Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Citing Sources'

Municipal governments consider the provision of water supply as an essential service for public health and safety, economic growth, and community well-being. As the demand for water increases with population growth, municipal water sources are approaching their limits and water source expansion is often constrained by the physical and seasonal availability of fresh water, environmental protection policies and other factors. As systems strive to balance supply and demand, it is important to know what choices U. S. cities are making in developing new sources of supply and, in particular, how U.S. environmental policies are influencing the range of water supply alternatives. This research inquiry was constructed based on four hypotheses: 1) development of large surface water impoundments is no longer a preferred choice of a new source, 2) water utilities increasingly are relying on non-conventional sources for augmenting their supplies. 3) environmental statutes act as constraints in developing water sources, and 4) water needs and planning choices vary by geographic region and water system size. Evidence to explore these hypotheses was collected from detailed case studies of the history of source development of ten municipal water systems and an email survey of 189 drinking water systems throughout the U.S. The historical record of these systems was used to identify a pattern of three distinct periods of water source development: i) groundwater regime, ii) surface water regime, and iii) non-conventional regime. Source development before the Great Depression (1930s) was identified as the groundwater regime. The surface water regime began with the addition of large number of reservoirs that were added as part of the public works programs instituted after the Great Depression. Surface water source development slowed after the 1970s due to the enactment of environmental statutes and the non-conventional regime began. The nationwide water utility survey showed that about 88 percent of respondents reduced their per capita water use since the institution of national plumbing standards in the 1990s. The research also found that development of large surface water impoundments is no longer a preferred choice for cities or municipalities and that "non-conventional" water sources, such as water reclamation and desalination and reclamation began to be employed as alternative sources in 1980s. Environmental statutes such as, National Environmental Policy Act, Clean Water Act (CWA), Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA), Endangered Species Act (ESA), Rivers and Harbors Act (RHA), and Wild and Scenic Rivers Act (WRSA) have been criticized as constraints to the development of new water sources. However, this research shows that water utilities in general perceive that these statutes are not a constraint. Only 24 percent of respondents perceived them as a constraint and some respondents actually perceived these statutes as an enabler to sustainable water source development. In general, the ESA, CWA 404 permit and NPDES permits were reported to be barriers to water source development, while the SDWA was most reported as an enabler. The research also found that water supply needs and planning choices vary by geographic region. Water systems in the West were more likely to be in need of water source expansion than systems in the East. When considering supply expansions, eastern cities are more likely to pursue conventional sources whereas western cities more likely to pursue a combination of conventional and non-conventional. The water utility survey and case studies showed that while U.S. water systems have employed water demand management techniques to make dramatic reductions in their per capita water use, they nonetheless continue to pursue new water supply sources to meet anticipated future water demands. In spite of this trend toward capacity expansion, virtually all the ten case study water systems currently have surplus water with their current supply exceeding their water demand.

Thesis: Ph. D. in Transportation, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, 2016.<br>Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.<br>Includes bibliographical references (pages 163-177).<br>Rapid urbanization and technological innovations sparked the generation of massive volumes of data that is continually improving in resolution. In particular, mobile phones, having reached penetration levels above 97% in Europe and Americas according to the World Bank, transformed into passive sensors of urban mobility by signaling movement at the individual level. The data generated by these devices has a wide range of applications concerning how people and cities interact through the infrastructure. This thesis presents new analysis tools that utilize large geolocated datasets to provide new insights towards human mobility, road networks, congestion, and energy. In the first part of this work, we analyze the emergence of vehicular congestion in an urban road network through the use of a simple traffic flow model. We show that spatial constraints and the topology of the road network are determinant factors that shape the nature of the city's phase transition to a congested state. In the second part, we outline a methodology that processes raw geolocated data to extract aggregate mobility information that is comparable to local surveys and existing origin-destination matrices for five different metropolitan areas. Next, we analyze how the unique congestion fingerprint of a city is produced through the combination of travel demand, population density, road supply and route choice. We evaluate the potential of implementing socially aware routing solutions for congestion alleviation, and assess the implications of such solutions. Finally, we couple urban travel demand with energy demand of electric vehicles, and present their relationship while exploring the potential benefits of optimized arrival hour and charging timeshifts.<br>by Serdar C̦olak.<br>Ph. D. in Transportation

Smart City technologies emerge as a potential solution to tackle common problems in large urban centers by using city resources efficiently and providing quality services for citizens. Despite the various advances in middleware technologies to support future smart cities, there are yet no widely accepted platforms. Most of the existing solutions do not provide the required flexibility to be shared across cities. Moreover, the extensive use and development of non-open-source software leads to interoperability issues and limits the collaboration among R&D groups. Our research explores the use of a microservices architecture to address key practical challenges in smart city platforms. More specifically, we are concerned with the impact of microservices on addressing the key non-functional requirements to enable the development of smart cities such as supporting different scalability demands and providing a flexible architecture which can easily evolve over time. To this end, we are developing InterSCity, a microservice-based open source smart city platform that aims at supporting the development of sophisticated, cross- domain applications and services. Our early experience shows that microservices can be properly used as building blocks to achieve a loosely coupled, flexible architecture. Experimental results point towards the applicability of our approach in the context of smart cities since the platform can support multiple scalability demands. We expect to enable collaborative, novel smart city research, development, and deployment initiatives through the InterSCity platform. The full validation of the platform will be conducted using different smart city scenarios and workloads. Future work comprises the ongoing design and development effort on data processing services as well as more comprehensive evaluation of the proposed platform through scalability experiments.<br>As tecnologias de Cidades Inteligentes surgem como uma potencial solução para lidar com problemas comuns em grandes centros urbanos, utilizando os recursos da cidade de maneira eficiente e fornecendo serviços de qualidade para os cidadãos. Apesar dos vários avanços nas tecnologias de middleware para suporte às cidades inteligentes do futuro, ainda não existem plataformas amplamente aceitas. A maioria das soluções existentes não oferece a flexibilidade necessária para ser compartilhada entre as cidades. Além disso, o vasto uso e desenvolvimento de software proprietário levam a problemas de interoperabilidade e limitam a colaboração entre grupos de P&D. Nesta dissertação, exploramos uso de uma arquitetura de microsserviços para abordar os principais desafios práticos em plataformas de cidades inteligentes. Mais especificamente, estamos preocupados com o impacto dos microsserviços sobre requisitos não-funcionais para permitir o desenvolvimento de cidades inteligentes, tais como o suporte a diferentes demandas de escalabilidade e o fornecimento de uma arquitetura flexível que pode evoluir facilmente. Para esse fim, criamos a InterSCity, uma plataforma para cidades inteligentes de código aberto baseada em microsserviços que visa apoiar o desenvolvimento de aplicativos e serviços sofisticados em múltiplos domínios. Nossa experiência inicial mostra que os microsserviços podem ser usados adequadamente como blocos de construção para obter uma arquitetura flexível e fracamente acoplada. Resultados experimentais apontam para a aplicabilidade de nossa abordagem no contexto de cidades inteligentes, já que a plataforma pode suportar diferentes demandas de escalabilidade. Esperamos permitir pesquisas colaborativas e inovadoras em cidades inteligentes, assim como o desenvolvimento e iniciativas de implantações reais através da plataforma InterSCity. A validação completa da plataforma será realizada usando diferentes cenários de cidades inteligentes e cargas de trabalho. Os trabalhos futuros compreendem o esforço contínuo de projetar e desenvolver novos serviços de processamento de dados, bem como a realização de avaliações mais abrangentes da plataforma proposta por meio de experimentos de escalabilidade.

