scholarly journals The Potential of Road Pricing Schemes for Reducing Carbon Emissions

Author(s):  
Silvio Nocera ◽  
Federico Giaretta ◽  
Federico Cavallaro

Road pricing is a transport measure mainly conceived to fund road management, to regulate the demand for traffic and to reduce the number of private vehicles circulating in urban areas. It can also grant benefits in terms of environmental externalities including the reduction of CO2 emissions, which has recently become one of the most important elements defining the sustainability of a transport system. However, the carbon potential granted by road charging is rarely assessed, thus confirming a sort of secondary role attributed to CO2 in urban premises. This paper provides an accurate analysis of the relationship between the different forms of road pricing (including distance-based, congestion-based and pay-as-you-drive) and their effective role in terms of carbon reduction, which in some contexts is higher than 10%. Furthermore, practical suggestions to policy makers in terms of implementation of the measure are discussed, highlighting the precautions necessary to include a fair carbon evaluation into an overall effective analysis.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.4995/CIT2016.2016.3215

2020 ◽  
Vol 32 (2) ◽  
pp. 448-458 ◽  
Author(s):  
Guoxing Li ◽  
Jing Huang ◽  
Jinwei Wang ◽  
Minghui Zhao ◽  
Yang Liu ◽  
...  

BackgroundFine particulate matter (PM2.5) is an important environmental risk factor for cardiopulmonary diseases. However, the association between PM2.5 and risk of CKD remains under-recognized, especially in regions with high levels of PM2.5, such as China.MethodsTo explore the association between long-term exposure to ambient PM2.5 and CKD prevalence in China, we used data from the China National Survey of CKD, which included a representative sample of 47,204 adults. We estimated annual exposure to PM2.5 before the survey date at each participant’s address, using a validated, satellite-based, spatiotemporal model with a 10 km×10 km resolution. Participants with eGFR <60 ml/min per 1.73 m2 or albuminuria were defined as having CKD. We used a logistic regression model to estimate the association and analyzed the influence of potential modifiers.ResultsThe 2-year mean PM2.5 concentration was 57.4 μg/m3, with a range from 31.3 to 87.5 μg/m3. An increase of 10 μg/m3 in PM2.5 was positively associated with CKD prevalence (odds ratio [OR], 1.28; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.22 to 1.35) and albuminuria (OR, 1.39; 95% CI, 1.32 to 1.47). Effect modification indicated these associations were significantly stronger in urban areas compared with rural areas, in males compared with females, in participants aged <65 years compared with participants aged ≥65 years, and in participants without comorbid diseases compared with those with comorbidities.ConclusionsThese findings regarding the relationship between long-term exposure to high ambient PM2.5 levels and CKD in the general Chinese population provide important evidence for policy makers and public health practices to reduce the CKD risk posed by this pollutant.


2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 58-96
Author(s):  
Aqsa Atta

Background and Purpose: Scripts have strong relationship with religion, culture, and identity. This research was conducted to analyze how choice of different language scripts indicates identity crisis by observing placement, size, and preference of one code over the other. Furthermore, it also demonstrates the existence of plurilingual practices on linguistic landscapes.   Methodology: The relationship of scripts with culture and religion was analyzed by following the theoretical framework of semiotics given by Scollon and Scollon (2003) and Huebner (2006). Data was collected through photographs of linguistic landscapes and passersby interviews. Altogether, a corpus of 1064 photographs was collected from three cities in Pakistan (i.e Rawalpindi, Islamabad & Wah Cantt) and 10 passersby were interviewed.   Findings: Data analysis reveals some distinctive linguistic modifications in shop signs and billboards; including deviation in spellings, transliteration, linguistic hybridity, vocabulary, visual representation of language, lack of knowledge of Urdu vocabulary, acceptance of English vocabulary as part of Urdu language and use of sub-standard English vocabulary.   Contribution: The research concludes that erroneous use of language and transliteration practices cause hybrid hybridity. Moreover, considering Urdu alternatives as an oddity, along with inability to retrieve Urdu vocabulary are major challenges for policy makers to promote and implement Urdu language policies.   Keywords: Linguistic landscape, plurilingualism, script and identity, transliteration, translanguaging, linguistic hybridity.   Cite as: Atta, A. (2021). Scripts on linguistic landscapes: A marker of hybrid identity in urban areas of Pakistan.  Journal of Nusantara Studies, 6(2), 58-96. http://dx.doi.org/10.24200/jonus.vol6iss2pp58-96


