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result(s) for
"TECHNICAL INFRASTRUCTURE"
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The underground city: the tourism potential of water and sewage infrastructure: the example of Poland
2021
Industrial tourism and technical facilities are a fast-growing branch of tourism that contains areas of great growth potential. The article deals with one of them. The tourist potential of water and sewage infrastructure in selected Polish cities was analysed and assessed. The study covered 11 cities of diverse socioeconomic potentials around the country. For each city, data were collected that had various levels of detail with regard to visitor numbers, tourist types, facilities made available, events and other special celebrations. For supplementary data, unstructured interviews were also conducted with relevant employees identified in businesses.
The analysis showed the studied form of tourism to have very high tourism potential. The work focuses on factors and features accounting for its currently low level of development. It is also emphasised that, based on current tourism trends, it should be expected to continue to grow rapidly in the coming years, and thus warrants further research.
Journal Article
Designing Participation: Institutional and Socio-Technical Determinants of Participatory Budgeting in Brno and Bratislava
This study explains why Brno’s municipal participatory budgeting (PB) has become durably institutionalised and scaled, whereas Bratislava’s remains fragmented. National fiscal and programme-budgeting frameworks are treated as moderating conditions that enable or constrain local design choices, not as the primary object of analysis. Using a most-similar systems logic, we conduct a comparative multi-case analysis with embedded units – annual PB cycles, project types, core institutions/platforms, and, for Bratislava, boroughs. Evidence derives from publicly available municipal legal and budgetary documents and formally adopted PB rules and reports. The analysis integrates mechanisms from institutional theory (institutionalisation), actor – network theory (socio-technical robustness of identity, workflow, and data infrastructures), deliberative democracy (input/throughput/output legitimacy), and principal – agent perspectives (transparency and auditability). Findings show that Brno’s stable funding envelope, dedicated participation unit, codified cycles, secure digital identity, and auditable end-to-end pipeline underpin predictable delivery despite clustered turnout. Bratislava’s borough-led PB enables experimentation but creates coordination frictions, heterogeneous rules, and uneven links to programme budgeting. The study offers a portable, mechanism-based diagnostic for post-socialist municipal contexts.
Journal Article
Clinical quality registries: Establishing the socio‐technical infrastructure for learning health systems
by
Stirling, Rob G.
,
Ahern, Susannah
,
Zalcberg, John
in
Clinical outcomes
,
clinical quality registry
,
Corporate culture
2025
Background Clinical quality registries (CQR) systematically monitor and provide feedback on the appropriateness and effectiveness of health care within specific clinical domains, collecting data about medical care processes and outcomes, and providing benchmarked performance reports to health care providers for the purpose of driving improvements in safety and quality. Aims The successful development of a learning infrastructure requires the alignment of people, technologies, policies, and processes, brought together by shared needs and a culture of continuous quality improvement. The creation and description of such infrastructure is likely to successfully support the delivery of services critical to continuous quality improvement initiatives. Materials and Methods We aimed to describe the construction and impacts of healthcare improvement infrastructure within CQRs. Results Socio‐technical infrastructure comprises participants that contribute to the design, evaluation, reporting and dissemination of quality improvement activities: employing effective and timely data acquisition, describing healthcare processes and outcomes; supported by directed policy process and supportive organisations. Review of CQR function identifies positive impacts on healthcare utilisation, improved clinical outcomes and significant improvement in survival supported by cost effective investment. Discussion Quality improvement frameworks and strategies have been developed to drive CQRs towards international best practice in learning health system structure for data collection and reporting; delivering efficiency and interoperability in data collection and exchange; promoting standardised approaches to CQR design. Conclusion Clinical quality registries have demonstrated significant national impacts in quality improvement in high burden disease domains. These registries rely on the construction and resourcing of socio‐technical infrastructures that support quality improvement.
