WorldWideScience

Sample records for community open house

  1. Family Open House

    Science.gov (United States)

    Search Family Open House Join us for an afternoon of science fun. The Fermilab Family Open House is a party for children of all ages to learn about the world of physics. The Open House is supported by Open House? Check out our YouTube video to learn more! Explore physics concepts with hands-on

  2. Public open space for disaster mitigation in Tangerang housing estates

    Science.gov (United States)

    Winandari, M. I. R.

    2018-01-01

    Public open space in housing estates plays an important role particularly in disaster mitigation. In some housing, there are indications of shape and use of space changes post-handover to local government. The aim of this study is to explore the relationship between public open space condition and management related to disaster mitigation in Tangerang housing estates. Multiple case study method is used to analyse of 2 housing cases. Aspects of access and boundaries were used to evaluate the cases. The results showed that gated community housing type should have more than 1 access to facilitate evacuation by considering the farthest unit to the housing gate. This is necessary to provide open spaces that are easily accessible from all units as the first evacuation site during and post disaster.

  3. Allegheny County Housing and Community Environment Inspections

    Data.gov (United States)

    Allegheny County / City of Pittsburgh / Western PA Regional Data Center — Residential housing inspections and inspections in response to complaints for community environment problems, such as open vacant structures, vacant lots with...

  4. Loneliness in senior housing communities.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Taylor, Harry Owen; Wang, Yi; Morrow-Howell, Nancy

    2018-05-23

    There are many studies on loneliness among community-dwelling older adults; however, there is limited research examining the extent and correlates of loneliness among older adults who reside in senior housing communities. This study examines the extent and correlates of loneliness in three public senior housing communities in the St. Louis area. Data for this project was collected with survey questionnaires with a total sample size of 148 respondents. Loneliness was measured using the Hughes 3-item loneliness scale. Additionally, the questionnaire contained measures on socio-demographics, health/mental health, social engagement, and social support. Missing data for the hierarchical multivariate regression models were imputed using multiple imputation methods. Results showed approximately 30.8% of the sample was not lonely, 42.7% was moderately lonely, and 26.6% was severely lonely. In the multivariate analyses, loneliness was primarily associated with depressive symptoms. Contrary to popular opinion, our study found the prevalence of loneliness was high in senior housing communities. Nevertheless, senior housing communities could be ideal locations for reducing loneliness among older adults. Interventions should focus on concomitantly addressing both an individual's loneliness and mental health.

  5. 75 FR 78875 - White House Council for Community Solutions

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-12-17

    ... Order 13560 of December 14, 2010 White House Council for Community Solutions By the authority vested in... White House Council for Community Solutions (Council) within the Corporation for National and Community.... (Presidential Sig.) THE WHITE HOUSE, December 14, 2010. [FR Doc. 2010-31878 Filed 12-16-10; 8:45 am] Billing...

  6. Housing First and Photovoice: Transforming Lives, Communities, and Systems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Barile, John P.; Ogawa, Terry Yasuko; Peralta, Nelson; Bugg, Reumell; Lau, John; Lamberton, Thomas; Hall, Corazon; Mori, Victor

    2018-01-01

    This article presents findings from a community-based participatory evaluation of a Housing First program on the Island of O’ahu. In this study, clients in a Housing First program used Photovoice to evaluate the program and to advocate for progressive housing policies. Written together by members of the Housing First Photovoice group, this collaborative article describes the outcomes from both the Housing First program and the Photovoice project and demonstrates the ways in which participatory program evaluations can interact with client-driven programs like Housing First to produce a cumulative, transformative impact. Findings suggest that community psychologists hoping to re-engage with community mental health systems through enacting transformative change should consider taking a community-based participatory approach to program evaluation because increased client voice in community mental health programs and their evaluations can have far-reaching, transformative impacts for research, practice, and policy. PMID:29323410

  7. Impact of Housing and Community Conditions on Multidimensional Health among Middle- and Low-Income Groups in Hong Kong

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jionghua Wang

    2018-05-01

    Full Text Available With decades of urbanization, housing and community problems (e.g., poor ventilation and lack of open public spaces have become important social determinants of health that require increasing attention worldwide. Knowledge regarding the link between health and these problems can provide crucial evidence for building healthy communities. However, this link has heretofore not been identified in Hong Kong, and few studies have compared the health impact of housing and community conditions across different income groups. To overcome this gap, we hypothesize that the health impact of housing and community problems may vary across income groups and across health dimensions. We tested these hypotheses using cross-sectional survey data from Hong Kong. Several health outcomes, e.g., chronic diseases and the SF-12 v. 2 mental component summary scores, were correlated with a few types of housing and community problems, while other outcomes, such as the DASS-21–Stress scores, were sensitive to a broader range of problems. The middle- and low-income group was more severely affected by poor built environments. These results can be used to identify significant problems in the local built environment, especially amongst the middle- and low-income group.

  8. Community-Engaged Research to Identify House Parent Perspectives on Support and Risk within the House and Ball Scene

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kubicek, Katrina; Beyer, William H.; McNeeley, Miles; Weiss, George; Omni, Legendary Father Taz Ultra; Kipke, Michele D.

    2012-01-01

    This paper describes a community-engaged study with the Los Angeles House and Ball scene, in which the perspectives of the leaders of these communities are captured to better understand how the House and Ball communities may protect and/or increase its members’ risks for HIV infection. Data were collected through in-depth interviews with House parents (N=26). This study identified key features of both support (e.g., family and support; acceptance; validation and recognition) and risk (e.g., members’ struggle to maintain status in the Ballroom scene; sex work; substance use; danger of becoming too involved in the Ball community; perception and stigma of Ballroom scene within the larger gay community) within these communities. Findings are discussed in relation to framing how to leverage the supportive aspects of the House and Ball communities to design relevant HIV prevention interventions. PMID:22206442

  9. Objective community integration of mental health consumers living in supported housing and of others in the community.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yanos, Philip T; Stefancic, Ana; Tsemberis, Sam

    2012-01-01

    Housing programs for people with severe mental illnesses aim to maximize community integration. However, little is known about how the community integration of mental health consumers living in supported housing compares with that of other community residents in the socially disadvantaged communities where supported housing is often located. The purpose of this study was to examine predictors of objective community integration of mental health consumers living in supported housing and of other persons living in the same communities. Participants were 124 adults (60 mental health consumers and 64 other community residents) residing in designated zip codes in the Bronx, New York. Participants were administered measures of psychiatric symptoms, substance use, physical community integration (participation in local activities), social integration (interactions with community members), and citizenship (political activism or volunteering). Mental health consumers living in supported independent housing had significantly lower scores on indicators of objective community integration than other community members. However, differences were relatively small. Among mental health consumers, African-American race, education, and length of time in current residence were associated with better community integration. Findings suggest that mental health consumers living in supported housing may not achieve levels of objective community integration that are comparable with other community members; however, psychiatric factors did not account for this difference. Length of time in neighborhoods appears to be an important factor in facilitating social integration.

  10. Do Affordable Housing Projects Harm Suburban Communities? Crime, Property Values, and Taxes in Mount Laurel, NJ.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Albright, Len; Derickson, Elizabeth S; Massey, Douglas S

    2013-06-01

    This paper offers a mixed-method analysis of the municipal-level consequences of an affordable housing development built in suburban New Jersey. Opponents of affordable housing development often suggest that creating affordable housing will harm surrounding communities. Feared consequences include increases in crime, declining property values, and rising taxes. To evaluate these claims, the paper uses the case of Mt. Laurel, NJ - the site of a landmark affordable housing legal case and subsequent affordable housing development. Employing a multiple time series group control design, we compare crime rates, property values, and property taxes in Mt. Laurel to outcomes in similar nearby municipalities that do not contain comparable affordable housing developments. We find that the opening of the affordable housing development was not associated with trends in crime, property values, or taxes, and discuss management practices and design features that may have mitigated potential negative externalities.

  11. Raymark Public Open House and General Information Session

    Science.gov (United States)

    The USEPA, CTDEEP, CT DPH, & the Stratford Health Department will host an Open House & General Information Session for Stratford, CT residents to learn more about the Raymark Industries, Inc. Superfund Site, on Tuesday, May 23, 2017...

  12. New to the Neighborhood:???? Community Perspectives on Off-Campus Student Housing

    Science.gov (United States)

    Twigg, Danielle

    2014-01-01

    A community impact study was conducted in the suburbs surrounding a large multicampus Australian university to explore community perspectives on student housing. A mixed methods approach was used to explore current perceptions and beliefs in the community about off-campus student housing. This consisted of a survey of community members and…

  13. Growing community : rooftop gardens for affordable housing

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Weeks, K.N. [California Univ., Berkeley, CA (United States)

    2007-07-01

    This paper reviewed the processes used in recently designed affordable housing roof garden projects in California, Montana and Georgia. Gardens create a sense of community through shared space and social interactions. As such, roof gardens can give residents of affordable housing the opportunity to experience the community-fostering benefits of gardening, with the added advantages of potentially lower energy bills and wastewater fees. The factors that should be considered in planning, design, construction and maintenance of roof gardens for affordable housing were also outlined. As places of refuge, gardens help people relax and promote healing, which is particularly important for physical, emotional, social and economic well-being. For the many residents of affordable housing who earn less than 50 per cent of the area median income, gardens offer a venue for establishing relationships with neighbours, many of whom they might otherwise never meet. They also offer a means to improved nutrition and food security, education and positive recreation for youth, and better aesthetic surroundings. While motivations for choosing green roofs varied widely across the projects, affordability was linked to 3 main areas, namely saving costs in design, construction and operations; getting the roof to generate funding; and, improving the quality of life in affordable housing. 17 refs., 12 figs.

  14. Open source community organization

    CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

    Molefe, Onkgopotse M

    2009-05-01

    Full Text Available Open Source communities (OSCs), sometimes referred to as virtual or online communities play a significant role in terms of the contribution they continue to make in producing user-friendly Open Source Software (OSS) solutions. Many projects have...

  15. House Parties: An Innovative Model for Outreach and Community-Based Health Education.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Anderson-Reeves, Timika; Goodman, Jacqueline; Bragg, Brian; Leruth, Chelsey

    2017-12-01

    Purpose To connect low resource communities to innovative services that address gaps in health access and knowledge. Description We describe the house party model, as a community-based workshop approach to health education developed by the Westside Healthy Start program (WHS) in Chicago, Illinois. Key elements of the WHS house party model include use of community health workers as facilitators, collaboration with participants and community-based organizations, referrals to health care and social services, and engagement strategies such as interactive activities, personal stories, and discussion. Assessment In 2014 and 2015, WHS completed 23 house parties with 271 participants, delivering education on relevant maternal and child health (MCH) topics. Participants demonstrated improvements in knowledge of several health-related areas. About half of participants were able to identify causes or signs of preterm labor prior to the house party, compared to over 80% after. In addition, 94% of participants rated the house party workshops "excellent" or "good". Conclusion House parties are a promising strategy for increasing knowledge about MCH topics and linking hard-to-reach populations to resources in the community.

  16. 78 FR 15007 - Notice of Open House-Draft Environmental Impact Statement for Revised Water Control Manuals for...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-03-08

    ... DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE Department of the Army; Corps of Engineers Notice of Open House--Draft... AGENCY: Department of the Army, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, DoD. ACTION: Notice of Open House meetings... conduct open house style meetings and accept comments on the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS...

  17. Opening up closed policy communities.

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Termeer, C.J.A.M.; Werkman, R.A.

    2010-01-01

    Agricultural policy networks have served as classic cases of closed policy communities, facing pressure to open up. However attempts to involve new stakeholders slowly move forward. This paper addresses the question why it is so difficult to open up agricultural communities and what might help to

  18. Improving health and energy efficiency through community-based housing interventions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Howden-Chapman, Philippa; Crane, Julian; Chapman, Ralph; Fougere, Geoff

    2011-12-01

    Houses designed for one climate and cultural group may not be appropriate for other places and people. Our aim is to find cost-effective ways to improve the characteristics of older homes, ill-fitted for New Zealand's climate, in order to improve the occupants' health. We have carried out two community randomised trials, in partnership with local communities, which have focused on retrofitted insulation and more effective heating and have two other studies under way, one which focuses on electricity vouchers and the other on housing hazard remediation. The Housing, Insulation and Health Study showed that insulating 1,350 houses, built before insulation was required, improved the occupants' health and well being as well as household energy efficiency. In the Housing, Heating and Health Study we investigated the impact of installing more effective heating in insulated houses for 409 households, where there was a child with doctor-diagnosed asthma. Again, the study showed significant results in the intervention group; indoor temperatures increased and levels of NO(2) were halved. Children reported less poor health, lower levels of asthma symptoms and sleep disturbances by wheeze and dry cough. Children also had fewer days off school. Improving the energy efficiency of older housing leads to health improvements and energy efficiency improvements. Multidisciplinary studies of housing interventions can create compelling evidence to support policies for sustainable housing developments which improve health.

  19. The Hayden House Program: Community Involvement in the Arts.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hampton, Grace

    1979-01-01

    Describes an arts and crafts program initiated at Hayden House, a low-income, racially integrated housing development in Phoenix, Arizona. The program, designed to promote pride and community cohesion, presented workshops and cultural events for both children and adults. This article is part of a theme issue on multicultural art. (SJL)

  20. EHS Open House: Learning Lab and Life Safety | Poster

    Science.gov (United States)

    Attendees of the Environment, Health, and Safety Program’s (EHS’) Open House had a chance to learn self-defense techniques, as well as visit with vendors demonstrating the latest trends in laboratory safety. “Working with sharps in labs is inherently dangerous, so EHS proactively focused on featuring equipment that would promote safer techniques,” said Siobhan Tierney, program

  1. Resident and proprietor perspectives on a recovery orientation in community-based housing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Piat, Myra; Boyer, Richard; Fleury, Marie-Josée; Lesage, Alain; O'Connell, Maria; Sabetti, Judith

    2015-03-01

    Stable housing is a fundamental human right, and an important element for both mental health recovery and social inclusion among people with serious mental illness. This article reports findings from a study on the recovery orientation of structured congregate community housing services using the Recovery Self-Assessment Questionnaire (RSA) adapted for housing (O'Connell, Tondora, Croog, Evans, & Davidson, 2005). The RSA questionnaires were administered to 118 residents and housing providers from 112 congregate housing units located in Montreal, Canada. Residents rated their homes as significantly less recovery-oriented than did proprietors, which is contrary to previous studies of clinical services or Assertive Community Treatment where RSA scores for service users were significantly higher than service provider scores. Findings for both groups suggest the need for improvement on 5 of 6 RSA factors. While proprietors favored recovery training and education, and valued resident opinion and experience, vestiges of a traditional medical model governing this housing emerged in other findings, as in agreement between the 2 groups that residents have little choice in case management, or in the belief among proprietors that residents are unable to manage their symptoms. This study demonstrates that the RSA adapted for housing is a useful tool for creating recovery profiles of housing services. The findings provide practical guidance on how to promote a recovery orientation in structured community housing, as well as a novel approach for reaching a common understanding of what this entails among stakeholders. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).

  2. Resident and Proprietor Perspectives of a Recovery Orientation in Community-Based Housing

    Science.gov (United States)

    Piat, Myra; Boyer, Richard; Fleury, Marie-Josée; Lesage, Alain; O’Connell, Maria; Sabetti, Judith

    2016-01-01

    Objective Stable housing is a fundamental human right, and an important element for both mental health recovery and social inclusion among people with serious mental illness. This article reports findings from a study on the recovery orientation of structured congregate community housing services using the Recovery Self-Assessment Questionnaire (RSA) adapted for housing (O’Connell, Tondora, Croog, Evans, & Davidson, 2005). Methods The RSA questionnaires were administered to 118 residents and housing providers from 112 congregate housing units located in Montreal, Canada. Results Residents rated their homes as significantly less recovery-oriented than did proprietors, which is contrary to previous studies of clinical services or Assertive Community Treatment where RSA scores for service users were significantly higher than service provider scores. Findings for both groups suggest the need for improvement on 5 of 6 RSA factors. While proprietors favored recovery training and education, and valued resident opinion and experience, vestiges of a traditional medical model governing this housing emerged in other findings, as in agreement between the 2 groups that residents have little choice in case management, or in the belief among proprietors that residents are unable to manage their symptoms. Conclusions and Implications for Practice This study demonstrates that the RSA adapted for housing is a useful tool for creating recovery profiles of housing services. The findings provide practical guidance on how to promote a recovery orientation in structured community housing, as well as a novel approach for reaching a common understanding of what this entails among stakeholders. PMID:25559078

  3. Housing conditions and respiratory health in a Boston public housing community.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brugge, D; Rice, P W; Terry, P; Howard, L; Best, J

    2001-01-01

    To determine frequency of and possible associations between environmental housing factors and self-reported respiratory symptoms in public housing. We used a community-participatory method in which trained residents conducted in-person interviews with a random sample of 53 households in one housing development in Boston, Massachusetts. Environmental factors suspected of affecting respiratory health that were reported by more than 30 percent of respondents included: Moisture (43 percent), mold (43 percent), cracks in walls, floors and ceilings (49 percent), sewage leaks (33 percent), unexplained odor (35 percent), use of air fresheners (91 percent), use of gas ovens for heating (38 percent), no vent for the oven (74 percent), stuffy air (66 percent), overheating at least part of the winter (73 percent), cockroaches (70 percent), rodents (40 percent), pets (39 percent), frequent renovations (40 percent), repeated requests for repairs (52 percent), dust from construction (45 percent), use of more than three hazardous household products (32 percent), vehicle traffic nearby (81 percent), and smoking in the household (57 percent). Forty percent of respondents reported having asthma. Respondents also reported that 56 percent of their children had asthma. Forty percent of respondents reported wheeze and 48 percent reported coughing or sneezing episodes in the preceding month. We found the following positive statistically significant associations, adjusted for age, sex, Black or Hispanic origin, and years lived in public housing: wheeze with moisture problems (OR = 4.8; CI = 1.2, 19.3), sewage leaks (OR = 6.3; CI = 1.3, 30.3), odor (OR = 7.5; CI = 1 .4, 39.0), cracks in walls,floors and ceilings (OR = 8.6; CI 1.9, 38.0), and frequency of renovations (OR = 9.8; CI = 1.8, 54.4); cough with moisture problems (OR = 5.3; CI = 1.3, 20.8), stuffy air (OR = 4.4; CI = 1.2, 16.7), cockroaches (OR = 5.4; CI = 1.2, 24.2), smoking (OR = 5.0; CI = 1.2, 20.5), odor (OR = 10.9; CI = 2

  4. Sheltered housing or community dwelling: quality of life and ageism among elderly people.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bodner, Ehud; Cohen-Fridel, Sara; Yaretzky, Abraham

    2011-10-01

    Previous studies have found correlations between negative perceptions of old age and perceived quality of life (QoL) among elderly people. It has also been suggested that a denial of aging mechanism is employed and might support ageist attitudes among private-sheltered housing tenants compared with elderly people who live in the community and experience intra-generational interactions. Therefore, we hypothesized that tenants of sheltered housing will report more ageist attitudes towards people of their own age, and report a lower QoL than elderly people who live in the community. The sample included 126 volunteers, aged between 64 and 94 years, who live in private-sheltered housing (n = 32) or in the community (n = 94). The participants completed the Fraboni scale of ageism, and a QoL Inventory (SF-36). People, and men in particular, who live in sheltered housing, reported more intergenerational ageist attitudes than men and women who live in the community. Tenants in sheltered housing expressed lower evaluations of their mental health, but higher evaluations on "social functioning" (QoL scales). Women from sheltered housing reported better mental health than men. Gender and some QoL scales were associated with higher ageism. Differences in ageist attitudes between both dwelling places can be interpreted according to Social Identity Theory, which refers to the impact of the ingroup on social attitudes. Differences in QoL can be understood by the accessibility of social activities in private-sheltered housing. Gender differences in ageism and QoL can be explained by women's better social adjustment. Findings should be regarded with caution because of the small sample.

  5. Intentional communities : Methods for reviewing the rise of citizens’ housing initiatives in a European perspective

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Tummers, L.

    2011-01-01

    Intentional communities, Cooperatives de logement, Genossenschaften or Co-housing are types of collaborative housing in which residents actively participate in the design and operation of their own neighbourhoods. Cohousing residents are consciously committed to living as a community, and to

  6. Community action for sustainable housing: Building a low-carbon future

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Seyfang, Gill

    2010-01-01

    This paper presents a new analytical framework of 'grassroots innovations' which views community-led initiatives for sustainable development as strategic green niches with the potential for wider transformation of mainstream society. This framework is applied to a low-carbon, low-impact, community-based sustainable housing initiative in the USA that pioneers straw bale housing techniques within a strong community-building ethos. The project is evaluated according to New Economics criteria of sustainable consumption, and is found to be successful at localising the construction supply chain, reducing ecological footprints, community-building, enabling collective action and building new institutions and systems of provision around housebuilding. However, viewing it as a strategic niche with aim to influence wider society, it is clear that it faces significant challenges in diffusing its ideas and practices beyond the niche. Its model is not necessarily suitable for scaling up or widespread replication; however, the scope for niche lessons to be adopted by mainstream builders is greater, given a supportive policy environment. Recognising the innovative nature of green niches at the policy level could lead to new approaches to governance of bottom-up community action for sustainable development.

  7. Housing preferences of Irish forensic mental health service users on moving into the community.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sweeney, Patricia; Rani Shetty, Shobha

    2013-01-01

    Housing is one of the important services required by forensic mental health service users on reintegration into the community. In the Republic of Ireland, a recent amendment to Section 13 of the Criminal Law Insanity Act (2006) has given the prospect of conditional discharge, which has increased the need for housing among Irish forensic mental health service users. This article reports findings of a qualitative descriptive study aimed to explore the housing preferences of these service users. While identifying and capturing their views, the study also identified the strengths and weaknesses of current housing services from a service user perspective. Data were collected from nine service users using semistructured interviews. Colaizzi's (1978) approach was used to analyze the data. Three themes that emerged from the analysis are as follows: (a) living choices; (b) future considerations; and (c) service users' expectations. Although concerns were raised regarding legislation and policy, service users strongly preferred normal independent living and recommended continued community support, gradual discharge, and community hostels. Findings suggest that service users' expectations may be fulfilled with effective collaboration between forensic mental health service and housing services. This is the first study to be carried out in Ireland that adds a new dimension to the literature on housing policy and service users' perspectives.

  8. The Impact of Green Open Space on Community Attachment—A Case Study of Three Communities in Beijing

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yuemei Zhu

    2017-04-01

    Full Text Available With the development of urbanization in China, the quality of urban life and community attachment have attracted increasing attention of the governments and society. Existing research on community attachment has mainly examined how individual characteristics affect community attachment, such as their length of residence and socioeconomic status. However, some scholars have become interested in exploring the effects of green open space on community attachment. This research examined whether the distribution of green open space in communities had significant effects on community attachment, and both the impact and path were also investigated. Through a questionnaire survey, relevant data in three communities of Beijing were collected. The impact of green open space layout on community attachment was evaluated by using hierarchical regression, and the impact path was examined by using a structural equation model. The results showed that green open space in a community had significant effects on the community attachment, with centralized green open space layout having a greater effect than that of dispersed green open space. Moreover, the more complex the shape of green open space is, the greater the impact is. The degree of satisfaction with the green open space had direct effects on the community attachment. The accessibility and perceived area of green open space could indirectly have an impact on the community attachment by affecting the degree of satisfaction with the green open space. Nevertheless, residents’ perceived importance of green open space could affect the community attachment directly and indirectly, as it affects the degree of satisfaction.

  9. Effect of mass housing settlement type on the comfortable open areas in terms of noise.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Akdağ, Neşe Yüğrük; Gedik, Gülay Zorer; Kiraz, Fatih; Şener, Bekir

    2017-09-12

    The layout of the structures according to the noise source is an important parameter in terms of the level of noise reaching to both open usage areas and the structure surfaces. In this paper, it is aimed to reveal the effect of mass housing settlement type on the size of suitable open usage areas in terms of noise. Comfortable open usage areas in 25 mass housing alternatives are determined for the case of being affected by three different road noises. The reliability of the simulation results is validated by on-site noise level measurements. As a result, it is seen that better results are obtained in linear, L, C, and U type alternatives than point-type blocks. Especially in alternatives consisting of point-and linear-type blocks, if the noise level is above 75 Leq (dBA), the percentage of comfortable open usage areas is very low. It is determined that the percentage of comfortable open areas increases between 50 and 100% by means of appropriately designed noise barriers.

  10. Epistemic Communities, Situated Learning and Open Source Software Development

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Edwards, Kasper

    2001-01-01

    This paper analyses open source software (OSS) development as an epistemic community where each individual project is perceived as a single epistemic community. OSS development is a learning process where the involved parties contribute to, and learn from the community. It is discovered that theory...... of epistemic communities does indeed contribute to the understanding of open source software development. But, the important learning process of open source software development is not readily explained. The paper then introduces situated learning and legitimate peripheral participation as theoretical...

  11. A Study on Planning Strategies for Urban Housing Block Development

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    Zeng Wei; Wang Hua; You Juanjuan; Wang Linlin; Li Caige

    2016-01-01

    As a city is the carrier of human society and housing is an important part of a citizen's life and survival,the citizens' choice of their housing mode will influence the material and spiritual life of the individuals,families,and society.In view of the diversification of values and investments,people are eager for a harmonious relationship between the community and the city.As a kind of compact and efficient housing mode,the housing block highlights the organic link of the community within the city in an open and shared living environment.This paper reviews the development of housing blocks in various countries and summarizes the characteristics of housing blocks through a comparison with traditional gated residential quarters and urban blocks.It then analyzes the current difficulties of housing block development in China from aspects such as the planning concept,planning system,management mode,and development mode and accordingly proposes planning principles and strategies in hope of providing theoretical supports for the development and construction of housing blocks in China.

  12. 77 FR 16131 - Establishing a White House Council on Strong Cities, Strong Communities

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-03-20

    ... Order 13602 of March 15, 2012 Establishing a White House Council on Strong Cities, Strong Communities By... enable them to develop and implement economic strategies to become more competitive, sustainable, and... resources to develop and implement their economic vision and strategies. Sec. 2. White House Council on...

  13. Students' Experiences with Community in an Open Access Course

    Science.gov (United States)

    Blackmon, Stephanie J.; Cullen, Theresa A.

    2016-01-01

    Online open access courses have become regular offerings of many universities. Building community and connectedness is an important part of branding and success of such offerings. Our goal was to investigate students' experiences with community in an open access course. Therefore, in this study, we explored the sense of community of 342…

  14. Housing choice and control, housing quality, and control over professional support as contributors to the subjective quality of life and community adaptation of people with severe mental illness.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nelson, Geoffrey; Sylvestre, John; Aubry, Tim; George, Lindsey; Trainor, John

    2007-03-01

    This research examined two premises of supported housing: (a) that consumer choice/control over housing and support and the quality of housing are important contributors to the subjective quality of life and adaptation to community living of people with mental illness, and (b) that apartments provide mental health consumers with more choice/control over housing and support than group living arrangements. To test these two hypotheses, we collected data from participants with mental illness housed through a government initiative in Ontario, Canada. A total of 130 participants completed a baseline interview, and 91 of those participants also completed a follow-up interview 9-months later. Support was found for both hypotheses. The results were discussed in terms of the paradigm of supported housing, previous research, and implications for housing policy and program development in the community mental health sector.

  15. Use of waste heat from a dairy for heating of a community house

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Rehn, C

    1976-01-01

    In a dairy, a lot of cooling capacity is needed. This article describes how this waste heat can be used for heating a community house including a sport establishment and producing hot water for that house. Four different technical solutions are discussed; (1) floor heat, (2) heat transfer connected to the ventilation, (3) regenerative heat exchanger, and (4) use of heat pumps.

  16. LGBQ-Specific Elderly Housing as a "Sparkling Sanctuary": Boundary Work on LGBQ Identity and Community in Relationship to Potential LGBQ-Specific Elderly Housing in Sweden.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rosenberg, Lena; Kottorp, Anders; Johansson, Karin

    2017-09-08

    This study explored how boundaries in relationship to community and identity were created and negotiated among lesbian, gay, bisexual, and queer (LGBQ) people within the framework of picturing LGBQ-specific elderly housing as a housing alternative in older age, by applying focus group methodology. "An island as a sparkling sanctuary" was identified as a metaphor for how symbolic resources defining the LGBQ community can be manifested in LGBQ-specific qualities of elderly housing. The boundary work underlying this manifestation included elaborations on the dilemma between exclusiveness and normality. The findings illustrate further how symbolic resources and collective identities were developed through dialectic interplay between internal and external definitions. Further, the findings show how boundary work generated shared feelings of similarity and group membership. The associated symbolic and social resources not only served to deal with difficult situations but also to manifest LGBQ identity and sense of community as a "gold medal."

  17. Open innovations, innovation communities and firm's innovative activities

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Getejanc Vesna

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available The open innovation paradigm emphasizes the fact that firms can improve their performance by opening their business models and reduce their R&D costs by effective incorporation of external knowledge. In other words, companies are able to capture value through knowledge that exists outside the boundaries of their organization. The shift from closed to open model of innovation has imposed the necessity to adopt more open approach to innovation within traditional academic view of business strategy. The adoption of this innovative approach is emphasized even more, by the necessity for stronger connection and cooperation among the participants of the innovation process. Free will and collaboration are the main characteristics of open source software, which is recognized in literature as the role model of open innovation and is a rapidly growing method of technology development. Furthermore, innovative communities represent a great opportunity for improvement of the companies' innovation activities, since they have become an important source for identifying the needs and problems of the users. Their development has been fostered by information technologies and recent social changes in user behavior. Recognizing and better understanding the motivation of the members of the innovation communities that guide them to participate in the process of idea generation, can have significant influence on their incorporation within the innovation process. Equally important is to define the incentives that are suited for stimulating and fostering innovative user activities. Taking this topic in consideration, the purpose of this article is to address the following questions: In what way does the collaboration in open source software projects have positive effect on companies' innovation performance? What are the innovation communities and how can companies establish successful interaction with them? Why does the interaction with innovation communities lead to

  18. Open Source Service Agent (OSSA) in the intelligence community's Open Source Architecture

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fiene, Bruce F.

    1994-01-01

    The Community Open Source Program Office (COSPO) has developed an architecture for the intelligence community's new Open Source Information System (OSIS). The architecture is a multi-phased program featuring connectivity, interoperability, and functionality. OSIS is based on a distributed architecture concept. The system is designed to function as a virtual entity. OSIS will be a restricted (non-public), user configured network employing Internet communications. Privacy and authentication will be provided through firewall protection. Connection to OSIS can be made through any server on the Internet or through dial-up modems provided the appropriate firewall authentication system is installed on the client.

  19. Life after hospital: trials of a boarding house 'mother'.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bailey, M; Brodaty, H

    1982-12-01

    What is life like for the many psychiatric patients discharged from hospital to boarding houses? The 'mother' of a Sydney boarding house describes how her 'family' has taken root, grown, developed and made a stable home. Many behaviours not tolerated in the community (e.g. public masturbation) are acceptable in the home but there are limits and rules (e.g. not in the dining room). A good home needs the responsible person to be open, honest, understanding and sensitive to changes in guests. Psychiatric services and welfare agencies need to recognise the major contributions of well-run boarding houses and need to liaise more with the proprietors.

  20. Ageing in Communal Place:Ethnographic studies of social interaction in senior housing communities

    OpenAIRE

    Aarhus, Rikke; Ballegaard, Stinne Aaløkke; Grönvall, Erik; Larsen, Simon Bo

    2009-01-01

    In this paper we adopt the position that design of social media for the elderly and virtual senior communities may be informed by studying ‘real’ senior communities. Since current research efforts target the role of social media and virtual communities for supporting seniors ageing in place, i.e. in their homes, housing communities seem a natural place to begin this enquiry. We conducted observations and informal interviews in six different senior dwellings. In this paper we present the key f...

  1. Heineken in the House: Improving Online Media Reputation through Featuring a Sponsored Brand Community

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Vermeer, S.; Remmelswaal, P.; Jacobs, S.

    2017-01-01

    Nowadays, more and more organizations use social media to promote their sponsorships of big events. Heineken has created a major brand community by facilitating the Holland Heineken House during the Olympic Games. This study investigates to what extent featuring a sponsored brand community on social

  2. Environmental Assessment: Military Housing Privatization Initiative Schriever Air Force Base, Colorado

    Science.gov (United States)

    2006-08-24

    community features SAFB has requested include the following: secure perimeter wall for aesthetics and security, community center/ clubhouse , swimming pool...Proposed Action Under the proposed action, 269 family housing units would be constructed on approximately 150 acres of what is now categorized as open...incremental impact of the action when added to other past, present, and reasonably foreseeable future actions regardless of what agency (Federal or non

  3. NCI Core Open House Shines Spotlight on Supportive Science and Basic Research | Poster

    Science.gov (United States)

    The lobby of Building 549 at NCI at Frederick bustled with activity for two hours on Tuesday, May 1, as several dozen scientists and staff gathered for the NCI Core Open House. The event aimed to encourage discussion and educate visitors about the capabilities of the cores, laboratories, and facilities that offer support to NCI’s Center for Cancer Research.

  4. Open-field behavior of house mice selectively bred for high voluntary wheel-running.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bronikowski, A M; Carter, P A; Swallow, J G; Girard, I A; Rhodes, J S; Garland, T

    2001-05-01

    Open-field behavioral assays are commonly used to test both locomotor activity and emotionality in rodents. We performed open-field tests on house mice (Mus domesticus) from four replicate lines genetically selected for high voluntary wheel-running for 22 generations and from four replicate random-bred control lines. Individual mice were recorded by video camera for 3 min in a 1-m2 open-field arena on 2 consecutive days. Mice from selected lines showed no statistical differences from control mice with respect to distance traveled, defecation, time spent in the interior, or average distance from the center of the arena during the trial. Thus, we found little evidence that open-field behavior, as traditionally defined, is genetically correlated with wheel-running behavior. This result is a useful converse test of classical studies that report no increased wheel-running in mice selected for increased open-field activity. However, mice from selected lines turned less in their travel paths than did control-line mice, and females from selected lines had slower travel times (longer latencies) to reach the wall. We discuss these results in the context of the historical open-field test and newly defined measures of open-field activity.

  5. Preventing Teen Pregnancy: Coordinating Community Efforts. Hearing before the Subcommittee on Human Resources and Intergovernmental Relations of the Committee on Government Reform and Oversight. House of Representatives, One Hundred Fourth Congress, Second Session.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Congress of the U.S., Washington, DC. House Committee on Government Reform and Oversight.

    The Subcommittee on Human Resources and Intergovernmental Relations of the House of Representatives Committee on Government Reform and Oversight met to consider the causes of and solutions to teen pregnancy and the role of community organizations in prevention efforts. Opening remarks by Representative Christopher Shays were followed by statements…

  6. Feasibility of an experiential community garden and nutrition programme for youth living in public housing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Grier, Karissa; Hill, Jennie L; Reese, Felicia; Covington, Constance; Bennette, Franchennette; MacAuley, Lorien; Zoellner, Jamie

    2015-10-01

    Few published community garden studies have focused on low socio-economic youth living in public housing or used a community-based participatory research approach in conjunction with youth-focused community garden programmes. The objective of the present study was to evaluate the feasibility (i.e. demand, acceptability, implementation and limited-effectiveness testing) of a 10-week experiential theory-based gardening and nutrition education programme targeting youth living in public housing. In this mixed-methods feasibility study, demand and acceptability were measured using a combination of pre- and post-programme surveys and interviews. Implementation was measured via field notes and attendance. Limited-effectiveness was measured quantitatively using a pre-post design and repeated-measures ANOVA tests. Two public housing sites in the Dan River Region of south central Virginia, USA. Forty-three youth (primarily African American), twenty-five parents and two site leaders. The positive demand and acceptability findings indicate the high potential of the programme to be used and be suitable for the youth, parents and site leaders. Field notes revealed numerous implementation facilitators and barriers. Youth weekly attendance averaged 4·6 of 10 sessions. Significant improvements (Pgardening knowledge, knowledge of MyPlate recommendations), but not all limited-effectiveness measures (e.g. willingness to try fruits and vegetables, fruit and vegetable eating self-efficacy). This community-based participatory research study demonstrates numerous factors that supported and threatened the feasibility of a gardening and nutrition programme targeting youth in public housing. Lessons learned are being used to adapt and strengthen the programme for future efforts targeting fruit and vegetable behaviours.

  7. Center for Real Life Kitchen Design open house to showcase latest in residential kitchens

    OpenAIRE

    Elliott, Jean

    2007-01-01

    Virginia Tech will unveil its newly refurbished Center for Real Life Kitchen Design at an open house set for Monday, April 2. The 1,500-square foot center, located in 247 Wallace Hall, features six fully functional residential kitchen designs that reflect a variety of price levels, lifestyles, and use of space for today's homeowner.

  8. Treatment Plans in Psychiatric Community Housing Programs : Do They Reflect Rehabilitation Principles?

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    de Heer-Wunderink, Charlotte; Visser, Ellen; Caro-Nienhuis, Annemarie D.; van Weeghel, Jaap; Sytema, Sjoerd; Wiersma, Durk

    2012-01-01

    Objective: This study examined the extent to which treatment plans of service users of community housing programs measure up to rehabilitation principles according to the Choose-Get-Keep model of psychiatric rehabilitation. The study evaluates whether these plans correspond with service-user and

  9. Laying the Groundwork for an HIV Prevention Intervention: A Descriptive Profile of the Los Angeles House and Ball Communities

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kipke, Michele D.; Kubicek, Katrina; Supan, Jocelyn; Weiss, George; Schrager, Sheree

    2012-01-01

    African American young men who have sex with men (AAYMSM) represent the largest proportion of new HIV infections among MSM. While evidence-based interventions are lacking, all too often HIV interventions are implemented in a community without thoroughly understanding its needs, risks and assets. AAYMSM are not homogenous; subgroups exist that may require different approaches to be effective. The House and Ball communities represent one such subgroup. A community-engaged, mixed-methods approach was used. Participant observations, qualitative interviews (N=26), and a survey at House/Ball events (N=252) were completed. Survey data broadly describe the community. For example: 69% of survey respondents identify as gay; 25% as bisexual; 13% reported recent use of ecstasy and 11% recently participated in sex exchange. The depth of qualitative data is key for intervention development. For example, while the survey provides broad descriptions of respondents’ involvement in the House and Ball communities, leaders provided in-depth descriptions of the structure of the House and Ball scene –something vital to the development of HIV prevention programs within these communities. This kind of rigorous study is recommended prior to implementing an intervention. Findings are discussed in relation to leveraging the communities’ supportive aspects to design culturally relevant HIV prevention programs. PMID:22699855

  10. A Multiple-City RCT of Housing First With Assertive Community Treatment for Homeless Canadians With Serious Mental Illness.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Aubry, Tim; Goering, Paula; Veldhuizen, Scott; Adair, Carol E; Bourque, Jimmy; Distasio, Jino; Latimer, Eric; Stergiopoulos, Vicky; Somers, Julian; Streiner, David L; Tsemberis, Sam

    2016-03-01

    Housing First with assertive community treatment (ACT) is a promising approach to assist people with serious mental illness to exit homelessness. The article presents two-year findings from a multisite trial on the effectiveness of Housing First with ACT. The study design was a randomized controlled trial conducted in five Canadian cities. A sample of 950 participants with serious mental illness who were absolutely homeless or precariously housed were randomly assigned to receive either Housing First with ACT (N=469) or treatment as usual (N=481). Housing First participants spent more time in stable housing than participants in treatment as usual (71% versus 29%, adjusted absolute difference [AAD]=42%, pHousing First participants who entered housing did so more quickly (73 versus 220 days, AAD=146.4, phousing tenures at the study end-point (281 versus 115 days, AAD=161.8, phousing more positively (adjusted standardized mean difference [ASMD]=.17, pHousing First participants reported higher quality of life (ASMD=.15, pHousing First participants showed significantly greater gains in community functioning and quality of life in the first year; however, differences between the two groups were attenuated by the end of the second year. Housing First with ACT is an effective approach in various contexts for assisting individuals with serious mental illness to rapidly exit homelessness.

  11. Open-source, community-driven microfluidics with Metafluidics.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kong, David S; Thorsen, Todd A; Babb, Jonathan; Wick, Scott T; Gam, Jeremy J; Weiss, Ron; Carr, Peter A

    2017-06-07

    Microfluidic devices have the potential to automate and miniaturize biological experiments, but open-source sharing of device designs has lagged behind sharing of other resources such as software. Synthetic biologists have used microfluidics for DNA assembly, cell-free expression, and cell culture, but a combination of expense, device complexity, and reliance on custom set-ups hampers their widespread adoption. We present Metafluidics, an open-source, community-driven repository that hosts digital design files, assembly specifications, and open-source software to enable users to build, configure, and operate a microfluidic device. We use Metafluidics to share designs and fabrication instructions for both a microfluidic ring-mixer device and a 32-channel tabletop microfluidic controller. This device and controller are applied to build genetic circuits using standard DNA assembly methods including ligation, Gateway, Gibson, and Golden Gate. Metafluidics is intended to enable a broad community of engineers, DIY enthusiasts, and other nontraditional participants with limited fabrication skills to contribute to microfluidic research.

  12. Sharing Lessons-Learned on Effective Open Data, Open-Source Practices from OpenAQ, a Global Open Air Quality Community.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hasenkopf, C. A.

    2017-12-01

    Increasingly, open data, open-source projects are unearthing rich datasets and tools, previously impossible for more traditional avenues to generate. These projects are possible, in part, because of the emergence of online collaborative and code-sharing tools, decreasing costs of cloud-based services to fetch, store, and serve data, and increasing interest of individuals to contribute their time and skills to 'open projects.' While such projects have generated palpable enthusiasm from many sectors, many of these projects face uncharted paths for sustainability, visibility, and acceptance. Our project, OpenAQ, is an example of an open-source, open data community that is currently forging its own uncharted path. OpenAQ is an open air quality data platform that aggregates and universally formats government and research-grade air quality data from 50 countries across the world. To date, we make available more than 76 million air quality (PM2.5, PM10, SO2, NO2, O3, CO and black carbon) data points through an open Application Programming Interface (API) and a user-customizable download interface at https://openaq.org. The goal of the platform is to enable an ecosystem of users to advance air pollution efforts from science to policy to the private sector. The platform is also an open-source project (https://github.com/openaq) and has only been made possible through the coding and data contributions of individuals around the world. In our first two years of existence, we have seen requests for data to our API skyrocket to more than 6 million datapoints per month, and use-cases as varied as ingesting data aggregated from our system into real-time models of wildfires to building open-source statistical packages (e.g. ropenaq and py-openaq) on top of the platform to creating public-friendly apps and chatbots. We will share a whirl-wind trip through our evolution and the many lessons learned so far related to platform structure, community engagement, organizational model type

  13. Sustainable urban housing in Kathmandu, Nepal: Proposals and evaluations

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shrestha, Vikas

    Kathmandu Valley represents one of the oldest cultural hubs in the Himalayas. The historic towns in the valley consist of densely built traditional Chowk and Bahal houses with enclosed courtyards. With exposure to the outside world since 1951, the western style single-family detached house has become an image of the modern home and a status symbol. In the context of the exploding population, the prevailing trend of these free standing houses have exacerbated urban sprawl and led to inefficient use of the limited agricultural land in the valley. Devoid of shared open spaces, the new settlements lack play areas for children, places for social gathering and a sense of community. Building materials that are not manufactured locally must be trucked from India over the mountains. So is coal for the production of brick and cement, and diesel for transportation. Minimizing the amount of imported materials and energy used by these modern houses will reduce the environmental impact and also benefit the national economy. Kathmandu enjoys clear sky conditions during winter that makes passive solar design a potential strategy to achieve thermal comfort and eliminate kerosene heaters with their harmful effects. The abundance of rainfall during monsoon season makes rainwater collection a viable supplement to the unreliable municipal water supply. This dissertation creates three new housing prototypes that address all these issues. These prototypes are modern interpretations of the vernacular Chowk and Bahal, which create communal open space by grouping rowhouses around a common courtyard. Combining vernacular wisdom with the principles of sustainable design, these prototypes reduce land consumption; reduce resource consumption; create community open space; minimize imported materials; increase energy efficiency and thermal comfort; make homes and neighborhoods self sustainable for water supply and wastewater treatment; and altogether improve the quality of life. This dissertation

  14. Open NASA Earth Exchange (OpenNEX): A Public-Private Partnership for Climate Change Research

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nemani, R. R.; Lee, T. J.; Michaelis, A.; Ganguly, S.; Votava, P.

    2014-12-01

    NASA Earth Exchange (NEX) is a data, computing and knowledge collaborative that houses satellite, climate and ancillary data where a community of researchers can come together to share modeling and analysis codes, scientific results, knowledge and expertise on a centralized platform with access to large supercomputing resources. As a part of broadening the community beyond NASA-funded researchers, NASA through an agreement with Amazon Inc. made available to the public a large collection of Climate and Earth Sciences satellite data. The data, available through the Open NASA Earth Exchange (OpenNEX) platform hosted by Amazon Web Services (AWS) public cloud, consists of large amounts of global land surface imaging, vegetation conditions, climate observations and climate projections. In addition to the data, users of OpenNEX platform can also watch lectures from leading experts, learn basic access and use of the available data sets. In order to advance White House initiatives such as Open Data, Big Data and Climate Data and the Climate Action Plan, NASA over the past six months conducted the OpenNEX Challenge. The two-part challenge was designed to engage the public in creating innovative ways to use NASA data and address climate change impacts on economic growth, health and livelihood. Our intention was that the challenges allow citizen scientists to realize the value of NASA data assets and offers NASA new ideas on how to share and use that data. The first "ideation" challenge, closed on July 31st attracted over 450 participants consisting of climate scientists, hobbyists, citizen scientists, IT experts and App developers. Winning ideas from the first challenge will be incorporated into the second "builder" challenge currently targeted to launch mid-August and close by mid-November. The winner(s) will be formally announced at AGU in December of 2014. We will share our experiences and lessons learned over the past year from OpenNEX, a public-private partnership for

  15. Perancangan Interior Kafe Pada House of Batman Di Surabaya

    OpenAIRE

    Herlin Sri Utami, Patricia Tjahajo Adi Santosa

    2013-01-01

    In development of an era, many have opened businesses especially pertaining to technology. Undergo development technology which is very fast amongother areas. Technology enjoyed by all people, young and old, so it is with batman. Batman is one of a superhero that all people known and is one figure that use high-tech to defeat his enemy. Community of batman need a place to grouping and progress. Then house of batman in Surabaya made to accommodate the activities of the community of Batman that...

  16. Linguistic Recycling and the Open Community.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dasgupta, Probal

    2001-01-01

    Examines linguistic recycling in the context of domestic Esperanto use. Argues that word-meaning recycling reflects the same fundamental principles as sentential recursion, and that a linguistics theoretically sensitive to these principles strengthens practical efforts towards the social goal of an open speech community. (Author/VWL)

  17. Examining the psychological sense of community for individuals with serious mental illness residing in supported housing environments.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Townley, Greg; Kloos, Bret

    2011-08-01

    The psychological sense of community is an important aspect of community life; yet, it remains largely unexamined among individuals with serious mental illness (SMI). Sense of community represents the strength of bonding among community members; and this social phenomenon likely impacts the process by which individuals with SMI integrate into community life. The current study examined sense of community (SOC) for individuals with SMI by assessing the relationships between neighborhood experiences, unique factors related to SMI (e.g., mental illness diagnosis), and sense of community in the neighborhood. Participants were 402 residents of supported housing programs who used mental health services in South Carolina. Hierarchical linear regression was utilized to determine which components of community life helped to explain variability in sense of community. In total, 214 participants reported that it is very important for them to feel a sense of community in their neighborhoods. Neighbor relations, neighborhood safety, neighborhood satisfaction, neighborhood tolerance for mental illness, and housing site type emerged as significant explanatory variables of sense of community. These findings have implications for interventions aimed at enhancing SOC and community integration for individuals with SMI.

  18. Literacy Mediation in Neighbourhood Houses

    Science.gov (United States)

    Thompson, Sally

    2015-01-01

    Interactions between staff in Neighbourhood Houses, and the socially and educationally disadvantaged community members who visit Neighbourhood Houses, have been viewed through many lenses, including community development, social support, caring and compassion. This paper looks at Neighbourhood Houses as sites of pedagogical practice. More…

  19. How effective is high-support community-based step-down housing for women in secure mental health care? A quasi-experimental pilot study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Barr, W; Brown, A; Quinn, B; McFarlane, J; McCabe, R; Whittington, R

    2013-02-01

    In the past decade UK government policy has been to develop alternative care for women detained in secure psychiatric hospital. This study evaluated the relative benefits of community-based step-down housing. Comparisons were made between female patients in community step-down housing and a control group in secure hospital who were on the waiting list for the houses. For each woman in the sample, a range of assessments was conducted on three separate occasions over a 12-month period. We noted a gradual improvement over time in women in both settings. However, by the final assessment psychological well-being and security needs were significantly better in the community group (P community housing for women in secure psychiatric care. This initiative may provide greater personal freedom and enhanced relational security for the women concerned while also facilitating improvements in their psychological well-being, with no increased risk to the women themselves or to the wider community. © 2012 Blackwell Publishing.

  20. Beyond Open Source: Evaluating the Community Availability of Software

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bret Davidson

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available The Code4Lib community has produced an increasingly impressive collection of open source software over the last decade, but much of this creative work remains out of reach for large portions of the library community. Do the relatively privileged institutions represented by a majority of Code4Lib participants have a professional responsibility to support the adoption of their innovations? Drawing from old and new software packaging and distribution approaches (from freeware to Docker, we propose extending the open source software values of collaboration and transparency to include the wide and affordable distribution of software. We believe this will not only simplify the process of sharing our applications within the library community, but also make it possible for less well-resourced institutions to actually use our software. We identify areas of need, present our experiences with the users of our own open source projects, discuss our attempts to go beyond open source, propose a preliminary set of technology availability performance indicators for evaluating software availability, and make an argument for the internal value of supporting and encouraging a vibrant library software ecosystem.

  1. Panel: Governance in Open Source Projects and Communities

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bolici, Francesco; de Laat, Paul; Ljungberg, Jan; Pontiggia, Andrea; Rossi Lamastra, Cristina

    “Although considerable research has been devoted to the growth and expansion of open source communities and the comparison between the efficiency of corporate structures and community structures in the field of software development, rather less attention has been paid to their governance structures (control, monitoring, supervision)” (Lattemann and Stieglitz 2005).

  2. The bishops and housing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shellabarger, Thomas

    2005-01-01

    According to Catholic social teaching, housing is not a commodity but a human right. To ensure that all people--especially low-income elderly and other vulnerable populations--have access to affordable housing, the church has established a variety of programs, services, and advocacy efforts. Much of this work is based on key concepts: preserving existing housing stock, creating new programs to provide more options for the underserved, empowering residents and communities to deal with housing issues, establishing partnerships to make organizations' efforts more successful, making housing affordable, and ending discrimination in housing. Although church ministries, community groups, the private sector, and other players must work together to find solutions to the housing crisis, federal leadership is essential. Especially with the housing affordability gap growing and the U.S. population aging, the federal government must provide the resources, leadership, and direction for effective housing solutions.

  3. Open Polar Server (OPS—An Open Source Infrastructure for the Cryosphere Community

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Weibo Liu

    2016-03-01

    Full Text Available The Center for Remote Sensing of Ice Sheets (CReSIS at the University of Kansas has collected approximately 1000 terabytes (TB of radar depth sounding data over the Arctic and Antarctic ice sheets since 1993 in an effort to map the thickness of the ice sheets and ultimately understand the impacts of climate change and sea level rise. In addition to data collection, the storage, management, and public distribution of the dataset are also primary roles of the CReSIS. The Open Polar Server (OPS project developed a free and open source infrastructure to store, manage, analyze, and distribute the data collected by CReSIS in an effort to replace its current data storage and distribution approach. The OPS infrastructure includes a spatial database management system (DBMS, map and web server, JavaScript geoportal, and MATLAB application programming interface (API for the inclusion of data created by the cryosphere community. Open source software including GeoServer, PostgreSQL, PostGIS, OpenLayers, ExtJS, GeoEXT and others are used to build a system that modernizes the CReSIS data distribution for the entire cryosphere community and creates a flexible platform for future development. Usability analysis demonstrates the OPS infrastructure provides an improved end user experience. In addition, interpolating glacier topography is provided as an application example of the system.

  4. Brainhack: a collaborative workshop for the open neuroscience community.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cameron Craddock, R; S Margulies, Daniel; Bellec, Pierre; Nolan Nichols, B; Alcauter, Sarael; A Barrios, Fernando; Burnod, Yves; J Cannistraci, Christopher; Cohen-Adad, Julien; De Leener, Benjamin; Dery, Sebastien; Downar, Jonathan; Dunlop, Katharine; R Franco, Alexandre; Seligman Froehlich, Caroline; J Gerber, Andrew; S Ghosh, Satrajit; J Grabowski, Thomas; Hill, Sean; Sólon Heinsfeld, Anibal; Matthew Hutchison, R; Kundu, Prantik; R Laird, Angela; Liew, Sook-Lei; J Lurie, Daniel; G McLaren, Donald; Meneguzzi, Felipe; Mennes, Maarten; Mesmoudi, Salma; O'Connor, David; H Pasaye, Erick; Peltier, Scott; Poline, Jean-Baptiste; Prasad, Gautam; Fraga Pereira, Ramon; Quirion, Pierre-Olivier; Rokem, Ariel; S Saad, Ziad; Shi, Yonggang; C Strother, Stephen; Toro, Roberto; Q Uddin, Lucina; D Van Horn, John; W Van Meter, John; C Welsh, Robert; Xu, Ting

    2016-01-01

    Brainhack events offer a novel workshop format with participant-generated content that caters to the rapidly growing open neuroscience community. Including components from hackathons and unconferences, as well as parallel educational sessions, Brainhack fosters novel collaborations around the interests of its attendees. Here we provide an overview of its structure, past events, and example projects. Additionally, we outline current innovations such as regional events and post-conference publications. Through introducing Brainhack to the wider neuroscience community, we hope to provide a unique conference format that promotes the features of collaborative, open science.

