Search Results (54)

Addressing the opportunistic behavior of retailers operating within the unique spaces of transportation hub ecosystems, which exploit strong temporal and spatial constraints and geographic monopolies, this paper constructs a three-party evolutionary game model involving transportation hub authorities, micro-merchant enterprises, and transient consumers. Using China’s high-speed rail hubs as the research context, this study develops a theoretical evolutionary game model with numerical simulations and endogenously embeds the backlash from informal digital public opinion into the regulatory decision-making framework. The study thoroughly deconstructs the mechanisms of behavioral evolution and control pathways within highly constrained micro-spaces. The study reveals that: (1) Static, constant regulation, lacking negative feedback linked to the system’s state, inevitably causes the system to fall into a non-convergent “regulation-speculation” cyclical oscillation; (2) A state-dependent dynamic regulatory mechanism can effectively serve as an adaptive damper to quell strategic oscillations; however, because it fails to eliminate speculative premiums, the system becomes locked in a mediocrity trap characterized by low compliance rates; (3) Endogenous digital public opinion leverage can reconfigure the phase space structure and trigger topological bifurcations in the system, breaking the attractor region of the mediocrity equilibrium and driving the game system to undergo a structural transition, with asymptotic convergence to the pure-strategy ideal point. Furthermore, digital empowerment drives consumers to exhibit an inverted U-shaped transient behavioral trajectory of “forced silence—awakening to rights advocacy—rational self-governance,” thereby scientifically deconstructing the public’s dual silence paradox in the digital age. This study not only provides a mathematical basis for the public sector to achieve a paradigm shift from rigid regulation to flexible adaptive governance and structural safe retreat at the micro level, but also offers strategic insights for intertemporal compliance management by micro-merchants. Full article

Rapid urbanization in metropolitan cities has intensified traffic congestion on major arterial corridors, particularly in mixed-use environments where growing travel demand, limited road capacity, and inadequate infrastructure reduce operational efficiency and increase pedestrian and vehicle conflicts. This study evaluates the operational performance of the Jogeshwari-Vikhroli Link Road (JVLR) in Powai, Mumbai, India, a key urban corridor connecting residential, commercial, and institutional zones to the suburban railway network. The lack of automated Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) necessitated reliance on manual field surveys and provided an opportunity to develop a practical framework for data-scarce environments. The methodology integrates spatial mapping of regional transit gaps, road inventory surveys, classified traffic volume counts, Passenger Car Unit (PCU) conversions, and Level of Service (LOS) assessments to identify constraints at vehicle-stressed links. The road inventory identified a systemic lack of non-motorized transport (NMT) infrastructure, with dedicated bicycle lanes and adequate road shoulders absent across all surveyed stretches. Although basic pedestrian pathways ranging from 2.0 to 2.5 m in width exist, informal vendors and unregulated on-street parking reduce their operational effectiveness and the effective carriageway width. Broken footpaths, absent or faded lane markings and zebra crossings, and inadequate street hardware and furniture further force pedestrians onto the active carriageway, intensifying mid-block friction and pedestrian and vehicle conflicts. Traffic density was calculated using official speed limits mandated and actively enforced by the Mumbai traffic police as the operational baseline for density-based LOS classification. Density analysis classified 8 of 18 road stretches below LOS C, compared with 3 under traffic-volume-based classification. The paired difference was suggestive but not statistically significant at the 5% level (exact McNemar p = 0.0625), while weighted agreement between the two ordinal LOS classifications was moderate. Seven-day coefficient of variation values ranged from 7.7% to 10.7%, with all 18 stretches below 15%, indicating low to acceptable short-term variability. The most critical congestion occurred along the IIT Bombay Main Gate Road, with a peak traffic flow of 2307 PCU/hour/lane corresponding to LOS E. The study proposes context-sensitive, data-driven interventions to reinforce proposed geometric road widenings, including right-of-way recovery through relocation of unregulated parking and street vendors at high-density nodes such as roads passing through Gandhinagar Junction (22.05 PCU/km/lane), physical dividers and additional merging lanes at Saki Vihar Road, off-carriageway Intermediate Public Transport (IPT) staging bays, grade-separated pedestrian crossings, and localized stormwater drainage improvements beneath Metro Line-6 pillars. Full article

