Computational Strategy Research on the Development of Kiruna,in Sweden

In Kiruna,nearly all the residents support the migration plan in order to make LKAB able to continue the mining process.Based on current condition,a larger part of this town will be demolished by the sinking land caused by iron ore mining processing operated by LKAB.Since then,most of the buildings in the sinking district will be relocated in another district.However,the situation in Kiruna is not quite the same as when this kind of migration happens in another place.In other place,while migration happens,even if not most,a large part of the local residents will resist and fight for their house and properties.Concentrated on the ownership of different buildings and tried find the relationship between the public and private buildings to discover some issue that will help to work on the computational urban design.

Business Process Analysis and Simulation: The Contact Center of a Public Health and Social Information Office

This article proposes a framework, called BP-M* which includes: 1) a methodology to analyze, engineer, restructure and implement business processes, and 2) a process model that extends the process diagram with the specification of resources that execute the process activities, allocation policies, schedules, times of activities, management of queues in input to the activities and workloads so that the same model can be simulated by a discrete event simulator. The BP-M* framework has been applied to a real case study, a public Contact Center which provides different typologies of answers to users’ requests. The simulation allows to study different system operating scenarios (“What-If” analysis) providing useful information for analysts to evaluate restructuring actions.

Selection of IT Sourcing Alternatives in Public Sector Using the Analytic Hierarchy Process

Recent research carried out in the public sector shows that outsourcing can indisputably bring many benefits to the organizations which master the art of devising, deploying and maintaining outsourcing relationships. However, for many organizations, these benefits remain elusive, while outsourcing projects are usually accompanied by unexpected and often negative effects. The paper focuses on in-depth analysis of the current situation concerning outsourcing of information technology projects （IT-projects） in Slovenian public sector. Presented research initially analyses substantive, procedural and other relevant aspects of outsourcing and provides a set of applicable decision making criteria. Stemming from the analysis results, this paper eventually presents the development of a multi criteria decision-support model based on Analytic Hierarchy Process （AHP） which could facilitate enhanced evaluation, selection and implementation of IT outsourcing projects in the public sector.

Reevaluation of dialect boundaries in the Yellowhammer(Emberiza citrinella)based on citizen science data:Should we split or lump?

Dialects are a specific form of geographic variation of birdsong with relatively sharp boundaries between distinct song characteristics,which provide opportunities for focused studies of processes underlying the emergence of spatial patterns in vocalization.Several songbird species that exhibit dialects became models for such research,and for some of them large-scale datasets were assembled that included recordings provided by the public.Among them,the Yellowhammer(Emberiza citrinella,Emberizidae) is particularly prominent,as it has been recently a subject of dedicated citizen science projects focusing on its dialect distribution.The most successful,in terms of public participation as well as the number and density of obtained recordings,was the Dialects of Czech Yellowhammers(DCY) project,which assembled detailed data at the whole-country level.A mosaic of almost all common song variants known across Europe was observed in Czechia,but the results indicated that some of the traditionally recognized Yellowhammer dialects may not represent geographically clustered song variants,at least not in Central Europe.We quantitatively analysed variation(frequency and temporal characteristics and modulation) of the terminal song element in three dialects defined by arbitrary frequency thresholds in DCY.Multivariate analyses indicated that pooling these to two distinct groups reflects the variation in the songs,as well as their spatial distribution,better than retaining the current classification to three dialects or their finer splitting to even more categories.We provide simple measures that may be used for classification of these Yellowhammer song variants in Central Europe.However,we warn from indiscriminate transposing of results from one region to another,as that may lead to substantial biases.Future studies of birdsong variation will benefit from big data assembled by citizen scientists,but to maximise their usefulness for further dialect research,careful delineation of dialect boundaries is essential.

On the Expansion and Realization of the Right to Environmental Information in Environmental Protection Supervision

As an innovation in the environmental governance system that breaks the traditional hierarchical structure,environmental protection supervision has not only played a significant role in protecting tangible environmental rights but also expanded the basic scope of the right to environmental information—part of procedural environmental rights.In the supervision of environmental protection,the objects of the right to environmental information and the subjects of the obligation to provide environmental information have been both expanded,with the focus shifting from government information to Party information and from administrative organs to Party organs.This vividly demonstrates the Communist Party of China’s concrete efforts to protect human rights in the field of the endeavor to build an ecological civilization.At present,the realization of the right to environmental information in environmental protection supervision still faces problems such as insufficient standards and norms,disordered practice and operation,and lack of liability guarantee.In this context,based on renewing relevant subjects’cognition of the right to know in environmental protection supervision,we should further improve and specify the rule for disclosing information about environmental protection supervision,rationally distribute the obligations for information disclosure in environmental protection supervision,and clarify the accountability rules for violating relevant requirements for information disclosure,so as to promote the overall development of the environmental protection supervision system while guaranteeing the realization of the right to environmental information.

