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Number of results: 170
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Abstract

Increased efficiency of production and improved quality have contributed to the development of ultrasonic technological applications, in which low frequency ultrasounds are generated to operate, accelerate as well as to facilitate technological processes. Technological ultrasonic devices (i.e. sources of ultrasonic noise in the work environment, e.g. ultrasonic washers, ultrasonic welding machines) have relatively high power and their nominal frequencies are in the range from 18 kHz to 40 kHz. In Poland, ultrasonic noise (defined as noise containing high audible and low ultrasonic frequencies from 10 kHz to 40 kHz) is included in the list of factors harmful to health in the work environment and therefore the admissible values of ultrasonic noise in the workplaces are established. The admissible values of ultrasonic noise and the new ultrasonic noise measurement method make it possible to perform the assessment of occupational risk related to ultrasonic noise. According to this method, the scope of the measurements includes the determination of the equivalent sound pressure levels in the 1/3 octave bands with the centre frequencies from 10 kHz to 40 kHz. This paper presents the description of both, i.e. the method for ultrasonic noise measurements and the method of the assessment of occupational risk related to ultrasonic noise. The examples of the results of the assessment of occupational risk related to exposure to ultrasonic noise are also discussed.
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Authors and Affiliations

Dariusz Pleban
1
Bożena Smagowska
1
Jan Radosz
1

  1. Central Institute for Labour Protection – National Research Institute, Warsaw, Poland
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Abstract

In this work, we integrated exploratory factor analysis (EFA) followed by structural equation modelling (SEM) to assess the work performance efficiency under the traffic noise environment for open shutter shopkeepers in the Indian urban context. 706 valid questionnaire responses by personal interviews in local language were collected from open shutter shopkeepers exposed to noise level (Leq) of 77 dBA for 12 to 14 hours daily. The questionnaire was prepared based on demographics, environmental conditions, and primary effects of noise pollution. Among which four common latent factors which summaries 17 questionnaire response items were obtained by exploratory factor analysis, which are “Impacts of noise” (IM), “Environmental conditions” (EC), “Personal characteristics” (PC) and “Work efficiency” (WE). The associations between the individual latent factors were studied by the structural equation model method in AMOS software. Validation of the constructed model was carried out by testing the proposed hypothesis as well as goodness-of-fit indices like Absolute fit, Incremental fit, and Parsimonious fit indices. The effect of specific latent factors derived on the work efficiency of shopkeepers in the noisy area was characterized by the path coefficients estimated in the SEM model. It was found that work performance efficiency (WE) was greatly influenced by the primary impacts of noise pollution like annoyance, stress, interference in spoken communication, which was associated with the latent factor “Impacts of noise” (IM) with a path coefficient of 0.931. The second latent factor “Environmental conditions” (EC), which was associated with parameters like ambient temperature and humidity, showed less path coefficient of 0.153. And lastly, a latent factor called “Personal characteristics” (PC) associated with age, experience, education, showed the least path coefficient of 0.05. The work efficiency of open shutter shopkeepers working in a highly noisy commercial area is profoundly affected by the prominent effects of noise pollution and least affected by ambient environmental conditions as well as their personal characteristics. The developed model clarified some casual relationships among complex systems in the study of noise exposure on individuals n tier 2 cities in the Indian context and may help other researchers to study of tier I and tier III cities.
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Authors and Affiliations

Manoj Yadav
1
ORCID: ORCID
Bhaven Tandel
1

  1. Civil Engineering Department S.V. National Institute of Technology Surat, India
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Abstract

For the purpose of reducing the impact noise transmission across floating floors in residential buildings, two main sound transmission paths in the floating floor structure are considered: the stud path and the cavity path. The sound transmission of each path is analysed separately: the sound transmission through the cavity and the stud are predicted by statistical energy analysis (SEA). Then, the sound insulation prediction model of the floating floor is established. There is reasonable agreement between the theoretical prediction and measurement, and the results show that a resilient layer with low stiffness can attenuate the sound bridge effect, resulting in higher impact noise insulation. Then, the influences of the floor covering, the resilient layer and the floor plate on the impact sound insulation are investigated to achieve the optimised structure of the floating floor based on the sound insulation.
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Authors and Affiliations

