no son exagerados, los sujetos no perciben ninguna variación. Los primeros resultados obtenidos, proporcionando información respecto a la dependencia del ángulo, llevan a una nueva consideración en el campo de la acústica, y en la realización de nuevos proyectos en el futuro. Para futuras líneas de investigación, las simulaciones se deberían realizar con distintos tipos de recintos, buscando escenarios con geometrías irregulares. También, la implementación de distintos materiales para obtener resultados más certeros. Otra de las fases de los futuros proyectos puede realizarse teniendo en cuenta el coeficiente de dispersión dependiente del ángulo de incidencia de la onda de sonido. En la parte de la evaluación subjetiva, realizar una serie de pruebas de escucha con distintos individuos, incluyendo personas sin una formación relacionada con la ingeniería acústica.

Quantitative evaluation of patient-specific conforming hexahedral meshes of abdominal aortic aneurysms and intraluminal thrombus generated from MRI

A novel method for generating patient-specific high quality conforming hexahedral meshes is presented. The meshes are directly obtained from the segmentation of patient magnetic resonance (MR) images of abdominal aortic aneu-rysms (AAA). The MRI permits distinguishing between struc-tures of interest in soft tissue. Being so, the contours of the lumen, the aortic wall and the intraluminal thrombus (ILT) are available and thus the meshes represent the actual anato-my of the patient?s aneurysm, including the layered morpholo-gies of these structures. Most AAAs are located in the lower part of the aorta and the upper section of the iliac arteries, where the inherent tortuosity of the anatomy and the presence of the ILT makes the generation of high-quality elements at the bifurcation is a challenging task. In this work we propose a novel approach for building quadrilateral meshes for each surface of the sectioned geometry, and generating conforming hexahedral meshes by combining the quadrilateral meshes. Conforming hexahedral meshes are created for the wall and the ILT. The resulting elements are evaluated on four patients? datasets using the Scaled Jacobian metric. Hexahedral meshes of 25,000 elements with 94.8% of elements well-suited for FE analysis are generated.

Replication Data Management,needs and solutions: an initial evaluation of conceptual approaches for integrating heterogeneous replication study data

Replication Data Management (RDM) aims at enabling the use of data collections from several iterations of an experiment. However, there are several major challenges to RDM from integrating data models and data from empirical study infrastructures that were not designed to cooperate, e.g., data model variation of local data sources. [Objective] In this paper we analyze RDM needs and evaluate conceptual RDM approaches to support replication researchers. [Method] We adapted the ATAM evaluation process to (a) analyze RDM use cases and needs of empirical replication study research groups and (b) compare three conceptual approaches to address these RDM needs: central data repositories with a fixed data model, heterogeneous local repositories, and an empirical ecosystem. [Results] While the central and local approaches have major issues that are hard to resolve in practice, the empirical ecosystem allows bridging current gaps in RDM from heterogeneous data sources. [Conclusions] The empirical ecosystem approach should be explored in diverse empirical environments.

Integrated studies for the evaluation of conservation treatments on buildings materials from archaeological sites: application to the case of Merida (Spain)

The application of conservation treatments, such as consolidation and protection ones, has been demonstrated ineffective in many cases, and even harmful. Evaluation studies should be a mandatory task, ideally before and after the intervention, but both tasks are complex and unusual in the case of archaeological heritage. This study is mainly focused on analyzing changes in petrophysical properties of stone material from archaeological sites of Merida (Spain), evaluating, both on site and in laboratory, effects derived from different conservation treatments applied in past interventions, throughout the integration of different non-destructive techniques (NDT) and portable devices of analysis available at the Institute of Geosciences (CSIC,UCM). These techniques allow, not only assessment of effectiveness and alteration processes, but also monitoring durability of treatments, focused mainly on 1996 intervention in the case of Roman Theater, as well as different punctual interventions from the 90?s until date in the House of Mitreo. Studies carried out on archaeological sites of Merida permit us to compare outcomes and also check limitations in the use of those equipments. In this paper we discuss about the use of some techniques, their integration and limits, for the assessment of conservation treatments, showing some examples of Merida?s case study.

Integrated studies for the evaluation of conservation treatments on stone material from archaeological sites. Application to the case of Mérida (Spain)