Journal Article
Infrastructure Transitions Through Nature-Based Solutions: Aligning Perceptions
by
van Kempen, Suzan
,
Dorst, Hade
,
Bigaj-van Vliet, Agnieszka
in
asset management
,
Biodiversity
,
Built environment
2026
We argue that mainstreaming Nature-based Solutions (NbS) requires alignment of diverse value systems and integrated, cross-sectoral collaboration, and we present the necessary conditions for increasing practical implementation. NbS are increasingly recognised as effective strategies to protect critical infrastructures against climate change impacts while enhancing them by delivering ecological, social, and economic benefits. Despite growing policy support, the integration of NbS into mainstream infrastructure planning remains limited due to siloed responsibilities and decision making, entrenched institutional structures that favour grey infrastructure, and challenges in balancing short-term risks with long-term value. We examine if and how NbS mainstreaming in the infrastructure sector could be enabled. Building on insights into infrastructure governance and innovation mainstreaming, we explore perceptions and engagement with NbS and opportunities for strengthening co-governance and collaborative decision making in the Dutch infrastructure domain. A critical insight is that NbS must be understood as part of a broader socio-ecological–technical system rather than isolated interventions. This results in requirements for more integrated approaches to governance and planning as well as assessment. Asset managers in particular could play a pivotal role by adopting holistic performance assessments that consider co-benefits and trade-offs.
Journal Article
Reconsidering learning in a socio-material world. A response to Fischer et al. 's contribution
2023
Purpose - The purpose of this commentary is to comment on Fischer's et al. (2022)
Design/methodology/approach - This commentary responds to Fischer's et al. (2022) call on envisioning alternate conceptualizations of learning for the digital era. In doing so, the author argues for reconsidering learning in its socio-material condition, situated and made of a web of social and technological relations. In this context, the author takes a relational lens on learning to interrogate taken-for-granted views of (1) personalizing data increasingly used for student learning, (2) emerging educational infrastructures for higher education and (3) the student–teacher relationship mediated by data and algorithms.
Findings - In this commentary, the author suggested unpacking assumptions about learning that get reflected in the design and discourses about socio-technical arrangements and transformations in education. Taking the example of personalized learning, the author has illustrated a relational mode of thinking that leads the author to argue that, renewed definitions of learning must be discussed multidimensionally and, most importantly, situated in the material world that learning is already part of.
Research limitations/implications - Following Fischer et al. (2022, this issue), the author agrees that the focus should be on finding “new ways of organizing learning by exploring opportunities for radically new conceptualizations and practices.” In order to do that it is of utmost importance to problematize the social and material conditions that actively configure learning today and infrastructure tomorrow's learning. Hopefully, these observations will entice others to discuss further the educational transformations at stake in the age of datafication and algorithmic decision-making.
Originality/value - The author argues for reconsidering learning in its socio-material condition, which is situated and made of a web of social and technological relations. In this context, the author argues that any attempt to reconceptualize learning from a transformational perspective in the 21st century, as mentioned by Fischer et al. (2022), needs to interrogate views and assumptions about the socio-technical relationships researchers, practitioners and educators are contributing to via their practices and discourses.
Journal Article
Causes of the development of buildable areas in the urban planning of small municipalities in the Czech Republic (case study South Bohemian region)
2024
Although the rules for the development of municipalities are rooted in legislation, they are often neglected, and the municipality’s interest in expanding into accessible areas is prioritised over the interests of existing residents, the environment, and local farmers. The goal of this work was, based on the analysis of urban planning documentation and other freely available materials, to obtain knowledge about the driving forces that influence the delimitation of buildable areas and their functional classification. Fourteen municipalities within the South Bohemian Region were chosen for this work. Based on statistical analyses carried out in the CANOCO program, it was found that the most crucial factor for the development of the territory is its current formation, as well as the level of technical infrastructure and civic amenities. Practically all municipalities, regardless of their location, size, natural features or population potential, are most often oriented towards the development of sites for housing.
Journal Article
Open-Source Data Collection and Data Sets for Activity Recognition in Smart Homes
by
Köckemann, Uwe
,
Ahmed, Mobyen Uddin
,
Lindén, Maria
in
Activities of Daily Living
,
Activity recognition
,
Automation
2020
As research in smart homes and activity recognition is increasing, it is of ever increasing importance to have benchmarks systems and data upon which researchers can compare methods. While synthetic data can be useful for certain method developments, real data sets that are open and shared are equally as important. This paper presents the E-care@home system, its installation in a real home setting, and a series of data sets that were collected using the E-care@home system. Our first contribution, the E-care@home system, is a collection of software modules for data collection, labeling, and various reasoning tasks such as activity recognition, person counting, and configuration planning. It supports a heterogeneous set of sensors that can be extended easily and connects collected sensor data to higher-level Artificial Intelligence (AI) reasoning modules. Our second contribution is a series of open data sets which can be used to recognize activities of daily living. In addition to these data sets, we describe the technical infrastructure that we have developed to collect the data and the physical environment. Each data set is annotated with ground-truth information, making it relevant for researchers interested in benchmarking different algorithms for activity recognition.