Urban sustainability is tied to transport sustainability. Limitations of tools for internalization of externalities and distortions of incentives for environmentally friendly behavior of vehicle owners hinder the transition to sustainable urban development. The complexity of accurately assessing pollutants emissions by motor vehicles makes it difficult to internalize the economic damage caused by actual emissions. The purpose of the study is to develop a system for organizing the internalization of damage caused by actual emissions of pollutants by motor vehicles in the territory. For motor vehicles, the power consumption depends on operating conditions and driving style. Effective power affects the volume of exhaust gases, and the quality of the power unit and the efficiency of its management affect the content of pollutants in the exhaust gases. A system of interaction of environmental policy instruments is proposed, which allows for the internalization of economic damage from actual emissions of pollutants from vehicles. The basis of the system is dependencies of the masses of pollutant emissions with vehicle exhaust gases on the actual engine power used. The system assumes the internalization of damage from emissions, joint use of the mechanism of buying and selling rights to pollute the environment (for public and freight transport), and emission payments (for other types of vehicles). The system for accounting for actual emissions will improve the adequacy of comparing alternatives for the movement of passengers and goods, including with electric transport and unmanned systems. The system for ensuring the internalization of damage from actual emissions will reduce distortions and create adequate incentives to reduce damage from emissions. Full article

Health tourism represents a dynamic sector operating at the intersection of medical services, international patient mobility, and tourism development. Despite its growing prominence, the academic literature frequently conflates health tourism with medical and wellness tourism—a conceptual ambiguity that complicates the establishment of robust, sustainable legal frameworks. Addressing this gap, the present paper conceptualizes health tourism as an overarching framework that encompasses recovery, wellness, and medical sub-sectors. Within this comprehensive paradigm, we explore the contemporary landscape of health tourism in Northern Cyprus through a stakeholder-driven qualitative lens. Utilizing a qualitative case study design, data were gathered via semi-structured interviews with 40 key respondents representing healthcare, travel, public administration, academia, and related professional domains, and subsequently subjected to thematic analysis using NVivo 15 software. The findings reveal that the sector in Northern Cyprus is heavily skewed toward medical tourism, with a concentrated focus on in vitro fertilization (IVF), cosmetic surgery, dental care, and bariatric procedures. Conversely, wellness and rehabilitation tourism remain largely untapped strategic niches. The analysis further indicates that sectoral growth is constrained by structural bottlenecks, including fragmented governance, limited international recognition, transport and accessibility barriers, inadequate accreditation systems, lack of stakeholder synergy, and ethical concerns regarding advertising and patient safety. Moving beyond standard environmental sustainability, this research underscores that long-term destination resilience requires ethical governance, clinical quality controls, patient-rights advocacy, transparent legal frameworks, and community-level economic integration. Ultimately, this study proposes an integrated, stakeholder-centric paradigm tailored to the unique socio-political and structural realities of Northern Cyprus, offering actionable policy recommendations that enrich the discourse on sustainable medical tourism from a small-island perspective. Full article

In the context of economic disparities, housing as a fundamental right highlights processes of social differentiation and stratification. From a complexity perspective, factors such as location, distance from development hubs, and designs that standardize needs exacerbate weaknesses in its conception. The new realities of living in housing prompt us to rethink design approaches that integrate housing and work. This research analyzes the Ciudad Alegría Social Housing Program, located in the city of Loja, Ecuador. The diagnostic method indicated that 24% of homes have commercial projections as a survival strategy. While these spatial patterns diminish the levels of habitability in the homes, they also provide benefits such as proximity between home and work, savings in transportation costs, interaction with neighbors, and mixed uses. These observations reveal gaps in the architectural design process, which fails to consider both service providers and users in decision-making related to the design of VIS programs, highlighting the need for this phenomenon to be elevated to public policy. Full article

