Hasil untuk "Settlements"

Ivan N. Alov, Marko D. Petrović, Alisa M. Belyaeva

Urban depopulation has become an increasingly visible phenomenon worldwide, affecting cities of different sizes and economic structures. This article develops a typology of U.S. depopulating cities beyond the Rust Belt’s iconic industrial cities, which dominate academic literature, to include a wider range of shrinking settlements in the shadows. The analysis is based on a dataset of U.S. census places constructed from decennial census population data (1990–2020) combined with employment structure indicators and spatial classification variables identifying metropolitan position and industrial specialization. Using 1990–2020 population change and three explanatory dimensions—city size, industrial heritage, and peripheral location—the analysis identified 1082 places that lost at least 10% of their population. Logistic regression showed manufacturing and mining reliance, small size, and remoteness as significant predictors of depopulation. Based on these factors, settlements are divided into seven types, from large urban centers to small peripheral towns with fewer than 5000 people. The overwhelming predominance of small towns (97%) in the sample highlights their distinct development challenges and questions the narrative of decline focused solely on larger industrial cities. By situating American trajectories within the broader shrinking cities discourse, the findings demonstrate the value of typology as a methodological tool for identifying intra-group heterogeneity, capturing regional differences, and establishing a more reliable basis for comparative urban studies. Ultimately, the study shows that urban decline in the United States is not exclusively a Rust Belt phenomenon, but a multidimensional process encompassing different scales, sectors, and geographies.

Hammed Mogaji, Hammed Mogaji, Hammed Mogaji et al.

IntroductionMore than 15% of Brazil's urban population lives in slums characterized by limited access to essential urban services, heightened vulnerability to infectious pathogens and environmental hazards, and deprivation of citizenship rights. These conditions exacerbate social inequality, perpetuate cycles of poverty, and fuel violence, underscoring the urgent need for sustainable interventions.MethodsFollowing a social justice framework, we developed a community development program rooted in participatory research methods and popular health education to foster collaboration between university researchers and communities. The aim was to identify priorities and co-create locally driven, cost-effective, and sustainable solutions. This article describes our ongoing project in three prominent urban slums of Salvador, Brazil (Alto do Cabrito, Pau da Lima and Marechal Rondon), detailing the methodologies employed, activities initiated, and interventions developed.ResultsWe conducted ethnographic, eco-epidemiological, and collaborative mapping surveys to contextualize diverse health and well-being challenges. Furthermore, we organized consultative and socialization events with dynamic community groups and identified local priorities, leading to the design of thirteen interventions targeting citizenship rights, social cohesion, environmental restoration, waste management, and unemployment.DiscussionHere, we described how our interdisciplinary approach leveraged social capital and fostered inter-sectoral partnerships to empower marginalized urban communities towards addressing their health and environmental challenges through sustainable, locally tailored solutions. While the program has strengthened community trust, facilitated partnerships, and achieved notable environmental improvements, further evaluation is needed to assess the long-term impacts of these interventions on broader social health determinants.