Author(s):  
Arwanto Arwanto ◽  
Wike Anggraini

ABSTRACT Understanding policy process involves many distinctive approaches. The most common are institutional, groups or networks, exogenous factors, rational actors, and idea-based approach. This paper discussed the idea-based approach to explain policy process, in this case policy change. It aims to analyse how ideas could assist people to understand policy change. What role do they play and why are they considered as fundamental element? It considers that ideas are belong to every policy actor, whether it is individual or institution. In order to answer these questions, this paper adopts Kingdon’s multi streams approach to analyse academic literatures. Through this approach, the relationship between ideas and policy change can be seen clearer. Ideas only can affect in policy change if it is agreed and accepted by policy makers. Therefore the receptivity of ideas plays significant role and it emerges policy entrepreneurs. They promote ideas (through problem framing, timing, and narrative construction) and manipulate in order to ensure the receptivity of ideas. Although policy entrepreneurs play significant role, political aspects remains the most important element in the policy process. Keywords: policy change, ideas, idea-based approach, Kingdon’s multiple streams, policy entrepreneurs.


2018 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 114-136
Author(s):  
Eman I AHMED

Faculty engagement has been proved to be a critical driver of the universities’ efficiency and effectiveness. The first step towards building an engaged workforce is to get a measure of faculty perceptions of their engagement level to their universities. Accordingly, the purpose of this paper is to investigate the faculty members' engagement in the Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University. It examines the relationship between the faculty professional variablesand their level of engagement to their institutions. William Kahn's (1990) three-component model of employee engagement was partially adapted as a framework to measure the faculty members' engagement. A questionnaire was used to better address the objective of this study. The data were obtained from the Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University (Dammam University) through an internet-based survey. The validity and the reliability of the questionnaire has been evaluated and reported. Results of the analyses show that cognitive engagement is reported to be higher than both the emotional and physical engagement, with a mean rating of 4.040 and a standard deviation of .487, based on the five-point scale. Given the engagement level of the faculty members in this study, the university administrators should develop policies, and strategies that encourage and support engagement among faculty members at the University in order to maximize their engagement. Policy makers must also take into consideration the needs of the faculty members


2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 95-109
Author(s):  
Heba Aziz ◽  
Osman El-Said ◽  
Marike Bontenbal

The objective of this study was to measure the level of cruise tourists' satisfaction as well as the relationship between satisfaction, recommendation, return intention, and expenditure. Also, the impact of factors such as nationality, length of the visit, and age on the level of expenditure was measured. An empirical approach for data collection was followed and a total of 152 questionnaires were collected from cruise tourists visiting the capital city of Oman, Muscat, as cruise liners anchor at Sultan Qaboos Port. Results of the regression analysis supported the existence of a causal relationship between satisfaction with destination attributes, overall satisfaction, recommendation, return intention, and expenditure. It was found that the average expenditure varies according to age and length of the visit. Recommendations for policy makers were suggested on how to increase the role of cruise tourism in strengthening the economy.