Xianfeng Huang
1 2
Yimin Lu
3
Chen Qu
1
Chenhui Zhu
1

  1. College of Civil Engineering and Architecture, Guangxi University, Nanning 530004, China
  2. Guangxi Key Laboratory of Disaster Prevention and Engineering Safety, Guangxi University, Nanning 530004, China
  3. School of Electrical Engineering, Guangxi University, Nanning 530004, China
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Abstract

Voice controlled management systems are based on speech recognition techniques. The use of such systems in combat aircraft is complex due to a number of critical factors which affect the accuracy of speech recognition, such as high level of ambient noise and vibration, use of oxygen masks, serious psycho-physical stress of speakers, etc. One of the specificity of the oxygen mask application is overpressure breathing. The results of the simulations presented in this paper show that the presence of overpressure on the order of 1000 Pa in the vocal tract has a significant influence on the first two formant frequencies. The formants discrimination field is significantly reduced when oxygen mask is used, influencing both perceptive and automatic discrimination of spoken vowels.
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Authors and Affiliations

Milan Vojnović
1
Miomir Mijić
2
Dragana Šumarac Pavlović
2
Nebojša Vojnović
2

  1. Life Activities Advancement Center, Belgrade, Serbia
  2. University of Belgrade, School of Electrical Engineering, Belgrade, Serbia
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Abstract

The results of the research, which aimed to analyze the acoustic properties of selected sacred buildings located in the city of Czestochowa, Poland are presented in the paper. Three architecturally unusual and completely different from each other churches were selected for the study. The churches differed in shape of their buildings, cubic volume, years of construction, interior furnishings, etc. Nine different objective parameters were used to describe the physical properties of acoustical field in the studied churches. Various factors characterizing the acoustic properties of each building were determined, such as the distribution of sound pressure level (SPL), reverberation time T30, definition D50. Next, they were thoroughly analyzed, so as to ultimately obtain distributions of individual acoustic parameters in the space of the tested building. It allowed to evaluate the quality of the received verbal or musical message depending on the place where the listener was. Further research on speech intelligibility and the musical quality of churches was performed by determining the averaged values of next four objective acoustic parameters: centre time Ts, speech clarity C50, music clarity C80, and speech transmission index (STI). A new approach to analyzing the objective physical parameters describing the sound field was presented in Sec. 4. Mean free path length and critical distance were determined for the investigated acoustic fields in each church and they were associated with a general geometric factor characterizing the complexity of the room shape. The final part of the work presents a comparative analysis of the obtained results of acoustic quality tests of the temples, and thus their usefulness in terms achieving a maximum intelligibility of speech and music. The interesting similarities were found in the spatial distribution of individual acoustic parameters characterizing the distribution of the acoustic field in temples with completely different architecture.
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Authors and Affiliations

Paweł Błaszczak
1
Sylwia Berdowska
2
Janusz Berdowski
1

  1. Department of Experimental and Applied Physics Jan Dlugosz University in Czestochowa, Czestochowa, Poland
  2. Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Department of Power Engineering, Czestochowa University of Technology, Czestochowa, Poland
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Abstract

In this paper, an experimental method was utilized to investigate acoustic emission (AE) characteristics and to identify emission sources of the nonlinear AE signal on the cylinder body of a large low-speed two-stroke marine diesel engine in real-working conditions on the sea in misfiring and normal firing modes. Measurements focused on the AE signal acquired in a transverse direction in low-frequency (20–80 kHz), medium-frequency (100–400 kHz) and high-frequency (400–900 kHz) ranges. The collected signals were analyzed on the crank angle and crank angle-frequency domains. The results showed that all potential sources of the nonlinear AE signal could be mapped in the low-frequency range. However, only the AE signal caused by the combustion process at around the top dead center could be well-observed in the medium-to-high-frequency range. The findings also revealed that in normal firing conditions, the AE energy radiated by friction in the down-stroke period was smaller than in the up-stroke process due to gas-sealing forces. Moreover, the AE energy in the misfiring condition was higher than in the normal firing state. These outcomes considerably contributed understandings to characteristics of friction and wear around the mid-stroke area of the cylinder on a two-stroke marine diesel engine.
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Authors and Affiliations