Mohammad Hajipour, Hossein Ekramy Moghaddam, Mohammad Eskandari Sani

IntroductionRural sustainable development is a multifaceted challenge for spatial planning and management systems, requiring integrated strategies that harmonize economic, technological, environmental, and socio-cultural subsystems to foster cohesive growth. Effective approaches must also incorporate strategic planning and regulatory actions to ultimately achieve equitable rural development and reduce urban-rural disparities. In this context, global experiences increasingly support the adoption of green management as a viable pathway. Iran and its surrounding geographical regions face severe environmental challenges, including natural resource degradation, water scarcity, land degradation, and biodiversity loss. These pressures amplify the urgency of embracing green management, sustainable development, and the green industrial revolution—particularly in rural areas. The Deyhook district in Tabas County, South Khorasan Province, eastern Iran, exemplifies these challenges: chronic water scarcity, soil erosion, declining biodiversity, reliance on water-intensive agriculture, and weak waste and renewable energy management. For instance, due to climate change and prolonged droughts, among 16 villages with populations over 20 households, eight larger villages receive water via tanker trucks under rationing from Deyhook city, while the remaining eight face severe declines in spring and qanat yields. In many villages, agriculture has collapsed entirely, wells have been equipped with smart meters, and residents struggle to secure even basic domestic water supplies. Moreover, excessive groundwater extraction by coal mines at three geographically dispersed sites has led to the abandonment of villages such as Parudeh, Pikuh, and Nistan. If current trends continue, the long-term habitability of the region is at serious risk. Since the sustainability of human settlements fundamentally depends on residents’ livelihoods—and, by extension, on reliable and sustainable access to productive resources—proper management, particularly within a green management framework, can not only promote resource efficiency but also enhance the economic, social, and environmental resilience of these communities. Therefore, this study aims to evaluate the rural settlements of Deyhook district based on green management principles and to propose practical solutions for transforming the current unsustainable conditions into a more resilient and sustainable future. MethodologyThis study is applied in purpose and descriptive in nature. The statistical population consists of two expert groups: regional experts and local experts and informed stakeholders. The first group—regional experts—includes seven members comprising technical staff from the Deyhook district administration and university academics with expertise in sustainable rural development. This group was responsible for identifying key criteria and sub-criteria related to rural green management and determining their relative weights using the Analytic Network Process (ANP), a multi-criteria decision-making method suitable for capturing interdependencies among factors. The second group—local experts and informed stakeholders—comprises village administrators (Dehyars) and members of Islamic Councils from all 16 villages in the Deyhook district. In each village, a local expert panel of 2 to 4 members was formed. These panels participated in assessing the current status of their villages regarding green management indicators through structured questionnaires based on the Rural Settlement Evaluation Framework. Data collected from these assessments were analyzed using the MARCOS (Measurement Alternatives and Ranking according to Compromise Solution) method to rank villages based on their performance in green management. Finally, to identify actionable strategies for improvement, insights from both expert groups were integrated and structured within the SOAR framework (Strengths, Opportunities, Aspirations, Results), which emphasizes positive, vision-driven planning. This mixed-method approach—combining ANP for weighting, MARCOS for ranking, and SOAR for strategy development—ensures a robust, participatory, and context-sensitive evaluation, supporting both diagnostic analysis and practical intervention in rural sustainability planning. FindingsAt the macro level, the criterion "Residents' Environmental Ethics and Culture" holds the highest weight (0.166), indicating that experts view behavioral change, awareness, and the development of a sustainability culture as the most fundamental drivers of successful green management. Using the MARCOS method, villages in the Deyhook district of Tabas County were ranked based on green management criteria, revealing significant differences in sustainable development levels and performance. Esfandiar village ranked first with the highest efficiency index (f(Ki) = 0.665), emerging as a model for green management—likely due to stronger sustainable infrastructure, effective waste management, access to modern technologies, and a participatory environmental culture. Esfahk (0.611) and Chirok (0.607) followed in second and third place, reflecting relatively strong sustainability performance. Overall, higher-ranked villages (1–6) demonstrate better outcomes in infrastructure, renewable energy, education, and environmental culture. Key strengths include the region’s largest wildlife refuge with high biodiversity, vast coal reserves, and unique geotourism sites—offering solid foundations for green economy, sustainable tourism, and new energy initiatives. External opportunities, such as access to innovative climate and energy practices and engagement of foreign tourists in environmental stewardship, enable knowledge transfer and cultural investment. The defined aspirations—such as green management in all villages, full environmental compatibility, reduced resource waste, and full sustainability—reflect a shift from purely physical development toward a holistic, integrated sustainability model. Discussion and ConclusionThis study develops and applies an integrated framework for rural green management in Deyhook, a desert region under environmental stress. Using MARCOS, significant performance disparities among 16 villages were revealed, with Esfandiar ranking highest and Razaviyeh and Zardgah lowest. Experts emphasized "environmental culture" and "infrastructure" as key drivers, reflecting the importance of behavioral change and sustainable systems. Natural assets and external opportunities support green development. Context-sensitive strategies—like solar energy, water recycling, and civic engagement—are proposed. By integrating theory, field assessment, and practical solutions, this study offers a replicable, holistic model for sustainable transformation in arid rural regions, supporting policy-making, equity, and community resilience through participatory, knowledge-integrated planning.