  5. Sharing Resources in Open Educational Communities

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Paolo Tosato

    2014-06-01

    Full Text Available The spread of Internet and the latest Web developments have promoted the relationships between teachers, learners and institutions, as well as the creation and sharing of new Open Educational Resources (OERs. Despite this fact, many projects and research efforts paid more attention to content distribution focusing on their format and description, omitting the relationship between these materials and online communities of teachers. In this article we emphasize the importance of sharing resources in open educational communities (OEC, analysing the role of OERs and OEC in teachers' lifelong learning. Investigating their current usage, we aim to discover whether their interweavings could be an effective approach to support sharing of resources among teachers and to promote new educational practices. Through two surveys which involved more than 300 teachers from across Europe it was possible to highlight that is not simple to stimulate the collaboration among teachers, both online and face to face; nevertheless, when this happens, it seems to be a good way to promote formal and informal learning for teachers, as well as innovation in their professional practices.

  6. Conservation value of clustered housing developments.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lenth, Buffy A; Knight, Richard L; Gilgert, Wendell C

    2006-10-01

    Traditionally, exurban lands in Colorado have been subdivided into a grid of parcels ranging from 2 to 16 ha. From an ecological perspective, this dispersed pattern of development effectively maximizes the individual influence of each home on the land. Clustered housing developments, designed to maximize open space, are assumed to benefit plant and wildlife communities of conservation interest. They have become a popular alternative for rural development despite the lack of empirical evidence demonstrating their conservation benefits. To better inform rural land-use planning, we evaluated clustered housing developments by comparing their spatial pattern with that of dispersed housing developments and by comparing their conservation value with that of both dispersed housing developments and undeveloped areas in Boulder County, Colorado. We used four indicators to assess conservation value: (1) densities of songbirds, (2) nest density and survival of ground-nesting birds, (3) presence of mammals, and (4) percent cover and proportion of native and non-native plant species. Clustered and dispersed housing developments did not differ on the majority of variables we examined. Both types of housing development had significantly higher densities of non-native and human-commensal species and significantly lower densities of native and human-sensitive species than undeveloped areas. More rigorous ecological guidelines and planning on a regional scale may help create clustered developments with higher conservation value.

  7. 76 FR 60455 - The White House Council for Community Solutions Gives Notice of Their Following Meeting

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-09-29

    ... CORPORATION FOR NATIONAL AND COMMUNITY SERVICE Sunshine Act Meeting Notice The White House Council for Community Solutions Gives Notice of Their Following Meeting DATE AND TIME: Friday, October 14, 2011, 9 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time. PLACE: The Council will meet in the Eisenhower Executive...

  8. Thermal Performance of Housing Open Spaces in the City of Mosul

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dr. TURKI HASAN ALI ALHADIDI

    2012-03-01

    Full Text Available The rapid urban growth has lead to an urgent need to increase residential buildings in such a way that requires quick execution of such buildings. The appearance of modern materials such as reinforced concrete has helped in getting fast-constructed houses of a westerly pattern such that excluding the inherited styles that are in harmony with severe environment like that of the Middle East. This has resulted in a modern pattern of buildings lacks the microclimate which was enjoyed by the traditional pattern and which have provided the inhabitant with a relative thermal comfort. ‎This research try to compare different microclimates due to the variation of open architectural spaces patterns in the residential units (traditional ones represented by (the courtyards and Iwan and the modem one represented by the space of (garages and terraces in Summer in Mosul city. ‎ ‎The results showed that the traditional open spaces are the nearest to the thermal comfort zone, although both of them don't represent the ideal state of human comfort in this ‎period of Summer.

  9. Social Housing Organisations in England and The Netherlands: Between the State, Market and Community

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Darinka Czischke

    2017-11-01

    Full Text Available Rapid and deep changes in society, the economy and policy over the last decades
are having an increasing impact on the delivery of social housing in North Western Europe. These changes are transforming the way in which social housing providers perform their task and are reshaping their relationships with the State, communities and with other market actors. The combination of continued State withdrawal from service provision, the deep and persistent effects of the global financial crisis that begun in 2008 and profound changes in the type of demand for social housing across North Western Europe call for a reflection on the implications of these phenomena
for social housing providers. Several studies indicate that social housing providers in Europe have begun to adopt new (social entrepreneurial strategies and are becoming more innovative as a response to these challenges. These strategies imply tackling the tensions between (at times conflicting drivers, notably those arising from the State, the market and communities. However, research in this topic so far is fragmented, focussing on one country or on specific sub-areas such as asset management and non- housing activities and rarely connects with the relevant wider literature on the third sector and social enterprise. Within this context, this PhD research has sought to widen this discussion by providing new insights through a comparative study of the ways in which individual social housing providers are relating to (i.e. responding to and influencing these contextual changes. More specifically, the research sought to better understand the complex process of decision-making these companies undergo to manage their responses to competing drivers. Companies operating in two countries (England and The Netherlands were studied in-depth. In both countries, the social rental sector has played a prominent role in their respective welfare states for decades. While both are amongst countries with the

  10. What Attracts People to Visit Community Open Spaces? A Case Study of the Overseas Chinese Town Community in Shenzhen, China

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yiyong Chen

    2016-06-01

    Full Text Available A well-designed open space that encourages outdoor activity and social communication is a community asset that could potentially contribute to the health of local residents and social harmony of the community. Numerous factors may influence the use of each single space and may result in a variety of visitors. Compared with previous studies that focused on accessibility, this study highlights the relationship between the utilization and characteristics of community open spaces in China. The Overseas Chinese Town community in Shenzhen is regarded as an example. The association between the number of visitors and space characteristics is examined with multivariate regression models. Results show that large areas with accessible lawns, well-maintained footpaths, seats, commercial facilities, and water landscapes are important characteristics that could increase the use of community open spaces. However, adding green vegetation, sculptures, and landscape accessories in open spaces has limited effects on increasing the outdoor activities of residents. Thus, to increase the use of community open spaces, landscape designers should focus more on creating user-oriented spaces with facilities that encourage active use than on improving ornamental vegetation and accessories.

  11. What Attracts People to Visit Community Open Spaces? A Case Study of the Overseas Chinese Town Community in Shenzhen, China

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Yiyong; Liu, Tao; Xie, Xiaohuan; Marušić, Barbara Goličnik

    2016-01-01

    A well-designed open space that encourages outdoor activity and social communication is a community asset that could potentially contribute to the health of local residents and social harmony of the community. Numerous factors may influence the use of each single space and may result in a variety of visitors. Compared with previous studies that focused on accessibility, this study highlights the relationship between the utilization and characteristics of community open spaces in China. The Overseas Chinese Town community in Shenzhen is regarded as an example. The association between the number of visitors and space characteristics is examined with multivariate regression models. Results show that large areas with accessible lawns, well-maintained footpaths, seats, commercial facilities, and water landscapes are important characteristics that could increase the use of community open spaces. However, adding green vegetation, sculptures, and landscape accessories in open spaces has limited effects on increasing the outdoor activities of residents. Thus, to increase the use of community open spaces, landscape designers should focus more on creating user-oriented spaces with facilities that encourage active use than on improving ornamental vegetation and accessories. PMID:27367713

  12. Descriptive analysis of individual and community factors among African American youths in urban public housing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nebbitt, Von E; Williams, James Herbert; Lombe, Margaret; McCoy, Henrika; Stephens, Jennifer

    2014-07-01

    African American adolescents are disproportionately represented in urban public housing developments. These neighborhoods are generally characterized by high rates of poverty, crime, violence, and disorganization. Although evidence is emerging on youths in these communities, little is known about their depressive symptoms, perceived efficacy, or frequency of substance use and sex-risk behavior. Further, even less is known about their exposure to community and household violence, their parents' behavior, or their sense of connection to their communities. Using a sample of 782 African American adolescents living in public housing neighborhoods located in four large U.S. cities, this article attempts to rectify the observed gap in knowledge by presenting a descriptive overview of their self-reported depressive symptoms; self-efficacy; frequencies of delinquent and sexual-risk behavior; and alcohol, tobacco, and other drug use. The self-reported ratings of their parents' behavior as well as their exposure to community and household violence are presented. Analytic procedures include descriptive statistics and mean comparisons between genders and across research cities. Results suggest several differences between genders and across research sites. However, results are not very different from national data. Implications for social work practice are discussed.

  13. Housing Inventory Count

    Data.gov (United States)

    Department of Housing and Urban Development — This report displays the data communities reported to HUD about the nature of their dedicated homeless inventory, referred to as their Housing Inventory Count (HIC)....

  14. 77 FR 8801 - Request for Applications: The Community Forest and Open Space Conservation Program

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-02-15

    ... DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE Forest Service Request for Applications: The Community Forest and Open Space Conservation Program AGENCY: Forest Service, USDA. ACTION: Request for applications. SUMMARY: The..., requests applications for the Community Forest and Open Space Conservation Program (Community Forest...

  15. Sense of community and homeowner participation in housing management: A study of Hong Kong

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yung Yau

    2010-01-01

    Full Text Available Lack of homeowner participation in housing management (free riding has rendered the management of many apartment buildings in Hong Kong ineffective. Proper apartment-building management depends on the voluntary contributions of individual homeowners. Individual homeowners are likely to free-ride on the management efforts of others because they consider the benefits of good housing management to be common goods. Apart from incentives such as subsidies offered by public entities and stricter law enforcement against homeowners that neglect building care, researchers have claimed that communitarian solutions may also work to tackle housing-management problems. In particular, there has been growing interest in the use of social capital, which is regarded as an asset of trust, reciprocity and cooperation, to foster a participatory culture among individual property owners. Empirical study of whether social capital plays a necessary role in housing management has been lacking. This study examines the linkage between social capital and homeowner participation in housing management in Hong Kong. The findings of this study have significant policy and practical implications. In addition to financial incentives or disincentives, public administrators can work to build a sense of community to achieve sustainable management of the existing housing stock in Hong Kong.

  16. Community Movement in Applying Mosquito Net on House Ventilations: An Initial Support for Green Architecture to Decrease Dengue Disease in Bandung Indonesia

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rinawan, F. R.; Dewi, I. P. P.; Haifa, G. Z.; Suharno, K. D.; Oktavinus, K.; Lyn, P. S.

    2017-10-01

    Green architecture still has risk to dengue disease when trees cover house roofs’ gutter. This study was aimed to continue a geographical information system (GIS) and remote sensing (RS) study on roofs factor association with dengue disease by initiating community movement in applyingmosquito net on house ventilations to cut the disease transmission and mosquito breeding sites inside house. Our methods was an operational research in which improvement of interventions, policies and regulations towards dengue disease prevention is our intended endpoint. Several steps were conducted such as: (1) research problems formulation from GIS-RS analysis from previous phase research in Bandung city, (2) informal and formal approach to community leaders and primary healthcare centre (Puskesmas), (3) Video education and focus group discussion (FGD), (4) initial application of mosquito nets on house in communities; and (5) advocacy to Mayor of Bandung city (was on progress).Our study resulted several supports: one of sub-city leaders (Camat) in the city, village leaders (Lurah), and sub-village leaders (Ketua RW) of 5 villages (kelurahan), one kelurahan which mainly comprised formal settlements needed more efforts, which was experts on dengue disease from university to directly explain the mosquito nets application to its community. Informal leaders in all kelurahan’s community suggested only mothers movement was not enough, thus, youths in community was mentioned to help the community movement on the mosquito nets application.

  17. Open Data: Creating Communities and Practices for a New Common

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Morelli, Nicola

    2018-01-01

    Open Data are increasingly seen as a new and very relevant resource, that can dramatically change the landscape of the services and infrastructure in urban environments. This opportunity is often conceptualized by defining open data as a new common. Open data however, are not necessarily a commons...... of practices that regulate and facilitate the use of open data. Communities and practices, the two elements that would turn open data into a common, are not emerging spontaneously; their emergence needs to be appropriately designed....

  18. Putting houses in place: rebuilding communities in post-tsunami Sri Lanka.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ruwanpura, Kanchana N

    2009-07-01

    This paper interrogates the social and political geographies of resettlement and reconstruction of temporary and permanent shelters, which are fundamental to rebuilding tsunami-affected communities. War and ethnic cleavages are an endemic feature of Sri Lanka's social polity, and uneven development processes in the country are clearly visible. This paper draws attention to these spaces of inequality by drawing on in-depth interviews and participant observation carried out in Eastern and Southern Sri Lanka. It argues that communities' concerns and anxieties regarding displacement and resettlement have tended to be articulated against prevailing fault lines of war and inequality. This is the backdrop against which communities negotiated the recovery process. My fieldwork shows that it is critical to understand that disaster and development relief are ingrained within context specificities. Relief efforts therefore need to recognise that the process of 'putting houses in place' should be embedded within local social relations.

  19. The Morfeo Open Source Community: Building Technologies of the Future Web through Open Innovation

    OpenAIRE

    Lizcano Casas, David; Jiménez Gañán, Miguel; Soriano Camino, Francisco Javier; Hierro, Juan Jose; Martínez, Andres L.

    2009-01-01

    Nowadays enterprise collaboration is becoming essential for valuable innovation and competitive advantage. This collaboration has to be brought a step forward from technical collaboration till collective smart exploitation of global intelligence. Morfeo Open Source Community implements it as an open innovation schema of collaboration among SME’s, universities, research centres, public administration and major corporations. Its disruptive contribution to the state of the art is to manage the c...

  20. Development of a Measure of Housing and Housing Services.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Clark, Colleen; Young, M Scott; Teague, Gregory; Rynearson-Moody, Sarah

    2016-01-01

    The Housing Program Measure (HPM) was designed to document critical elements of a range of housing program types and associated services. Qualitative methods, including literature review and open-ended interviews, were used to determine pertinent HPM domains and to develop the pool of items. The measure was pre-tested, and reliability and validity analyses were applied to revise and strengthen the measure. The resulting measure furthers homelessness research by providing a tool that can be used to define housing and housing services interventions across diverse projects and disciplines, to facilitate program management by matching housing resources to the needs of homeless individuals, and to support model development by measuring progress to goals.

  1. Past and predicted future effects of housing growth on open space conservation opportunity areas and habitat connectivity around National Wildlife Refuges

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hamilton, Christopher M.; Baumann, Matthias; Pidgeon, Anna M.; Helmers, David P.; Thogmartin, Wayne E.; Heglund, Patricia J.; Radeloff, Volker C.

    2016-01-01

    ContextHousing growth can alter suitability of matrix habitats around protected areas, strongly affecting movements of organisms and, consequently, threatening connectivity of protected area networks.ObjectivesOur goal was to quantify distribution and growth of housing around the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service National Wildlife Refuge System. This is important information for conservation planning, particularly given promotion of habitat connectivity as a climate change adaptation measure.MethodsWe quantified housing growth from 1940 to 2000 and projected future growth to 2030 within three distances from refuges, identifying very low housing density open space, “opportunity areas” (contiguous areas with habitat corridors within these opportunity areas in 2000.ResultsOur results indicated that the number and area of open space opportunity areas generally decreased with increasing distance from refuges and with the passage of time. Furthermore, total area in habitat corridors was much lower than in opportunity areas. In addition, the number of corridors sometimes exceeded number of opportunity areas as a result of habitat fragmentation, indicating corridors are likely vulnerable to land use change. Finally, regional differences were strong and indicated some refuges may have experienced so much housing growth already that they are effectively too isolated to adapt to climate change, while others may require extensive habitat restoration work.ConclusionsWildlife refuges are increasingly isolated by residential housing development, potentially constraining the movement of wildlife and, therefore, their ability to adapt to a changing climate.

  2. Senior housing in Sweden: a new concept for aging in place.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Henning, Cecilia; Ahnby, Ulla; Osterstrom, Stefan

    2009-01-01

    Demographic projections of elder care in Sweden necessitate new and creative approaches to accommodate this rapidly growing population. This article describes a unique aging-in-place care and housing policy initiative for the elderly. Using a case example in Eksjo, Sweden, the authors used a future workshop (FW) method to help seniors plan their future housing in the community. The FW is based on a collective democratic process involving full participation, open communication, organizational development, and leadership. The process steps of the three-stage FW method are described. Results indicated that empowerment, collaboration, autonomy, social education, and decision making can be achieved in a community-network-based policy model. This demonstrates the devolution of national policy and how, at the grass roots level, local participation and public accountability can take root. Devolution created an opportunity for creatively addressing local needs.

  3. Microalgae community shifts during the biogas upgrading in an alkaline open photobioreactor.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Granada-Moreno, C I; Aburto-Medina, A; de Los Cobos Vasconcelos, D; González-Sánchez, A

    2017-10-01

    To achieve the functional specialization of a microalgae community through operational tuning of an open photobioreactor used for biogas upgrading under alkaline conditions. An open photobioreactor was inoculated with an indigenous microalgae sample from the Texcoco Soda Lake. A microalgae community was adapted to fix CO 2 from synthetic biogas through different culture conditions reaching a maximum of 220 mg CO 2  l -1 per day. Picochlorum sp. and Scenedesmus sp. were identified as the prominent microalgae genera by molecular fingerprinting (partial sequencing of 16S rRNA and 18S rRNA genes) but only the first was detected by microscopy screening. Changes in the microalgae community profile were monitored by a range-weighted richness index, reaching the lowest value when biogas was upgraded. A robust microalgae community in the open photobioreactor was obtained after different culture conditions. The specialization of microalgae community for CO 2 fixation under H 2 S presence was driven by biogas upgrading conditions. The alkaline conditions enhance the CO 2 absorption from biogas and could optimize specialized microalgae communities in the open photobioreactor. Denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis fingerprinting and richness index comparison are useful methods for the evaluation of microalgae community shifts and photosynthetic activity performance, particularly in systems intended for CO 2 removal from biogas where the CO 2 assimilation potential can be related to the microbial richness. © 2017 The Society for Applied Microbiology.

  4. Living in supportive housing for people with serious mental illness: a paradoxical everyday life.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bengtsson-Tops, Anita; Ericsson, Ulf; Ehliasson, Kent

    2014-10-01

    Since the closure of large psychiatric institutions, various types of community-based supportive housing for people with serious mental illness (SMI) have been developed. There is currently limited knowledge about users' experiences of living in supportive housing. The aim of the present study was to describe user experiences of living in supportive housing for people with SMI. Twenty-nine people living in such facilities participated in open, qualitative interviews. Data were subjected to latent content analysis. Three main themes emerged from this analysis: (i) having a nest, which included the subthemes of a place to rest and having someone to attach to; (ii) being part of a group, with the subthemes of being brought together and a community spirit; and (iii) leading an oppressive life, including the subthemes of questioning one's identity, sense of inequality, and a life of gloom. It could be concluded that user experiences of living in supportive housing are complex and paradoxical. In order to provide supportive housing, staff need to recognize and work within social group processes, and perform continual and structural evaluations of users' social and emotional needs. © 2014 Australian College of Mental Health Nurses Inc.

  5. Housing Finance in Ghana: Can Community Mortgage Cooperatives ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    There is insufficient housing in Ghana. Available houses are mostly poorly developed and lack the basic amenities required to make them habitable. The growth of households is in excess of housing growth resulting in housing deficit in the country. The formal finance institutions have supplied very little mortgages to ...

  6. The Impact of Autism or Severe Challenging Behaviour on Lifestyle Outcome in Community Housing

    Science.gov (United States)

    Felce, David; Perry, Jonathan; Lowe, Kathy; Jones, Edwin

    2011-01-01

    Background: The triad of impairments characteristic of autistic spectrum disorders and severe challenging behaviours are reasonably common among adults with intellectual disabilities. The aim was to investigate whether they had an impact on lifestyle among such adults living in staff-supported community housing. Methods: Data were collected on the…

  7. Community College Selective Enrollment and the Challenge to Open Access

    Science.gov (United States)

    Morris, David Brian

    2012-01-01

    The open access mission is central to the community college role and mission in higher education. Although initially implemented by four-year colleges and universities, adoption of formal enrollment management initiatives in community colleges is on the increase. Admission, matriculation, retention, and persistence are affected by enrollment…

  8. Building Structure Housing: Case Study of Community Housing in Kendari City

    Science.gov (United States)

    Umar, M. Z.; Faslih, A.; Arsyad, M.; Sjamsu, A. S.; Kadir, I.

    2017-11-01

    Housing development has been pioneered through a simple home construction program to reduce the production cost. Simple housing program was developed in Kendari City. The purpose of this study is to show the principles of reducing the cost production for the type 36 homes, in Kendari City. The selected architectural objects are the lower, middle and the upper structure of type 36 house. The data collection was done by observation and in-depth discussion with construction workers. The analysis technique used in this research was a descriptive narrative analysis technique in the form of tabulation data. This study concluded that there are several principles of price reduction in the structure of public housing buildings. Quick principles exist in constructing techniques such as using cigarette packs as a foundation pad, mortar usage for rapid wall standing, and the spacing of mortars could be done manually by using two fingers on a human hand. Economic principles could be used for material matters, such as eliminating the use of gravel for concrete, the use of sand material to contain the soil, the foundation does not use sand and empty stone, and the shape of the ring beam was made using triangle reinforcement.

  9. BENEFITS AND SUCCESS FACTORS OF OPEN-SOURCE WEB SERVICES DEVELOPMENT PLATFORMS FOR SMALL SOFTWARE HOUSES

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Valter de Assis Moreno Jr.

    2012-12-01

    Full Text Available It is usually difficult for companies to keep up with the development of new information technologies and adapt to them in face of the opportunities and threats their advances may represent. This is especially true for small and medium enterprises (SME in emerging economies, where resources tend to be scarce and markets more volatile. This paper describes an action research conducted in a small Brazilian software house that adopted an open-source Web Services development platform in order to improve its software development process. Data analysis revealed critical success factors (CSF in the adoption process, as well as specific benefits and barriers prone to be faced by small software houses in their adoption efforts. In the process of overcoming such barriers, SME may acquire intellectual capital that represents an essential resource to ensure their competitiveness and survival in emerging economies.

  10. Open Source Communities in Technical Writing: Local Exigence, Global Extensibility

    Science.gov (United States)

    Conner, Trey; Gresham, Morgan; McCracken, Jill

    2011-01-01

    By offering open-source software (OSS)-based networks as an affordable technology alternative, we partnered with a nonprofit community organization. In this article, we narrate the client-based experiences of this partnership, highlighting the ways in which OSS and open-source culture (OSC) transformed our students' and our own expectations of…

  11. Modernization in the Manitoba north: The housing initiative

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Robson, R.

    1993-01-01

    Responding to the perceived community needs of the native population, the Canadian federal and provincial governments have implemented a series of programs intended to address the issues of community well-being, a central feature of which was the modernization of native communities. In Manitoba, the best examples of this modernization initiative are associated with the hydroelectric power projects in northern Manitoba. The modernization program following Manitoba Hydro's Churchill-Nelson River Hydro-Electric Project is described, focusing on the housing component of the process in the communities of Chemawawin, South Indian Lake, Cross Lake, Nelson House, Norway House, Split Lake, and York Landing. In these communities, the modernization process can be considered as a hydro-induced program of redevelopment. In each case, the community was forced to accept the consequences of Manitoba Hydro's development plan. From the flooding of traplines to the relocation of total settlements, the hydro operation has drastically altered the traditional way of life in the selected communities. Although the hydro developments have had a limited short-term positive impact (i.e. provision of employment or training), the impact has been generally negative. The case can be made that the housing component of the program has never clearly recognized the unique quality of native culture nor specific community needs. New housing, often the first priority in all seven communities studied, was too often neglected in favor of housing services. When new housing was made available, site development was geared to demands of modern servicing as opposed to the actual needs of local residents. 34 refs., 1 fig., 11 tabs

  12. Kaupuni Village: A Closer Look at the First Net-Zero Energy Affordable Housing Community in Hawai'i (Brochure)

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    2012-05-01

    This is the first of four Hawaii Clean Energy Initiative community brochures focused on HCEI success stories. This brochure focuses on the first LEED Platinum net-zero energy affordable housing community in Hawaii. Our lead NREL contact for HCEI is Ken Kelly.

  13. House Restaurant at The Cliff House Sample Tasting Dinner Menu 2017

    OpenAIRE

    House Restaurant at the Cliff House

    2017-01-01

    Our award winning, Michelin star restaurant at The Cliff House Hotel, Ireland, brings foodies from all over the world to this seaside village in West Waterford. Both our main House Restaurant as well as our easy, unpretentious bar food honour the great Irish produce of Waterford, Cork and the Irish Sea. House Restaurant operates for dinner Wednesday - Saturday inclusive in Winter and Tuesday - Saturday inclusive in Summer, opening Sunday nights on bank holiday weekends. Bar Restaurant is o...

  14. Dynamic robustness of knowledge collaboration network of open source product development community

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhou, Hong-Li; Zhang, Xiao-Dong

    2018-01-01

    As an emergent innovative design style, open source product development communities are characterized by a self-organizing, mass collaborative, networked structure. The robustness of the community is critical to its performance. Using the complex network modeling method, the knowledge collaboration network of the community is formulated, and the robustness of the network is systematically and dynamically studied. The characteristics of the network along the development period determine that its robustness should be studied from three time stages: the start-up, development and mature stages of the network. Five kinds of user-loss pattern are designed, to assess the network's robustness under different situations in each of these three time stages. Two indexes - the largest connected component and the network efficiency - are used to evaluate the robustness of the community. The proposed approach is applied in an existing open source car design community. The results indicate that the knowledge collaboration networks show different levels of robustness in different stages and different user loss patterns. Such analysis can be applied to provide protection strategies for the key users involved in knowledge dissemination and knowledge contribution at different stages of the network, thereby promoting the sustainable and stable development of the open source community.

  15. Energy Spectral Behaviors of Communication Networks of Open-Source Communities.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jianmei Yang

    Full Text Available Large-scale online collaborative production activities in open-source communities must be accompanied by large-scale communication activities. Nowadays, the production activities of open-source communities, especially their communication activities, have been more and more concerned. Take CodePlex C # community for example, this paper constructs the complex network models of 12 periods of communication structures of the community based on real data; then discusses the basic concepts of quantum mapping of complex networks, and points out that the purpose of the mapping is to study the structures of complex networks according to the idea of quantum mechanism in studying the structures of large molecules; finally, according to this idea, analyzes and compares the fractal features of the spectra in different quantum mappings of the networks, and concludes that there are multiple self-similarity and criticality in the communication structures of the community. In addition, this paper discusses the insights and application conditions of different quantum mappings in revealing the characteristics of the structures. The proposed quantum mapping method can also be applied to the structural studies of other large-scale organizations.

  16. Eco-Self-Build Housing Communities: Are They Feasible and Can They Lead to Sustainable and Low Carbon Lifestyles?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Steffie Broer

    2010-07-01

    Full Text Available This paper concerns how sustainable and low carbon living can be enabled in new housing developments in the UK. It is here recognized that consumption of energy and resources is not just what goes into the building, but also long-term through occupancy and activities. Current approaches, which require housing developers to reduce the carbon emissions of the homes they build through a mixture of energy efficiency and renewable energy systems, do not sufficiently contribute to the carbon emission reductions which are necessary for meeting UK Government targets and to avoid dangerous climate change. Purchasing a home ties people in to not just direct consumption of energy (heating, hot water, electricity, but also effects other areas of consumption such as the embedded energy in the building and activities associated with the location and the type of development. Conventional business models for new housing development, operating under current government regulations, policies and targets have failed to develop housing which encourages the adoption of sustainable lifestyles taking whole life consumption into account. An alternative business model of eco-self-build communities is proposed as a way to foster desired behavior change. The feasibility of eco-self-build communities and their scope for supporting low carbon sustainable lifestyles is assessed through stakeholder interviews, and through quantitative assessment of costs, carbon emission reduction potential, and other sustainability impacts of technical and lifestyle options and their combinations. The research shows that eco-self-build communities are both feasible and have the ability to deliver low carbon lifestyles. In comparison to conventional approaches to building new housing, they have further advantages in terms of delivering wider social, environmental as well as economic sustainability objectives. If implemented correctly they could succeed in making sustainable lifestyles

  17. Understanding User Behavioral Patterns in Open Knowledge Communities

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yang, Xianmin; Song, Shuqiang; Zhao, Xinshuo; Yu, Shengquan

    2018-01-01

    Open knowledge communities (OKCs) have become popular in the era of knowledge economy. This study aimed to explore how users collaboratively create and share knowledge in OKCs. In particular, this research identified the behavior distribution and behavioral patterns of users by conducting frequency distribution and lag sequential analyses. Some…

  18. Coalfield communities and their environment

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Parkinson, E

    1985-01-01

    Three main issues threaten the future of the coalfield communities: the coal industry is creating new capacity as the demand for coal slumps against predicted growth; the western democracies in general, and Britain in particular, are undergoing an economic restructuring under a financial management strategy which yields high levels of unemployment; the coalfield communities live in environments determined by the nature and history of their own local coal industry. The paper considers the effects of these issues on the coalfield communities. Topics covered are: the coalfield communities; opportunities to work; land use planning and the coal industry; spoil disposal; land reclamation; access; housing; tourism and leisure; open cast mining; coalfield community action zones; the financial scene.

  19. A social philosophy of housing

    OpenAIRE

    King, Peter

    2003-01-01

    This book presents an original perspective by opening up housing to a philosophical approach. It fully integrates discussions on contemporary housing policy and social philosophy in a manner not previously attempted in the housing literature. Professor Jim Kemeny (Uppsala University) described it as ‘the first systematic application of social philosophy from an individual choice perspective’.

  20. Towards synergy between the open source and the research multimedia communities

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    P.S. Cesar Garcia (Pablo Santiago); W.T. Ooi (Wei Tsang); B. Moskowitz; Z. Babin; D.C.A. Bulterman (Dick); R. Lienhart; R. Richter

    2011-01-01

    htmlabstractThis panel extends current efforts from the ACM Multimedia 2011 Organization Committee in taking an important step towards open source projects. The panelists include speakers who are among the leading figures from the open source community. The goal is to provide a shared space for

  1. 75 FR 36245 - Notice of Funding Availability for the Department of Housing and Urban Development's Community...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-06-24

    ... and effectiveness of all levels of government to plan for future growth, including making smart energy... target housing, economic development, and land use planning strategies that will increase the efficiency... sustainable community strategies, and develop environmental sustainability metrics and practices. The three...

  2. Choices and changes in the housing market and community preferences: Reasons for the emergence of gated communities in Egypt

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rana Tawfiq Almatarneh

    2013-09-01

    Full Text Available In the mid-1990s, the Egyptian government embarked on selling large portions of public land to private-sector real estate developers – a major policy shift toward privatization of urban development. To date, the development of more than a hundred privately planned gated residential communities indicates a mass trend in new-town urban development on the outskirts of the Greater Cairo Region (GCR. These private gated residential communities offer a wide range of housing schemes, ranging from middle-class to high-end distinctive, luxurious villas and apartments. In contrast with conventional new-town “master-planning” principles, these large housing developments demonstrate novel design, planning and implementation criteria that reflect market-driven forces rather than standard orthodox public-interest norms. This study attempts to articulate these unconventional factors by investigating the reasons behind gated communities’ proliferation from the perspective of developers in the GCR. This paper argues that real estate developers use common grouping factors in their advertising, such as design, planning, and marketing principles, to re-shape people’s desires and wants. The paper concludes that advertisements package a place as a commodity, romanticize a lifestyle, and sell it as an attractive place that is free of problems.

  3. The Effectiveness of Building Permit Regulation for Green Open Space at Housing Estates: Case Study of Kendal Regency, Central Java, Indonesia

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yulianti, Wiwik; Hadi, Sudharto P.

    2018-02-01

    Increasing demand for settlements steamed by population growth declines the quality of the environment specifically at urban area. The existing spatial planning could not able to prevent the change of land use for settlement and other infrastructures. The Act no. 26 of 2007 on spatial planning stipulates that green open space must reach 30% of the total area, consisting of 20% public open space and 10% private open space. The existing condition of urban area at Kendal Regency reach 245,6 million m2 with 88.145,5 m2 green open space or 0,036% out of total area. An effort to increase green open space in urban areas taken by the Government of Kendal Regency is by promulgating a local regulation stipulating that each housing developer request a building permit is obliged to provide a green open space at least 10 percent of the total housing area. This paper reviews the effectiveness of building permit regulation, the problems encountered and the concept proposed to make the local regulation work. The area of sample taken is three urban districts out of five urban districts, the resource persons chosen are those from relevant offices (Dinas) involved at the implementation of the local regulation. The data collection techniques employed are the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP), Geographic Information System (GIS) technology, social observation and informal interview. The data gathered will be analyzed quantitatively and qualitatively.

  4. The Effectiveness of Building Permit Regulation for Green Open Space at Housing Estates: Case Study of Kendal Regency, Central Java, Indonesia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yulianti Wiwik

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available Increasing demand for settlements steamed by population growth declines the quality of the environment specifically at urban area. The existing spatial planning could not able to prevent the change of land use for settlement and other infrastructures. The Act no. 26 of 2007 on spatial planning stipulates that green open space must reach 30% of the total area, consisting of 20% public open space and 10% private open space. The existing condition of urban area at Kendal Regency reach 245,6 million m2 with 88.145,5 m2 green open space or 0,036% out of total area. An effort to increase green open space in urban areas taken by the Government of Kendal Regency is by promulgating a local regulation stipulating that each housing developer request a building permit is obliged to provide a green open space at least 10 percent of the total housing area. This paper reviews the effectiveness of building permit regulation, the problems encountered and the concept proposed to make the local regulation work. The area of sample taken is three urban districts out of five urban districts, the resource persons chosen are those from relevant offices (Dinas involved at the implementation of the local regulation. The data collection techniques employed are the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP, Geographic Information System (GIS technology, social observation and informal interview. The data gathered will be analyzed quantitatively and qualitatively.

  5. Preventing cancer: a community-based program for youths in public housing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Strunin, Lee; Wulach, Laura; Yang, Grace J; Evans, Tegan C; Hamdan, Sami U; Davis, Gregory L; Bowen, Deborah J

    2013-05-01

    This article describes a feasibility study of a program that mentors boys aged 14-18 living in inner city public housing, engages them in a basketball league, and provides educational sessions on life skills and ways to resolve conflicts without violence. Such programs have the potential to engage adolescent males living in public housing in activities that reduce cancer-related behaviors and increase protective behaviors. We conducted a feasibility evaluation of the program, which included a survey of participants, interviews with coaches, and observations of games and practices. Lifetime and previous-30-day substance use was common among participants, and many were exposed to and had experienced various forms of violence. Keeping youths active helps prevent their joining gangs and using drugs. Youths from disadvantaged backgrounds are at a high risk for cancer because they are at greater risk for obesity and other adverse health-related conditions than are more affluent youths. Implementing and sustaining community programs for youths in public housing can reduce the effects of exposure to factors that put them at risk for cancer during adulthood: chronic poverty, lack of safe areas for recreation, easy access to alcohol and drugs, and exposure to violence. In addition, workshops to prevent substance use and violence and to teach leadership, sportsmanship, conflict resolution, and healthy youth development are needed for youths, coaches, and parents or guardians. Copyright © 2013 Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  6. The Rural Open Air Museums: Visitors, Community and Place

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Pawlikowska-Piechotka Anna

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available Contemporary rural museums perform not only the traditional tasks but are also the places where both the visitors and the local community members have chances for entertainment and attractive leisure time. Consequently one can find in museums numerous catering offers such as cafes, bistros, snack bars, restaurants, pubs and wine bars. The material presented is the result of theoretical and field studies carried out in the selected open air museums in Poland and focused on newly introduced commercial activities (as catering. Our research results show that the development of sustainable cultural tourism as a generator of income in the open air rural museums is important in the challenging economic time. Museums having catering services of different character could easier overcome financial struggle. Moreover there is no doubt that the introduction of an interesting and ambitious cuisine in the restaurants located in the rural open air museum is of great importance also in other terms: popularization of the food culture, rural tradition of region, healthy diet and lifestyle, chance to increase the museum attractiveness, important economic support to the museum and the local community and the improvement of living quality.

  7. Balancing Open Access with Academic Standards: Implications for Community College Faculty

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gabbard, Anita; Mupinga, Davison M.

    2013-01-01

    Community colleges act as the gateway for students to higher education. Many of these colleges realize this mission through open-door policies where students lacking in basic reading, writing, and mathematics skills can enroll. But, this open-access policy often creates challenges when meeting academic standards. Based on data collected from…

  8. What an open source clinical trial community can learn from hackers

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dunn, Adam G.; Day, Richard O.; Mandl, Kenneth D.; Coiera, Enrico

    2014-01-01

    Summary Open sharing of clinical trial data has been proposed as a way to address the gap between the production of clinical evidence and the decision-making of physicians. Since a similar gap has already been addressed in the software industry by the open source software movement, we examine how the social and technical principles of the movement can be used to guide the growth of an open source clinical trial community. PMID:22553248

  9. Vertical Interaction in Open Software Engineering Communities

    Science.gov (United States)

    2009-03-01

    FIRMS: BUSINESS COLLABORATION THROUGH OPEN SOURCE PROJECTS the Application Lifecycle Framework (ALF) and several sub-project streams in the SOA Tools...to 1This chapter is substantially based on a paper in progress with Jim Herbsleb and Robert Kraut. 86 CHAPTER 4. FIRMS AND INDIVIDUALS: THE IMPACT OF...involved in the community[44]. For exam - ple, the GNOME project, a successful desktop environment for Linux and Unix systems, has a website called

  10. Ndebele Inspired Houses

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rice, Nicole

    2012-01-01

    The house paintings of the South African Ndebele people are more than just an attempt to improve the aesthetics of a community; they are a source of identity and significance for Ndebele women. In this article, the author describes an art project wherein students use the tradition of Ndebele house painting as inspiration for creating their own…

  11. "I Love Fruit But I Can't Afford It": Using Participatory Action Research to Develop Community-Based Initiatives to Mitigate Challenges to Chronic Disease Management in an African American Community Living in Public Housing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rogers, Courtney; Johnson, Joy; Nueslein, Brianne; Edmunds, David; Valdez, Rupa S

    2018-03-12

    As chronic conditions are on the rise in the USA, management initiatives outside of the inpatient setting should be explored to reduce associated cost and access disparities. Chronic conditions disproportionately affect African American public housing residents due to the effects of historical marginalization on the manifestation of economic and social problems exacerbating health disparities and outcomes. Informed by participatory research action tenets, this study focused on identifying the challenges to management of chronic conditions and developing community-envisioned initiatives to address these challenges in a predominantly African American public housing community. Two focus groups were conducted with former and current public housing residents and were analyzed using inductive content analysis. Physical activity, the cost associated with healthy eating, and lack of information were noted as challenges to chronic disease management. Initiatives discussed were the formation of a walking partner's program to promote physical activity, a shopper's club to exchange coupons and learn how to prepare healthy meals, and a natural remedy's book to share information intergenerationally about management tactics. Challenges identified existed predominantly on the individual and the system level, while the initiatives generated target engaging interpersonal and community relationships. These community-envisioned approaches should be explored to facilitate chronic disease management in public housing neighborhoods.

  12. Associations between bacterial communities of house dust and infant gut

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Konya, T.; Koster, B. [Division of Occupational and Environmental Health, Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto (Canada); Maughan, H. [Department of Cell and Systems Biology, University of Toronto (Canada); Escobar, M. [Division of Occupational and Environmental Health, Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto (Canada); Azad, M. B. [Department of Pediatrics, University of Alberta (Canada); Guttman, D. S. [Department of Cell and Systems Biology, University of Toronto (Canada); Sears, M. R. [Department of Medicine, McMaster University (Canada); Becker, A. B. [University of Manitoba (Canada); Brook, J. R. [Division of Occupational and Environmental Health, Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto (Canada); Environment Canada (Canada); Takaro, T. K. [Faculty of Health Science, Simon Fraser University (Canada); Kozyrskyj, A. L. [Department of Pediatrics, University of Alberta (Canada); Scott, J.A., E-mail: james.scott@utoronto.ca [Division of Occupational and Environmental Health, Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto (Canada)

    2014-05-01

    The human gut is host to a diverse and abundant community of bacteria that influence health and disease susceptibility. This community develops in infancy, and its composition is strongly influenced by environmental factors, notably perinatal anthropogenic exposures such as delivery mode (Cesarean vs. vaginal) and feeding method (breast vs. formula); however, the built environment as a possible source of exposure has not been considered. Here we report on a preliminary investigation of the associations between bacteria in house dust and the nascent fecal microbiota from 20 subjects from the Canadian Healthy Infant Longitudinal Development (CHILD) Study using high-throughput sequence analysis of portions of the 16S rRNA gene. Despite significant differences between the dust and fecal microbiota revealed by Nonmetric Multidimensional Scaling (NMDS) analysis, permutation analysis confirmed that 14 bacterial OTUs representing the classes Actinobacteria (3), Bacilli (3), Clostridia (6) and Gammaproteobacteria (2) co-occurred at a significantly higher frequency in matched dust–stool pairs than in randomly permuted pairs, indicating an association between these dust and stool communities. These associations could indicate a role for the indoor environment in shaping the nascent gut microbiota, but future studies will be needed to confirm that our findings do not solely reflect a reverse pathway. Although pet ownership was strongly associated with the presence of certain genera in the dust for dogs (Agrococcus, Carnobacterium, Exiguobacterium, Herbaspirillum, Leifsonia and Neisseria) and cats (Escherichia), no clear patterns were observed in the NMDS-resolved stool community profiles as a function of pet ownership.

  13. Associations between bacterial communities of house dust and infant gut

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Konya, T.; Koster, B.; Maughan, H.; Escobar, M.; Azad, M.B.; Guttman, D.S.; Sears, M.R.; Becker, A.B.; Brook, J.R.; Takaro, T.K.; Kozyrskyj, A.L.; Scott, J.A.

    2014-01-01

    The human gut is host to a diverse and abundant community of bacteria that influence health and disease susceptibility. This community develops in infancy, and its composition is strongly influenced by environmental factors, notably perinatal anthropogenic exposures such as delivery mode (Cesarean vs. vaginal) and feeding method (breast vs. formula); however, the built environment as a possible source of exposure has not been considered. Here we report on a preliminary investigation of the associations between bacteria in house dust and the nascent fecal microbiota from 20 subjects from the Canadian Healthy Infant Longitudinal Development (CHILD) Study using high-throughput sequence analysis of portions of the 16S rRNA gene. Despite significant differences between the dust and fecal microbiota revealed by Nonmetric Multidimensional Scaling (NMDS) analysis, permutation analysis confirmed that 14 bacterial OTUs representing the classes Actinobacteria (3), Bacilli (3), Clostridia (6) and Gammaproteobacteria (2) co-occurred at a significantly higher frequency in matched dust–stool pairs than in randomly permuted pairs, indicating an association between these dust and stool communities. These associations could indicate a role for the indoor environment in shaping the nascent gut microbiota, but future studies will be needed to confirm that our findings do not solely reflect a reverse pathway. Although pet ownership was strongly associated with the presence of certain genera in the dust for dogs (Agrococcus, Carnobacterium, Exiguobacterium, Herbaspirillum, Leifsonia and Neisseria) and cats (Escherichia), no clear patterns were observed in the NMDS-resolved stool community profiles as a function of pet ownership

  14. Learning and Best Practices for Learning in Open-Source Software Communities

    Science.gov (United States)

    Singh, Vandana; Holt, Lila

    2013-01-01

    This research is about participants who use open-source software (OSS) discussion forums for learning. Learning in online communities of education as well as non-education-related online communities has been studied under the lens of social learning theory and situated learning for a long time. In this research, we draw parallels among these two…

  15. Better housing and living conditions for older people

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    housing stock and local neighbourhood facilites be made more responsive to the demands of older people? How can housing and planning measures contribute to the integration of older people in local communities? How can urban renewal be implemented in elderly-friendly forms? What forms of coordination......There is an increasing emphasis on strategies designed to combat the exclusion of older people from society. The development of social policies oriented towards community care and community living has important consequences for housing policies and urban planning policies. How can the general...

  16. Administrative and financial responsibilities for sheltered housing for mentally ill and handicapped persons in Germany and its impact on housing supply.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bramesfeld, Anke; Holler, Gerhard

    2005-06-01

    The integration of mentally ill and handicapped persons in the society requires the availability of various forms of sheltered housing in the community, most important ambulatory (supported) housing facilities. In Germany the administrative and financial responsibility for sheltered housing for mental ill and handicapped persons is usually assigned to two authorities: the welfare authorities at Lander (state) level are responsible for hostels, the welfare authorities on community and district level are responsible for ambulatory housing. However some Lander have distributed these responsibilities differently and other Lander offer subsidy programmes to promote the implementation of ambulatory housing. To evaluate the different modes of distributing the responsibilities for administration and financing of sheltered housing for their impact on the supply with ambulatory and stationary housing in the 16 German Lander. (1) Analysis of the practise of distributing the responsibilities for housing between Lander and community welfare-authorities in the 16 Lander. Analysis of the subsidy programmes in the Lander that aim to promote the implementation of ambulatory housing. (2) Assessment of the capacities in housing for mentally ill and handicapped persons in the Lander. (3) Comparing (1) and (2). Lander that have the responsibilities for ambulatory housing and for hostels organised on the same authority-level, offer generally more housing in ambulatory facilities and less in hostels than Lander that do not. However, three Lander, despite having all responsibilities for housing at one authority level, provide accommodation for mentally ill and handicapped persons predominantly in hostels. There are so far no indications whether it would be more favourable to have a unique authority for housing based on Lander or on community level. Subsidy programmes to promote the implementation of supported housing are successful if they sponsor at least 50% of costs and if they exist

  17. Situation based housing

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Duelund Mortensen, Peder; Welling, Helen; Wiell Nordberg, Lene

    2007-01-01

    of the average family's lifestyle. These dwellings were ground-breaking when they were built, but today are clearly a product of their time. The reaction to functionalism and the postwar mass production gave rise to flexible dwelling with countless possibilities for room division. The housing of this period has...... characteristics which in the long run have proven to be unfortunate both in terms in terms of durability and architectural quality. Today there is a focus on the development of more open and functionally non-determined housing. A number of new housing schemes in and around Copenhagen reveal a variety...... of approaches to these goals. This working paper reviews not only a selection of new housing types, but also dwellings from the past, which each contain an aspect of changeability. Our study is based on information from users in the selected housing schemes, gathered from questionnaires, information about...

  18. Livable Housing Design: The voluntary provision of inclusive housing in Australia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Margaret Louise Ward

    2014-06-01

    Full Text Available This paper reports on a study of the voluntary provision of inclusive housing. The impetus for the study is the Livable Housing Design initiative, an agreement among Australian housing industry and community leaders in 2010 to a national guideline and voluntary strategy with a target to provide minimum access features in all new housing by 2020. Situated in and around Brisbane, Australia, the study problematises the assumption that the housing industry will respond voluntarily; an assumption which this study concludes is unfounded. The Livable Housing Design initiative asks individual agents to consider the needs of people beyond the initial contract, to proceed with objective reasoning and to do the right thing voluntarily. Instead, the study found that interviewees focused on their immediate contractual obligations, were reluctant to change established practices and saw little reason to do more than was legally required of them. This paper argues that the highly-competitive and risk-averse nature of the industry works against a voluntary approach for inclusive housing and, if the 2020 target of the Livable Housing Design.

  19. 49 CFR 179.500-10 - Protective housing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-10-01

    ... 49 Transportation 2 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Protective housing. 179.500-10 Section 179.500-10...-10 Protective housing. (a) Safety devices, and loading and unloading valves on tanks shall be protected from accidental damage by approved metal housing, arranged so it may be readily opened to permit...

  20. Effects of sandbar openings on the zooplankton community of coastal lagoons with different conservation status

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rayanne Barros Setubal

    Full Text Available AIM: Artificial sandbar openings are a common management practice in coastal lagoons but they can be a threat when negative effects to the quality of water and to the aquatic biota are observed. The current study compared sandbar opening effects in two coastal lagoons located close to each other, but differing on trophic status and on sandbar openings' background. METHODS:Limnological variables and zooplankton community were recorded monthly during one year before and one year after sandbar openings that occurred in the same month for both lagoons, giving 24 samples. We compared the effects of sandbar opening on response variables, according to the two types of system. RESULTS: The sandbar openings determined changes in some limnological features - depth and salinity - but such effects were different in the two types of system. The zooplankton structure displayed dramatic changes in the eutrophic and commonly opened lagoon. The occurrence and abundance of some species were closely related to changes in limnological variables. CONCLUSIONS: Our data indicated that zooplankton communities are more resistant to sandbar openings in coastal lagoons historically less disturbed. The direction and magnitude of changes promoted by sandbar openings might be specific to each lagoon, due to different backgrounds of disturbances that, in the long term, modify the water quality and the structure of zooplankton communities, and consequently, their resistance and resilience.

  1. Analysis of Marketing and Customer Satisfaction in Base Housing Communities of the Monterey Bay Area

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-06-01

    in Seattle, Washington. The company claims to be based on four basic principles : “exceptional people, strong customer service, market knowledge, and...FtOrd.html Keller, K., & Kotler , P. (2009). A framework for marketing management. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc. Office of...SUBTITLE Analysis of Marketing and Customer Satisfaction in Base Housing Communities of the Monterey Bay Area 5. FUNDING NUMBERS 6. AUTHOR(S

  2. Community-scale solar photovoltaics: housing and public development examples

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Komoto, K.

    2008-03-15

    This report for the International Energy Agency (IEA) made by Task 10 of the Photovoltaic Power Systems (PVPS) programme takes a look at community-scale photovoltaics. The mission of the Photovoltaic Power Systems Programme is to enhance the international collaboration efforts which accelerate the development and deployment of photovoltaic solar energy. The aim of Task 10 is stated as being to enhance the opportunities for wide-scale, solution-oriented application of photovoltaics in the urban environment. This report provides examples of housing developments and incorporated townships that have integrated multiple stakeholder values into business solutions. The authors are of the opinion that builders, developers, architects and engineers need to consider orientation, aesthetics, load diversity, energy efficiency, grid infrastructure and end use. Residential and commercial building owners or occupants need to consider the design of electric services relative to loads, green image, and economic opportunities such as feed-in tariffs. Local government should give preference to granting permission to high-performance building projects. It is suggested that the finance and insurance sector consider the operational savings in overall debt allowances. System manufacturers and integrators should develop standardised systems. In the emerging PV community market, utilities are quickly gaining awareness of business opportunities. The need for professionals and skilled labour is quoted as having grown as drastically as the PV market itself.

  3. The HYPE Open Source Community

    Science.gov (United States)

    Strömbäck, Lena; Arheimer, Berit; Pers, Charlotta; Isberg, Kristina

    2013-04-01

    The Hydrological Predictions for the Environment (HYPE) model is a dynamic, semi-distributed, process-based, integrated catchment model (Lindström et al., 2010). It uses well-known hydrological and nutrient transport concepts and can be applied for both small and large scale assessments of water resources and status. In the model, the landscape is divided into classes according to soil type, vegetation and altitude. The soil representation is stratified and can be divided in up to three layers. Water and substances are routed through the same flow paths and storages (snow, soil, groundwater, streams, rivers, lakes) considering turn-over and transformation on the way towards the sea. In Sweden, the model is used by water authorities to fulfil the Water Framework Directive and the Marine Strategy Framework Directive. It is used for characterization, forecasts, and scenario analyses. Model data can be downloaded for free from three different HYPE applications: Europe (www.smhi.se/e-hype), Baltic Sea basin (www.smhi.se/balt-hype), and Sweden (vattenweb.smhi.se) The HYPE OSC (hype.sourceforge.net) is an open source initiative under the Lesser GNU Public License taken by SMHI to strengthen international collaboration in hydrological modelling and hydrological data production. The hypothesis is that more brains and more testing will result in better models and better code. The code is transparent and can be changed and learnt from. New versions of the main code will be delivered frequently. The main objective of the HYPE OSC is to provide public access to a state-of-the-art operational hydrological model and to encourage hydrologic expertise from different parts of the world to contribute to model improvement. HYPE OSC is open to everyone interested in hydrology, hydrological modelling and code development - e.g. scientists, authorities, and consultancies. The HYPE Open Source Community was initiated in November 2011 by a kick-off and workshop with 50 eager participants

  4. openBEB: open biological experiment browser for correlative measurements.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ramakrishnan, Chandrasekhar; Bieri, Andrej; Sauter, Nora; Roizard, Sophie; Ringler, Philippe; Müller, Shirley A; Goldie, Kenneth N; Enimanev, Kaloyan; Stahlberg, Henning; Rinn, Bernd; Braun, Thomas

    2014-03-26

    New experimental methods must be developed to study interaction networks in systems biology. To reduce biological noise, individual subjects, such as single cells, should be analyzed using high throughput approaches. The measurement of several correlative physical properties would further improve data consistency. Accordingly, a considerable quantity of data must be acquired, correlated, catalogued and stored in a database for subsequent analysis. We have developed openBEB (open Biological Experiment Browser), a software framework for data acquisition, coordination, annotation and synchronization with database solutions such as openBIS. OpenBEB consists of two main parts: A core program and a plug-in manager. Whereas the data-type independent core of openBEB maintains a local container of raw-data and metadata and provides annotation and data management tools, all data-specific tasks are performed by plug-ins. The open architecture of openBEB enables the fast integration of plug-ins, e.g., for data acquisition or visualization. A macro-interpreter allows the automation and coordination of the different modules. An update and deployment mechanism keeps the core program, the plug-ins and the metadata definition files in sync with a central repository. The versatility, the simple deployment and update mechanism, and the scalability in terms of module integration offered by openBEB make this software interesting for a large scientific community. OpenBEB targets three types of researcher, ideally working closely together: (i) Engineers and scientists developing new methods and instruments, e.g., for systems-biology, (ii) scientists performing biological experiments, (iii) theoreticians and mathematicians analyzing data. The design of openBEB enables the rapid development of plug-ins, which will inherently benefit from the "house keeping" abilities of the core program. We report the use of openBEB to combine live cell microscopy, microfluidic control and visual

  5. Housing, Urban Renewal and Socio-Spatial Integration. A Study on Rehabilitating the Former Socialistic Public Housing Areas in Beijing

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Xiaoxi Hui

    2017-11-01

    Full Text Available The initiative of this study derived from my concern of two critical urban issues in China today: housing and urban renewal. In the recent two decades, the Chinese urban housing stock underwent a significant, if not extreme, transformation. From 1949 to 1998, the urban housing stock in China largely depended on the public sector, and a large amount of public housing areas were developed under the socialistic public housing system in Beijing and other Chinese cities. Yet in 1998, a radical housing reform stopped this housing system. Thus, most of the public housing stock was privatized and the urban housing provision was conferred to the market. The radical housing privatization and marketization did not really resolve but intensified the housing problem. Along with the high-speed urbanization, the alienated, capitalized and speculative housing stock caused a series of social and spatial problems. The Chinese government therefore attempted to reestablish the social housing system in 2007. However, the unbalanced structure of the Chinese urban housing stock has not been considerably optimized and the housing problem is still one of the most critical challenges in China. Based on the background of privatization, the former socialistic public housing areas in Beijing confront the ambiguity of their housing stock and the confusion of housing management. While they still accommodate the majority of urban residents and are identified by their good places, (social and programmatic mixed communities, vibrant local life, and diversified housing types, they are facing the serious challenges of physical deterioration and social decline. Therefore, urban renewal was thought as an effective solution seeking to improve the living conditions in those neighborhoods. Nevertheless, urban renewal in itself is also a controversial issue. In order to solve the housing problem, the large-scale urban renewal in Beijing started at the beginning of the 1990s. The radical

  6. Oxford House Recovery Homes: Characteristics and Effectiveness

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jason, Leonard A.; Ferrari, Joseph R.