Xuan Thin Dong
1
Manh Hung Nguyen
1

  1. Vietnam Maritime University Hai Phong, Vietnam
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Abstract

The article presents the results of soundscape assessments conducted in urban parks in the Silesian Voivodeship. The Silesian Voivodeship is characterised by a high degree of industrialisation and the greatest population density in Poland. The studies were conducted in the urban parks of all the cities in the voivodeship with populations of over 100,000 citizens. This selection was determined based on acoustic maps that are prepared for cities with populations of over 100,000 citizens as required by law, and on the fact that the role of urban parks is frequently marginalised in the context of city life. The goal of the studies was to define an objective acoustic appeal assessment method for urban parks in city centres. Measurements were carried out in 34 parks located in the centres of 12 cities. A-weighted sound levels LAeq were determined for 107 measuring points in urban parks and the streets adjacent to them. Differences in the A-weighted sound levels LAeq were presented for each studied park and the adjacent streets. Minimum and maximum sound values were subsequently determined for each measuring point. Significant differences in the minimum and maximum sound values in given locations were found despite minor differences in LAeq values. It was also discovered that though parks may often exhibit high A-weighted sound levels LAeq, there are other factors that influence the appeal of park soundscapes.
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Authors and Affiliations

Magdalena Miterska
1
Janusz Kompała
1

  1. Department of Acoustics, Electronics and IT Solutions Central Mining Institute, Katowice, Poland
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Abstract

The article presents the approach to the design process of acoustic panels based on the scientific research. This approach is based on combining the technical and the design competences to develop the innovative product value for the concept of acoustic panels. The article presents the concepts of two new acoustic panels – an absorbing and scattering panel and a panel reflecting sound waves. The first part of the article presents the starting point for the presented project – the acoustic research and the inspiration for both types of presented solutions. Next, the materials possible to use were discussed, which could reproduce the natural acoustic properties of the lava and glacier caves. The next part presents consecutive stages of the product development in a modern form, ensuring the expected acoustic properties. The last part of the article presents a fully functional solution and proposes further research and development directions.
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Authors and Affiliations

Bartłomiej Borkowski
1
Katarzyna Suder-Dębska
2
Jerzy Wiciak
1
Anna Maria Szlachta
3

  1. Department of Mechanics and Vibroacoustics, AGH – University of Science and Technology, Kraków, Poland
  2. Department of Power Systems and Environmental Protection Facilities, AGH – University of Science and Technology, Kraków, Poland
  3. Faculty of Industrial Design, Jan Matejko Academy of Fine Arts, Kraków, Poland
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Abstract

In this work we analyse basic characteristics of Love wave sensors implemented in waveguide structures composed of a lossy viscoelastic surface layer deposited on a lossless elastic substrate. It has to be noted that Love wave sensors working at ultrasonic frequencies have the highest mass density sensitivity $S_σ^(v_p )$ among all known ultrasonic sensors, such as QCM, Lamb wave or Rayleigh wave sensors. In this paper we have established an exact analytical formula for the mass density sensitivity $S_σ^(v_p )$ of the Love wave sensors in the form of an explicit algebraic expression. Subsequently, using this developed analytical formula, we compared theoretically the mass density sensitivity $S_σ^(v_p )$ for various Love wave waveguide structures, such as: (1) lossy PMMA surface layer on lossless Quartz substrate and (2) lossy PMMA on lossless Diamond substrate. The performed analysis shows that the mass density sensitivity $S_σ^(v_p )$ (real and imaginary part) for a sensor with a structure PMMA on Diamond is five times higher than that of a PMMA on Quartz structure. It was found that the mass density sensitivity $S_σ^(v_p )$ for Love wave sensors increases with the increase of the ratio: bulk shear wave velocity in the substrate to bulk shear wave velocity in the surface layer.
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Authors and Affiliations

Piotr Kiełczyński
1
Marek Szalewski
1
Andrzej Balcerzak
1
Krzysztof Wieja
1

  1. Institute of Fundamental Technological Research Polish Academy of Sciences Warsaw, Poland
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Abstract