Journal Article
Reconsidering learning in a socio-material world. A response to Fischer et al.'s contribution
2023
PurposeThe purpose of this commentary is to comment on Fischer's et al. (2022)Design/methodology/approachThis commentary responds to Fischer's et al. (2022) call on envisioning alternate conceptualizations of learning for the digital era. In doing so, the author argues for reconsidering learning in its socio-material condition, situated and made of a web of social and technological relations. In this context, the author takes a relational lens on learning to interrogate taken-for-granted views of (1) personalizing data increasingly used for student learning, (2) emerging educational infrastructures for higher education and (3) the student–teacher relationship mediated by data and algorithms.FindingsIn this commentary, the author suggested unpacking assumptions about learning that get reflected in the design and discourses about socio-technical arrangements and transformations in education. Taking the example of personalized learning, the author has illustrated a relational mode of thinking that leads the author to argue that, renewed definitions of learning must be discussed multidimensionally and, most importantly, situated in the material world that learning is already part of.Research limitations/implicationsFollowing Fischer et al. (2022, this issue), the author agrees that the focus should be on finding “new ways of organizing learning by exploring opportunities for radically new conceptualizations and practices.” In order to do that it is of utmost importance to problematize the social and material conditions that actively configure learning today and infrastructure tomorrow's learning. Hopefully, these observations will entice others to discuss further the educational transformations at stake in the age of datafication and algorithmic decision-making.Originality/valueThe author argues for reconsidering learning in its socio-material condition, which is situated and made of a web of social and technological relations. In this context, the author argues that any attempt to reconceptualize learning from a transformational perspective in the 21st century, as mentioned by Fischer et al. (2022), needs to interrogate views and assumptions about the socio-technical relationships researchers, practitioners and educators are contributing to via their practices and discourses.
Journal Article
Development of a multipurpose geographic database for urban infrastructure management in Ho Chi Minh city (Vietnam)
by
Tran, Hanh Hong
,
Nguyen, Hien Thu Thi
in
Cities
,
Critical components
,
Data base management systems
2025
A Geographic Information System (GIS) is a technology designed to collect, store, analyze, manage, display, and update location-based data, integrating diverse data types from various sources. A critical component of GIS is its database, which organizes and stores data in a structured format, enabling the efficient retrieval and management of primary information. The geographic database plays an important role in various fields, including socio-economic development, national security and defense, natural resource and environmental management, transportation, and the exploitation of natural resources. The urban technical infrastructure database is one of the key databases supporting the development of smart cities. Purpose. To develop a multipurpose geographic database at a scale of 1:2,000 for Ho Chi Minh City region, Vietnam, from which data layers will be extracted to support the management of urban technical infrastructure in the study area. Methodology. The research consists of several essential steps, including LiDAR scanning, digital photography, data collection and processing, digital image mapping, standardization of digital elevation models, vectorization of geographic features, and field investigations to gather attribute data for geographic objects. Subsequently, the process involves integrating specialized maps with existing 1:2,000-scale topographic maps to standardize the geographic data. The next phase focuses on building a geographic database and editing the 1:2,000-scale topographic map using ArcGIS. Finally, data layers related to urban technical infrastructure will be extracted from the geographic database. Findings. The geographic database was developed consisting of seven groups – borders, hydrology, surveying, population, topography, traffic, and surface coverage, and a 1:2,000-scale topographic map of Ho Chi Minh City was created. Additionally, basic urban technical infrastructure data layers were extracted from the geographic database to support urban infrastructure management. Originality. This study is the first to establish a geographic database at a 1:2,000 scale and extract urban infrastructure data layers from it for the experimental area of Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Practical value. The research results will enhance the information system supporting urban technical infrastructure management, enabling local authorities to develop appropriate policies and streamline management processes more efficiently and effectively.
Journal Article