scholarly journals Mobile Applications, Geolocation and Information Technologies for the Study and Communication of the Heritage Value of Public Works

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 2083
Author(s):  
Patricia Hernández-Lamas ◽  
Beatriz Cabau-Anchuelo ◽  
Óscar de Castro-Cuartero ◽  
Jorge Bernabéu-Larena
Keyword(s):  
Information Technologies ◽  
Cultural Landscape ◽  
Mobile Apps ◽  
Public Awareness ◽  
Public Works ◽  
Cultural Significance ◽  
The Public ◽  
Built Heritage ◽  
Heritage Studies ◽  
Intuitive Interfaces

Public works’ relationship with the landscape should be among the factors addressed in heritage studies. Their association with place defines their purpose while contributing to the construction of the cultural landscape. Unawareness of the existence of public works is their most powerful enemy. Inventorying and cataloguing are therefore imperative in any study of these assets. The research described here drew from information technologies to develop cost-free mobile apps in an innovative approach to dissemination with the aim to enhance public awareness of and esteem for such elements. The applications described, which are all author-developed and designed to promote Spain’s heritage public works, address the heritage value of rural public works (VAPROP_Rutas), geolocation of the built heritage (GEOPACK), heritage public works on the River Duero (PHDuero), major works of engineering (GOING) and geolocation of Eduardo Torroja’s public works (underway). All these applications build on the geo-positioning features of mobile handsets and are characterised by simple and intuitive interfaces for ready accessibility by the public at large. Users may participate in the experience by entering useful information, new content and suggestions. These apps deploy the latest technologies to enhance the understanding and appreciation of civil works by explaining their territorial, social and cultural significance.

“Manual for the Design and Execution of the Repair of Concrete Structures” of the Public Works Research Institute

2016 ◽  
Vol 54 (12) ◽  
pp. 1162-1168
Author(s):  
H. Katahira ◽  
I. Sasaki ◽  
I. Naitou ◽  
H. Sakuraba
Keyword(s):  
Concrete Structures ◽  
Public Works ◽  
The Public ◽  
Research Institute

Growing Inequality and Public Awareness of Inequality in the States

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
William W. Franko ◽  
Christopher Witko
Keyword(s):  
Public Opinion ◽  
Income Inequality ◽  
Public Awareness ◽  
Public Concern ◽  
The Public ◽  
Political Conditions ◽  
Perceptions Of Inequality ◽  
Public Opinion Polls ◽  
Opinion Polls

Here the authors present the variation that exists in income inequality across the states, and variation in public awareness or concern about income inequality as measured by public opinion polls. Though politicians may decide to tackle income inequality even in the absence of public concern about inequality, the authors argue that government responses are more likely when and where there is a growing awareness of, and concern about, inequality, which is confirmed in the analyses in this book. To examine this question in subsequent chapters, a novel measure of public awareness of rising state inequality is developed. Using these estimates, this chapter shows that the growth in the public concern about inequality responds in part to objective increases in inequality, but also that state political conditions, particularly mass partisanship, shape perceptions of inequality.

scholarly journals Robust estimation of SARS-CoV-2 epidemic in US counties

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Hanmo Li ◽  
Mengyang Gu
Keyword(s):  
Transmission Rate ◽  
Public Awareness ◽  
Mitigation Measures ◽  
Infectious Period ◽  
Protective Measures ◽  
Social Distancing ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Us ◽  
Local Officials ◽  
Us Counties

AbstractThe COVID-19 outbreak is asynchronous in US counties. Mitigating the COVID-19 transmission requires not only the state and federal level order of protective measures such as social distancing and testing, but also public awareness of time-dependent risk and reactions at county and community levels. We propose a robust approach to estimate the heterogeneous progression of SARS-CoV-2 at all US counties having no less than 2 COVID-19 associated deaths, and we use the daily probability of contracting (PoC) SARS-CoV-2 for a susceptible individual to quantify the risk of SARS-CoV-2 transmission in a community. We found that shortening by $$5\%$$ 5 % of the infectious period of SARS-CoV-2 can reduce around $$39\%$$ 39 % (or 78 K, $$95\%$$ 95 % CI: [66 K , 89 K ]) of the COVID-19 associated deaths in the US as of 20 September 2020. Our findings also indicate that reducing infection and deaths by a shortened infectious period is more pronounced for areas with the effective reproduction number close to 1, suggesting that testing should be used along with other mitigation measures, such as social distancing and facial mask-wearing, to reduce the transmission rate. Our deliverable includes a dynamic county-level map for local officials to determine optimal policy responses and for the public to better understand the risk of contracting SARS-CoV-2 on each day.

scholarly journals Using Internet Search Queries to Assess Public Awareness of the Healthy Cities Approach: A Case Study in Shenzhen, China

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (8) ◽  
pp. 4264
Author(s):  
Jun Yang ◽  
Yutong Zhang ◽  
Yixiong Xiao ◽  
Shaoqing Shen ◽  
Mo Su ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Awareness ◽  
Healthy Cities ◽  
Internet Search ◽  
Health Concerns ◽  
Search Queries ◽  
The Public ◽  
Health Factors ◽  
Data Source ◽  
The City

Cities around the globe are embracing the Healthy Cities approach to address urban health challenges. Public awareness is vital for successfully deploying this approach but is rarely assessed. In this study, we used internet search queries to evaluate the public awareness of the Healthy Cities approach applied in Shenzhen, China. The overall situation at the city level and the intercity variations were both analyzed. Additionally, we explored the factors that might affect the internet search queries of the Healthy Cities approach. Our results showed that the public awareness of the approach in Shenzhen was low. There was a high intercity heterogeneity in terms of interest in the various components of the Healthy Cities approach. However, we did not find a significant effect of the selected demographic, environmental, and health factors on the search queries. Based on our findings, we recommend that the city raise public awareness of healthy cities and take actions tailored to health concerns in different city zones. Our study showed that internet search queries can be a valuable data source for assessing the public awareness of the Healthy Cities approach.