The ultrasound (US) imaging market is fast-changing in terms of needs, trends and tendencies as it undergoes rapid innovations. Due to technological improvements, a variety of US probe types is available to cover a wide range of clinical applications. The aim of this paper is to provide information to healthcare professionals to select the appropriate probe for the intended use and the desired performance/price ratio. This work describes the majority of conventional, special and unique US probe types currently available on the market, together with technological insights that are responsible for image quality and a list of some of their clinical applications. The description of the inner transducer technologies allows to understand what contributes to different prices, features, quality level and breadth of applications. The comparison of current US probes and the analysis of advanced performances arising from the latest innovations, may help physicians, biomedical and clinical engineers, sonographers and other stakeholders with purchasing and maintenance commitments, enabling them to select the appropriate probe according to their clinical and economical needs.
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Authors and Affiliations

Ramona De Luca
1
Leonoardo Forzoni
1
Francesca Gelli
1
Jeffrey Bamber
2

  1. Esaote S.p.A. Florence, 50127, Italy
  2. Institute of Cancer Research and Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust London, SM2 5NG, United Kingdom
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Abstract

In a television, obtaining a good acoustic response is a challenging issue because of slim mechanical structures. The area dedicated for speaker’s placement is limited and inadequate space inside the cabinet of a TV prevents possible solutions to increase the sound performance. In addition, frame of the TV’s is getting narrower as the customers searching for the highest screen to body ratio. These designing aspects restrain optimal speaker positioning to achieve good sound performance. In this paper, an analysis related to speaker’s placement and mounting angle is proposed. A rotation setup compatible with a TV was prepared to measure different facing position of the speaker. This paper proposes the analysis of speaker’s rotation and facing direction in a flat panel television and its effects on sound pressure level together with deviation of the acoustic response. Measurement results are analyzed with an audio analyzer together with a statistics tool to achieve precise results.
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Authors and Affiliations

Ibrahim Demirel
1

  1. Arçelik AS., Electronics HW Design, Turkey
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Abstract

Acoustic source localization using distributed microphone array is a challenging task due to the influences of noise and reverberation. In this paper, acoustic source localization using kernel-based extreme learning machine in distributed microphone array is proposed. Specifically, the space of interest is divided into some labeled positions, and the candidate generalized cross correlation function in each node is treated as the feature mapped into the hidden nodes of extreme learning machine. During the training phase, by the implementation of kernel function, the output weights of the classifier are calculated and do not need to be tuned. After the kernel-based extreme learning machine (K-ELM) is well trained, the measured generalized cross correlation data are fed into the K-ELM classifier, and the output is the estimated acoustic source position. The proposed method needs less human intervention for both training and testing and it does not need to calibrate the node in advance. Simulation and real-world experimental results reveal that the proposed method has extremely fast training and testing speeds, and can obtain better localization performance than steered response power, K-nearest neighbor, and support vector machine methods.
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Authors and Affiliations

Rong Wang
1
Zhe Chen
1
Fuliang Yin
1

  1. School of Information and Communication Engineering Dalian University of Technology Dalian 116023, China
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Abstract

Precise measurement of the sound source directivity not only requires special equipment, but also is time-consuming. Alternatively, one can reduce the number of measurement points and apply spatial interpolation to retrieve a high-resolution approximation of directivity function. This paper discusses the interpolation error for different algorithms with emphasis on the one based on spherical harmonics. The analysis is performed on raw directivity data for two loudspeaker systems. The directivity was measured using sampling schemes of different densities and point distributions (equiangular and equiareal). Then, the results were interpolated and compared with these obtained on the standard 5° regular grid. The application of the spherical harmonic approximation to sparse measurement data yields a mean error of less than 1 dB with the number of measurement points being reduced by 89%. The impact of the sparse grid type on the retrieval error is also discussed. The presented results facilitate optimal sampling grid choice for low-resolution directivity measurements.
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Authors and Affiliations

Adam Szwajcowski
1
Daniel Krause
2
Anna Snakowska
1

  1. Department of Robotics and Mechatronics, AGH University of Science and Technology, Kraków, Poland
  2. Faculty of Information Technology and Communication Sciences, Tampere University, Tampere, Finland
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Abstract

