The Long-Standing Issue of Mobility at the Olympics: From Host Cities to Host Regions in the Ongoing Case Study of Milan–Cortina 2026

Due to public opposition against the unsustainability of hosting the Olympic Games, the International Olympic Committee adopted Olympic Agenda 2020 to adjust the event requirements to address modern society’s sustainability concerns. Since its implementation, the Agenda has driven important changes regarding the planning and organization of the Olympics, including the possibility of regions being hosts. This allows the sprawl of Olympic venues over larger territories, theoretically facilitating the alignment of event requirements with the needs of the intensively growing contemporary urban areas. However, the larger the host territory, the more complex becomes its mobility planning, as transport requirements for participants still have to be fulfilled, and the host populations still expect to inherit benefits from any investments made. The objective of this paper is to identify and discuss new challenges that such modifications bring for mega-event mobility planning. First, based on the academic literature of case studies of previous Olympic cities, a theoretical framework to systematize the mobility problem at the Olympic Games is proposed for further validation, identifying the dimensions of the related knowledge frames. Second, the mobility planning for the case study of the first ever Olympic region—the Milan–Cortina 2026 Winter Games—is described. Using this case study, the proposed framework is then extrapolated for cases of Olympic regions in order to identify any shifts in the paradigm of mobility planning when increasing the spatial scale of Olympic hosts. Conclusions indicate that, if properly addressed, unsustainability might be mitigated in Olympic regions, but mega-event planners will have to consider new issues affecting host communities and event stakeholders.

Rapid GAIT adoption for snake-like locomotion (RGASL)

Snake-like robots are low centre of gravity because they are limbless, they also have slender bodies composed of multiple actuating segments. Because of these features, snake robots are widely considered to be most adaptable among all land-based mobile robots. The multi-segmented body that provides their defining characteristic, adaptivity, also brings about the quandary of controlling many actuating segments simultaneously to create directd locomotion. Various methods for snake robot locomotion have been proposed for relatively smooth and flat surfaces. Currently there is no snake robot designed or locomotion method capable of resolving the directed mobility problem in situations where the snake robot is stuck at an impasse, or when it encounters disjointed terrains. There is no method to rapidly create new locomotion that addresses the problem or extensive time delay. This thesis makes the contribution of a modular snake robot called Striker and an elegant solution to create new snake-like robot locomotion on-the-fly, called the Explicit Gait Training (EGT) method. The EGT method allows trainer(s) to rapidly train new kinds of locomotion to address any situation at hand using their knowledge, experiences or even trial and error. The third contribution is the Standard Mobility for Snake Robots (SMMSR) is proposed as a standard platform to evaluate the evvectiveness of snake robot locomotion.

Rapid GAIT adoption for snake-like locomotion (RGASL)

Snake-like robots are low centre of gravity because they are limbless, they also have slender bodies composed of multiple actuating segments. Because of these features, snake robots are widely considered to be most adaptable among all land-based mobile robots. The multi-segmented body that provides their defining characteristic, adaptivity, also brings about the quandary of controlling many actuating segments simultaneously to create directd locomotion. Various methods for snake robot locomotion have been proposed for relatively smooth and flat surfaces. Currently there is no snake robot designed or locomotion method capable of resolving the directed mobility problem in situations where the snake robot is stuck at an impasse, or when it encounters disjointed terrains. There is no method to rapidly create new locomotion that addresses the problem or extensive time delay. This thesis makes the contribution of a modular snake robot called Striker and an elegant solution to create new snake-like robot locomotion on-the-fly, called the Explicit Gait Training (EGT) method. The EGT method allows trainer(s) to rapidly train new kinds of locomotion to address any situation at hand using their knowledge, experiences or even trial and error. The third contribution is the Standard Mobility for Snake Robots (SMMSR) is proposed as a standard platform to evaluate the evvectiveness of snake robot locomotion.