    2010-01-01

    One of the largest examples of a community-based, mutual-help residential community for high risk substance abuse individuals is Oxford House. In the U.S., over 9,800 people live in these self-run dwellings where they obtain jobs, pay utility bills, and learn to be responsible citizens. Beginning with one single rented residence in the mid 1970s, Oxford Houses now number over 1,300. These rented homes are helping to deal with drug addiction and community re-entry by providing stable housing without any limits on length of stay, a network of job opportunities, and support for abstinence. An exploration of the research on these unique settings highlights the strengths of such a community-based approach to addressing addiction. New roles for psychologists in working with these types of support systems are identified. PMID:20577571

  7. Impact on Dietary Choices after Discount Supermarket Opens in Low-Income Community.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jilcott Pitts, Stephanie Bell; Wu, Qiang; McGuirt, Jared T; Sharpe, Patricia A; Rafferty, Ann P

    2018-04-11

    To examine (1) the association of a new supermarket opening with dietary intake and perceptions of healthy food availability, and (2) associations of distance to the primary food store and mean prices of fruits, vegetables, and sugary beverages with levels of consumption of these foods and body mass index in a low-income, southeastern community. The researchers used cross-sectional, self-administered questionnaire data and supermarket audit data collected in the supermarket community and comparison community before (2015) and after (2016) the supermarket opening. A difference-in-difference analysis employed propensity scores to compare pretest and posttest differences between communities. There were no significant differences between communities on dietary behaviors. There was a significant cross-sectional, inverse association between distance to the primary food store and fruit and vegetable consumption among all respondents in 2016. The results suggest that adding a new discount supermarket is not necessarily associated with improvements in residents' fruit, vegetable, or sugary beverage consumption, or in their perceptions of the availability of healthy food in the neighborhood. However, distance to the store may be important. Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier Inc.

  8. New business model of flexible housing

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Zairul, Z.; Geraedts, R.P.

    2015-01-01

    The Open Building (OB) and the concept of flexible housing has alwaysassociated with user’s ability to respond to changing demand. It is necessary that housing can adap to changing market conditions and different users’ requirements. Flexibility makes a crucial concept that one cannot ignore.

  9. Sustaining Open Source Communities through Hackathons - An Example from the ASPECT Community

    Science.gov (United States)

    Heister, T.; Hwang, L.; Bangerth, W.; Kellogg, L. H.

    2016-12-01

    The ecosystem surrounding a successful scientific open source software package combines both social and technical aspects. Much thought has been given to the technology side of writing sustainable software for large infrastructure projects and software libraries, but less about building the human capacity to perpetuate scientific software used in computational modeling. One effective format for building capacity is regular multi-day hackathons. Scientific hackathons bring together a group of science domain users and scientific software contributors to make progress on a specific software package. Innovation comes through the chance to work with established and new collaborations. Especially in the domain sciences with small communities, hackathons give geographically distributed scientists an opportunity to connect face-to-face. They foster lively discussions amongst scientists with different expertise, promote new collaborations, and increase transparency in both the technical and scientific aspects of code development. ASPECT is an open source, parallel, extensible finite element code to simulate thermal convection, that began development in 2011 under the Computational Infrastructure for Geodynamics. ASPECT hackathons for the past 3 years have grown the number of authors to >50, training new code maintainers in the process. Hackathons begin with leaders establishing project-specific conventions for development, demonstrating the workflow for code contributions, and reviewing relevant technical skills. Each hackathon expands the developer community. Over 20 scientists add >6,000 lines of code during the >1 week event. Participants grow comfortable contributing to the repository and over half continue to contribute afterwards. A high return rate of participants ensures continuity and stability of the group as well as mentoring for novice members. We hope to build other software communities on this model, but anticipate each to bring their own unique challenges.

  10. 78 FR 22277 - Notice of Proposed Information Collection: Comment Request Office of Sustainable Housing...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-04-15

    ... Information Collection: Comment Request Office of Sustainable Housing Communities Progress Report Template AGENCY: Office of Sustainable Housing and Communities (OSHC), HUD. ACTION: Notice. SUMMARY: The proposed... Sustainable Communities Initiative to improve regional planning efforts that integrate housing and...

  11. Anatomy of BioJS, an open source community for the life sciences.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yachdav, Guy; Goldberg, Tatyana; Wilzbach, Sebastian; Dao, David; Shih, Iris; Choudhary, Saket; Crouch, Steve; Franz, Max; García, Alexander; García, Leyla J; Grüning, Björn A; Inupakutika, Devasena; Sillitoe, Ian; Thanki, Anil S; Vieira, Bruno; Villaveces, José M; Schneider, Maria V; Lewis, Suzanna; Pettifer, Steve; Rost, Burkhard; Corpas, Manuel

    2015-07-08

    BioJS is an open source software project that develops visualization tools for different types of biological data. Here we report on the factors that influenced the growth of the BioJS user and developer community, and outline our strategy for building on this growth. The lessons we have learned on BioJS may also be relevant to other open source software projects.

  12. 'Ballroom itself can either make you or break you' - Black GBT Youths' psychosocial development in the House Ball Community.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Telander, Kyle; Hosek, Sybil G; Lemos, Diana; Jeremie-Brink, Gihane

    2017-11-01

    Social context plays a significant role in adolescent identity development, particularly for youth lacking traditional systems of support. Using ecological and symbolic interactionism perspectives, this study qualitatively explored the psychosocial identity development of Black gay, bisexual, or transgendered youth participating in the House Ball Community (HBC). The HBC is a diverse network of family-like structures called 'houses', as well as a glamorous social outlet via pageant-like 'balls' in which participants compete. A series of focus groups were conducted with youth and leaders from the HBC (n = 37; age range = 17-24). Via cross-case and comparative analyses, specific motivating factors related to entry into and continued involvement in the community were identified. Factors related to entry into the community included lack of safe spaces, opportunities for acceptance, means of subsistence, and allure of the scene. Factors related to continued involvement included resilience and coping skills development, sexual identity acceptance and pride, prevalence of risky behaviour, and risk of exploitation. Discussion of these factors provides insight on how self-constructed, supplementary social contexts may provide both unique supports and risks to members, allowing for more focused and well-informed interventions and policies to enhance healthy development in such communities while mitigating risk.

  13. The Philosophy of University Housing

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wallace, James A.

    2012-01-01

    This article examines a stated philosophy of university housing and the philosophy's effect on the facilitation of the personal and intellectual growth of students residing in the residence halls and the development of a sense of community. This particular philosophy governs the housing operations at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale.…

  14. A local-community-level, physically-based model of end-use energy consumption by Australian housing stock

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ren Zhengen; Paevere, Phillip; McNamara, Cheryl

    2012-01-01

    We developed a physics based bottom-up model to estimate annual housing stock energy consumption at a local community level (Census Collection District—CCD) with an hourly resolution. Total energy consumption, including space heating and cooling, water heating, lighting and other household appliances, was simulated by considering building construction and materials, equipment and appliances, local climates and occupancy patterns. The model was used to analyse energy use by private dwellings in more than five thousand CCDs in the state of New South Wales (NSW), Australia. The predicted results focus on electricity consumption (natural gas and other fuel sources were excluded as the data are not available) and track the actual electricity consumption at CCD level with an error of 9.2% when summed to state level. For NSW and Victoria 2006, the predicted state electricity consumption is close to the published model (within 6%) and statistical data (within 10%). A key feature of the model is that it can be used to predict hourly electricity consumption and peak demand at fine geographic scales, which is important for grid planning and designing local energy efficiency or demand response strategies. - Highlights: ► We developed a physics-based model to estimate housing stock energy consumption. ► House type and vintage, family type and occupancy time were considered. ► The model results are close to actual energy consumption at local community level. ► Its’ results agree well with the published model and statistical data at state level. ► It shows the model could provide from hourly to annual residential energy consumption.

  15. Exploring cross-sectional associations between common childhood illness, housing and social conditions in remote Australian Aboriginal communities

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Brewster David

    2010-03-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background There is limited epidemiological research that provides insight into the complex web of causative and moderating factors that links housing conditions to a variety of poor health outcomes. This study explores the relationship between housing conditions (with a primary focus on the functional state of infrastructure and common childhood illness in remote Australian Aboriginal communities for the purpose of informing development of housing interventions to improve child health. Methods Hierarchical multi-level analysis of association between carer report of common childhood illnesses and functional and hygienic state of housing infrastructure, socio-economic, psychosocial and health related behaviours using baseline survey data from a housing intervention study. Results Multivariate analysis showed a strong independent association between report of respiratory infection and overall functional condition of the house (Odds Ratio (OR 3.00; 95%CI 1.36-6.63, but no significant association between report of other illnesses and the overall functional condition or the functional condition of infrastructure required for specific healthy living practices. Associations between report of child illness and secondary explanatory variables which showed an OR of 2 or more included: for skin infection - evidence of poor temperature control in the house (OR 3.25; 95%CI 1.06-9.94, evidence of pests and vermin in the house (OR 2.88; 95%CI 1.25-6.60; for respiratory infection - breastfeeding in infancy (OR 0.27; 95%CI 0.14-0.49; for diarrhoea/vomiting - hygienic state of food preparation and storage areas (OR 2.10; 95%CI 1.10-4.00; for ear infection - child care attendance (OR 2.25; 95%CI 1.26-3.99. Conclusion These findings add to other evidence that building programs need to be supported by a range of other social and behavioural interventions for potential health gains to be more fully realised.

  16. Accuracy of microbial community diversity estimated by closed- and open-reference OTUs

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Robert C. Edgar

    2017-10-01

    Full Text Available Next-generation sequencing of 16S ribosomal RNA is widely used to survey microbial communities. Sequences are typically assigned to Operational Taxonomic Units (OTUs. Closed- and open-reference OTU assignment matches reads to a reference database at 97% identity (closed, then clusters unmatched reads using a de novo method (open. Implementations of these methods in the QIIME package were tested on several mock community datasets with 20 strains using different sequencing technologies and primers. Richness (number of reported OTUs was often greatly exaggerated, with hundreds or thousands of OTUs generated on Illumina datasets. Between-sample diversity was also found to be highly exaggerated in many cases, with weighted Jaccard distances between identical mock samples often close to one, indicating very low similarity. Non-overlapping hyper-variable regions in 70% of species were assigned to different OTUs. On mock communities with Illumina V4 reads, 56% to 88% of predicted genus names were false positives. Biological inferences obtained using these methods are therefore not reliable.

  17. OpenAPC. Open-Access-Publikationskosten als Open Data

    OpenAIRE

    Tullney, Marco

    2015-01-01

    Präsentationsfolien zum Vortrag „OpenAPC. Open-Access-Publikationskosten als Open Data“ in der Session „Ausgestaltung eines wissenschaftsadäquaten APC-Marktes: Grundsätze, Finanzierungsansätze und Management“ der Open-Access-Tage 2015 in Zürich (https://www.open-access.net/community/open-access-tage/open-access-tage-2015-zuerich/programm/#c1974)

  18. Acquiring Data by Mining the Past: Pairing Communities with Environmental Monitoring Methods through Open Online Collaborative Replication

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lippincott, M.; Lewis, E. S.; Gehrke, G. E.; Wise, A.; Pyle, S.; Sinatra, V.; Bland, G.; Bydlowski, D.; Henry, A.; Gilberts, P. A.

    2016-12-01

    Community groups are interested in low-cost sensors to monitor their environment. However, many new commercial sensors are unknown devices without peer-reviewed evaluations of data quality or pathways to regulatory acceptance, and the time to achieve these outcomes may be beyond a community's patience and attention. Rather than developing a device from scratch or validating a new commercial product, a workflow is presented whereby existing technologies, especially those that are out of patent, are replicated through open online collaboration between communities affected by environmental pollution, volunteers, academic institutions, and existing open hardware and open source software projects. Technology case studies will be presented, focusing primarily on a passive PM monitor based on the UNC Passive Monitor. Stages of the project will be detailed moving from identifying community needs, reviewing existing technology, partnership development, technology replication, IP review and licensing, data quality assurance (in process), and field evaluation with community partners (in process), with special attention to partnership development and technology review. We have leveraged open hardware and open source software to lower the cost and access barriers of existing technologies for PM10-2.5 and other atmospheric measures that have already been validated through peer review. Existing validation of and regulatory familiarity with a technology enables a rapid pathway towards collecting data, shortening the time it takes for communities to leverage data in environmental management decisions. Online collaboration requires rigorous documentation that aids in spreading research methods and promoting deep engagement by interested community researchers outside academia. At the same time, careful choice of technology and the use of small-scale fabrication through laser cutting, 3D printing, and open, shared repositories of plans and software enables educational engagement that

  19. African refugee and immigrant health needs: report from a community-based house meeting project.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Boise, Linda; Tuepker, Anais; Gipson, Teresa; Vigmenon, Yves; Soule, Isabelle; Onadeko, Sade

    2013-01-01

    As in other communities in the United States, information is lacking about the health needs of Africans refugees and immigrants living in Portland, Oregon. In 2008, the African Partnership for Health coalition (APH) was formed to carry out research, advocacy and education to improve the health and well-being of Africans in Oregon. This was APH's initial project. The purposes of this study were to gather data about the perceived health needs and barriers to health care Africans encounter, and lay the foundation for a program of action to guide APH's future work. Community-based participatory research (CBPR) methods were used to collect data on how to improve the health of the African community in the Portland area and define an agenda for future projects. Popular education principles guided the engagement and training of African community members, who conducted nine house meetings with 56 Africans from 14 countries. The results were analyzed by African community members and researchers and prioritized at a community meeting. Three themes emerged: The stressfulness of life in America, the challenges of gaining access to health care, and the pervasive feelings of disrespect and lack of understanding of Africans' health needs, culture, and life experiences by health providers and staff members. Using CBPR methods, we identified and prioritized the needs of the African community. This information provides a framework for future work of the African Partnership for Health and other service and advocacy groups.

  20. The Whale House of the Chilkat: Community House of the Gaanaxteidi Clan of Klukwan, Alaska.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Manning, Thomas; Knecht, Elizabeth

    This collection of photographic plates and drawings provides a visual record of a communal house of the Chilkat clan of southeast Alaska's Tlingit Tribe. The packet contains written descriptions of the history, interior design, living arrangements, and decorations of the Whale House. These illustrations of traditional Tlingit art and architecture…

  1. State Housing Revival

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Donovan, Elizabeth

    2015-01-01

    Government funded housing for people in need is a challenge many countries face around the world. This research investigates how to sustainably regenerate post-war suburban state housing in New Zealand, in particular, the suburb of Glen Innes in Auckland. Reviving the community and regenerating...... the buildings is essential for improving the overall quality of the neighbourhoods both socially and physically. Achieving this in a holistic sustainable manner illustrates that there are alternatives to demolition and new builds, as the answer to the current housing shortage problems. New Zealand is confronted...... with the dilemma of what to do with existing government-funded housing which are no longer socially or physically suitable for the current demographic. New Zealand has a large cultural diversity with many new immigrants from the Pacific Islands and Asia. There is a need for culturally flexible and inclusive...

  2. The reproduction of difference in the practices of Free/Libre Open Source Software Communities

    OpenAIRE

    Meyer, Silke

    2013-01-01

    Free software is developed and distributed by communities. These communities seek to enable themselves and others to design technologies by and for themselves, rather than accepting technologies as given artefacts. These communities attempt to practise a very open approach towards spreading and sharing knowledge. This thesis analyzes how social power relations are reproduced in the sociotechnological practices of these communities. Based on participant obeservation in Linux User Groups, four ...

  3. The demise of compound houses

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Andreasen, Jørgen; Eskemose Andersen, Jørgen

    2006-01-01

    of compound housing and analyses the advantages and disadvantages of life within such housing in Kumasi. Issues of privacy, image and communal life are usually cited by occupants dissatiesfied with life in compound houses, and the difficulty of extending them without spoiling the open spaces...... perceptions of what is acceptable urban life to the growing cohort of young African households. In addition, there is a need to explore innovative forms of tenure in order to secure the majority of Kumasi's population access to land for housing.......The compound house has long provided the accomodation required by low income households in West African cities. In Kumasi, Ghana, evidence suggests that no new compounds are being built. Instead, the city is being ringed by relatively affluent villa-style development while neighbourhoods dominated...

  4. Identification of Spacial Pattern in Productive House of Pottery Craftsmen

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dyah Kusuma Wardhani

    2016-10-01

    Full Text Available The research goals were to identify a spacial pattern in craftsmen house and to see its relevance to the social-cultural life of the craftsmen. The existence of domestic and economic activity in craftsmen house creates a spacial pattern with particular characteristics. Data were collected through direct observation, interviews, and visual documentation to record productive house, settlement condition, and sequences of pottery production. The in-depth interview focused on the use of time, space, and house modification in craftsmen house. House in the craftsmen settlement was growing gradually by adjusting to the inhabitant's needs. This research was included in qualitative research that described observation results and then analyzed spacial pattern formed in craftsmen house. Research results show that in this settlement beside the mixed, balanced, and separated type of productive house, there is also pottery collectors house type. The changes in the productive house are related to housing adaptation or house adjustment to accommodate production process. The settlement orientation is along the streets, but the existence of open space in the form of pottery kiln and hay storage become the main orientation for productive spaces inside the craftsmen house. Pottery kiln and hay storage have become open cultural space that characterizes the pottery craftsmen settlement. 

  5. A Stigmergy Collaboration Approach in the Open Source Software Developer Community

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Cui, Xiaohui [ORNL; Pullum, Laura L [ORNL; Treadwell, Jim N [ORNL; Potok, Thomas E [ORNL

    2009-01-01

    The communication model of some self-organized online communities is significantly different from the traditional social network based community. It is problematic to use social network analysis to analyze the collaboration structure and emergent behaviors in these communities because these communities lack peer-to-peer connections. Stigmergy theory provides an explanation of the collaboration model of these communities. In this research, we present a stigmergy approach for building an agent-based simulation to simulate the collaboration model in the open source software (OSS) developer community. We used a group of actors who collaborate on OSS projects through forums as our frame of reference and investigated how the choices actors make in contributing their work on the projects determines the global status of the whole OSS project. In our simulation, the forum posts serve as the digital pheromone and the modified Pierre-Paul Grasse pheromone model is used for computing the developer agents behavior selection probability.

  6. Social-structural properties and HIV prevention among young men who have sex with men in the ballroom house and independent gay family communities.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Young, Lindsay E; Jonas, Adam B; Michaels, Stuart; Jackson, Joel D; Pierce, Mario L; Schneider, John A

    2017-02-01

    The endogenous social support systems of young Black men who have sex with men (YBMSM), like surrogate families and social networks, are considered crucial assets for HIV prevention in this population. Yet, the extent to which these social systems foster sexual health protections or risks remains unclear. We examine the networked patterns of membership in ballroom houses and independent gay families, both Black gay subcultures in the United States, and how these memberships are related to HIV protective and risk traits of members. Drawing from a population-based sample of 618 YBMSM living in Chicago between June 2013 and July 2014, we observe a suite of protective and risk traits and perform bivariate analyses to assess each of their associations with being a member of a house or family. We then present an analysis of the homophilous and heterophilous mixing on these traits that structures the patterns of house and family affiliations among members. The bivariate analyses show that members of the house and family communities were more likely than non-members to report protective traits like being aware of PrEP, having health coverage, having a primary care doctor, and discouraging sex drug use among peers. However, members were also more likely to engage in the use of sex drugs. With respect to how these traits inform specific house/family affiliations, results show that members who had a recent HIV test, who were PrEP aware, or who engaged in exchange sex were more likely to belong to the same house or family, while HIV positive individuals were less likely to cluster within houses or families. These findings provide insights regarding the strengths and vulnerabilities of the house and gay family communities that can inform more culturally specific interventions that build on the existing human and social capital in this milieu. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  7. Isotopic Analysis of Fingernails as a USGS Open House Demonstration of the Use of Stable Isotopes in Foodweb Studies

    Science.gov (United States)

    Silva, S. R.; Kendall, C.; Young, M. B.; Choy, D.

    2011-12-01

    The USGS Isotope Tracers Project uses stable isotopes and tritium to add a unique dimension of chemical information to a wide range of environmental investigations. The use and application of isotopes is usually an unfamiliar and even esoteric topic to the general public. Therefore during three USGS open house events, as a public outreach effort, we demonstrated the use of stable isotopes by analyzing nitrogen and carbon isotopes from very small fragments of fingernail from willing participants. We titled the exhibit "You Are What You Eat". The results from all participants were plotted on a graph indicating the general influence of different food groups on the composition of body tissues as represented by fingernails. All participants were assigned a number and no personal-identification information was collected. A subset of participants provided us with an estimate of the number of days a week various foods were eaten and if they were vegetarians, vegans or non-vegetarians. Volunteers from our research group were on hand to explain and discuss fundamental concepts such as how foods attain their isotopic composition, the difference between C3 and C4 plants, the effects of assimilation, trophic enrichment, and the various uses of stable isotopes in environmental studies. The results of the fingernail analyses showed the variation of the range of isotopic compositions among about 400 people at each event, the distinct influence of C4 plants (mainly corn and cane sugar) on our carbon isotopic composition, and the isotopic differences between vegetarians and non vegetarians among other details (http://wwwrcamnl.wr.usgs.gov/isoig/projects/fingernails/). A poll of visitors attending the open house event in 2006 indicated that "You Are What You Eat" was among the most popular exhibits. Following the first two open house events we were contacted by a group of researchers from Brazil who had completed a very similar study. Our collaboration resulted in a publication in

  8. FID GEO: Digital transformation and Open Access in Germany's geoscience research community

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hübner, Andreas; Martinson, Guntars; Bertelmann, Roland; Elger, Kirsten; Pfurr, Norbert; Schüler, Mechthild

    2017-04-01

    The 'Specialized Information Service for Solid Earth Sciences' (FID GEO) supports Germany's geoscience research community in 1) electronic publishing of i) institutional and "grey" literature not released in publishing houses and ii) pre- and postprints of research articles 2) digitising geoscience literature and maps and 3) addressing the publication of research data associated with peer-reviewed research articles (data supplements). Established in 2016, FID GEO is funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) and is run by the Göttingen State and University Library (SUB Göttingen) and the GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences. Here we present recent success stories and lessons learned. With regard to digitisation, FID GEO received a request from one of the most prestigious geoscience societies in Germany to digitise back-issues of its journals that are so far only available in print. Aims are to ensure long-term availability in Open Access and high visibility by DOI-referenced electronic publication via the FID GEO repository. While digitisation will be financed by FID GEO funds, major challenges are to identify the copyright holders (journals date back to 1924) and negotiate digitisation and publication rights. With respect to research data publishing, we present how we target scientists to integrate the publication of research data into their workflows and institutions to promote the topic. For the latter, we successfully take advantage of existing networks as entry points to the community, like the research network Geo.X in the Berlin-Brandenburg area, individual learned societies as well as their overarching structures DV Geo and GeoUnion. FID GEO promotes the Statement of Commitment of the Coalition for Publishing Data in the Earth and Space Sciences (COPDESS) as well as the FAIR Data Principles in presentations to the above-mentioned groups and institutions. Our aim is to eventually transfer the positive feedback from the geoscience community into

  9. National labs working with local communities

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Cavallo, J.D. [Argonne National Lab., IL (United States). Existing Buildings Efficiency Research Program

    1996-10-01

    In mid September Argonne National Laboratory celebrated its fiftieth anniversary with an open house in which more than 20,000 people toured the site and viewed some 100 demonstrations, exhibits and presentations of the scientific and engineering programs currently being pursued at Argonne. During the course of the open house it became obvious that to even long time residents of the Chicago area the activities of ANL were unknown or unclear. Part of this lack of knowledge about the scientific and engineering research occurring at DOE national laboratories is the remoteness of most research programs from the everyday lives of citizens. It is both the discussions that are remote as well as a remoteness of impacts on ordinary lives that often leads people to miss the exciting research activity occurring nearby. However, at least one research program at Argonne is structured to be purposefully different. The Existing Buildings Efficiency Research (EBER) program pursues its scientific work in concert with architects, engineers, and community developers as they attempt to provide high quality energy efficient, high performance buildings at reasonable cost. Instead of conducting experiments inside the barbed wire fences of secure facilities, technical assistance for the inclusion of DOE tools, techniques, and technologies is offered at the construction site within the community and research results are drawn back as projects are monitored for the performance of the energy conservation measures. In this report several projects at ANL are briefly discussed to give a sense of the possibilities for the laboratory and broader scientific community to work one-on-one with community-based organizations and the agencies that directly serve the needs of low-income neighborhoods.

  10. Leveraging Open Standards and Technologies to Enhance Community Access to Earth Science Lidar Data

    Science.gov (United States)

    Crosby, C. J.; Nandigam, V.; Krishnan, S.; Cowart, C.; Baru, C.; Arrowsmith, R.

    2011-12-01

    Lidar (Light Detection and Ranging) data, collected from space, airborne and terrestrial platforms, have emerged as an invaluable tool for a variety of Earth science applications ranging from ice sheet monitoring to modeling of earth surface processes. However, lidar present a unique suite of challenges from the perspective of building cyberinfrastructure systems that enable the scientific community to access these valuable research datasets. Lidar data are typically characterized by millions to billions of individual measurements of x,y,z position plus attributes; these "raw" data are also often accompanied by derived raster products and are frequently terabytes in size. As a relatively new and rapidly evolving data collection technology, relevant open data standards and software projects are immature compared to those for other remote sensing platforms. The NSF-funded OpenTopography Facility project has developed an online lidar data access and processing system that co-locates data with on-demand processing tools to enable users to access both raw point cloud data as well as custom derived products and visualizations. OpenTopography is built on a Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) in which applications and data resources are deployed as standards compliant (XML and SOAP) Web services with the open source Opal Toolkit. To develop the underlying applications for data access, filtering and conversion, and various processing tasks, OpenTopography has heavily leveraged existing open source software efforts for both lidar and raster data. Operating on the de facto LAS binary point cloud format (maintained by ASPRS), open source libLAS and LASlib libraries provide OpenTopography data ingestion, query and translation capabilities. Similarly, raster data manipulation is performed through a suite of services built on the Geospatial Data Abstraction Library (GDAL). OpenTopography has also developed our own algorithm for high-performance gridding of lidar point cloud data

  11. Understanding the Role of Social Factors in Farmworker Housing and Health.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Marsh, Ben; Milofsky, Carl; Kissam, Edward; Arcury, Thomas A

    2015-11-01

    Differences in social advantage significantly influence health conditions and life expectancy within any population. Such factors reproduce historic class, race, and ethnic disparities in community success. Few populations in the United States face more social and economic disadvantage than farmworkers, and farmworker housing has significant potential to ameliorate or amplify the health impact of those disadvantages. Drawing on the limited direct research on farmworkers, and on additional research about poor, isolated, and immigrant societies, we propose four mechanisms through which housing can be expected to affect farmworker health: quality of social capital within farmworker communities, stress effects of poor housing situations, effects of housing on social support for healthy behaviors, and interactions among these factors, especially effects on children that can last for generations. Policy and planning definitions of "adequate" farmworker housing should take a more holistic view of housing needs to support specific social and community benefits in design decisions. © The Author(s) 2015.

  12. Semi-wild chimpanzees open hard-shelled fruits differently across communities.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rawlings, Bruce; Davila-Ross, Marina; Boysen, Sarah T

    2014-07-01

    Researchers investigating the evolutionary roots of human culture have turned to comparing behaviours across nonhuman primate communities, with tool-based foraging in particular receiving much attention. This study examined whether natural extractive foraging behaviours other than tool selection differed across nonhuman primate colonies that had the same foods available. Specifically, the behaviours applied to open the hard-shelled fruits of Strychnos spp. were examined in three socially separate, semi-wild colonies of chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) that lived under shared ecological conditions at Chimfunshi Wildlife Orphanage, and were comparable in their genetic makeup. The chimpanzees (N=56) consistently applied six techniques to open these fruits. GLMM results revealed differences in the number of combined technique types to open fruits across the colonies. They also showed colony differences in the application of three specific techniques. Two techniques (full biting and fruit cracking) were entirely absent in some colonies. This study provides empirical evidence that natural hard-shelled fruit-opening behaviours are distinct across chimpanzee colonies, differences that most likely have not resulted from ecological and genetic reasons.

  13. 75 FR 21146 - Public Input on Reform of the Housing Finance System

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-04-22

    ...Consistent with the Obama Administration's commitment to openness and transparency and the President's Open Government Initiative, the Department of the Treasury (Treasury) and the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) seek public input on establishing a more stable and sound housing finance system.

  14. Thermosensitive shutter for radioactive source housing

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Fullagar, H.

    1986-01-01

    A shutter apparatus for a radioactive source housing comprises a movable member and a thermosensitive releasing means operative normally to hold the movable member in an open position but to release the movable member to move to a position closing the housing to contain the source when the temperature exceeds a predetermined value, for example as a result of fire. (author)

  15. Post-Tsunami Reconstruction in Sri Lanka: Houses or Housing?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Khazai, B.; Franco, G.; Ingram, J. C.; Rumbaitis del Rio, C.

    2005-12-01

    Reconstruction can be an opportunity to address longer-term livelihood vulnerability within poor communities and households, and to empower the most vulnerable. The post-tsunami reconstruction efforts in Sri Lanka can be seen on two disconnected scales. On a local scale there seems to be a growing recognition by district-level government and NGOs on the importance of households in creating social, human and financial capital, as demonstrated by many programs targeted at rebuilding livelihoods and income-generating activities. On a national scale, however, programs have revealed an emphasis on houses as the physical capital rather than housing as the arena of social and economic life. The aim of national-scale programs is to deliver tangible and quantifiable products, in the form of houses built, often without regard of whether this complements or disrupts livelihoods. One example of such a directive is the implementation of a coastal buffer zone which will ban any new construction within a 100 to 200 meter band from the ocean and allowing only structures that sustained less than 40 percent damage to remain and rebuild. In general these kind of surviving structures along the coast are businesses such as hotels and restaurants. In an island nation such as Sri Lanka, where beach front property is by and large considered low-income housing, typically inhabited by fishermen who rely on the ocean for their livelihoods, the buffer zone constitutes a drastic oversight of local processes shaping these households. The product-oriented solution on the national scale has resulted in building permanent houses for fishery communities in resettlement sites kilometers away from the ocean. The focus of this presentation will be on reconciling the need for immediate shelter needs with a long-term perspective of livelihood rehabilitation using Sri Lanka as a case study. Houses themselves are often not an immediate priority for local people, whose first need is likely to resume income

  16. [Application of health education of house-to-house visit in malaria prevention and control].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhou, Wen-gang; Qu, Yan; Wang, Wen-guang; Tang, Song-yuan

    2014-10-01

    To evaluate the effects of health education of house-to-house visit in malaria prevention and control in the border and minority areas. A health education of house-to-house visit in malaria prevention and control was carried out, and baseline and follow up surveys were conducted by qualitative and quantitative methods to document the changes of local villagers' knowledge, attitudes and behaviors (KAP) of malaria prevention and control in 2 counties of Yunnan Province, and the results before and after the interventions were analyzed and compared. After the intervention, the cognition rates about malaria symptoms and signs, transmission mode, preventive measures and health-seeking behaviors were 99.3%, 98.9%, 79.9% and 99.3% respectively in the local residents, and those were 39.2%, 8.2%, 47.0% and 49.9% respectively before the intervention, and all the differences were statistically significant (P all house-to-house visit is an effective community-based health education approach.

  17. Housing First: exploring participants’ early support needs

    Science.gov (United States)

    2014-01-01

    Background Housing First has become a popular treatment model for homeless adults with mental illness, yet little is known about program participants’ early experiences or trajectories. This study used a mixed methods design to examine participant changes in selected domains 6 months after enrolment in a Canadian field trial of Housing First. Methods The study sample included 301 participants receiving the Housing First intervention at the Toronto site of the At Home/Chez Soi project. This study used a pre-post design to compare quantitative 6-month outcome data to baseline values in key domains and multivariate regression to identify baseline demographic, clinical or service use variables associated with observed changes in these domains. In addition, qualitative data exploring participant and service provider perspectives and experiences was collected via stakeholder interviews and focus groups, and analyzed using thematic analysis. Results The majority (60 to 72%) of participants followed the expected trajectory of improvement, with the remaining experiencing difficulties in community integration, mental health symptom severity, substance use, community functioning and quality of life 6 months after program enrolment. Diagnosis of psychotic disorder was associated with a reduction in quality of life from baseline to 6-months, while substance use disorders were associated with reduced mental illness symptoms and substance use related problems and an improvement in quality of life. Participants housed in independent housing at 6-months had greater improvements in community integration and quality of life, and greater reduction in mental illness symptoms, compared to those not independently housed. The quality of the working alliance was positively associated with improvements in physical and psychological community integration and quality of life. Qualitative data provided a unique window into the loneliness and isolation experienced by Housing First

  18. Assessment of community noise for a medium-range airplane with open-rotor engines

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kopiev, V. F.; Shur, M. L.; Travin, A. K.; Belyaev, I. V.; Zamtfort, B. S.; Medvedev, Yu. V.

    2017-11-01

    Community noise of a hypothetical medium-range airplane equipped with open-rotor engines is assessed by numerical modeling of the aeroacoustic characteristics of an isolated open rotor with the simplest blade geometry. Various open-rotor configurations are considered at constant thrust, and the lowest-noise configuration is selected. A two-engine medium-range airplane at known thrust of bypass turbofan engines at different segments of the takeoff-landing trajectory is considered, after the replacement of those engines by the open-rotor engines. It is established that a medium-range airplane with two open-rotor engines meets the requirements of Chapter 4 of the ICAO standard with a significant margin. It is shown that airframe noise makes a significant contribution to the total noise of an airplane with open-rotor engines at landing.

  19. Social Determinants of Health: Housing and Income.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Forchuk, Cheryl; Dickins, Kevin; Corring, Deborah J

    2016-01-01

    Social determinants of health such as housing and income have a large impact on mental health. Community-based initiatives have worked to address access to housing, prevent homelessness and assist people who are homeless with mental health problems. There have been several large research projects to tease out multiple subgroups such as youth and veterans and other individuals experiencing long-term homelessness. The issue of poverty has been addressed by exploring issues related to employment. The use of social enterprises is a promising practice to address issues around poverty, social inclusion and employment. Similarly, the community has worked to move hospital-based employment programs to the community.

  20. Community Extreme Tonnage User Service (CETUS): A 5000 Ton Open Research Facility in the United States

    Science.gov (United States)

    Danielson, L. R.; Righter, K.; Vander Kaaden, K. E.; Rowland, R. L., II; Draper, D. S.; McCubbin, F. M.

    2017-12-01

    Large sample volume 5000 ton multi-anvil presses have contributed to the exploration of deep Earth and planetary interiors, synthesis of ultra-hard and other novel materials, and serve as a sample complement to pressure and temperature regimes already attainable by diamond anvil cell experiments. However, no such facility exists in the Western Hemisphere. We are establishing an open user facility for the entire research community, with the unique capability of a 5000 ton multi-anvil and deformation press, HERA (High pressure Experimental Research Apparatus), supported by a host of extant co-located experimental and analytical laboratories and research staff. We offer wide range of complementary and/or preparatory experimental options. Any required synthesis of materials or follow up experiments can be carried out controlled atmosphere furnaces, piston cylinders, multi-anvil, or experimental impact apparatus. Additionally, our division houses two machine shops that would facilitate any modification or custom work necessary for development of CETUS, one for general fabrication and one located specifically within our experimental facilities. We also have a general sample preparation laboratory, specifically for experimental samples, that allows users to quickly and easily prepare samples for ebeam analyses and more. Our focus as contract staff is on serving the scientific needs of our users and collaborators. We are seeking community expert input on multiple aspects of this facility, such as experimental assembly design, module modifications, immediate projects, and future innovation initiatives. We've built a cooperative network of 12 (and growing) collaborating institutions, including COMPRES. CETUS is a coordinated effort leveraging HERA with our extant experimental, analytical, and planetary process modelling instrumentation and expertise in order to create a comprehensive model of the origin and evolution of our solar system and beyond. We are looking to engage

  1. Enabling FAIR and Open Data - The Importance of Communities on Influencing Change

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stall, S.; Lehnert, K.; Robinson, E.; Parsons, M. A.; Hanson, B.; Cutcher-Gershenfeld, J.; Nosek, B.

    2017-12-01

    Our research ecosystem is diverse and dependent on many interacting stakeholders that influence and support the process of science. These include funders, institutions, libraries, publishers, researchers, data managers, repositories, archives and communities. Process improvement in this ecosystem thus usually needs support by more than one of these many stakeholders. For example, mandates for open data extend across this ecosystem. Solutions require these stakeholders to come together and agree upon improvements. Recently, the value of FAIR and Open Data has encouraged funders to sponsor discussions with tangible agreements that include the steps needed to move the ecosystem towards results. Work by many of these stakeholders over the past years have developed pilot efforts that are ready to be scaled with broader engagement. A partnership of the AGU, Earth Science Information Partners (ESIP), Research Data Alliance (RDA), Center for Open Science, and key publishers including Science, Nature, and the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science (PNAS) have agreed to work together to develop integrated processes, leveraging these pilots, to make FAIR and open data the default for Earth and space science publications. This effort will build on the work of COPDESS.org, ESIP, RDA, the scientific journals, and domain repositories to ensure that well documented data, preserved in a repository with community agreed-upon metadata, and supporting persistent identifiers becomes part of the expected research products submitted in support of each publication.

  2. 24 CFR 92.302 - Housing education and organizational support.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-04-01

    ... organizational support. 92.302 Section 92.302 Housing and Urban Development Office of the Secretary, Department... Organizations § 92.302 Housing education and organizational support. HUD is authorized to provide education and organizational support assistance, in conjunction with HOME funds made available to community housing development...

  3. Grassland communities of urban open spaces in Bloemfontein, Free State, South Africa

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mamokete N.V. Dingaan

    2013-02-01

    Full Text Available Natural vegetation in urban environments is greatly impacted by human activities and it is in constant threat of degradation and destruction as a result of urbanisation. This vegetation, although fragmented, serves an important ecological function and needs to be properly managed and conserved. Studies on urban vegetation are lacking in South Africa, with only a handful having been carried out since the end of the last century. This study was initiated to identify, classify and describe the grassland communities of the urban open spaces in Bloemfontein. Relevés were compiled in 61 sample plots, where species present and habitat information were recorded. Care was taken to restrict sample plots to vegetation in pristine condition, wherever possible, and severely degraded stands were avoided. A two-way indicator species analysis (TWINSPAN classification, refined by Braun-Blanquet procedures, revealed two distinct major communities, seven communities and four sub-communities. Both detrended and canonical correspondence analyses indicated the vegetation units to be associated with soil texture and pH, although biotic factors such as overgrazing, burning and mowing also influence the composition of the vegetation. The proper management and conservation of urban open spaces requires in-depth knowledge of the spatial distribution, floristic, structural and functional compositions within the major vegetation types in this environment. The present study further contributed towards formulating ways for the proper management, utilisation and functioning of the open spaces within the Bloemfontein area.Conservation implications: The Grassland Biome of South Africa is poorly conserved, mainly because of its status as an agricultural hub of the country. The preservation of natural and semi-natural forms of urban vegetation is important because such vegetation, although often disturbed and degraded, could form dispersal corridors between peri-urban and rural

  4. Electrification situation in MEVIR housing collection

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Nopitsch, R.

    1994-01-01

    MEVIR: The Movement of Erradication of the Rural unhealthy housing has made high-priority to build decorous and economic housings in the rural means as well as it has acted as nexus between UTE and the field to be able to take the electric power to different communities. It is in San Gregorio of Polanco (Dept. of Lavalleja). Through a program of the National Directorate of Energy and with financing of the European Economic Community it outlines the option of installing a hybrid system of eolic and fotovoltaic energy. The presents work studies the details of this project

  5. Phantom Housing: The Rise and Fall of Public Housing in North America

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Benjamin Gianni

    2012-11-01

    Full Text Available This paper examines the rise and fall of public housing in North America in order to explore the principle of sustainability. By extension, it addresses the concept of sustainability as it relates to the city. Urbanity is simultaneously the most and least sustainable form of development. While extremely sustainable from the point of view of density (economies of scale, efficient use ofinfrastructure, etc., it is highly vulnerable to social, political and economic forces. Such forces can easily trump the environmental sustainability of any building or community.The death and transfiguration of key portions of our public housing stock provides insights into this phenomenon – for which I will use Toronto’s Regent Park as a case study. The redevelopment ofthis 69-acre parcel aims to transform a failed social vision into a model for sustainable community development.

  6. "There's a housing crisis going on in Sydney for Aboriginal people": focus group accounts of housing and perceived associations with health.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Andersen, Melanie J; Williamson, Anna B; Fernando, Peter; Redman, Sally; Vincent, Frank

    2016-05-24

    Poor housing is widely cited as an important determinant of the poor health status of Aboriginal Australians, as for indigenous peoples in other wealthy nations with histories of colonisation such as Canada, the United States of America and New Zealand. While the majority of Aboriginal Australians live in urban areas, most research into housing and its relationship with health has been conducted with those living in remote communities. This study explores the views of Aboriginal people living in Western Sydney about their housing circumstances and what relationships, if any, they perceive between housing and health. Four focus groups were conducted with clients and staff of an Aboriginal community-controlled health service in Western Sydney (n = 38). Inductive, thematic analysis was conducted using framework data management methods in NVivo10. Five high-level themes were derived: the battle to access housing; secondary homelessness; overcrowding; poor dwelling conditions; and housing as a key determinant of health. Participants associated their challenging housing experiences with poor physical health and poor social and emotional wellbeing. Housing issues were said to affect people differently across the life course; participants expressed particular concern that poor housing was harming the health and developmental trajectories of many urban Aboriginal children. Housing was perceived as a pivotal determinant of health and wellbeing that either facilitates or hinders prospects for full and healthy lives. Many of the specific health concerns participants attributed to poor housing echo existing epidemiological research findings. These findings suggest that housing may be a key intervention point for improving the health of urban Aboriginal Australians.

  7. HIV Prevention Service Utilization in the Los Angeles House and Ball Communities: Past Experiences and Recommendations for the Future

    Science.gov (United States)

    Holloway, Ian W.; Traube, Dorian E.; Kubicek, Katrina; Supan, Jocelyn; Weiss, George; Kipke, Michele D.

    2012-01-01

    African-American young men who have sex with men and transgender persons are at elevated risk for HIV infection. House and Ball communities, networks of mostly African-American gay, bisexual, and transgender individuals who compete in modeling and dance, represent a prime venue for HIV prevention with these difficult-to-reach populations; however,…

  8. The toilet sanitation management to meet healthy house standards

    Science.gov (United States)

    Studyanto, Anung B.; Musfiroh, Mujahidatul; Sholahuddin

    2018-03-01

    To increase the community participation in the toilet sanitation management at house to making a house according the healthy house standart. The toilet sanitation management is becoming complex with increasing population growth, and limited land for sanitation. The community participation determines the success of the toilet sanitation management and improving the health status of the community. This study used an observation method for the availability of latrines according the healthy house criteria, spatial layout and pit layout that meet health and safety standards. Spatial and layout include bathroom area, type of material used for wall and floor bathroom, type of latrine, distance the waste storage distance with water source, and sewerage. The respondents in this study are the people who live in Jaten Village taken by accidental sampling. The number of respondents in this study were 15 respondents.This study shows that all respondents (100%) already have toilet and 8 respondents (53%) have a good toilet sanitation management. Respondents have provided latrines as an effort to manage household waste and according the healthy house standart. The latrine spatial plan has been well implemented, but the latrine layout plan has not been properly.

  9. Y-House: Your Match Final Report

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Oristaglio, Michael L. [Yale Univ., New Haven, CT (United States)

    2016-03-16

    Y-House is a project in Solar Decathlon 2015. The design objective of Y-House is to re-envision the micro-home through a focus on merging efficiency with spaciousness, personalized form and openness to the natural environment. The main project objective during Budget Period 1 was to complete the design of Y-House, including the research needed to fully specify its mechanical and electrical systems. The team also had an objective to finalize most of the construction planning before entering Budget Period 2. The main project objective in Budget Period 2 was to complete construction of Y-House for participation in the SD 2015 competition event in Irvine, California, in October 2015. During both budget periods, the team was continuously seeking sponsors to fund its mission.

  10. Upgrade energy building standards and develop rating system for existing low-income housing

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Muller, D.; Norville, C.

    1993-07-01

    The city of Memphis Division of Housing and Community Development (HCD) receives grant funding each year from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to provide local housing assistance to low-income residents. Through the years, HCD has found that many of the program recipients have had difficulty in managing their households, particularly in meeting monthly financial obligations. One of the major operating costs to low-income households is the utility bill. Furthermore, HCD's experience has revealed that many low-income residents are simply unaware of ways to reduce their utility bill. Most of the HCD funds are distributed to low-income persons as grants or no/low interest loans for the construction or rehabilitation of single-family dwellings. With these funds, HCD builds 80 to 100 new houses and renovates about 500 homes each year. Houses constructed or renovated by HCD must meet HUD's minimum energy efficiency standards. While these minimum standards are more than adequate to meet local building codes, they are not as aggressive as the energy efficiency standards being promoted by the national utility organizations and the home building industry. Memphis Light, Gas and Water (MLGW), a city-owned utility, has developed an award-winning program named Comfort Plus which promotes energy efficiency open-quote in new residential construction. Under Comfort Plus, MLGW models house plans on computer for a fee and recommends cost-effective alterations which improve the energy efficiency of the house. If the builder agrees to include these recommendations, MLGW will certify the house and guarantee a maximum annual heating/cooling bill for two years. While the Comfort Plus program has received recognition in the new construction market, it does not address the existing housing stock

  11. Upgrade energy building standards and develop rating system for existing low-income housing

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Muller, D.; Norville, C. [Memphis and Shelby County Div. of Planning and Development, TN (United States)

    1993-07-01

    The city of Memphis Division of Housing and Community Development (HCD) receives grant funding each year from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to provide local housing assistance to low-income residents. Through the years, HCD has found that many of the program recipients have had difficulty in managing their households, particularly in meeting monthly financial obligations. One of the major operating costs to low-income households is the utility bill. Furthermore, HCD`s experience has revealed that many low-income residents are simply unaware of ways to reduce their utility bill. Most of the HCD funds are distributed to low-income persons as grants or no/low interest loans for the construction or rehabilitation of single-family dwellings. With these funds, HCD builds 80 to 100 new houses and renovates about 500 homes each year. Houses constructed or renovated by HCD must meet HUD`s minimum energy efficiency standards. While these minimum standards are more than adequate to meet local building codes, they are not as aggressive as the energy efficiency standards being promoted by the national utility organizations and the home building industry. Memphis Light, Gas and Water (MLGW), a city-owned utility, has developed an award-winning program named Comfort Plus which promotes energy efficiency{open_quote} in new residential construction. Under Comfort Plus, MLGW models house plans on computer for a fee and recommends cost-effective alterations which improve the energy efficiency of the house. If the builder agrees to include these recommendations, MLGW will certify the house and guarantee a maximum annual heating/cooling bill for two years. While the Comfort Plus program has received recognition in the new construction market, it does not address the existing housing stock.

  12. Network Correlates of Sexual Health Advice Seeking and Substance Use among Members of the Los Angeles House and Ball Communities

    Science.gov (United States)

    Holloway, Ian W.; Schrager, Sheree M.; Wong, Carolyn F.; Dunlap, Shannon L.; Kipke, Michele D.

    2014-01-01

    House and Ball communities (HBCs), represent a prime context for human immunodeficiency virus prevention with African American young men who have sex with men and transgender persons. This study sought to understand the composition and function of social support and sexual networks of HBC members in Los Angeles, California (N = 263). Participants…

  13. 77 FR 17086 - Section 8 Housing Choice Vouchers: Revised Implementation of the HUD-VA Supportive Housing Program

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-03-23

    ... Housing g. Mobility and Portability of HUD-VASH Vouchers h. Case Management Requirements i. Turnover of... veterans with case management and clinical services provided by the VA through its community medical... services sites and Community-Based Outpatient Clinics (CBOCs) across the nation. The HUD- VASH program is a...

  14. The Effects of Assisted Housing on Child Well-Being.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Newman, Sandra; Holupka, C Scott

    2017-09-01

    The most rigorous research on the causal effects of assisted housing on children's outcomes finds no such effects. The present study uses rich longitudinal data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, augmented with Census, American Community Survey and U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development administrative data, to unpack these nil effects. Analyses include 194 children ( X¯ age = 6.2 years) living in assisted housing in 1995 or later who were 13-17 years old in 2002 or 2007, and an unassisted comparison group of 215 children who were income-eligible for, but never received, housing assistance. Results suggested no mean effects of living in assisted housing during childhood on adolescent cognitive, behavior, and health outcomes, addressing selection through propensity score matching and instrumental variables. However, quantile regressions suggest assisted housing provides an added boost for children with the best cognitive performance and fewest behavior problems but has opposite effects on children with the lowest cognitive scores and most behavior problems. Further tests indicate that these differences are not explained either by neighborhood effects or housing quality. A potentially fruitful avenue for future research investigates differences in how parents take advantage of the housing affordability provided by assisted housing to benefit their children. © Society for Community Research and Action 2016.

  15. Effect of Our Nation's Housing Policy on Homelessness. Hearing before the Ad Hoc Task Force on the Homeless and Housing of the Committee on the Budget, House of Representatives. One Hundredth Congress, Second Session.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Congress of the U.S., Washington, DC. House Committee on the Budget.

    According to Congressman Charles E. Schumer in his opening statement, the deqrease in Federal housing funds is inextricably linked to the increase in homelessness. Since 1981 the Reagan Administration has been systematically dismantling the nation's housing programs, leaving tens of thousands of low-income people homeless. In 1982 there were 1,088…

  16. A Poetry Coffee House: Creating a Cool Community of Writers

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ferguson, Kristen

    2017-01-01

    This article explores the sharing of writing through a coffee house--style poetry reading. Although this article focuses on a workshop and share activity used in a preservice teacher language arts and literacy course, it contains tips and ideas for implementing poetry coffee houses with elementary and secondary school students and preservice and…

  17. A Type of Rural Houses or a Cultural Heritage That Tending to Disappear: Beehive Houses of Suruç

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mehmet Sait Şahinalp

    2012-12-01

    Full Text Available Beehive houses of Suruç are completely built from sun dried mudbrick. Traditionally, rural house of Suruç plain is beehive houses. It has known that these houses have been used for centuries. These houses rooms have square plan and each room have conical roof. In terms of their own characteristic, Suruç beehive houses different from other conical or dome roofed houses such as beehive house of Harran, Trullo and Clochán. Basically there are four usage spaces; living rooms, designs of granaries, barn or folds and haylofts which are respectively arranged from south to north. These usage spaces are connected to each other with eyvans or gates without door. As requirement of rural life, these houses have some outbuildings such as tendur (tandoor, kadin (hayloft, gom (open folder, ça’l, lod and seki (terrace. Due to some environmental and socio-economic problems have caused migration from countryside to cities during the last 30 years. As a result of this, the Suruç beehive houses have either disused or abandoned completely. In addition, especially in last 30 years, the villagers in the area have begun to prefer building the reinforced concrete houses. This has led some of the Suruç beehive houses either to be destroyed or abandoned. Recent survived examples of these houses can be seen in Kara, Yatırtepe and Boztepe villages

  18. Housing First i Danmark

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Benjaminsen, Lars; Dyrby, Therese Marie; Enemark, Morten Holm

    Rapporten er en evaluering af arbejdet med at udbrede og forankre Housing First-indsatsen og tre evidensbaserede bostøttemetoder. Hovedprincippet i Housing First er, at udsatte borgere, der er endt i hjemløshed, får et permanent sted at bo allerede i starten af et indsatsforløb, samtidig med...... at borgeren får en intensiv social støtte i hverdagen. De evidensbaserede bostøttemetoder, der er anvendes sammen med Housing First-tilgangen er Critical Time Intervention (CTI), Intensive Case Management (ICM) og Assertive Community Treatment (ACT). Rapporten beskriver erfaringer omkring de ledelsesmæssige...... og organisatoriske rammer, målgruppen for indsatserne og om de konkrete indsatser i kommunerne. Evalueringen viser, at både borgere og kommuner har gode erfaringer med Housing First, men at især manglen på billige og passende boliger er en alvorlig barriere for udbredelsen af indsatsen. Evalueringen...