Transitioning to electrified freight transport is a challenging task, and this article explores how charging strategies can be evaluated based on operational factors. The purpose is to develop a method that synthesises the core insights of the current literature and is easy to use and understand for practitioners. Therefore, it is an aim to make it as simple as possible, covering the core factors needed to find the right charging strategy, while deliberately excluding factors which only have a minor effect. The method is intended to be used to start developing an electrification strategy and can serve as a tool to decide which solutions to investigate further with more detailed methods. A cost–benefit analysis, which includes both monetary and subjective measures, is used to analyse various types of chargers and charging strategies. The novelty of the article lies in applying a systems perspective that enables a more comprehensive evaluation of charging strategies than studies that focus on specific operational factors. The results highlight five operational factors for evaluation: charging cost, productivity, flexibility, robustness, and business risk. The findings suggest that many hauliers can manage most, if not all, of their charging needs independently. Consequently, it is likely that many can begin electrifying soon, as public charging is often not critical for the electrification of their trucks. Furthermore, the article presents a decision tree to create an overview of how different driving characteristics match different charging strategies. Full article

Gender-based violence in public transportation is a global phenomenon that restricts women’s rights and autonomy. Most of the documentation relies on harassment and physical aggression, but the subtle internalized mechanisms that reproduce gender inequities remain insufficiently analyzed. This study involves the concept of symbolic violence as an analytical category to unveil how resignation and normalization of violence perpetuate gender power relations and limit women’s mobility. A cross-sectional survey of 263 women aged 15–60 was conducted in Querétaro, Mexico, a rapidly growing city with significant mobility challenges. The questionnaire included items on perceptions of safety, violent experiences, responses to acts of violence, and prevention strategies. An inductive–abductive analysis was implemented to construct empirical indicators derived from Bordieu’s concept of symbolic violence and habitus. Findings reveal that fear, avoidance, and self-regulation are normalized responses to violence in public transport. Women implement strategies such as changing routes, limiting night travel, or increasing their expenses to access safer options. Six empirical indicators were identified: perceived insecurity as normality, resignation to harassment, bodily and emotional self-regulation, preventive reorganization of mobility, personal costs of safety, and collective inaction. In conclusion, the study demonstrates how symbolic violence operates through behaviors, actions, perceptions, and thoughts that reproduce inequities. Operationalizing symbolic violence provides a methodological and conceptual tool to advance gender equality and inform gender-sensitive mobility policies. Full article

Sustainable urban development increasingly relies on hyperlocal environmental analytics created by smart city platforms that combine stationary and mobile sensors, Earth observations, meteorology, and land-use data. However, accurate spatio-temporal resolution can provide indirect identification and amplify cybersecurity threats. This article proposes the regulatory and technical mapping that implements the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the Network and Information Security Directive (NIS2) throughout the lifecycle of environmental data—reception, transport, storage, analytics, sharing, and publication. The methods combine doctrinal legal analysis, a review of the scope of recent research, formalized compliance modeling, modeling with synthetic city-scale datasets, expert identification, and demonstration of integrated analytics. The demonstration links deep evaluation of neural abnormalities (convolutional plus recurrent layers), short-term Fourier transformation of sensor signals, byte-to-image telemetry fingerprints, and protocol event counters, thereby tracking detection to explanatory evidence and to control actions. Deliverables include a matrix aligning lifecycle stages with GDPR principles and rights, as well as with the responsibilities of NIS2; a checklist for assessing the impact on data protection, which takes into account the risks of fairness and stigmatization; a basic set of controls for identification and access, secure design, monitoring, continuity, supplier assurance, and incident reporting; as well as a multi-layered publishing strategy that combines transparency with privacy through aggregation, delayed release, differentiated privacy budgets, and research enclaves. The visualization confirms that technical signals can be included in audit-ready reporting and automated response, while the guidelines legally clarify the relevant bases for common use cases such as air quality assurance networks, noise mapping, citizen sensor applications, and mobility and exposure modeling. The effects of the policy emphasize shared services for small municipalities, supply chain security, and ongoing review to counteract the mosaic effect. Overall, the study shows how cities can maximize environmental and social value based on environmental data, while maintaining privacy, sustainability, and equity by design. Full article

