The Use of QLRBP and MLLPQ as Feature Extractors Combined with SVM and kNN Classifiers for Gender Recognition

Security systems must be continuously developed in order to cope with new challenges. One example of such challenges is the proliferation of sexual harassment against women in public places, such as public toilets and public transportation. Although separately designated toilets or waiting and seating areas in public transports are provided, enforcing these restrictions need constant manual surveillance. In this paper we propose an automatic gender classification system based on an individual’s facial characteristics. We evaluate the performance of QLRBP and MLLPQ as feature extractors combined with SVM or kNN as classifiers. Our experiments show that MLLPQ gives superior performance compared to QLRBP for either classifier. Furthermore, MLLPQ is less computationally demanding compared to QLRBP. The best result we achieved in our experiments was the combination of MLLPQ and kNN classifier, yielding an accuracy rate of 92.11%.

Public toilets from the perspective of users: a case study in a public place, Brazil

Public toilets are essential infrastructure to guarantee the right to sanitation in public spaces and, in more general terms, the right to inclusive and sustainable cities. Moreover, since the equipment has a direct user interface, it is important to understand their demands and needs. Given this, the present research aims to understand the perspective of public toilet users on the Pampulha Lake Shore (PLS), a public touristic place in Belo Horizonte, Brazil. For that, observations and semi-structured interviews were carried out with different public toilet users. In addition, comments posted at Google Local Guides tool of Google Maps were used as a secondary database for understanding user's experience on PLS toilets. The analysis made it possible to identify aspects related to availability, accessibility, quality (health and hygiene), security, and accessibility. Collected data showed how the conflicting choice of whether or not to use the toilet was directly related to the health and conservation of the urban equipment and interfered with social and leisure prospects. On a whole, the importance of user's perspective was highlighted in this study with emphasis on elaborating an adequate urban planning with concern to health, sanitation, and accessibility issues.

“Do We Not Bleed?” Sanitation, Menstrual Management, and Homelessness in the Time of COVID

Although access to adequate sanitation is formally recognized as a basic human right, public toilets have long been flagged as absent necessities by groups marginalized by class, gender, race, and ability in the United States. Navigating public spaces without the guarantee of reliable restrooms is more than a passing inconvenience for anyone needing immediate relief. This includes workers outside of traditional offices, people with medical conditions, caretakers of young children, or anyone without access to restroom amenities provided to customers. This absence is also gendered in ways that constrain the freedom of those who menstruate to participate in the public sphere. Managing menstrual hygiene requires twenty-four-hour access to safe, clean facilities, equipped for washing blood off hands and clothing and mechanisms for discreet disposal of used menstrual products. Public provision of such amenities is woefully inadequate in New York City (NYC), and homeless women especially bear the brunt of that neglect. Public health concerns about open defecation, coupled with feminist complaints that their absence restricted women’s ability to be out in public, catalyzed state investment to construct public toilets in the late 1800s. By 1907, eight had been built in NYC near public markets, and by the 1930s, the city built and renovated 145 comfort stations. However, changing public perceptions, vandalism, maintenance costs, and the City’s fiscal crisis in the 1970s all combined to reduce their numbers and degrade their quality. Public pay toilets provided a brief respite before falling victim to protest by feminists, who were rightly dismayed by policies that required payments for public usage of toilets but not for urinals. Supply deteriorated, and by 2019, NYC ranked ninety-third among large U.S. cities in per capita provision of public toilets. The remaining facilities are inadequately maintained and poorly monitored. The absence of public toilets poses an everyday challenge, but public health emergencies bring the need for public toilets into clear focus––as seen during the COVID-19 pandemic, which eliminated publicly accessible bathrooms in both private and public settings. That said, the effects of COVID on bathroom availability disproportionately affected those who were unable to heed the public health message to shelter at home––mobile “essential workers” and individuals experiencing homelessness. Homelessness advocates have long complained that civic toilet scarcity amounts to de facto entrapment, turning biological necessities into “public nuisances” for want of appropriate facilities. Criminalizing public urination and defecation in the absence of public facilities punishes the existence of individuals experiencing homelessness and challenges outreach workers’ efforts to gain their trust. With women increasingly prominent among those living on the streets or in shelters, this scarcity also impedes managing menstruation. Default reliance on private business is no answer for anyone defying passable “customer” profiles. Nor does the recent success of NYC’s “menstrual equity” efforts in schools, prisons, and shelters, with their primary focus on supplying menstrual products, suffice to cover the daytime needs of those on the move.