Deborah Zani, Heike Lischke, Jonas Åkerman et al.

ABSTRACT High‐Arctic environments are facing an elevated pace of warming and increasing human activities, making them more susceptible to the introduction and spread of alien species. We investigated the role of human disturbance in facilitating the spread of a native plant (Papaver dahlianum) in a high‐Arctic natural environment close to Isfjord Radio station and along adjacent hiking trails at Kapp Linné, Svalbard. We reconstructed the spatial pattern of the arrival and spread of P. dahlianum at Kapp Linné by combining historical records of the species occurrence (1928–2018) with a contemporary survey of the plant abundance along the main hiking trail (2023 survey) and tested the relative effects of altitude and proximity to hiking trails on the species density via a generalised linear model (GLM). We then compared historical records with the simulated annual spread of the species by assuming either only local spread or local spread plus spread from hiking trails. Finally, we used a fine‐scale UAV‐derived brightness index to test for terrain preference by applying a randomisation test. Distance from the station (56% explained variation) and minimum distance from the trail (28%) significantly explained the species density across the research area (best GLM R2 = 0.755). The modelled species spread including the trail effect (fitted spread ~30 m yr.−1) managed to capture the maximum extent of the occupied area, whereas simulations assuming only local spread (~2 m yr.−1) underestimated the historical extent. A randomisation test showed that P. dahlianum has a significant preference for gravel soils with low vegetation cover due to either trail trampling and/or natural processes. Along with climate warming, human activities can increase the rate of species range shift by providing hot spots of introduction (human settlements) and spreading corridors (hiking trails). Our results show that spatially explicit models can be applied to accurately predict the potential spread of species, leading to a more efficient monitoring plan. Systematic monitoring of alien species and sanitisation measures should be prioritised in polar habitats with a high incidence of human disturbances.

Radosław Palonka, Kathleen M. O’Meara, Katarzyna M. Ciomek et al.

Since 2011, the Sand Canyon–Castle Rock Community Archaeological Project has been conducted in several canyons of the central Mesa Verde region, southwestern Colorado in the North American Southwest. One of the project’s aims is to reconstruct the relationships between Ancestral Pueblo culture settlements and rock art vs. environment and surrounding landscape. All these elements were related to the beliefs and rituals of Pueblo societies in the thirteenth century A.D. Although contemporary Pueblo people live a few hundred kilometres south and southeast of the Mesa Verde region, many of these sites still have a special meaning to them and are mentioned in Puebloan oral traditions, histories, and myths. In the Southwest, other sacred places, including shrines, lakes, and mountains are significant for various Indigenous groups: Apache, Navajo, Ute, and others. They are part of cultures that still exist and for whom many landscape features are essential for their ritual life and perception of the world. Nowadays, a more comprehensive understanding of the relationship between human settlements, rock art, and the landscape is possible with the use of digital documentation and spatial analyses including various methods of digital photography, 3D laser scanning, Geographic Information Systems, and subsequent reconstruction and visualisation.

Francis Régis Gonçalves Mendes Barbosa, Madalena Maria Schlindwein, Marcelo Corrêa da Silva

Amartya Sen's theory of Development as Freedom states the prediction of development by evaluating the expansion of individual freedoms. This study operationalizes this theory and its instrumental freedoms through the construction of a development index and multivariate statistics. Spatiality of municipal development provides empirical evidence for interrelations between instrumental freedoms defended by this theory. The determinants of development related mainly to income and its distribution, but also housing conditions and social vulnerabilities. The findings unmask the geographic structure of (under) development in a frontier in Mid-West Brazil, marked by higher deprivation of opportunities, precarious services and greater economic stagnation.