A city consists of many elements such as humans, buildings, and roads. The complexity of cities is difficult to measure using Euclidean geometry. In this study, we use fractal geometry (scaling analysis) to measure the complexity of urban areas. We observe urban development from different perspectives using the bottom-up approach. In a bottom-up approach, we observe an urban region from a basic to higher level from our daily life perspective to an overall view. Furthermore, an urban environment is not constant, but it is complex; cities with greater complexity are more prosperous. There are many disciplines that analyze changes in the Earth’s surface, such as urban planning, detection of melting ice, and deforestation management. Moreover, these disciplines can take advantage of remote sensing for research. This study not only uses satellite imaging to analyze urban areas but also uses check-in and points of interest (POI) data. It uses straightforward means to observe an urban environment using the bottom-up approach and measure its complexity using fractal geometry.   Web 2.0, which has many volunteers who share their information on different platforms, was one of the most important tools in this study. We can easily obtain rough data from various platforms such as the Stanford Large Network Dataset Collection (SLNDC), the Earth Observation Group (EOG), and CloudMade. The check-in data in this thesis were downloaded from SLNDC, the POI data were obtained from CloudMade, and the nighttime lights imaging data were collected from EOG. In this study, we used these three types of data to derive natural cities representing city regions using a bottom-up approach. Natural cities were derived from open geographic data without human manipulation. After refining data, we used rough data to derive natural cities. This study used a triangulated irregular network to derive natural cities from check-in and POI data.   In this study, we focus on the four largest US natural cities regions: Chicago, New York, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. The result is that the New York City region is the most complex area in the United States. Box-counting fractal dimension, lacunarity, and ht-index (head/tail breaks index) can be used to explain this. Box-counting fractal dimension is used to represent the New York City region as the most prosperous of the four city regions. Lacunarity indicates the New York City region as the most compact area in the United States. Ht-index shows the New York City region having the highest hierarchy of the four city regions. This conforms to central place theory: higher-level cities have better service than lower-level cities. In addition, ht-index cannot represent hierarchy clearly when data distribution does not fit a long-tail distribution exactly. However, the ht-index is the only method that can analyze the complexity of natural cities without using images.

Thesis: Ph. D., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Engineering Systems Division, June 2015.<br>Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. "February 2015."<br>Includes bibliographical references (pages 223-241).<br>According the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), 2008 marked the first year in which the majority of the planet's population lived in cities. Urbanization, already over 80% in many western regions, is increasing rapidly as migration into cities continue. The density of cities provides residents access to places, people, and goods, but also gives rise to problems related to health, congestion, and safety. In parallel to rapid urbanization, ubiquitous mobile computing, namely the pervasive use of cellular phones, has generated a wealth of data that can be analyzed to understand and improve urban systems. These devices and the applications that run on them passively record social, mobility, and a variety of other behaviors of their users with extremely high spatial and temporal resolution. This thesis presents a variety of novel methods and analyses to leverage the data generated from these devices to understand human behavior within cities. It details new ways to measure and quantify human behaviors related to mobility, social influence, and economic outcomes.<br>by Jameson Lawrence Toole.<br>Ph. D.

<p> Issues of food accessibility and food insecurity receive high attention in the United States, due to evidence of disparities in the location and level of accessibility to nutritious food sources amongst neighborhoods of different economic classifications identified in several studies. However, most studies focus on grocery stores or convenience stores without considering other options available for food insecure residents. This research examined the different economic classes of neighborhoods in the Triple Cities of Broome County, New York and their proximity to grocery stores, food pantries and convenience stores, to establish the level of accessibility to food sources for residents of these different neighborhoods using ESRI ArcGIS for spatial analysis and Chi-Square for statistical analysis. The Findings reveal a positive relationship between the location and density of grocery stores, convenience stores and food pantries to low-income populations. Moreover, high-income neighborhoods are more disadvantaged in terms of physical access to food stores by distance. However, there exists an over-concentration of convenience stores in low-income neighborhoods compared to grocery stores and can have a negative impact on their diet choices and expenses on food.</p><p>

The administrative structure, routes and urban geography of south ash-Sham (Palestine and Jordan) during the first four centuries of Islamic history are neglected topics in spite of their relevance to contemporary archaeological research. The thesis uses both literary sources and archaeological results to discuss these questions, thereby establishing the pattern of major settlement in the region.

Sustainable cities is an area that has grown in size over the last couple of years. The SESAC (Sustainable Energy Systems in Advanced Cities) is a EU-project looking at the potential to increase the share of Renewable Energy Sources (RES) and promote energy efficiency measures in different EU cities. This master thesis is a part of that project. Specifically, the thesis examines the cities of Grenoble, Delft and Växjö and looks at what measures regarding RES and energy efficiency have been taken historically, both under the SESAC project and otherwise, and assesses the possibility of further measures in the cities. The main RES evaluated are wind power (large scale and urban), solar (PV and thermal) and waste treatment (waste incineration and biogas production). The feasibility of these renewable technologies is evaluated both physically, technically and economically for each city. Further, the historical and current hinders and promoters in the form of different support schemes and other economic and institutional schemes are summarized for each country and city and the effects of which included in the feasibility calculations. Also, current CO2 emissions of Grenoble, Delft and Växjö are stated and the impact of implementing the measures examined is calculated. A comparison between the three cities is also made and suggestions are made to what they can learn from each other and what synergies there are.    Results show that the technical potential for RES is sizeable in the cities, as seen in Table 1. Important to note are the differences between the cities. Besides from their differences in population size, ranging from 83 000 (Växjö) and 96 000 (Delft) to 400 000 (Grenoble), available land area as well as climate are very different in the cities, therefore affecting the potential for the RES technologies.   RES potential [GWh] Grenoble Delft Växjö Wind 458 1,2 (Urban only) 297-2000 Solar PV 375 150 0,06-0,3 Waste treatment 41 11 10 Table 1. Technical potential of RES in Grenoble, Delft and Växjö Looking at the economic potential, however, the picture is not as optimistic. The only economically feasible investments of the options in Table 1 are investing in solar PV in Grenoble and Delft (IRR of 0-10%) and wind in Växjö (IRR of 4%). All other investments have negative NPV:s and IRR:s, meaning that either the cost of the technologies must be reduced or more favorable support scheme be introduced in order to make the them profitable.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, 2006.<br>On t.p. "2.5" is subscript. Incorrect date on the department signature form. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 143-167). Also available in electronic version.

There has been little interest in eighteenth century urban history in England and particularly in the significance of patterns of urban social structure during the transition from a traditional to a modern society. One reason for this is the intractable and fragmentary nature of the sources for this precensus period. In this study three types of source, a town directory, a Parliamentary Poll Book and the city rate and national tax returns for Bristol in 1774/5, were collated using nominal record linkage techniques to give a body of information which covered 80% of the city's heads of household. With the use of this database and various computer techniques occupation, sex, wealth, place of residence and voting allegiance were analysed. The results suggest that a professional or leisured suburban group was by this date well established in distinct areas of the city. The supremacy of the traditional élite, the overseas merchants, was challenged by this group, although the merchants themselves were in part joining the suburban dwellers. Poorer Bristolians still concentrated in dockside parishes and in parts of the city which were becoming increasingly unfashionable and homogeneous as the richer men moved out, though this process was not very far advanced and there was still a degree of mixing in the older city parishes. The economic structure of the city was changing with increased emphasis on services, professions and distribution. This increased disparities in wealth within the city and between the city and its hinterland and gave the ability to the rich to further their isolation from the poor by moving to the suburbs. The 1774 election pointed to the continuing importance of traditional influences (here of religion) In society, but also confirmed suggestions that the professions and distributors were drawing away from the mass of the populace. A revision of previous interpretations of the nature of Bristol society is necessary to accommodate this growing and important group - the emergent middle class. The thesis shows that a comprehensive computer-based study can make usable dubious sources (in particular fiscal records) and use them to revise interpretations of English urban communities at this date.