MENG-EMPU-KAN PEREMPUAN: DESAIN RUANG PUBLIK YANG AMAN DAN NYAMAN BAGI PEKERJA PEREMPUAN DI SCBD - JAKARTA

The SCBD area is a high class complex of office spaces and other uses, who has female workers with several levels and categories. The proportion of female to male workers in SCBD is reltively equal, around 47% and 53%. In supporting activities in the area, there has sharing public facilities and infrastructure. The facilities and infrastructure include pedestrians, public toilets, public open area, bus stop, zebra cross, and guardhouse. Women in general and female workers in particular have unique characteristics which made them feelings, they will be sensitive to certain things that can disturb their feelings of security and comfort. Those characteristics also make them vurnerable to crime, including sexual harassment. This especially true for female workers who come home late at night. Security systems, including the lighting system of the area, are among the most important conditions for female workers. Therefore, in the design of public space at SCBD the need for secure and comfortable spaces for all categories and levels of female workers was also considered. The purpose of this study is to review the appropriate security system in the area, opinion of female workers toward the system, and to formulate future improvement directions.This research is a qualitative research with case study method. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, part of the data collection process was conducted online. Finding of the study reveal that there are several things that are not fulfilled by the SCBD management with respect to the needs for secure and comfortable public spaces for female workers. In the future, it is expected that SCBD management will be more sensitive to the specific collective needs and aspiration of female.Keywords: Public Spaces, Gender, SCBD Jakarta, Women WorkersAbstrakKawasan SCBD merupakan kawasan perkantoran kelas atas dan mixed-use di Jakarta. Di dalamnya juga bekerja kaum perempuan dengan berbagai kategori dan tingkatan. Proporsi pekerja perempuan terhadap pekerja laki-laki di kawasan SCBD relatif sama, yakni 47% berbanding 53%. Dalam menunjang kegiatan di dalam kawasan, terdapat sarana dan prasarana publik yang digunakan bersama. Sarana dan prasarana tersebut berupa pedestrian, toilet umum, ruang terbuka publik, halte transportasi publik, zebra cross, dan pos jaga. Perempuan secara umum, dan pekerja perempuan khusus, memiliki karakteristik khas, yang menjadikan mereka peka terhadap hal-hal tertentu yang dapat mengganggu rasa aman dan nyaman mereka. Sementara, karena karakteristiknya tersebut, mereka juga rentan menjadi korban tindak kejahatan dan pelecehan seksual. Para pekerja perempuan yang karena tuntutan pekerjaannya mengharuskan mereka pulang larut malam paling rentan terhadap tindakan kejahatan tersebut. Sistem keamanan, termasuk pencahayaan kawasan yang memadai, penting untuk menjaga para pekerja perempuan. Karena itu, desain ruang publik di kawasan SCBD juga memperhatikan kebutuhan akan keamanan dan kenyamanan bagi berbagai tingkatan pekerja perempuan tersebut. Tujuan penelitian ini adalah untuk me-review sistem keamanan yang berjalan saat ini di kawasan SCBD, pandangan pekerja perempuan terhadap sistem keamanan tersebut, dan merumuskan arah perbaikan ke depan. Penelitian ini adalah penelitian kualitatif dengan metode studi kasus. Karena penelitian dikerjakan pada masa pandemi COVID-19, sebagian proses pengumpulan data dilakukan secara online. Hasil penelitian menemukan bahwa masih ada beberapa hal yang belum dipenuhi pihak pengelola SCBD berkatian dengan kebutuhan rasa aman dan nyaman pada ruang publik. Ke depan, pengelola kawasan SCBD diharapkan dapat lebih peka terhadap kebutuhan khas dan aspirasi para pekerja perempuan secara kolektif.

Kualitas Pelayanan Kartu Tanda Penduduk Elektronik Di Dinas Kependudukan dan Pencatatan Sipil Kota Palu

This study examines the Quality of Electronic Identity Card Services at the Department of Population and Civil Registration of Palu City. The types of data used are primary data and secondary data. Data collection techniques, carried out through observation, interviews, and documentation. Informant withdrawal technique using purposive. The number of informants in this study amounted to 5 people. The theory used is the theory of Zethmal, Parasuraman and Berry, which consists of 5 (five) aspects : tangibles, reliability, responsiveness, assurance and empathy. Based on the results of research conducted, that the quality of Electronic Identity Card Services at the Population and Civil Registration Office of Palu City is not optimal. First; tangibles, namely inadequate facilities and infrastructure such as the lack of space for waiting rooms and limited available seats, as well as public toilets that look unclean. But in terms of the appearance of the apparatus is quite good. Second; reliability, namely the ability of the apparatus to use assistive devices is good, it's just that the services provided do not fully refer to the service flow. Third; responsiveness, namely the response of the apparatus who received the applicant's complaint was very good, but the speed of processing electronic identity cards was not maximized. Fourth; assurance, which is the guarantee given by the apparatus to the applicants that is not on time. However, the permit fee charged is in accordance with applicable regulations. Fifth; empathy, namely the service provided is not discriminatory and the apparatus always provides courteous and friendly service. Thus, from the five aspects of service quality above, there are still several things that need to be addressed, so that the quality of service provided can be maximized.