Public Participation in Water Environment Control：the Status and Experience of Shenzhen, Southern China

Public participation is an important part of watershed water environment management. Via public participation, it could enhance public environmental awareness, mobilize multiple forces to reconcile the conflicts among multiple interest groups, supervise corporate environmental be-havior, and overcome the shortcomings of government unilateral decision-making. In this paper, the status quo of public participating in water envi-ronment control is summarized, and the existing problems of public participating in water environment control are analyzed. From the aspects of per-fecting legal system, perfecting water environment information disclosure system, expanding information communication channels, correctly guiding the development of environmental social organization, playing the supervision role of the people＇s congress and political consultative committee, and enriching the forms of publicity and education, the countermeasures and suggestions of public participating in water environment control are proposed, to perfect public participation mechanism, and scientifically and orderly impel comprehensive treatment of water environment.

Air Quality Legislation and Standards in the European Union: Background, Status and Public Participation

In order to improve air quality, the European Union introduced the New Air Quality Directive in 2008 and set its Member States strict targets on air pollution concentrations for the most harmful and challenging substances, such as fine particles. The law enforcement relies on a monitoring and reporting system to inform the European Commission and the public, for it is the citizens' right to be informed about harmful air quality. With sectoral measures, air quality could be improved in the past 20 years, but some emissions concentrations have stagnated in recent years and emissions temporarily exceed thresholds in nearly half of the Member States. The European Emission Inventory allows the commission to identify the substances, areas, and times of exceedances, and to implement sectoral measures leading to air quality improvements, all of which have to be made available publicly. This manuscript introduces the air quality legislation and reviews the quality of European air for recent years.

International Public Sector Accounting Standards （IPSAS） Implementation in the European Union （EU） Member States

The aim of this paper is to analyze the implementation level of International Public Sector Accounting Standards （IPSAS） in the member states of the European Union （EU）. After an introduction of the legislative framework in the EU and a review of the literature about the implementation of IPSAS in the EU member states, this paper classifies, on the basis of a survey, the states according to their formal implementation levels of IPSAS. It also analyzes the types of accounting （cash basis accounting, modified cash basis accotmting, accrual accounting, and modified accrual basis accounting） used by the states studied. The survey shows that there are important disparities among the member states, both for the application of IPSAS and for the type of accounting that is used. Furthermore, it appears that even if IPSAS is not legally adopted in most European member states, there is a tendency to use modern accounting systems based on accrual accounting close to IPSAS.

Research on the Public Behaviors to Participate in the Lake Chief System-Based on the Survey of Hengshui City, China

Lake chief system is an innovative measure of ecological civilization construction in lake governance and protection in China. Due to the complexity and openness of lake resources, it is difficult for the government and the market to properly handle the arduous task of lake governance, and public participation is an effective remedy for the failure of the government and the market. In order to know the public participation in the protection lakes, this paper selected 318 citizens from Hengshui city and uses the questionnaire survey to understand the public’s participation attitude, approach and behavior of the lake chief system. The research results show that the public’s education level, length of residence and understanding of the lake chief system have a positive impact on their participation.

Public Participation Applied to the Environmental Planning

This paper focuses on the public participation in environmental planning. After the decade for inaccessible information related to the decision taken, actually, the program of public participation is the reference of all the decision making process. However, there are some factors that limit this process, such as poverty, illiteracy, ignorance and often the social inequality. Therefore, this study focuses first on the benefits of public participation in environmental planning, then the involvement of the local population, and finally the decision making access using a case study of Madagascar.

Procurement Method Selection for Building Maintenance Projects: The Case of Malaysian Public Universities

The purpose of this paper is to implement and validate a decision making framework for building maintenance projects. The growing importance of maintenance sector not only in Malaysia but al- so increasingly globalized, the difficulty in selecting an appropriate procurement method and lack of research in this area provide an impetus for this research. There were 19 procurement selection criteria identified. In addition, there were 4 types of procurements methods which include outsourcing by specialist term contract, outsourcing by tendered schedule term contract, out- sourcing by repair and maintenance contract and outsourcing by measured term contract identified to be the most popular procurement methods adapted by public universities currently and at the same time were considered most important. The decision making framework was developed based on AHP technique and principles. Expert Choice Software was employed as development tool where the criteria and alternatives were integrated into the framework. Finally, structured interview was conducted to validate the framework developed. The validation process was carried out through structured interview with selected public university.