Methodological approaches to improving hip joint mobility among female students of higher educational institutions

Introduction. The statistics revealed during the literature analysis indicates the wide-spread of joint diseases worldwide, including hip diseases, and all human motor activity depends on the hip functioning. Limited mobility in the joint is caused by a sedentary lifestyle and the absence of movements with involved hip joint. The practice of conducting recreational aerobics classes with female students has shown the lack of girls’ proper attention to the mobility problem in the hip joints. Methods. 200 female students of 1–4 courses of Derzhavin Tambov State University, engaged in recreational aerobics, took part in the study of hip joint mobility. The study used tests to assess the degree of hip joint opening and to identify the presence of asymmetry when the legs are pulled to the sides. Results. There is a unidirectional tendency in the ability to perform motor action with the maximum amplitude of movement in the hip joints of female students of 1–4 courses. The thighs of the students open in the same way; there is no asymmetry between the right and left legs when opening. Conclusions. The study helped to draw up an overall balance and identify trends in the development of hip joint mobility in girls, to understand the causes leading to pelvic displacement and limited hip flexion amplitude, to expand the understanding of methods for assessing hip joint mobility and tests for detecting asymmetry when the legs are pulled to the sides.

Detecção de Vagas em Estacionamento Usando Visão Computacional e Redes Neurais Convolucionais

Parking lots are no longer practical solutions but become anothertopic of urban mobility problem due to the difficulty in finding availableparking spaces. This work proposes a parking space detectionsystem to assist drivers. The system detects unoccupied vacanciesby image processing techniques and convolutional neural networks.Vacancies are detected through horizontal markings and by recognizingspaces with or without vehicles. Finally, a mobile applicationmakes available to the user the occupancy status of vacancies. Initialresults showed that the system detects vacancies with visiblemarkings during the daytime. To improve detection in adversesituations, the vacancy detection algorithm is being improved.

Channels and “lifts” of social mobility of modern young townsfolk

The article analyses the recent data on social mobility problem in Russian post-Soviet young people. Based on sociological research in the form of the poll of young people aged 15-28, living in the Russian province – the towns in the south of Tyumen region (N=1200), - the dominant channels of young people’s mobility were found out, as well as the motivation and setting on mobility in different categories of young people. The value of the research results consists in deep understanding of the person and groups’ social mobility problems, on the whole, and young people, in particular, in post-Soviet Russia.

Implementation of a low cost hands free wheelchair controller

The aim of this project is to ease mobility for people with upper and lower disability in order to live independently. This paper presents the design steps and specification to a low cost hands free eye-blink controller to control and electric wheelchair. Nowadays, people are using joystick to control motorized wheelchair. The eye-blink controller technology gives an alternative solution to mobility problem; especially for the people who are quadriplegics. By interfacing eye-blink controller, the directions of the wheelchair are controlled. This report will provide the designing step, related solutions, and component details and specifications.

Time Headway as Indices of Traffic Congestion

Urban mobility problem in Nigeria is on the increase, due to rapid growth in traffic that is not matched with the existing transport infrastructure, resulting in traffic congestion. Headway, a measure of level of service of a roadway, could be instructive in addressing this problem, hence this study. Headway, traffic flow and travel speed were collected for morning and evening peak periods for three consecutive weeks for two selected sections of a road in Ile-Ife, Osun state, using normal procedure. The obtained headway data were subjected to statistical analysis. Headway models were developed using regression analysis and the developed models were evaluated using Adjusted Coefficient of determination (R2). The results showed that the traffic along the road was heterogeneous. The maximum safe speed (85th percentile speed) was 31.20 km/hr, while the minimum allowable speed (15th percentile speed) was 28.50 km/hr. The ratio of flow to capacity (v/c) of the road was 0.65 and thus characterised to operate at level of service C. The headway models were h =0.001n2 -0.418n2 + 35.401, h = 0.002n2 – 0.569n + 42.122 , R-square values of 0.942 and 0.928 and minimum headway values of 5.35 sec. and 5.52 sec. For sections one and two respectively. The road is therefore prone to congestion.