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This paper aims to provide a literature review on the cloud-based platforms for the education sectors. The several aspects of cloud computing adoption in education, remote/distance learning and the application of cloud-based design and manufacturing (CBDM) have been studied and theorised.

A four-step methodology was adopted to analyse and categorise the papers obtained through various search engines. Out of 429 research articles, 72 papers were shortlisted for the detailed analysis.

Many factors that influence cloud computing technology adoption in the education sector have been identified in this paper. The research findings on several research items have been tabulated and discussed. Based on the theoretical research done on cloud computing for education, cloud computing for remote/distance learning and CBDM, cloud computing could enhance the educational systems in mainly developing countries and improve the scope for remote/distance learning.

This study is limited to papers published only in the past decade from 2011 to 2020. Besides, this review was unable to include journal articles published in different languages. Nevertheless, for the effective teaching and learning process, this paper could help understand the importance and improve the process of adopting cloud computing concepts in educational universities and platforms.

This study is a novel one as a research review constituting cloud computing applications in education and extended for remote/distance learning and CBDM, which have not been studied in the existing knowledge base.

Iran is located among the top disaster‐prone countries in the world and, therefore, disaster management is considered to be one of the most important issues in this country. One of the existing and worldwide approaches for managing disasters is the so‐called community‐based disaster management (CBDM). Community participation means that people's contribution in the disaster management cycle can be started from the basic steps of a process and ends in the achievement and institutionalization in the community. The purpose of this paper is to make a comparative study on the CBDM in various selected countries in order to design a model for Iran.

A descriptive‐comparative study was undertaken through a methodology including six steps in which a few countries have been chosen based on their contribution to issues such as policy making, planning, coordination, and control and organizing of disasters as well as their experience in disaster management and access to related information.

The results of the study show that, in order to achieve a successful disaster management, there is a need for the participation of the community in various disaster management lifecycles. However, it is evident that the type of contribution may differ according to the characteristics of each specific country.

By using the CDBM, it is hoped that, with updating and implementing this model, the government's capability enhances in order to encounter disasters more effectively in the future.

On the basis of these findings, a model was designed to use CDBM in Iran. The issue most emphasized by this model is the presence and contribution of community at the local level in villages and neighborhoods in a city.

The purpose of this paper is to identify and discuss the main prerequisites which are deemed for successful disaster mitigation activities in megacities by considering various aspects related to disaster risk reduction.

The paper provides a general background with regard to the social and cultural patterns for involving local people to participate in the activities related to awareness raising before, and saving their lives and properties after the earthquakes. It then defines what is required for preparing disaster scenarios.

Prerequisites of comprehensive response plans, to be used in the aftermath of earthquakes in large cities, are discussed.

There is a lack of complete information, with regard to various social, and cultural aspects of disaster mitigation, in developing countries, such as Iran.

By following the steps mentioned and discussed in the paper for disaster mitigation planning and applying the proposed measures, the neighbourhoods in megacities can define and manage the activities better – which is crucial for saving lives in the aftermath of large earthquakes.

The paper details the requirements that are necessary for successful disaster mitigation activities in large cities and the difficulties and challenges which can be faced in encountering them.

This paper aims to solve inhomogeneous dielectric problems by matching boundary conditions at the interfaces among homogeneous subdomains. The capabilities of Hilbert transform computations are deeply investigated in the case of limited numbers of samples, and a refined model is presented by means of investigating accuracies in a case study with three subdomains.

The accuracies, refined by Richardson extrapolation to zero error, are compared to finite element (FEM) and finite difference methods. The boundary matching procedures can be easily applied to the results of a previous Schwarz–Christoffel (SC) conformal mapping stage in SC + BC procedures, to cope with field singularities or with open boundary problems.

The proposed field computations are of general interest both for electrostatic and magnetostatic field analysis and optimization. They can be useful as comparison tools for FEM results or when severe field singularities can impair the accuracies of other methods.

This static field methodology, of course, can be used to analyse transverse electro magnetic (TEM) or quasi-TEM propagation modes. It is possible that, in some case, these may make a contribution to the analysis of axis symmetrical problems.

The most relevant result is the possible introduction of SC + BC computations as a standard tool for solving inhomogeneous dielectric field problems.

Metro Manila, composed of 13 cities and 4 municipalities, is the home of more than 11 million people, and is vulnerable to different types of hazards, including earthquakes and flooding. This chapter focuses on the legal and institutional framework of Metro Manila, and analyzes the effectiveness of local governance in reducing the impacts of earthquake risk in the community level. Although most of the cities are faced with different barriers and challenges with regard to institutional and legal aspects, it is required to mobilize communities and utilize appropriate community leadership to enhance actions at the local level. In case of Manila, barangay or the lowest government body plays a key role in implementing risk reduction measures at community levels, and barangay captain (elected local representative) plays a crucial role in facilitating implementation. A combination of public help, mutual help, and self-help will be able to develop risk reduction strategies at local level.

Definition of community varies based on its perspective. Many people describe community in different ways. McMillan & Chavis (1986) described community as “a feeling that members have of belonging, a feeling that members matter to one another and to the group, and a shared faith that members’ needs will be met through their commitment to be together.” This definition is preferred in the current context because of its general nature. Community includes not only the people living in a certain location, but also the local government, local business sectors, local academic bodies, and nongovernment organizations (NGOs) (Shaw, 2006a).

The purpose of this paper is to propose building code changes that would benefit both architectural design and the potential of achieving nearly zero energy goals by analyzing the architectural implications of the energy system boundaries within the Swedish code.