Les COV (Composés Organiques Volatils) jouent un rôle majeur dans la problématique de pollution atmosphérique, puisqu’ils interviennent en tant que précurseurs des composés secondaires comme l’ozone troposphérique (O3) et l’Aérosols Organiques Secondaires (AOS) qui ont des impacts sur la santé et le climat. Afin de mettre en place des stratégies efficaces de réduction de la pollution de l’air, il est crucial de caractériser et quantifier la contribution des principales sources d’émission de COV.Le bassin méditerranéen constitue un environnement complexe, favorisant le développement des épisodes de pollution. Cependant, les mesures de COV dans les zones urbaines de la région restent limitées et les études existantes ont montré des incertitudes significatives quant à la contribution des différentes sources d’émission. Dans ce contexte, Athènes (Grèce) est un cas d’étude intéressant notamment pour les COV. Cette zone urbaine fait face à des dépassements des valeurs limites européennes en d’O3 et d’AOS ainsi qu’une augmentation des émissions de polluants pour des sources spécifiques (par exemple, le chauffage résidentiel au bois).Les travaux présentés dans ce manuscrit portent sur l’étude des COV à Athènes, réalisée dans le cadre du projet international ChArMEX (The Chemistry – Aerosol Mediterranean Experiment). La méthodologie s’appuie sur une campagne de mesure de 17 mois (d’octobre 2015 à février 2017) sur un site représentatif proche du centre-ville, sur deux campagnes intensives d’un mois chacune réalisées à la même station ainsi que sur deux campagnes réalisées en champ proche des sources (en tunnel et en station trafic).Plus de 40 COV de 2 à 16 atomes de carbone (C2 à C16) ont été mesurés, permettant la caractérisation détaillée de leur variabilité temporelle et spatiale sur une base annuelle, suivie de la détermination des facteurs d’influence. Les COV de C2 à C3 étaient mesurés pour la première fois à Athènes. La comparaison aux autres études de COV en zones urbaines a mis en évidence la typologie des sources ainsi que l’importance de la pollution atmosphérique en hiver à Athènes. Concernant les monoterpènes et l’isoprène, composés en général d’origine biogénique, l’analyse a mis en évidence des sources anthropiques dans cette atmosphère urbaine, ce qui fournit des informations intéressantes pour l’évaluation de leur impact sur la qualité de l’air en tant que précurseurs des polluants secondaires. L’application du modèle orienté récepteur « Positive Matrix Factorization » (PMF) sur la base de données annuelles, a permis d’identifier et quantifier les contributions des principaux facteurs associés aux sources de COV. Les émissions liées au transport routier et au chauffage résidentiel ont été déterminées comme les sources de COV dominantes. Une seconde analyse PMF sur la base de donnes des campagnes intensives à d’une part corroboré les résultats et, d’autre part, a conduit à l’identification de sources supplément aires comme l’évaporation de carburants des points stationnaires<br>VOC (Volatile Organic Compounds) are key constituents of atmospheric chemistry and pollution as precursors of harmful compounds like ground ozone and secondary organic aerosols, which in turn have a strong impact on local/regional air quality, climate, vegetation and human health. For that reason and in order to design and implement efficient air pollution control measures, there is a growing interest for their better characterization, as well as the identification, speciation and quantification of their respective sources.Mediterranean basin is a complex environment, favoring the development of severe air pollution events. Despite that, there is a lack of VOC studies in the urban areas of the region, while the existing ones have shown significant uncertainties associated with compounds speciation and the contribution from the different emission sources. Considering this, Athens (Greece) is the ideal place for VOC measurements due to the lack of reported levels for NMHCs the last 15 years, the continuous exceedances of O3 and aerosol concentrations and the increasing emissions from specific pollutant sources (e.g. wood burning for residential heating). In this work, we report the results of an 17-mounth field campaign for NMHCs in Athens (October 2015 – February 2017), under the frame of the international project ChArmEX (The Chemistry – Aerosol Mediterranean Experiment). This was supported by two one-month intensive observation periods (winter and summer) at the same station, and two additional near-source campaigns (tunnel and traffic station). More than 40 VOC with 2 to 16 carbon atoms have been measured giving for the first time a detailed characterization of their temporal and spatial variability on an annual basis, especially for C2 – C3 NMHCs, followed by the determination of its driving parameters. The comparison with other VOC studies in cities worldwide highlighted the role of sources to the observed levels, with significant air pollution for Athens in winter. Furthermore, the analysis indicated that monoterpenes and isoprene, known compounds of biogenic origin, presented a complex variability propably influenced by emissions other than biogenic. The latter provides interesting insights for the assessment of their impact on air quality, as precursors of secondary pollutants. Moreover, the application of the receptor-oriented model Positive Matrix Factorization (PMF) allowed the identification of the main factors related to VOC sources and the quantification of their contribution. Traffic-related emissions and residential heating were determined as the major VOC sources in the city, whereas a second PMF simulation to the intensive observation period gave additional information about sources such as the fuel evaporation from stationary points

La trilogie des Trois Villes est un cycle à part dans l’œuvre de Zola, notamment parce qu’elle s’enracine dans la problématique de son temps, au sein de la bataille entre la foi et la raison. Ce travail a pour ambition d’étudier comment elle participe à cette bataille en analysant ses principales sources afin de mettre au jour le passage d’un Zola lecteur à un Zola créateur, soit la lecture comme enrichissement de l’écriture romanesque. Ainsi, la dialectique entre la foi et la raison est menée par Zola avec ses sources, qu’elles lui servent de repoussoirs ou de modèles. À travers la réflexion et la réflexivité de la lecture et de l’écriture, dans un jeu constant de divergences et de convergences, le processus de création se trouve éclairé par la dynamique permanente des sources aux dossiers puis des dossiers aux romans, ces derniers étant le résultat d’une herméneutique des premières. De fait, chaque source est évaluée à l’aune de l’expérimentation romanesque. De Lourdes à Rome, puis de Rome à Paris, les romans, placés sous le signe de l’empirisme, signent la faillite du catholicisme auquel la science assène le coup fatal. La trilogie apparaît donc comme la réponse à une société en quête de repères et que l’Église voudrait guérir par une saignée de la raison. Le catholicisme mort, il faut donc proposer autre chose pour fonder une société nouvelle et satisfaire le besoin de croire intrinsèque à l’homme. Telle est l’ambition du romancier. C’est pourquoi, révéler le rapport de Zola à ses sources, c’est analyser Les Trois Villes comme des romans-expérience, véritable réponse du romancier, en plus de revenir au fondement même de l’écriture comme matrice du paradigme zolien<br>The Three Cities are not as any Zola’s work as it is rooted in the problematic of its era struggling between faith and reason. This thesis aims at studying how Zola’s cycle contributes to this dichotomy throughout the study of his reference sources. It enhances the transition of Zola from being a reader to a creator, i.e. reading as an improvement in the process of fictional writing. Therefore, either he rejected or used these sources as a model, they are at the core of his work to deal with the dialectic between faith and reason. Through the writing and the reading’s reflection and reflexivity, in a constant game of divergences and convergences, the process of creation is enlightened by the permanent dynamic from the sources to the drafts and the drafts to the novels. The novels are the result of hermeneutics of the sources. Each source is assessed in the light of experimenting the fictional writing process. From Lourdes to Rome, then from Rome to Paris, these empiricist novels reveal the fall of Catholicism and how science finally put an end to it. This trilogy can be seen as an answer of a society willing to find new bearings while the Church would try but fail to heal it by draining reason. The end of Catholicism must be followed by something else to establish a new society and fulfill human beings’ need to believe. This is the novelist’s ambition. That’s why, highlighting the connection between Zola and his reference sources enables us to read The Three Cities as a « novel-experience». It is a real answer from the novelist as much as it helps returning to the true bases of writing, writing as a Zola’s paradigm