  19. Open IS

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Germonprez, Matt; Crowston, Kevin; Avital, Michel

    2013-01-01

    The collective intelligence and collective action of “open” communities have produced a variety of complex knowledge goods and radical social change. The Information Systems (IS) community has invested significant effort into researching open communities and the ecosystems in which they operate...... therefore seeks to stimulate a thoughtful and dynamic discussion around the proposition that becoming a more open community will enhance the IS discipline’s scholarly inquiry and global impact....

  20. PRIVACY AS A CULTURAL VALUE WITHIN TRADITIONAL IRANIAN HOUSING: Lessons for Modern Iranian High Density Vertical Development Housing

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Siyamak Nayyeri Fallah

    2015-03-01

    Full Text Available The role of value of privacy in shaping Iranian culture is vital. In contrary to modern middle-class Iranian high density vertical development housing, this cultural principle plays a great role in shaping spatial organization of Iranian traditional housing. The aim of this study is to establish a framework to improve spatial organization of modern Iranian high density vertical development (HDVD housing through lessons learnt from traditional Iranian housing. In this regard, to reach the aim through qualitative approach and case study strategy, this value of the Iranian traditional housing was investigated. The data collection methods to collect data from middle-class traditional and modern high-density vertical development (HDVD housing, were multiple tactics as direct observation, open-ended expert interview, semi-structured and focus group interviewing, taking photo, and plan layout. As conclude, it was reached that privacy as a principle governing all aspects of life has had deep impacts on spatial organization of traditional Iranian housing. Thus through using the spatial concept of privacy learnt from traditional Iranian housing can formulate recommendations to betterment spatial organization of middle-class modern Iranian HDVD housing.

  1. Public housing renewal and social determinants of health.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Arthurson, Kathy; Levin, Iris; Ziersch, Anna

    2016-01-01

    This article draws on the concept of residential context of housing and its relationship to health. It considers a bundle of changes through implementation of a housing renewal initiative as part of the Carlton Housing Estate Upgrading Project in Melbourne, Australia. Beyond the quality and appropriateness of the housing, pertinent factors explored include social networks, safety and security, and green open space. Data collection for the research project included in-depth interviews with public housing tenants, private residents, and service providers who live on and service the estate, as well as neighborhood observations and participation in on-site events. A key finding was that the relational processes of how tenants were related to by others-specifically, the way housing was reallocated during the processes of renewal-affected social housing tenants' self-perceived health and well-being.

  2. Affordable house designs to improve health in rural Africa

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Knudsen, Jakob; von Seidlein, Lorenz

    2017-01-01

    . In the modified houses, major structural problems such as leaking roofs were repaired, windows screened, open eaves blocked with bricks and mortar, cement floors repaired or constructed, and rain gutters and a tank for water storage added. Prototype houses were randomly allocated to village households through...

  3. The financialization of Danish cooperatives and the debasement of a collective housing good

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Bruun, Maja Hojer

    2018-01-01

    The article tells the story of Danish cooperative housing’s radical transformation from a collective housing good and commons to a financialized asset during the 2000s when neoliberal housing reforms were introduced and the mortgage finance market was deregulated. Processes of financialization...... and private interests. Housing cooperatives have existed as a form of collective housing throughout the 20th century, balanced, on the one hand, between the reproduction of kin, family and local communities and the common good and, on the other, between the market and the reproduction of the base for both...... families, local communities and the larger public sharing the housing commons. During the 2000s, processes of financialization brought the market and the cooperatives' base so close together, primarily through new mortgaging opportunities, that families and communities have lost their savings and the base...

  4. The financialization of Danish cooperatives and the debasement of a collective housing good

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Bruun, Maja Hojer

    2018-01-01

    The article tells the story of Danish cooperative housing’s radical transformation from a collective housing good and commons to a financialized asset during the 2000s when neoliberal housing reforms were introduced and the mortgage finance market was deregulated. Processes of financialization...... families, local communities and the larger public sharing the housing commons. During the 2000s, processes of financialization brought the market and the cooperatives' base so close together, primarily through new mortgaging opportunities, that families and communities have lost their savings and the base...... of collectively-owned housing have to be understood not only in relation to the dynamics of the surrounding housing market and political-economic changes but also to the communities and social relations that they presuppose and feed off, often in contradictory ways, as people are motivated by both solidarity...

  5. Tomorrow's house: solar housing in 1940s America.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Barber, Daniel A

    2014-01-01

    In the years surrounding World War II, solar house heating was seen by many American architects, journal editors, and policymakers as a necessary component of the expansion into suburbia. As the technological and financial aspects of home ownership came to take on broad social implications, design strategies of architectural modernism--including the expansive use of glass, the open plan and façade, and the flexible roof line--were seen as a means to construct suburbs that were responsive to anticipated concerns over materials allocations, over energy-resource scarcity, and over the economic challenges to postwar growth. As this article demonstrates, experiments in passive solar house design were a prominent means for envisioning the suburbs as an opportunity for new kinds of building and new ways of living. The article documents these developments and places them in the context of related efforts to think about the future.

  6. Measuring quality in community based housing support - the QPC-H instrument.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lundqvist, Lars-Olov; Rask, Mikael; Brunt, David; Ivarsson, Ann-Britt; Schröder, Agneta

    2016-04-18

    Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to test the psychometric properties and dimensionality of the instrument Quality in Psychiatric Care-Housing (QPC-H) and briefly describe the residents' perception of quality of housing support. Design/methodology/approach - A sample of 174 residents from 22 housing support services in nine Swedish municipalities participated in the study. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) revealed that the QPC-H consisted of six dimensions and had a factor structure largely corresponding to that found among other instruments in the Quality in Psychiatric Care (QPC) family of instruments. Findings - CFA revealed that the QPC-H consisted of six dimensions and had a factor structure largely corresponding to that found among other instruments in the QPC family of instruments. The internal consistency of the factors was acceptable except in the case of secure and secluded environment, probably due to few numbers of items. With this exception, the QPC-H shows adequate psychometric properties. Social implications - The residents' ratings of quality of housing service were generally high; the highest rating was for secluded environment and the lowest for participation. This dimension would thus seem to indicate an important area for improvement. Originality/value - The QPC-H includes important aspects of residents' assessment of quality of housing service and offers a simple and inexpensive way to evaluate housing support services from the residents' perspective.

  7. Budget savings through the responsible use of energy in Navy privatized housing communities

    OpenAIRE

    Sachinski, Jeffrey M.; Cook, Rudolph W.; Matteson, Beth M.

    2014-01-01

    Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited In 1996, Congress authorized the Military Housing Privatization Initiative, which led to the increase in basic allowance for housing (BAH) for active duty members to achieve zero out of pocket housing expenses while living in military privatized housing. Privatized housing residents are not fully incentivized to conserve energy. Average energy costs, taken over like sized groups, are used as a baseline to justify the amount paid to the...

  8. The Adoption of Open Educational Resources by One Community College Math Department

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    John Levi Hilton III

    2013-09-01

    Full Text Available The high cost of textbooks is of concern not only to college students but also to society as a whole. Open textbooks promise the same educational benefits as traditional textbooks; however, their efficacy remains largely untested. We report on one community college’s adoption of a collection of open resources across five different mathematics classes. During the 2012 fall semester, 2,043 students in five different courses used these open access resources. We present a comparison between the previous two years in terms of the number of students who withdrew from the courses and the number that completed the courses with a C grade or better. Our analysis suggests that while there was likely no change in these educational outcomes, students who have access to open access materials collectively saved a significant amount of money. Students and faculty were surveyed as to their perceptions of these materials and the results were generally favorable.

  9. Indonesian Housing Policy and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Saddam Rassanjani

    2018-04-01

    Full Text Available The main objective of the implementation of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs in Indonesia is to bring accelerated development in all aspects so that the poverty rate is expected to decrease even disappear. One of the programs that aimed to reduce poverty rates in Indonesia is the provision of housing for the community, especially the underprivileged. Moreover, it is a the million houses program that proclaimed by the Ministry of Public Works and People's Housing, and this program is correlated with the SDGS, especially goal 11 (sustainable cities and communities. The research is relying on secondary data basis primarily from books, journals, published reports and online news. It is expected that this study is able to provide a new insight for the government in building a community residential area, which is to integrate development plans into three dimensions (social, economic, and environment which are the pillars of sustainable development. Unfortunately, nowadays the government is relying too hard on achieving quantity and a little focus on quality. Furthermore, an experience on the MDGs edition can be an important lesson for the government in realizing SDGs, especially now that SDGs are in line with the points that contained in the RPJMN. Therefore, if the government is able to maximise this global development agenda, it is not impossible that the million houses program can be one of the leading programs in overcoming the problem of poverty, especially housing shortage in Indonesia.

  10. Survival Old Model Tamping on Bugis House in Kampong of Bunne Regency of Soppeng South Sulawesi Indonesia

    Science.gov (United States)

    Abidah, Andi

    2017-10-01

    Tamping is space circulation from terrace to inside home and also as space for sitting space for low rank social community. Position tamping is one of side of main house. The floor of tamping slightly low than main house floor, this model has seldom found today which community more refer on new tamping model. The new model of tamping today, the same level on main house floor. Even new Bugis house model without tamping. Old model house use tamping but the tamping and watangpola ha the same floor level. This model consists of four modules which three modules on main house and one module tamping. In the past, old model of tamping is different level floor between watangpola and tamping floor now this tamping floor of old Bugis house model gone the same level of watangpola. While new model called eppa-eppa house, did not use tamping. Community in Kampung Bunne is till survive on old model of tamping on their house although several house has change its tamping like community applied now. This model is still found around 45 house of total number of house in the kampung. This study will explore applying old model of tamping of Bugis house in kampong Bunne Regency of Soppeng South Sulawesi. Qualitative research is used on this study. The study was developed base in sketch, photograph and interview.

  11. Solving the Upper Valley's housing needs: how a coalition of public and private organizations joined forces to develop housing in a region with inadequate stock and prohibitive prices

    OpenAIRE

    Dan French

    2004-01-01

    Like many communities, New Hampshire and Vermont's Upper Valley region is facing a serious housing shortage. Dan French reveals how an innovative housing coalition is working to find solutions that provide housing and protect the area's quality of life.

  12. Use of housing vouchers in Georgia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Andrew Golda

    2009-09-01

    Full Text Available The use of Housing Purchase Vouchers offers IDPs durablehousing and community integration, while allowing theman opportunity to choose their own homes and their owndurable solution.

  13. Comparison of DOE-2 with measurements in the Pala Test houses

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Meldem, R.; Winkelmann, F.

    1995-07-01

    The predictions of the DOE-2 program for building energy analysis have been compared with measurements in the Pala test houses near San Diego. This work is part of the California Institute for Energy Efficiency {open_quotes}Alternatives to Compressor Cooling in California Transition Zones{close_quotes} project in which DOE-2 is being used for parametric analysis of cooling strategies that reduce peak electrical power in hot, dry climates. To establish the validity of DOE-2 for this kind of analysis the program was compared with room air temperature measurements in a {open_quotes}low-mass{close_quotes} house with conventional insulated study wall construction and a {open_quotes}high-mass{close_quotes} house with insulated concrete walls. To test different aspects of the DOE-2 calculation, four different unconditioned thermal configurations of these houses were considered: unshaded windows, shaded windows, white exterior surfaces, and forced night ventilation. In all cases DOE-2 agreed well with the air temperature measurements, with a mean deviation between simulation and measurement ranging from 0.2 to 1.0 K depending on configuration and type of house. Using a development version of DOE-2 comparisons with inside surface temperature measurements were also made. These comparisons also showed good agreement.

  14. Japanese Social Exclusion and Inclusion from a Housing Perspective

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yoshihiro Okamoto

    2016-10-01

    Full Text Available This paper examines conditions of social exclusion and attempts at social inclusion in Japan from a housing perspective. Companies, households and the government have previously supported housing in Japan. However, corporate welfare was withdrawn following the globalization of the economy from the 1990s onwards, support from families and communities declined due to a reduction in household size, and governmental housing support has shifted away from direct support. A reduction in income and unstable work left many people with unstable housing. Certain workers, such as foreigners performing dispatched labour, could not maintain continuous work under the influence of the Lehman Brothers’ bankruptcy in 2008. Household size has shrunk according to changes in the industrial structure, and the number of households that cannot sustain housing is increasing. Such vulnerable households—elderly people, the handicapped, low-income earners and single parents—can become excluded from the rental housing market. On the other hand, governmental measures are promoting local dwellings and maintaining the condition for a dwelling service. Activities, such as local community support of the homeless have been initiated by various Non-profit Organisations (NPOs and NPO activities are increasingly exemplifying measures to achieve social inclusion.

  15. Constructing passive houses

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Oehler, S. [Oehler Faigle Archkom Solar Architektur, Bretten (Germany)

    2005-07-01

    Everybody can learn to build energy-efficient. It needs theoretical and practical experience. 1997 we built the first freestanding Passive House in Europe, the Passive House Oehler. There had been a lot of questions, starting with the insecurity, whether the calculation program of the Passive House Institute, the PHPP, is working properly in our case. Nobody knew at that time because nobody tried it out before. It took us a lot of time to find out and every detail of the construction hat to be invented to meet the very high demand of thermal quality. All the following houses needed less time and had fewer open questions, adding one piece of experience with every building. 2002 we realised the biggest Passive House, the office building Energon Ulm with 420 working spaces. In the meantime we have learned a lot like how to produce prefabricated timber elements for the facades, providing good insulation, air tightness and avoiding serious thermal bridges. We have proofed, that any kind of building type can be a Passive House. And with increasing experience the freedom of design and construction is growing. Even the economical efficiency increased. The Energon Ulm is providing a much better indoor climate than any other office building and was build 10 % cheaper than an average German office building. At present the Passive House Standard is the most efficient solution for the user to live in the desired comfort zone between 20 C and 25 C. This zone of individual feeling-well can be described with the term ''operative temperature''. This term is defined by factors like air temperature, radiation temperature of warm and cold surfaces, air speed and humidity. The result of all these factors has to be within 18 C to 25 C without accepting one of the factors getting extreme.

  16. Dispersed or Clustered Housing for Adults with Intellectual Disability: A Systematic Review

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mansell, Jim; Beadle-Brown, Julie

    2009-01-01

    Background: The purpose of this review was to evaluate the available research on the quality and costs of dispersed community-based housing when compared with clustered housing. Methods: Searches against specified criteria yielded 19 papers based on 10 studies presenting data comparing dispersed housing with some kind of clustered housing (village…

  17. “There’s a housing crisis going on in Sydney for Aboriginal people”: focus group accounts of housing and perceived associations with health

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Melanie J. Andersen

    2016-05-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Poor housing is widely cited as an important determinant of the poor health status of Aboriginal Australians, as for indigenous peoples in other wealthy nations with histories of colonisation such as Canada, the United States of America and New Zealand. While the majority of Aboriginal Australians live in urban areas, most research into housing and its relationship with health has been conducted with those living in remote communities. This study explores the views of Aboriginal people living in Western Sydney about their housing circumstances and what relationships, if any, they perceive between housing and health. Methods Four focus groups were conducted with clients and staff of an Aboriginal community-controlled health service in Western Sydney (n = 38. Inductive, thematic analysis was conducted using framework data management methods in NVivo10. Results Five high-level themes were derived: the battle to access housing; secondary homelessness; overcrowding; poor dwelling conditions; and housing as a key determinant of health. Participants associated their challenging housing experiences with poor physical health and poor social and emotional wellbeing. Housing issues were said to affect people differently across the life course; participants expressed particular concern that poor housing was harming the health and developmental trajectories of many urban Aboriginal children. Conclusions Housing was perceived as a pivotal determinant of health and wellbeing that either facilitates or hinders prospects for full and healthy lives. Many of the specific health concerns participants attributed to poor housing echo existing epidemiological research findings. These findings suggest that housing may be a key intervention point for improving the health of urban Aboriginal Australians.

  18. Open Source Meets Virtual Reality--An Instructor's Journey Unearths New Opportunities for Learning, Community, and Academia

    Science.gov (United States)

    O'Connor, Eileen A.

    2015-01-01

    Opening with the history, recent advances, and emerging ways to use avatar-based virtual reality, an instructor who has used virtual environments since 2007 shares how these environments bring more options to community building, teaching, and education. With the open-source movement, where the source code for virtual environments was made…

  19. Open Content in Open Context

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kansa, Sarah Whitcher; Kansa, Eric C.

    2007-01-01

    This article presents the challenges and rewards of sharing research content through a discussion of Open Context, a new open access data publication system for field sciences and museum collections. Open Context is the first data repository of its kind, allowing self-publication of research data, community commentary through tagging, and clear…

  20. Allegheny County Poor Housing Conditions

    Data.gov (United States)

    Allegheny County / City of Pittsburgh / Western PA Regional Data Center — This estimate of the percent of distressed housing units in each Census Tract was prepared using data from the American Community Survey and the Allegheny County...

  1. Building America Industrialized Housing Partnership (BAIHP II)

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Abernethy, Bob; Chandra, Subrato; Baden, Steven; Cummings, Jim; Cummings, Jamie; Beal, David; Chasar, David; Colon, Carlos; Dutton, Wanda; Fairey, Philip; Fonorow, Ken; Gil, Camilo; Gordon, Andrew; Hoak, David; Kerr, Ryan; Peeks, Brady; Kosar, Douglas; Hewes, Tom; Kalaghchy, Safvat; Lubliner, Mike; Martin, Eric; McIlvaine, Janet; Moyer, Neil; Liguori, Sabrina; Parker, Danny; Sherwin, John; Stroer, Dennis; Thomas-Rees, Stephanie; Daniel, Danielle; McIlvaine, Janet

    2010-11-30

    This report summarizes the work conducted by the Building America Industrialized Housing Partnership (BAIHP - www.baihp.org) during the final budget period (BP5) of our contract, January 1, 2010 to November 30, 2010. Highlights from the four previous budget periods are included for context. BAIHP is led by the Florida Solar Energy Center (FSEC) of the University of Central Florida. With over 50 Industry Partners including factory and site builders, work in BP5 was performed in six tasks areas: Building America System Research Management, Documentation and Technical Support; System Performance Evaluations; Prototype House Evaluations; Initial Community Scale Evaluations; Project Closeout, Final Review of BA Communities; and Other Research Activities.

  2. The effects of artificial sandbar breaching on the macrophyte communities of an intermittently open estuary

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ribeiro, Jose Pedro N.; Saggio, Ângelo; Lima, Maria Inês Salgueiro

    2013-04-01

    Artificial sandbar opening of intermittently open estuaries is a practice utilised worldwide to improve water quality, fishing, and recreational amenities and to prevent the flooding of adjacent properties. Breaching causes the water level to drop drastically, exposing plants to two water level extremes. With some exceptions, estuarine communities are adversely affected by this practice. Although breaching can happen naturally, artificial breaching is on the rise, and the impact of manipulating water levels on estuarine communities needs to be investigated. In this work, we described the breaching cycles of the Massaguaçu River Estuary and proposed flooding scenarios for the estuary's macrophyte banks based on our data. We calculated the relationship between plant distribution and flooding conditions and used our calculations to predict the estuary community's composition depending on the water level at breaching time. We discovered a strong relationship between plant distribution and flooding conditions, and we predicted that the estuarine community would be markedly different between flooding scenarios. Low frequency flooding scenarios would be related to submerged macrophytes and, as the flooding frequency increases, macrophytes would be replaced by amphibious plants, and eventually by the arboreal stratus. Therefore, we concluded that an increase in artificial breaching cycles would have a detrimental impact on the estuary community.

  3. The acoustics of the Amsterdam Opera House 'Het Muziektheater'

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Lange, P.A. de; Luxemburg, L.C.J. van; Muchall, R.C.

    1996-01-01

    The first opera house ever to be built in the Netherlands opened its doors on 26 Septem-ber 1986. Erected in the heart of old Am-sterdam, the building houses the Dutch Op-era Company, the National Ballet and the Ballet Orchestra. The design and planning of the building has an interesting history.

  4. Open Data, Open Source and Open Standards in chemistry: The Blue Obelisk five years on

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-01-01

    Background The Blue Obelisk movement was established in 2005 as a response to the lack of Open Data, Open Standards and Open Source (ODOSOS) in chemistry. It aims to make it easier to carry out chemistry research by promoting interoperability between chemistry software, encouraging cooperation between Open Source developers, and developing community resources and Open Standards. Results This contribution looks back on the work carried out by the Blue Obelisk in the past 5 years and surveys progress and remaining challenges in the areas of Open Data, Open Standards, and Open Source in chemistry. Conclusions We show that the Blue Obelisk has been very successful in bringing together researchers and developers with common interests in ODOSOS, leading to development of many useful resources freely available to the chemistry community. PMID:21999342

  5. Personalized Trust Management for Open and Flat P2P Communities

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    ZUO Min; LI Jian-hua

    2008-01-01

    A personalized trust management scheme is proposed to help peers build up trust between each other in open and flat P2P communities. This scheme totally abandons the attempt to achieve a global view. It evaluates trust from a subjective point of view and gives personalized decision support to each peer. Simulation experiments prove its three advantages: free of central control, stronger immunity to misleading recommendations, and limited traffic overload.

  6. High Rates of Access to Health Care, Disclosure of Sexuality and Gender Identity to Providers Among House and Ball Community Members in New York City.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cahill, Sean; Trieweiler, Sarah; Guidry, John; Rash, Nelisa; Stamper, Layla; Conron, Kerith; Turcotte, Nicole; Gratch, Ilana; Lowery, Paige

    2018-01-01

    The House and Ball community is an important cultural manifestation of resiliency for Black and Latino gay and bisexual men and transgender women. Participants at the August 2013 House of Latex Ball in New York City were surveyed about insurance coverage, health care access, experiences in health care, and housing instability. The sample (n = 367) was 58% Black/African American and 20% Hispanic/Latino, with a mean age of 31. Fifty-five percent were gay and bisexual men. Although only 6% identified as transgender, nearly one half were gender nonconforming. Strong majorities had health insurance, were in regular medical care, and were "out" to their providers. Some were unstably housed and had recently exchanged sex for shelter or money. High rates of health care access and disclosure indicate resiliency and agency. Unstable housing and income insecurity may be structural drivers of vulnerability for this population to HIV infection and other health risks.

  7. YouPower : An open source platform for community-oriented smart grid user engagement

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Huang, Yilin; Hasselqvist, Hanna; Poderi, Giacomo; Scepanovic, S.; Kis, F.; Bogdan, Cristian; Warnier, Martijn; Brazier, F.M.

    2017-01-01

    This paper presents YouPower, an open source platform designed to make people more aware of their energy consumption and encourage sustainable consumption with local communities. The platform is designed iteratively in collaboration with users in the Swedish and Italian test sites of the project

  8. osni.info-Using free/libre/open source software to build a virtual international community for open source nursing informatics.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Oyri, Karl; Murray, Peter J

    2005-12-01

    Many health informatics organizations seem to be slow to take up the advantages of dynamic, web-based technologies for providing services to, and interaction with, their members; these are often the very technologies they promote for use within healthcare environments. This paper aims to introduce some of the many free/libre/open source (FLOSS) applications that are now available to develop interactive websites and dynamic online communities as part of the structure of health informatics organizations, and to show how the Open Source Nursing Informatics Working Group (OSNI) of the special interest group in nursing informatics of the International Medical Informatics Association (IMIA-NI) is using some of these tools to develop an online community of nurse informaticians through their website, at . Some background introduction to FLOSS applications is used for the benefit of those less familiar with such tools, and examples of some of the FLOSS content management systems (CMS) being used by OSNI are described. The experiences of the OSNI will facilitate a knowledgeable nursing contribution to the wider discussions on the applications of FLOSS within health and healthcare, and provides a model that many other groups could adopt.

  9. ObsPy: Establishing and maintaining an open-source community package

    Science.gov (United States)

    Krischer, L.; Megies, T.; Barsch, R.

    2017-12-01

    Python's ecosystem evolved into one of the most powerful and productive research environment across disciplines. ObsPy (https://obspy.org) is a fully community driven, open-source project dedicated to provide a bridge for seismology into that ecosystem. It does so by offering Read and write support for essentially every commonly used data format in seismology, Integrated access to the largest data centers, web services, and real-time data streams, A powerful signal processing toolbox tuned to the specific needs of seismologists, and Utility functionality like travel time calculations, geodetic functions, and data visualizations. ObsPy has been in constant unfunded development for more than eight years and is developed and used by scientists around the world with successful applications in all branches of seismology. By now around 70 people directly contributed code to ObsPy and we aim to make it a self-sustaining community project.This contributions focusses on several meta aspects of open-source software in science, in particular how we experienced them. During the panel we would like to discuss obvious questions like long-term sustainability with very limited to no funding, insufficient computer science training in many sciences, and gaining hard scientific credits for software development, but also the following questions: How to best deal with the fact that a lot of scientific software is very specialized thus usually solves a complex problem but at the same time can only ever reach a limited pool of developers and users by virtue of it being so specialized? Therefore the "many eyes on the code" approach to develop and improve open-source software only applies in a limited fashion. An initial publication for a significant new scientific software package is fairly straightforward. How to on-board and motivate potential new contributors when they can no longer be lured by a potential co-authorship? When is spending significant time and effort on reusable

  10. OpenZika: An IBM World Community Grid Project to Accelerate Zika Virus Drug Discovery.

    OpenAIRE

    Sean Ekins; Alexander L Perryman; Carolina Horta Andrade

    2016-01-01

    The Zika virus outbreak in the Americas has caused global concern. To help accelerate this fight against Zika, we launched the OpenZika project. OpenZika is an IBM World Community Grid Project that uses distributed computing on millions of computers and Android devices to run docking experiments, in order to dock tens of millions of drug-like compounds against crystal structures and homology models of Zika proteins (and other related flavivirus targets). This will enable the identification of...

  11. Community members’ initiatives in public open spaces: two case studies from Slovenia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sabina Jelenc Krašovec

    2017-10-01

    Full Text Available The paper deals with public spaces as open, everyday arenas where people share experiences beyond their immediate circle of friends, family and age group. Public space is understood as a forum for social and personal change (Harvey, 2011; Lefebvre, 2013; Arendt, 1996; Habermas, 1989; 2001. Questions are analysed from the point of view of community members, who are strongly attached to the space and who are interested in belonging and in proactive changes in their living environment (Iecovich, 2014; Kohn 2004; Mean and Tims, 2005. The paper is based on the presumptions that public space has an important role in generating ideas and activities of community members and that it is an important venue for community members’ informal learning. Ethnomethodological research in two public spaces (the Tabor community in Ljubljana and a small community in the coastal town of Izola show that there are differences between both public spaces regarding top-down initiatives and bottom-up, self-organized activities. However, although the activity initiators were in one case different associations rooted in the community, and in the other the local people themselves, most of the activities were conducted by people living in the selected communities/public spaces themselves as is typical of grassroots activities. It was confirmed that learning was not often mentioned by members of either community and was mostly a hidden activity, resulting in tacit knowledge.

  12. Residents' experiences of relationships with nurses in community-based supported housing - a qualitative study based on Giorgi's method of analysis and self psychology.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rønning, Solrun Brenk; Bjørkly, Stål

    2017-01-01

    One of the prioritizations in the World Health Organization's (WHO) Mental Health Action Plan 2013-2020 is the provision of community mental health and social care services, such as supported housing. The ongoing process of such deinstitutionalization has raised issues concerning the impact on users' quality of life. The purpose of this study was to explore how residents in supported housing experience receiving professional help and how they perceived their relationships with nurses. The second aim was to investigate the relevance of Giorgi's method of analysis and self psychology in analyzing these experiences. Four residents were interviewed individually. The interviews were based on a semi-structured interview guide and analyzed by Giorgi's method of analysis. Relations were interpreted within self psychology. The residents reported that they not only felt safe in the community but also felt a greater awareness of wanting to appear normal. They seemed to have an easier daily life and felt that the personnel met their selfobject needs when routines allowed for it. Professional awareness of empathic attunement and selfobject roles might enhance residents' self-cohesiveness. The interviews were analyzed by Giorgi's method of analysis, and the use of clinical concepts from self psychology was chosen to achieve a more dynamic understanding of the participants' relational experiences and needs in supported housing.

  13. CFD simulation of a fire in the living area of three storey residential house to evaluate life safety in houses

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bounagui, A.; Benichou, N.; Kashef, A.; McCartney, C.

    2004-01-01

    Over time there have been changes in construction practices, building designs and materials and construction technologies. The Institute for Research in Construction (IRC) at the National Research Council of Canada (NRC) is undertaking research project to determine the impact of innovative residential construction products and systems on the fire safety of houses. The research study includes two phases: experimental and numerical. A new three-level full-scale experimental facility, representing a typical single-family house, has been built to study the structural fire performance, smoke movement and tenability conditions in the event of a fire. In the event of a fire in the first storey of a house, fire and smoke can move up to the main and second floors either through an open door or any openings in the floor structure between the basement and the main floor rendering the upper floor untenable for the occupants. Using CFD simulations this paper investigates the effect of the state of a stairwell door (opened or closed) on the fire development as well as on the moving up of the toxic gases to the upper floors. Simulation results were then used to estimate the time when conditions would become untenable, based on criteria found in the literature. (author)

  14. Emergent leadership among tenants with psychiatric disabilities living in supported housing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Piat, Myra; Sabetti, Judith; Padgett, Deborah

    2018-06-01

    The overall aim of this study was to explore the experiences of people with psychiatric disabilities living as tenants in independent, supported apartments for the first time. Supported housing provides an alternative to structured, custodial housing models, such as foster homes, or board-and-care homes, for clients in public mental health systems. This article reports findings on how leadership emerged among tenants after making the transition from custodial to supported housing. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with tenants (n = 24) and included questions on their housing history, current living situation, relationships with staff, participation, and understanding or experience of leadership. Interviews were transcribed verbatim, codes generated, and a thematic analysis conducted using a constructivist approach. The findings revealed an understanding and appreciation of leadership among tenants, who identified six pathways to leadership in their housing as a response to unmet tenant needs. Most tenant leaders emerged outside of formal authority or power structures. Supported housing provides a unique social setting and empowering community where the potential of persons with psychiatric disabilities to assume leadership may be realized and further developed. Mental health professionals working in community housing networks are well placed to harness these face-to-face tenant communities, and their natural leaders, as an additional tool in promoting tenant recovery, mutual help, neighbourhood integration, and the broader exercise of citizenship. © 2017 Australian College of Mental Health Nurses Inc.

  15. Enabling Factors for Sustaining Open Defecation-Free Communities in Rural Indonesia: A Cross-Sectional Study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Odagiri, Mitsunori; Muhammad, Zainal; Cronin, Aidan A; Gnilo, Michael E; Mardikanto, Aldy K; Umam, Khaerul; Asamou, Yameha T

    2017-12-14

    Community Approaches to Total Sanitation (CATS) programmes, like the Sanitasi Total Berbasis Masyarakat (STBM) programme of the Government of Indonesia, have played a significant role in reducing open defecation though still little is known about the sustainability of the outcomes. We assessed the sustainability of verified Open Defecation Free (ODF) villages and explored the association between slippage occurrence and the strength of social norms through a government conducted cross-sectional data collection in rural Indonesia. The study surveyed 587 households and held focus group discussions (FGDs) in six ODF villages two years after the government's ODF verification. Overall, the slippage rate (i.e., a combination of sub-optimal use of a latrine and open defecation at respondent level) was estimated to be 14.5% (95% CI 11.6-17.3). Results of multivariate logistic regression analyses indicated that (1) weaker social norms, as measured by respondents' perceptions around latrine ownership coverage in their community, (2) a lack of all-year round water access, and (3) wealth levels (i.e., not being in the richest quintile), were found to be significantly associated with slippage occurrence. These findings, together with qualitative analysis, concluded that CATS programmes, including a combination of demand creation, removal of perceived constraints through community support mechanisms, and continued encouragement to pursue higher levels of services with post-ODF follow-up, could stabilize social norms and help to sustain longer-term latrine usage in study communities. Further investigation and at a larger scale, would be important to strengthen these findings.

  16. 24 CFR 92.254 - Qualification as affordable housing: Homeownership.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-04-01

    ... residents, percentage of owner-occupants) in relation to housing and incomes in the housing market area. An... public facilities and services. If a participating jurisdiction in preparing a neighborhood revitalization strategy under § 91.215(e)(2) of its consolidated plan or Empowerment Zone or Enterprise Community...

  17. 77 FR 13261 - Request for Applications: The Community Forest and Open Space Conservation Program

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-03-06

    ... DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE Forest Service Request for Applications: The Community Forest and Open Space Conservation Program AGENCY: Forest Service. ACTION: Notice; Correction. SUMMARY: The Department..., published a document in the Federal Register of February 15, 2011, concerning requests for applications for...

  18. Indoor Temperatures in Low Cost Housing in Johannesburg, South Africa

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nisha Naicker

    2017-11-01

    Full Text Available Ambient and indoor temperature affects thermal comfort and human health. In a changing climate with a predicted change in temperature extremes, understanding indoor temperatures, both hot and cold, of different housing types is important. This study aimed to assess the hourly, daily and monthly variation in indoor temperatures in different housing types, namely formal houses, informal houses, flats, government-built low-cost houses and old, apartheid era low-cost housing, in five impoverished urban communities in Johannesburg, South Africa. During the cross-sectional survey of the Health, Environment and Development study data loggers were installed in 100 homes (20 per suburb from February to May 2014. Indoor temperature and relative humidity were recorded on an hourly basis. Ambient outdoor temperatures were obtained from the nearest weather station. Indoor and outdoor temperature and relative humidity levels were compared; and an inter-comparison between the different housing types were also made. Apparent temperature was calculated to assess indoor thermal comfort. Data from 59 retrieved loggers showed a significant difference in monthly mean indoor temperature between the five different housing types (p < 0.0001. Low cost government-built houses and informal settlement houses had the greatest variation in temperature and experienced temperatures between 4 and 5 °C warmer than outdoor temperatures. Housing types occupied by poor communities experienced indoor temperature fluctuations often greater than that observed for ambient temperatures. Families living in government-built low-cost and informally-constructed homes are the most at risk for indoor temperature extremes. These types of housing should be prioritised for interventions aimed at assisting families to cope with extreme temperatures, gaining optimal thermal comfort and preventing temperature-related health effects.

  19. Housing and Child Welfare: Emerging Evidence and Implications for Scaling up Services.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fowler, Patrick J; Farrell, Anne F; Marcal, Katherine E; Chung, Saras; Hovmand, Peter S

    2017-09-01

    Inadequate housing threatens family stability in communities across the United States. This study reviews emerging evidence on housing interventions in the context of scale-up for the child welfare system. In child welfare, scale-up refers to the extent to which fully implemented interventions sustainably alleviate family separations associated with housing instability. It incorporates multiple aspects beyond traditional measures of effectiveness including costs, potential reach, local capacities for implementation, and fit within broader social services. The framework further encompasses everyday circumstances faced by service providers, program administrators, and policymakers who allocate resources under conditions of scarcity and uncertainty. The review of current housing interventions reveals a number of systemic constraints for scale-up in child welfare. Reliance on rental assistance programs limits capacity to address demand, while current practices that target the most vulnerable families may inadvertently diminish effectiveness of the intervention and increase overall demand. Alternative approaches that focus on homelessness prevention and early intervention must be tested in conjunction with community initiatives to increase accessibility of affordable housing. By examining system performance over time, the scalability framework provides an opportunity for more efficient coordination of housing services within and outside of the child welfare system. © Society for Community Research and Action 2017.

  20. Building a Mien-American house: A case study in school-community relations

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hammond, Lorie A.

    2000-10-01

    Researchers and policymakers agree that schools and parents must work together if they are to provide the sustenance, services, and support which children need to be successful in our increasingly complex society. (Clark, 1983; Comer, 1980, 1996; Clinton, 1995; Epstein, 1995, 1996). Unfortunately, the social and academic success of language minority students is often adversely affected by the alienation of parents from school culture and by the "deficit" view which teachers hold of language minority parents' academic and parenting skills (Boggs, 1985; Delgado-Gaitan, 1990; Heath, 1983; Lareau, 1987, 1989; Philips, 1983). This case study describes the attempts of one school site to build academic and social bridges between immigrant families from a Southeast Asian Hill Tribe, the Iu Mien, and a mainstream elementary school. This effort is facilitated by a constructivist approach to curriculum in which parents, teachers, and children create an intercultural space---a school community garden---as a context in which academic dialogue can occur. Various strategies which enable inter-cultural learning are described, including the use of students as ethnographers, of parents as expert teachers, and of teachers as cultural brokers. The study also considers the cultural conflicts and understandings which occurred when American teachers and Mien parents built a Mien field-house together: a structure which became symbolic of their blended lives. Through both a descriptive narration and interviews with various participants, the study analyzes (a) community-based curriculum development, led by practitioner reformers, as a way to enable language minority students to be academically successful within their own life worlds, as well as (b) the political and bureaucratic forces which make community-based reforms difficult to sustain. This study employs qualitative research strategies within an action-research context in which the author plays the dual role of practitioner reformer

  1. Housing development erodes avian community structure in U.S. protected areas

    Science.gov (United States)

    Eric M. Wood; Anna M. Pidgeon; Volker C. Radeloff; David Helmers; Patrick D. Culbert; Nicholas S. Keuler; Curtis H. Flather

    2014-01-01

    Protected areas are a cornerstone for biodiversity conservation, but they also provide amenities that attract housing development on inholdings and adjacent private lands. We explored how this development affects biodiversity within and near protected areas among six ecological regions throughout the United States. We quantified the effect of housing density within, at...

  2. Resiliency and affordability of housing design, Kampong Cieunteung-Bale Endah in Bandung Regency as a case study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nurdini, Allis; Yovita, Wanda; Negri, Patriot

    2017-12-01

    Recently the discussion about resiliency and housing design has been fast developed, including design for housing on riverfront as marginal area that usually occupied by low income people. The low income people generally will be the worst affected community in flood disaster situation, because of their un-affordability to achieve quality housing design. In other side, the funding support capacity especially from the local government is limited, so that the resilient environment also need to be supported by the community itself. In this context, the study about low income people's affordability to achieve resilient housing design is essential. This study was conducted to identify two important points: the design choice and the affordability level of resilient housing from the community viewpoints. Kampong Cieunteung, in Bale Endah Area, Bandung Regency is chosen as a case study, because this area annually experience severe flood from overflow of the Citarum River branch. In preliminary research phase, approximately 60% of the Kampong Cieunteung's resident need to stay and become indication that the community need resilient housing design to accommodate their live hood. The next phase, the contingent valuation method was implemented to gain resilient design choice and affordability perspective from the community. It is concluded that the community have ability to choose the resilient housing design based on their aspiration and based on their ability to pay. The result indicates that resilient housing design should have character of optional, module co-operational, and incremental to be afforded by the low income people.

  3. Open source 3D printers: an appropriate technology for building low cost optics labs for the developing communities

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gwamuri, J.; Pearce, Joshua M.

    2017-08-01

    The recent introduction of RepRap (self-replicating rapid prototyper) 3-D printers and the resultant open source technological improvements have resulted in affordable 3-D printing, enabling low-cost distributed manufacturing for individuals. This development and others such as the rise of open source-appropriate technology (OSAT) and solar powered 3-D printing are moving 3-D printing from an industry based technology to one that could be used in the developing world for sustainable development. In this paper, we explore some specific technological improvements and how distributed manufacturing with open-source 3-D printing can be used to provide open-source 3-D printable optics components for developing world communities through the ability to print less expensive and customized products. This paper presents an open-source low cost optical equipment library which enables relatively easily adapted customizable designs with the potential of changing the way optics is taught in resource constraint communities. The study shows that this method of scientific hardware development has a potential to enables a much broader audience to participate in optical experimentation both as research and teaching platforms. Conclusions on the technical viability of 3-D printing to assist in development and recommendations on how developing communities can fully exploit this technology to improve the learning of optics through hands-on methods have been outlined.

  4. The OpenMI - its Transformation From a Research Output to a Global Standard for the Integrated Modelling Community

    Science.gov (United States)

    Moore, R.

    2008-12-01

    The pressure to take a more integrated approach both to science and to management increases by the day. At almost any scale from local to global, it is no longer possible to consider issues in isolation; to do so runs a high risk of creating more problems than are solved. The consequence of this situation is that there is strong encouragement in the scientific world not just to understand and to be able to predict the response of individual processes but also to predict how those processes will interact. The manager is similarly encouraged to think in the widest terms about the likely impact of any policy before it is implemented. A new reservoir may solve a water supply problem but will it adversely affect the fishing and hence the tourist trade? How will climate change impact biodiversity? Will the drugs for treating a flu pandemic adversely affect river water quality? One approach to predicting such impacts would be to create new models simulating more and more processes. This, however, is neither feasible nor useful and makes poor use of the huge investment in existing models. A better approach, with many additional benefits, would be to find a way of linking existing models and modelling components such as databases or visualisation systems. Against this background, the European Commission, as part of its research programme to facilitate the introduction of integrated water management, commissioned a community project to find a generic solution to the linking of simulation models at run time. The outcome of this work was the Open Modelling Interface (OpenMI) standard and the creation of the OpenMI Association, an open, non-proprietary, not-for-profit, international organisation for its support. The work has received widespread recognition and encouragement from across the world, especially in the USA. A second phase is now building a community to continue the OpenMI's development and promote its use. The community's vision, mission and implementation strategy

  5. Energy Evaluation of a New Construction Pilot Community: Fresno, California

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Burdick, A.; Poerschke, A.; Rapport, A.; Wayne, M.

    2014-06-01

    A new construction pilot community was constructed by builder-partner Wathen-Castanos Hybrid Homes (WCHH) based on a single occupied test house that was designed to achieve greater than 30% energy savings with respect to the House Simulation Protocols (Hendron, Robert; Engebrecht, Cheryn (2010). Building America House Simulation Protocols. Golden, CO: National Renewable Energy Laboratory). Builders face several key problems when implementing a whole-house systems integrated measures package (SIMP) from a single test house into multiple houses. Although a technical solution already may have been evaluated and validated in an individual test house, the potential exists for constructability failures at the community scale. This report addresses factors of implementation and scalability at the community scale and proposes methodologies by which community-scale energy evaluations can be performed based on results at the occupied test house level. Research focused on the builder and trade implementation of a SIMP and the actual utility usage in the houses at the community scale of production. Five occupants participated in this community-scale research by providing utility bills and information on occupancy and miscellaneous gas and electric appliance use for their houses. IBACOS used these utility data and background information to analyze the actual energy performance of the houses. Verification with measured data is an important component in predictive energy modeling. The actual utility bill readings were compared to projected energy consumption using BEopt with actual weather and thermostat set points for normalization.

  6. Open Data, Jupyter Notebooks and Geospatial Data Standards Combined - Opening up large volumes of marine and climate data to other communities

    Science.gov (United States)

    Clements, O.; Siemen, S.; Wagemann, J.

    2017-12-01

    The EU-funded Earthserver-2 project aims to offer on-demand access to large volumes of environmental data (Earth Observation, Marine, Climate data and Planetary data) via the interface standard Web Coverage Service defined by the Open Geospatial Consortium. Providing access to data via OGC web services (e.g. WCS and WMS) has the potential to open up services to a wider audience, especially to users outside the respective communities. Especially WCS 2.0 with its processing extension Web Coverage Processing Service (WCPS) is highly beneficial to make large volumes accessible to non-expert communities. Users do not have to deal with custom community data formats, such as GRIB for the meteorological community, but can directly access the data in a format they are more familiar with, such as NetCDF, JSON or CSV. Data requests can further directly be integrated into custom processing routines and users are not required to download Gigabytes of data anymore. WCS supports trim (reduction of data extent) and slice (reduction of data dimension) operations on multi-dimensional data, providing users a very flexible on-demand access to the data. WCPS allows the user to craft queries to run on the data using a text-based query language, similar to SQL. These queries can be very powerful, e.g. condensing a three-dimensional data cube into its two-dimensional mean. However, the more processing-intensive the more complex the query. As part of the EarthServer-2 project, we developed a python library that helps users to generate complex WCPS queries with Python, a programming language they are more familiar with. The interactive presentation aims to give practical examples how users can benefit from two specific WCS services from the Marine and Climate community. Use-cases from the two communities will show different approaches to take advantage of a Web Coverage (Processing) Service. The entire content is available with Jupyter Notebooks, as they prove to be a highly beneficial tool

  7. Indoor Temperatures in Low Cost Housing in Johannesburg, South Africa.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Naicker, Nisha; Teare, June; Balakrishna, Yusentha; Wright, Caradee Yael; Mathee, Angela

    2017-11-18

    Ambient and indoor temperature affects thermal comfort and human health. In a changing climate with a predicted change in temperature extremes, understanding indoor temperatures, both hot and cold, of different housing types is important. This study aimed to assess the hourly, daily and monthly variation in indoor temperatures in different housing types, namely formal houses, informal houses, flats, government-built low-cost houses and old, apartheid era low-cost housing, in five impoverished urban communities in Johannesburg, South Africa. During the cross-sectional survey of the Health, Environment and Development study data loggers were installed in 100 homes (20 per suburb) from February to May 2014. Indoor temperature and relative humidity were recorded on an hourly basis. Ambient outdoor temperatures were obtained from the nearest weather station. Indoor and outdoor temperature and relative humidity levels were compared; and an inter-comparison between the different housing types were also made. Apparent temperature was calculated to assess indoor thermal comfort. Data from 59 retrieved loggers showed a significant difference in monthly mean indoor temperature between the five different housing types ( p informal settlement houses had the greatest variation in temperature and experienced temperatures between 4 and 5 °C warmer than outdoor temperatures. Housing types occupied by poor communities experienced indoor temperature fluctuations often greater than that observed for ambient temperatures. Families living in government-built low-cost and informally-constructed homes are the most at risk for indoor temperature extremes. These types of housing should be prioritised for interventions aimed at assisting families to cope with extreme temperatures, gaining optimal thermal comfort and preventing temperature-related health effects.

  8. The Impact of Course Delivery Systems on Student Achievement and Sense of Community: A Comparison of Learning Community versus Stand-Alone Classroom Settings in an Open-Enrollment Inner City Public Community College

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bandyopadhyay, Pamela

    2010-01-01

    This study examined the effects of two types of course delivery systems (learning community classroom environments versus stand-alone classroom environments) on the achievement of students who were simultaneously enrolled in remedial and college-level social science courses at an inner city open-enrollment public community college. This study was…

  9. Energy performance of building fabric - Comparing two types of vernacular residential houses

    Science.gov (United States)

    Draganova, Vanya Y.; Matsumoto, Hiroshi; Tsuzuki, Kazuyo

    2017-10-01

    Notwithstanding apparent differences, Japanese and Bulgarian traditional residential houses share a lot of common features - building materials, building techniques, even layout design. Despite the similarities, these two types of houses have not been compared so far. The study initiates such comparison. The focus is on houses in areas with similar climate in both countries. Current legislation requirements are compared, as well as the criteria for thermal comfort of people. Achieving high energy performance results from a dynamic system of 4 main key factors - thermal comfort range, heating/cooling source, building envelope and climatic conditions. A change in any single one of them can affect the final energy performance. However, it can be expected that a combination of changes in more than one factor usually occurs. The aim of this study is to evaluate the correlation between the thermal performance of building envelope designed under current regulations and a traditional one, having in mind the different thermal comfort range in the two countries. A sample building model is calculated in Scenario 1 - Japanese traditional building fabric, Scenario 2 - Bulgarian traditional building fabric and Scenario 3 - meeting the requirements of the more demanding current regulations. The energy modelling is conducted using EnergyPlus through OpenStudio cross-platform of software tools. The 3D geometry for the simulation is created using OpenStudio SketchUp Plug-in. Equal number of inhabitants, electricity consumption and natural ventilation is assumed. The results show that overall low energy consumption can be achieved using traditional building fabric as well, when paired with a wider thermal comfort range. Under these conditions traditional building design is still viable today. This knowledge can reestablish the use of traditional building fabric in contemporary design, stimulate preservation of local culture, building traditions and community identity.

  10. Understanding Social Cohesion Differences in Common Interest Housing Developments

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Dam, van R.I.; Eshuis, J.; Twist, van M.J.W.; Anquetil, V.

    2014-01-01

    The worldwide upsurge of common interest housing developments (CIDs) has stirred up debates regarding community development and social cohesion. Critics have argued that CIDs lack social cohesion because people regulate the community via rules and contracts rather than through social relationships

  11. Impacts of a lengthening open water season on Alaskan coastal communities: deriving locally relevant indices from large-scale datasets and community observations

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rolph, Rebecca J.; Mahoney, Andrew R.; Walsh, John; Loring, Philip A.

    2018-05-01

    Using thresholds of physical climate variables developed from community observations, together with two large-scale datasets, we have produced local indices directly relevant to the impacts of a reduced sea ice cover on Alaska coastal communities. The indices include the number of false freeze-ups defined by transient exceedances of ice concentration prior to a corresponding exceedance that persists, false break-ups, timing of freeze-up and break-up, length of the open water duration, number of days when the winds preclude hunting via boat (wind speed threshold exceedances), the number of wind events conducive to geomorphological work or damage to infrastructure from ocean waves, and the number of these wind events with on- and along-shore components promoting water setup along the coastline. We demonstrate how community observations can inform use of large-scale datasets to derive these locally relevant indices. The two primary large-scale datasets are the Historical Sea Ice Atlas for Alaska and the atmospheric output from a regional climate model used to downscale the ERA-Interim atmospheric reanalysis. We illustrate the variability and trends of these indices by application to the rural Alaska communities of Kotzebue, Shishmaref, and Utqiaġvik (previously Barrow), although the same procedure and metrics can be applied to other coastal communities. Over the 1979-2014 time period, there has been a marked increase in the number of combined false freeze-ups and false break-ups as well as the number of days too windy for hunting via boat for all three communities, especially Utqiaġvik. At Utqiaġvik, there has been an approximate tripling of the number of wind events conducive to coastline erosion from 1979 to 2014. We have also found a delay in freeze-up and earlier break-up, leading to a lengthened open water period for all of the communities examined.

  12. Impacts of a lengthening open water season on Alaskan coastal communities: deriving locally relevant indices from large-scale datasets and community observations

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    R. J. Rolph

    2018-05-01

    Full Text Available Using thresholds of physical climate variables developed from community observations, together with two large-scale datasets, we have produced local indices directly relevant to the impacts of a reduced sea ice cover on Alaska coastal communities. The indices include the number of false freeze-ups defined by transient exceedances of ice concentration prior to a corresponding exceedance that persists, false break-ups, timing of freeze-up and break-up, length of the open water duration, number of days when the winds preclude hunting via boat (wind speed threshold exceedances, the number of wind events conducive to geomorphological work or damage to infrastructure from ocean waves, and the number of these wind events with on- and along-shore components promoting water setup along the coastline. We demonstrate how community observations can inform use of large-scale datasets to derive these locally relevant indices. The two primary large-scale datasets are the Historical Sea Ice Atlas for Alaska and the atmospheric output from a regional climate model used to downscale the ERA-Interim atmospheric reanalysis. We illustrate the variability and trends of these indices by application to the rural Alaska communities of Kotzebue, Shishmaref, and Utqiaġvik (previously Barrow, although the same procedure and metrics can be applied to other coastal communities. Over the 1979–2014 time period, there has been a marked increase in the number of combined false freeze-ups and false break-ups as well as the number of days too windy for hunting via boat for all three communities, especially Utqiaġvik. At Utqiaġvik, there has been an approximate tripling of the number of wind events conducive to coastline erosion from 1979 to 2014. We have also found a delay in freeze-up and earlier break-up, leading to a lengthened open water period for all of the communities examined.

  13. An open source solution for an in-house built dynamic platform for the validation of stereotactic ablative body radiotherapy for VMAT and IMRT.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Munoz, Luis; Ziebell, Amy; Morton, Jason; Bhat, Madhava

    2016-12-01

    An in-house solution for the verification of dose delivered to a moving phantom as required for the clinical implementation of lung stereotactic ablative body radiation therapy was developed. The superior-inferior movement required to simulate tumour motion during a normal breathing cycle was achieved via the novel use of an Arduino Uno™, a low-cost open-source microcontroller board connected to a high torque servo motor. Slow CT imaging was used to acquire the image set and a 4D cone beam CT (4D-CBCT) verified the efficacy of contoured margins before treatment on the moving phantom. Treatment fields were delivered to a section of a CIRS™ anthropomorphic phantom. Dose verification to the dynamic phantom with Gafchromic EBT3 film using 3 %-1 mm gamma analysis acceptance criteria registered an absolute dose pass rate for IMRT and VMAT of 98 and 96.6 %, respectively. It was verified that 100 % of the PTV received the prescribed dose of 12 Gy per fraction using the dynamic phantom, and no major discrepancy between planned and measured results due to interplay between multileaf collimator sequences and target motion was observed. This study confirmed that the use of an in-house solution using open source hardware and software with existing quality assurance equipment was appropriate in validating a new treatment technique.

