Kolmogorov compression complexity may differentiate different schools of Orthodox iconography

The complexity in the styles of 1200 Byzantine icons painted between 13th and 16th from Greece, Russia and Romania was investigated through the Kolmogorov algorithmic information theory. The aim was to identify specific quantitative patterns which define the key characteristics of the three different painting schools. Our novel approach using the artificial surface images generated with Inverse FFT and the Midpoint Displacement (MD) algorithms, was validated by comparison of results with eight fractal and non-fractal indices. From the analyzes performed, normalized Kolmogorov compression complexity (KC) proved to be the best solution because it had the best complexity pattern differentiations, is not sensitive to the image size and the least affected by noise. We conclude that normalized KC methodology does offer capability to differentiate the icons within a School and amongst the three Schools

Environmental risk management of urban growth poles regarding national importance

Urban settlements of regional importance from Romania impose within the national settlements system by their ability to converge material and human flows, leading to important unbalances in the relationships between the components of territorial systems. The status they held, both in the communist period and at present, made the economic activities developed in a short time exceed the adapting ability of the other components of the territorial system, the natural environment strongly feeling the industrialisation pressure. Identifying the specificities of the environmental risk management at the level of development poles of regional importance was done by detailed analyses accomplished in Craiova, a representative town for the high concentration of economic activities strongly pressing upon the natural environment. The construction of the model of environmental risk management supposes the classifying of risks by a series of criteria, a model which constitutes a useful instrument for the decision factors. The management of unbalances from the territorial systems determined by industrialisation is one of the major preoccupations of the decision factors from Romania, in order to be aligned to the European environment standards

Quantification of the aridity process in South-Western Romania

The report released by the Intergovernmental Committee for Climate Change indicates that Romania ranks among the top seven countries in Europe that would be strongly impacted by aridity in the next few years, with climate changes consisting in a rise of average annual temperatures by as much as 5°C. The research work was conducted in the South of the Oltenia South-Western Development Region, where more than 700,000 hectares of farmland is impacted by aridification, more than 100,000 hectares among them impacted by aridity. Research methodology encompassed the analysis of average annual temperatures over the time span data was available for, at three weather stations, an analysis of average annual precipitations, an analysis of the piezometric data, the evolution of land use as a result of the expansion of the aridity process. The assessment of the aridity process also involved taking into consideration the state of the vegetation by means of the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), used to assess the quality of the vegetal stratum, an important element in the complex analysis of the territory. The aridity process is an effect of global warming, and, based on the results of this study, the post-1990 escalation of its effects was brought about by socio-economic factors. The destruction of the irrigation systems and protective forest belts because of the uncertain situation of land ownership are the main factors that contributed to amplification of the effects of aridity on the efficiency of agricultural systems that nowadays are exposed to very high risks

Environmental risk management of urban growth poles regarding national importance

Urban settlements of regional importance from Romania impose within the national settlements system by their ability to converge material and human flows, leading to important unbalances in the relationships between the components of territorial systems. The status they held, both in the communist period and at present, made the economic activities developed in a short time exceed the adapting ability of the other components of the territorial system, the natural environment strongly feeling the industrialisation pressure. Identifying the specificities of the environmental risk management at the level of development poles of regional importance was done by detailed analyses accomplished in Craiova, a representative town for the high concentration of economic activities strongly pressing upon the natural environment. The construction of the model of environmental risk management supposes the classifying of risks by a series of criteria, a model which constitutes a useful instrument for the decision factors. The management of unbalances from the territorial systems determined by industrialisation is one of the major preoccupations of the decision factors from Romania, in order to be aligned to the European environment standards

Environmental Pollution In Functionally Restructured Urban Areas: Case Study – The City Of Bucharest

This study aims at analyzing the changes that the functional restructuring of economic activities developed in the communist period brought upon the quality of the natural environment. It has been done an individualization of the main areas affected by the marked dynamics of economic activities in Bucharest due to numberless sources of emission distributed all over the city. The striking lack of balance in the condition of the environment is determined by the profound alterations inside the urban structure. Once the location of performing economic activities has been shifted towards the outskirts of the city, other economic activities have been developed inside the urban structure causing tides to compress, thus exceeding the capacity for support of the road structure. As a consequence the polluting emissions are greater than the admitted maximum limits in many areas of Bucharest. Besides road traffic, numerous construction sites inside the city which are not suitably organized, add to the increase of polluting emissions. The local authorities have initiated great projects which aim at easing the traffic flow inside the city and developing systems of redirecting the road traffic at city entrances

Environmental Pollution In Functionally Restructured Urban Areas: Case Study – The City Of Bucharest

This study aims at analyzing the changes that the functional restructuring of economic activities developed in the communist period brought upon the quality of the natural environment. It has been done an individualization of the main areas affected by the marked dynamics of economic activities in Bucharest due to numberless sources of emission distributed all over the city. The striking lack of balance in the condition of the environment is determined by the profound alterations inside the urban structure. Once the location of performing economic activities has been shifted towards the outskirts of the city, other economic activities have been developed inside the urban structure causing tides to compress, thus exceeding the capacity for support of the road structure. As a consequence the polluting emissions are greater than the admitted maximum limits in many areas of Bucharest. Besides road traffic, numerous construction sites inside the city which are not suitably organized, add to the increase of polluting emissions. The local authorities have initiated great projects which aim at easing the traffic flow inside the city and developing systems of redirecting the road traffic at city entrances

Kolmogorov compression complexity may differentiate different schools of Orthodox iconography

The complexity in the styles of 1200 Byzantine icons painted between 13th and 16th from Greece, Russia and Romania was investigated through the Kolmogorov algorithmic information theory. The aim was to identify specific quantitative patterns which define the key characteristics of the three different painting schools. Our novel approach using the artificial surface images generated with Inverse FFT and the Midpoint Displacement (MD) algorithms, was validated by comparison of results with eight fractal and non-fractal indices. From the analyzes performed, normalized Kolmogorov compression complexity (KC) proved to be the best solution because it had the best complexity pattern differentiations, is not sensitive to the image size and the least affected by noise. We conclude that normalized KC methodology does offer capability to differentiate the icons within a School and amongst the three Schools