In recent decades archaeological sites have been subject of many interventions. The application of conservation treatments, such us consolidation and protection ones by means of using, for instance, synthetic resins or organosilicic compounds, has been demonstrated inadequate in many cases, and even harmful for the heritage materials [1]. Evaluation studies should be a mandatory task, ideally before and after the intervention, but both tasks are complex and unusual in the case of archaeological heritage. Moreover, there is a general lack of knowledge in the mid and long term effects of these treatments, and how to act when these have resulted in deterioration of the original material. Remains of Roman Augusta Emerita, located in Merida (Spain), have gone through many interventions since the first archaeological campaign, in 1910. Some of them have demonstrated already to be harmful [2], others, more recent, must be evaluated in order to determine its effectiveness and durability, considering that many of these treatments are currently still applied. For this purpose a range of parameters has been measured such as color, surface hardness and roughness, mechanical or hydric properties, porosity, etc. on the original material (granite, marble and mortars mainly), and then the transformations of those same parameters analyzed after treatment, both in situ, in places where a intervention is documented, and in the laboratory, in samples. The study is being conducted both in the laboratory (Petrophysics Laboratory within IGEO) and in situ, on selected archaeological sites of Mérida (Theater and House of Mitreo). The comparison of results in untreated and treated areas of the site, and in treated-untreated samples, allows the distinction of variables that affect the interaction between products and stone material, issues such us effectiveness and durability of treatment and its validation or dismissal.

Territory and the governmentalisation of social reproduction: parliamentary enclosure and spatial rationalities in the transition from feudalism to capitalism

Recent applications of Foucauldian categories in geography, spatial history and the history of town planning have opened up interesting new perspectives, with respect to both the evolution of spatial knowledge and the genealogy of territorial techniques and their relation to larger socio-political projects, that would be enriched if combined with other discursive traditions. This article proposes to conceptualise English parliamentary enclosureea favourite episode for Marxist historiography, frequently read in a strictly materialist fashioneas a precedent of a new form of sociospatial governmentality, a political technology that inaugurates a strategic manipulation of territory for social change on the threshold between feudal and capitalist spatial rationalities. I analyse the sociospatial dimensions of parliamentary enclosure’s technical and legal innovations and compare them to the forms of communal self-regulation of land use customs and everyday regionalisations that preceded it. Through a systematic, replicable mechanism of reterritorialisation, enclosure acts normalised spatial regulations, blurred regional differences in the social organisation of agriculture and erased the modes of autonomous social reproduction linked to common land. Their exercise of dispossession of material resources, social capital and community representations is interpreted therefore as an inaugural logic that would pervade the emergent spatial rationality later known as planning.

Novel educational assessment for building structures: Automatic evaluation of on-line graphics

This article presents a new automatic evaluation for on-line graphics, its application and the numerous advantages achieved applying this developed correcting method. The software application developed by the Innovation in Education Group “E4”, from the Technical University of Madrid, is oriented for the online self-assessment of the graphic drawings that students carry out as continuous training. The adaptation to the European Higher Educational Area is an important opportunity to research about the possibilities of on-line education assessment. In this way, a new software tool has been developed for continuous self-testing by undergraduates. Using this software it is possible to evaluate the graphical answer of the students. Thus, the drawings made on-line by students are automatically corrected according to the geometry (straight lines, sloping lines or second order curves) and by sizes (depending on the specific values which define the graphics).

Merit function for the evaluation of color uniformity in the far field of LED spot lights

The scope of the present paper is the derivation of a merit function which predicts the visual perception of LED spot lights. The color uniformity level Usl is described by a linear regression function of the spatial color distribution in the far field. Hereby, the function is derived from four basic functions. They describe the color uniformity of spot lights through different features. The result is a reliable prediction for the perceived color uniformity in spot lights. A human factor experiment was performed to evaluate the visual preferences for colors and patterns. A perceived rank order was derived from the subjects’ answers and compared with the four basic functions. The correlation between the perceived rank order and the basic functions was calculated resulting in the definition of the merit function Usl. The application of this function is shown by a comparison of visual evaluations and measurements of LED retrofit spot lamps. The results enable a prediction of color uniformity levels of simulations and measurements concerning the visual perception. The function provides a possibility to evaluate the far field of spot lights without individual subjective judgment. © (2014) COPYRIGHT Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE). Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.

Integrated Studies for the Evaluation of Conservation Treatments on Stone Material from Archaeological Sites. Application to the Case of Merida (Spain)

The application of conservation treatments, such as consolidation and protection ones, has been demonstrated ineffective in many cases, and even harmful. Evaluation studies should be a mandatory task, ideally before and after the intervention, but both tasks are complex and unusual in the case of archaeological heritage. This study is mainly focused on analyzing changes in petrophysical properties of stone material from archaeological sites of Merida (Spain), evaluating, both on site and in laboratory, effects derived from different conservation treatments applied in past interventions, throughout the integration of different non-destructive techniques (NDT) and portable devices of analysis available at the Institute of Geosciences (CSIC,UCM). These techniques allow, not only assessment of effectiveness and alteration processes, but also monitoring durability of treatments, focused mainly on 1996 intervention in the case of Roman Theater, as well as different punctual interventions from the 90’s until date in the House of Mitreo. Studies carried out on archaeological sites of Merida permit us to compare outcomes and also check limitations in the use of those equipments. In this paper we discuss about the use of some techniques, their integration and limits, for the assessment of conservation treatments, showing some examples of Merida’s case study.