Kvalitet vazduha u urbanim sredinama predstavlja jedan od glavnih uzroka zdravstvenih problema. Prema podacima SZO u svetu se godi&scaron;nje usled zagađenja vazduha u urbanim sredinama dogodi preko 2,7 miliona smrtnih slučajeva. Procenjuje se da najbolji indikator za procenu veličine zdravstvenog rizika od zagađenja vazduha jeste koncentracija suspendovanih čestica PM2,5 u vazduhu životne sredine. Cilj: Proceniti uticaj suspendovanih čestica PM2,5 iz vazduha životne sredine na ukupan mortalitet, kardiovaskularni i respiratorni bolnički morbiditet odraslog stanovni&scaron;tva Grada Novog Sada. Takođe, cilj istraživanja je bio da se i utvrdi koncentracija i hemijski sastav suspendovanih čestica PM2,5 u vazduhu životne sredine na teritoriji Grada Novog Sada, na dnevnom i godi&scaron;njem nivou, uzimajući u obzir i uticaj meteorolo&scaron;kih parametara. Metod: Istraživanje je sprovedeno kao prospektivna studija vremenske serije podataka o kvalitetu vazduha, meteorolo&scaron;kim parametrima i zdravstvenim ishodima, u intervalima od najmanje 30 dana tokom sva četiri godi&scaron;nja doba 2017. godine. Uzorkovanje i određivanje koncentracije i hemijskog sastava čestica PM2,5 u skladu sa propisanim standardnim metodama, je obavljeno na mernim mestima u životnoj sredini Grada Novog Sada, koja reprezentuju uticaj saobraćaja i urbanog pozadinskog područja na zagađenje vazduha životne sredine. Primenjen je Lenschow pristup za kvantifikaciju veličine doprinosa saobraćaja porastu koncentracije suspendovanih čestica PM2,5 u vazduhu životne sredine. Podaci o meteorolo&scaron;kim parametrima (temperatura vazduha, relativna vlažnost vazduha i brzina vetra), su preuzeti od Republičkog hidrometeorolo&scaron;kog zavoda Srbije. Podaci o zdravstvenim ishodima (dnevni broj umrlih i hospitalizovanih zbog kardiovaskularnih i respiratornih bolesti), za stanovni&scaron;tvo starije od 18 godina, čije mesto stanovanja pripada teritoriji Grada Novog Sada, obezbeđeni su od strane Centra za informatiku i biostatistiku u zdravstvu Instituta za javno zdravlje Vojvodine. Za procenu uticaja nezavisnih promenljivih na zavisne (ukupan mortalitet / bolnički morbiditet) primenjen je generalizovani linearni model regresione analize za vremenske serije podataka (Poason). Rezultati: Prosečna godi&scaron;nja koncentracija suspendovanih čestica PM2,5 iz vazduha životne sredine na teritoriji Grada Novog Sada je iznosila 30,27 &mu;g/m3, a srednje dnevne koncentracije 8-79&nbsp; g/m3. Približno 30% varijabilnosti srednjih dnevnih koncentracije suspendovanih čestica PM2,5 se može objasniti lokalnim meteorolo&scaron;kim uslovima. Hemijski sastav čestica na području Grada Novog Sada u najvećem procentu čini ekvivalent karbonatne frakcije čestica, zatim sekundarni neorganski aerosol i rastvorljiva organska frakcija, dok su joni rastvorljivi u vodi (kalcijum, hloridi, natrijum, kalijum i magnezijum) zastupljeni u najmanjem procentu. Prisutni izvori zagađenja vazduha životne sredine na području Grada Novog Sada su procesi sagorevanja fosilnih goriva i biomase, saobraćaj, mineralna (zemlji&scaron;na) pra&scaron;ina i sekundarno zagađenje regionalnog porekla. Doprinos saobraćaja porastu prosečne godi&scaron;nje koncentracije suspendovanih čestica PM2,5 je iznosio 40%. Masena koncentracija čestica PM2,5, kao i hemijski sastav čestica (ekvivalent karbonatne frakcije, rastvorljiva organska frakcija, joni kalijuma i kalcijuma) doprinose umiranju i oboljevanju odraslog stanovni&scaron;tva Grada Novog Sada. Na uticaj masene koncentracije i hemijskog sastava čestica PM2,5 najosetljivije su žene i stanovni&scaron;tvo starosti &ge; 65 godina, kao i mu&scaron;karci u pogledu uticaja ekvivalenta karbonatne frakcije čestica PM2,5. Zaključak: Dobijeni rezultati po prvi put opisuju zdravstveni uticaj masene koncentracije i hemijskog sastava čestica PM2,5 na području Grada Novog Sada, odnosno kvantifikuju rizik za ukupan mortalilteta i kardiovaskualrni i respiratorni morbiditet. Razumevanje uticaja suspendovanih čestica PM2,5 na oboljevanje i umiranje stanovni&scaron;tva, stratifikovanih prema starosnoj i polnoj strukturi, uz identifikaciju mogućih izvora zađenja vazduha na području Grada Novog Sada, predstavlja osnovu za razvoj javnozdravstvene politike u cilju unapređenja zdravlja stanovni&scaron;tva Grada Novog Sada.<br>Urban ambient air pollution is one of the leading causes of health problems. According to WHO data, over 2.7 million deaths occur in urban areas annually due to urban air pollution. Particulate matter PM2.5 is estimated to be the best indicator for assessing the magnitude of the health risk induces by ambient air pollution. Aim: To assess the impact of PM2.5 on total mortality, cardiovascular and respiratory hospital morbidity of the adult population of the City of Novi Sad. Also, the aim of the study was to determine the concentration and chemical composition of ambient PM 2.5 particles in the territory of the City of Novi Sad, on daily and annual bases, taking into account the impact of meteorological parameters. Method: The study was conducted as a prospective, a time series study of of data on air quality, meteorological parameters and health outcomes, at intervals of at least 30 days during all four seasons of 2017. Sampling and determination of the mass concentration and chemical composition of PM2.5 particles in accordance with the prescribed standard methods, it was performed at sampling stations in the City of Novi Sad, representing the impact of traffic and urban background impact on environmental air pollution. A Lenschow approach was used to quantify the magnitude of traffic contribution to the increase of ambient PM2.5 mass concentration. Meteorological data (air temperature, relative humidity and wind velocity) were taken from the Republic Hydrometeorological Institute of Serbia. Data on health outcomes (daily number of deaths and hospitalizations due to cardiovascular and respiratory diseases) for the population older than 18, residing within the territory of the City of Novi Sad, have been provided by the Centre for Informatics and Biostatistics, Institute of Public Health of Vojvodina. To evaluate the impact of independent variables on dependent (total mortality/hospital morbidity), a generalized linear regression model for time series data (Poisson) was applied. Results: The average annual mass concentration of PM2.5 in the territory of the City of Novi Sad was 30.27&mu;g/m3, while mean daily concentrations were 8- 79&mu;g/m3. Approximately 30% of the variability in mean daily concentrations of PM2.5 particles can be explained with local meteorological conditions. The chemical composition of PM2.5 in the area of Novi Sad is to the a great extent the equivalent of the carbonate fraction of the particles, then the secondary inorganic aerosol and the soluble organic fraction, while the water-soluble ions (calcium, chlorides, sodium, potassium and magnesium) are present in the lowest percentage. The sources of ambient air pollution in the area of the City of Novi Sad were the combustion of fossil fuels and biomass, traffic, mineral (soil dust) and secondary pollution of regional origin. Contribution of traffic to the increase of the average annual mass concentrations of PM2.5 particles was 40%. PM2.5 particle mass concentration, as well as the chemical composition of the particles (carbonate fraction equivalent, soluble organic fraction, potassium and calcium ions) contribute to the deaths and diseases of the adult population of the City of Novi Sad. Women and the population aged &ge;65, were more susceptible to mass concentration and chemical composition of PM2.5 related deaths and diseases, as well as men according to the impact of the equivalents of carbonate fractions of PM2.5. Conclusion: The results obtained show for the first time the health effects of mass concentration and chemical composition of PM2.5 particles in the City of Novi Sad, i.e. they quantify the risk for total mortality and cardiovascular and respiratory morbidity. Understanding the impact of suspended particles PM2.5 on population mortality and morbidity, stratified by age and sex structure, along with identifying of possible air pollution sources is the basis for the development of public health policies aimed at improving the population health in the City of Novi Sad.

La quantité et la disponibilité sans cesse croissantes de données urbaines dérivées de sources variées posent de nombreux problèmes, notamment la consolidation, la visualisation et les perspectives d’exploitation maximales des données susmentionnées. Un problème prééminent qui affecte l’urbanisme est le choix du lieu approprié pour accueillir une activité particulière (service social ou commercial commun) ou l’utilisation correcte d’un bâtiment existant ou d’un espace vide. Dans cette thèse, nous proposons une approche pour aborder les défis précédents rencontrés avec les techniques d’apprentissage automatique, le classifieur de forêts aléatoires comme méthode dominante dans un système qui combine et fusionne divers types de données provenant de sources différentes, et les code à l’aide d’un nouveau modèle sémantique. qui peut capturer et utiliser à la fois des informations géométriques de bas niveau et des informations sémantiques de niveau supérieur et les transmet ensuite au classifieur de forêts aléatoires. Les données sont également transmises à d'autres classificateurs et les résultats sont évalués pour confirmer la prévalence de la méthode proposée. Les données extraites proviennent d’une multitude de sources, par exemple: fournisseurs de données ouvertes et organisations publiques s’occupant de planification urbaine. Lors de leur récupération et de leur inspection à différents niveaux (importation, conversion, géospatiale, par exemple), ils sont convertis de manière appropriée pour respecter les règles du modèle sémantique et les spécifications techniques des sous-systèmes correspondants. Des calculs géométriques et géographiques sont effectués et des informations sémantiques sont extraites. Enfin, les informations des étapes précédentes, ainsi que les résultats des techniques d’apprentissage automatique et des méthodes multicritères, sont intégrés au système et visualisés dans un environnement Web frontal capable d’exécuter et de visualiser des requêtes spatiales, permettant ainsi la gestion de trois processus. objets géoréférencés dimensionnels, leur récupération, transformation et visualisation, en tant que système d'aide à la décision<br>The constantly increasing amount and availability of urban data derived from varying sources leads to an assortment of challenges that include, among others, the consolidation, visualization, and maximal exploitation prospects of the aforementioned data. A preeminent problem affecting urban planning is the appropriate choice of location to host a particular activity (either commercial or common welfare service) or the correct use of an existing building or empty space. In this thesis we propose an approach to address the preceding challenges availed with machine learning techniques with the random forests classifier as its dominant method in a system that combines, blends and merges various types of data from different sources, encode them using a novel semantic model that can capture and utilize both low-level geometric information and higher level semantic information and subsequently feeds them to the random forests classifier. The data are also forwarded to alternative classifiers and the results are appraised to confirm the prevalence of the proposed method. The data retrieved stem from a multitude of sources, e.g. open data providers and public organizations dealing with urban planning. Upon their retrieval and inspection at various levels (e.g. import, conversion, geospatial) they are appropriately converted to comply with the rules of the semantic model and the technical specifications of the corresponding subsystems. Geometrical and geographical calculations are performed and semantic information is extracted. Finally, the information from individual earlier stages along with the results from the machine learning techniques and the multicriteria methods are integrated into the system and visualized in a front-end web based environment able to execute and visualize spatial queries, allow the management of three-dimensional georeferenced objects, their retrieval, transformation and visualization, as a decision support system