  14. One-year outcomes of a randomized controlled trial of housing first with ACT in five Canadian cities.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Aubry, Tim; Tsemberis, Sam; Adair, Carol E; Veldhuizen, Scott; Streiner, David; Latimer, Eric; Sareen, Jitender; Patterson, Michelle; McGarvey, Kathleen; Kopp, Brianna; Hume, Catharine; Goering, Paula

    2015-05-01

    Housing First is a groundbreaking approach to ending chronic homelessness among people with mental illness. This article presents one-year findings from a multisite randomized controlled trial (RCT) comparing Housing First with treatment as usual. The study was a nonblind, parallel-group RCT conducted in five Canadian cities. A sample of 950 high-need participants with severe mental illness, who were either absolutely homeless or precariously housed, was randomly assigned to Housing First (N=469) or treatment as usual (N=481). Housing First participants received a rent supplement, assistance to find housing, and assertive community treatment. Treatment-as-usual participants had access to all other existing programs. At one-year follow-up, 73% of Housing First participants and 31% of treatment-as-usual participants resided in stable housing (plife was significantly greater among Housing First participants compared with treatment-as-usual participants (pHousing First participants also showed greater improvements in community functioning compared with treatment-as-usual participants (p=.003, d=.25, CI=.09-.41). Compared with treatment as usual, Housing First produced greater improvements in housing stability, quality of life, and community functioning after one year of enrollment. The study provides support for adopting Housing First as an approach for ending chronic homelessness among persons with severe mental illness, even if they are actively symptomatic or using substances.

  15. Visualization of house-entry behaviour of malaria mosquitoes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Spitzen, Jeroen; Koelewijn, Teun; Mukabana, W Richard; Takken, Willem

    2016-04-25

    Malaria mosquitoes often blood feed indoors on human hosts. The mosquitoes predominantly enter houses via open eaves. Host-seeking is odour-driven, and finding a host depends on the quality of the odour plume and whether the route towards the host is free of obstructions. Little is known about in-flight behaviour of mosquitoes during house entry. This semi-field study visualizes mosquito house entry in three dimensions (3D) and offers new insights for optimizing vector control interventions. The approach and house entry of Anopheles gambiae sensu stricto was studied in a semi-field set-up using video-recorded flight tracks and 3D analysis. Behavioural parameters of host-seeking female mosquitoes were visualized with respect to their position relative to the eave as well as whether a mosquito would enter or not. Host odour was standardized using an attractive synthetic blend in addition to CO2. The study was conducted in western Kenya at the Thomas Odhiambo Campus of the International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology, Mbita. The majority of host-seeking An. gambiae approached a house with a flight altitude at eave level, arriving within a horizontal arc of 180°. Fifty-five per cent of mosquitoes approaching a house did not enter or made multiple attempts before passing through the eave. During approach, mosquitoes greatly reduced their speed and the flight paths became more convoluted. As a result, mosquitoes that passed through the eave spent more than 80 % of the observed time within 30 cm of the eave. Mosquitoes that exited the eave departed at eave level and followed the edge of the roof (12.5 %) or quickly re-entered after exiting (9.6 %). The study shows that host-seeking mosquitoes, when entering a house, approach the eave in a wide angle to the house at eave level. Less than 25 % of approaching mosquitoes entered the house without interruption, whereas 12.5 % of mosquitoes that had entered left the house again within the time of observation

  16. Grey Guide: A Community Driven Open Resource Project in Grey Literature

    OpenAIRE

    Biagioni, Stefania; Giannini, Silvia

    2017-01-01

    In December 2013, the GreyGuide Project was formerly launched as an online forum and repository of good practice in grey literature. The GreyGuide manages Open Source Repositories and provides a unique resource in the field of grey literature that is long awaited and which responds to the information needs of a diverse, international grey literature community. As GreyNet's web access Portal, the GreyGuide now provides a wealth of content that was previously either confined to web pages or was...

  17. Sharing open hardware through ROP, the robotic open platform

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Lunenburg, J.; Soetens, R.P.T.; Schoenmakers, F.; Metsemakers, P.M.G.; van de Molengraft, M.J.G.; Steinbuch, M.; Behnke, S.; Veloso, M.; Visser, A.; Xiong, R.

    2014-01-01

    The robot open source software community, in particular ROS, drastically boosted robotics research. However, a centralized place to exchange open hardware designs does not exist. Therefore we launched the Robotic Open Platform (ROP). A place to share and discuss open hardware designs. Among others

  18. Sharing open hardware through ROP, the Robotic Open Platform

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Lunenburg, J.J.M.; Soetens, R.P.T.; Schoenmakers, Ferry; Metsemakers, P.M.G.; Molengraft, van de M.J.G.; Steinbuch, M.

    2013-01-01

    The robot open source software community, in particular ROS, drastically boosted robotics research. However, a centralized place to exchange open hardware designs does not exist. Therefore we launched the Robotic Open Platform (ROP). A place to share and discuss open hardware designs. Among others

  19. Nunavut housing ventilation research 2003-2005

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Fugler, D.

    2005-11-15

    Inuit children in Alaska and Nunavut have high rates of severe lower respiratory tract infections, with hospitalization rates of 300 per year for each 1000 infants. The aim of this research report was to summarize the findings of a pilot project measuring the indoor air quality (IAQ) in 20 Cape Dorset houses as well as a study measuring the ventilation rates of 100 house from 4 communities in Nunavut. The 20 house pilot study included a respiratory questionnaire; a detailed home inspection and data collection; a blower door airtightness test; 7 day measurements of nitrogen dioxide (NO{sub 2}), nicotine, carbon dioxide (CO{sub 2}), relative humidity and temperature; a natural air change rate testing using Brookhaven tracer gas technology; and settled floor dust and bed dust collection followed by biological analysis. The 100 house study recorded 3 to 5 days of house temperatures, relative humidity and CO{sub 2}. The Brookhaven tracer gas technique was used to establish house air change rate. A questionnaire was used to assess ventilation devices. A medical questionnaire was administered and an evaluation of hospitalization data was carried out. Results indicated that a large number of Nunavut houses were not adequately ventilated. In the 20 house study, a third of the houses showed air change rates that would be considered low by any ventilation standards, and that were very low when considering the high occupancy of the houses. In the hundred house study, almost all houses indicated a mean CO{sub 2} level over 1000 ppm, and peaks exceeded 2000 ppm in approximately half the houses. The concentrations were far higher than those seen in southern Canadian homes. It was concluded that the development and promotion of energy-efficient ventilation devices could help to resolve ventilation deficiencies in Nunavut. 2 figs.

  20. GreyGuide - Guide to Good Practice in Grey Literature: A Community Driven Open Resource Project

    OpenAIRE

    Biagioni, Stefania (ISTI-CNR); Carlesi, Carlo (ISTI-CNR); Schopfel, Joachim (University of Lille); Farace, Dominic J. (GreyNet); Frantzen, Jerry (GreyNet); GreyNet, Grey Literature Network Service

    2014-01-01

    The goal of this project is to develop an open source repository of good practices in the field of grey literature. That which originated in monographic form will now open and expand to include content from the global grey literature community. Such practices will range from the production and processing of grey literature through to its distribution, uses, and preservation. The repository will contain guidelines such as those in handling theses and dissertations, how to write research report...

  1. Move the Neighborhood: study design of a community-based participatory public open space intervention

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Pawlowski, Charlotte Skau; Winge, Laura; Carroll, Sidse

    evaluation will be used to gain knowledge of the intervention processes. DISCUSSION: The study presents new methods and approaches in the field of public open space interventions through interdisciplinary collaboration, participatory co-design approach and combination of measurements. Using both effect......BACKGROUND: A limited amount of research has examined the effect of changing public open spaces on active living. This abstract presents the study protocol of an intervention study designed in an interdisciplinary collaboration built on principles of Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR...... and process evaluations the study will provide unique insights in the role and importance of the interdisciplinary collaboration, participatory processes, tailoring changes in public open space to local needs and wishes. These results can be used to guide urban renewal projects in deprived neighbourhoods...

  2. SOCIO-SPATIAL INTEGRATION OF LANDSCAPE BACK LANE OF HOUSING AT BANDAR BARU NILAI: PRIVACY AND COMMUNITY

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    SITI F. M. LIAS

    2016-05-01

    Full Text Available Urban informal spaces in the form of back lane tend to promote socio-spatial integration between neighbourhood communities. The Back Lane Planning Design Guidelines issued in 2014 by Town and Country Planning Department of Malaysia identified back lane as such a place to encourage communal lifestyle whereas an area of owns residents privacy. In reality, back lane portrays as the wasted unfavourable paths thus several social concerns of safety, security, health issues as well as invading privacy and sense of deficiency community bonding issues arise. This study quantitatively analyses dwellers perception focusing to level of visual privacy and level of spiritual neighbourhood interaction towards effectiveness of newly landscape back lane (LBL in contemporary urban dwellings. Comparison of socio-spatial integration between two types of back lane design in grid-linear housing scheme ; the pleasing greenery landscape back lane (LBL and the plain empty bare paved back lane (PBL in residential area of Kota Seriemas, Nilai, Negeri Sembilan . Structured questionnaire distributed to 115 respondents to assess on privacy and comfort level, neighbourhood activities and communal lifestyle, back -lane usage, resident’s perception and expectation.The study proved the landscape design back lane (LBL is ensuring own right privacy lacking in promoting community interaction among the residents due to contemporary urban lifestyles.

  3. Developing disaster resilient housing in Vietnam challenges and solutions

    CERN Document Server

    Tran, Tuan Anh

    2016-01-01

    This book provides a comprehensive understanding on disaster resilient housing within the Vietnam context particularly and the developing world generally. The book has identified the root causes of housing vulnerability, restrictions to safe housing development, concepts of disaster resilient housing, key issues/factors implementers and building designers need to consider, and ways of achieving resilient housing outcomes in actual design projects. The design and development of disaster resilient housing has been framed into three main themes:  (i) community consultation, (ii) the role of built-environment professionals and (iii) design responses for resilience.   To achieve these themes, there is a variety of contextual and intervening conditions that need to be addressed and met to provide an enabling environment for promoting disaster resilient housing. These three themes are among the most arguable issues in recent debates and discussions, academically and practically, regarding disaster risk reduction ...

  4. The financialization of Danish cooperatives and the debasement of a collective housing good

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Bruun, Maja Hojer

    2018-01-01

    The article tells the story of Danish cooperative housing’s radical transformation from a collective housing good and commons to a financialized asset during the 2000s when neoliberal housing reforms were introduced and the mortgage finance market was deregulated. Processes of financialization...... and private interests. Housing cooperatives have existed as a form of collective housing throughout the 20th century, balanced, on the one hand, between the reproduction of kin, family and local communities and the common good and, on the other, between the market and the reproduction of the base for both...... families, local communities and the larger public sharing the housing commons. During the 2000s, processes of financialization brought the market and the cooperatives’ base so close together, primarily through new mortgaging opportunities, that families and communi- ties have lost their savings...

  5. Introducing the CUAHSI Hydrologic Information System Desktop Application (HydroDesktop) and Open Development Community

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ames, D.; Kadlec, J.; Horsburgh, J. S.; Maidment, D. R.

    2009-12-01

    The Consortium of Universities for the Advancement of Hydrologic Sciences (CUAHSI) Hydrologic Information System (HIS) project includes extensive development of data storage and delivery tools and standards including WaterML (a language for sharing hydrologic data sets via web services); and HIS Server (a software tool set for delivering WaterML from a server); These and other CUASHI HIS tools have been under development and deployment for several years and together, present a relatively complete software “stack” to support the consistent storage and delivery of hydrologic and other environmental observation data. This presentation describes the development of a new HIS software tool called “HydroDesktop” and the development of an online open source software development community to update and maintain the software. HydroDesktop is a local (i.e. not server-based) client side software tool that ultimately will run on multiple operating systems and will provide a highly usable level of access to HIS services. The software provides many key capabilities including data query, map-based visualization, data download, local data maintenance, editing, graphing, data export to selected model-specific data formats, linkage with integrated modeling systems such as OpenMI, and ultimately upload to HIS servers from the local desktop software. As the software is presently in the early stages of development, this presentation will focus on design approach and paradigm and is viewed as an opportunity to encourage participation in the open development community. Indeed, recognizing the value of community based code development as a means of ensuring end-user adoption, this project has adopted an “iterative” or “spiral” software development approach which will be described in this presentation.

  6. Homelessness and Housing Insecurity Among Former Prisoners

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Claire W. Herbert

    2015-11-01

    Full Text Available The United States has experienced dramatic increases in both incarceration rates and the population of insecurely housed or homeless persons since the 1980s. These marginalized populations have strong overlaps, with many people being poor, minority, and from an urban area. That a relationship between homelessness, housing insecurity, and incarceration exists is clear, but the extent and nature of this relationship is not yet adequately understood. We use longitudinal, administrative data on Michigan parolees released in 2003 to examine returning prisoners’ experiences with housing insecurity and homelessness. Our analysis finds relatively low rates of outright homelessness among former prisoners, but very high rates of housing insecurity, much of which is linked to features of community supervision, such as intermediate sanctions, returns to prison, and absconding. We identify risk factors for housing insecurity, including mental illness, substance use, prior incarceration, and homelessness, as well as protective “buffers” against insecurity and homelessness, including earnings and social supports.

  7. Factors Associated with Community Participation among Individuals Who Have Experienced Homelessness

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Feng-Hang Chang

    2015-09-01

    Full Text Available Community participation is an important goal for people who have experienced homelessness. The aim of this study was to use the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF as a framework to examine factors associated with community participation among people who are homeless or recently housed through housing programs. Participants (n = 120 recruited from six housing placement and search programs completed measures of community participation (including productivity, social and leisure, and community-services-use domains, psychiatric and physical symptoms, functional limitations, and a demographic form. Multiple regression analyses were used to identify predictors of overall community participation and subdomain scores. Results suggested that cognitive and mobility limitations, relationship status, and housing status significantly predicted both overall participation and participation in productivity and social and leisure subdomains. Participants who were housed through housing programs, who had cognitive and mobility limitations, and who were single showed less community participation. The findings suggest that activity limitations and environmental and personal factors may need to be addressed in efforts to enhance community participation in this population.

  8. A New Way of Measuring Openness: The Open Governance Index

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Liz Laffan

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available Open source software is now "business as usual" in the mobile industry. While much attention is given to the importance of open source licenses, we argue in this article that the governance model can be as necessary to a project’s success and that projects vary widely in the governance models – whether open or closed – that they employ. Open source governance models describe the control points that are used to influence open source projects with regard to access to the source code, how the source code is developed, how derivatives are created, and the community structure of the project. Governance determines who has control over the project beyond what is deemed legally necessary via the open source licenses for that project. The purpose of our research is to define and measure the governance of open source projects, in other words, the extent to which decision-making in an open source project is "open" or "closed". We analyzed eight open source projects using 13 specific governance criteria across four areas of governance: access, development, derivatives and community. Our findings suggest that the most open platforms will be most successful in the long term, however we acknowledge exceptions to this rule. We also identify best practices that are common across these open source projects with regard to source code access, development of source code, management of derivatives, and community structure. These best practices increase the likelihood of developer use of and involvement in open source projects.

  9. Housing and Quality of Life for Migrant Communities in Western Europe: A Capabilities Approach

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dermot Coates

    2013-12-01

    Full Text Available Housing is an important determinant of quality of life and migrants are more likely to encounter poor quality housing than natives. This paper draws on the capabilities approach to welfare economics to examine how issues of housing and neighborhood conditions influence quality of life and opportunities for migrants in Western Europe. The analysis utilizes data from the second European Quality of Life Survey (EQLS to explore variation in life and housing satisfaction between migrants and non-migrants (natives in Western Europe and whether being a migrant and living in an ethnically diverse neighborhood contribute to lower satisfaction. The results show that migrants are more likely to experience lower levels of life and housing satisfaction and that living in a diverse neighborhood is negatively associated with life and housing satisfaction. While diverse, inner-city neighborhoods can increase opportunities for labor market access, social services and integration, the tendency towards clustered settlement by migrants can also compound housing inequality. Conversely, migrant homeowners are on average substantially more satisfied with the quality of public services and of their neighborhood and have lower material deprivation than both migrant and non-migrant renters. The findings draw attention to the need to address housing and neighborhood conditions in order to improve opportunities for integration and well-being. 

  10. Correlates of housing affordability stress among older Australians.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Temple, Jeromey B

    2008-03-01

    The purpose of this study was to examine the prevalence and correlates of housing affordability stress among community-dwelling older Australians. The 2002 ABS General Social Survey was used to measure the prevalence of housing affordability stress. Rare event logistic regression was used to measure the potential correlates of housing affordability stress. Almost 5% of Australians aged 55 years and older, and 20% of those younger than 55 years, are estimated to experience housing affordability stress. Men and women living alone are more likely to experience affordability stress when compared to couples. Low-income earners, those with a consumer debt or who do not hold assets, are at a heightened risk of such stress. Home ownership, regardless of income, is the strongest buffer against housing affordability problems in old age. Although the prevalence of housing affordability stress is low among older Australians when compared to the younger population, a definite social gradient exists in those at risk.

  11. A social ecological approach to investigating relationships between housing and adaptive functioning for persons with serious mental illness.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kloos, Bret; Shah, Seema

    2009-12-01

    This paper seeks to advance mental health-housing research regarding which factors of housing and neighborhood environments are critical for adaptive functioning, health, and recovery for persons with serious mental illness (SMI). Housing and neighborhood environments are particularly important for persons with SMI because of the prevalence of poor housing conditions among this population. Most mental health-housing research has been limited by a focus on problems in environments and functioning. The paper seeks to expand the mental health-housing research agenda to consider protective factors that promote community integration and adaptive functioning. We provide an account of how social ecology theory transformed a research program, from examining individual risk factors to investigating the functioning of persons in the contexts of their housing and neighborhood experiences. The resulting housing environment framework-physical aspects of housing and neighborhoods, social environment of neighborhoods, and interpersonal relationships tied to housing-allows for identification of opportunities for health promotion and facilitation of participation in community-based settings. This program of research draws upon several methods to understand the social experience of persons with SMI living in community settings-survey research, qualitative interviews, Geographic Information Systems, participatory research, and visual ethnography. In this paper, we present how social ecology theory was instrumental in the development of new housing environment measures, the selection of appropriate research methods, and framing research questions that are building a new empirical base of knowledge about promoting adaptive functioning, health, and recovery for persons with SMI living in community settings.

  12. NCSU solar energy and conservation house. Final report

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    1981-10-01

    A passive solar energy house has been built adjacent to the NCSU McKimmon Continuing Education Center. The house contains a two-story embedded sunspace, two Trombe walls, active solar hot water heating, thermal storage in a rock filled ceiling/floor, and numerous research treatments, and energy conservation features. (See attached photo brochure; Appendix 1). The house is completely decorated and furnished in an attractive manner and the exterior architecture is traditional and has broad consumer appeal. It is also thoroughly instrumented to monitor performance. The house is open to the public on weekends and numerous people come to visit on their own initiative and others take advantage of the close proximity to McKimmon while there attending conferences. The house will influence and motivate large numbers of people to consider solar and energy conservation facets in their homes and will provide data to substantiate performance to prospective home buyers and meaningful data on design and construction for builders.

  13. Overcoming the isolation of disadvantaged housing areas

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Stender, Marie; Bech-Danielsen, Claus

    Disadvantaged social housing areas in Denmark are currently subject to more thorough physical refurbishments, aiming to overcome the isolated character of the housing estates. The ambition is to attract new users and residents by opening up the borders of the area and establish attractive, new...... penthouse flats, new urban functions within the area or spectacular new public spaces near it. In this paper the social impact of such transformations are analysed and discussed based on case-studies in 3 Danish areas. The analysis shows that especially everyday-route strategies adding new public functions...

  14. Tax policy, housing and the labour market

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Jensen, Svend Erik Hougaard; Nielsen, Søren Bo; Pedersen, Lars Haagen

    1996-01-01

    This paper develops an intertemporal simulation model designed to analyse tax policies in a small open economy. Within a finite horizon, overlapping generations framework, we introduce imperfect competition in the labour market, consumption and construction of durables in the form of housing units...

  15. Residents’ experiences of relationships with nurses in community-based supported housing – a qualitative study based on Giorgi’s method of analysis and self psychology

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rønning SB

    2017-03-01

    Full Text Available Solrun Brenk Rønning, Stål Bjørkly Faculty of Health Sciences and Social Care, Molde University College, Molde, Norway Abstract: One of the prioritizations in the World Health Organization’s (WHO Mental Health Action Plan 2013–2020 is the provision of community mental health and social care services, such as supported housing. The ongoing process of such deinstitutionalization has raised issues concerning the impact on users’ quality of life. The purpose of this study was to explore how residents in supported housing experience receiving professional help and how they perceived their relationships with nurses. The second aim was to investigate the relevance of Giorgi’s method of analysis and self psychology in analyzing these experiences. Four residents were interviewed individually. The interviews were based on a semi-structured interview guide and analyzed by Giorgi’s method of analysis. Relations were interpreted within self psychology. The residents reported that they not only felt safe in the community but also felt a greater awareness of wanting to appear normal. They seemed to have an easier daily life and felt that the personnel met their selfobject needs when routines allowed for it. Professional awareness of empathic attunement and selfobject roles might enhance residents’ self-cohesiveness. The interviews were analyzed by Giorgi’s method of analysis, and the use of clinical concepts from self psychology was chosen to achieve a more dynamic understanding of the participants’ relational experiences and needs in supported housing. Keywords: mental health, nursing relationship, self psychology, supported housing, experiences

  16. Impact of perceived innovation characteristics on adoption of pharmacy-based in-house immunization services.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Westrick, Salisa C; Mount, Jeanine K

    2009-02-01

    An in-house immunization service in which staff pharmacists administer vaccines was conceptualized as an innovation. Prior to making adoption decisions, community pharmacies evaluated characteristics of in-house immunization services. This study examined the impact of three specific characteristics (perceived benefit, perceived compatibility and perceived complexity) of in-house immunization services on community pharmacies' adoption decisions. A multi-stage mixed-mode survey design was used to collect data from key informants of community pharmacies in Washington State, USA. Key informants included pharmacy managers or pharmacists-on-duty who were able to answer questions related to immunization activities in their pharmacies. Perceived characteristics of in-house immunization services and pharmacy adoption decisions were measured in 2004 and in 2006-2007, respectively. Each perceived characteristic individually predicted adoption of in-house immunization services. When all three characteristics were included in logistic regression, perceived benefit was the only significant predictor of in-house immunization service adoption. Appropriate strategies, particularly promoting the benefit of in-house immunization services, should be implemented. The proposed model and findings may be applicable to other pharmacy-based innovative practices or other public health initiatives. We recommend that organizational leaders, researchers and practitioners consider the impact of perceived benefit and incorporate it when they design strategies to foster adoption of innovative practices. Doing this may increase the number of adopters and also increase diffusion rates for innovative services.

  17. Neural ensemble communities: Open-source approaches to hardware for large-scale electrophysiology

    Science.gov (United States)

    Siegle, Joshua H.; Hale, Gregory J.; Newman, Jonathan P.; Voigts, Jakob

    2014-01-01

    One often-overlooked factor when selecting a platform for large-scale electrophysiology is whether or not a particular data acquisition system is “open” or “closed”: that is, whether or not the system’s schematics and source code are available to end users. Open systems have a reputation for being difficult to acquire, poorly documented, and hard to maintain. With the arrival of more powerful and compact integrated circuits, rapid prototyping services, and web-based tools for collaborative development, these stereotypes must be reconsidered. We discuss some of the reasons why multichannel extracellular electrophysiology could benefit from open-source approaches and describe examples of successful community-driven tool development within this field. In order to promote the adoption of open-source hardware and to reduce the need for redundant development efforts, we advocate a move toward standardized interfaces that connect each element of the data processing pipeline. This will give researchers the flexibility to modify their tools when necessary, while allowing them to continue to benefit from the high-quality products and expertise provided by commercial vendors. PMID:25528614

  18. Community Challenge Grantees

    Data.gov (United States)

    Department of Housing and Urban Development — HUD's Community Challenge Grants aim to reform and reduce barriers to achieving affordable, economically vital and sustainable communities. The funds are awarded to...

  19. Mobile Open-Source Solar-Powered 3-D Printers for Distributed Manufacturing in Off-Grid Communities

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Debbie L. King

    2014-04-01

    Full Text Available Manufacturing in areas of the developing world that lack electricity severely restricts the technical sophistication of what is produced. More than a billion people with no access to electricity still have access to some imported higher-technologies; however, these often lack customization and often appropriateness for their community. Open source appropriate tech­nology (OSAT can over­come this challenge, but one of the key impediments to the more rapid development and distri­bution of OSAT is the lack of means of production beyond a specific technical complexity. This study designs and demonstrates the technical viability of two open-source mobile digital manufacturing facilities powered with solar photovoltaics, and capable of printing customizable OSAT in any com­munity with access to sunlight. The first, designed for com­munity use, such as in schools or maker­spaces, is semi-mobile and capable of nearly continuous 3-D printing using RepRap technology, while also powering multiple computers. The second design, which can be completely packed into a standard suitcase, allows for specialist travel from community to community to provide the ability to custom manufacture OSAT as needed, anywhere. These designs not only bring the possibility of complex manufacturing and replacement part fabrication to isolated rural communities lacking access to the electric grid, but they also offer the opportunity to leap-frog the entire conventional manufacturing supply chain, while radically reducing both the cost and the environmental impact of products for developing communities.

  20. Challenges of Integrating Affordable and Sustainable Housing in Malaysia

    Science.gov (United States)

    Syed Jamaludin, S. Z. H.; Mahayuddin, S. A.; Hamid, S. H. A.

    2018-04-01

    Developing countries including Malaysia have begun to comprehend the needs for affordable and sustainable housing development. The majority of the population is still aspiring for a comfortable, safe and reasonably priced house. Households in the low-middle income range face difficulties to find housing that can satisfy their needs and budget. Unfortunately, most of the housing development programs are considering affordability rather than sustainable aspects. Furthermore, developers are more interested in profit and neglect sustainability issues. Thus, the aim of this paper is to review the challenges in integrating affordable housing and sustainable practices in Malaysia. This paper is produced based on an extensive literature review as a basis to develop strategies of integrated affordable and sustainable housing in Malaysia. The challenges are divided into four sections, namely market challenges, professional challenges, societal challenges and technological challenges. The outcomes of this paper will assist in the decision making involving housing development and in enhancing quality of life for sustainable communities.

  1. 78 FR 73204 - Announcement of Requirements and Registration for “Innovation in Affordable Housing Student...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-12-05

    ... response to a real life affordable housing design issue. The goals of this new competition are: To... competition will officially open on January 6, 2014, when the real life affordable housing design issue is... DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT [FR-5745-N-01] Announcement of Requirements and...

  2. EcoVillage: A Net Zero Energy Ready Community

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Arena, L. [Consortium for Advanced Residential Buildings, Norwalk, CT (United States); Faakye, O. [Consortium for Advanced Residential Buildings, Norwalk, CT (United States)

    2015-02-01

    CARB is working with the EcoVillage co-housing community in Ithaca, New York, on their third neighborhood called the Third Residential EcoVillage Experience (TREE). This community scale project consists of 40 housing units --15 apartments and 25 single family residences. The community is pursuing certifications for DOE Zero Energy Ready Home, U.S. Green Building Council Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Gold, and ENERGY STAR for the entire project. Additionally, seven of the 25 homes, along with the four-story apartment building and community center, are being constructed to the Passive House (PH) design standard.

  3. Energy Evaluation of a New Construction Pilot Community: Fresno, California

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Burdick, A. [IBACOS, Inc., Pittsburgh, PA (United States); Poerschke, A. [IBACOS, Inc., Pittsburgh, PA (United States); Rapport, A. [IBACOS, Inc., Pittsburgh, PA (United States); Wayne, M. [IBACOS, Inc., Pittsburgh, PA (United States)

    2014-06-01

    A new construction pilot community was constructed by builder-partner Wathen-Castanos Hybrid Homes based on a single occupied test house that was designed to achieve greater than 30% energy savings with respect to the Building America House Simulation Protocols developed by NREL. Builders face several key problems when implementing a whole-house systems integrated measures package from a single test house into multiple houses. This report addresses factors of implementation and scalability at the community scale and proposes methodologies by which community-scale energy evaluations can be performed based on results at the occupied test house level. Research focused on the builder and trade implementation of a measures package and the actual utility usage in the houses at the community scale of production. Five occupants participated in this research by providing utility bills and information on occupancy and miscellaneous gas and electric appliance use for their houses. IBACOS used these utility data and background information to analyze the actual energy performance of the houses. The actual utility bill readings were compared to projected energy consumption using BEopt with actual weather and thermostat set points for normalization.

  4. Provision of healthy toilet for low income community based on community empowerment in Kelurahan Kebonsari, Surabaya City, towards Indonesia open defecation free (ODF) in 2019

    Science.gov (United States)

    Soedjono, Eddy Setiadi; Fitriani, Nurina; Yuniarto, Adhi; Wijaya, I. Made Wahyu

    2017-11-01

    One of the causes of open defecation (OD) is low awareness of local community towards open defecation free behavior. This community does not have a healthy toilet and usually defecate in the river. This poor environment is coupled with poverty and small footprint. Therefore, the tr.iggering methods should be modified by including the finance concept in form of stimulant funds to accelerate ODF targets by using appropriate technology for land limitations. The construction of healthy toilet in Kelurahan Kebonsari, Jambangan sub-district, was conducted in RW2 which consisted of RT 6 (4 units) and RT 7 (1 unit) and 2 units in RT 2 of RW 3. Construction was initiated with focus group discussion and indepth interview to locate the proper location to be triggered. Healthy toilet construction was conducted in cooperation among self-help community, Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember (ITS), and the community itself. Every month the users had to pay the toilet construction (capacity of 0.75 m3) of IDR 100,000 for 10 months. Therefore, with this healthy toilet construction, KelurahanKebonsari becomes one of ODF village in Surabaya City.

  5. Network of Green Areas within Collective Housing Communities - Case Study from Timişoara, Romania

    Science.gov (United States)

    Branea, Ana-Maria; Stelian Găman, Marius; Bădescu, Ştefana

    2017-10-01

    Green areas have always been an essential feature of urban developments, improving the quality of life within a community, both from a social perspective - offering residents a place for relaxation and interaction, as well as from the point of view of disease prevention - improving the overall air quality, but also encouraging inhabitants to spend more time outside. The importance of these areas within a settlement further increases in the present-day context, in which the constant expansion of cities in their surrounding territory, phenomenon known as “urban sprawl”, gradually eliminates the natural green spaces and agricultural terrains from our landscape. This trend has devastating effects on the environment, as well as on the micro-climate of our settlements, characterized, in recent years, by the formation of heat islands within the built tissue. Moreover, the disappearance of natural green areas leads to the constant estrangement of the inhabitants, and especially of young generations, from the natural values and realities. It is thus more important than ever to ensure an adequate percentage of green areas for our cities, uniformly distributed within the urban tissue. Green belts, urban forests, parks, green squares or even urban gardens - all these entities play their parts within the urban green network, having certain radiuses of influence and attraction and thus occupying a specific position within the urban hierarchy. In Romania, the terrains left un-built between the collective housing buildings - or apartment blocks, erected during the communist administration and currently constituting public property, have a huge potential regarding the matter of urban greenery, being easily transformed into active and qualitative green areas. However, the local authorities lack the resources (both financial and in terms of human resources) to efficiently develop and then administrate these areas, which are consequently either abandoned, or used as illegal

  6. A Stigmergy Approach for Open Source Software Developer Community Simulation

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Cui, Xiaohui [ORNL; Beaver, Justin M [ORNL; Potok, Thomas E [ORNL; Pullum, Laura L [ORNL; Treadwell, Jim N [ORNL

    2009-01-01

    The stigmergy collaboration approach provides a hypothesized explanation about how online groups work together. In this research, we presented a stigmergy approach for building an agent based open source software (OSS) developer community collaboration simulation. We used group of actors who collaborate on OSS projects as our frame of reference and investigated how the choices actors make in contribution their work on the projects determinate the global status of the whole OSS projects. In our simulation, the forum posts and project codes served as the digital pheromone and the modified Pierre-Paul Grasse pheromone model is used for computing developer agent behaviors selection probability.

  7. House Magazine: open source architecture

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Andrés Passaro

    2016-11-01

    Full Text Available A popularização das novas tecnologias de fabricação digital vêm alterando os modos de produção da sociedade contemporânea. O compartilhamento aberto de informações, dentro de uma nova lógica produtiva, tem o potencial de mudar o sistema econômico vigente, e de até transformar os rumos da globalização em curso. O presente trabalho aborda um novo sistema construtivo de fonte aberta que utiliza a fabricação digital na produção de habitações de baixo custo. O projeto Casa Revista, desenvolvido no laboratório LAMO3D da FAU-UFRJ, tem como objetivo alimentar a renovação da produção independente de habitações, inserindo uma nova tecnologia construtiva no vocabulário popular e explorando seus potenciais. Baseado no sistema WikiHouse de construção, o projeto alia conhecimento global à produção local, tropicalizando o seu conteúdo. A experiência contou com a prototipagem em escala real de um primeiro modelo, usinado e montado por estudantes da graduação, a fim de testar a qualidade do sistema e sua viabilidade técnica de implementação como tecnologia social. O projeto mostrou-se intuitivo, de complexidade simples e rico em possibilidades de manipulação e aperfeiçoamento. São os projetos e tecnologias de fonte aberta que vêm promovendo o alargamento de usos do conhecimento por novos atores, gerando uma dispersão da produção. Cabe a nós arquitetos reconhecermos esse potencial e moldar suas infinitas possibilidades de aplicação.

  8. Housing First and Social Integration: A Realistic Aim?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Deborah Quilgars

    2016-10-01

    Full Text Available Housing First is now dominating discussions about how best to respond to homelessness among people with high and complex needs throughout the EU and in several countries within the OECD. Whilst recognised internationally as an effective model in addressing homelessness, little attention has been given as to whether Housing First also assists previously homeless people become more socially integrated into their communities. This paper reviews the available research evidence (utilising a Rapid Evidence Assessment methodology on the extent to which Housing First services are effective in promoting social integration. Existing evidence suggests Housing First is delivering varying results in respect of social integration, despite some evidence suggesting normalising effects of settled housing on ontological security. The paper argues that a lack of clarity around the mechanisms by which Housing First is designed to deliver ‘social integration’, coupled with poor measurement, helps explain the inconsistent and sometimes limited results for Housing First services in this area. It concludes that there is a need to look critically at the extent to which Housing First can deliver social integration, moving the debate beyond the successes in housing sustainment and identifying what is needed to enhance people’s lives in the longer-term.

  9. Implementation of natural ventilation in pig houses

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Klooster, van 't C.E.

    1994-01-01

    A description of experimental work and discussion on implementation of natural ventilation in pig houses is given. A literature review describes the state of the art, animal growth data are given. It includes characterization of ventilation openings, a technique to estimate the ventilation

  10. Evaluating the level of physical transformation of houses in gated ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    The upsurge of real estate housing within Accra has resulted in all manner of gated communities springing up across the city scape. These seek to provide housing services to the desperate urban dweller. The quality of their services has however been brought to question due to lack of a proper regulatory body to oversee ...

  11. Scattered housing energy retrofit program : final report

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NONE

    2007-11-15

    Between 1999 and 2006, home energy audits were conducted in 770 scattered houses belonging to the Toronto Community Housing Corporation (TCHC). Over the course of the project, 126 houses were retrofitted with energy saving measures based on calculations of the most cost-effective measures. This report outlined the work that was conducted by the contractor, GreenSaver over the course of the project. The report discussed the project players and project execution. It included a profile of audited houses; auditing procedure; house reports; retrofit work; contractor arranging service; and post-retrofit inspections. Comments on retrofit work not carried out were also provided. The report also discussed the results of the project, including energy savings and emission reductions and participant feedback. A summary of the energy efficiency retrofit survey was also presented along with lessons learned. These included the availability of a contingency fund; the importance of tenant involvement; and making arrangements for other repair work. It was concluded that the amount of expected energy savings on space heating bills varied from house to house, and fell between 15 and 74 per cent. The report recommended that tenants and staff in the social housing sector could benefit from a greater awareness of energy issues and its more efficient use, allowing even greater and longer lasting benefits from a project like this. 8 tabs.

  12. Open Source GIS Connectors to NASA GES DISC Satellite Data

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kempler, Steve; Pham, Long; Yang, Wenli

    2014-01-01

    The NASA Goddard Earth Sciences Data and Information Services Center (GES DISC) houses a suite of high spatiotemporal resolution GIS data including satellite-derived and modeled precipitation, air quality, and land surface parameter data. The data are valuable to various GIS research and applications at regional, continental, and global scales. On the other hand, many GIS users, especially those from the ArcGIS community, have difficulties in obtaining, importing, and using our data due to factors such as the variety of data products, the complexity of satellite remote sensing data, and the data encoding formats. We introduce a simple open source ArcGIS data connector that significantly simplifies the access and use of GES DISC data in ArcGIS.

  13. The Impact of the Housing Quality on the Socio-Economic Standard of the EU Countries

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Daniela Špirková

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available The paper deals with the qualitative characteristics of the housing in the EU countries. On the one hand there is a problem with housing itself and on the other hand there is a problem with the housing quality with its significant impact on the quality of life. The housing quality is defined by the attributes mentioned in the EQLS survey. The examined characters are the dwelling stock, the space problem, the rot problem, the damp problem, the toilet problem, the bath problem, the garden problem, the rent problem, the utility problem and the heating problem. The housing quality is affected by the public expenses on the housing and the community amenities per capita. The relations between the qualitative characteristics mutually and the qualitative characteristics and the public expenditures on the housing and the community amenities are examined by the correlation and regression analysis. The aim of the article is to point out to the dependence between the expenses and the housing quality in the EU countries. The mentioned relation strongly implicates the socio-economic standard of these countries.

  14. Housing and Independent Living for Individuals with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities

    Science.gov (United States)

    Leach, Debra

    2016-01-01

    This manuscript provides a review of housing and independent living options for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD). While there has certainly been an increased emphasis on community integration and inclusion for people with I/DD, barriers to delivering housing supports and services in natural, integrated settings…

  15. BioContainers: an open-source and community-driven framework for software standardization

    Science.gov (United States)

    da Veiga Leprevost, Felipe; Grüning, Björn A.; Alves Aflitos, Saulo; Röst, Hannes L.; Uszkoreit, Julian; Barsnes, Harald; Vaudel, Marc; Moreno, Pablo; Gatto, Laurent; Weber, Jonas; Bai, Mingze; Jimenez, Rafael C.; Sachsenberg, Timo; Pfeuffer, Julianus; Vera Alvarez, Roberto; Griss, Johannes; Nesvizhskii, Alexey I.; Perez-Riverol, Yasset

    2017-01-01

    Abstract Motivation BioContainers (biocontainers.pro) is an open-source and community-driven framework which provides platform independent executable environments for bioinformatics software. BioContainers allows labs of all sizes to easily install bioinformatics software, maintain multiple versions of the same software and combine tools into powerful analysis pipelines. BioContainers is based on popular open-source projects Docker and rkt frameworks, that allow software to be installed and executed under an isolated and controlled environment. Also, it provides infrastructure and basic guidelines to create, manage and distribute bioinformatics containers with a special focus on omics technologies. These containers can be integrated into more comprehensive bioinformatics pipelines and different architectures (local desktop, cloud environments or HPC clusters). Availability and Implementation The software is freely available at github.com/BioContainers/. Contact yperez@ebi.ac.uk PMID:28379341

  16. BioContainers: an open-source and community-driven framework for software standardization.

    Science.gov (United States)

    da Veiga Leprevost, Felipe; Grüning, Björn A; Alves Aflitos, Saulo; Röst, Hannes L; Uszkoreit, Julian; Barsnes, Harald; Vaudel, Marc; Moreno, Pablo; Gatto, Laurent; Weber, Jonas; Bai, Mingze; Jimenez, Rafael C; Sachsenberg, Timo; Pfeuffer, Julianus; Vera Alvarez, Roberto; Griss, Johannes; Nesvizhskii, Alexey I; Perez-Riverol, Yasset

    2017-08-15

    BioContainers (biocontainers.pro) is an open-source and community-driven framework which provides platform independent executable environments for bioinformatics software. BioContainers allows labs of all sizes to easily install bioinformatics software, maintain multiple versions of the same software and combine tools into powerful analysis pipelines. BioContainers is based on popular open-source projects Docker and rkt frameworks, that allow software to be installed and executed under an isolated and controlled environment. Also, it provides infrastructure and basic guidelines to create, manage and distribute bioinformatics containers with a special focus on omics technologies. These containers can be integrated into more comprehensive bioinformatics pipelines and different architectures (local desktop, cloud environments or HPC clusters). The software is freely available at github.com/BioContainers/. yperez@ebi.ac.uk. © The Author(s) 2017. Published by Oxford University Press.

  17. EL PROGRAMA CASE STUDY HOUSE: INDUSTRIA, PROPAGANDA Y VIVIENDA / Case Study House Program: industry, propaganda and housing

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Daniel Díez Martínez

    2012-05-01

    Full Text Available RESUMEN En enero de 1945, John Entenza, editor de la revista californiana Arts & Architecture, puso en marcha el programa Case Study House, un ambicioso proyecto cuyo firme objetivo era investigar las posibilidades y soluciones del problema de la vivienda al que se enfrentaba los Estados Unidos de la posguerra. Para ello, Entenza diseñó una novedosa estrategia de colaboración entre algunos de los mejores arquitectos californianos del momento y la maquinaria industrial estadounidense, abierta a un proceso de reconversión de producción bélica a objetos para la población civil que tendría lugar en un tiempo récord. Así, el artículo propone el análisis de esa relación entre empresa y domesticidad, entre viabilidad económica y calidad arquitectónica, entre procesos de prefabricación y espíritu individual. Todos ellos conceptos aparentemente opuestos pero que, de la mano del programa Case Study House, lograron un entendimiento que a día de hoy sigue resultando extraordinario. SUMMARY In January 1945, John Entenza, editor of the California Arts & Architecture magazine, launched the ‘Case Study House Program’, an ambitious project whose firm objective was to investigate the possibilities and solutions for the housing problem facing the United States after the war. To do this, Entenza designed a novel strategy for collaboration between some of the best Californian architects of the time and the U.S. industrial machine, open to a process of conversion from military production to objects for the civilian population that would take place in record time. Thus, the article proposes the analysis of the relationship between business and domesticity, between economic viability and architectural quality, between prefabrication processes and individual spirit. All of these seemingly opposing concepts reached, at the hands of the ‘Case Study House Program’, an understanding that still seems extraordinary today.

  18. Collaborating with a social housing provider supports a large cohort study of the health effects of housing conditions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Baker, Michael G; Zhang, Jane; Blakely, Tony; Crane, Julian; Saville-Smith, Kay; Howden-Chapman, Philippa

    2016-02-16

    Despite the importance of adequate, un-crowded housing as a prerequisite for good health, few large cohort studies have explored the health effects of housing conditions. The Social Housing Outcomes Worth (SHOW) Study was established to assess the relationship between housing conditions and health, particularly between household crowding and infectious diseases. This paper reports on the methods and feasibility of using a large administrative housing database for epidemiological research and the characteristics of the social housing population. This prospective open cohort study was established in 2003 in collaboration with Housing New Zealand Corporation which provides housing for approximately 5% of the population. The Study measures health outcomes using linked anonymised hospitalisation and mortality records provided by the New Zealand Ministry of Health. It was possible to match the majority (96%) of applicant and tenant household members with their National Health Index (NHI) number allowing linkage to anonymised coded data on their hospitalisations and mortality. By December 2011, the study population consisted of 11,196 applicants and 196,612 tenants. Half were less than 21 years of age. About two-thirds identified as Māori or Pacific ethnicity. Household incomes were low. Of tenant households, 44% containing one or more smokers compared with 33% for New Zealand as a whole. Exposure to household crowding, as measured by a deficit of one or more bedrooms, was common for applicants (52%) and tenants (38%) compared with New Zealanders as whole (10%). This project has shown that an administrative housing database can be used to form a large cohort population and successfully link cohort members to their health records in a way that meets confidentiality and ethical requirements. This study also confirms that social housing tenants are a highly deprived population with relatively low incomes and high levels of exposure to household crowding and environmental

  19. THE HOUSE AS SUPPORT OF GENDER RELATIONS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    ANDRA JACOB LARIONESCU

    2016-11-01

    Full Text Available The article examines the relationship home – gender, using a fieldwork carried out between 2009 and 2011 in the Romanian village of Marginea, a rural community strongly affected by the international migration. I show that migrants from Marginea, even by changing the configuration of their homes, still continue to preserve some old practices related to gender relations such as the responsibility of the man and his family to build the new house or the newlyweds’ settlement in the boy’s house. While home furnishing and decoration are supposed to be performed largely by women, the construction process is related to men. However, today, with the feminization of international labor migration, women are taking a more active role in both house design and construction process.

  20. Second Chance Learning in Neighbourhood Houses

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ollis, Tracey; Starr, Karen; Ryan, Cheryl; Angwin, Jennifer; Harrison, Ursula

    2017-01-01

    Neighbourhood Houses in Victoria are significant sites of formal and informal education for adult learners. Intrinsically connected to local communities they play an important role in decreasing social isolation and building social inclusion. The focus of this research is on adult learners and adult learning that engages with "second…

  1. Promoting health and advancing development through improved housing in low-income settings

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Haines, A.; Bruce, N.; Cairncross, S.; Davies, M.; Greenland, K.; Hiscox, A.F.; Lindsay, S.; Lindsay, T.; Satterthwaite, D.; Wilkinson, P.

    2013-01-01

    There is major untapped potential to improve health in low-income communities through improved housing design, fittings, materials and construction. Adverse effects on health from inadequate housing can occur through a range of mechanisms, both direct and indirect, including as a result of extreme

  2. ANALYSIS OF CLIMATIC AND SOCIAL PERFORMANCES OF LOW COST TERRACE HOUSING (LCTH: INTRODUCING THE AFFORDABLE QUALITY HOUSING (AQH CONCEPT IN MALAYSIA

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Noor Hanita Abdul Majid

    2009-03-01

    Full Text Available Low cost terrace housing (LCTH is the most common form and popular typology of public housing in Malaysia. The provision of the houses is deemed to be the most suitable to fulfil the needs to house low income families, and also as an alternative to high rise low cost housing. Since the implementation of these housing types, development on the layout and sizes of the house has taken place to provide for better living conditions. Literature review on the current LCTH suggested that there are deficiencies in fulfilling the requirements to provide quality and affordable housing for the low income families. This paper presents the scenario of the LCTH design based on secondary findings by researchers on housing in Malaysia. The secondary data provided the grounds for the proposal of affordable and quality housing (AQH to handle the problems that occurred at the LCTH. Both social and climatic considerations are included in the AQH, addressing issues on privacy, segregation of genders and community interaction; along with thermal comfort and natural ventilation. Decisions on the AQH are carefully extracted from a comparison analysis in the view to improve the current conditions. In order to verify some of the decisions on climatic design strategies, simulation results are presented. The results indicated that the design decisions have managed to improve on the natural ventilation conditions at the low cost houses. With reservations on the social conditions that are yet to be tested at the actual houses, the AQH has proven to be a step forward towards the provision of a better living environment.

  3. Adverse Housing Conditions and Early-Onset Delinquency.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jackson, Dylan B; Newsome, Jamie; Lynch, Kellie R

    2017-09-01

    Housing constitutes an important health resource for children. Research has revealed that, when housing conditions are unfavorable, they can interfere with child health, academic performance, and cognition. Little to no research, however, has considered whether adverse housing conditions and early-onset delinquency are significantly associated with one another. This study explores the associations between structural and non-structural housing conditions and delinquent involvement during childhood. Data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (FFCWS) were employed in this study. Each adverse housing condition was significantly associated with early-onset delinquency. Even so, disarray and deterioration were only significantly linked to early delinquent involvement in the presence of health/safety hazards. The predicted probability of early-onset delinquency among children exposed to housing risks in the presence of health/safety hazards was nearly three times as large as the predicted probability of early-onset delinquency among children exposed only to disarray and/or deterioration, and nearly four times as large as the predicted probability of early-onset delinquency among children exposed to none of the adverse housing conditions. The findings suggest that minimizing housing-related health/safety hazards among at-risk subsets of the population may help to alleviate other important public health concerns-particularly early-onset delinquency. Addressing household health/safety hazards may represent a fruitful avenue for public health programs aimed at the prevention of early-onset delinquency. © Society for Community Research and Action 2017.

  4. Location Criteria Relevant for Sustainability of Social Housing Model

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Petković-Grozdanović Nataša

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available Social housing models, which had began to develop during the last century, for their only objective had a need to overcome the housing problems of socially vulnerable categories. However, numerous studies have shown that these social categories, because of their low social status, are highly susceptible to various psychological and sociological problems. On the other hand a low level of quality, which was common for social housing dwellings, has further aggravated these problems by initiating trouble behaviours among tenants, affecting social exclusion and segregation. Contemporary social housing models are therefore conceptualized in a way to provide a positive psycho-sociological impact on their tenants. Therefore the planning approach in social housing should be such to: support important functions in daily life routines; promote tolerance and cooperation; influence on a sense of social order and belonging; affect the socialization of the tenant and their integration into the wider community; and improve social cohesion. Analysis of the influential location parameters of immediate and wider social housing environment strive to define the ones relevant to the life quality of social housing tenants and therefore influence on the sustainability of social housing model.

  5. ICSC – Policy for energy saving and increase of efficiency in Russia in the spheres of construction, housing and community amenities

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Boyarinov Andrey

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available Russia’s GDP energy intensity today is approximately 2.5–3.5 times higher than that of economically developed countries. To increase its economic competitive ability, Russia needs to achieve energy efficiency in different spheres, including construction, housing and community amenities. Close examination of implemented management measures and world experience revealed that in order to achieve a further energy efficiency increase Russia needs to boost economic interest of the participants concerned and to form effective mechanisms of economic management, and this should be done along with improvement of administrative governance. The paper focuses on the barriers that hamper economic motivation and provides recommendations for energy efficiency increase. Even partial implementation of suggested measures, in our opinion, will increase energy efficiency in the spheres of construction and housing accommodation, which is illustrated through the example of a residential building located in Yekaterinburg (Russia, Middle Urals.

  6. Mental health and housing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kari-Koskinen, O; Karvonen, P

    1976-01-01

    With the present trend away from the designing of individual buildings and towards the systematic planning of whole residential communities, it should be possible to take mental health requirements into account at the planning stage. At present, sociologists are all too seldom consulted on matters of residential planning. When discussing the relationship between housing and mental health one cannot restrict oneself only to the external aspects of the house, but rather one must also consider the opportunities available for the members of the family to satisfy their own needs, both within the home and in its immediate surroundings. Factors which may affect residential requirements include geographical location, type and standard of dwelling and time and continuity of occupation. A move between two districts or groups representing different housing norms and values may lead to withdrawal symptoms in the individual. This may arise equally well from the remoteness of the country districts as from the conflicting pressures brought on by the abundance of contacts available in the large towns. Town life tends to heighten susceptibility to neuroses and personality conflicts. The character of a residential area may affect the mental health of its occupants. Faris & Dunham (4), in studying the incidence of various types of mental illness with an urban population, observed that schizophrenia was most common among people who were in some way isolated from social involvement. The striving for spaciousness in residential areas and the creation of a "summer city" or "garden city" image or a "family-centred way of life" may lead to unexpected problems and have a variety of social consequences. Mental health difficulties have been noted, for example, among housewives in "dormitory" towns or suburbs (11). The institutions required by a community may be grouped into four categories, representing the basic needs of its members. These are (1) economic institutions, (2) social and

  7. The effects of individual housing on mice and rats

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Krohn, Thomas Cæcius; Sørensen, Dorte Bratbo; Ottesen, Jan Lund

    2006-01-01

    these animals individually without negative impact on welfare, eg by providing special housing improvements. A range of studies have shown that individual housing or isolation has effects on corticosterone, the open field behaviour, barbiturate sleeping time and the metabolism of different pharmaceuticals...... in the animals. However, this review of 37 studies in rats and 17 studies in mice showed divergence in test results difficult to explain, as many studies lacked basal information about the study, eg information on genetic strains and housing conditions, such as bedding, enrichment and cage sizes. Furthermore......, test and control groups most frequently differed in cage sizes and stocking densities, and behavioural tests differed in ways which may very well explain the differences in results. Overall, there seemed to be an effect of individual housing, although it may be small, and it seems reasonable to assume...

  8. Housing first for homeless persons with active addiction: are we overreaching?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kertesz, Stefan G; Crouch, Kimberly; Milby, Jesse B; Cusimano, Robert E; Schumacher, Joseph E

    2009-06-01

    More than 350 communities in the United States have committed to ending chronic homelessness. One nationally prominent approach, Housing First, offers early access to permanent housing without requiring completion of treatment or, for clients with addiction, proof of sobriety. This article reviews studies of Housing First and more traditional rehabilitative (e.g., "linear") recovery interventions, focusing on the outcomes obtained by both approaches for homeless individuals with addictive disorders. According to reviews of comparative trials and case series reports, Housing First reports document excellent housing retention, despite the limited amount of data pertaining to homeless clients with active and severe addiction. Several linear programs cite reductions in addiction severity but have shortcomings in long-term housing success and retention. This article suggests that the current research data are not sufficient to identify an optimal housing and rehabilitation approach for an important homeless subgroup. The research regarding Housing First and linear approaches can be strengthened in several ways, and policymakers should be cautious about generalizing the results of available Housing First studies to persons with active addiction when they enter housing programs.