To realize a structure which can be conveniently tuned to multiple and wideband frequency ranges, a geometrical-stiffening membrane acoustic metamaterial (MAM) with individually tunable multiple frequencies is presented. The MAM is realized by a stacked arrangement of two membrane-magnet elements, each of which has a membrane with a small piece of steel attached in the centre. It can be tuned individually by adjusting the position of its compact magnet. The normal incidence sound transmission loss of the MAM is investigated in detail by measurements in an impedance tube. The test sample results demonstrate that this structure can easily achieve a transmission loss with two peaks which can be shifted individually in a wide low-frequency range. A theoretical consideration is analysed, the analysis shows that the magnetic effect related to this distance leads to a nonlinear attractive force and, consequently, nonlinear geometrical stiffening in each membrane-magnet element, which allows the peaks to be shifted. A reasonable design can make the structure have a good application prospect for low-frequency noise insulation where there is a need to adjust the transmission loss according to the spectrum of the noise source.
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Authors and Affiliations

Junjuan Zhao
1
Xianhui Li
1
David Thompson
2
Yueyue Wang
1
Wenjiang Wang
1
Liying Zhu
1
Yunan Liu
1

  1. Beijing Key Lab of Environmental Noise and Vibration, Beijing Municipal Institute of Labor Protection, Beijing, China, 100054
  2. Institute of Sound and Vibration Research, University of Southampton, Southampton, UK, SO171BJ
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Abstract

Liquid Phase Exfoliation (LPE) is a common route to produce two-dimensional MoS2 nanosheets. In this research, MoS2 powder is exfoliated by an ultrasonic probe (sonicator) in a water-ethanol solution. It is reported that MoS2 as a prototype 2D Transition Metal Dichalcogenide, has a band gap that increases with a decreasing number of layers. There are some factors that affect the average band gap energy value and the thickness of the exfoliated flakes. We varied different parameters of the ultrasonic probe like power, pulse percentage and time duration of sonication to investigate the effects on the number of MoS2 layers. Our findings from the UV-Visible spectra, SEM, FESEM and TEM images indicate that the minimum thickness for these samples was acquired at 50% of the input power of the sonicator we used (65 W) and the optimum pulse percentage is 50%. The current study also found that the average amount of band gap increased with an increase in sonication time, and then remained unchanged after 60 minutes.
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Authors and Affiliations

Najme Sadat Taghavi
1
Reza Afzalzadeh
1

  1. Faculty of Physics K.N. Toosi University of Technology Tehran 15418-49611, Iran
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Abstract

Vapors of benzene and its derivatives are harmful and toxic for human beings and natural environment. Their detection has fundamental importance. For this purpose authors propose surface acoustic wave (SAW) sensor with skeletonized layer deposited by Langmuir-Blodgett (L-B) method. This layer was obtained by depositing a binary equimolar mixture of 5-[[1,3-dioxo-3-[4-(1-oxooctadecyl) phenyl]propyl]amino]–1,3–benzenedicarboxylic acid with cetylamine. The skeletonized sensor layer has been obtained by removing cetylamine. Response of this sensor depends mainly of the electrical dipole momentum of molecule. Among the tested compounds, benzene has a zero dipole moment and gives the smallest sensor response, and nitrobenzene has the largest dipole moment and the sensor reacts most strongly to its vapor.
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Authors and Affiliations

Andrzej Balcerzak
1
Piotr Kiełczyński
1
Marek Szalewski
1
Krzysztof Wieja
1

  1. Institute of Fundamental Technological Research Polish Academy of Sciences Warsaw, Poland
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Abstract

The purpose of this study was to develop a sound quality model for real time active sound quality control systems. The model is based on an optimal analytic wavelet transform (OAWT) used along with a back propagation neural network (BPNN) in which the initial weights and thresholds are determined by particle swarm optimisation (PSO). In the model the input signal is decomposed into 24 critical bands to extract a feature matrix, based on energy, mean, and standard deviation indices of the sub signal scalogram obtained by OAWT. The feature matrix is fed into the neural network input to determine the psychoacoustic parameters used for sound quality evaluation. The results of the study show that the present model is in good agreement with psychoacoustic models of sound quality metrics and enables evaluation of the quality of sound at a lower computational cost than the existing models.
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Authors and Affiliations

Mehdi Pourseiedrezaei
1
Ali Loghmani
2
Mehdi Keshmiri
2

  1. Mechanical Engineering Group, Pardis College Isfahan University of Technology Isfahan 84156-83111, Iran
  2. Department of Mechanical Engineering Isfahan University of Technology Isfahan 84156-83111, Iran
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Abstract

