Evaluation of the economic viability of grid-connected photovoltaic systems in different Brazilian regions

This study aimed at the dimensioning and economic analysis of grid-connected photovoltaic systems in different cities in Brazil. As a criterion for the selection of the cities of interest, it was considered the capital with the highest number of residences in each of the five regions of the country, as well as the city where the authors are established, namely the cities of Salvador, Manaus, Goiânia, São Paulo, Curitiba, and Cascavel. Based on local characteristics and adopting an average monthly electricity consumption of 400 kWh, was developed the dimensioning of the photovoltaic systems, adopting the methodology presented by Pinho and Galdino (2014). Based on the components determined for the systems, budgets were made to enable their implementation. The investments to be made varied between US$ 4,682.97 and US$ 5,326.06. From these values, economic analyses were made using the discounted payback method. The projects presented different payback times, with the shortest payback time to the city of Manaus, with 9 years and the longest in the city of Curitiba, with 15 years. Therefore, it was confirmed the research hypothesis that the regional characteristics linked to the dimensioning of the photovoltaic systems directly affect the time of return on investment.

Study on Countermeasures for the High-quality Development of Zunyi Red Tourism

In recent years, the momentum of red tourism development is on the rise, and has become a new growth point leading the socio-economic development of the old revolutionary areas. During the 14th Five-Year Plan period, red tourism entered a new stage of high-quality development. How to promote the high quality of red tourism has become a new boom in the tourism industry. Zunyi is one of the five revolutionary holy places, rich in red tourism resources, but has not yet formed a good trend of high-quality development. Based on the realistic dilemma of the high-quality development of Zunyi red tourism, the high-quality development of Zunyi red tourism should take the promotion of supply-side reform as the main line, dig deep into the cultural connotation of red tourism resources, strengthen regional integration, carry out red tourism product innovation, build red tourism brand with local characteristics, improve the quality, efficiency and product effect of Zunyi tourism industry.

Missionary activities of the Russian orthodox church in Southeast Asia at the beginning of the 21st century

The article analyses the Russian Orthodox Churchs missionary activity of the in Southeast Asia, with a focus on its prerequisites and the stages of its development. ROC missionary work in the region could build on the experience of pre-revolutionary spiritual missions in Asia, as well as on the Orthodox communities of Russian emigrants after the revolution. Important factors are also the formation of the global labor market; international tourism; and the aspiration of compatriots living abroad to preserve the Russian World (Russkii Mir). The article analyses the Russian historiography of the missionary activity of the Russian Orthodox Church in Southeast Asia. With the establishment of the Patriarchal Exarchate in Southeast Asia in 2018, with its center in Singapore, a new stage of missionary activity in the region began. The establishment of the exarchate in Southeast Asia brought about the systematical management of the numerous Orthodox parishes that appeared at the turn of the millennium in this region. Relying on little-known and understudied historical sources, the authors identified the forms of missionary work in various countries and assessed the scale of activities in relation to the prevailing confessional traditions. This includes an analysis of missionary work in countries dominated by Buddhism (Thailand, Cambodia, Laos), Christianity (the Philippines), and Islam (Indonesia, Malaysia), with special attention paid to the situation in socialist Vietnam and multi-confessional Singapore. The authors conclude that the missionary activity of the Russian Orthodox Church in Southeast Asia has now passed through several stages from the emergence of the first Orthodox communities in the region to the formation of centralized structured management of the numerous new parishes, with missionary work conducted in ways that respond to the local characteristics.

The Impact of Increased Density on Residential Property Values in Sydney, New South Wales

This paper investigates the impact of high-density development on low-density residential property values in Sydney, New South Wales (NSW). To do so, it conducts a literature review to ascertain the existing knowledge surrounding the study of property valuation and its economic and societal implications. Limitations within academia were identified and addressed as the objectives of this research. Subsequently, the key objective of this research is to “study the sociological factors dictating the attractiveness of low-density (LD) properties within proximity to high-density (HD) local characteristics.” In addressing this objective, research questions explore the interactions of an area’s local characteristics, its residents’ property types and the perceptions surrounding these interactions. This research studies property value through the lens of market perceptions, as the price of land is a basic indicator of the attractiveness, economic value and amenities accessible to a specific site. Through this seminal understanding, the research methodology was formed in which a questionnaire was completed by Sydney residents, providing data for analysis and discussion. The primary research question determines that “low-density residents perceive high-density local characteristics to be attractive”. Through this determination and its associated discussion, this study proposes that ‘if high-density local characteristics are able to be utilised by low-density properties, low-density residents will consider these properties to be more valuable’.