Manuele Favero, Alessandro Canova, Marco Giordani et al.

In recent years, there has been a significant surge of interest in Mars exploration, driven by the planet's potential for human settlement and its proximity to Earth. In this paper, we explore the performance of the LoRaWAN technology on Mars, to study whether commercial off-the-shelf IoT products, designed and developed on Earth, can be deployed on the Martian surface. We use the ns-3 simulator to model various environmental conditions, primarily focusing on the Free Space Path Loss (FSPL) and the impact of Martian dust storms. Simulation results are given with respect to Earth, as a function of the distance, packet size, offered traffic, and the impact of Mars' atmospheric perturbations. We show that LoRaWAN can be a viable communication solution on Mars, although the performance is heavily affected by the extreme Martian environment over long distances.

Miles B. Gietzmann, Adam J. Ostaszewski

How should a court resolve a shareholder-management dispute after an unexpected price drop, when it is suspected that at an earlier time management chose not to update (disclose to) the market about a material event that was privately observed? An earlier fundamental result in this area (Dye, 2017) has shown that if the court chooses to make public that it will increase awards of damages to try and deter non-disclosure, then this may have the perverse effect that management may rationally choose to disclose less. Schantl and Wagenhofer (2024) call this the pure-insurance effect shareholders receive from higher damages payments. They show that the result may be relaxed if management also face a fixed exogenous reputational cost from non-disclosure. In this research we probe the increased-damages versus reduced-disclosure result via a different route. We introduce a dynamic continuous-time model of management's equilibrium disclosure decision and show that as awards of damages increase this has in a dynamic setting a hitherto unrecognized effect: management rationally switch their disclosure strategy. We characterize the range of damage awards, which we term the legal consistency zone, in which increased awards of damages evoke an endogenous increase in voluntary disclosure.

Elina Spyrou, Robin Hytowitz, Benjamin F. Hobbs et al.

As the role of variable renewables in electricity markets expands, new market products help system operators manage imbalances caused by uncertainty and variability. Whereas work in the last decade has focused on constructing demand curves for central procurement of those products, little attention has been paid to designing their settlement scheme and understanding the connections between the economic value of these products, the schedule of variable resources, and the cost of flexibility. In this article, we compare a new product called Flexibility Options, which addresses these gaps, with a traditional reserve product using a case study similar to the 2019 Texas (ERCOT) system. Our findings suggest that both products are equally effective in managing imbalances, but Flexibility Options have superior risk management properties and keep the system operator revenue adequate.

Virna Br Sinulingga, Ternala Alexander Barus, Hesti Wahyuningsih

The Asahan River, located in the Tanjungbalai city area, is used for plantation, agriculture, animal husbandry activities, toilet washing facilities, hospitals, hotels, settlements, and industry causing the decrease water quality of Asahan River. The purpose of this study was to analyze the water quality and status of the Asahan River water quality in the Tanjungbalai City Area and develop a pollution control  strategy that needs to be implemented to prevent a decrease in the Asahan River water quality in the Tanjungbalai City Area. Purposive sampling technique as used to determine the sampling station. In this study, there were 6 sampling stations based on the activities of the local community with 3 repetitions of sampling. The data analysis techniques from this study are Water Quality Analysis using the Pollution Index (IP) Method and Water Pollution Control Strategy Analysis. The results of water quality analysis based on the pollution index on Asahan river water in Tanjungbalai City show that the average water pollution index is in the moderately polluted category. The maximum of river water pollution index results were at station 2 is 9,086 and the minimum of river water pollution index results were at station 5 is 6,111.Water pollution occurs due to the parameters of phosphate, detergent, oil and grease, and total coliform which have exceeded the quality standard threshold based on Government Regulation of the Republic of Indonesia Number 21 of the year 2022 concerning Management of Water Quality and Control of Class I Water Pollution. Keywords: Asahan River Water pollution Index Water Quality

Jenny Davis, Erica A. Garcia, Karen S. Gibb et al.