  9. Evolution of Spaces between Buildings in Polish Mass Housing Estates in the Eyes of the Inhabitants

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ostanska, Anna

    2017-10-01

    The author investigates into the state of public and semi-public spaces in the Polish housing estates erected in the times of mass housing projects (1960 - 1980). The character of these estates is special. On the one hand, the buildings were accompanied by lavishly designed open spaces with elaborate material infrastructure: urban design followed the ideas that time - and strict regulations - that, in theory, prevented creation of substandard spaces. Provision of affordable housing was given a priority in the centrally controlled economy, so vast greenfield areas were devoted to housing. Moreover, the estates often stay under one management of housing cooperatives for years. The assets are relatively modern and usually conveniently located within the city/town infrastructure. This gives the areas advantage over contemporary housing schemes affected by constraints imposed by prior development and commercial approach to the provision of housing. On the other hand, technical wear and tear, functional obsolescence, years of underinvestment, natural demographic changes in local communities, changing ownership structure, and weakening social bonds make the large housing estates with their too lavishly designed public areas an ungrateful object of management. Recent availability of the European Union funds for modernization of public spaces increases the numbers of municipal projects and individual initiatives to activate communities by improving public and semi-public spaces. A question arises whether the money and effort is spent reasonably. Do people actually use the new facilities? Are they encouraged to affect the form and function of their surrounding? Does the public space change according to some passing fancies, or according to the changing needs? To juxtapose the development of technical condition of infrastructure and functions offered by the space between buildings with the expectations of users, the author repeatedly views the scene and conducts structured

  10. Openly Published Environmental Sensing (OPEnS) | Advancing Open-Source Research, Instrumentation, and Dissemination

    Science.gov (United States)

    Udell, C.; Selker, J. S.

    2017-12-01

    The increasing availability and functionality of Open-Source software and hardware along with 3D printing, low-cost electronics, and proliferation of open-access resources for learning rapid prototyping are contributing to fundamental transformations and new technologies in environmental sensing. These tools invite reevaluation of time-tested methodologies and devices toward more efficient, reusable, and inexpensive alternatives. Building upon Open-Source design facilitates community engagement and invites a Do-It-Together (DIT) collaborative framework for research where solutions to complex problems may be crowd-sourced. However, barriers persist that prevent researchers from taking advantage of the capabilities afforded by open-source software, hardware, and rapid prototyping. Some of these include: requisite technical skillsets, knowledge of equipment capabilities, identifying inexpensive sources for materials, money, space, and time. A university MAKER space staffed by engineering students to assist researchers is one proposed solution to overcome many of these obstacles. This presentation investigates the unique capabilities the USDA-funded Openly Published Environmental Sensing (OPEnS) Lab affords researchers, within Oregon State and internationally, and the unique functions these types of initiatives support at the intersection of MAKER spaces, Open-Source academic research, and open-access dissemination.

  11. Control Strategies for Ventilative Cooling of Overheated Houses

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Psomas, Theofanis Ch.; Heiselberg, Per Kvols; Duer, Karsten

    2016-01-01

    -family house from the 1970s. The case study is renovated deeply and high- efficient (nZEB) creating two different scenarios. Mechanical ventilation system and manual control of the openings for both renovation scenarios cannot sufficiently eliminate the overheating risk indoors. The discharge coefficient...

  12. Linking disadvantaged housing areas to the surrounding city

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Stender, Marie

    Several disadvantaged social housing areas in Denmark are currently undergo-ing thorough physical refurbishments, aiming to integrate them better with the surrounding city. The ambition is to attract new users and residents by opening up the borders of the area and establish attractive, new...

  13. Impact of lengthening open water season on food security in Alaska coastal communities: Global impacts may outweigh local "frontline" effects

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rolph, R.; Mahoney, A. R.

    2015-12-01

    Using ice concentration data from the Alaska Sea Ice Atlas from 1953-2013 for selected communities in Alaska, we find a consistent trend toward later freeze up and earlier breakup, leading a lengthened open water period. Such changes are often considered to bring a variety of "frontline" local impacts to Arctic coastal communities such as increased rates of coastal erosion. However, direct consequences of these changes to local food security (e.g. through impacts on subsistence activities and marine transport of goods) may be outweighed at least in the short term by the effects of large scale Arctic sea ice change coupled with global oil markets. For example, a later freeze-up might delay local hunters' transition from boats to snow-machines, but whether this trend will affect hunting success, especially in the next few years, is uncertain. Likewise, the magnitude of change in open water season length is unlikely to be sufficient to increase the frequency with which communities are served by barges. However, an expanding open water season throughout the Arctic has implications for the global economy, which can have indirect effects on local communities. In the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas, where rapid sea ice change has been accompanied by increased interest in oil and gas development, the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management currently requires drilling operations to cease 38 days prior to freeze up. Taking this into account, the lengthening open water season has effectively extended the drilling season for oil companies by 184% since the 1950s. If oil development goes ahead, local communities will likely experience a range of indirect impacts on food security due to increased vessel traffic and demand on infrastructure coupled with changes in local economies and employment opportunities. Increased likelihood of an oil spill in coastal waters also poses a significant threat to local food security. Thus, while Arctic coastal communities are already experiencing

  14. Attitudes and experiences with secondhand smoke and smoke-free policies among subsidised and market-rate multiunit housing residents living in six diverse communities in the USA.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gentzke, Andrea S; Hyland, Andrew; Kiviniemi, Marc; Travers, Mark J

    2018-03-01

    Given that higher smoking rates persist among lower socioeconomic populations, multiunit housing (MUH) environments may result in higher secondhand smoke (SHS) exposures among subsidised MUH residents. This cross-sectional assessment compares experiences with SHS and smoke-free policies among subsidised and market-rate MUH residents living in six US communities. MUH residents (n=1565) were surveyed regarding their smoke-free rules (home and building), SHS exposures and preferences towards smoke-free policies. Binary logistic regression identified predictors of each outcome, focusing on differences by subsidised housing status (subsidised vs market rate). Among residents enforcing smoke-free home rules (76%, overall), 50% reported SHS incursions into their unit. Only 23% reported living in a smoke-free building; 56% of those living in smoking-allowable buildings reported preferences towards smoke-free building policies. Among market-rate housing residents, smoke-free home (OR=4.18) and building (OR=2.26) rules were significantly higher when children were present. Smoke-free building rules reduced the odds of SHS incursions among market-rate housing residents (OR=0.50), but no association was observed among subsidised housing residents. Non-smoking subsidised housing residents exhibited stronger preferences for smoke-free policies compared with those in market-rate housing. Smoke-free home rules may not protect MUH residents from SHS exposures, particularly in subsidised MUH. Although strong preferences towards smoke-free policies were present overall, subsidised MUH residents may have fewer alternative smoke-free housing options available. Therefore, all publicly funded housing should be smoke free to protect these vulnerable populations. However, continued efforts to encourage privately owned MUH operators to adopt smoke-free policies are also necessary. © Article author(s) (or their employer(s) unless otherwise stated in the text of the article) 2018. All rights

  15. 76 FR 9588 - Announcement of Funding Awards for the Rural Housing and Economic Development Program; Fiscal...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-02-18

    ... Awards for the Rural Housing and Economic Development Program; Fiscal Year 2009 AGENCY: Office of the... Housing and Economic Development, Office of Community Planning and Development, 451 Seventh Street, SW... Rural Housing and Economic Development program was authorized by the Department of Veterans Affairs...

  16. 24 CFR 901.40 - Indicator #7, resident services and community building.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-04-01

    ... 24 Housing and Urban Development 4 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Indicator #7, resident services and community building. 901.40 Section 901.40 Housing and Urban Development Regulations Relating to Housing and... services and community building. This indicator examines the PHA's efforts to deliver quality customer...

  17. Sustainable communities: Opportunities for integrated infrastructure

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Panetta, D.

    1992-01-01

    The world's holistic and interconnected relationships are becoming more evident on a daily basis. Areas of concern, previously thought of as independent, are being revealed as interdependent. The choice of technological systems for use in such an interconnected system can often have unforeseen consequences. We have understood that wastewater treatment (WT) effects water quality since the 19th century. However, other important, although less evident relationships exist concerning wastewater treatment. This paper explores some of the impacts that the choice of waste-water treatment technology has on energy, ecology and the community's ability to afford housing, parks and open space. It concludes that the choice and implementation of wastewater treatment systems is of paramount concern to the quality of our lives. Many alternatives currently exist to conventional treatment processes. One of the more successful alternatives is discussed along with its potential to mitigate potential adverse impacts and to function as an amenity in the community rather than simply an expensive requirement

  18. 75 FR 4100 - Affirmative Fair Housing, Marketing (AFHM) Plan-Multifamily Housing, Affirmative Fair Housing...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-26

    ... DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT [Docket No. FR-5376-N-01] Affirmative Fair Housing, Marketing (AFHM) Plan-Multifamily Housing, Affirmative Fair Housing Marketing (AFHM) Plan-Single Family Housing and Affirmative Fair Housing Marketing (AFHM) Plan- Cooperatives/Condominiums AGENCY: Office of...

  19. Cumulative Environmental Impacts: Science and Policy to Protect Communities.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Solomon, Gina M; Morello-Frosch, Rachel; Zeise, Lauren; Faust, John B

    2016-01-01

    Many communities are located near multiple sources of pollution, including current and former industrial sites, major roadways, and agricultural operations. Populations in such locations are predominantly low-income, with a large percentage of minorities and non-English speakers. These communities face challenges that can affect the health of their residents, including limited access to health care, a shortage of grocery stores, poor housing quality, and a lack of parks and open spaces. Environmental exposures may interact with social stressors, thereby worsening health outcomes. Age, genetic characteristics, and preexisting health conditions increase the risk of adverse health effects from exposure to pollutants. There are existing approaches for characterizing cumulative exposures, cumulative risks, and cumulative health impacts. Although such approaches have merit, they also have significant constraints. New developments in exposure monitoring, mapping, toxicology, and epidemiology, especially when informed by community participation, have the potential to advance the science on cumulative impacts and to improve decision making.

  20. Quality of Informal Housing: Contributions from University Outreach

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Helmuth Ramos Calonge

    2016-02-01

    Full Text Available The main purpose of this article is to reflect on the quality and habitable conditions of informal housing and to propose two ways of contributing to its improvement from university outreach. Two outreach exercises carried out by the School of Habitat Sciences from La Salle University are explained, together with two organizations dedicated to work for the improvement of the living conditions of the vulnerable population. One of them involves integral improvement actions in a neighborhood, which led to conducting remodeling and construction work accompanied by social workers and psychologists; the other one was to design new training methodologies for foremen; each case includes particular reflections and, in the end, general reflections and conclusions inherent to the quality and habitability of informal housing. It is concluded, in general terms, that the quality and habitability of affordable, informal housing is poor, and it is highlighted that the first step for improving it must be taken by the user or owner, based on their appropriation of habitat, either at the individual, family or community level; in other words, better living conditions will only be achieved when the owner and the community decide so.

  1. How Does a Collaborative Community Affect Diverse Students' Engagement with an Open Source Software Project: A Pedagogical Paradigm

    Science.gov (United States)

    Morgan, Becka S.

    2012-01-01

    Open Source Software (OSS) communities are homogenous and their lack of diversity is of concern to many within this field. This problem is becoming more pronounced as it is the practice of many technology companies to use OSS participation as a factor in the hiring process, disadvantaging those who are not a part of this community. We should…

  2. 24 CFR 203.256 - Insurance of open-end advance.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-04-01

    ... Insurance § 203.256 Insurance of open-end advance. Insurance on an open-end advance will be evidenced by delivery of a certificate stating the amount of the advance, the date of insurance, and the regulations... 24 Housing and Urban Development 2 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Insurance of open-end advance. 203...

  3. HOME Participating Jurisdictions Open Activities Reports

    Data.gov (United States)

    Department of Housing and Urban Development — This report is an MS Excel spreadsheet broken up by state. Participating Jurisdictions can use this report to view open activities in IDIS including activities with...

  4. Occupants’ Utilization of Natural Ventilation: A Study of Selected Terrace House Designs in Hot-humid Climate

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ibiyeye AI

    2015-05-01

    Full Text Available With increased time spent indoors and demand for enhanced comfort levels, energy consumption in homes is rising mostly for cooling, particularly in hot-humid regions. Natural ventilation is seen as an alternative to mechanical cooling as it is totally independent on energy and has been reported to be of high potential. However, little information is available on the utilization of natural ventilation in individual living spaces in different house designs. Therefore, this paper aims to investigate occupants’ utilization of natural ventilation in living spaces under different terrace house designs in hot-humid climate and also the relationship between the openings and occupants’ satisfaction with natural ventilation. Five (5 different terrace house types in Putrajaya, Malaysia with different opening design characteristics were selected for the study. A total of 298 households from these house types were surveyed and results show that occupants mostly open their windows during the daytime to capture breeze from outside despite the fact that they owned air-conditioners. In terms of occupants’ level of satisfaction with indoor ventilation when utilizing natural ventilation, majority rated neither satisfied nor unsatisfied. Further regression analysis reveals that this level of satisfaction is significantly related to opening sizes that are in accordance with the law, duration of opening windows and AC ownership. Findings from this study will shed more light on behavioural pattern of occupants of residential buildings towards natural ventilation provisions and highlight the importance of conforming to the law governing them.

  5. Quality of life after housing first for adults with serious mental illness who have experienced chronic homelessness.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Henwood, Benjamin F; Matejkowski, Jason; Stefancic, Ana; Lukens, Jonathan M

    2014-12-15

    This 1-year longitudinal study of adults who have recently transitioned from homelessness to Permanent Supportive Housing (PSH) focuses on quality of life as a primary outcome of interest. Eighty of 103 new tenants participated in structured interviews at the time of entry into their new home and at 12-months post-housing. t-tests assessed differences in community participation and quality of life measures at the 2 time points. Mixed effects models examined the impact of community participation on quality of life. Results show that time in independent housing was significantly associated with several domains of quality of life. Symptom severity was also significantly and negatively related to quality of life domains. Community participation was significantly related to frequency of social contacts only. These findings suggest that community participation is not critical to improving quality of life, and that despite concerns that individuals may feel isolated and lonely when living independently, satisfaction with one׳s living situation and family relationships nevertheless improves with housing tenure. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

  6. Contribution of Water Pollution From Inadequate Sanitation and Housing Quality to Diarrheal Disease in Low-Cost Housing Settlements of Cape Town, South Africa

    Science.gov (United States)

    Barnes, Jo M.; Pieper, Clarissa H.

    2011-01-01

    Objectives. We investigated the effects of failing sanitation, poor housing conditions, and fecal pollution in runoff water on the health—particularly the incidence of diarrheal disease—of residents of low-cost housing settlements in Cape Town, South Africa. Methods. In November 2009, we conducted a cross-sectional survey with structured interviews in 4 communities (n = 336 dwellings; 1080 persons). We used Colilert defined-substrate technology to determine Escherichia coli levels in runoff water samples taken from the study communities. Results. Almost 15% of households disposed of soiled products in storm water drains and 6% disposed of soiled products in the street. In only 26% of the dwellings were toilets washed daily. Approximately 59% of dwellings lacked a tap near the toilet for hand washing, and 14% of respondents suffered 1 or more attacks of diarrhea in the 2 weeks preceding their interview. E.coli counts of runoff environmental water samples ranged from 750 to 1 580 000 000 per 100 milliliters. Conclusions. A holistic and integrated approach is needed to improve housing quality and sanitation among Cape Town's low-income citizens. PMID:21566018

  7. Open Data in Global Environmental Research: Findings from the Community

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Van Honk, J.; Calero-Medina, C.; Costas, R.

    2016-07-01

    This paper presents findings from the Belmont Forum’s survey on Open Data which targeted the global environmental research and data infrastructure community (Schmidt, Gemeinholzer & Treloar, 2016). It highlights users’ perceptions of the term “open data”, expectations of infrastructure functionalities, and barriers and enablers for the sharing of data. A wide range of good practice examples was pointed out by the respondents which demonstrates a substantial uptake of data sharing through e-infrastructures and a further need for enhancement and consolidation. Among all policy responses, funder policies seem to be the most important motivator. This supports the conclusion that stronger mandates will strengthen the case for data sharing. The Belmont Forum, a group of high-level representatives from major funding agencies across the globe, coordinates funding for collaborative research to address the challenges and opportunities of global environmental change. In particular, the E-Infrastructure and Data Management Collaborative Research Action has brought together domain scientists, computer and information scientists, legal scholars, social scientists, and other experts from more than 14 countries to establish recommendations on how the Belmont Forum can implement a more coordinated, holistic, and sustainable approach to the funding and support of global environmental change research. (Author)

  8. Evaluating Housing Problems through Participatory Rural Appraisal ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Lokoja, a medium sized community in the Middle Belt of Nigeria experienced a massive influx of population in the last twelve years. This study examined housing problems that resulted thereafter. Through a participatory appraisal using group discussion and brainstorming, transect walk and matrix ranking, a sampled ...

  9. Collaborating with a social housing provider supports a large cohort study of the health effects of housing conditions

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Michael G. Baker

    2016-02-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Despite the importance of adequate, un-crowded housing as a prerequisite for good health, few large cohort studies have explored the health effects of housing conditions. The Social Housing Outcomes Worth (SHOW Study was established to assess the relationship between housing conditions and health, particularly between household crowding and infectious diseases. This paper reports on the methods and feasibility of using a large administrative housing database for epidemiological research and the characteristics of the social housing population. Methods This prospective open cohort study was established in 2003 in collaboration with Housing New Zealand Corporation which provides housing for approximately 5 % of the population. The Study measures health outcomes using linked anonymised hospitalisation and mortality records provided by the New Zealand Ministry of Health. Results It was possible to match the majority (96 % of applicant and tenant household members with their National Health Index (NHI number allowing linkage to anonymised coded data on their hospitalisations and mortality. By December 2011, the study population consisted of 11,196 applicants and 196,612 tenants. Half were less than 21 years of age. About two-thirds identified as Māori or Pacific ethnicity. Household incomes were low. Of tenant households, 44 % containing one or more smokers compared with 33 % for New Zealand as a whole. Exposure to household crowding, as measured by a deficit of one or more bedrooms, was common for applicants (52 % and tenants (38 % compared with New Zealanders as whole (10 %. Conclusions This project has shown that an administrative housing database can be used to form a large cohort population and successfully link cohort members to their health records in a way that meets confidentiality and ethical requirements. This study also confirms that social housing tenants are a highly deprived population with relatively low

  10. Supported Housing and Supported Independent Living in the Netherlands, with a Comparison with England

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    de Heer-Wunderink, Charlotte; Visser, Ellen; Caro-Nienhuis, Annemarie; Sytema, Sjoerd; Wiersma, Durk

    Research into community housing programs for people with severe mental illness is underexposed. The Dutch UTOPIA study describes characteristics of their service users, which may predict their allocation to either supported housing or supported independent living programs. Additionally, a comparison

  11. Autonomous houses. Autonomous house

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Tanaka, S. (Tokai University, Tokyo (Japan). Faculty of Engineering)

    1991-09-30

    Self-sufficiency type houses are outlined. On condition that people gain a certain amount of income in relation with the society, they self-suffice under the given environment, allowing themselves to accept a minimum of industrial products with small environmental load. Ordinary supply from outside of fossil energy and materials which depend on it is minimized. Types are classified into three: energy, energy materials and perfect self-sufficiency. A study project for environment symbiotic houses is progressing which is planned by the Ministry of Construction and Institute of Building Energy Conservation and is invested by a private company. Its target is making a house for halving an environmental load by CO{sub 2}, for the purpose of creating the environment symbiotic house which is nice to and in harmony with the global environment and human beings. As a part of the studies on energy-saving and resource conservation on houses, introduced is a plan of an autonomous house at Izu-Atagawa. The passive method and high thermal-insulation are used for air conditioning, and hot spring water for hot water supply. Electric power is generated by hydroelectric power generation using mountain streams and by solar cells. Staple food is purchased, while subsidiary food is sufficed. 17 refs., 4 figs., 1 tab.

  12. Teaching medicine with the help of "Dr. House".

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jerrentrup, Andreas; Mueller, Tobias; Glowalla, Ulrich; Herder, Meike; Henrichs, Nadine; Neubauer, Andreas; Schaefer, Juergen R

    2018-01-01

    TV series such as "House MD", "Grey´s Anatomy" or "Emergency Room" are well perceived by medical students. Seminars featuring medical TV series such as "House MD" might serve as door-opener to attract medical students to learn more about rare diseases. The TV series "House MD" is troublesome for the main character Dr. House is an excellent diagnostician but at the same time a rather misanthropic person. Therefore, lecturing medicine with the help of "House MD" requires constant evaluation. From 2008 to 2016 we are using the well-known TV series "House MD" continuously to attract medical students and teach them about rare diseases as well as diagnostic strategies. We collected from 213 students a detailed questionnaire assessing their learning experience. 76.6% of our students (n = 157) reported to watching medical dramas on a regular basis. The Dr. House seminar was compared to traditional seminars and our students reported an improved learning effect (69.9%), better concentration (89.7%), higher motivation to participate (88.7%), and more fun (86.7%) (all pHouse's behavior quite critically. Likert assessment on a 5-point scale identified strong disagreement with Dr. House´s interpersonal skills in dealing with his colleagues (median = 1) and patients (median = 1). At the same time, the students strongly agreed with his outstanding diagnostic (median = 5) and therapeutic capabilities (median = 4). Medical students visiting a Dr. House teaching seminar are highly motivated to learn more about rare diseases. They were positively influenced by TV series such as Dr. House to improve their diagnostic and clinical skills. At the same time, they are critical enough not to see Dr. House as a role model for their own personality. Well performed medical TV shows such as Dr. House can successfully be used in an educational setting to motivate medical students to come into seminars to learn more about rare diseases.

  13. Open hardware for open science

    CERN Multimedia

    CERN Bulletin

    2011-01-01

    Inspired by the open source software movement, the Open Hardware Repository was created to enable hardware developers to share the results of their R&D activities. The recently published CERN Open Hardware Licence offers the legal framework to support this knowledge and technology exchange.   Two years ago, a group of electronics designers led by Javier Serrano, a CERN engineer, working in experimental physics laboratories created the Open Hardware Repository (OHR). This project was initiated in order to facilitate the exchange of hardware designs across the community in line with the ideals of “open science”. The main objectives include avoiding duplication of effort by sharing results across different teams that might be working on the same need. “For hardware developers, the advantages of open hardware are numerous. For example, it is a great learning tool for technologies some developers would not otherwise master, and it avoids unnecessary work if someone ha...

  14. Logos, Ethos, Pathos, and Ecos: Neighborhood Housing Design Research and Development

    Science.gov (United States)

    Abell, John H.

    2010-01-01

    This article presents an overview of a community-based teaching and learning project linking sustainability, working family housing, neighborhood social capital, and urban design research and development. The article foregrounds principles and protocols that can be used to measure community effectiveness and it highlights a basis for further…

  15. Cash-Cow into the Purse of Malaysian Property Investors: Students Housing Investment

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zubairu Abubakar Ghani

    2017-08-01

    Full Text Available Growing demand for higher education (HE and increasing students enrolment in higher education institutions (HEI has been a global issue especially in the last three decades and housing the growing student population has become a dilemma for all concern HEIs stakeholders. Globally increasing demand for HE and enrolment has long been not corresponding with student housing supply. Most HEIs provide housing accommodation for a small proportion of their total students’ population while the majority depend on private rental sector for their alternative housing. In most of the HEIs neighbouring community residential houses were rented out to students. These houses are not sufficient to accommodate the teaming student population because the market is dominated by traditional small-scale private developers. However, with the continuing expansion and demand for HE, increasing enrolment and increasing students housing demand, the study highlighted and suggested for private investors to pull up and dig into student housing investment. This will ameliorate and fill the shortfall created by inadequacy of HEIs housing provision. Student housing investment is a resilient market, lucrative venture and guaranteed cash cow.

  16. Innova House - Ottawa`s advanced house

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NONE

    1996-01-31

    A pilot program was developed to provide the housing industry with a means to field test innovative technologies, products and building systems, and to evaluate their overall performance. Under Canada`s Advanced House Program, ten demonstration houses were designed, built and monitored. Ottawa`s Innova House, was one of the ten houses built for this program. The innovative energy saving features of the house included (1) air distribution with small diameter ducts and an electronically commutated motor, a 2.6 kW grid-connected photovoltaic system, (3) an energy recovery ventilator (ERV) with free-cooling mode, (4) a 94 per cent efficient integrated gas heating and hot water system, (5) airtight drywall construction, (6) CFC-free exterior insulation, (7) a natural-gas-engine heat pump for air conditioning, (8) a prototype sealed combustion gas range and clothes dryer, and (9) a manifold plumbing system to conserve water. It was designed to consume one half of the energy consumed in an R-2000 home and one third of the energy of a conventional house. Several of the mechanical elements did not perform at expected levels, (lower than expected efficiencies from the heating and cooling systems and a malfunctioning ERV), nevertheless, overall performance of the house was still very close to the targets. The construction and operation of the house was described. tabs., figs.

  17. System flexibility in the rehabilitation process of mentally disabled persons in a hostel that bridges between the hospital and the community.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Baloush-Kleinman, Vered; Schneidman, Michael

    2003-01-01

    Deinstitutionalization and community mental health services have become the focus of mental health care in the United States, Italy and England, and now in Israel. Tirat Carmel MHC developed an intervention model of organizational change implemented in a rehabilitation hostel. It is an interim service based on graduated transition from maintenance care to a transitional Half-way House, followed by a Transitional Living Skills Center oriented for independent community living. Of 205 rehabilitees who resided in the hostel since the beginning of the project, 138 were discharged to community residential settings: 67 patients were discharged to reinforced community hostels; 27 to sheltered housing and 23 to independent residential quarters; 7 patients were discharged to comprehensive hostels, 3 to old-age homes and 11 returned home to their families. In terms of employment, 79 were placed in sheltered employment facilities, 24 work in the open market and 3 returned to school; 22 work in therapeutic occupational settings and 10 patients discharged to comprehensive hostels and old-age homes are engaged in sheltered employment programs in those settings. The system flexibility model and the rehabilitation processes anchored in normalization supported the relocation of hospitalized psychiatric patients to community-based settings and enabled the rehabilitees to cope with readjustment to community life.

  18. Experiences with sound insulating open windows in traffic noise exposed housing

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Rasmussen, Birgit

    2015-01-01

    windows are open, not least to reduce sleep disturbance. Unfortunately, such window solutions are complicated and expensive and practical experience limited. Nevertheless, they have been included in some Danish projects. To support further development and use, experience from seven field cases......Sound insulating windows are widely used in traffic noise exposed residential areas to reduce indoor noise levels to acceptable levels. However, such windows are typically only designed to provide sound insulation in closed position, and many people prefer open windows parts of time for ventilation...... purposes, including during night, or simply because it’s a good feeling to have windows open to be in contact with the surroundings. High noise exposure can lead to adverse effects on comfort and health, and thus, there is a need for sound insulating open windows to reduce noise exposure in homes, when...

  19. Sacred Space in Community settlement of Kudus Kulon, Central Java, Indonesia

    Science.gov (United States)

    Budi Sardjono, Agung; Rochma Harani, Arnis

    2017-12-01

    The sacred space becomes an important part of the spatial layout of Javanese society, as well as in most houses of the archipelago. This space is related to religious activities, highly respected and usually located in the main place. Kudus Kulon community is a part of Javanese culture in the northern coastal area of Java. Known as a devout Muslim society, sacred space in Kudus Kulon community house becomes an important thing to understand the culture of living in society. The research was conducted by looking at the religious activities of the community and how the space of activity is realized. The research was conducted by qualitative research method. In the Kudus Kulon community, sacred spaces are available in the house itself, in the community grup of houses, and around Kudus Kulon area. In every house, the sacred space can be found in Gedongan and extends to Dalem. In the community group of houses, the sacred space can be found in the neighbourhood praying area, while In Kudus Kulon area, it can be found in Mosque complex and Tower tomb. Physically sacred space is realized by raising the floor height of the space around it. In architectural view, the sacred space is seen on the elevation of the roof or roof angle. Spatially the sacred space occupies a central position and visually represented by a vertical orientation.

  20. Open access, open education resources and open data in Uganda.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Salvo, Ivana Di; Mwoka, Meggie; Kwaga, Teddy; Rukundo, Priscilla Aceng; Ernest, Dennis Ssesanga; Osaheni, Louis Aikoriogie; John, Kasibante; Shafik, Kasirye; de Sousa, Agostinho Moreira

    2015-01-01

    As a follow up to OpenCon 2014, International Federation of Medical Students' Associations (IFMSA) students organized a 3 day workshop Open Access, Open Education Resources and Open Data in Kampala from 15-18 December 2014. One of the aims of the workshop was to engage the Open Access movement in Uganda which encompasses the scientific community, librarians, academia, researchers and students. The IFMSA students held the workshop with the support of: Consortium for Uganda University Libraries (CUUL), The Right to Research Coalition, Electronic Information for Libraries (EIFL), Makerere University, International Health Sciences University (IHSU), Pan African Medical Journal (PAMJ) and the Centre for Health Human Rights and Development (CEHURD). All these organizations are based or have offices in Kampala. The event culminated in a meeting with the Science and Technology Committee of Parliament of Uganda in order to receive the support of the Ugandan Members of Parliament and to make a concrete change for Open Access in the country.

  1. Community-Led Total Sanitation, Open Defecation Free Status, and Ebola Virus Disease in Lofa County, Liberia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Capps, Jean Meyer; Njiru, Haron; deVries, Pieter

    2017-01-01

    The Ebola virus disease (EVD) epidemic entered Liberia through Lofa County in February 2014 and spread to two health districts where the nongovernmental organization Global Communities had been implementing community-led total sanitation (CLTS) since 2012. By December 2014 the county had 928 Ebola cases (422 of them confirmed) and 648 deaths. Before the epidemic, CLTS was triggered in 155 communities, and 98 communities were certified as Open Defecation Free (ODF). Using mixed quantitative and qualitative methods, we determined that no cases of EVD were found in ODF communities and in only one CLTS community that had not reached ODF status. No differences were found between EVD and non-EVD communities in tribe, religion, ethnic group, or major sources of Ebola information. Radio was the most common source of information for all communities, but health workers were the most trusted information sources. CLTS ODF communities attributed their avoidance of EVD to Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene behaviors, especially hand washing with soap and disposal of feces that they learned from CLTS prior to the epidemic. Communities that got EVD blamed their strong initial resistance to Ebola response messages on their distrust that Ebola was real and their reliance on friends and family for advice. A strong inverse correlation between EVD and CLTS with or without ODF emerged from the regression analysis (R = -.6).

  2. Designing Low-Income Housing Using Local Architectural Concepts

    Science.gov (United States)

    Trumansyahjaya, K.; Tatura, L. S.

    2018-02-01

    The provision of houses for low-income people who do not have a home worthy of being one of the major problems in the city of Gorontalo, because the community in establishing the house only pay attention to their wants and needs in creating a healthy environment, the beauty of the city and the planning of the home environment in accordance with the culture of the people of Gorontalo. In relation to the condition, the focus of this research is the design of housing based on local architecture as residential house so that it can be reached by a group of low income people with house and environment form determined based on family development, social and economic development of society and environment which take into account the local culture. Stages of this research includes five (5) stages, including the identification phase characteristics Gorontalo people of low income, the characteristics of the identification phase house inhabited by low-income people, the stage of identification preference low-income households, the phase formation house prototype and the environment, as well as the stage of formation model home for low-income people. Analysis of the model homes for low-income people using descriptive analysis, Hierarchical Cluster Analysis, and discrimination analysis to produce a prototype of the house and its surroundings. The prototype is then reanalyzed to obtain the model home for low-income people in the city of Gorontalo. The shape of a model home can be used as a reference for developers of housing intended for low-income people so that housing is provided to achieve the goals and the desired target group.

  3. Public participation and marginalized groups: the community development model.

    Science.gov (United States)

    O'Keefe, Eileen; Hogg, Christine

    1999-12-01

    OBJECTIVES: To develop ways of reaching house-bound people and enabling them to give their views in planning and monitoring health and social care. STRATEGY: HealthLINK - a project based in a community health council - explored ways of involving older house-bound people in the London Borough of Camden, in planning and monitoring health and social care using community development techniques. RESULTS: HealthLINK set up an infrastructure to enable house-bound people to have access to information and to enable them to give their views. This resulted in access for health and local authorities to the views of house-bound older people and increased the self esteem and quality of life of those who became involved. CONCLUSIONS: Community development approaches that enable an infrastructure to be established may be an effective way of reaching marginalized communities. However, there are tensions in this approach between the different requirements for public involvement of statutory bodies and of users, and between representation of groups and listening to individual voices.

  4. Between Indoor and Outdoor. Norwegian Perceptions of Well-Being in Energy Efficient Housing

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Wågø, Solvår; Hauge, Bettina; Støa, Eli

    2017-01-01

    -energy building concepts are based on a rational approach to comfort in housing limited to mainly measurable aspects. This, however, hardly reflects what makes residents feel comfortable at home, since it lacks a holistic understanding of residential well-being. Well-being is a complex and multi-facetted concept...... that includes atmosphere and feeling at home. In a qualitative study of four Norwegian low-energy housing projects, we investigate and discuss the impact of visual and sensory qualities, like view, daylight and access to fresh air, on residential well-being. The study reveals that it is possible to achieve well-being...... in energy-efficient housing, but some practices jeopardize the energy- design concept and influence energy use. Residents find strategies to achieve well-being by opening windows and doors, despite restrictions on airing naturally. Access to daylight and view and the ability to open windows or balcony doors...

  5. Morphological operation based dense houses extraction from DSM

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Y.; Zhu, L.; Tachibana, K.; Shimamura, H.

    2014-08-01

    This paper presents a method of reshaping and extraction of markers and masks of the dense houses from the DSM based on mathematical morphology (MM). Houses in a digital surface model (DSM) are almost joined together in high-density housing areas, and most segmentation methods cannot completely separate them. We propose to label the markers of the buildings firstly and segment them into masks by watershed then. To avoid detecting more than one marker for a house or no marker at all due to its higher neighbour, the DSM is morphologically reshaped. It is carried out by a MM operation using the certain disk shape SE of the similar size to the houses. The sizes of the houses need to be estimated before reshaping. A granulometry generated by opening-by-reconstruction to the NDSM is proposed to detect the scales of the off-terrain objects. It is a histogram of the global volume of the top hats of the convex objects in the continuous scales. The obvious step change in the profile means that there are many objects of similar sizes occur at this scale. In reshaping procedure, the slices of the object are derived by morphological filtering at the detected continuous scales and reconstructed in pile as the dome. The markers are detected on the basis of the domes.

  6. Housing markets and housing policies in India

    OpenAIRE

    Tiwari, Piyush; Rao, Jyoti

    2016-01-01

    Issues of housing in India are synonymous with ignorance of housing in active government involvement at the policy and program formulation levels. They are also due to the problems that unplanned urbanization, income disparity, poverty, illiteracy, and unemployment brought. These issues extenuated the housing problem, causing a housing shortage of 51 million in 2011. Though India has a long history of establishing policies, programs, and institutions to cater to housing, without allocating ad...

  7. An Open Letter to the Cancer Community Regarding Community Clinical Trials

    Science.gov (United States)

    The National Cancer Institute (NCI) is in the process of combining its two community-based research networks to create a single network that builds on the strengths of the Community Clinical Oncology Program/Minority-Based Community Clinical Oncology Prog

  8. Balancing housing growth and land conservation: Conservation development preserves private lands near protected areas

    Science.gov (United States)

    Miranda H. Mockrin; Sarah E. Reed; Liba Pejchar; Jessica Salo

    2017-01-01

    Housing development has emerged as a primary driver of land-use change around the world. In the United States, there is particular concern about low-density residential development on rural lands, which often occurs in places with abundant natural amenities. Conservation development (CD), housing development that incorporates protected open space, has emerged as a tool...

  9. Las Cumbres Observatory Partners With Local Museums In “Experience The Eclipse” Community Program

    Science.gov (United States)

    Greenstreet, Sarah; Seale, Sandy; Rivera, Javier; Skinner, Ron

    2017-10-01

    Las Cumbres Observatory (LCO) in Goleta, California, together with the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History (SBMNH) and the Wolf Museum of Exploration & Innovation (MOXI) put together a community program called “Experience the Eclipse” for the month of August.The greater Santa Barbara community includes over 200,000 people and the city is known for its vibrant cultural life. Events featuring science, physics, and astronomy are very popular. In 2016, Javier Rivera, the Astronomy Program Manager of the SBMNH, and Ron Skinner, the Director of Education at MOXI, met with LCO to discuss planning a month of activities to educate the public about the Great American Eclipse. The vision was to capitalize on the strength of each organization and to share information and events.The events included daily planetarium shows and open houses at the observatory of the SBMNH. All three organizations gave parties at public venues with presentations by astronomers. Together the group purchased 6,000 pairs of eclipse viewer glasses and they shared the responsibility of distributing these to local schools and community groups. A master calendar of the events was published in local press outlets and a document describing the eclipse and safe viewing practices was distributed widely. Preparation of these materials was a joint effort among the three institutions.“Experience the Eclipse” was a great success. The open houses at SBMNH were well attended and all public events sold out very quickly. On August 21, the SBMNH presented a live feed of the eclipse taken from their own observatory.We will present photos and videos from these events, along with data on the attendance and quotes from enthusiastic participants.

  10. Exploring the Impacts of Housing Condition on Migrants’ Mental Health in Nanxiang, Shanghai: A Structural Equation Modelling Approach

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xiao, Yang; Sarkar, Chinmoy; Geng, Huizhi

    2018-01-01

    Although rapid urbanization and associated rural-to-urban migration has brought in enormous economic benefits in Chinese cities, one of the negative externalities include adverse effects upon the migrant workers’ mental health. The links between housing conditions and mental health are well-established in healthy city and community planning scholarship. Nonetheless, there has thusfar been no Chinese study deciphering the links between housing conditions and mental health accounting for macro-level community environments, and no study has previously examined the nature of the relationships in locals and migrants. To overcome this research gap, we hypothesized that housing conditions may have a direct and indirect effects upon mental which may be mediated by neighbourhood satisfaction. We tested this hypothesis with the help of a household survey of 368 adult participants in Nanxiang Town, Shanghai, employing a structural equation modeling approach. Our results point to the differential pathways via which housing conditions effect mental health in locals and migrants. For locals, housing conditions have direct effects on mental health, while as for migrants, housing conditions have indirect effects on mental health, mediated via neighborhood satisfaction. Our findings have significant policy implications on building an inclusive and harmonious society. Upstream-level community interventions in the form of sustainable planning and designing of migrant neighborhoods can promote sense of community, social capital and support, thereby improving mental health and overall mental capital of Chinese cities. PMID:29382174

  11. Exploring the Impacts of Housing Condition on Migrants’ Mental Health in Nanxiang, Shanghai: A Structural Equation Modelling Approach

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yang Xiao

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available Although rapid urbanization and associated rural-to-urban migration has brought in enormous economic benefits in Chinese cities, one of the negative externalities include adverse effects upon the migrant workers’ mental health. The links between housing conditions and mental health are well-established in healthy city and community planning scholarship. Nonetheless, there has thusfar been no Chinese study deciphering the links between housing conditions and mental health accounting for macro-level community environments, and no study has previously examined the nature of the relationships in locals and migrants. To overcome this research gap, we hypothesized that housing conditions may have a direct and indirect effects upon mental which may be mediated by neighbourhood satisfaction. We tested this hypothesis with the help of a household survey of 368 adult participants in Nanxiang Town, Shanghai, employing a structural equation modeling approach. Our results point to the differential pathways via which housing conditions effect mental health in locals and migrants. For locals, housing conditions have direct effects on mental health, while as for migrants, housing conditions have indirect effects on mental health, mediated via neighborhood satisfaction. Our findings have significant policy implications on building an inclusive and harmonious society. Upstream-level community interventions in the form of sustainable planning and designing of migrant neighborhoods can promote sense of community, social capital and support, thereby improving mental health and overall mental capital of Chinese cities.

  12. 24 CFR 982.608 - Congregate housing: Voucher housing assistance payment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-04-01

    ... Housing Types Congregate Housing § 982.608 Congregate housing: Voucher housing assistance payment. (a... 24 Housing and Urban Development 4 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Congregate housing: Voucher housing assistance payment. 982.608 Section 982.608 Housing and Urban Development Regulations Relating to Housing and...

  13. Screening for Housing Instability and Homelessness Among Families Undergoing Child Maltreatment Investigation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Farrell, Anne F; Dibble, Kate E; Randall, Kellie G; Britner, Preston A

    2017-09-01

    This paper reports results of mixed methods, population survey of housing instability, and homelessness. Child welfare personnel conducted the Quick Risks and Assets for Family Triage (QRAFT), a three-question screening tool intended to identify housing instability and homelessness. The QRAFT requires users to assess family housing history, current housing arrangement, and current housing condition, on a four-point scale from "asset/not a risk" to "severe risk." The QRAFT was completed among 6828 families undergoing new child maltreatment investigations. Approximately 5.4% of families demonstrated significant to severe housing problems; approximately one-third exhibited moderate housing risk. Housing problems and homelessness were significantly associated with the outcome of child welfare investigations; among families with substantiated child welfare determinations, 21% demonstrated significant to severe housing risk, a significantly higher proportion than among families where the investigation outcome was unsubstantiated or differential response (i.e., voluntary services). Of significant to severe housing risk families, 15.7% later met eligibility criteria for a supportive housing intervention, suggesting that housing concerns combined with substantial parent and child functional difficulties. Qualitative data indicated the QRAFT was perceived as easy to administer, effective as a screening tool, and useful to "apply the housing lens" early in child welfare involvement. © Society for Community Research and Action 2017.

  14. Opening science to the world; opening the world to science

    CERN Multimedia

    Andrew Purcell

    2015-01-01

    ‘Engaging the research community towards an Open Science Commons’ was the main theme of the European Grid Infrastructure (EGI) annual conference that was held in Lisbon from 18 to 22 May. At the conference, the EGI­Engage project was launched and the European Open Science Cloud was discussed.   Tiziana Ferrari, technical director of EGI.eu, speaks at the EGI Annual conference in Lisbon this year. The EGI­Engage project was launched during the opening session of the conference by Tiziana Ferrari, technical director of EGI.eu. This project, which has been funded through the EU’s Horizon 2020 Framework Programme for Research and Innovation, aims to accelerate progress towards the implementation of the Open Science Commons. It seeks to do so by expanding the capabilities of a European backbone of federated services for computing, storage, data, communication, knowledge and expertise, as well as related community­-specific capabilities. &l...

  15. Spatial and temporal distribution of house infestation by Triatoma infestans in the Toro Toro municipality, Potosi, Bolivia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Espinoza Echeverria, Jorge; Rodriguez, Antonio Nogales; Cortez, Mirko Rojas; Diotaiuti, Liléia Gonçalves; Gorla, David E

    2017-02-02

    Triatoma infestans is the main vector of Trypanosoma cruzi in Bolivia. The species is present both in domestic and peridomestic structures of rural areas, and in wild ecotopes of the Andean valleys and the Great Chaco. The identification of areas persistently showing low and high house infestation by the vector is important for the management of vector control programs. This study aimed at analyzing the temporal and spatial distribution of house infestation by T. infestans in the Toro Toro municipality (Potosi, Bolivia) between 2009 and 2014, and its association with environmental variables. House infestation and T. infestans density were calculated from entomological surveys of houses in the study area, using a fixed-time effort sampling technique. The spatial heterogeneity of house infestation was evaluated using the SatScan statistic. Association between house infestation with Bioclim variables (Worldclim database) and altitude was analyzed using a generalized linear model (GLM) with a logit link. Model selection was based on the Akaike information criteria after eliminating collinearity between variables using the variable inflation factor. The final model was used to create a probability map of house infestation for the Toro Toro municipality. A total of 73 communities and 16,489 house evaluation events were analyzed. Presence of T. infestans was recorded on 480 house evaluation events, giving an overall annual infestation of 2.9% during the studied period (range 1.5-5.4% in 2009 and 2012). Vector density remained at about 1.25 insects/ house. Infestation was highly aggregated in five clusters, including 11 communities. Relative risk of infestation within these clusters was 1.7-3.9 times the value for the regional average. Four environmental variables were identified as good descriptors of house infestation, explaining 57% of house infestation variability. The model allowed the estimation of a house infestation surface for the Toro Toro municipality. This

  16. OpenADR Open Source Toolkit: Developing Open Source Software for the Smart Grid

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    McParland, Charles

    2011-02-01

    Demand response (DR) is becoming an increasingly important part of power grid planning and operation. The advent of the Smart Grid, which mandates its use, further motivates selection and development of suitable software protocols to enable DR functionality. The OpenADR protocol has been developed and is being standardized to serve this goal. We believe that the development of a distributable, open source implementation of OpenADR will benefit this effort and motivate critical evaluation of its capabilities, by the wider community, for providing wide-scale DR services

  17. Community development planning

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gray, S.I.

    1983-01-01

    The focus of this paper will be methods of local community involvement in the community development planning efforts which will be required at the recommended sites. Community development planning will include capital improvement plans, housing plans, zoning changes, business development plans and other community service and fiscal plans required to meet the projected needs of new residents as a result of the repository construction and operation. This paper will present, (1) the need for community planning, (2) methods of responding to community planning needs, (3) current community planning issues to be addressed. 2 references, 1 figure

  18. A Conceptual Model of the Pasadena Housing System

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hirshberg, Alan S.; Barber, Thomas A.

    1971-01-01

    During the last 5 years, there have been several attempts at applying systems analysis to complex urban problems. This paper describes one such attempt by a multidisciplinary team of students, engineers, professors, and community representatives. The Project organization is discussed and the interaction of the different disciplines (the process) described. The two fundamental analysis questions posed by the Project were: "Why do houses deteriorate?" and "Why do people move?" The analysis of these questions led to the development of a conceptual system model of housing in Pasadena. The major elements of this model are described, and several conclusions drawn from it are presented.

  19. Housing and Health: The relationship between housing conditions ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    okanlawon

    2011-10-22

    Oct 22, 2011 ... Housing and Health: The relationship between housing ... The authors in chapter one, deal extensively with historical context of housing and health chronologically ... Housing and Health: Time Again for Public Health Action.

  20. Benefits and Issues of Open-Cut Coal Mining on the Socio-Economic Environment - The Iban Community in Mukah, Sarawak, Malaysia

    OpenAIRE

    Edward Lim

    2007-01-01

    This paper deals principally with the socio-economic impact on the local Iban community in Mukah Division, Sarawak; with the commencement of the open-cut coal mining industry since 2003. To-date there are no actual studies being carried out by either the public or private sector to truly analyze how the Iban community is coping with the advent of a large influx of cash into their society. The Iban community has traditionally been practicing shifting cultivation and farming of domesticated ani...

  1. A planning support system to optimize approval of private housing development projects

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hussnain, M. Q.; Wakil, K.; Waheed, A.; Tahir, A.

    2016-06-01

    Out of 182 million population of Pakistan, 38% reside in urban areas having an average growth rate of 1.6%, raising the urban housing demand significantly. Poor state response to fulfil the housing needs has resulted in a mushroom growth of private housing schemes (PHS) over the years. Consequently, only in five major cities of Punjab, there are 383 legal and 150 illegal private housing development projects against 120 public sector housing schemes. A major factor behind the cancerous growth of unapproved PHS is the prolonged and delayed approval process in concerned approval authorities requiring 13 months on average. Currently, manual and paper-based approaches are used for vetting and for granting the permission which is highly subjective and non-transparent. This study aims to design a flexible planning support system (PSS) to optimize the vetting process of PHS projects under any development authority in Pakistan by reducing time and cost required for site and documents investigations. Relying on the review of regulatory documents and interviews with professional planners and land developers, this study describes the structure of a PSS developed using open- source geo-spatial tools such as OpenGeo Suite, PHP, and PostgreSQL. It highlights the development of a Knowledge Module (based on regulatory documents) containing equations related to scheme type, size (area), location, access road, components of layout plan, planning standards and other related approval checks. Furthermore, it presents the architecture of the database module and system data requirements categorized as base datasets (built-in part of PSS) and input datasets (related to the housing project under approval). It is practically demonstrated that developing a customized PSS to optimize PHS approval process in Pakistan is achievable with geospatial technology. With the provision of such a system, the approval process for private housing schemes not only becomes quicker and user-friendly but also

  2. OpenGL Insights

    CERN Document Server

    Cozzi, Patrick

    2012-01-01

    Get Real-World Insight from Experienced Professionals in the OpenGL Community With OpenGL, OpenGL ES, and WebGL, real-time rendering is becoming available everywhere, from AAA games to mobile phones to web pages. Assembling contributions from experienced developers, vendors, researchers, and educators, OpenGL Insights presents real-world techniques for intermediate and advanced OpenGL, OpenGL ES, and WebGL developers. Go Beyond the Basics The book thoroughly covers a range of topics, including OpenGL 4.2 and recent extensions. It explains how to optimize for mobile devices, explores the design

  3. "We're just targeted as the flock that has HIV": health care experiences of members of the house/ball culture.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rowan, Diana; DeSousa, Maysa; Randall, Ethan Makai; White, Chelsea; Holley, Lamont

    2014-01-01

    The house/ball community is an understudied sub-group of young Black men who have sex with men and transgender persons in urban centers of the United States who affiliate in social structures called houses and gather at elaborate dance and performance events called balls. In Charlotte, North Carolina, 12 house/ball members were interviewed about their experiences with health care providers and their assessment of any barriers to care due to their affiliation with the rather clandestine house/ball sub-culture. Additionally, HIV-specific health care providers were interviewed, to assess their knowledge of the sub-culture. House/ball members reported both positive and negative perceptions of treatment by their health care providers with respect to their house/ball involvement. Some reported feeling stigmatized, especially around HIV status. Results showed that increased knowledge about the house/ball community could improve practitioners' cultural competence, thereby reducing stigma-related barriers to care.

  4. Community concepts.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yeung, Thomas; Bates, Tony

    2004-03-01

    Since the publication of "Sustainable Communities--building for the future", Government attention has focused largely on high-density affordable housing in the four "growth areas": Thames Gateway; Ashford; Milton Keynes--South Midlands, and London--Stansted--Cambridge. In this article, Thomas Yeung and Tony Bates suggest that a greater and more sustainable impact would be achieved if architects, planners, and developers considered the potential for community-based water and waste management and on-site energy generation and distribution right from the start of the project. In particular, they consider that the communal nature of hospitals, universities, and public/community housing provides a great opportunity for on-site renewable CHP and/or distributed heating, which could combine global environmental benefits with improved local amenities. They describe a simple model for prioritising energy management in the built environment, and draw on lessons learnt at ETRCL in Dagenham and BedZED in Surrey to offer a few recommendations for Government and developers. Tony Bates is the business development manager for Scott Wilson in the South East and is responsible for the promotion of sustainable communities through relationships with architects, developers, land owners and local authorities. Thomas Yeung leads the Energy Infrastructure Technologies group in Scott Wilson. This team offers an integrated approach to clean community-based energy generation, energy management, waste and water management, sustainable transport, and sustainable buildings/communities.

  5. Designing for Communities

    CERN Multimedia

    CERN. Geneva

    2011-01-01

    In 2008, Mark Boulton's small design firm won the project to redesign drupal.org home to the Drupal open source content management project and its community of over 400,000 users and developers. Designing for open source communities has its challenges: it is a developer-centric environment where discussion, debate and consensus rules and where design processes are often viewed sceptically. To help dispel some misconceptions behind the design process, Mark's team worked completely openly with the Drupal community - and broader the web design community - throughout the project. This talk will walk through some of the challenges and solutions for designing for large communities. Mark will share the successes - and the horror stories - of how a traditional design process was challenged every step of the way and how the Drupal community became an integral part of that new process. Mark and his team will be working with the Communication Group on an open project to r...

  6. [Impact of the crisis on the relationship between housing and health. Policies for good practice to reduce inequalities in health related to housing conditions].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Novoa, Ana M; Bosch, Jordi; Díaz, Fernando; Malmusi, Davide; Darnell, Mercè; Trilla, Carme

    2014-06-01

    Housing conditions can impact on physical and mental health through 4 interrelated dimensions: 1) the home (the emotional housing conditions), 2) the physical housing conditions, and 3) the physical environment, and 4) the social (community) environment of the neighborhood where the house is located. In Spain, the use of the construction market as an engine for economic growth and the promotion of private property as the main type of housing tenure has led to the use of housing as a speculative good instead of its being considered a first-necessity good. While Spain is the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) country with the largest housing stock per inhabitant, this stock is highly underutilized, thus excluding the most deprived sector of the population from access to housing. The impact of the current economic crisis on housing has mainly been due to a reduction in household income, which has increased the number of families or persons struggling to cover their housing costs or being evicted. Evidence indicates that this type of problem has a negative impact on health, especially on mental health, but financial problems also make it difficult to meet other basic needs such as eating. There are several instruments to reduce the impact of the economic crisis, such as debt financing or deed of assignment in payment. In the long-term, the creation of a social housing stock should be promoted, as well as rental assistance mechanisms. Copyright © 2013 SESPAS. Published by Elsevier Espana. All rights reserved.

  7. Application of building system in prototype house building in a sustainable community; Aplicacion de un sistema constructivo innovador en uan vivienda prototipo de una comunidad ecologica sustentable

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Garcia Chavez, J. R.