Public toilets with insufficient ventilation present high cross infection risk

Due to insufficient ventilation, public toilets present high risks for cross-infection. The study investigated 61 public toilets to identify the causes and locations of biological contaminated sources. Airborne and surface bacterial contamination, carbon dioxide concentration, and surface ammonia levels were measured. Both bacterial contamination and CO2 are higher in non-ventilated toilets compared to their ventilated counterparts. Bacteria colony forming units (CFUs) in a public toilet with poor ventilation can reach 5 times the number of CFUs outside of the toilet. This suggests that non-ventilated public toilets present a higher risk of cross-infection. Areas near all kinds of sanitary equipment (toilet bowls, squat toilets and urinals) were highly contaminated, indicating that enhanced cleaning regimes are necessary. Further, lidless trash bins present a higher risk as contaminated matter within the trash bins is not inhibited from being released into the environment. Ventilation and cleaning need to be improved to mitigate the risk of cross-infection in public toilets.

Effects of face masks and ventilation on the risk of SARS-CoV-2 respiratory transmission in public toilets: a quantitative microbial risk assessment

Public toilets could increase the risk of COVID-19 infection via airborne transmission; however, related research is limited. We aimed to estimate SARS-CoV-2 infection risk through respiratory transmission using a quantitative microbial risk assessment framework by retrieving SARS-CoV-2 concentrations from the swab tests of 251 Thai patients. Three virus-generating scenarios were investigated: an infector breathing, breathing with a cough, and breathing with a sneeze. Infection risk (97.5th percentile) was as high as 10−3 with breathing and increased to 10−1 with a cough or sneeze, thus all higher than the risk benchmark of 5 × 10−5 per event. No significant gender differences for toilet users (receptors) were noted. The highest risk scenario of breathing and a sneeze was further evaluated for risk mitigation measures. Risk mitigation to lower than the benchmark succeeded only when the infector and receptor simultaneously wore an N95 respirator or surgical mask and when the receptor wore an N95 respirator and the infector wore a denim fabric mask. Ventilation up to 20 air changes per hour (ACH), beyond the 12-ACH suggested by the WHO, did not mitigate risk. Virus concentration, volume of expelled droplets, and receptor dwell time were identified as the main contributors to transmission risk.Highlights-The use of public toilets poses a risk of SARS-CoV-2 respiratory transmission-Highest risks generated in the order of sneezing, coughing, and breathing-No gender differences in risk by counteracting dwell times and inhalation rates-Ventilation did not reduce risk even at 20 ACH, beyond the WHO-recommended value-N95 and surgical masks offer the most effective risk mitigation to toilet usersGraphical abstract

Re Thinking the Public Toilet of Dhaka City: An Adaptable Prototype Design Solution to Improve the Existing Situation

Dhaka is one of the fastest-growing cities in the world with a population of 21 million. With the constantly rising inhabitants, this urbanizing hub officially only has 122 public toilets, and in reality, most of them are not functional (Sanyal, November 05, 2016). Different studies also suggested that current situations of the public toilets in the city are unusable and unhygienic. Apart from a few good ones, most toilets have filthy floors, inadequate lighting and ventilation, and unbearable odor of human waste. Although unhygienic open defecation by men is a common scene in the city, for the woman it is not an option. While the city plans to construct a few, there still will be a huge need for public toilets to meet the demand of the vast population. It is critical to realize the challenges existing and evolving from the forbidding public hygiene situation and the lack of proper public infrastructure. Understanding the user group is crucial as modern and costly toilets end up being rejected than being used. Thus the paper tries to address the problems and suggests design strategies to achieve a feasible design solution for a sustainable public toilet that supports and empowers communal hygiene. The contribution of this paper is not only to promote a design solution but how this infrastructure can integrate with the surrounding urban context. A modular prototype is proposed which is adaptable, feasible, cost-effective, easy to erect, and can be plugged into any corner of the city. Rethinking public toilets as an adaptable prototype is not only about providing proper sanitation but also encouraging people about hygiene education, awareness, and innovation. The design is conceptualized as a prefabricated self-sustainable modular unit that can be altered, increased, or decreased as per the necessity of the surrounding area.