Northern Australia contains the continent’s largest number of intact river systems, but these are facing increasing pressure as the proposed development of multiple and large-scale industries, including onshore gas, mining, horticulture, and agriculture, accelerates. These developments will require the diversion or extraction of large amounts of water and increase the risk of contamination by industrial and agricultural chemicals. There is an urgent need to collect baseline biophysical information on these aquatic systems before major developments proceed. Much community concern has been expressed about the potential environmental impacts of a developing shale gas industry (fracking) in the Beetaloo Sub-basin and upper Roper River region of the Northern Territory. Here we describe the first major survey of the freshwater fish fauna of this region and an assessment of the importance of groundwater in supporting fish biodiversity. This region is remote from major human settlements and the waterbodies are often difficult to access. Accordingly, we maximised the information we collected from limited sampling sessions by using both traditional fish survey methods (netting and electrofishing) and eDNA analysis of water and benthic sediment samples. Water column eDNA doubled the number of species recorded to those obtained from traditional survey methods alone. We found that the fish fauna was richest at sites on northward-flowing groundwater-dependent rivers. More work is needed to fully understand the dependence of individual species on groundwater inflows. However, it is evident that conserving freshwater fish biodiversity in these rivers will require protection of the groundwater resources to ensure baseflows and aquatic refuges persist through the most extended of dry seasons.

Buster P. Mogonong, Jolene T. Fisher, David Furniss et al.

Rural landscapes in South Africa experience high conversion rates due to intense land use; however, the changes are site specific and depend on the socio-economic and political history of the area. Land cover change (LCC) was assessed in response to socio-economic and political factors in uThukela Municipal District, KwaZulu-Natal, using Landsat imagery from 1984 to 2014, while making comparisons to other studies in South Africa. Socio-economic/political data were used to gain insights into the observed LCC patterns. Land cover was classified using a random forest classifier, and accuracies ranging from 87% to 92% were achieved. Systematic and intensity analysis methods were used to describe patterns, rates, and transitions of LCC in Imbabazane (ILM) and Okhahlamba (OLM) local municipalities. The results showed a reduced rate of change intensity from 3.4% to 0.9% in ILM and from 3.1% to 1.1% in OLM between 1984 and 2014. Grassland was persistent, covering over 70% in both local municipalities between 1984 and 2014. Although persistent, grassland experienced respective losses of 3.7% and 14.3% in both observation periods in ILM and of 10.2% and 13.3% in OLM. During the analysis period, settlements and cropland gained actively in both local municipalities. The changes represent a degree of population, local authority, and people’s perception as influencers of land use and LCC. It is therefore argued that socio-economic and political changes can potentially influence land use and LCC; however, natural ecosystems can persist under those conditions, and this requires more research efforts. Significance: This study contributes towards a growing knowledge and understanding of land cover change studies in marginalised landscapes in South Africa. The findings enforce the notion that natural vegetation systems can be altered by human-induced land use such as expansion of settlement and commercial agricultural. We show that in recent times there has been a decline in the overall rate of land cover conversion, and a high persistence of grassland amid global change, although the quality of the vegetation needs further research. We argue that the changes observed in marginalised landscapes are potentially driven by socio-economic and political dynamics.

Wolfgang Göderle, Christian Macher, Katrin Mauthner et al.

Cadastres from the 19th century are a complex as well as rich source for historians and archaeologists, whose use presents them with great challenges. For archaeological and historical remote sensing, we have trained several Deep Learning models, CNNs as well as Vision Transformers, to extract large-scale data from this knowledge representation. We present the principle results of our work here and we present a the demonstrator of our browser-based tool that allows researchers and public stakeholders to quickly identify spots that featured buildings in the 19th century Franciscean Cadastre. The tool not only supports scholars and fellow researchers in building a better understanding of the settlement history of the region of Styria, it also helps public administration and fellow citizens to swiftly identify areas of heightened sensibility with regard to the cultural heritage of the region.