    2004-07-01

    This work presents a prototype house built in a typical rural community of Mexico, based on the application of innovative building system and materials, integrated with bioclimatic design principles and sustainable technologies. The objectives of this project are aimed at reducing construction costs whilst providing suitable indoor thermal comfort conditions for the occupants and high levels of self-sufficiency in energy, mainly electricity and gas L. P.; and of natural resources, such as water. Results have shown that the application of this approach is a promising alternative to reduce construction costs of housing whilst providing suitable indoor thermal comfort conditions for occupants, and improving their economy and quality of living as well as the environment of the region. This approach can also be applied to promote a beneficial multiple effect in the country, to reduce the high housing deficit, whilst reducing the severe environmental damage, meant to effectively promote sustainability for the existing and new generation of the new millennium. (Author)

  8. Public Housing in the Post-Socialist States of Central and Eastern Europe: Decline and an Open Future

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Lux, Martin; Sunega, Petr

    2014-01-01

    Roč. 29, č. 4 (2014), s. 501-519 ISSN 0267-3037 R&D Projects: GA ČR(CZ) GAP404/12/1446 Institutional support: RVO:68378025 Keywords : housing policy * post- social ist states * housing privatization Subject RIV: AO - Sociology, Demography Impact factor: 0.991, year: 2014

  9. Integrating housing and long-term care services for the elderly: a social marketing approach.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Moore, S T

    1991-01-01

    Subsidized senior high-rise apartments have tended to neglect the needs of an increasingly aged and frail resident population. Research demonstrates that this population has greater unmet needs than elderly who reside in traditional community housing. This paper makes the case for a vertically integrated marketing approach to serving the elderly. Such an approach would combine housing and community based long-term care services into a single system of care. Enriched senior high-rise apartments are a viable alternative for elders who need assistance in order to maintain an independent lifestyle.

  10. Easy to open? Exploring the 'openability' of hospital food and beverage packaging by older adults.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bell, Alison F; Walton, Karen L; Tapsell, Linda C

    2016-03-01

    Food is increasingly a packaged commodity, both in the community and in institutionalised settings such as hospitals, where many older people are malnourished. Previous research with patients aged over 65 years in NSW public hospitals identified difficulties opening milk, water, juices, cereal and tetra packs. The aim of this paper was to assess the ability of well older people living in the community to open food and beverage items routinely used in NSW hospitals in order to gain further insights into the older person/pack interaction and the role of hand and finger strength in pack opening. A sample of 40 older people in good health aged over 65 years from 3 community settings participated in the study. The attempts at pack opening were observed, the time taken to open the pack was measured and the correlation between grip and pinch strengths with opening times was determined. Tetra packs, water bottles, cereal, fruit cups, desserts, biscuits and cheese portions appeared to be the most difficult food products to open. Ten percent of the sample could not open the water bottles and 39% could not open cheese portions. The results were consistent with the previous research involving hospitalised older adults, adding emphasis to the conclusion that food and beverage packaging can be a potential barrier to adequate nutrition when particular types of packaged products are used in hospitals or the community. The ageing population is rapidly becoming a larger and more important group to consider in the provision of goods and services. Designers, manufacturers and providers of food and beverage products need to consider the needs and abilities of these older consumers to ensure good 'openability' and promote adequate nutritional intakes. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  11. Critical Review on Hotel Tax over Boarding House from the Perspective of Islamic Equality Principle

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Khoirul Hidayah

    2017-08-01

    Full Text Available Perception of community are the regulation about tax of hotel in boarding house over 10 (ten rooms in The Law No. 28 of 2009 about The Region Tax and Retribution is unclear and unfair. The problems are what are the nature meaning of hotel and boarding house services, second, analize tax of hotel in boarding house by fairness perspective. The research method is normative research with modern interpretation and fairness theory. The result are the nature meaning of hotel and boarding house services are differences. The regulation about tax of hotel in boarding house over 10 (ten rooms is unfair.

  12. City of Ljubljana: Its housing, population and housing conditions

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Maša Filipovič

    2007-01-01

    Full Text Available The article gives an overview of key aspect of housing in Municipality of Ljubljana. The characteristics of households, of housing and their relation influence the housing situation in the city. Characteristic of housing refer mainly to quality of the dwellings, affordability and correspondence to the wishes of the inhabitants. The second important dimensions are households and their characteristics. In Europe and Slovenia increase in number of household can be observed, which in turn are becoming smaller. The housing policy has a role in establishing a balance between households and housing, i.e. ensuring that housing corresponds to the needs of individual households and to their number. For achieving this, knowledge and appropriate data are of vital importance. In the article we present the results of the Housing survey 2005. We observe housing conditions in a comparative perspective (Ljubljana in comparison to Maribor, Slovenia and selected European cities and according to three dimensions: housing fund, households and housing conditions.

  13. Integrated decision-making about housing, energy and wellbeing: a qualitative system dynamics model.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Macmillan, Alexandra; Davies, Michael; Shrubsole, Clive; Luxford, Naomi; May, Neil; Chiu, Lai Fong; Trutnevyte, Evelina; Bobrova, Yekatherina; Chalabi, Zaid

    2016-03-08

    The UK government has an ambitious goal to reduce carbon emissions from the housing stock through energy efficiency improvements. This single policy goal is a strong driver for change in the housing system, but comes with positive and negative "unintended consequences" across a broad range of outcomes for health, equity and environmental sustainability. The resulting policies are also already experiencing under-performance through a failure to consider housing as a complex system. This research aimed to move from considering disparate objectives of housing policies in isolation to mapping the links between environmental, economic, social and health outcomes as a complex system. We aimed to support a broad range of housing policy stakeholders to improve their understanding of housing as a complex system through a collaborative learning process. We used participatory system dynamics modelling to develop a qualitative causal theory linking housing, energy and wellbeing. Qualitative interviews were followed by two interactive workshops to develop the model, involving representatives from national and local government, housing industries, non-government organisations, communities and academia. More than 50 stakeholders from 37 organisations participated. The process resulted in a shared understanding of wellbeing as it relates to housing; an agreed set of criteria against which to assess to future policy options; and a comprehensive set of causal loop diagrams describing the housing, energy and wellbeing system. The causal loop diagrams cover seven interconnected themes: community connection and quality of neighbourhoods; energy efficiency and climate change; fuel poverty and indoor temperature; household crowding; housing affordability; land ownership, value and development patterns; and ventilation and indoor air pollution. The collaborative learning process and the model have been useful for shifting the thinking of a wide range of housing stakeholders towards a more

  14. A web community to foster science in developing countries: www.ictp.it

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Canessa, E [Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics, Trieste (Italy); Fonda, E; Zennaro, M; Sreenivasan, K R [Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics, Trieste (Italy)

    2005-01-01

    The experiences with the new ICTP website, aiming to satisfy the needs of a modem and appealing image as well as provide tailored on-line information and services to its scientists (in-house and around the world), are discussed as a case-study of an emerging web-based international community. This approach, which to our knowledge has not been similarly employed by the scientific community in the past, keeps in mind the special audience and the uniqueness of the ICTP scientific structure and organization. The present approach is a decentralized architecture that offers space and freedom for creativity specific to various scientific programs, while managing a minimal amount of common structure. The new website was developed using open source technologies and web standards certified by W3C. (author)

  15. Health care waste management in community-based care: experiences of community health workers in low resource communities in South Africa

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lydia Hangulu

    2017-05-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background In South Africa, community health workers (CHWs working in community-based care (CBC programmes provide care to patients most of whom are living with HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis (TB. Although studies have shown that the caregiving activities provided by the CHWs generate health care waste (HCW, there is limited information about the experiences of CHWs on health care waste management (HCWM in CBC. This study explored HCWM in CBC in Durban, South Africa from the perspectives CHWs. Methods We used three ethnographic approaches to collect data: focus group discussions, participant observations and informal discussions. Data was collected from 85 CHWs working in 29 communities in the Durban metropolis, South Africa. Data collection took place from July 2013 to August 2014. Results CHWs provided nursing care activities to patients many of whom were incontinent or bedridden. Some the patients were living with HIV/AIDS/TB, stroke, diabetes, asthma, arthritis and high blood pressure. These caregiving activities generate sharps and infectious waste but CHWs and family members did not segregate HCW according to the risk posed as stipulated by the HCWM policy. In addition, HCW was left with domestic waste. Major barriers to proper HCWM identified by CHWs include, lack of assistance from family members in assisting patients to use the toilet or change diapers and removing HCW from homes, irregular waste collection by waste collectors, inadequate water for practicing hygiene and sanitation, long distance between the house and the toilets and poor conditions of communal toilets and pit latrines. As a result of these barriers, HCW was illegally dumped along roads or in the bush, burnt openly and buried within the yards. Liquid HCW such as vomit, urine and sputum were disposed in open spaces near the homes. Conclusion Current policies on primary health care (PHC and HCWM in South Africa have not paid attention to HCWM. Findings suggest the

  16. Energy house - dream house

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    1981-07-01

    An energy house a prefabricated house with an extensive minimization of heat losses, is air-conditioned by means of a combined heating system consisting of hot water cycle and recirculating heating. The energy system is trivalent: wind power, solar energy with heat pumps and normal oil heating.

  17. Entering and exiting behaviour of the phlebotomine sand fly Lutzomyia longiflocosa (Diptera: Psychodidae in rural houses of the sub-Andean region of Colombia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Raúl Hernando Pardo

    Full Text Available The present study identified the entering and exiting sites for Lutzomyia longiflocosa in rural houses of the sub-Andean region in Colombia. Entering sites were identified with sticky traps set up outside the bedrooms, around the eave openings, and with cage traps enclosing the slits in the doors and windows inside the bedrooms. Exiting sites were identified by releasing groups of females indoors. These females were blood fed and marked with fluorescent powders. Females were recaptured with the trap placement described above but set up on the opposite sides of the openings. In the entering experiment, a significantly higher number of females were captured in the sticky traps at the zone nearest the eave openings (n = 142 than those captured in the other zones of the trap (n = 52; similarly, a higher number of females were captured on the front side of the house (n = 105 than at the rear side (n = 37. Only two females were collected in the cage trap. In the exiting experiment, at the ceiling, the highest percentage (86.2% of females was recaptured with sticky traps nearest the eave openings and on the front side of the house (70.0%. Seven females were collected in the cage trap. Lu. longiflocosa entered and exited houses primarily through the eave openings in a non-random pattern in relation to the sides of the house.

  18. Entering and exiting behaviour of the phlebotomine sand fly Lutzomyia longiflocosa (Diptera: Psychodidae) in rural houses of the sub-Andean region of Colombia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pardo, Raúl Hernando; Santamaría, Erika; Cabrera, Olga Lucia

    2017-01-01

    The present study identified the entering and exiting sites for Lutzomyia longiflocosa in rural houses of the sub-Andean region in Colombia. Entering sites were identified with sticky traps set up outside the bedrooms, around the eave openings, and with cage traps enclosing the slits in the doors and windows inside the bedrooms. Exiting sites were identified by releasing groups of females indoors. These females were blood fed and marked with fluorescent powders. Females were recaptured with the trap placement described above but set up on the opposite sides of the openings. In the entering experiment, a significantly higher number of females were captured in the sticky traps at the zone nearest the eave openings (n = 142) than those captured in the other zones of the trap (n = 52); similarly, a higher number of females were captured on the front side of the house (n = 105) than at the rear side (n = 37). Only two females were collected in the cage trap. In the exiting experiment, at the ceiling, the highest percentage (86.2%) of females was recaptured with sticky traps nearest the eave openings and on the front side of the house (70.0%). Seven females were collected in the cage trap. Lu. longiflocosa entered and exited houses primarily through the eave openings in a non-random pattern in relation to the sides of the house.

  19. Full-service concept for energy efficient renovation of single-family houses

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Vanhoutteghem, Lies; Tommerup, Henrik M.; Svendsen, Svend

    2011-01-01

    the solutions. Such one-stop-shops in the form of full-service providers of energy efficient renovation of single-family house are missing in the Nordic countries, although this service is vital to open up the market. As part of the Nordic research project `SuccesFamilies´ with the purpose to change...... houses. A one-stop-shop in the form of a full-service concept could be seen as a possibility to make it easy for the homeowner to comply with possible future requirements to realize far-reaching energy savings in connection with extensive renovations, provided that the building sector offers...... includes an ideal full-service concept and technical renovation solutions targeted to different types of single-family houses....

  20. Linking social and built environmental factors to the health of public housing residents: a focus group study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hayward, Erin; Ibe, Chidinma; Young, Jeffery Hunter; Potti, Karthya; Jones, Paul; Pollack, Craig Evan; Gudzune, Kimberly A

    2015-04-10

    Public housing residents have a high risk of chronic disease, which may be related to neighborhood environmental factors. Our objective was to understand how public housing residents perceive that the social and built environments might influence their health and wellbeing. We conducted focus groups of residents from a low-income public housing community in Baltimore, MD to assess their perceptions of health and neighborhood attributes, resources, and social structure. Focus groups were audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim. Two investigators independently coded transcripts for thematic content using editing style analysis technique. Twenty-eight residents participated in six focus groups. All were African American and the majority were women. Most had lived in public housing for more than 5 years. We identified four themes: public housing's unhealthy physical environment limits health and wellbeing, the city environment limits opportunities for healthy lifestyle choices, lack of trust in relationships contributes to social isolation, and increased neighborhood social capital could improve wellbeing. Changes in housing and city policies might lead to improved environmental health conditions for public housing residents. Policymakers and researchers may consider promoting community cohesiveness to attempt to empower residents in facilitating neighborhood change.

  1. High-throughput metagenomic technologies for complex microbial community analysis: open and closed formats.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhou, Jizhong; He, Zhili; Yang, Yunfeng; Deng, Ye; Tringe, Susannah G; Alvarez-Cohen, Lisa

    2015-01-27

    Understanding the structure, functions, activities and dynamics of microbial communities in natural environments is one of the grand challenges of 21st century science. To address this challenge, over the past decade, numerous technologies have been developed for interrogating microbial communities, of which some are amenable to exploratory work (e.g., high-throughput sequencing and phenotypic screening) and others depend on reference genes or genomes (e.g., phylogenetic and functional gene arrays). Here, we provide a critical review and synthesis of the most commonly applied "open-format" and "closed-format" detection technologies. We discuss their characteristics, advantages, and disadvantages within the context of environmental applications and focus on analysis of complex microbial systems, such as those in soils, in which diversity is high and reference genomes are few. In addition, we discuss crucial issues and considerations associated with applying complementary high-throughput molecular technologies to address important ecological questions. Copyright © 2015 Zhou et al.

  2. Radionuclides in house dust

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Fry, F A; Green, N; Dodd, N J; Hammond, D J

    1985-04-01

    Discharges of radionuclides from the British Nuclear Fuel plc (BNFL) reprocessing plant at Sellafield in Cumbria have led to elevated concentrations radionuclides in the local environment. The major routes of exposure of the public are kept under review by the appropriate authorising Government departments and monitoring is carried out both by the departments and by BNFL itself. Recently, there has been increasing public concern about general environmental contamination resulting from the discharges and, in particular, about possible exposure of members of the public by routes not previously investigated in detail. One such postulated route of exposure that has attracted the interest of the public, the press and Parliament arises from the presence of radionuclides within houses. In view of this obvious and widespread concern, the Board has undertaken a sampling programme in a few communities in Cumbria to assess the radiological significance of this source of exposure. From the results of our study, we conclude that, although radionuclides originating rom the BNFL site can be detected in house dust, this source of contamination is a negligible route of exposure for members of the public in West Cumbria. This report presents the results of the Board's study of house dust in twenty homes in Cumbria during the spring and summer of 1984. A more intensive investigation is being carried out by Imperial College. (author)

  3. Permanent Housing for Child Welfare-Involved Families: Impact on Child Maltreatment Overview.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fowler, Patrick J; Schoeny, Michael

    2017-09-01

    A longitudinal randomized controlled trial tested whether access to permanent housing reduces child maltreatment among inadequately housed families under investigation for child abuse and neglect. The study followed homeless and child welfare-involved families randomly assigned to receive a referral for housing subsidies plus housing case management (n = 75, 196 children) or housing case management alone (n = 75, 186 children). Latent growth models examined change in caregiver-reported frequencies of psychological aggression, physical abuse, and neglect toward children at five time points across 2.5 years. Intent-to-treat analyses suggested treatment differences for minor assault and neglect that approached significance; families randomly assigned to permanent housing plus case management exhibited marginally greater declines compared to families referred for housing case management only. Caregiver psychological aggression remained high over time, regardless of treatment condition. No evidence indicated higher risk families benefitted more from permanent housing. Results show some promise of permanent housing and highlight the complex needs of homeless families under investigation for child maltreatment. Findings emphasize the importance of continued involvement from the child welfare system to connect families with important resources. © Society for Community Research and Action 2017.

  4. Ideological leaning and praxis of housing co-operatives in South Africa: Matters arising

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Richard Jimoh

    2013-06-01

    Full Text Available Social movements came about as a result of dissatisfaction felt by society from the status quo. They present their grievances through demonstrations, strikes, riots, occupation of land, boycott of business or by the development of social and economic alternatives such as self-help schemes or saving clubs. In South Africa, people join housing co-operatives because it takes a long time to wait for the Reconstruction Development Project (RDP houses promised by the Government. The leaning of 5 housing co-operatives was examined within the context of ideology and praxis that are components of triad model. This was done through multi-case study whereby the chairpersons of the housing co-operatives were interviewed using structured interview format. Findings from the study indicated that all the housing co-operatives were not open and voluntary; also, the housing co-operatives were not administered the same way. In all, efforts were put in by the housing co-operatives in engendering the ideology of co-operatives on one hand and the government on the other hand in providing the necessary subsidy so that the gap in the housing deficit could be bridged since this fitted its policy on housing

  5. Ideological leaning and praxis of housing co-operatives in South Africa: Matters arising

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Richard Jimoh

    2013-06-01

    Full Text Available Social movements came about as a result of dissatisfaction felt by society from the status quo. They present their grievances through demonstrations, strikes, riots, occupation of land, boycott of business or by the development of social and economic alternatives such as self-help schemes or saving clubs. In South Africa, people join housing co-operatives because it takes a long time to wait for the Reconstruction Development Project (RDP houses promised by the Government. The leaning of 5 housing co-operatives was examined within the context of ideology and praxis that are components of triad model. This was done through multi-case study whereby the chairpersons of the housing co-operatives were interviewed using structured interview format. Findings from the study indicated that all the housing co-operatives were not open and voluntary; also, the housing co-operatives were not administered the same way. In all, efforts were put in by the housing co-operatives in engendering the ideology of co-operatives on one hand and the government on the other hand in providing the necessary subsidy so that the gap in the housing deficit could be bridged since this fitted its policy on housing.

  6. Open fireplace furnace as an adequate heating system

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Terbrack, E.

    The fireplace furnace is a furnace for the open fireplace. It is connected to the existing fuel-oil or gas central heating and is used for house heating and warm water preparation when the fire in the fireplace is on. It combines the romanticism of the open fireplace with the necessity of saving fuel oil and gas, ensuring heat supply.

  7. Housing, income support and mental health: Points of disconnection

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Csiernik Rick

    2007-12-01

    Full Text Available Abstract There exists a disconnection between evolving policies in the policy arenas of mental health, housing, and income support in Canada. One of the complexities associated with analysing the intersection of these policies is that federal, provincial, and municipal level policies are involved. Canada is one of the few developed countries without a national mental health policy and because of the federal policy reforms of the 1970s, the provincial governments now oversee the process of deinstitutionalization from the hospital to the community level. During this same period the availability of affordable housing has decreased as responsibility for social housing has been transfered from the federal government to the provincial and/or municipal levels of government. Canada also stands alone in terms of being a developed nation without national housing policy instead what is considered "affordable" housing is partially dependant upon individuals' personal economic resources. As well, over the past decade rates of income supports have also been reduced. Psychiatric survivors have long been identified as being at risk for homelessness, with the disconnection existing between housing, income and mental health policies and the lack of a national policy in any of these policies areas further contributing to this risk.

  8. Re-design, re-use and recycle of temporary houses

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Arslan, Hakan [Department of Construction, Faculty of Technical Education, University of Abant Izzet Baysal, Duzce 81100 (Turkey)

    2007-01-15

    Disasters are recurring to global problems, which results in homelessness. The affected region had economical, environmental and social problems as well. In relief and reconstruction phases, the need for integrated management appeared in order to use the national sources actively and productively. Especially housing implementations had an important role for future development of the affected region. For accelerating the reconstruction of the region and forming a sustainable community, which maintains itself socially, environmentally and economically over time; energy usage for construction should be kept to a minimum. Past research in Turkey shows that the cost of temporary houses (to be used as the short term shelter) had a ratio of 10-15% of the total expenses of whole construction activity. For saving money and protecting the environment and conserving scarce resources, the affected region must consider the option of temporary houses to meet their short and long-term need during the reconstruction process. After the end of usage, temporary houses should be able to be re-used for the same or new function. This study is a test of re-design and re-use of a temporary housing site; by using recycled materials, minimum energy and voluntary participation so that this site can finally become a permanent housing site. (author)

  9. Community Engagement for Collective Resilience: The Rising System

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-09-01

    Threat: Congressional Research Service, 2011. 43 Eileen Sullivan, “New White House Strategy to Hit Violent Extremism,” Associated Press, August 3, 2011...Yvonne Lewis, Ella Greene-Moton, Jo Anne Grunbaum, and Barbara Gray , “Community Engagement in Preventive Research: The Centers for Disease Control and...Community Policing Evaluation Consortium, 2004. Sullivan, Eileen . “New White House Strategy to Hit Violent Extremism,” Associated Press, August 3

  10. Social factors affect motor and anxiety behaviors in the animal model of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorders: A housing-style factor.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tsai, Meng-Li; Kozłowska, Anna; Li, Yu-Sheng; Shen, Wen-Ling; Huang, Andrew Chih Wei

    2017-08-01

    The present study examines whether housing style (e.g., single housing, same-strain-grouped housing, and different-strain-grouped housing) and rat strain (e.g., spontaneous hypertension rats [SHR] and Wistar-Kyoto rats [WKY]) mediate motor function and anxiety behavior in the open field task. From week 4 through week 10 following birth, the rats were measured 30min for locomotor activity and anxiety once per week in the open field task. The SHR rats exhibited hyperactivity in total distance traveled and movement time to form the animal model of ADHD. The SHR rats spent more time inside the square and crossed the inside-outside line more often than the WKY rats, indicating the SHR rats exhibited less anxiety behavior. The different-strain-grouped housing style (but neither the same-strain-grouped housing style nor the single housing style) decreased total distance traveled and facilitated anxiety behavior. The motor function was negatively correlated with anxiety behavior for SHR rats but not for WKY rats. Housing styles had a negative correlation between motor function and anxiety behavior. The present findings provide some insights regarding how social factors (such as housing style) affect motor function and anxiety behavior related to ADHD in a clinical setting. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

  11. Converging free and open source software tools for knowledge sharing in smallholder agricultural communities in Sri Lanka

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Chandana Kumara Jayathilake

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available In a world where the notion of ‘sharing of knowledge’ has been gained much prominence in the recent past, the importance of information and communications technologies (ICTs to promote sustainable agriculture, especially when combined with mobile and open source software technologies is discussed critically. On this rationale, this study was carried out to explore the applicability of the concept of converging ‘Free and Open Source Software (FOSS’ to promote sustainable knowledge sharing amongst the agricultural communities in Sri Lanka. A multi-stage community consultative process with a set of designated officials (“Sponsors” and a series of semi-structured questionnaire survey with a cross section of smallholder agriculture farmers (n=246, were carried out in the Batticaloa, Kurunegala and Puttalam districts to gather the baseline data. This was followed by a number of field experiments (“Campaigns” with the farmers (n=340 from same geographical areas. The two FOSS, namely: (1 “FrontlineSMS” for ‘Text Messaging’ and (2 “FreedomFone” for ‘Interactive Voice Responses’, were applied to evaluate the effectiveness of knowledge sharing within the farming communities. It was found that FOSS intervention increases the ‘Text messaging’ and ‘Voice Call’ usage in day-to-day agricultural communication by 26 and 8 percent, respectively. The demographic factors like age and income level of the farmers has positively influence on the knowledge sharing process. And also the ‘Mobile Telephony’ was the most extensive mode of communication within the communities. The outcome of analysis, as a whole, implies that, with a fitting mechanism in place, this approach can be promoted as a “drive for positive changes” in agriculture-based rural communities in developing countries like Sri Lanka, and those in South and East Asia with similar socio-economic and cultural perspectives.

  12. Beyond engagement in working with children in eight Nairobi slums to address safety, security, and housing: Digital tools for policy and community dialogue.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mitchell, Claudia; Chege, Fatuma; Maina, Lucy; Rothman, Margot

    2016-01-01

    This article studies the ways in which researchers working in the area of health and social research and using participatory visual methods might extend the reach of participant-generated creations such as photos and drawings to engage community leaders and policy-makers. Framed as going 'beyond engagement', the article explores the idea of the production of researcher-led digital dialogue tools, focusing on one example, based on a series of visual arts-based workshops with children from eight slums in Nairobi addressing issues of safety, security, and well-being in relation to housing. The authors conclude that there is a need for researchers to embark upon the use of visual tools to expand the life and use of visual productions, and in particular to ensure meaningful participation of communities in social change.

  13. The Effects of Quality of Life and Ability to Perform Activities of Daily Living on Mild Cognitive Impairment in Older People Living in Publicly Managed Congregate Housing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chang, Chun-Feng; Yang, Rea-Jeng; Chang, Shu-Fang; Chou, Yuan Hwa; Huang, Ean-Wen

    2017-06-01

    Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is characterized by a decrease in cognitive abilities that does not affect the ability to perform activities of daily living (ADLs). Therefore, this condition is easily overlooked. The prevalence and factors of influence for MCI in older people living in publicly managed congregate housing are currently unknown. This study investigated the prevalence and distribution of MCI in older people living in publicly managed congregate housing and assessed the correlations among quality of life (QoL), ADL, and MCI. This study applied a correlational study design. The participants were older people who met the study criteria and who lived in public housing in Wanhua District, Taipei City, Taiwan. One-on-one interviews were conducted to measure the cognitive abilities of the participants, and 299 valid samples were collected. The prevalence of MCI in older people living in publicly managed congregate housing was 16.1%. The χ test was employed to evaluate the distribution of MCI prevalence and indicated that the group with higher MCI prevalence exhibited the following characteristics: older than 81 years; married; lived in public housing for more than 20 years; cohabiting; had a history of drinking; and exhibited severe memory regression, physical disabilities, psychological distress, and low QoL. The difference between the groups achieved statistical significance (p < .05). After performing logistical regression analysis to control demographic variables, we found that QoL and ADL were critical for predicting MCI. This study confirmed that QoL and ADL correlate significantly with MCI in older people. Maintaining an open and supportive community enables older people to maintain sufficient mental activity, which has been shown to reduce MCI. These findings may provide an important reference for policy makers, educators, researchers, and community practitioners in their development of service strategies for older people.

  14. Mastering Everyday Life in Ordinary Housing for People with Psychiatric Disabilities

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rosita Brolin

    2016-06-01

    Full Text Available The aim of this study was to develop a classic grounded theory about people who have psychiatric disabilities and live in ordinary housing with housing support. Interviews and observations during the interviews were analyzed, and secondary analyses of data from previous studies were performed. The impossible mission in everyday life emerged as the main concern and mastering everyday life as the pattern of behavior through which they deal with this concern. Mastering everyday life can be seen as a process, which involves identifying, organizing, tackling, challenging and boosting. Before the process is started, avoiding is used to deal with the main concern. The community support worker, providing housing support, constitutes an important facilitator during the process, and the continuity of housing support is a prerequisite for the process to succeed. If the process mastering everyday life is interrupted by, for example, changes in housing support, the strategy of avoiding is used.

  15. Closing gaps between open software and public data in a hackathon setting: User-centered software prototyping.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Busby, Ben; Lesko, Matthew; Federer, Lisa

    2016-01-01

    In genomics, bioinformatics and other areas of data science, gaps exist between extant public datasets and the open-source software tools built by the community to analyze similar data types.  The purpose of biological data science hackathons is to assemble groups of genomics or bioinformatics professionals and software developers to rapidly prototype software to address these gaps.  The only two rules for the NCBI-assisted hackathons run so far are that 1) data either must be housed in public data repositories or be deposited to such repositories shortly after the hackathon's conclusion, and 2) all software comprising the final pipeline must be open-source or open-use.  Proposed topics, as well as suggested tools and approaches, are distributed to participants at the beginning of each hackathon and refined during the event.  Software, scripts, and pipelines are developed and published on GitHub, a web service providing publicly available, free-usage tiers for collaborative software development. The code resulting from each hackathon is published at https://github.com/NCBI-Hackathons/ with separate directories or repositories for each team.

  16. The Synthetic Biology Open Language (SBOL) provides a community standard for communicating designs in synthetic biology.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Galdzicki, Michal; Clancy, Kevin P; Oberortner, Ernst; Pocock, Matthew; Quinn, Jacqueline Y; Rodriguez, Cesar A; Roehner, Nicholas; Wilson, Mandy L; Adam, Laura; Anderson, J Christopher; Bartley, Bryan A; Beal, Jacob; Chandran, Deepak; Chen, Joanna; Densmore, Douglas; Endy, Drew; Grünberg, Raik; Hallinan, Jennifer; Hillson, Nathan J; Johnson, Jeffrey D; Kuchinsky, Allan; Lux, Matthew; Misirli, Goksel; Peccoud, Jean; Plahar, Hector A; Sirin, Evren; Stan, Guy-Bart; Villalobos, Alan; Wipat, Anil; Gennari, John H; Myers, Chris J; Sauro, Herbert M

    2014-06-01

    The re-use of previously validated designs is critical to the evolution of synthetic biology from a research discipline to an engineering practice. Here we describe the Synthetic Biology Open Language (SBOL), a proposed data standard for exchanging designs within the synthetic biology community. SBOL represents synthetic biology designs in a community-driven, formalized format for exchange between software tools, research groups and commercial service providers. The SBOL Developers Group has implemented SBOL as an XML/RDF serialization and provides software libraries and specification documentation to help developers implement SBOL in their own software. We describe early successes, including a demonstration of the utility of SBOL for information exchange between several different software tools and repositories from both academic and industrial partners. As a community-driven standard, SBOL will be updated as synthetic biology evolves to provide specific capabilities for different aspects of the synthetic biology workflow.

  17. New frontiers in open innovation

    CERN Document Server

    Vanhaverbeke, Wim; West, Joel

    2014-01-01

    Companies have to innovate to stay competitive, and they have to collaborate with other organizations to innovate effectively. Although the benefits of "open innovation" have been described in detail before, mechanisms underlying how companies can be successful "open innovators" have not be understood well. A growing community of innovation management researchers started to develop different frameworks to understand open innovation in a more systematic way. This book provides a thorough examination of research conducted to date on open innovation, as well as a comprehensive overview of what will be the most important, most promising and most relevant research topics in this area during the next decade. "Open Innovation: Researching a new paradigm" (OUP 2006) was the first initiative to bring open innovation closer to the academic community. Open innovation research has since then been growing in an exponential way and research has evolved in different and unexpected directions. As the research field is growin...

  18. Snowball Vs. House-to-House Technique for Measuring Annual Incidence of Kala-azar in the Higher Endemic Blocks of Bihar, India: A Comparison.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Siddiqui, Niyamat A; Rabidas, Vidya N; Sinha, Sanjay K; Verma, Rakesh B; Pandey, Krishna; Singh, Vijay P; Ranjan, Alok; Topno, Roshan K; Lal, Chandra S; Kumar, Vijay; Sahoo, Ganesh C; Sridhar, Srikantaih; Pandey, Arvind; Das, Pradeep

    2016-09-01

    Visceral Leishmaniasis, commonly known as kala-azar, is widely prevalent in Bihar. The National Kala-azar Control Program has applied house-to-house survey approach several times for estimating Kala-azar incidence in the past. However, this approach includes huge logistics and operational cost, as occurrence of kala-azar is clustered in nature. The present study aims to compare efficiency, cost and feasibility of snowball sampling approach to house-to-house survey approach in capturing kala-azar cases in two endemic districts of Bihar, India. A community based cross-sectional study was conducted in two highly endemic Primary Health Centre (PHC) areas, each from two endemic districts of Bihar, India. Snowball technique (used to locate potential subjects with help of key informants where subjects are hard to locate) and house-to-house survey technique were applied to detect all the new cases of Kala-azar during a defined reference period of one year i.e. June, 2010 to May, 2011. The study covered a total of 105,035 households with 537,153 populations. Out of total 561 cases and 17 deaths probably due to kala-azar, identified by the study, snowball sampling approach captured only 221 cases and 13 deaths, whereas 489 cases and 17 deaths were detected by house-to-house survey approach. Higher value of McNemar's χ² statistics (64; phouse-to-house survey approach than snowball sampling and relative difference (>1) indicates that most of the kala-azar cases missed by snowball sampling were captured by house-to-house approach with 13% of omission. Snowball sampling was not found sensitive enough as it captured only about 50% of VL cases. However, it captured about 77% of the deaths probably due to kala-azar and was found more cost-effective than house-to-house approach. Standardization of snowball approach with improved procedure, training and logistics may enhance the sensitivity of snowball sampling and its application in national Kala-azar elimination programme as cost

  19. 7 CFR 1944.664 - Housing preservation and replacement housing assistance.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 13 2010-01-01 2009-01-01 true Housing preservation and replacement housing...) RURAL HOUSING SERVICE, RURAL BUSINESS-COOPERATIVE SERVICE, RURAL UTILITIES SERVICE, AND FARM SERVICE AGENCY, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE (CONTINUED) PROGRAM REGULATIONS (CONTINUED) HOUSING Housing...

  20. Open Source Hardware for DIY Environmental Sensing

    Science.gov (United States)

    Aufdenkampe, A. K.; Hicks, S. D.; Damiano, S. G.; Montgomery, D. S.

    2014-12-01

    The Arduino open source electronics platform has been very popular within the DIY (Do It Yourself) community for several years, and it is now providing environmental science researchers with an inexpensive alternative to commercial data logging and transmission hardware. Here we present the designs for our latest series of custom Arduino-based dataloggers, which include wireless communication options like self-meshing radio networks and cellular phone modules. The main Arduino board uses a custom interface board to connect to various research-grade sensors to take readings of turbidity, dissolved oxygen, water depth and conductivity, soil moisture, solar radiation, and other parameters. Sensors with SDI-12 communications can be directly interfaced to the logger using our open Arduino-SDI-12 software library (https://github.com/StroudCenter/Arduino-SDI-12). Different deployment options are shown, like rugged enclosures to house the loggers and rigs for mounting the sensors in both fresh water and marine environments. After the data has been collected and transmitted by the logger, the data is received by a mySQL-PHP stack running on a web server that can be accessed from anywhere in the world. Once there, the data can be visualized on web pages or served though REST requests and Water One Flow (WOF) services. Since one of the main benefits of using open source hardware is the easy collaboration between users, we are introducing a new web platform for discussion and sharing of ideas and plans for hardware and software designs used with DIY environmental sensors and data loggers.

  1. THE INFLUENCE OF PRIVACY REGULATION ON URBAN MALAY FAMILIES LIVING IN TERRACE HOUSING

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ahmad Ahmad Hashim

    2008-07-01

    Full Text Available This paper reports on behavioral norms and territoriality as part of behavioral and environmental mechanisms used to regulate privacy among urban Malay families living in terrace housing. In-depth interview was employed involving 11 case studies of Malay families living in three-bedroom two-storey terrace housings in the urban areas. Findings indicate that while most of the behavioral norms employed to regulate privacy are consistent with Malay cultural norms and religious belief, there are a few which are not consistent due to the constraint of terrace housing. Defined territory and the need to respect the neighbors’ privacy are found to indirectly affect community intimacy among Malay families living in terrace housings.

  2. Achieving an Open Society

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sutton, Percy

    1975-01-01

    In discussing housing integration during testimony before a public hearing of the New York City Commission on Human Rights in May 1974, it is noted that private home owners are in effect subsidized by taxes and municipal services and that it is essential to prepare a suburban community to receive minority group and disadvantaged home seekers.…

  3. Investigations into the indoor environment and respiratory health in Boston public housing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hynes, H Patricia; Brugge, Doug; Osgood, Neal-Dra; Snell, John; Vallarino, Jose; Spengler, John

    2004-01-01

    The self-reported prevalence of asthma in the United States increased by 75% from 1980 to 1994, a trend found to be significant and evident in every region of the country. The increase was most marked in children from birth to 14 years of age; and growing evidence indicates that, as with lead poisoning, inner-city and urban populations are most at risk. Attention has turned to the role of indoor environmental risk factors, especially in homes and schools. Such factors include moisture and mold growth, pest infestation, dust mites, the building envelope, heating systems, inadequate ventilation, nitrogen dioxide, and environmental tobacco smoke. The Healthy Public Housing Initiative (HPHI) is a Boston-based community-centered research and intervention project designed to engage Boston Housing Authority residents in a collaborative process to improve respiratory health, quality of life, building conditions, and building maintenance in public housing. This article summarizes the significant research findings from four pilot studies in housing developments that laid the foundation for the larger HPHI asthma-related environmental intervention study. The research design for the pilot projects is informed by principles of community-collaborative research. The strengths of this model of research for our work are also discussed.

  4. Are the right actors taking the right action? Climate change management in Finnish urban housing

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kyro, R.

    2013-03-01

    Anthropogenic climate change is one of the most severe environmental challenges facing the planet today, and it is certainly one of the most debated. The built environment is a known major culprit, and cities as consumption centers account for a large share of the world's consumption-based carbon footprint. It may well be argued that urban communities are at the very core of the climate change problem. The five individual studies included in the dissertation provide an understanding of the most significant urban activities generating GHG emissions, and the potential of different actions and actors to mitigate them. The research was conducted on three different scales addressing the issue from the viewpoint of individual city dwellers, urban housing companies, and finally, cities. For an individual city dweller, some 40% of the carbon footprint was found to derive from housing related activities, indicating a need to further study the impact of urban housing. The results on the housing company scale showed that, in the context of multi-family housing, occupant behavior has only limited influence on the overall energy consumption and consequent carbon footprint. Instead, housing managers who are responsible for the most significant source of GHG emissions, the heating system, appeared more influential. It was further discovered that housing managers' attitudes and practices differ, and that the differences affect the carbon footprint. The dissertation argues that the social constructiveness of the climate change issue should be acknowledged and considered in planning for mitigation action. More attention should be paid to the management and motivation of individuals, particularly on the housing manager and individual city dweller level. On the policy maker level, while ensuring prompt action, a vigorous attempt to establish the true effects of the action should be maintained. The research concludes that no single action or actor will suffice in mitigating

  5. White House Conference on Global Climate Change

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    1993-11-01

    President Clinton has directed the White House office on Environmental Policy to coordinate an interagency process to develop a plan to fulfill the commitment he made in his Earth Day address on April 21, 1993. This plan will become the cornerstone of the Climate Change Plan that will be completed shortly after the Rio Accord enters into force. The Office on Environmental Policy established the Interagency Climate Change Mitigation Group to draw on the expertise of federal agencies including the National Economic Council; the Council of Economic Advisors; the Office of Science and Technology Policy; the Office of Management and Budget; the National Security Council; the Domestic Policy Council; the Environmental Protection Agency; and the Departments of Energy, Transportation, Agriculture, Interior, Treasury, Commerce, and State. Working groups have been established to examine six key policy areas: energy demand, energy supply, joint implementation, methane and other gases, sinks, and transportation. The purpose of the White House Conference on Global Climate Change was to ``tap the real-world experiences`` of diverse participants and seek ideas and information for meeting the President`s goals. During the opening session, senior administration officials defined the challenge ahead and encouraged open and frank conversation about the best possible ways to meet it.

  6. Ammonia emission from organic pig houses determined with local parameters

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Aarnink, A.J.A.; Hol, J.M.G.; Ogink, N.W.M.

    2016-01-01

    The objective of this study was to determine the ammonia emissions from houses for growing-finishing pigs with an outside yard. While regular emission measurements are not possible in these open systems another approach was used. Local parameters were measured and used in an existing NH3 emission

  7. Quality of life in boarding houses and hostels: a residents' perspective.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Horan, M E; Muller, J J; Winocur, S; Barling, N

    2001-08-01

    In the last forty years deinstitutionalization has transferred the care of people with a serious mental illness from the psychiatric hospitals to community based facilities. More recently it has been questioned whether these new facilities offer the anticipated benefits of quality of life. This study examines the Quality of Life (QOL) of people diagnosed with schizophrenia living in two different accommodation facilities, hostels and boarding houses. QOL is examined from the resident's perspective. Lehman's (1988b) QOL Interview was used to measure objective, subjective, and global QOL of 60 participants in three hostels and two boarding house clusters. Hostel and boarding house data were compared and results showed that residents preferred boarding house accommodation. Overall, residents of both accommodation facilities reported satisfaction with QOL, and indicated that they regard them as asylum or sanctuary from the outside world.

  8. 77 FR 54602 - Notice of Intent To Conduct Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing Demonstration in Baltimore, MD...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-09-05

    ... available in mixed-income, integrated communities. In addition, HUD will require that this new affordable... fair housing marketing plan satisfactory to HUD for both the market-rate units and the units that will... (a satisfactory affirmative fair housing marketing plan must include marketing of affordable units to...

  9. Understanding Housing Delays and Relocations Within the Housing First Model.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zerger, Suzanne; Pridham, Katherine Francombe; Jeyaratnam, Jeyagobi; Hwang, Stephen W; O'Campo, Patricia; Kohli, Jaipreet; Stergiopoulos, Vicky

    2016-01-01

    This study explores factors contributing to delays and relocations during the implementation of the Housing First model in Toronto, Ontario. While interruptions in housing tenure are expected en route to recovery and housing stability, consumer and service provider views on finding and keeping housing remain largely unknown. In-person interviews and focus groups were conducted with 48 study participants, including 23 case managers or housing workers and 25 consumers. The following three factors contributed to housing delays and transfers: (1) the effectiveness of communication and collaboration among consumers and service providers, (2) consumer-driven preferences and ambivalence, and (3) provider prioritization of consumer choice over immediate housing access. Two strategies--targeted communications and consumer engagement in housing searches--supported the housing process. Several factors affect the timing and stability of housing. Communication between and among providers and consumers, and a shared understanding of consumer choice, can further support choice and recovery.

  10. The Characteristics Of Malay House Spatial Layout Of Pekanbaru In Accordance With Islamic Values

    Science.gov (United States)

    Samra, Boby

    2017-12-01

    House is not only is a place to get rest and do activities bu also treated as a pride for the Malay community. The values contained in the spatial layout of the house have specific meaning to the owners. This makes the Malay house becomes the symbol of pride to uphold the “tuah” and dignity of the owner. This research is conducted using qualitative approach through management and data management available through several methods such as observation, interview, documentation and group discussion. This is expected to provide understanding of the perception of Islam dealing with the characteristics of the spatial layout of the Malay house of Pekanbaru.

  11. The UK-DALE dataset, domestic appliance-level electricity demand and whole-house demand from five UK homes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kelly, Jack; Knottenbelt, William

    2015-01-01

    Many countries are rolling out smart electricity meters. These measure a home's total power demand. However, research into consumer behaviour suggests that consumers are best able to improve their energy efficiency when provided with itemised, appliance-by-appliance consumption information. Energy disaggregation is a computational technique for estimating appliance-by-appliance energy consumption from a whole-house meter signal. To conduct research on disaggregation algorithms, researchers require data describing not just the aggregate demand per building but also the 'ground truth' demand of individual appliances. In this context, we present UK-DALE: an open-access dataset from the UK recording Domestic Appliance-Level Electricity at a sample rate of 16 kHz for the whole-house and at 1/6 Hz for individual appliances. This is the first open access UK dataset at this temporal resolution. We recorded from five houses, one of which was recorded for 655 days, the longest duration we are aware of for any energy dataset at this sample rate. We also describe the low-cost, open-source, wireless system we built for collecting our dataset.

  12. Housing management and maintenance practise of Dutch housing associations

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Straub, A.

    This paper summarises the state-of-the-art in housing management and maintenance practise of Dutch housing associations based on a survey conducted among almost all housing associations. We address the question what the current developments are in housing management and maintenance practice in the

  13. Health and housing collaboration at LAST: the Philadelphia Lead Abatement Strike Team.

    OpenAIRE

    Campbell, Carla; Himmelsbach, Robert; Palermo, Peter; Tobin, Richard

    2005-01-01

    The Lead Abatement Strike Team (LAST) was developed in 2002 by the Philadelphia Department of Public Health (PDPH) in response to community concern about management of children with elevated blood lead levels (EBLLs). Fourteen hundred backlog properties (housing at least one child with EBLLs) were identified through inspection as having housing-based lead hazards for which no satisfactory environmental remediation (control of lead hazards) had been achieved. In the first two years of LAST, 83...

  14. 24 CFR 92.252 - Qualification as affordable housing: Rental housing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-04-01

    ... 24 Housing and Urban Development 1 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Qualification as affordable housing: Rental housing. 92.252 Section 92.252 Housing and Urban Development Office of the Secretary, Department of Housing and Urban Development HOME INVESTMENT PARTNERSHIPS PROGRAM Project Requirements § 92.252...

  15. 24 CFR 8.28 - Housing certificate and housing voucher programs.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-04-01

    ... 24 Housing and Urban Development 1 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Housing certificate and housing voucher programs. 8.28 Section 8.28 Housing and Urban Development Office of the Secretary, Department of Housing and Urban Development NONDISCRIMINATION BASED ON HANDICAP IN FEDERALLY ASSISTED PROGRAMS AND...

  16. Gender and housing policy in South Africa: Policy and practice in ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    BlignautAS

    , attitudes and values that communities and societies .... Society legitimises a family and housing ... this policy is to balance a Basic Needs approach with ...... New Working Paper Series. Issue 9. Lon- don. School of Economics. Gender Institute.

  17. [Cooperative learning for improving healthy housing conditions in Bogota: a case study].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Torres-Parra, Camilo A; García-Ubaque, Juan C; García-Ubaque, César A

    2014-01-01

    This was a community-based effort at constructing an educational proposal orientated towards self-empowerment aimed at improving the target population's sanitary, housing and living conditions through cooperative learning. A constructivist approach was adopted based on a programme called "Habitat community manger". The project involved working with fifteen families living in the Mochuelo Bajo barrio in Ciudad Bolívar in Bogotá, Colombia, for identifying the most relevant sanitary aspects for improving their homes and proposing a methodology and organisation for an educational proposal. Twenty-one poor housing-related epidemiological indicators were identified which formed the basis for defining specific problems and establishing a methodology for designing an educational proposal. The course which emerged from the cooperative learning experience was designed to promote the community's skills and education regarding health aimed at improving households' living conditions and ensuring a healthy environment which would allow them to develop an immediate habitat ensuring their own welfare and dignity.

  18. Environmental monitoring well housing and protection method

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kenner, D.A.

    1991-01-01

    This patent describes a method for housing and protecting an environmental monitoring well having a well pipe disposed in a well bore with an upper and extending toward the surface of the ground. It comprises: placing an enclosure ins aid well bore around the upper end of the well pipe, the enclosure being of unitary construction and having an upper opening, a lower opening and an inwardly-protruding ledge between the upper opening and the lower opening, placing sealing means in the well bore between the outter surface of the well pipe and the inner surface of the enclosure, the sealing means being a composition distinct from the well pipe; placing on the ledge a flexible gasket having a shape substantially identical to the shape of the surface of the ledge; placing on the gasket within the enclosure a cover having an upper surface and a peripheral shape substantially identical to the shape of the interior of the enclosure, and attaching the cover to the enclosure so that the upper opening of the enclosure and the upper surface of the cover are substantially flush with the surface of the ground

  19. Prevalence and determinants of cardiovascular disease risk factors among the residents of urban community housing projects in Malaysia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Amiri, Mohammadreza; Majid, Hazreen Abdul; Hairi, FarizahMohd; Thangiah, Nithiah; Bulgiba, Awang; Su, Tin Tin

    2014-01-01

    The objectives are to assess the prevalence and determinants of cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors among the residents of Community Housing Projects in metropolitan Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. By using simple random sampling, we selected and surveyed 833 households which comprised of 3,722 individuals. Out of the 2,360 adults, 50.5% participated in blood sampling and anthropometric measurement sessions. Uni and bivariate data analysis and multivariate binary logistic regression were applied to identify demographic and socioeconomic determinants of the existence of having at least one CVD risk factor. As a Result, while obesity (54.8%), hypercholesterolemia (51.5%), and hypertension (39.3%) were the most common CVD risk factors among the low-income respondents, smoking (16.3%), diabetes mellitus (7.8%) and alcohol consumption (1.4%) were the least prevalent. Finally, the results from the multivariate binary logistic model illustrated that compared to the Malays, the Indians were 41% less likely to have at least one of the CVD risk factors (OR = 0.59; 95% CI: 0.37 - 0.93). In Conclusion, the low-income individuals were at higher risk of developing CVDs. Prospective policies addressing preventive actions and increased awareness focusing on low-income communities are highly recommended and to consider age, gender, ethnic backgrounds, and occupation classes.

  20. New Homes, New Neighborhoods, New Schools: A Progress Report on the Baltimore Housing Mobility Program

    Science.gov (United States)

    Engdahl, Lora

    2009-01-01

    In the Baltimore region, a successful housing mobility program is providing families living in very disadvantaged inner city communities with a new home and a chance for a new life. Minority voucher holders in the federal Housing Choice Voucher Program (formerly titled Section 8) have often been limited to living in "voucher submarkets"…

  1. The 2016 Bioinformatics Open Source Conference (BOSC).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Harris, Nomi L; Cock, Peter J A; Chapman, Brad; Fields, Christopher J; Hokamp, Karsten; Lapp, Hilmar; Muñoz-Torres, Monica; Wiencko, Heather

    2016-01-01

    Message from the ISCB: The Bioinformatics Open Source Conference (BOSC) is a yearly meeting organized by the Open Bioinformatics Foundation (OBF), a non-profit group dedicated to promoting the practice and philosophy of Open Source software development and Open Science within the biological research community. BOSC has been run since 2000 as a two-day Special Interest Group (SIG) before the annual ISMB conference. The 17th annual BOSC ( http://www.open-bio.org/wiki/BOSC_2016) took place in Orlando, Florida in July 2016. As in previous years, the conference was preceded by a two-day collaborative coding event open to the bioinformatics community. The conference brought together nearly 100 bioinformatics researchers, developers and users of open source software to interact and share ideas about standards, bioinformatics software development, and open and reproducible science.

  2. Open Science: Open source licenses in scientific research

    OpenAIRE

    Guadamuz, Andres

    2006-01-01

    The article examines the validity of OSS (open source software) licenses for scientific, as opposed to creative works. It draws on examples of OSS licenses to consider their suitability for the scientific community and scientific research.

  3. Life Goals Over Time Among Homeless Adults in Permanent Supportive Housing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wenzel, S L; Rhoades, H; Moore, H; Lahey, J; Henwood, B; La Motte-Kerr, W; Bird, M

    2018-03-14

    Permanent supportive housing (PSH) is a widely-accepted solution to the challenge of chronic homelessness. While housing support and retention, physical health, and healthcare continue to be important for formerly homeless persons in PSH, "higher-order" and humanistic needs such as thriving have received less attention and as a result are less well understood in this population. One important indicator of thriving is the ability to establish and articulate life goals. This study utilizes longitudinal data from 421 formerly homeless adults prior to their move into PSH, and at 3-, 6- and 12-months after move-in (369 respondents completed all four interviews), to examine what life goals are articulated by this population and how those goals change over time. Prior to housing, most respondents articulated housing attainment as their primary life goal, whereas at follow-up interviews health goals, housing relocation, and financial goals became more prevalent. Aspirational goals (e.g., independence, self-improvement, artistic pursuits) were also common, but demonstrated a decrease over time in housing. Relationship goals remained common and consistent over time. Findings indicate that housing is a necessary, but perhaps not sufficient, step for improving thriving among formerly homeless adults. Implications for practice and future research are discussed. © Society for Community Research and Action 2018.

  4. Preventing excessive radon exposure in U.K. housing

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Miles, J.C.H.; Cliff, K.D.; Green, B.M.R.; Dixon, D.W.

    1992-01-01

    In the United Kingdom (UK) it has been recognized for some years that some members of the population received excessive radiation exposure in their homes from radon and its decay products. To prevent such exposures, an Action Level of 400 Bq m -3 was adopted in 1987. In January, 1990, the National Radiological Protection Board (NRPB) advised that the Action Level should be reduced to 200 Bq m -3 , and this advice was accepted by the Government. It is estimated that exposures in up to 100,000 UK homes exceed this Action Level; this amounts to about 0.5% of the available housing. The UK authorities have developed a strategy for preventing such exposures: (1) Areas in which it is estimated that >1% of homes exceed the Action Level for radon are being designated as Affected Areas, and a program to map such areas is under way. Households in these areas are advised to have radon measurements made by NRPB under a open-quotes freeclose quotes (Government-funded) scheme. (2) Householders found to have whole-house, whole-year average radon concentrations >200 Bq m -3 are advised to take remedial action and are provided with information on how this can be done. Partial grants toward remedial work are available in cases of financial need. So far, around 3000 such households have been identified. (3) Within Affected Areas, localities are being defined where new homes must incorporate precautions against radon exposure. In addition to this strategy, a joint case-control study of the risks of radon in homes is being undertaken by the Imperial Cancer Research Fund and NRPB, supported by the UK Government and the Commission of the European Communities

  5. 24 CFR 982.617 - Shared housing: Rent and voucher housing assistance payment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-04-01

    ... Special Housing Types Shared Housing § 982.617 Shared housing: Rent and voucher housing assistance payment... 24 Housing and Urban Development 4 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Shared housing: Rent and voucher housing assistance payment. 982.617 Section 982.617 Housing and Urban Development Regulations Relating to...

  6. Assisted Housing - Public Housing Authorities - National Geospatial Data Asset (NGDA)

    Data.gov (United States)

    Department of Housing and Urban Development — Public Housing was established to provide decent and safe rental housing for eligible low-income families, the elderly, and persons with disabilities. Public housing...