Crude oil exploration and transportation have led to significant soil contamination in nearby communities, yet seasonal and depth-related variations remain poorly understood. This study assessed physicochemical properties, potentially toxic elements, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in surface (0–15 cm) and subsurface (15–30 cm) soils from the Ibaa community and its pipeline Right of Way (ROW) in Rivers State, Nigeria. Samples were collected during wet and dry seasons from five locations, and analyses were conducted using standard methods. Results showed that soil temperature ranged from 27.5 to 31.2 °C, reflecting natural environmental conditions, while nitrate concentrations (1.23–3.45 mg/kg) and moisture content (14.3–23.9%) were within acceptable WHO limits. The pH values (4.61–5.72) suggested acidic conditions, particularly in the unremediated areas. Total Organic Carbon exceeded 3%, with a maximum of 6.23% recorded in the wet season, suggesting persistent hydrocarbon contamination. Phosphorus levels (2.65–6.02 mg/kg) were below the 15 mg/kg threshold. Notably, As (4.93 mg/kg) and Cd (1.67 mg/kg) concentrations exceeded the permissible WHO limits. Positive correlations were observed between As–Cd (r = 0.79), Cd–Cu (r = 0.85), and Pb–Cu (r = 0.64). Principal Component Analysis identified four components for physicochemical parameters (81.9% variance) and two for metals (82.6% variance), suggesting crude oil combustion and vehicular emissions as dominant pollution sources. Pb also correlated significantly with total PAHs in the dry season (r = 0.54, p < 0.05). The study highlights the influence of season and depth on contaminant behavior and emphasizes the urgent need for remediation and monitoring to mitigate ecological and public health risks. Full article

The mental and physical health of college students, especially in urban environments like Shanghai, is crucial given the high academic and urban stressors, which were intensified by the COVID-19 lockdown. Prior research has shown gender differences in health impacts during public health crises, with females often more vulnerable to mental health issues. Objective: This study aimed to comprehensively assess the physical and psychological health of Chinese college students post-lockdown, focusing on the relationship between stress, anxiety, depression, sleep patterns, and physical health, with a particular emphasis on gender differences. Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study involving 116 students in Shanghai, utilizing psychological scales (HAMA, IPAQ, PSQI, SDS, FS 14, PSS, SF-36) and physical fitness tests (resting heart rate, blood pressure, hand grip, forced vital capacity, standing long jump, sit-and-reach, one-minute sit-up test and the one-minute squat test, single-leg stand test with eyes closed), to analyze health and behavior during the pandemic lockdown. All students have undergone the same life habits during the pandemic. Results: The HAMA scores indicated no significant levels of physical or mental anxiety. The PSS results (42.45 ± 8.93) reflected a high overall stress level. Furthermore, the PSQI scores (5.4 ± 2.91) suggested that the participants experienced mild insomnia. The IPAQ scores indicated higher levels of job-related activity (1261.49 ± 2144.58), transportation activity (1253.65 ± 987.57), walking intensity (1580.78 ± 1412.20), and moderate-intensity activity (1353.03 ± 1675.27) among college students following the lockdown. Hand grip strength (right) (p = 0.001), sit-and-reach test (p = 0.001), standing long jump (p = 0.001), and HAMA total score (p = 0.033) showed significant differences between males and females. Three principal components were identified in males: HAMA, FS14, and PSQI, explaining a total variance of 70.473%. Similarly, three principal components were extracted in females: HAMA, PSQI, and FS14, explaining a total variance of 69.100%. Conclusions: Our study underscores the complex interplay between physical activity (PA), mental health, and quality of life, emphasizing the need for gender-specific interventions. The persistent high stress, poor sleep quality, and reduced PA levels call for a reorganized teaching schedule to enhance student well-being without increasing academic pressure. Full article