碩士<br>淡江大學<br>資訊與圖書館學系<br>89<br>The purpose of this study was aimed at the citing behavior of Internet-based electronic resources used on the scholarly journals, in the field of librarianship, and others scholarly journals published under the auspices of the National Science Council (Taiwan) in 2000. By cross-examine different characters (variables) of each Internet resource, such as accessibility, availability, URL location variability, linking protocol, etc., to analyze how and why do scholars cite or not cite different Internet sources. The research methods include citation analysis stated above, and survey questionnaire from 83 scholars. In this study, "the quantity of overall citation", "the quantity of network citation", "the percentage of network citation", and "the re-accessible rate of network citation" are being used as important benchmarks. The result including: the percentage of network citation on scholarly journals, in the field of librarianship, is 7.36%, whereas the network citation rate in other scholarly journals published under the auspices of the national science council (Taiwan), is only 0.02%. The citing behavior of scholars in these two sample sets is distinctive; the "re-accessible rate of network citation" on library journal is 53.99%, in comparison to the 40% from the other sample set. This study also analyze possible factors which may affect the citing behavior of a scholar, including how frequent he/she uses Internet, the topic of the article, the advances in the internet industry, the citing format of the Internet-based electronic resources, "the re-accessible rate of network citation", the quantity of scholarly Internet-based electronic resources, and the authority and reliability of Internet-based electronic resources.

碩士<br>淡江大學<br>資訊與圖書館學系碩士班<br>98<br>This study is the phenomenon of secondary citation to full-time teachers in Taiwan university departments of Library and Information science in writing journal articles. A total of 1096 journal citations by 140 journal articles with citation analysis to verify the bibliographic references of teachers for secondary citation, and secondary citation related phenomena and to explore the different of the semantic expression between the different languages in the secondary citation format and to analyze all of the cases. According to the results of this study, the academics should pay more attention on secondary citation. The conclusion of the study as follows： 1. Secondary citation will involve academic issues on calculating 2. Secondary citation has lots of out of standard and exceptions exist 3. Citation format is not perfectly 4. Of individual differences, results of the analysis are also different 5. Readers are easy to be confused in Chinese writing environment when citing the foreign references The suggestion of the study as follows： 1. The book of citation format shall be revised standard uncertainty 2. To suggest increasing different data types in the secondary citation standard 3. To establish a citation format for the Chinese writing environment 4. To develop good habits on citations when writing academic writing

A research report submitted to the Faculty of Engineering and Built Environment, University of the Witwatersrand, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Masters of Architecture in the field of Sustainable and Energy Efficient Cities Johannesburg May 2018<br>Based on the Sol Plaatje Municipality case study, this study focuses on how an innovative municipal business and funding approach could serve as a tool for transitioning from fossil fuels to renewable energy (solar) for the benefit of both indigent households and the municipality. Primary data from the municipality and indigent households in Galeshewe settlement indicates that in its current form, the 50kWh free basic electricity that indigent households receive monthly from the municipality is insufficient for their basic energy needs, while purchasing additional electricity is becoming increasingly unaffordable. This results in suppressed demand for the households and ongoing risk to the municipality due to escalating costs. In mitigation of the two fundamental challenges, findings from primary and secondary data have guided the study to the Renewable Energy for Low Income Earners (RELIE) model. The Equitable Share Grant and Integrated National Electrification Programme Grant (as currently allocated to municipalities by National Treasury and the Department of Energy for free basic electricity and electricity infrastructure provision for low income households) are highlighted as the initial funding channels under the proposed model based on a backcasting approach. Municipal energy plans and policies as well as integrated human settlements’ spatial plans also emerge as critical tools for transitioning to inclusionary RE. Other funding sources in the RELIE model include existing government funds such as the Green Fund and the Central Energy Fund from the Department of Environmental Affairs, as well as supplementary funds from relevant agencies such as climate funding entities and philanthropic socially responsive investments. The model also envisages end-user contribution through affordable payments for service. In conclusion, the study recommends that the RELIE model findings could be adapted for other municipalities in South Africa faced with the escalating indigent household energy crisis.<br>MT 2018

Dissertação de mestrado integrado em Engenharia de Telecomunicações e Informática<br>Nos dias de hoje, com o crescimento populacional nas cidades, há cada vez mais a necessidade de adaptar as áreas urbanas de forma inteligente, face ao aumento da procura de eletricidade, água, alimentos, transportes e diversos serviços, visando para isso o desenvolvimento e produção de soluções inovadoras. Para tal, é necessá- rio que empresas, organizações, parceiros financeiros, entidades públicas e governos se afirmem na medida de alcançar, produzir e experimentar produtos e serviços que promovam cidades mais habitáveis e sustentáveis, denominadas por Cidades Inteligentes (Smart Cities). As Cidades Inteligentes estão a tornarem-se numa prioridade nas políticas dos países, na medida de serem uma estratégia de reindustrialização e de inovação inteligente, impulsionando a reinvenção das cidades a vários níveis como sustentabilidade, desenvolvimento económico, inclusão social e qualidade de vida. O conceito de Cidade Inteligente exige um conjunto de competências e uma capacidade em integrar soluções e sistemas em diversas áreas como em redes de energia, mobilidade, edifícios, serviços públicos e em Tecnologias de Informação e Comunicação (TIC). Os projetos em Cidades Inteligentes têm como objetivo solucionar problemas urbanos através de soluções inovadoras e inteligentes. Muitas dessas soluções são obtidas através da utilização de sistemas Business Intelligence, que oferecem suporte à tomada de decisão e gestão de negócios, possibilitando uma análise de um grande volume de dados mais eficiente e rápida. E por essas vantagens o Business Intelligence é cada vez mais adotado pelo setor empresarial. Esta dissertação é desenvolvida em colaboração com a Unidade Operacional Operating Unit on Policy-Driven Electronic Governance, UNU-EGOV, sediada na Universidade do Minho, em Guimarães. O objetivo desta dissertação é o desenvolvimento de uma plataforma online capaz de analisar e armazenar dados sobre iniciativas em Cidades Inteligentes. Esta plataforma permite reunir informação sobre as diversas iniciativas em Cidades Inteligentes através de um formulário online. Os dados recolhidos são processados e analisados, com recurso à tecnologia OLAP (Online Analytical Processing) open source, para a elaboração de estatísticas e mapas geográficos referentes às Cidades Inteligentes. Deste modo, a plataforma proposta pretende constituir uma ferramenta útil para os decisores políticos e gestores, que tencionam implementar novas iniciativas em Cidades Inteligentes e aperfeiçoar as existentes, necessitando, para tal, de alguma orientação.<br>Currently, the fast population growth in cities demands intelligent and innovative solutions capable of answer to the increasing given the increasing demand for electricity, water, food, transport and other services. In order to achieve this goal companies, organizations, financial partners, public authorities and governments, i.e. all stakeholders, must work together to produce new smart products and services that contribute affectively to livable and sustainable cities, called Smart Cities. The smart cities are becoming a priority in the strategies of several countries around the world. They are seen as the new reindustrialization era , which will allow the reinvention of cities at all levels: economic, environmental, mobility, governance, social and quality of live. The Smart City concept requires a set of skills and an ability to integrate solutions and systems in different areas, such as energy networks, mobility, buildings, public services and Information and Communications Technologies (ICT). The projects in Smart Cities aim to solve urban problems through innovative and intelligent solutions. Many of these solutions are obtained through the use of Business Intelligence systems, that give support to the decision-making process and to the business management, enabling analysis of a large amounts of data more efficiently and quickly. The advantages offered by Business Intelligence systems are being harnessed by public and private sectors. This dissertation was developed in collaboration with Operating Unit on PolicyDriven Electronic Governance, UNU-EGOV, hosted in University of Minho and located in Guimarães. The goal of this dissertation was to develop an online plataform able to analyse and store the smart cities initiatives. The platform allows to collect data about the smart cities initiatives through out an online form. The data collected is processed and treated using open-source OLAP (Online Analytical Processing) technologies for producing aggregated statistics and maps regarding smart cities. The proposed platform intends to be an useful tool for policy-makers and managers, which want to implement new smart cities initiatives and need some guidance to run it.