Explorations of Public Participation Approach to the Framing of Resilient Urbanism

Under the framework of developing resilient and livable cities, this study was aimed at engaging local communities to achieve the goal of public participation. Given the prevalence of smart mobile devices, an interactive app called ＂Citizen Probe＂ was designed to guide users to participate in building resilient and livable urban spaces by enabling users to report the condition of their living environment. The app collects feedback from users regarding the perceived condition of the urban environment, and this information is used to further develop an open online index system. The index system serves as a guide for the public to actively transform their city into a resilient and livable urban environment. The app was designed for the reporting of flood incidents with the objective of resilient disaster prevention, which can be achieved by enabling users to identify disaster conditions in order to develop a database for basic disaster information. The database can be used in the prevention and mitigation of disasters and to provide a foundation for developing indices for assessing the resilience and livability of urban areas. Three communities in Taichung, Taiwan, participated in the study. Residents of these communities were requested to use the app and identify local environmental conditions to obtain spatial data according to four stages in disaster response： assessment, readiness, response, and recovery. A volunteered geographic information database was developed to display maps for providing users with current reports ofpredisaster risk assessment, disaster response capacity, real-time disaster conditions, and overall disaster recovery. In addition, the database can be used as a useful tool for researchers to conduct GIS analyses and initiate related discussions. The interactive appraises public awareness on disaster prevention and makes disaster prevention a daily norm. Further discussion between the public and experts will be initiated to assist in policy management pertaining to the ongoing development of cities in addition to improving disaster prevention and response measures.

Investments of Milk Processing Capacities from Romania, through the Funds Provided by the ＂NPRD 2014-2020＂

In this paper, an analysis of the possibilities of development of milk processing activity was made, using as financing source the public funds provided by the Common Agricultural Policy and the distribution of the investments in Romania. All the EU member states gain 99.6 billion through the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development, the period 2014-2020, of which Romania has received the total of 8.128 billion euros. Through the 2014-2020 National Rural Development Program （NRDP 2014-2020）, sub-measure 4.2 ＂Support for investment in processing/marketing of agricultural products＂ （2014）, Romania is falling Regulation （EC） 1305/2013 in measure 4 ＂Investments in physical assets＂ （2013） and contributes to increasing the value added of products on local markets and inter-professional organizations, the establishment and development of small businesses and job creation. Until now, in the milk processing sector, investments of 93,918,043 euros were made, about 50% （47,667.41 euros） of which from public funds.

Social Participation in the Context of the Urban Public Space Renewal： The Case of Lagarteiro Neighborhood in Oporto

In 1980, Giancarlo de Carlo wrote in the Perspecta： Yale Journal, ＂An Architecture of the Participation＂. Carlo, proposed a sequence of procedures： the problem definition, the solution and the results evaluation, in all the three steps, the social communities should be integrated in as part of a share and dynamic process. This text corresponds to a new way of understanding the importance of the social communities in the architecture definition. From de Carlo＇s text, the main goal of this paper is to present the results of an intervention in public space renewal of the Lagarteiro neighborhood （in Oporto city） and the relation of this process with the participation of the resident population. The urban context of Lagarteiro＇s neighborhood presented before the intervention the typical and classic signs of disqualification of environmental and urban peripheral areas of resettlement. The term ＂disadvantaged areas＂ is associated with these areas in urban or peri-urban case, was framed in a specific Portuguese policy, called Initiative Critical Neighborhoods. Being a recent intervention, the renewal of the public space in Lagarteiro is a complete case study that allows comprehending the participation phenomenon in nowadays, at the same time that seduces a reflexion about technical and architectural solutions for ＂critical＂ neighborhood.

An Analysis of the Public Participation in Environmental Management in the Era of＂Intemet＋＂

In recent years, the application of Intemet technology in the public participation in environmental management has been developing continuously in China. From the case of Maoming PX Incident and the case of Chai＇s ＂Under the Dome,＂ it can be seen that Internet technology has both advantages of promoting the public participation in environmental management and disadvantages of the lacks of normative guidance. Government departments should not only adapt to the ＂Internet＋＂ era and guide the public use of Internet technology in environment management, but also strengthen the construction of laws and regulations and the construction of institutional mechanisms to standardize concrete links of the public participation in environmental management through the Intemet and finally establish a system of the public participation in environmental management in the era of＂lnternet＋.＂

