Fractal Dimension of Streetscape as a Proxy to the Design Dimension of the Built Environment in walkability research

A Measurement of Visual Complexity for Heterogeneity in the Built Environment Based on Fractal Dimension and Its Application in Two Gardens

Fractal and Fractional ◽

10.3390/fractalfract5040278 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 5 (4) ◽

pp. 278

Author(s):

Lan Ma ◽

Shaoying He ◽

Mingzhen Lu

Keyword(s):

Fractal Dimension ◽

Built Environment ◽

Evaluation System ◽

Visual Complexity ◽

Visual Image ◽

Human Visual Perception ◽

Canny Edge Detection ◽

Image Preprocessing ◽

Canny Edge ◽

Visual Characteristics

In this study, a fractal dimension-based method has been developed to compute the visual complexity of the heterogeneity in the built environment. The built environment is a very complex combination, structurally consisting of both natural and artificial elements. Its fractal dimension computation is often disturbed by the homogenous visual redundancy, which is textured but needs less attention to process, so that it leads to a pseudo-evaluation of visual complexity in the built environment. Based on human visual perception, the study developed a method: fractal dimension of heterogeneity in the built environment, which includes Potts segmentation and Canny edge detection as image preprocessing procedure and fractal dimension as computation procedure. This proposed method effectively extracts perceptually meaningful edge structures in the visual image and computes its visual complexity which is consistent with human visual characteristics. In addition, an evaluation system combining the proposed method and the traditional method has been established to classify and assess the visual complexity of the scenario more comprehensively. Two different gardens had been computed and analyzed to demonstrate that the proposed method and the evaluation system provide a robust and accurate way to measure the visual complexity in the built environment.

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A New Vision for the Design Process of Sustainable Urban Transportation

The Academic Research Community Publication ◽

10.21625/archive.v3i2.514 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 3 (2) ◽

pp. 240

Author(s):

Tarek Mahmoud Yousry Hassan ◽

Ahmed Abdel Hamid Abdel Rahim ◽

Shimaa Abdil Wahab Mohammed

Keyword(s):

Built Environment ◽

Urban Design ◽

Design Process ◽

Urban Transportation ◽

Integrated Design ◽

Developed Countries ◽

Urban Transport ◽

Local Conditions ◽

Global Trends ◽

Design Dimension

Nowadays, several new global trends have emerged, empathizing urban design dimension in the planning of transportation networks and keeping pace with urban, environmental and social development. These trends emerged into practice in many developed countries, aiming at achieving sustainability, improving the built environment, reducing and addressing the environmental impacts resulted from the misuse of local resources of the environment, improving public health and providing better quality of life. The patterns of these trends varied in both urban design and urban transportation. The frameworks of both urban design and urban transportation are closely linked to these modern trends, each of which relies on its own practical framework and is adapted to the local conditions according to the type and pattern of urbanization in which these trends originated. It is worth mentioning that the crosscutting points and the linkages between the two areas, urban design and urban transportation, clearly exist in a global methodological frameworks covering the design process in both fields. Hence, the research gap to be covered in this paper is creating a global framework that covers the design process in both fields.The objectives of urban design are closely related to the objectives of urban transportation. This makes it necessary to integrate these two fields in a clear and systematic framework that suits and meets the needs of the urban content of the Egyptian society. Taking into consideration the pace of development taking place in both areas at the global level, and the emergence of many attempts integrating both the theoretical and the operational level. The Egyptian society faces a large gap between the current situation of the Egyptian urbanization and the extent of the application of these modern global trends due to the absence of the importance of integrating urban design dimension in planning urban transportation in existing urban cities.In this context, the paper seeks to reach a comprehensive vision that combines the two fields in order to improve the urban built environment and reduce the problems associated with the urban transportation sector in Egypt with aid of many of the modern global trends that dealt with this subject and reached many solutions that can be adopted in Egypt. The paper adopted the formulation of a generalized framework that includes the dimension of urban design in the planning and design of urban transport networks and included two pillars. (a) Proposing an ideological framework elaborating the integrated design process, which includes the use of the global modern trends in urban design and urban transportation at the functional urban, social, environmental and economic level; (b) Proposing a theoretical phased design process in line with the local Egyptian reality, which includes different application levels for planning, design, management, development and operation.

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Use of fractals to describe microstructures of porous thick-film platinum electrodes

Proceedings, annual meeting, Electron Microscopy Society of America ◽

10.1017/s0424820100121971 ◽

1992 ◽

Vol 50 (1) ◽

pp. 314-315

Author(s):

Steven D. Toteda

Keyword(s):

Fractal Dimension ◽

Power Plants ◽

Electrical Response ◽

Cubic Phase ◽

Platinum Electrodes ◽

Fine Grained ◽

Impedance Response ◽

Platinum Particles ◽

Energy Surfaces ◽

Highly Porous

Zirconia oxygen sensors, in such applications as power plants and automobiles, generally utilize platinum electrodes for the catalytic reaction of dissociating O2 at the surface. The microstructure of the platinum electrode defines the resulting electrical response. The electrode must be porous enough to allow the oxygen to reach the zirconia surface while still remaining electrically continuous. At low sintering temperatures, the platinum is highly porous and fine grained. The platinum particles sinter together as the firing temperatures are increased. As the sintering temperatures are raised even further, the surface of the platinum begins to facet with lower energy surfaces. These microstructural changes can be seen in Figures 1 and 2, but the goal of the work is to characterize the microstructure by its fractal dimension and then relate the fractal dimension to the electrical response. The sensors were fabricated from zirconia powder stabilized in the cubic phase with 8 mol% percent yttria. Each substrate was sintered for 14 hours at 1200°C. The resulting zirconia pellets, 13mm in diameter and 2mm in thickness, were roughly 97 to 98 percent of theoretical density. The Engelhard #6082 platinum paste was applied to the zirconia disks after they were mechanically polished ( diamond). The electrodes were then sintered at temperatures ranging from 600°C to 1000°C. Each sensor was tested to determine the impedance response from 1Hz to 5,000Hz. These frequencies correspond to the electrode at the test temperature of 600°C.

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