The analysis is driven by three questions that relate the national implementation of EU directive on nearly zero energy 2020 to the premises set out in the guidelines for revising the Swedish building code aiming at a performance-based regulation. A crucial part of the research is a comparative analysis of the design implications of the code to research findings in scientific articles on near-zero energy or low-energy design.

The energy system boundaries in the Swedish code are steering the architectural design and energy consequences of offices towards using less heat but more electricity. The energy section is also limiting the architectural design choices by ignoring the positive energy aspects of daylight. A proposal of a new comprehensive energy section taking all architectural design related energy aspects into account is presented, in order to support design of nearly zero energy buildings.

A building code that relates the energy system boundaries to form will help integrated design choices that are more likely to support the strive towards nearly zero energy buildings.

The paper reveals the design implication of the Swedish energy section to be counterproductive regarding energy efficiency as well as limiting architectural design choices.

The purpose of this paper is to review research on gender and disasters in Japan, from the Kobe Earthquake to the Great East Japan Earthquake (GEJE). Gender perspectives were not adequately considered immediately after these disasters. Rather, disasters reinforced the gender roles prevalent in Japanese society. The paper seeks ways to position gender perspectives into mainstream thought on disaster management in Japan.

A literature review was conducted of secondary Japanese sources including peer-reviewed and non-academic journals published by governmental and non-governmental organisations after the Kobe, Niigata Chuetsu, and GEJEs. Popularly searched keywords were the Japanese for “gender” or “women”, and “disasters”.

A review of the published literature indicated that gender-related issues experienced during the Kobe Earthquake in 1995 and the Niigata Chuetsu Earthquake in 2004 were repeated following the GEJE in 2011. Japan has experienced numerous disasters; thus, the importance of gender perspectives has been gradually recognised and has received increased attention after the GEJE. This paper emphasises that these should be embedded at policy level and within disaster management structures to create disaster resilient communities.

To date, not much research in Japan, and none published in English, has reviewed gender- and disaster-related issues.

Understanding bottom-up approaches including local coping mechanisms, recognizing them and strengthening community capacities is important in the process of disaster risk reduction. The purpose of this paper is to address the questions: to what extent existing disaster policies in Nepal support and enable community-based disaster resilience? and what challenges and prospects do the communities have in responding to disaster risk for making communities resilient?

This paper is based on policy and academic literature reviews complimented by field research in two communities, one in Shankhu, Kathmandu district and another in Satthighare, Kavrepalanchowk district in Nepal. The author conducted in-depth interviews and mapped out key disaster-related policies of Nepal to investigate the role of communities in disaster risk management and post-disaster activities and their recognition in disaster-related policies.

The author found that existing literature clearly identifies the importance of the community led initiatives in risks reduction and management. It is evolutionary phenomenon, which has already been piloted in history including in the aftermath of Nepal earthquake 2015 yet existing policies of Nepal do not clearly identify it as an important component by providing details of how communities can be better engaged in the immediate aftermath of disaster occurrence.

The author conducted this research based on data from two earthquake affected areas only. The author believes that this research can still play an important role as representative study.

The practical implication of this research is that communities need to understand about risks society for disaster preparedness, mitigation and timely response in the aftermath of disasters. As they are the first responders against the disasters, they also need trainings such as disaster drills such as earthquakes, floods and fire and mock practice of various early warning systems can be conducted by local governments to prepare these communities better to reduce disaster risk and casualties.

The mantra of community-based disaster risk management (CBDRM) is community engagement, which means the involvement of local people to understand and prepare against their local hazards and risks associated with disaster and haphazard development. CBDRM approaches motivate people to work together because they feel a sense of belongingness to their communities and recognize the benefits of their involvement in disaster mitigation and preparedness. Clearly, community engagement for disaster risk reduction and management brings great benefits in terms of ownership and direct savings in losses from disasters because the dynamic process allows community to contribute and interchange ideas and activities for inclusive decision making and problem solving.

This research is based on both primary and secondary data and original in case of its findings and conclusion.

The purpose of the study was to examine the relative importance of corporate social and environmental responsibility (CSER) in comparison to standard, price, duration, destination, brand and disruption using choice-based conjoint analysis (CBC).

CBC was used as the data collection survey technique, and counts analysis for preference and hierarchical Bayes estimation (HB) for importance levels data analysis methods, from Sawtooth Software Inc.

Results show that 2:1 Royal Caribbean Cruise Line cruise consumers prefer companies with CSER policies and practices. However, their actual product choice selection of cruise package attributes revealed that consumers overall placed less importance on CSER when choosing cruises. Experienced consumers were more brand image-conscious than those new to cruising, and consumers who were less price-sensitive were most willing to choose companies with CSER policies and practices.

The information provided is specifically on “what” cruise consumer preferences and importance attributes are but does not explicitly explain “why” the respondents made the choices they did. This was at the time a limitation of the software used to conduct the study.

The Conjoint Analysis CBC Sawtooth Software pre-2014 version choice simulators do not facilitate questions that provide answers as to “why” respondents make the choices they do in the market simulations.

The knowledge contribution is of value to both academia and industry, as the quantitative statistical data on the cruise consumers’ choice preferences are of value in understanding and identifying solutions/approaches towards “opening the bottleneck” that exists between private sector sustainable development practices and consumer lifestyle changes.

This was the first time that CBC/HB was applied within academia to examine the cruise consumers’ choice preferences in a UK context and also the first time that CSER was applied as a direct variable in a cruise package to determine the preference and important values of a brand in a consumer behaviour decision-making context.