Tee present research focuses on seismic hazard studies for the states of Tripura and Mizoram in the North-East India with taking into account the complex sesismotectonic characteristics of the region. This area is more prone to earthquake hazard due to complex subsurface geology, peculiar topographical distribution, continuous crustal deformation due to the under thrusting of Indian and the Eurasian plates, a possible seismic gap, and many active intraplate sources identified within this region. The study area encompasses major seismic source zones such as Indo Burmese Range (IBR), Shillong Plateau (SP), Eastern Himalayan arc (EH), Bengal Basin (BB), Mishmi Thrust (MT) and Naga Thrust (NT). Five historical earthquakes of magnitude Mw>8 have been listed in the study area and 15 events of magnitude Mw>7 have occurred in last 100 years. Indian seismic code BIS-1893-2002 places the study area with a high level of seismic hazard in the country (i.e. seismic zone V). More than 60% of the area is hilly steep-terrain in nature and the altitude varies from 0 to 3000 meters. Recent works have located a seismic gap, known as the Assam gap since 1950 between the EH, SP, and IBR with the Eurasian plate. Various researchers have estimated the return period, and a large size earthquake is expected in this region any time in future. The area is also highly prone to liquefaction, since rivers in Tripura (Gomati, Howrah, Dhalai, Manu, Bijay, Jeri, Feni) and the rivers in Mizoram (Chhimtuipui, Tlawng, Tut, Tuirial and Tuivawl etc.) are scattered throughout the study area where soil deposits are of sedimentary type. In 2011, both the states together have experienced 37 earthquakes (including foreshocks and aftershocks) with magnitudes ranging from 2.9 to 6.9. Of these events, there were 23 earthquakes (M>4) of magnitudes M6.4 (Feb 4th 2011), M6.7 (March 24th 2011), M6.9 (Sept.18th 2011), M6.4 (October 30th 2011), M6.9 (Dec 13th 2011), M5.8 (Nov 21st 2011), M5 (Aug 18th 2011), M4.9 (July 28th 2011), M4.6 (Dec 15th 2011), M4.6 (Jan 21st 2011), M4.5 (Dec 9th 2011), M4.5 (Oct 21th 2011), M4.5 (Oct 17th 2011), M4.5 (Sept 18th 2011), M4.3 (Oct 10th 2011), M4.3 (Sept 22nd 2011), M4.3 (April 4th 2011), M4.2 (Sept 9th 2011), M4.2 (Sept 18th 2011), M4.1 (April 29th 2011), M4.1 (Feb 22nd 2011), M4 (June 9th 2011), and M4 (Dec 2nd 2011) which occurred within this region [source: IMD (Indian Metrological Department), India]. The earthquake (M6.9) that occurred on Sept. 18th 2011 is known as the Sikkim earthquake, and it caused immense destruction including building collapse, landslides, causalities, disrupted connectivity by road damages and other infrastructural damages in Sikkim state as well as the entire North-East India. In the cities of Agartala and Aizawl of Tripura and Mizoram, construction of high rise building is highly restricted by the Government. Being the capital city, many modern infrastructures are still pending for growth of the city planning. Although many researchers have studied and reported about the status of seismicity in North-East Region of India, very few detailed studies have been carried out in this region except Guwahati, Sikkim and Manipur where almost the whole of the study area is highly vulnerable to severe shaking, amplification, liquefaction, and landslide. From the available literature, no specific study exists for Tripura and Mizoram till date. In the present research, seismic hazard assessment has been performed based on spatial-temporal distribution of seismicity and fault rupture characteristics of the region. The seismic events were collected from regions covering about 500 km from the political boundary of the study area. The earthquake data were collected from various national and international seismological agencies such as the IMD, Geological Survey of India (GSI), United State Geological Survey (USGS), and International Seismological Centre (ISC) etc. As the collected events were in different magnitude scales, all the events were homogenized to a unified moment magnitude scale using recent magnitude conversion relations (region specific) developed by the authors for North-East Region of India. The dependent events (foreshocks and aftershocks) were removed using declustering algorithm and in total 3251 declustered events (main shocks) were identified in the study area since 1731 to 2011. The data set contains 825 events of MW < 4, 1279 events of MW from 4 to 4.9, 996 events MW from 5 to 5.9, 131 events MW from 6 to 6.9, 15 events MW from 7 to 7.9 and 5 events MW ≥8. The statistical analysis was carried out for data completeness (Stepp, 1972). The whole region was divided into six seismic source zones based on the updated seismicity characteristics, fault rupture mechanism, size of earthquake magnitude and the epicentral depth. Separate catalogs were used for each zone, and seismicity parameters a and b were estimated for each source zone and other necessary parameters such as mean magnitude (Mmean), Mmax, Mmin, Mc and recurrence periods were also estimated. Toposheets/vector maps of the study area were collected and seismic sources were identified and characterized as line, point, and areal sources. Linear seismic sources were identified from the Seismotectonic atlas (SEISAT, 2000) published by the GSI, in addition to the source details collected from available literature and remote sensing images. The SEISAT map contains 43 maps presented in 42 sheets covering entire India and adjacent countries with 1:1million scale. Sheets representing the features of the study area were scanned, digitized and georeferenced using MapInfo 10.0 version. After this, tectonic features and seismicity events were superimposed on the map of the study area to prepare a Seismotectonic Map with a scale of 1:1million. In seismic hazard assessment, a state of art well known methodologies (deterministic and probabilistic) was used. In deterministic seismic hazard analysis (DSHA) procedure, hazard assessment is based on the minimum distance between sources to site considering the maximum magnitude occurred at each source. In hazard estimation procedure a lot of uncertainties are involved, which can be explained by probabilistic seismic hazard analysis (PSHA) procedure related to the source, magnitude, distance, and local site conditions. The attenuation relations proposed by Atkinson and Boore (2003), and Gupta (2010) are used in this analysis. Because in this region two type activities are mostly observed, regions such as SP, and EH are under plate boundary zone whereas IBR is under subduction process. These equations (GMPEs) were validated with the observed PGA (Peak ground acceleration) values before use in the hazard evaluation. The hazard curves for all six major sources were prepared and compiled to get the total hazard curve which represents the cumulative hazard of all sources. Evaluation of PGA, Sa (0.2s and 1.0s) parameters at bedrock level were estimated considering a grid size of 5 km x 5 km, and spectral acceleration values corresponding to a certain level of probability (2% and 10%) were done to develop uniform hazard spectrum (UHS) for both the cities (Agartala and Aizawl). To carry out the seismic microzonation of Agartala and Aizawl cities, a detailed study using geotechnical and geophysical data has been carried out for site characterization and evaluation of site response according to NEHRP (National Earthquake Hazard Response Program) soil classifications (A, B, C, D, and E-type). Seismic site characterization, which is the basic requirement for seismic microzonation and site response studies of an area. Site characterization helps to have the idea about the average dynamic behavior of soil deposits, and thus helps to evaluate the surface level response. A series of geophysical tests at selected locations have been conducted using multichannel analysis of surface waves (MASW) technique, which is an advanced method to obtain direct shear wave velocity profiles from in situ measurements for both the cities. Based on the present study a major part of Agartala city falls under site class D, very few portions come under site class E. On the other hand, Aizawl city comes under site class C. Next, a detailed site response analysis has been carried out for both the cities. This study addresses the influence of local geology and soil conditions on incoming ground motion. Subsurface geotechnical (SPT) and geophysical (MASW) data have been obtained and used to estimate surface level response. The vulnerable seismic source has been identified based on DSHA. Due to the lack of strong motion time history of the study area, synthetic ground motion time histories have been generated using point source seismological model (Boore 2003) at bedrock level based on fault rupture parameters such as stress drop, quality factor, frequency range, magnitude, hypocentral distance etc. Dynamic properties such as the shear modulus (G) and damping ratios (ζ) have been evaluated from the soil properties obtained from SPT bore log data collected from different agencies such as PWD (Public works Department), and Urban Development Dept. of the State Government, in situ shear wave velocity has been obtained from MASW survey in different locations, and following this, a site response analysis has been carried out using SHAKE-2000 to calculate the responses at the ground surface in combination of different magnitudes, distances and epicentral depth for a particular site class. An amplification factor was estimated as the ratio of the PGA at the ground surface to the PGA at bedrock level, a regression analysis was carried out to evaluate period dependant site coefficients, and hence, the period dependant hazard impact on the ground surface could be calculated to obtain the spatial variation of PGA over the study area. Further, liquefaction potential of the site (Agartala) was also evaluated using available SPT bore log data collected and using presently estimated surface level PGA. The results are presented in the form of liquefaction hazard map representing as a Factor of safety (FS) against liquefaction with various depths such as 1.5m, 10m, and 15m respectively. It has been seen that Agartala city shows highly prone to liquefaction even up to 15 m depth. Hence, site specific study is highly recommended for implementing any important project. The liquefaction hazard assessment could not be conducted for the Aizawl city because of non availability of the SPT-N data, however, the city stands on hills/mountains, and therefore, such a study is not applicable in this area. Further, seismic microzonation maps for both the cities have been prepared considering Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) which support to the Eigen value properties of the system. Two types of hazard maps have been developed, one using deterministic and another using the probabilistic seismic microzonation maps. These maps can be directly used as inputs for earthquake resistant design, and disaster mitigation planning of the study area. However, an investigation has also been made in forecasting a major earthquake (Mw>6) in North-East India using several probabilistic models such as Gamma, Weibull and lognormal models. IBR and EH show a high probability of occurrences in the next 5 years (i.e. 2013-2018) with >90% probability.