Henri Lefebvre’s “right to the city” has rarely been examined through an intersectional feminist lens, leaving unnoticed the uneven burdens that urban design and policy place on women. This article bridges that gap by combining constitutional analysis, survey data (n = 736), in-depth interviews, and participatory observation to assess how Quito’s public spaces affect women’s safety and mobility. Quantitative results show that 81% of respondents endured sexual or offensive remarks, 69.8% endured obscene gestures, and 38% endured severe harassment in the month before the survey; 43% of these incidents occurred only days or weeks beforehand, underscoring their routine nature. Qualitative narratives reveal behavioral adaptations—altered routes, self-policing dress codes, and distrust of authorities—and identify poorly lit corridors and weak institutional presence as spatial amplifiers of violence. Analysis of Quito’s “Safe City” program exposes a gulf between its ambitious rhetoric and its narrow, transport-centered implementation. We conclude that constitutional guarantees of participation, appropriation, and urban life will remain aspirational until urban planning mainstreams gender-sensitive design, secures intersectoral resources, and embeds women’s substantive participation throughout policy cycles. A feminist reimagining of Quito’s public realm is therefore indispensable to transform the right to the city from legal principle into lived reality. Full article

Bus lanes with intermittent priority (BLIP) are designed to optimize road resource allocation. The advent of connected and automated vehicles (CAVs) promotes the implementation of BLIP. However, it is crucial to find an effective method to intermittently grant right-of-way to CAVs. In this paper, we introduce a BLIP method with spatio-temporal clear distance (BLIP-ST) and a CAV control method in an intelligent transportation environment. When CAVs access BLIP-ST, the constraints of the moving gap between buses are considered. When CAVs leave BLIP-ST, coordination with the nearest CAV platoon on the adjacent lane is considered to cope with situations where CAVs cannot find the appropriate space. Then, the proposed method was simulated by an open boundary cellular automaton model. The results showed that with the same inflow, a CAV-sharing bus lane could significantly improve road traffic efficiency, and it is the most significant when the CAV penetration rate is medium, with the average road speed increasing from 6.67 km/h to 30.53 km/h. Meanwhile, when the CAV penetration rate is medium, BLIP-ST operates with the best efficiency at different strategies. This was due to the fact that when the penetration rate is too high, BLIP-ST is excessively occupied, which affects public transportation priority. When the penetration rate is too low, BLIP-ST cannot be fully utilized. In addition, regardless of the penetration rate of CAV, CAV platoon collaborative lane changing is better than single CAV collaborative lane changing in terms of improving road traffic efficiency and can increase the average road speed by 8–19%. Full article

Bicycle safety remains a critical concern as cycling gains popularity, especially in urban areas where traffic conditions pose significant risks. The increasing presence of bicycles and derivatives of them further complicates traffic dynamics, raising the potential for accidents and injuries. This study examines bicycle accident trends in Poland from 2016 to 2023 using data provided by the Polish Police, supplemented with medical insights on injury mechanisms. The analysis highlights key patterns, such as the higher incidence of accidents during summer, fewer accidents on weekends compared to weekdays, and the disproportionate fatality rate among cyclists over 60. Failure to yield the right of way emerges as a leading cause of accidents. These findings underscore the need for a multifaceted approach to improving cyclist safety, including infrastructural enhancements, public education, stricter enforcement of traffic laws, and advancements in medical response and protective gear. Addressing these factors can contribute to a safer environment that supports the continued growth of sustainable and active transportation. Full article