Author(s):  
Vladimir Kontorovich

The academic study of the Soviet economy in the US was created to help fight the Cold War, part of a broader mobilization of the social sciences for national security needs. The Soviet strategic challenge rested on the ability of its economy to produce large numbers of sophisticated weapons. The military sector was the dominant part of the economy, and the most successful one. However, a comprehensive survey of scholarship on the Soviet economy from 1948-1991 shows that it paid little attention to the military sector, compared to other less important parts of the economy. Soviet secrecy does not explain this pattern of neglect. Western scholars developed strained civilian interpretations for several aspects of the economy which the Soviets themselves acknowledged to have military significance. A close reading of the economic literature, combined with insights from other disciplines, suggest three complementary explanations for civilianization of the Soviet economy. Soviet studies was a peripheral field in economics, and its practitioners sought recognition by pursuing the agenda of the mainstream discipline, however ill-fitting their subject. The Soviet economy was supposed to be about socialism, and the military sector appeared to be unrelated to that. By stressing the militarization, one risked being viewed as a Cold War monger. The conflict identified in this book between the incentives of academia and the demands of policy makers (to say nothing of accurate analysis) has broad relevance for national security uses of social science.


Energies ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (12) ◽  
pp. 2308 ◽  
Author(s):  
Can Bıyık

The smart city transport concept is viewed as a future vision aiming to undertake investigations on the urban planning process and to construct policy-pathways for achieving future targets. Therefore, this paper sets out three visions for the year 2035 which bring about a radical change in the level of green transport systems (often called walking, cycling, and public transport) in Turkish urban areas. A participatory visioning technique was structured according to a three-stage technique: (i) Extensive online comprehensive survey, in which potential transport measures were researched for their relevance in promoting smart transport systems in future Turkish urban areas; (ii) semi-structured interviews, where transport strategy suggestions were developed in the context of the possible imaginary urban areas and their associated contextual description of the imaginary urban areas for each vision; (iii) participatory workshops, where an innovative method was developed to explore various creative future choices and alternatives. Overall, this paper indicates that the content of the future smart transport visions was reasonable, but such visions need a considerable degree of consensus and radical approaches for tackling them. The findings offer invaluable insights to researchers inquiring about the smart transport field, and policy-makers considering applying those into practice in their local urban areas.


2021 ◽  
pp. 000486742110096
Author(s):  
Oleguer Plana-Ripoll ◽  
Patsy Di Prinzio ◽  
John J McGrath ◽  
Preben B Mortensen ◽  
Vera A Morgan

Introduction: An association between schizophrenia and urbanicity has long been observed, with studies in many countries, including several from Denmark, reporting that individuals born/raised in densely populated urban settings have an increased risk of developing schizophrenia compared to those born/raised in rural settings. However, these findings have not been replicated in all studies. In particular, a Western Australian study showed a gradient in the opposite direction which disappeared after adjustment for covariates. Given the different findings for Denmark and Western Australia, our aim was to investigate the relationship between schizophrenia and urbanicity in these two regions to determine which factors may be influencing the relationship. Methods: We used population-based cohorts of children born alive between 1980 and 2001 in Western Australia ( N = 428,784) and Denmark ( N = 1,357,874). Children were categorised according to the level of urbanicity of their mother’s residence at time of birth and followed-up through to 30 June 2015. Linkage to State-based registers provided information on schizophrenia diagnosis and a range of covariates. Rates of being diagnosed with schizophrenia for each category of urbanicity were estimated using Cox proportional hazards models adjusted for covariates. Results: During follow-up, 1618 (0.4%) children in Western Australia and 11,875 (0.9%) children in Denmark were diagnosed with schizophrenia. In Western Australia, those born in the most remote areas did not experience lower rates of schizophrenia than those born in the most urban areas (hazard ratio = 1.02 [95% confidence interval: 0.81, 1.29]), unlike their Danish counterparts (hazard ratio = 0.62 [95% confidence interval: 0.58, 0.66]). However, when the Western Australian cohort was restricted to children of non-Aboriginal Indigenous status, results were consistent with Danish findings (hazard ratio = 0.46 [95% confidence interval: 0.29, 0.72]). Discussion: Our study highlights the potential for disadvantaged subgroups to mask the contribution of urban-related risk factors to risk of schizophrenia and the importance of stratified analysis in such cases.


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