A Consideration of Issues in the Government＇s Public Housing Projects in Post-War Iraq

Post-war Iraq is a mix of potential opportunities, promising intentions, and difficult challenges. After 2003, the government adopted a program to manage the housing crisis and satisfy housing needs. Through a fieldwork survey, we aimed to present this program by reviewing the government targets, main housing problems, governmental legislations, and construction process. We found that the government abandoned its centralized role in its National Housing Project as it opened the door of Iraqi housing market to foreign and local investors. We also found that, considering the enormous need for housing the occupancy rate of the governmental housing units are so low and construction is also generally slow. We deduced that the pricing model of the government＇s national housing project is far from our general notion of public housing for low-income post-war people. Moreover, it is necessary for the government to formulate a clearer strategic vision and to adopt more innovative approaches to address effectively and rapidly the trade-offs of the short and long terms objectives of the reconstruction process in post-war Iraq.

Relationship of public preferences and behavior in residential outdoor spaces using analytic hierarchy process and principal component analysis—a case study of Hangzhou City, China

This study examined public attitudes concerning the value of outdoor spaces which people use daily. Two successive analyses were performed based on data from common residents and college students in the city of Hangzhou, China. First, citizens registered various items constituting desirable values of residential outdoor spaces through a preliminary questionnaire. The result proposed three general attributes (functional, aesthetic and ecological) and ten specific qualities of residential outdoor spaces. An analytic hierarchy process (AHP) was applied to an interview survey in order to clarify the weights among these attributes and qualities. Second, principal factors were extracted from the ten specific qualities with principal component analysis (PCA) for both the common case and the campus case. In addition, the variations of respondents’ groups were classified with cluster analysis (CA) using the results of the PCA. The results of the AHP application found that the public prefers the functional attribute, rather than the aesthetic attribute. The latter is always viewed as the core value of open spaces in the eyes of architects and designers. Fur-thermore, comparisons of ten specific qualities showed that the public prefers the open spaces that can be utilized conveniently and easily for group activities, because such spaces keep an active lifestyle of neighborhood communication, which is also seen to protect human-regarding residential environments. Moreover, different groups of respondents diverge largely in terms of gender, age, behavior and preference.

Features Desired in Public Transport in a Developing City: Users’ Perspective

Excessive growth of population and urbanization in the developing countries set an increasing demand of mobility services. To meet this demand, public transport plays a significant role by providing an easy and affordable mobility service. Public transport service is a process evolving over time nevertheless is not always directly responsive to the changing demand of the passengers. Recently in developing countries, the unpleasant experience in public transport services is seen as one of the main reasons behind increased passenger car share, which eventually lead to traffic congestion. However, the situation can be ameliorated if the features of the public transport are improved by addressing the users’ demand. In this study, the primary features desired and demanded by the passengers of a developing country are identified by three phase survey. These identified features are also categorized based on public responses. And finally, the required features in an appropriate public transport mode are prioritized by using a common Multi Criteria Decision Making approach (AHP—Analytic Hierarchy Process). The study suggests that residents of the developing city are not that much concern on the outlook and ambience of the service rather they are concerned about finishing their trips safely in time at an affordable rate. The findings of this research will help planners and decision makers to make the best use of the investment in public transport services and infrastructure to promote these modes over privately owned vehicle.

New Attempt for Building Rural Water Environment Management System Based on the Investigation and Analysis of Water Environment in Xianxia Town, Yudu County

Water environment is a part of ecological environment, and conservation of water environment has always been a focus of public attention in China, but water environment management in the vast countryside has been stuck in bottleneck. Based on the fi eld investigation in Xianxia Town, Yudu County, Ganzhou City, Jiangxi Province, this paper explored the current situation of local water environment and the management diffi culties, then introduced the holistic view to integrate the linkage of government, market and society, proposed the universality of the individual case, and the new attempt centering on urban-rural integrated water environment management system with public participation mechanism, management subjects' benefit balance and coordination system, marketing operation mechanism and economic incentive mechanism as the extension.

Sustainable Development Potential of Public Space in Traditional Villages:Taking Yincheng,Shanxi Province as an Example

With the development of society and the advancement of science and technology,the street texture,architectural style,and spatial pattern of many traditional villages have been destroyed,which has seriously affected the style and environment of the entire village.To protect features of traditional villages and to better inherit the history and culture,the protection and development status of traditional villages must be explored,the public space of traditional villages should be evaluated from different perspectives and the public space issues summarized.Then,corresponding transformation and renewal strategies should be proposed.