Oleksii Havryliuk

This paper describes and analyses the geography and factors of the neighbourhood satisfaction of the residents of a former post-WWII Soviet closed city in Ukraine – the post-Soviet city of Dnipro (population ca. one million). It is based on a questionnaire survey (n=1248) among adult (18+) inhabitants in Dnipro conducted in early 2018. The results show that the current inner-urban pattern is characterised by semi-peripheralised neighbourhood satisfaction, which is a consequence of the significant influence of (among other factors): infrastructure availability in the neighbourhood, the social and natural environmental in the neighbourhood, and the set of Soviet-legacy factors (the “Soviet” factor). Surprisingly, the highest level of neighbourhood satisfaction in the city of Dnipro is observed in one of the peripheral neighbourhoods (with predominant detached housing), in which the residents’ evaluation of their residential neighbourhood follows the proximity effect.

Jane BECKETT-CAMARATA

The objective of this study is to describe two Pennsylvania cities' unique approaches to smart and connectedtechnology design and implementation around mobility, public safety, and sustainability.Harrisburg and Pittsburgh are emerging leaders implementing their unique smart and connected approach. These two cities are undergoing a physical, technological, and demographic transformation, which impacts social and economic issues. As a result, many distinct aspects and elements of these cities play an increasingly important role in defining the quality of life of the diverse citizenry. Cities depend on newer and emerging technologies, such as smart streetlights, autonomous vehicles, electric vehicles, shared mobility, and the Internet of Things(IoT) connected devices to improve health, safety, general welfare, and quality of life for citizens. Moreover, in smart cities, citizens' activities are not limited to their homes.Thus, smart spaces need to connect the smart city to the smart home seamlessly into a smart home concept [1]. The smart and connected cities concept is defined and visualized differently by each city depending on the context, needs and funding. As a result, each city initiates intelligent technology strategies, tools, and partnerships in its approach to developing and implementing the parameters that frame a just, equitable, and inclusive smart city. This multi-case study describes each city’s smart city and connected goals, successes and challenges to answer the research question: How has Pittsburgh and Harrisburg defined and implemented the concept of Smart City to better manage its emergent needs as a result of changing demographics?

Mackenzie Sykes

<p><b>The planning of refugee camps raises unique challenges. Despite the time scale being the of an emergency, and resources likely to be insufficient, the globally administered, state-of-the-art design template is quickly pushed beyond its limits as camps develop into de facto cities. Moreover, the current template commonly administered by humanitarian organisations reveals an emphasis over short-term rather than long-term solutions, with more focus upon the camps being a delivered collection of shelter objects, and with little consideration for the relationship between those objects, or the social performance of the settlement as a whole.</b></p> <p>Architectural or planning discourse rarely includes refugee camps, if at all, largely to exchange ideas about how to improve temporary emergency structures. However, the actuality of many hundreds of extant refugee settlements presents a much more complex reality, forcing us to reconsider our preconceptions. Instead of temporary, ordered tent cities, there are often streets, markets, shops and public buildings surrounded by makeshift buildings: an ambiguous environment, existing somewhere between emergency camp and urban space. Closer analysis of the morphology and development of a camp indicates that this ambiguity emerges virtually instantaneously.</p> <p>This thesis looks at a recently formed refugee camp, Kutupalong, in southern Bangladesh, following an exodus in 2017; resulting in the rapid construction and development of a dense and widespread urban fabric. As a space produced largely by the arriving Rohingya refugee populations, the built fabric is representative of social relationships and responses to environmental factors.</p> <p>This research-led design enquiry is interdisciplinary. It identifies, abstracts and links observations of the built environment as a self-organizing entity, engaging with concepts rooted in architectural theory such as urban sociology, spatial syntax, urban morphology and typology to extract spatial information from the case study. It analyses the growth patterns of the settlement, as well as justifying the origin of various spatial types and the relationships between particular types that have emerged following the camp’s influx period, recognizing the practices of refugee agency and the practices in which socio-cultural decisions have materialised into certain spaces.</p> <p>This dissertation contends that, from thus knowledge gained, a richer, and context-specific design strategy can be generated to better support urban growth and social development in urbanised refugee camps. Furthermore, a better understanding of socio-physical networks could also contribute to response strategies that are more sensitive to human spatial relationships.</p>

Franziska Tanneberger, Susanne Abel, John Couwenberg et al.