Measurement of vital signs of the human body such as heart rate, blood pressure, body temperature and respiratory rate is an important part of diagnosing medical conditions and these are usually measured using medical equipment. In this paper, we propose to estimate an important vital sign – heart rate from speech signals using machine learning algorithms. Existing literature, observation and experience suggest the existence of a correlation between speech characteristics and physiological, psychological as well as emotional conditions. In this work, we estimate the heart rate of individuals by applying machine learning based regression algorithms to Mel frequency cepstrum coefficients, which represent speech features in the spectral domain as well as the temporal variation of spectral features. The estimated heart rate is compared with actual measurement made using a conventional medical device at the time of recording speech. We obtain estimation accuracy close to 94% between the estimated and actual measured heart rate values. Binary classification of heart rate as ‘normal’ or ‘abnormal’ is also achieved with 100% accuracy. A comparison of machine learning algorithms in terms of heart rate estimation and classification accuracy is also presented. Heart rate measurement using speech has applications in remote monitoring of patients, professional athletes and can facilitate telemedicine.
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Authors and Affiliations

Mohammed Usman
1
Mohammed Zubair
1
Zeeshan Ahmad
1
Monji Zaidi
1
Thafasal Ijyas
1
Muneer Parayangat
1
Mohd Wajid
2
Mohammad Shiblee
3
Jaffar Ali Ali
4

  1. Department of Electrical Engineering King Khalid University Abha, 61411, Saudi Arabia
  2. Department of Electronics Engineering Aligarh Muslim University Aligarh, 202001, India
  3. Department of Computer Engineering Taif University Taif, 21944, Saudi Arabia
  4. Department of Computer EngineeringKing Khalid University Abha, 61411, Saudi Arabia
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Abstract

In this article the author attempts to define the specificity of the tools for development planning at the local level in the context of: institutional resources of community (gmina) (and means of strengthening them), models of public management as well as the specifics of the Polish public administration system and its ensuing dysfunctions. These dysfunctions rely mainly on a limited awareness of the need to create mechanisms of coordination for: socio-economics, spatial and financial planning. These factors contribute to a decrease in the effectiveness of measures for the development of communities. Socio-economic planning answers the question: WHAT we want to do in the community; spatial planning: WHERE we would like to carry out certain activities, and financial planning: HOW MUCH it will cost and where the financial sources are. We can see the theoretical causal links between the areas of development planning, therefore, the main purpose of this article is to offer conceptual framework and a relevant case study of Kraków serving as its validation attempt.

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Authors and Affiliations

Michał Kudłacz
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Abstract

Urban regeneration is driven by many different engines. These engines, however, in some circumstances may appear to turn to either a success or failure factor. In this context, it is appropriate to analyse how factors that serve the regeneration process are affected by embedding research in a particular paradigm set by the theories of so called “regional development”. The choice of these concepts analysed in the article was the result of literature review. The article consists of four parts. The first part defines the development factors and shows how the concentration of negative phenomena in degraded areas may inhibit their optimal use in the context of the city as a whole. Two subsequent chapters analyse how major theories of regional development picture external and internal factors that influence the development of a specific territory. Then, in the summary the author discusses, how main urban and regional development theories reflect the rationale for mitigating barriers in using local development factors as real driving forces of urban regeneration.

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Authors and Affiliations

Aleksandra Jadach-Sepioło
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Abstract

Trade is one of the key factors determining sustainable city development and its surroundings. City development is a result of provision of goods and services to city inhabitants, and residents of its surrounding areas. Retail trade in Poland belongs to economy sectors in which the processes of market changes were started the earliest. Discount stores that apply the strategy of low prices in the in the process of market conquering are currently one of the most dynamically developing selling formats. These shopping facilities are located in many Polish cities, including small towns and rural areas. The aim of the article is to show the scale of investments in new discount shops in small towns and rural areas in Poland in 2012–2015. Research focused at devoted to this field is important from the point of view of choosing the location of new investments related to discount chains and of the small towns and rural areas development strategies. Identification of consequences of discount chains operations in chosen rural areas and small towns can impact the verification of the policy adopted by local authorities in relation to spatial planning and forming the functional structure of the space. It will result in more conscious (rational) decisions in terms of localizing new discounts, which will reduce the number of local conflicts related to location of such facilities.