Tee present research focuses on seismic hazard studies for the states of Tripura and Mizoram in the North-East India with taking into account the complex sesismotectonic characteristics of the region. This area is more prone to earthquake hazard due to complex subsurface geology, peculiar topographical distribution, continuous crustal deformation due to the under thrusting of Indian and the Eurasian plates, a possible seismic gap, and many active intraplate sources identified within this region. The study area encompasses major seismic source zones such as Indo Burmese Range (IBR), Shillong Plateau (SP), Eastern Himalayan arc (EH), Bengal Basin (BB), Mishmi Thrust (MT) and Naga Thrust (NT). Five historical earthquakes of magnitude Mw>8 have been listed in the study area and 15 events of magnitude Mw>7 have occurred in last 100 years. Indian seismic code BIS-1893-2002 places the study area with a high level of seismic hazard in the country (i.e. seismic zone V). More than 60% of the area is hilly steep-terrain in nature and the altitude varies from 0 to 3000 meters. Recent works have located a seismic gap, known as the Assam gap since 1950 between the EH, SP, and IBR with the Eurasian plate. Various researchers have estimated the return period, and a large size earthquake is expected in this region any time in future. The area is also highly prone to liquefaction, since rivers in Tripura (Gomati, Howrah, Dhalai, Manu, Bijay, Jeri, Feni) and the rivers in Mizoram (Chhimtuipui, Tlawng, Tut, Tuirial and Tuivawl etc.) are scattered throughout the study area where soil deposits are of sedimentary type. In 2011, both the states together have experienced 37 earthquakes (including foreshocks and aftershocks) with magnitudes ranging from 2.9 to 6.9. Of these events, there were 23 earthquakes (M>4) of magnitudes M6.4 (Feb 4th 2011), M6.7 (March 24th 2011), M6.9 (Sept.18th 2011), M6.4 (October 30th 2011), M6.9 (Dec 13th 2011), M5.8 (Nov 21st 2011), M5 (Aug 18th 2011), M4.9 (July 28th 2011), M4.6 (Dec 15th 2011), M4.6 (Jan 21st 2011), M4.5 (Dec 9th 2011), M4.5 (Oct 21th 2011), M4.5 (Oct 17th 2011), M4.5 (Sept 18th 2011), M4.3 (Oct 10th 2011), M4.3 (Sept 22nd 2011), M4.3 (April 4th 2011), M4.2 (Sept 9th 2011), M4.2 (Sept 18th 2011), M4.1 (April 29th 2011), M4.1 (Feb 22nd 2011), M4 (June 9th 2011), and M4 (Dec 2nd 2011) which occurred within this region [source: IMD (Indian Metrological Department), India]. The earthquake (M6.9) that occurred on Sept. 18th 2011 is known as the Sikkim earthquake, and it caused immense destruction including building collapse, landslides, causalities, disrupted connectivity by road damages and other infrastructural damages in Sikkim state as well as the entire North-East India. In the cities of Agartala and Aizawl of Tripura and Mizoram, construction of high rise building is highly restricted by the Government. Being the capital city, many modern infrastructures are still pending for growth of the city planning. Although many researchers have studied and reported about the status of seismicity in North-East Region of India, very few detailed studies have been carried out in this region except Guwahati, Sikkim and Manipur where almost the whole of the study area is highly vulnerable to severe shaking, amplification, liquefaction, and landslide. From the available literature, no specific study exists for Tripura and Mizoram till date. In the present research, seismic hazard assessment has been performed based on spatial-temporal distribution of seismicity and fault rupture characteristics of the region. The seismic events were collected from regions covering about 500 km from the political boundary of the study area. The earthquake data were collected from various national and international seismological agencies such as the IMD, Geological Survey of India (GSI), United State Geological Survey (USGS), and International Seismological Centre (ISC) etc. As the collected events were in different magnitude scales, all the events were homogenized to a unified moment magnitude scale using recent magnitude conversion relations (region specific) developed by the authors for North-East Region of India. The dependent events (foreshocks and aftershocks) were removed using declustering algorithm and in total 3251 declustered events (main shocks) were identified in the study area since 1731 to 2011. The data set contains 825 events of MW < 4, 1279 events of MW from 4 to 4.9, 996 events MW from 5 to 5.9, 131 events MW from 6 to 6.9, 15 events MW from 7 to 7.9 and 5 events MW ≥8. The statistical analysis was carried out for data completeness (Stepp, 1972). The whole region was divided into six seismic source zones based on the updated seismicity characteristics, fault rupture mechanism, size of earthquake magnitude and the epicentral depth. Separate catalogs were used for each zone, and seismicity parameters a and b were estimated for each source zone and other necessary parameters such as mean magnitude (Mmean), Mmax, Mmin, Mc and recurrence periods were also estimated. Toposheets/vector maps of the study area were collected and seismic sources were identified and characterized as line, point, and areal sources. Linear seismic sources were identified from the Seismotectonic atlas (SEISAT, 2000) published by the GSI, in addition to the source details collected from available literature and remote sensing images. The SEISAT map contains 43 maps presented in 42 sheets covering entire India and adjacent countries with 1:1million scale. Sheets representing the features of the study area were scanned, digitized and georeferenced using MapInfo 10.0 version. After this, tectonic features and seismicity events were superimposed on the map of the study area to prepare a Seismotectonic Map with a scale of 1:1million. In seismic hazard assessment, a state of art well known methodologies (deterministic and probabilistic) was used. In deterministic seismic hazard analysis (DSHA) procedure, hazard assessment is based on the minimum distance between sources to site considering the maximum magnitude occurred at each source. In hazard estimation procedure a lot of uncertainties are involved, which can be explained by probabilistic seismic hazard analysis (PSHA) procedure related to the source, magnitude, distance, and local site conditions. The attenuation relations proposed by Atkinson and Boore (2003), and Gupta (2010) are used in this analysis. Because in this region two type activities are mostly observed, regions such as SP, and EH are under plate boundary zone whereas IBR is under subduction process. These equations (GMPEs) were validated with the observed PGA (Peak ground acceleration) values before use in the hazard evaluation. The hazard curves for all six major sources were prepared and compiled to get the total hazard curve which represents the cumulative hazard of all sources. Evaluation of PGA, Sa (0.2s and 1.0s) parameters at bedrock level were estimated considering a grid size of 5 km x 5 km, and spectral acceleration values corresponding to a certain level of probability (2% and 10%) were done to develop uniform hazard spectrum (UHS) for both the cities (Agartala and Aizawl). To carry out the seismic microzonation of Agartala and Aizawl cities, a detailed study using geotechnical and geophysical data has been carried out for site characterization and evaluation of site response according to NEHRP (National Earthquake Hazard Response Program) soil classifications (A, B, C, D, and E-type). Seismic site characterization, which is the basic requirement for seismic microzonation and site response studies of an area. Site characterization helps to have the idea about the average dynamic behavior of soil deposits, and thus helps to evaluate the surface level response. A series of geophysical tests at selected locations have been conducted using multichannel analysis of surface waves (MASW) technique, which is an advanced method to obtain direct shear wave velocity profiles from in situ measurements for both the cities. Based on the present study a major part of Agartala city falls under site class D, very few portions come under site class E. On the other hand, Aizawl city comes under site class C. Next, a detailed site response analysis has been carried out for both the cities. This study addresses the influence of local geology and soil conditions on incoming ground motion. Subsurface geotechnical (SPT) and geophysical (MASW) data have been obtained and used to estimate surface level response. The vulnerable seismic source has been identified based on DSHA. Due to the lack of strong motion time history of the study area, synthetic ground motion time histories have been generated using point source seismological model (Boore 2003) at bedrock level based on fault rupture parameters such as stress drop, quality factor, frequency range, magnitude, hypocentral distance etc. Dynamic properties such as the shear modulus (G) and damping ratios (ζ) have been evaluated from the soil properties obtained from SPT bore log data collected from different agencies such as PWD (Public works Department), and Urban Development Dept. of the State Government, in situ shear wave velocity has been obtained from MASW survey in different locations, and following this, a site response analysis has been carried out using SHAKE-2000 to calculate the responses at the ground surface in combination of different magnitudes, distances and epicentral depth for a particular site class. An amplification factor was estimated as the ratio of the PGA at the ground surface to the PGA at bedrock level, a regression analysis was carried out to evaluate period dependant site coefficients, and hence, the period dependant hazard impact on the ground surface could be calculated to obtain the spatial variation of PGA over the study area. Further, liquefaction potential of the site (Agartala) was also evaluated using available SPT bore log data collected and using presently estimated surface level PGA. The results are presented in the form of liquefaction hazard map representing as a Factor of safety (FS) against liquefaction with various depths such as 1.5m, 10m, and 15m respectively. It has been seen that Agartala city shows highly prone to liquefaction even up to 15 m depth. Hence, site specific study is highly recommended for implementing any important project. The liquefaction hazard assessment could not be conducted for the Aizawl city because of non availability of the SPT-N data, however, the city stands on hills/mountains, and therefore, such a study is not applicable in this area. Further, seismic microzonation maps for both the cities have been prepared considering Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) which support to the Eigen value properties of the system. Two types of hazard maps have been developed, one using deterministic and another using the probabilistic seismic microzonation maps. These maps can be directly used as inputs for earthquake resistant design, and disaster mitigation planning of the study area. However, an investigation has also been made in forecasting a major earthquake (Mw>6) in North-East India using several probabilistic models such as Gamma, Weibull and lognormal models. IBR and EH show a high probability of occurrences in the next 5 years (i.e. 2013-2018) with >90% probability.