The Paris Agreement reflects the global endeavour to limit the increase of global average temperature to 2 °C, better 1.5 °C above pre-industrial levels to prevent dangerous climate change. This requires that global anthropogenic net carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions are reduced to zero around 2050. The German Climate Protection Plan substantiates this goal and explicitly mentions peatlands, which make up 5 % of the total area under land use and emit 5.7 % of total annual greenhouse gas emissions in Germany. Based on inventory reporting and assumptions of land use change probability, we have developed emission reduction pathways for organic soils in Germany that on a national level comply with the IPCC 1.5 °C pathways. The more gradual pathway 1 requires the following interim (2030, 2040) and ultimate (2050) milestones: Cropland use stopped and all Cropland converted to Grassland by 2030; Water tables raised to the soil surface on 15 % / 60 % / 100 % of all Grassland, on 50 % / 75 % / 100 % of all Forest land, and ultimately on 2/3 of all Settlements and on 100 % of all Wetlands. Also a more direct pathway 2 without interim ‘moist’ water tables and the climate effect (radiative forcing) of different scenarios is presented.

L. N. Vodolazhskaya, A. M. Novichikhin, M. Yu. Nevsky

This article presents the results of a study of signs on a Bronze Age slab discovered in the vicinity of a heavily plowed mound near the settlement of Pyatikhatki. The slab belongs to the Dolmen archaeological culture. In the course of this research, it was proved that the Pyatikhatki slab is a unique measuring tool, that combines elements of sundial and water clock. It has all the cup marks of an analemmatic sundial, except for the presence of a precise analemma, which at that time, it seems, could not yet be built. The vertical gnomon moved only along the north-south line, and the time was determined approximately. Most likely, this was due to the lack of accuracy in measuring time using the water clock of that era. It is possible that it was their imperfection that was the incentive for the development of a new type of watch - a sundial, which would allow measuring time over a long period with a higher accuracy.

Malaya Kumar Biswal M, Noor Basanta Das, Ramesh Naidu Annavarapu

The space challenges do exist at every stride on a human expedition to Mars that arise due to galactic natural phenomena and artificial technologies. This paper emphasizes on Mars orbital and planetary challenges encountered from orbit to the surface exploration. The Mars orbital challenges embrace hazards of cosmic radiation and asteroid impact in orbit, disrupted communication relay from the ground, the intelligence of planetary weather clearance, and execution of successful entry, descent, and landing. Comparably planetary challenge encompasses identifying scientific landing site, an intrusion of erratic environment and weather, complexity in in-situ resource extraction and exploitation, navigation and surface mobilization, and retarded communication from relay orbiters. The prime intent of this study is to present every prospective challenge and its recommendations impending human settlement on Mars.

Jonas Vogt, Niclas Wolniak, Horst Wieker

Safe, environmentally conscious and flexible, these are the central requirements for the future mobility. In the European border region between Germany, France and Luxembourg, mobility in the world of work and pleasure is a decisive factor. It must be simple, affordable and available to all. The automation and intelligent connection of road traffic plays an important role in this. Due to the distributed settlement structure with many small towns and village and a few central hot spots, a fully available public transport is very complex and expensive and only a few bus and train lines exist. In this context, the trinational research project TERMINAL aims to establish a cross-border automated minibus in regular traffic and to explore the user acceptance for commuter traffic. Additionally, mobility on demand services are tested, and both will be embedded within the existing public transport infrastructure.