Community Restaurants (CRs), part of the Brazilian government’s Popular Restaurant Program (PRP), provide free and/or affordable nutritionally balanced meals as an essential strategy to meet the most vulnerable population’s basic needs and rights. This cross-sectional study evaluated the effectiveness of these CRs’ proposed objectives in cities with ≥100,000 inhabitants in Brazil’s northern and northeastern regions—Brazil’s most vulnerable and historically unequal regions. Effectiveness was assessed using a CR evaluation matrix-based indicator system to classify CRs as “not very effective”, “effective”, or “very effective”. Among the 94 CRs assessed (north: n = 23, 24.5%; northeast: n = 71, 75.5%), most were classified as “effective” or “very effective”, except for the northern states of Amapá and Tocantins, whose only CR was rated as “not very effective” and the northeastern state of Sergipe, which had a PR considered “not very effective”. State-operated CRs predominated (north: 82.6%; northeast: 76.1%) and primarily operated Monday to Friday (north: 87.0%; northeast: 59.2%), with 35.2% of the northeast CRs operating daily, serving lunch as the main meal (100%). Average daily meal counts were 486.5 (north) and 926.9 (northeast), and the average meal offering time was from 10:55 am to 1:21 pm in the north and from 10:35 am to 2:00 pm in the northeast region, with costs averaging USD 0.27 and USD 0.20, respectively. All CRs employed a nutritionist as a technical manager responsible for menu planning and demonstrated compliance with essential infrastructure criteria, including regular waste collection, water supply, and proximity to public transport. Most were in areas with sanitary sewage coverage (north: 91.3%; northeast: 98.6%) and had monitoring mechanisms (91.3% north; 94.4% northeast) and prioritization systems for vulnerable populations (north: 73.9%; northeast: 80.0%). These findings indicate that CRs in these regions effectively strive to address food security goals, demonstrating tangible outcomes that benefit society. Full article

The aim of our study is to review the new vehicle diagnostic requirements that support economical and environmentally friendly operation. Vehicle technology is undergoing continuous and significant changes. At the same time, it is not enough to develop energy-efficient and environmentally friendly technologies; they must be operated in proper technical conditions and with proper driving techniques. Accordingly, new, innovative procedures are constantly needed for the economical and environmentally friendly operation of vehicles, and it is important to emphasize that vehicle diagnostics must also follow these changes! The practical applications of our publication and our research focus on several areas. This research is particularly important in the case of public transport vehicles and transport fleets. An important practical aspect is that large transport companies also achieve significant cost savings and, at the same time, contribute to environmentally friendly transport. The publication represents a new direction in vehicle diagnostics and research and development; this is the ECO-Diagnostics discussed in the material. ECO-Diagnostics is a procedure that takes into account both ecological and economic factors during vehicle diagnostic tests. Vehicle diagnostics, as an independent, professional, and scientific field, began to develop in the 1970s. This field of research experiences a paradigm shift, on average, every 20 years. Today, an epochal shift is taking place, with the development and spread of alternative propulsion systems (e.g., electric, hydrogen, or gas) and autonomous vehicles being the main areas of focus. The changes in vehicle technology must be followed by vehicle diagnostics too. Some of the already-known diagnostic methods (e.g., for internal combustion engines) can be included in this category, but new methods are also needed to enable the economical and environmentally friendly operation of vehicles. These facts make it important and urgent to define and research this area. Research in this area is particularly important for public transport vehicles and transport fleets. It is not enough to develop energy-efficient and environmentally friendly technologies: they must be operated in the right technical condition and with the right driving techniques for the intended purpose. This will help large transport companies to achieve significant cost savings and contribute to the environmentally friendly transport of passengers and goods. A major new area in vehicle diagnostics needs to be introduced and expanded. ECO-Diagnostics is a new category that has not been used before, and it also marks a new area of research and development. The article presents the basics of categorization and supports them with its own research results and application examples. As an introduction, a systematic overview of vehicle diagnostics as a whole is also provided. This is important (and novel) as no such systematic overview is available in the technical and scientific literature. The new category should also be included in this scheme. In parallel with the development of vehicles and diagnostic procedures, the methods and their context covered by the umbrella term ECO-Diagnostics (in ecological and economic terms) should, of course, be constantly expanded. Artificial intelligence can play an important role in this process. In the future, there will be a strong demand for the development of procedures in the field of ECO-Diagnostics. For both economic and environmental reasons, it is urgent and important to research and develop procedures in this category. This fact will also influence the work of researchers in the future. Full article