The 2016 Police and Crime Commissioner elections

2017 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 41-54 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Joyce
Keyword(s):  
Public Awareness ◽  
Primary Source ◽  
Source Material ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Social ◽  
Key Issues ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Government

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to analyse the 2016 elections for Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) and to compare them with those that took place in 2012. It seeks to evaluate the background of the candidates who stood for office in 2016, the policies that they put forward, the results of the contests and the implications of the 2016 experience for future PCC elections. Design/methodology/approach This paper is based around several key themes – the profile of candidates who stood for election, preparations conducted prior to the contests taking place, the election campaign and issues raised during the contests, the results and the profile of elected candidates. The paper is based upon documentary research, making particular use of primary source material. Findings The research establishes that affiliation to a political party became the main route for successful candidates in 2016 and that local issues related to low-level criminality will dominate the future policing agenda. It establishes that although turnout was higher than in 2012, it remains low and that further consideration needs to be devoted to initiatives to address this for future PCC election contests. Research limitations/implications The research focusses on the 2016 elections and identifies a number of key issues that emerged during the campaign affecting the conduct of the contests which have a bearing on future PCC elections. It treats these elections as a bespoke topic and does not seek to place them within the broader context of the development of the office of PCC. Practical implications The research suggests that in order to boost voter participation in future PCC election contests, PCCs need to consider further means to advertise the importance of the role they perform and that the government should play a larger financial role in funding publicity for these elections and consider changing the method of election. Social implications The rationale for introducing PCCs was to empower the public in each police force area. However, issues that include the enhanced importance of political affiliation as a criteria for election in 2016 and the social unrepresentative nature of those who stood for election and those who secured election to this office in these contests coupled with shortcomings related to public awareness of both the role of PCCs and the timing of election contests threaten to undermine this objective. Originality/value The extensive use of primary source material ensures that the subject matter is original and its interpretation is informed by an academic perspective.

scholarly journals What do users think of the UK’s three COVID-19 contact-tracing apps? A comparative analysis

2021 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. e100320
Author(s):  
Vahid Garousi ◽  
David Cutting
Keyword(s):  
Mobile Apps ◽  
Analysis Data ◽  
End Users ◽  
Contact Tracing ◽  
User Reviews ◽  
The Public ◽  
Engineering Teams ◽  
Technical Issues ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The Right

ObjectivesOur goal was to gain insights into the user reviews of the three COVID-19 contact-tracing mobile apps, developed for the different regions of the UK: ‘NHS COVID-19’ for England and Wales, ‘StopCOVID NI’ for Northern Ireland and ‘Protect Scotland’ for Scotland. Our two research questions are (1) what are the users’ experience and satisfaction levels with the three apps? and (2) what are the main issues (problems) that users have reported about the apps?MethodsWe assess the popularity of the apps and end users’ perceptions based on user reviews in app stores. We conduct three types of analysis (data mining, sentiment analysis and topic modelling) to derive insights from the combined set of 25 583 user reviews of the aforementioned three apps (submitted by users until the end of 2020).ResultsResults show that end users have been generally dissatisfied with the apps under study, except the Scottish app. Some of the major issues that users have reported are high battery drainage and doubts on whether apps are really working.DiscussionTowards the end of 2020, the much-awaited COVID-19 vaccines started to be available, but still, analysing the users’ feedback and technical issues of these apps, in retrospective, is valuable to learn the right lessons to be ready for similar circumstances in future.ConclusionOur results show that more work is needed by the stakeholders behind the apps (eg, apps’ software engineering teams, public-health experts and decision makers) to improve the software quality and, as a result, the public adoption of these apps. For example, they should be designed to be as simple as possible to operate (need for usability).

scholarly journals Obstacles to Developing Net-Zero Energy (NZE) Homes in Greater Toronto Area

Buildings ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 95
Author(s):  
Ghazal Makvandia ◽  
Md. Safiuddin
Keyword(s):  
Financial Incentives ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
Public Awareness ◽  
Ghg Emissions ◽  
Primary Data ◽  
Zero Energy ◽  
The Public ◽  
Greater Toronto Area ◽  
Net Zero Energy ◽  
Net Zero

Efforts have been put in place to minimize the effects of construction activities and occupancy, but the problem of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions continues to have detrimental effects on the environment. As an effort to reduce GHG emissions, particularly carbon emissions, countable commercial, industrial, institutional, and residential net-zero energy (NZE) buildings were built around the globe during the past few years, and they are still operating. But there exist many challenges and barriers for the construction of NZE buildings. This study identifies the obstacles to developing NZE buildings, with a focus on single-family homes, in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA). The study sought to identify the technical, organizational, and social challenges of constructing NZE buildings, realize the importance of the public awareness in making NZE homes, and provide recommendations on how to raise public knowledge. A qualitative approach was employed to collect the primary data through survey and interviews. The secondary data obtained from the literature review were also used to realize the benefits, challenges, and current situation of NZE buildings. Research results indicate that the construction of NZE buildings is faced with a myriad of challenges, including technical issues, the lack of governmental and institutional supports, and the lack of standardized measures. The public awareness of NZE homes has been found to be very low, thus limiting the uptake and adoption of the new technologies used in this type of homes. The present study also recommends that the government and the academic institutions should strive to support the NZE building technology through curriculum changes, technological uptake, and financial incentives to buyers and developers. The implementation of these recommendations may enhance the success and popularity of NZE homes in the GTA.

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