In recent years, online shopping has gained immense popularity due to its feedback mechanism. By composing online comments, previous buyers share opinions and expe-riences regarding the items that they have purchased. These user-generated reviews, in turn, provide valuable information to potential customers in regards to deciding which products to purchase. The reviews also help vendors understand customer needs and improve product quality. Yet despite these benefits, the unprecedentedly rapid growth of user-generated content has overwhelmed human ability in online review scrutiny. On-line reviews that possess varying content further impedes useful knowledge distillation. The large volume of online reviews that are uneven in quality puts growing pressure on automatic approaches for effective review utilization and informative content prioritiza-tion. Review helpfulness prediction leverages machine learning methods to identify and recommend helpful reviews to customers. In particular, review characteristics form the backbone of helpfulness information acquisition. Prior literature has observed and as-sociated a large body of determinants with review helpfulness. However, these deter-minants heavily rely on the domain knowledge of experts. The selection of and the interaction between the determinants also remain understudied, leaving ample room for exploration. The general lack of systematic experiment protocols among the existing methods further harms the task’s reproducibility, comparability, and generalizability. This thesis aims to automatically model helpfulness information from online user- generated reviews. The thesis proposes effective modeling techniques and novel so-lutions to tackle the aforementioned challenges, with more emphasis on sophisticated feature learning and interaction. The thesis has made the following contributions to standardize the research field and advance the accuracy in helpfulness prediction. 1. A comprehensive survey is conducted to identify frequently used content-based determinants for automatic helpfulness prediction. A computational framework is developed to empirically evaluate the identified features across domains. Three selection scenarios are considered for feature behavior analysis. The domain-specific and domain-independent feature selection guidelines are summarized to facilitate future research prototyping. The implementation details of the study are discussed to standardize the task of automatic helpfulness prediction. 2. A deep neural framework is designed to enrich the interaction between review texts and star ratings during automatic helpfulness prediction. A gated convolu-tional component is introduced to learns content representations. A gated em- bedding method is proposed for encoding sophisticated yet adaptive rating infor- mation. An element alignment mechanism is proposed to explicitly capture the text-rating interaction. Ablation studies and qualitative analysis are conducted to discover insights into the interactive behavior of star ratings. 3. An end-to-end neural architecture is proposed to contextualize automatic helpful- ness prediction using review neighbors. Four weighting schemes are designed to encode a review’s surrounding neighbors as its context information into content representation learning. Three types of reviews neighbors of varied length are considered during context construction. Finally, discussions on the experimental results and the trade-o between model complexity and performance are given, along with case studies, to understand the proposed architecture.

Since the beginning of the 21st century, service-oriented architecture (SOA) has emerged as an advancement of distributed computing. SOA is a framework where software modules are developed using straightforward interfaces, and each module serves a specific array of functions. It delivers enterprise applications individually or integrated into a more significant composite Web services. However, SOA implementation faces several challenges, hindering its broader adaptation. This thesis aims to highlight three significant challenges in the implementation of SOA. The abundance of functionally similar Web services and the lack of integrity with non-functional features such as Quality of Service (QoS) leads to the difficulties in the prediction of QoS. Thus, the first challenge to be addressed is to find an efficient scheme for the prediction of QoS. The use of software source code metrics is a widely accepted alternative solution. Source code metrics are measured at a micro level and aggregated at the macro level to represent the software adequately. However, the effect of aggregation schemes on QoS prediction using source code metrics remains unexplored. The inequality distribution model, the Theil index, is proposed in this research to aggregate micro level source code metrics for three different datasets and compare the quality of QoS prediction. The experiment results show that the Theil index is a practical solution for effective QoS prediction. The second challenge is to search and compose suitable Web services with- out the need for expertise in composition tools. Currently, the existing approaches need system engineers with extensive knowledge of SOA techniques. A keyword-based search is a common approach for information retrieval which does not require an understanding of a query language or the underlying data structure. The proposed framework uses a schema-based keyword search over the relational database for an efficient Web service search and composition. Experiments are conducted with the WS-Dream data set to evaluate Web service search and composition framework using adequate performance parameters. The results of a quality constraints experiments show that the schema-based keyword search can achieve a better success rate than the existing approaches. Building an efficient data architecture for SOA applications is the third challenge as real-world SOA applications are required to process a vast quantity of data to produce a valuable service on demand. Contemporary SOA data processing systems such as the Enterprise Data Warehouse (EDW) lack scalability. A data lake, a productive data environment, is proposed to improve data ingestion for SOA systems. The data lake architecture stores both structured and unstructured data using the Hadoop Distributed File System (HDFS). Experiment results compare the data ingestion time of data lake and EDW. In the evaluation, the data lake-based architecture is implemented for personalized medication suggestion system. The data lake shows that it can generate patient clusters more concisely than the current EDW-based approaches. In summary, this research can effectively address three significant challenges for the broader adaptation of SOAs. The Theil index-based data aggregation model helps QoS prediction without the dependence on the Web service registry. Service engineers with less knowledge of SOA techniques can exploit a schema-based keyword search for a Web service search and composition. The data lake shows its potential to act as a data architecture for SOA applications.