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Authors and Affiliations

Małgorzata Twardzik
Katarzyna Bilińska-Reformat
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Abstract

The policy set by the European Commission for Programming Period 2014–2020 introduced new instruments supporting regional development but also posed new requirements that must be met by European regions. One of them is smart specialization. To implement Strategy for Europe 2020, published by the European Commission in 2010, EU Member States and their regions develop strategies for smart specialization that show directions for providing support to the strengthening of research, development and innovation. Smart specialization is an important instrument for strengthening of competitiveness as well as for defining and building the knowledge-based economy. This article presents analysis of processes responsible for identifying smart specialization in Pomeranian and West Pomeranian Regions (in Polish: Voivodeships). This analysis is a continuation and extension of the research on the process of emergence of smart specialization in Pomeranian Region by the inclusion of the West Pomeranian Region into this study. Both Regions are situated on the southern coast of the Baltic Sea and are seats of main Polish harbours and shipyards. Their regional capitals Gdańsk and Szczecin are the cores of emerging metropolitan areas. The aims of the article are: (1) assessment of methods of smart specialization emergence and selection; (2) analysis of differences and similarities of areas of smart specialization of two coastal regions. In Pomeranian region the process of emergence of smart specialization was a bottom-up one where the Regional Government organized the competition and invited actors to build partnerships. In other regions of Poland it was more of a top-down process, but with participation of stakeholders. The West Pomeranian Region is an example of this approach. Methods of the research applied for this study include: analysis of literature, documents from Voivodeship Marshal Offices, individual interviews, participation in the process of emerging of smart specialization in Pomeranian Voivodeship and comparative analysis of the methods of their emergence in both regions.

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Authors and Affiliations

Jacek Sołtys
Dorota Kamrowska-Załuska
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Abstract

The emphasis on the territorial dimension of the public policy can be reduced to transition from a sectorial approach to an integrated territorially approach, which is based on the integration of activities of various public entities towards the territories referred not so much administratively as functionally. The functional areas (FA) is defined as spatially separated territory, which shares a common geographical differences, spatial and socio-economic conditions and the system of functional relationships and on this basis shares the uniform development objectives, ensuring effective use of its space. This understanding of the functional areas are to be the subject for intervention of the public policies. The regional development policy implemented by the voivodeship governments closely follows the findings of EU and the national strategic documents and intentionally uses a territorial approach to developmental challenges and problems. Such policy is focused (and will be focused) on the use of endogenous potential, including the territorial resources and knowledge, and will also allow for the interventions adapted to the local conditions. Thus, implementation of policy conceived in that matter is associated with geographic and thematic concentration with respect to the areas and key issues in achieving goals of the regional development. Identification of areas for which public intervention is necessary to fully exploit their endogenous potential – will be pursued with the assumption that they can have a problem character, but they can also be the potential poles of regional growth. The aim of the paper is to identify the integration processes between territorial units forming urban functional areas on regional level. In particular, it focuses on clarification the intensity of existing relationships and on the attempt to create and verify a list of criteria for delimitation of functional areas at the sub-regional level (by k-Means and Huff’s methods), assuming that each urban centre on metropolitan, national and regional level also carry-out the functions at sub-regional level.

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Authors and Affiliations

Krystian Heffner
Piotr Gibas
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Abstract

A central element in the theory of clustering is the idea that physical clustering of businesses within specialized sectors is a source for regional economic growth. The spatial proximity of companies and institutions within related industries create a specific setting in which learning, knowledge sharing and mutual competition are encouraged. Additionally, active participation within the innovation eco-system of a Science & Technology Park provides actors access to knowledge, facilities and complementary contacts and network structures. Collective ideation helps an organization to improve the positioning within the technological field and economic market, especially within an innovation ecosystem because actors are dependent on each other’s behaviour to be successful in innovation. This research focuses on the question how to design the collective ideation process in particular to foster interactions within the context of a science & technology parks? This research is based on semi-structured interviews, conducted at all development stages (idea, startup, grow and mature) of Dutch science & technology parks with stakeholders from different perspectives, based on the triple-helix structure (government, industry, research). The study describes how multiple stakeholders benefit from collective ideation, what mechanisms and tools are used in practice and also describes prerequisites and limitations of collective ideation.

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Authors and Affiliations

Lotte Geertsen
Ger Post

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