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The space and the Brazilian city were planned and conceived according to the ideals of capitalist logic, generating socio-spatial segregations and inequalities regarding access and the dignified permanence in cities. The Municipal Master Plan, as the main instrument in the field of Urban Planning, has been used for territorial planning in Brazilian cities of different sizes. In the state of Paraná, there is a large number of municipalities with small cities that have presented Master Plans. Therefore, the question arises: have small cities developed Master Plans with applicable instruments, particularly taxable ones? The objective is to discuss urban planning and master plans in small cities, focusing on the instruments and their applicabilities, based on the city of Ivaiporã, located in the central portion of the state. For this purpose, the methodology used aimed to assess the applicability of tax instruments in the Municipal Master Plan of Ivaiporã (2008, 2010), based on the methodology developed by the Evaluation and Training Network for the Implementation of Participatory Master Plans - REDE PDP (SANTOS JUNIOR, 2011). A literature review concerning the research problem was also conducted. It is concluded that the Municipal Master Plan of Ivaiporã has its positive aspects, but it lacks necessary elements to be truly applicable and transformative of an urban structure in the long term. Although the Municipal Laws of its Municipal Master Plan and the Tax Code have advanced in the direction of its elaboration and certain actions aimed at urban development, much is still lacking to assert that this applicability occurs in a fully realized manner. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim. Post-communist planning in Ukraine was essentially transformed over the last years with new approaches, instruments and practices changing the very idea of planning at the local level. As a result, local planning is becoming a mix of multiple usual planning instruments, new optional tools, which have appeared with imported conceptions and widespread participatory practices. This article uses the context of Luhansk region to address the question how this variety of instruments transform the planning processes at the local level in post-transitional perspective. We examine how planning and participatory instruments are developed and combined in the territorial communities of Luhansk region, what are the outcomes and how the main actors evaluate the planning process. Methodology. In this article, we consider how territorial communities use the planning and participation instruments from the standpoints of spatial transformations and place-making, using the experience of the region with a severe planning crisis in recent decades. In order to analyze the state of use of planning and participation instruments at the local level, we focus on planning documents and participatory tools in 26 territorial communities of the government controlled areas in Luhansk region (as of the end of 2021). Additional data for contextualizing empirical information on the planning process, its outcomes and particular instruments were obtained from two focus groups, which involved 35 persons, including local officials, local activists and residents from different territorial communities of Luhansk region. Results. We argue that territorial communities rely on quite diverse planning documents and participatory practices with insufficient focus on planning instruments for balancing the spatial development. Active introduction of the new public participation tools that have become available in recent years had a paradoxical effect in the region, when implementing without reliance on planning instruments. At the same time, many territorial communities are adapting various instruments to specific local context, thus contributing significantly to developing the local institutional environment, creating local success stories and strengthening democratic decision-making. We show that planning instruments, their implementations and outcomes of planning activity in most cases are perceived and evaluated differently by the main actors, however many of them are becoming increasingly aware about planning process and interested in developing the planning culture. Novelty and practical significance. This paper contributes to the discussion on the evolution of local planning instruments, the role and effectiveness of certain instruments in the post-transitional perspective. Understanding the state of affairs with local planning and participatory instruments, their interplay and ability to provide expected outcomes contributes to strengthening of the local planning policy and making it more effective.

Aim. Post-communist planning in Ukraine was essentially transformed over the last years with new approaches, instruments and practices changing the very idea of planning at the local level. As a result, local planning is becoming a mix of multiple usual planning instruments, new optional tools, which have appeared with imported conceptions and widespread participatory practices. This article uses the context of Luhansk region to address the question how this variety of instruments transform the planning processes at the local level in post-transitional perspective. We examine how planning and participatory instruments are developed and combined in the territorial communities of Luhansk region, what are the outcomes and how the main actors evaluate the planning process. Methodology. In this article, we consider how territorial communities use the planning and participation instruments from the standpoints of spatial transformations and place-making, using the experience of the region with a severe planning crisis in recent decades. In order to analyze the state of use of planning and participation instruments at the local level, we focus on planning documents and participatory tools in 26 territorial communities of the government controlled areas in Luhansk region (as of the end of 2021). Additional data for contextualizing empirical information on the planning process, its outcomes and particular instruments were obtained from two focus groups, which involved 35 persons, including local officials, local activists and residents from different territorial communities of Luhansk region. Results. We argue that territorial communities rely on quite diverse planning documents and participatory practices with insufficient focus on planning instruments for balancing the spatial development. Active introduction of the new public participation tools that have become available in recent years had a paradoxical effect in the region, when implementing without reliance on planning instruments. At the same time, many territorial communities are adapting various instruments to specific local context, thus contributing significantly to developing the local institutional environment, creating local success stories and strengthening democratic decisionmaking. We show that planning instruments, their implementations and outcomes of planning activity in most cases are perceived and evaluated differently by the main actors, however many of them are becoming increasingly aware about planning process and interested in developing the planning culture. Novelty and practical significance. This paper contributes to the discussion on the evolution of local planning instruments, the role and effectiveness of certain instruments in the post-transitional perspective. Understanding the state of affairs with local planning and participatory instruments, their interplay and ability to provide expected outcomes contributes to strengthening of the local planning policy and making it more effective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the rulemaking compliance dates come further into effect in 2015, U.S. cement plants will take final actions to upgrade compliance programs for the National Emission Standards for Portland Cement Manufacturing [also known as the Portland Cement Maximum Achievable Control Technology (PC MACT)]. For those facilities using alternative fuels and possibly raw materials, past practices will also require altering to address the non-hazardous secondary material (NHSM) and Commercial and Industrial Solid Waste Incineration (CISWI) rules. Meanwhile, there is continued work by the industry and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to decipher and clarify final implementation steps of each rule and, in particular, to address the question of “what is a waste,” which drives facility implementation strategies. The Portland cement industry has a long and proven track record in historically implementing the PC MACT rules and in using alternative fuels and raw materials (AFR) for a variety of environmentally and economically beneficial reasons. As the final compliance steps are put in place, there are continuing questions on how the new rules will be successfully implemented, while optimizing plant operations and continuing to grow the important AFR programs. Given that this suite of regulations will forever change the playing field on day-to-day operations, and the historic use of AFR in cement plants in the U.S., there will be critical compliance and financial risk implications on how to best manage final decisions. This paper reviews final approaches for cement plant operators to maximize opportunities and reduce unintentional risks posed by the new rules, by exploring the lessons learned on implementing PC MACT, CISWI, and NHSM rules based on the authors' work with the Portland Cement Association, individual facilities, and general industry/EPA discussions. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In this paper, a novel formulation for robust surgical planning of robotics-assisted minimally invasive cardiac surgery based on patient-specific preoperative images is proposed. In this context, robustness is quantified in terms of the likelihood of intraoperative collisions and of joint limit violations. The proposed approach provides a more accurate and complete formulation than existing deterministic approaches in addressing uncertainty at the task level. Moreover, it is demonstrated that the dexterity of robotic arms can be quantified as a cross-entropy term. The resulting planning problem is rendered as a chance-constrained entropy maximization problem seeking a plan with the least susceptibility toward uncertainty at the task level, while maximizing the dexterity (cross-entropy term). By such treatment of uncertainty at the task level, spatial uncertainty pertaining to mismatches between the patient-specific anatomical model and that of the actual intraoperative situation is also indirectly addressed. As a solution method, the unscented transform is adopted to efficiently transform the resulting chance-constrained entropy maximization problem into a constrained nonlinear program without resorting to computationally expensive particle-based methods. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

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