Co-occurrence based texture synthesis

As image generation techniques mature, there is a growing interest in explainable representations that are easy to understand and intuitive to manipulate. In this work, we turn to co-occurrence statistics, which have long been used for texture analysis, to learn a controllable texture synthesis model. We propose a fully convolutional generative adversarial network, conditioned locally on co-occurrence statistics, to generate arbitrarily large images while having local, interpretable control over texture appearance. To encourage fidelity to the input condition, we introduce a novel differentiable co-occurrence loss that is integrated seamlessly into our framework in an end-to-end fashion. We demonstrate that our solution offers a stable, intuitive, and interpretable latent representation for texture synthesis, which can be used to generate smooth texture morphs between different textures. We further show an interactive texture tool that allows a user to adjust local characteristics of the synthesized texture by directly using the co-occurrence values.

The Reality of Disaster Mitigation Activities for Companies in Tokyo’s Central Business District: A Case Study on Support for Stranded Commuters in the Initial Period in Chuo-Ku

In this study, the Council of Policy for Stranded Commuters in Chuo-ku, Tokyo, is considered as an example of local disaster mitigation activities through mutual aid for companies. The process of the activities during the initial period is described, and the points necessary to “establish and maintain the disaster mitigation activities by multiple companies” are summarized. The efforts of the council have led to the development of a community in which various disaster mitigation measures are not limited to those for stranded commuters but include responses to the sick and wounded; these disaster mitigation measures within companies are discussed. As a result, four points are derived as important factors, namely, grasping the local characteristics, forming an organization where the consensus can be built smoothly together with administrative bodies and academics, formulating local behavioral rules, and stipulating the principles behind the activities and the future prospects. The efforts for the local disaster mitigation activities taken up mainly by the residents of communities have been reported in many studies. However, there are few studies on the disaster mitigation activities conducted for companies; as such, only a case study of the measures for stranded commuters in Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo has been reported [1]. This is a case study that reports the process of the establishment of disaster mitigation activities for companies; based on the case study of Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo, this study takes into consideration the characteristics of Chuo-ku, Tokyo, which has no terminal station.

Local Characteristics Related to SARS-CoV-2 Transmissions in the Seoul Metropolitan Area, South Korea

The Seoul metropolitan area is one of the most populated metropolitan areas in the world; hence, Seoul’s COVID-19 cases are highly concentrated. This study identified local demographic and socio-economic characteristics that affected SARS-CoV-2 transmission to provide locally targeted intervention policies. For the effective control of outbreaks, locally targeted intervention policies are required since the SARS-CoV-2 transmission process is heterogeneous over space. To identify the local COVID-19 characteristics, this study applied the geographically weighted lasso (GWL). GWL provides local regression coefficients, which were used to account for the spatial heterogeneity of SARS-CoV-2 outbreaks. In particular, the GWL pinpoints statistically significant regions with specific local characteristics. The applied explanatory variables involving demographic and socio-economic characteristics that were associated with higher SARS-CoV-2 transmission in the Seoul metropolitan area were as follows: young adults (19~34 years), older population, Christian population, foreign-born population, low-income households, and subway commuters. The COVID-19 case data were classified into three periods: the first period (from January 2020 to July 2021), the second period (from August to November 2020), and the third period (from December 2020 to February 2021), and the GWL was fitted for the entire period (from January 2020 to February 2021). The result showed that young adults, the Christian population, and subway commuters were the most significant local characteristics that influenced SARS-CoV-2 transmissions in the Seoul metropolitan area.

Persepsi Wisatawan Domestik dan Mancanegara terhadap Pengelolaan Daya Tarik Wisata Jatiluwih, Kabupaten Tabanan, Provinsi Bali

Jatiluwih Tourism Attraction as part of the World Cultural Heritage is a tourist product consumed by tourists. Perception of tourists is important to be studied as a reference in the management of tourist attractions. Data collection techniques using survey methods are used to determine tourists' perception of Jatiluwih Tourism Attraction as part of the World Cultural Heritage. Questionnaires are used as research instruments to obtain information from tourists. After the data is collected, then the measurement is done using the Likert Scale. In determining the number of tourist samples used Slovin formula. Based on Slovin formula with a tolerance limit of 5%, the number of samples for foreign tourists as many as 204 people, and the number of samples for domestic tourists as many as 52 people. The total sample count was 256 people. Domestic and foreign tourists give the highest perception of employment opportunities for the community from the management of tourist attractions. Good perception of tourists is also given to the friendliness of the staff in providing service, naturalness and beauty of the scenery around the tourist attraction. The perception of tourists is not good given to the price of souvenirs, ease of access to the internet, availability of souvenirs with local characteristics, and smooth traffic around tourist attractions.