  7. Financial Empowerment and Health Related Quality of Life in Family Scholar House Participants

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Chelsey Franz

    2016-09-01

    Full Text Available Research demonstrates an association between poverty and health. Populations in poverty suffer from poor mental and physical health, and thus, poor health-related quality of life. Research also indicates people living in the lower socio-economic categories experience higher levels of stress that are associated with these health declines. Family Scholar House, a local community intervention designed to alleviate poverty and improve socio-economic status by providing college education and support to single parents, combats these health outcomes by addressing the five social determinants of health (economic stability, education, social and community context, health care, and neighborhood and built environment. Quantitative analysis indicates an improvement in mental health among Family Scholar House participants: 0-12 month participants reported significantly more mentally unhealthy days than a control group; however, this difference is no longer significant at the end of participant’s time in the program. Qualitative analysis suggests this improvement may be due to stress reduction related to increased economic stability and financial security gained through an intentional implementation of a financial empowerment curriculum within the Family Scholar House program. Implementation of financial empowerment into community programs designed to alleviate poverty may improve mental health and thus health-related quality of life.

  8. Housing Subsidies and Homelessness: A Simple Idea

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Brendan O’Flaherty

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available Reducing homelessness is an indisputable social good, and housing subsidies offer one way to do so. However, subsidies come in many different varieties and are intricately bound up with economic and social policies. This paper, written by one of North America’s leading urban economists, cuts through the tangle and argues that the simplest approach is the best. The ideal way to deter people from harmful acts is to reward them for abstaining. Thus, to combat homelessness, governments should offer housing allowances to people for every night they are not homeless. This optimal homelessness-reducing home allowance (OHRHA is open to adjustment to suit individual circumstances and the effects of homelessness on different demographics. It is meant to reduce homelessness by aligning individual and societal incentives, forcing people to bear the consequences or realize the benefits that their actions impose on others. The author explores methods for financing OHRHA, examines means for tailoring it to meet the diverse needs of the homeless and discusses the policy’s effect on urban housing markets, all while comparing and contrasting the proposal to existing homelessness-reduction measures in Alberta, Canada and the US.

  9. Impact of Canopy Openness on Spider Communities: Implications for Conservation Management of Formerly Coppiced Oak Forests.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ondřej Košulič

    Full Text Available Traditional woodland management created a mosaic of differently aged patches providing favorable conditions for a variety of arthropods. After abandonment of historical ownership patterns and traditional management and the deliberate transformation to high forest after World War II, large forest areas became darker and more homogeneous. This had significant negative consequences for biodiversity. An important question is whether even small-scale habitat structures maintained by different levels of canopy openness in abandoned coppiced forest may constitute conditions suitable for forest as well as open habitat specialists. We investigated the effect of canopy openness in former traditionally coppiced woodlands on the species richness, functional diversity, activity density, conservation value, and degree of rareness of epigeic spiders. In each of the eight studied locations, 60-m-long transect was established consisting of five pitfall traps placed at regular 15 m intervals along the gradient. Spiders were collected from May to July 2012. We recorded 90 spider species, including high proportions of xeric specialists (40% and red-listed threatened species (26%. The peaks of conservation indicators, as well as spider community abundance, were shifted toward more open canopies. On the other hand, functional diversity peaked at more closed canopies followed by a rapid decrease with increasing canopy openness. Species richness was highest in the middle of the canopy openness gradient, suggesting an ecotone effect. Ordinations revealed that species of conservation concern tended to be associated with sparse and partly opened canopy. The results show that the various components of biodiversity peaked at different levels of canopy openness. Therefore, the restoration and suitable forest management of such conditions will retain important diversification of habitats in formerly coppiced oak forest stands. We indicate that permanent presence of small

  10. The Open Spectral Database: an open platform for sharing and searching spectral data.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chalk, Stuart J

    2016-01-01

    A number of websites make available spectral data for download (typically as JCAMP-DX text files) and one (ChemSpider) that also allows users to contribute spectral files. As a result, searching and retrieving such spectral data can be time consuming, and difficult to reuse if the data is compressed in the JCAMP-DX file. What is needed is a single resource that allows submission of JCAMP-DX files, export of the raw data in multiple formats, searching based on multiple chemical identifiers, and is open in terms of license and access. To address these issues a new online resource called the Open Spectral Database (OSDB) http://osdb.info/ has been developed and is now available. Built using open source tools, using open code (hosted on GitHub), providing open data, and open to community input about design and functionality, the OSDB is available for anyone to submit spectral data, making it searchable and available to the scientific community. This paper details the concept and coding, internal architecture, export formats, Representational State Transfer (REST) Application Programming Interface and options for submission of data. The OSDB website went live in November 2015. Concurrently, the GitHub repository was made available at https://github.com/stuchalk/OSDB/, and is open for collaborators to join the project, submit issues, and contribute code. The combination of a scripting environment (PHPStorm), a PHP Framework (CakePHP), a relational database (MySQL) and a code repository (GitHub) provides all the capabilities to easily develop REST based websites for ingestion, curation and exposure of open chemical data to the community at all levels. It is hoped this software stack (or equivalent ones in other scripting languages) will be leveraged to make more chemical data available for both humans and computers.

  11. The Geothermal Data Repository: Five Years of Open Geothermal Data, Benefits to the Community: Preprint

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Weers, Jonathan D [National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Taverna, Nicole [National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Anderson, Arlene [U.S. Department of Energy

    2018-04-02

    In the five years since its inception, the Department of Energy's (DOE) Geothermal Data Repository (GDR) has grown from the simple idea of storing public data in a centralized location to a valuable tool at the center of the DOE open data movement where it is providing a tangible benefit to the geothermal scientific community. Throughout this time, the GDR project team has been working closely with the community to refine the data submission process, improve the quality of submitted data, and embrace modern proper data management strategies to maximize the value and utility of submitted data. This paper explores some of the motivations behind various improvements to the GDR over the last 5 years, changes in data submission trends, and the ways in which these improvements have helped to drive research, fuel innovation, and accelerate the adoption of geothermal technologies.

  12. Revision of Sustainable Criteria of Concrete Walls for Earthquake-Resistant Housing

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alcocer S.M.

    2012-10-01

    Full Text Available The seismic performance of low-rise housing has been noticeably inadequate during the most recent earthquakes occurred in Latin American countries. Moreover, the literature review revealed that some traditional techniques do not contribute to building sustainable housing. In the last decade, construction of concrete walls housing has become a preferred choice because of the speed of construction and availability of materials in most of these countries. Aimed at improving seismic design methods for this type of construction, an extensive analytical and experimental program was carried out. The experimental program included quasi-static and shaking-table tests of 47 walls with different height-to-length ratios and walls with openings. Variables studied were type of concrete, web steel ratio and type of web reinforcement. The paper presents and discusses the main results of the research program and evaluates the technical and environmental feasibility for using concrete walls for sustainable and earthquake-resistant housing. Performance of concrete walls housing is assessed in terms of key environmental and earthquake-resistant requirements. It was found that concrete wall housing is not only safe under earthquakes and easily adaptable to climate, but also it stimulates environmental conservation and promotes reducing the costs of construction, operation and maintenance.

  13. Opening the Black Box: Conceptualizing Community Engagement From 109 Community-Academic Partnership Programs.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ahmed, Syed M; Maurana, Cheryl; Nelson, David; Meister, Tim; Young, Sharon Neu; Lucey, Paula

    2016-01-01

    This research effort includes a large scale study of 109 community-academic partnership projects funded by the Healthier Wisconsin Partnership Program (HWPP), a component of the Advancing a Healthier Wisconsin endowment at the Medical College of Wisconsin (MCW) in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The study provides an analysis unlike other studies, which have been smaller, and/or more narrowly focused in the type of community-academic partnership projects analyzed. To extract themes and insights for the benefit of future community-academic partnerships and the field of community-engaged research (CEnR). Content analysis of the final reports submitted by 109 community-academic partnership projects awards within the time frame of March 2005 to August 2011. Thirteen themes emerged from the report analysis: community involvement, health accomplishments, capacity building, sustainability, collaboration, communication, best practices, administration, relationship building, clarity, adjustment of plan, strategic planning, and time. Data supported previous studies in the importance of some themes, and provided insights regarding how these themes are impactful. The case analysis revealed new insights into the characteristics of these themes, which the authors then grouped into three categories: foundational attributes of successful community-academic partnership, potential challenges of community-academic partnerships, and outcomes of community-academic partnerships. The insights gained from these reports further supports previous research extolling the benefits of community-academic partnerships and provides valuable direction for future partners, funders and evaluators in how to deal with challenges and what they can anticipate and plan for in developing and managing community-academic partnership projects.

  14. Housing culture

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Roesdahl, Else; Scholkmann, Barbara

    2007-01-01

    On houses and their furniture and fittings, and on the study of this - with a comparison of rural, urban, monastic and aristocratic housing, and a special section on heating technologies.......On houses and their furniture and fittings, and on the study of this - with a comparison of rural, urban, monastic and aristocratic housing, and a special section on heating technologies....

  15. Practice in a dispersed professional community : a case study of associate lecturers at the Open University

    OpenAIRE

    Cox, Graham; Saunders, Murray

    2006-01-01

    This thesis examines in depth the work of four associate lecturers at the Open University. Given that they see colleagues infrequently, it explores how they resource their practice, in what has been termed a dispersed community that lacks the social interaction associated with more traditional lecturing. This research identifies what knowledge resources and professional practices are used, and what the relationships are between these and the process of occupational identity-building. It also ...

  16. CO2-reductions in low energy buildings and communities by implementation of low temperature district heating systems. Demonstration cases in Boligforeningen Ringgaarden and EnergyFlexHouse. Main report

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Worm, J.

    2011-05-15

    The project consisted of 3 tasks. In task 1, the aim was, through demonstration in EnergyFlexHouse in Taastrup, to analyse the district heating tank in interaction with a larger low-energy house, and to analyse different patterns of hot water use in order to validate and further develop the concept of low temperature district heating (LTDH). In task 2, the aim was, through demonstration in the housing community Ringgaarden in Lystrup near Aarhus, to show that the low heat losses found in a previous project can be achieved in practice, and to further develop the technology of the concept. In task 3, the aim was to assess the potential for CO{sub 2} reductions and energy conservation in both new and existing district heating distribution systems using the concept of LTDH. Furthermore the aim was to analyse the implementation of LTDH in existing buildings and to analyse optimization of LTDH design. The present report is a summary of the results of the three tasks. Detailed results of each task are presented in three separate reports. (ln)

  17. House-dust mites in our homes are a contamination from outdoor sources

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hallas, Thorkil E.

    2010-01-01

    there and that the stages between them, the inactive moulting stages, are absent. Therefore the mites probably do not carry out their life cycles in our dwellings, but are more likely contaminations from the open. Findings of low level concentrations can be explained by mites coming from outdoors and sedimented......Avoidance advices for house-dust mite sensitized persons are currently based upon the idea, that the mites (Dermatophagoides spp.) are part of the indoor fauna. A closer look at development stages in the house-dust samples shows, however, that only the mites' active stages are present...... no effect of avoidance measures. The verification of the entire hypothesis or part of it may have great impact on the management of the disease house-dust mite allergy....

  18. Response of the rhizosphere prokaryotic community of barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) to elevated atmospheric CO2 concentration in open-top chambers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Szoboszlay, Márton; Näther, Astrid; Mitterbauer, Esther; Bender, Jürgen; Weigel, Hans-Joachim; Tebbe, Christoph C

    2017-08-01

    The effect of elevated atmospheric CO 2 concentration [CO 2 ] on the diversity and composition of the prokaryotic community inhabiting the rhizosphere of winter barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) was investigated in a field experiment, using open-top chambers. Rhizosphere samples were collected at anthesis (flowering stage) from six chambers with ambient [CO 2 ] (approximately 400 ppm) and six chambers with elevated [CO 2 ] (700 ppm). The V4 region of the 16S rRNA gene was PCR-amplified from the extracted DNA and sequenced on an Illumina MiSeq instrument. Above-ground plant biomass was not affected by elevated [CO 2 ] at anthesis, but plants exposed to elevated [CO 2 ] had significantly higher grain yield. The composition of the rhizosphere prokaryotic communities was very similar under ambient and elevated [CO 2 ]. The dominant taxa were Bacteroidetes, Actinobacteria, Alpha-, Gamma-, and Betaproteobacteria. Elevated [CO 2 ] resulted in lower prokaryotic diversity in the rhizosphere, but did not cause a significant difference in community structure. © 2017 The Authors. MicrobiologyOpen published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  19. Eccentric housing finance sources by the urban poor in Zimbabwe: case of Cowdray Park low-income self help housing scheme in Bulawayo

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Trynos GUMBO

    2010-06-01

    Full Text Available Zimbabwe has a sombre housing crisis in all its urban centres. All attempts by the government to vary housing delivery systems to ameliorate the problem have proved futile as the backlog it inherited from the colonial masters continues to soar. The situation has however been exacerbated by 2005 demolitions and evictions in the country’s major cities that destroyed homes and businesses leaving the majority of the poor and disadvantaged segments of society in deeper poverty, deprivation and destitution. The main challenge to housing the urban poor is housing finance. Public funds are meagre and private funds are not accessible to the poor due to lack of collateral security and inability to service the loans. Fascinatingly, the poor’s income comes from informal sector activities that absorbs a large percentage of the labour force and keeps the economy going while the large modern enterprises continue to reel under the economic downturn. Unfortunately the Zimbabwean informal sector has generally been perceived as a nuisance, a haven for criminals and a menace. Evidence shows that there is a strong relationship between the urban poor’s housing finance, informal sector activities and self-help housing strategies in Zimbabwe. In the pre-2005 Operation Murambatsvina era, the poor were making some construction progress as evidenced by the structures that had developed. This paper calls for active support and facilitation of the poor’s sources of income, and advocates for the involvement of other players such as the private sector and the international community in housing the poor. The Zimbabwe government’s plan to house the homeless and poor on its 250 000 stands countrywide through self-help programmes can only be successful if their sources of income are promoted and facilitated.

  20. 24 CFR 982.606 - Congregate housing: Who may reside in congregate housing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-04-01

    ... Special Housing Types Congregate Housing § 982.606 Congregate housing: Who may reside in congregate housing. (a) An elderly person or a person with disabilities may reside in a congregate housing unit. (b... 24 Housing and Urban Development 4 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Congregate housing: Who may reside...

  1. The Interplay Between Housing Stability and Child Separation: Implications for Practice and Policy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rog, Debra J; Henderson, Kathryn A; Lunn, Laurel M; Greer, Andrew L; Ellis, Mei Ling

    2017-09-01

    Greater understanding of how residential stability affects child separation and reunification among homeless families can guide both child welfare and homeless policy and practice. This article draws upon two longitudinal studies examining services and housing for homeless families and their relationship to family and housing stability. Both studies were conducted in the same state at roughly the same time with similar instruments. The first study, examining families' experiences and outcomes following entry into the homeless service system in three counties in Washington State, found that at 18 months following shelter entry, families that are intact with their children were significantly more likely to be housed in their own housing (46%) than families that were separated from one or more of their children (31%). The second study, a quasiexperimental evaluation of a supportive housing program for homeless families with multiple housing barriers, found that the rates of reunification for Child Protective Services (CPS)-involved families receiving supportive housing was comparable to that for families entering public housing without services, but significantly higher than the rate of reunification for families entering shelter. Taken together, the findings from both studies contribute to the evidence underscoring the importance of housing assistance to homeless families involved in the child welfare system. © Society for Community Research and Action 2017.

  2. The Open Global Glacier Model

    Science.gov (United States)

    Marzeion, B.; Maussion, F.

    2017-12-01

    Mountain glaciers are one of the few remaining sub-systems of the global climate system for which no globally applicable, open source, community-driven model exists. Notable examples from the ice sheet community include the Parallel Ice Sheet Model or Elmer/Ice. While the atmospheric modeling community has a long tradition of sharing models (e.g. the Weather Research and Forecasting model) or comparing them (e.g. the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project or CMIP), recent initiatives originating from the glaciological community show a new willingness to better coordinate global research efforts following the CMIP example (e.g. the Glacier Model Intercomparison Project or the Glacier Ice Thickness Estimation Working Group). In the recent past, great advances have been made in the global availability of data and methods relevant for glacier modeling, spanning glacier outlines, automatized glacier centerline identification, bed rock inversion methods, and global topographic data sets. Taken together, these advances now allow the ice dynamics of glaciers to be modeled on a global scale, provided that adequate modeling platforms are available. Here, we present the Open Global Glacier Model (OGGM), developed to provide a global scale, modular, and open source numerical model framework for consistently simulating past and future global scale glacier change. Global not only in the sense of leading to meaningful results for all glaciers combined, but also for any small ensemble of glaciers, e.g. at the headwater catchment scale. Modular to allow combinations of different approaches to the representation of ice flow and surface mass balance, enabling a new kind of model intercomparison. Open source so that the code can be read and used by anyone and so that new modules can be added and discussed by the community, following the principles of open governance. Consistent in order to provide uncertainty measures at all realizable scales.

  3. A new life : Transformation of vacant office buildings into housing

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Remøy, HT; van der Voordt, Theo; Haugen, Tore I.; Moum, Anita; Brochner, Jan

    2006-01-01

    Office buildings are experiencing vacancy. This leads to financial problems for the owners and social problems for the community, e.g. vandalism and deterioration. A solution may be found in transformation of vacant buildings and changing the buildings’ program. In the Dutch situation, housing is a

  4. Community Mentoring: A Tool for Successful Communities

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dodge, Kathryn E.

    2015-01-01

    Mentoring occurs in an ad hoc and largely invisible manner in communities. This mentoring happens through modeling, storytelling, and asking open-ended questions. If Extension specialists and agents were more conscious and intentional about teaching community members and leaders about community mentoring, they would be more successful in resolving…

  5. Mass Housing and Changings in Housing Demand, Case of Diyarbakir, Turkey

    OpenAIRE

    M. Oguz Sinemillioglu; Can Tuncay Akın; Havva Özyılmaz

    2005-01-01

    The aim of this study is to analyze changings in housing demand, especially in term of house size in Diyarbakır case, in Turkey. Though Housing in Turkey is in a free market system, there is a Mass Housing Administration (TOKÃ ) has been doing mass houses for, relatively, middle class income people. Diyarbakır, one of the cities that TOKÃ has done two thousand houses, has taken too much migration, so that the demand in housing form and structure has different alterations. This process should ...

  6. CDBG Housing Activity

    Data.gov (United States)

    Department of Housing and Urban Development — CDBG activity related to housing, including multifamily rehab, housing services, code enforcement, operation and repair of foreclosed property and public housing...

  7. International intercomparison on glass implanted 210Po in Yugoslavian houses

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zunic, Z.S.; Trotti, F.; Birovljev, A.; Bissolo, F.; Falk, R.; Mc Laughlin, J.P; Tanferi, A.; Walsh, C.

    2000-01-01

    Measurements of 210 Po embedded in glass have been performed with passive detectors in houses of three rural communities of Yugoslavia. Field work has been initiated and carried out by the VINCA Institute of nuclear sciences, Belgrade, and analyses have been conducted by SSI (Sweden), UCD (Ireland), NRPA (Norway) and CRR (Italy). Based on 210 Po concentration assessments, radon retrospective estimates have been produced. Fairly good agreement amongst laboratories resulted both for polonium and radon determinations. Comparison of radon retrospective estimates with contemporary levels has identified a small number of contemporary concentrations which are certainly not representative of the past. Retrospective measurements give clear indication of higher levels for one of the three communities (Gornja Stubla). From the analysis of retrospective and contemporary levels in different rooms of a high concentration house in Gornja Stubla, less data dispersion has come out for retrospective estimates, indicating a sort of better spatial stability of these estimates. (author)

  8. Defining an Open Source Strategy for NASA

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mattmann, C. A.; Crichton, D. J.; Lindsay, F.; Berrick, S. W.; Marshall, J. J.; Downs, R. R.

    2011-12-01

    Over the course of the past year, we have worked to help frame a strategy for NASA and open source software. This includes defining information processes to understand open source licensing, attribution, commerciality, redistribution, communities, architectures, and interactions within the agency. Specifically we held a training session at the NASA Earth Science Data Systems Working Group meeting in Open Source software as it relates to the NASA Earth Science data systems enterprise, including EOSDIS, the Distributed Active Archive Centers (DAACs), ACCESS proposals, and the MEASURES communities, and efforts to understand how open source software can be both consumed and produced within that ecosystem. In addition, we presented at the 1st NASA Open Source Summit (OSS) and helped to define an agency-level strategy, a set of recommendations and paths forward for how to identify healthy open source communities, how to deal with issues such as contributions originating from other agencies, and how to search out talent with the right skills to develop software for NASA in the modern age. This talk will review our current recommendations for open source at NASA, and will cover the set of thirteen recommendations output from the NASA Open Source Summit and discuss some of their implications for the agency.

  9. Assessment of housing design decisions in informal housing ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    The rapid urbanisation of cities in developing countries has witnessed a growth in the volume of housing construction in the urban areas. The demand for housing and the inability of government to meet this demand has encouraged the growth of informal housing. The concept of healthy buildings is of great importance, ...

  10. Bacterial community composition in the water column of a lake formed by a former uranium open pit mine.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Edberg, Frida; Andersson, Anders F; Holmström, Sara J M

    2012-11-01

    Mining of pyrite minerals is a major environmental issue involving both biological and geochemical processes. Here we present a study of an artificial lake of a former uranium open pit mine with the aim to connect the chemistry and bacterial community composition (454-pyrosequencing of 16S rRNA genes) in the stratified water column. A shift in the water chemistry from oxic conditions in the epilimnion to anoxic, alkaline, and metal and sulfide-rich conditions in the hypolimnion was corresponded by a strong shift in the bacterial community, with few shared operational taxonomic units (OTU) between the water layers. The epilimnetic bacterial community of the lake (~20 years old) showed similarities to other temperate freshwater lakes, while the hypolimnetic bacterial community showed similarity to extreme chemical environments. The epilimnetic bacterial community had dominance of Actinobacteria and Betaproteobacteria. The hypolimnion displayed a higher bacterial diversity and was dominated by the phototrophic green sulphur bacterium of the genus Chlorobium (ca. 40 % of the total community). Deltaproteobacteria were only represented in the hypolimnion and the most abundant OTUs were affiliated with ferric iron and sulfate reducers of the genus Geobacter and Desulfobulbus, respectively. The chemistry is clearly controlling, especially the hypolimnetic, bacterial community but the community composition also indicates that the bacteria are involved in metal cycling in the lake.

  11. Supported housing for people with severe mental disorders.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chilvers, R; Macdonald, G M; Hayes, A A

    2006-10-18

    There has been a significant reduction in the number of people with severe mental illness who spend extended periods in long-stay hospitals. District health authorities, local authorities, housing associations and voluntary organisations are jointly expected to provide support for people with severe mental disorder/s. This 'support' may well involve some kind of special housing. To determine the effects of supported housing schemes compared with outreach support schemes or 'standard care' for people with severe mental disorder/s living in the community. For the 2006 update we searched the Cochrane Schizophrenia Group Trials Register (April 2006) and the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL, 2006 Issue 2). We included all relevant randomised, or quasi-randomised, trials dealing with people with 'severe mental disorder/s' allocated to supported housing, compared with outreach support schemes or standard care. We focused on outcomes of service utilisation, mental state, satisfaction with care, social functioning, quality of life and economic data. We reliably selected studies, quality rated them and undertook data extraction. For dichotomous data, we would have estimated relative risks (RR), with the 95% confidence intervals (CI). Where possible, we would have calculated the number needed to treat statistic (NNT). We would have carried out analysis by intention-to-treat and would have summated normal continuous data using the weighted mean difference (WMD). We would have presented scale data for only those tools that had attained pre-specified levels of quality and undertaken tests for heterogeneity and publication bias. Although 139 citations were acquired from the searches, no study met the inclusion criteria. Dedicated schemes whereby people with severe mental illness are located within one site or building with assistance from professional workers have potential for great benefit as they provide a 'safe haven' for people in need of stability and

  12. Situation-Based Housing

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Duelund Mortensen, Peder

    2011-01-01

    Presentation of urban housing research on flexible housing types in the Copenhagen Region: Theoretical background, methodology, analyse of spatial organization, interviews and results. Cases: Pærehaven in Ølby, Køge and M-house in Ørestad, Copenhagen......Presentation of urban housing research on flexible housing types in the Copenhagen Region: Theoretical background, methodology, analyse of spatial organization, interviews and results. Cases: Pærehaven in Ølby, Køge and M-house in Ørestad, Copenhagen...

  13. 24 CFR 8.25 - Public housing and multi-family Indian housing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-04-01

    ... 24 Housing and Urban Development 1 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Public housing and multi-family Indian housing. 8.25 Section 8.25 Housing and Urban Development Office of the Secretary, Department of Housing and Urban Development NONDISCRIMINATION BASED ON HANDICAP IN FEDERALLY ASSISTED PROGRAMS AND...

  14. Strategies of Building a Stronger Sense of Community for Sustainable Neighborhoods: Comparing Neighborhood Accessibility with Community Empowerment Programs

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Te-I Albert Tsai

    2014-05-01

    Full Text Available New Urbanist development in the U.S. aims at enhancing a sense of community and seeks to return to the design of early transitional neighborhoods which have pedestrian-oriented environments with retail shops and services within walking distances of housing. Meanwhile, 6000 of Taiwan’s community associations have been running community empowerment programs supported by the Council for Cultural Affairs that have helped many neighborhoods to rebuild so-called community cohesion. This research attempts to evaluate whether neighborhoods with facilities near housing and shorter travel distances within a neighborhood would promote stronger social interactions and form a better community attachment than neighborhoods that have various opportunities for residents to participate in either formal or informal social gatherings. After interviewing and surveying residents from 19 neighborhoods in Taipei’s Beitou District, and correlating the psychological sense of community with inner neighborhood’s daily travel distances and numbers of participatory activities held by community organizations under empowerment programs together with frequencies of regular individual visits and casual meetings, statistical evidence yielded that placing public facilities near residential locations is more effective than providing various programs for elevating a sense of community.

  15. Sustained housing-type social buffering following social housing in male rats.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kiyokawa, Yasushi; Ishida, Aya; Takeuchi, Yukari; Mori, Yuji

    2016-05-01

    In social animals, recovery from the adverse effects of distressing stimuli is promoted by subsequent cohousing with a conspecific animal(s). This phenomenon has been termed housing-type social buffering. We previously found that social housing induced housing-type social buffering in fear-conditioned male rats. This buffering took the form of attenuated conditioned hyperthermia in response to an auditory conditioned stimulus (CS). Here, we assessed whether this social buffering is sustained even if the subject is housed alone after a period of social housing. When fear-conditioned subjects were housed alone during a 48-h period between conditioning and re-exposure to the auditory CS, they exhibited conditioned hyperthermia in response to the CS. However, conditioned hyperthermia was not observed when the 12-h period of social housing began 24 and 36h after conditioning during the 48-h period. This was not the case when the 12-h period of social housing began 0 and 12h after the conditioning. These results suggest that housing-type social buffering is sustained for 12h after the 12-h period of social housing. We next considered whether increasing the duration of social housing would extend the period of social buffering. We observed social buffering of conditioned hyperthermia 24 and 48, but not 96h after a 24-h period of social housing. These results suggest that social buffering was extended when the duration of social housing was increased. Taken together, our findings indicate that housing-type social buffering is sustained after a period of social housing. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  16. Active house concept versus passive House

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Zeiler, W.; Boxem, G.; Vehler, R.; Verhoeven, M.; Fremouw, M.

    2009-01-01

    The passive house concept is the present trend in energy efficient sustainable dwellings. Within the passive house concept every effort is made to minimize the energy use. Substantial savings can be achieved by passive energy systems, especially natural ventilation, summer shading and winter solar

  17. The UK-DALE dataset, domestic appliance-level electricity demand and whole-house demand from five UK homes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kelly, Jack; Knottenbelt, William

    2015-03-01

    Many countries are rolling out smart electricity meters. These measure a home’s total power demand. However, research into consumer behaviour suggests that consumers are best able to improve their energy efficiency when provided with itemised, appliance-by-appliance consumption information. Energy disaggregation is a computational technique for estimating appliance-by-appliance energy consumption from a whole-house meter signal. To conduct research on disaggregation algorithms, researchers require data describing not just the aggregate demand per building but also the ‘ground truth’ demand of individual appliances. In this context, we present UK-DALE: an open-access dataset from the UK recording Domestic Appliance-Level Electricity at a sample rate of 16 kHz for the whole-house and at 1/6 Hz for individual appliances. This is the first open access UK dataset at this temporal resolution. We recorded from five houses, one of which was recorded for 655 days, the longest duration we are aware of for any energy dataset at this sample rate. We also describe the low-cost, open-source, wireless system we built for collecting our dataset.

  18. Open BIM in courses in engineering education

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Karlshøj, Jan; Vestergaard, Flemming

    2016-01-01

    The Technical University of Denmark has included open BIM in its BIM or BIM-related courses for bachelor, master and PhD students studying civil or architectural engineering. A majority of students are introduced to open BIM during their education, and those who are selecting courses in advanced...... BIM or building design are becoming more familiar with the concept. A number of students are including open BIM in their bachelor projects or master theses. The main reason for including open BIM in teaching is that open BIM has been a mandatory deliverable in Denmark since 2007 in state......-financed construction projects through the IFC format. From 2013 the requirements also included social housing and all public building projects. Students are exploring the capabilities of open BIM, and have been able both to identify satisfactory results as well as propose enhancements in order to compensate...

  19. Satisfaction with housing and housing support for people with psychiatric disabilities.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brolin, Rosita; Rask, Mikael; Syrén, Susanne; Baigi, Amir; Brunt, David Arthur

    2015-01-01

    The aim of this study was to investigate the degree of satisfaction with housing and housing support for people with psychiatric disabilities in Sweden. A total of 370 residents, in supported housing and in ordinary housing with housing support, completed a new questionnaire and reported a high degree of overall satisfaction, but many of them wanted to move somewhere else. Differences were found between the two different types of housing concerning satisfaction with housing support, social life and available choices. Security and privacy, as well as other's influence on the choice of residential area and dwelling proved to be important predictors for satisfaction.

  20. Unit costs for house spraying and bednet impregnation with residual insecticides in Colombia: a management tool for the control of vector-borne disease.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kroeger, A; Ayala, C; Medina Lara, A

    2002-06-01

    A study of unit costs and cost components of two malaria-control strategies (house spraying and bednet impregnation with residual insecticides) was undertaken in 11 malaria-endemic states (departamentos) of Colombia, using data provided by control staff on self-administered questionnaires. The accuracy of the data was verified by personal visits, telephone conversations and complementary information from 10 other states. Allthe financial-cost components of the malaria-control operations carried out in the previous 6 months and the results of the control operations themselves (including the numbers of houses sprayed and numbers of bednets impregnated/day) were recorded. The information was stratified according to whether the target communities were 'near' or 'far away' from an operational base, the far-away communities being those that needed overnight stays by the control staff. The main variables analysed were unit costs/house treated, and annual cost/person protected. The results show that house spraying was generally more expensive for the health services than bednet impregnation. This is particularly the case in 'nearby' communities, where most of those at-risk live. In such communities, spraying one house was 7.2 times more expensive than impregnating one bednet. Even if only those sleeping under an impregnated net were assumed to be protected, the unit costs/person protected in a 'nearby' community were twice as high for house spraying than for bednet impregnation. In 'nearby' communities, where technicians could return to the operational base each evening, insecticides made up 80% of the total spraying costs and 42% of the costs of bednet impregnation. In 'far-away' communities, however, salaries and 'per diems' were the most important cost components, representing, respectively, 23% and 22% of the costs of spraying, and 34% plus 27% of the costs of impregnation. Insecticide wastage and non-use of discounts on insecticide prices (available through the

  1. Stress analysis of fuelling machine magazine housing of PHWR

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Singh, R.K.; Mehra, V.K.; Charan, J.J.; Kakodkar, A.

    1983-01-01

    PWR has fuelling machines for on-line refuelling of the core. Magazine housing of this fuelling machine is a thick pressure vessel. It has a cylindrical vessel with flat head on one side and reservable flange closure on the other side. The vessel has many small and big openings. This paper describes the two sets of experiments conducted for its stress analysis. First set of experiment was conducted on a 1:5 photoelastic model which was stress frozen under load of internal pressure. The second set of experiment involved strain gauge measurements at some important locations of the magazine housing. The paper summarises results of the experiments. In conclusion comparison is made between the experimental results and the results of finite element analysis. (orig.)

  2. A Sustainable and Resilient Housing Model for Indigenous Populations of the Mosquitia Region (Honduras)

    OpenAIRE

    Gambino, Valeria; Micangeli, Andrea; Naso, Vincenzo; Michelangeli, Emanuele; Mario, Luca

    2014-01-01

    This study develops a sustainable housing model for the Mosquitia region of Honduras, aimed at improving the living conditions of indigenous communities and reducing their vulnerability to the effects of climate change. The improved housing efficiency and resilience will contribute to strengthen sanitation and hygiene, improve the living comfort and reduce environmental impact, particularly focusing on preserving the forest biodiversity. The project was developed following the criteria of env...

  3. Housing and Child Well Being: Implications for Research, Policy, and Practice.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fowler, Patrick J; Farrell, Anne F

    2017-09-01

    Inadequate housing and homelessness represent significant barriers to family stability and child development. An accumulating body of evidence documents the relatively high risk of family separation among families experiencing housing instability and homelessness, the extent of housing problems experienced by families involved in the child welfare system, and the disproportionately high rates of homelessness among youth aging out of foster care. Vulnerable youth and families interact frequently with various social service programs intended to mitigate multifaceted and multilevel risks, however, systems efforts and resources are rarely coordinated and results to date are mixed. We introduce 13 papers that are part of a burgeoning, increasingly sophisticated body of scholarship that inform coordinated responses to inadequate housing experienced by families involved in child welfare and related interventions. We note emergent themes and state a pressing need for research that accounts for ecological and contextual influences, examines the differential impact of housing and service interventions, identifies critical ingredients of effective housing and service interventions, and positions for scale-up. We distill findings into a set of observations and recommendations that align with best intentions to improve quality of life and promote well being among some of society's most vulnerable individuals. © Society for Community Research and Action 2017.

  4. Climate change and the UK house building sector: perceptions, impacts and adaptive capacity

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hertin, J.; Berkhout, F.; Gann, D.; Barlow, J.

    2003-01-01

    This paper explores how climate change could affect the UK house-building sector, focusing on the question of how companies can adapt to changing climatic conditions. It presents the results of in-depth interviews in five house-building companies in the UK. We start from the assumption that climate change is only one driver among many, including technological innovation, shifting consumer expectations and changing regulation, that the industry faces. This approach draws on insights that are well established in the management and innovation literatures, but have often been neglected in studies of climate change. We report research about the perceptions of house builders about future impacts of climate change, potential adaptation measures that may be open to them and their ability to carry out these measures. The paper draws conclusions about the challenges that climate change presents to the UK house building industry. (author)

  5. Project Selection and Transparency Factors in Housing Public-Private Partnerships in Nigeria

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Eziyi Offia Ibem

    2018-06-01

    Full Text Available The application of Public-Private Partners (PPPs in housing provisioning is on the increase across the world. However, there is a paucity of empirical studies on the specific factors considered at the initiation, and measures taken to ensure transparency at the procurement stages, of PPP housing projects. This study examined project selection factors and transparency measures in PPP housing projects using data sourced from oral interviews with 27 experts in nine PPP housing schemes in Nigeria. Results of the content analysis revealed that the top two selection factors considered by both the public and private sector operators of PPP housing projects in Nigeria are the availability of land and viability of the funding arrangements. Whereas the public-sector partners also consider the availability of competent private sector to deliver the projects, the private developers are concerned with the location of proposed projects. It was also found that the two key measures taken to ensure transparency at the procurement stage of the projects are transparent and competitive bidding and open advertisements of tender opportunities. These imply that before embarking on PPP housing projects, operators should ensure that there is available land in good locations, sound funding arrangements, and measures for achieving transparency in the schemes.

  6. In-House Energy Management Program Plan

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1991-01-01

    DOE facilities are required to develop a documented energy management program encompassing owned and leased facilities and vehicles and equipment. The program includes an Energy Management Plan consistent with the requirements of the DOE ten-year In-House Energy Management Plan, an ECP specifying actions associated with the sudden disruption in the supply of critical fuels, an Energy Management Committee comprised of WIPP employees, and reporting criteria for quarterly energy consumption reporting to DOE Headquarters. The In-House Energy Management Program will include an implementation plan, a budget, and an interaction and coordination plan. The goal of this program is to sensitize the WIPP employees to the energy consequences of their actions and to motivate them to use energy more efficiently. To achieve this goal, the program is designed to both improve energy conservation at the WIPP through the direct efforts of every employee, and to encourage employees to take the lead in conserving energy at home, on the road, and in the community

  7. Project Chrysalis: The Evolution of a Community School.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Garrett, K.

    1996-01-01

    Describes the creation and operation of Project Chrysalis, a community, service-learning school transformed from row houses, where children can learn, work, and gain inspiration from artists and social entrepreneurs involved with Houston's Project Row Houses. Personal narratives of two teachers highlight the school's and students' accomplishments…

  8. The 2015 Bioinformatics Open Source Conference (BOSC 2015).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Harris, Nomi L; Cock, Peter J A; Lapp, Hilmar; Chapman, Brad; Davey, Rob; Fields, Christopher; Hokamp, Karsten; Munoz-Torres, Monica

    2016-02-01

    The Bioinformatics Open Source Conference (BOSC) is organized by the Open Bioinformatics Foundation (OBF), a nonprofit group dedicated to promoting the practice and philosophy of open source software development and open science within the biological research community. Since its inception in 2000, BOSC has provided bioinformatics developers with a forum for communicating the results of their latest efforts to the wider research community. BOSC offers a focused environment for developers and users to interact and share ideas about standards; software development practices; practical techniques for solving bioinformatics problems; and approaches that promote open science and sharing of data, results, and software. BOSC is run as a two-day special interest group (SIG) before the annual Intelligent Systems in Molecular Biology (ISMB) conference. BOSC 2015 took place in Dublin, Ireland, and was attended by over 125 people, about half of whom were first-time attendees. Session topics included "Data Science;" "Standards and Interoperability;" "Open Science and Reproducibility;" "Translational Bioinformatics;" "Visualization;" and "Bioinformatics Open Source Project Updates". In addition to two keynote talks and dozens of shorter talks chosen from submitted abstracts, BOSC 2015 included a panel, titled "Open Source, Open Door: Increasing Diversity in the Bioinformatics Open Source Community," that provided an opportunity for open discussion about ways to increase the diversity of participants in BOSC in particular, and in open source bioinformatics in general. The complete program of BOSC 2015 is available online at http://www.open-bio.org/wiki/BOSC_2015_Schedule.

  9. 76 FR 34839 - Establishment of the White House Rural Council

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-06-14

    ... of America and in order to enhance Federal engagement with rural communities, it is hereby ordered as... Quality; (24) the White House Office of Public Engagement and Intergovernmental Affairs; (25) the White... part of the member's department, agency, or office, and who is a full-time officer or employee of the...

  10. plasmaFoam: An OpenFOAM framework for computational plasma physics and chemistry

    Science.gov (United States)

    Venkattraman, Ayyaswamy; Verma, Abhishek Kumar

    2016-09-01

    As emphasized in the 2012 Roadmap for low temperature plasmas (LTP), scientific computing has emerged as an essential tool for the investigation and prediction of the fundamental physical and chemical processes associated with these systems. While several in-house and commercial codes exist, with each having its own advantages and disadvantages, a common framework that can be developed by researchers from all over the world will likely accelerate the impact of computational studies on advances in low-temperature plasma physics and chemistry. In this regard, we present a finite volume computational toolbox to perform high-fidelity simulations of LTP systems. This framework, primarily based on the OpenFOAM solver suite, allows us to enhance our understanding of multiscale plasma phenomenon by performing massively parallel, three-dimensional simulations on unstructured meshes using well-established high performance computing tools that are widely used in the computational fluid dynamics community. In this talk, we will present preliminary results obtained using the OpenFOAM-based solver suite with benchmark three-dimensional simulations of microplasma devices including both dielectric and plasma regions. We will also discuss the future outlook for the solver suite.

  11. House dust and storage mite contamination of dry dog food stored in open bags and sealed boxes in 10 domestic households.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gill, Christina; McEwan, Neil; McGarry, John; Nuttall, Tim

    2011-04-01

    Dry pet food is a potential source of exposure to house dust and storage mite allergens in canine atopic dermatitis. This study evaluated contamination of house dust and dry dog food stored in paper bags, sealable plastic bags and sealable plastic boxes in 10 households for 90 days using Acarex(®) tests for guanine, a Der p 1 ELISA and mite flotation. Acarex(®) tests were negative in all the food samples but positive in all the house dust samples. The Der p 1 levels and mite numbers significantly increased in food from paper bags (P = 0.0073 and P = 0.02, respectively), but not plastic bags or boxes. Mite numbers and Der p 1 levels were 10-1000 times higher in house dust than the corresponding food samples (P bags (P = 0.003), and mite numbers in house dust and food from the paper bags (P = 0.0007). Bedding and carpets were significantly associated with Der p 1 levels in house dust (P = 0.015 and P = 0.01, respectively), and food from the paper (both P = 0.02) and plastic bags (P = 0.03 and P = 0.04, respectively). Mites were identified in six of 10 paper bag, three of 10 plastic bag, one of 10 plastic box and nine of 10 house dust samples. These comprised Dermatophagoides (54%), Tyrophagus (10%; all from food) and unidentified mites (36%). Storage of food in sealable plastic boxes largely prevented contamination for 3 months. Exposure to mites and mite proteins in all the stored food, however, appeared to be trivial compared with house dust. © 2010 The Authors. Journal compilation © 2010 ESVD and ACVD.

  12. Barriers and facilitators to healthy eating and disease self-management among older adults residing in subsidized housing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Petroka, Katherine; Campbell-Bussiere, Rania; Dychtwald, Dan K; Milliron, Brandy-Joe

    2017-09-01

    As adults transition into older ages, meeting age-specific dietary recommendations can become increasingly challenging, especially for low-income seniors who reside in publicly subsidized rental housing. The primary objectives of this study were to: 1) identify barriers and facilitators to healthy eating and self-management of nutrition-related chronic illnesses experienced by low-income seniors residing in a subsidized housing setting; and 2) assess the interest in community nutrition programming among low-income seniors residing in a subsidized housing setting. A qualitative study design, using food focus groups and food pantry observations, was used. Participants included 24 male and female senior adults, between 65 and 75 years of age, residing in a subsidized housing community in Philadelphia, PA. This setting also included the unique features of a community garden and food pantry. Data were manually analyzed using a content analysis approach, which included familiarization, identification of themes, categorization and interpretation; and verified using NVivo 10. Personal barriers, including food cost and accessibility, physical limitations, desire for convenience, and low self-efficacy to change dietary habits, inhibited motivation to change. External barriers in the food environment, including lack of transportation and distance of markets to access fresh produce, were commonly cited; as well as negative influences of the internal environment, such as the presence of vending machines, common cultural cooking and eating practices, and the lack of social cohesion. Facilitators focused on food preparation and recipe adaptation. Participants expressed an interest in learning more about food, nutrition, and health through community-based programming.

  13. Social learning: medical student perceptions of geriatric house calls.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Abbey, Linda; Willett, Rita; Selby-Penczak, Rachel; McKnight, Roberta

    2010-01-01

    Bandura's social learning theory provides a useful conceptual framework to understand medical students' perceptions of a house calls experience at Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine. Social learning and role modeling reflect Liaison Committee on Medical Education guidelines for "Medical schools (to) ensure that the learning environment for medical students promotes the development of explicit and appropriate professional attributes (attitudes, behaviors, and identity) in their medical students." This qualitative study reports findings from open-ended survey questions from 123 medical students who observed a preceptor during house calls to elderly homebound patients. Their comments included reflections on the medical treatment as well as interactions with family and professional care providers. Student insights about the social learning process they experienced during house calls to geriatric patients characterized physician role models as dedicated, compassionate, and communicative. They also described patient care in the home environment as comprehensive, personalized, more relaxed, and comfortable. Student perceptions reflect an appreciation of the richness and complexity of details learned from home visits and social interaction with patients, families, and caregivers.

  14. Sydney Opera House Rise

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    2013-01-01

    Sydney Opera House Exhibition (2013) A CITA research and exhibition project, for Sydney Opera House exhibition "Danish Design at the House".......Sydney Opera House Exhibition (2013) A CITA research and exhibition project, for Sydney Opera House exhibition "Danish Design at the House"....

  15. Open Access Publishing - Strengths and Strategies

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rasmussen, Martin

    2010-05-01

    The journal crisis and the demand for free accessibility to the results of publicly funded research were the main drivers of the Open Access movement since the late 1990's. Besides many academic institutions that support the different ways of Open Access publishing, there is a growing number of publishing houses that are specialized on this new access and business model of scholarly literature. The lecture provides an overview of the different kinds of Open Access publishing, discusses the variety of underlying business models, names the advantages and potentials for researches and the public, and overcomes some objections against Open Access. Besides the increased visibility and information supply, the topic of copyrights and exploitation rights will be discussed. Furthermore, it is a central aim of the presentation to show that Open Access does not only support full peer-review, but also provides the potential for even enhanced quality assurance. The financing of business models based on open accessible literature is another important part to be outlined in the lecture.

  16. Hourly indoor radon measurements in a research house.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sesana, Lucia; Begnini, Stefania

    2004-01-01

    This paper reports and discusses the behaviour of radon concentration with time in an uninhabited dwelling. The relationship between variations in radon concentrations and indoor-outdoor temperatures and wind intensity has also been discussed. Radon concentration was measured hourly in a house located at a height of 800 m in the Lombard Prealps, at the top of the Valassina valley. The wind velocity and indoor-outdoor temperatures were measured by means of a meteorological station located on the terrace of the house. The data were analysed using the LBL model for indoor-outdoor air exchange and the models for the indoor accumulation of radon due to exhalation from building materials and pressure-driven infiltrations located underground. The role of wind and indoor-outdoor temperatures were analysed. The agreement of measurements with modelling clearly demonstrates the importance of the different sources of indoor radon. As the investigation was conducted in an uninhabited house, the measurements were not affected by the behaviour of people, e.g. opening and closing of windows. Measurements of the outdoor atmospheric concentrations of (222)Rn provide an index of the atmospheric stability, the formation of thermal inversions and convective turbulence.

  17. Hourly indoor radon measurements in a research house

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sesana, L.; Begnini, S.

    2004-01-01

    This paper reports and discusses the behaviour of radon concentration with time in an uninhabited dwelling. The relationship between variations in radon concentrations and indoor-outdoor temperatures and wind intensity has also been discussed. Radon concentration was measured hourly in a house located at a height of 800 m in the Lombard Pre-alps, at the top of the Valassina valley. The wind velocity and indoor-outdoor temperatures were measured by means of a meteorological station located on the terrace of the house. The data were analysed using the LBL model for indoor-outdoor air exchange and the models for the indoor accumulation of radon due to exhalation from building materials and pressure-driven infiltrations located underground. The role of wind and indoor-outdoor temperatures were analysed. The agreement of measurements with modelling clearly demonstrates the importance of the different sources of indoor radon. As the investigation was conducted in an uninhabited house, the measurements were not affected by the behaviour of people, e.g. opening and closing of windows. Measurements of the outdoor atmospheric concentrations of 222 Rn provide an index of the atmospheric stability, the formation of thermal inversions and convective turbulence. (authors)

  18. Economic analysis of passive houses and low-energy houses compared with standard houses

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Audenaert, A.; Cleyn, S.H. de; Vankerckhove, B.

    2008-01-01

    As the energy demand used for space heating accounts for 78% of EU15 household delivered energy consumption, significant reductions in energy demand can be achieved by promoting low-energy buildings. Our study investigates three building types: the standard house, the low-energy house and the passive house. As more far-reaching measures concerning energy savings usually lead to higher investments, the aim of our study is to perform an economic analysis in order to determine the economic viability of the three building types

  19. Characterization of bacterial and archaeal communities in air-cathode microbial fuel cells, open circuit and sealed-off reactors

    KAUST Repository

    Chehab, Noura A.

    2013-06-18

    A large percentage of organic fuel consumed in a microbial fuel cell (MFC) is lost as a result of oxygen transfer through the cathode. In order to understand how this oxygen transfer affects the microbial community structure, reactors were operated in duplicate using three configurations: closed circuit (CC; with current generation), open circuit (OC; no current generation), and sealed off cathodes (SO; no current, with a solid plate placed across the cathode). Most (98 %) of the chemical oxygen demand (COD) was removed during power production in the CC reactor (maximum of 640 ± 10 mW/m 2), with a low percent of substrate converted to current (coulombic efficiency of 26.5 ± 2.1 %). Sealing the cathode reduced COD removal to 7 %, but with an open cathode, there was nearly as much COD removal by the OC reactor (94.5 %) as the CC reactor. Oxygen transfer into the reactor substantially affected the composition of the microbial communities. Based on analysis of the biofilms using 16S rRNA gene pyrosequencing, microbes most similar to Geobacter were predominant on the anodes in the CC MFC (72 % of sequences), but the most abundant bacteria were Azoarcus (42 to 47 %) in the OC reactor, and Dechloromonas (17 %) in the SO reactor. Hydrogenotrophic methanogens were most predominant, with sequences most similar to Methanobacterium in the CC and SO reactor, and Methanocorpusculum in the OC reactors. These results show that oxygen leakage through the cathode substantially alters the bacterial anode communities, and that hydrogenotrophic methanogens predominate despite high concentrations of acetate. The predominant methanogens in the CC reactor most closely resembled those in the SO reactor, demonstrating that oxygen leakage alters methanogenic as well as general bacterial communities. © 2013 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.

  20. Characterization of bacterial and archaeal communities in air-cathode microbial fuel cells, open circuit and sealed-off reactors

    KAUST Repository

    Chehab, Noura A.; Li, Dong; Amy, Gary L.; Logan, Bruce E.; Saikaly, Pascal

    2013-01-01

    A large percentage of organic fuel consumed in a microbial fuel cell (MFC) is lost as a result of oxygen transfer through the cathode. In order to understand how this oxygen transfer affects the microbial community structure, reactors were operated in duplicate using three configurations: closed circuit (CC; with current generation), open circuit (OC; no current generation), and sealed off cathodes (SO; no current, with a solid plate placed across the cathode). Most (98 %) of the chemical oxygen demand (COD) was removed during power production in the CC reactor (maximum of 640 ± 10 mW/m 2), with a low percent of substrate converted to current (coulombic efficiency of 26.5 ± 2.1 %). Sealing the cathode reduced COD removal to 7 %, but with an open cathode, there was nearly as much COD removal by the OC reactor (94.5 %) as the CC reactor. Oxygen transfer into the reactor substantially affected the composition of the microbial communities. Based on analysis of the biofilms using 16S rRNA gene pyrosequencing, microbes most similar to Geobacter were predominant on the anodes in the CC MFC (72 % of sequences), but the most abundant bacteria were Azoarcus (42 to 47 %) in the OC reactor, and Dechloromonas (17 %) in the SO reactor. Hydrogenotrophic methanogens were most predominant, with sequences most similar to Methanobacterium in the CC and SO reactor, and Methanocorpusculum in the OC reactors. These results show that oxygen leakage through the cathode substantially alters the bacterial anode communities, and that hydrogenotrophic methanogens predominate despite high concentrations of acetate. The predominant methanogens in the CC reactor most closely resembled those in the SO reactor, demonstrating that oxygen leakage alters methanogenic as well as general bacterial communities. © 2013 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.

  1. Response of the mesozooplankton community of the St Lucia estuary, South Africa, to a mouth-opening event during an extended drought

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jerling, Hendrik L.; Vivier, Leon; Cyrus, Digby P.

    2010-03-01

    Mesozooplankton samples were collected between March 2005 and November 2008 in St Lucia, the largest estuarine lake system in South Africa. St Lucia experienced an extended period of drought before and during the present study. This drought led to natural closing of the estuary mouth as a result of flood-tide marine sediment deposition in 2002. In March 2007 the mouth was washed open by exceptionally high tidal and wave conditions. This resulted in an influx of a large volume of seawater. The mouth closed again in August 2007. Before opening of the mouth salinities in the Estuary were below 10 and large parts of North Lake dried up while South Lake retained a relatively stable waterbody with salinities between 10 and 30. When the mouth opened seawater flooded the system and salinities changed to about 35. After the mouth had closed again in August 2007 salinities increased in the lakes and decreased in the Estuary. The mesozooplankton community was dominated by copepods during all sampling sessions, especially by the estuarine calanoids Pseudodiaptomus stuhlmanni and Acartia natalensis. Mean mesozooplankton densities were significantly higher in South Lake before the mouth opened in March 2007. While zooplankton density decreased when the mouth opened species richness increased with the influx of coastal marine species, especially in the Estuary. Overall zooplankton densities declined progressively as salinity increased to hypersaline levels after mouth closure. Multivariate analyses supported significant differences between the lakes and the Estuary in terms of mesozooplankton community composition. Taxa mostly responsible for the similarities within and dissimilarity between sections of the system were the copepods P. stuhlmanni and A. natalensis with the meroplankton, crab zoeae and mollusc larvae, also contributing significantly after the mouth-opening event.

  2. Assisted Housing - Public Housing Developments - National Geospatial Data Asset (NGDA)

    Data.gov (United States)

    Department of Housing and Urban Development — The general location of an entire Public Housing Development. A distinct address is chosen to represent the general location of an entire Public Housing Development,...

  3. flexZhouse: New business model for affordable housing in Malaysia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mohd Zairul bin Mohd Noor

    2017-01-01

    positive reaction was received from the government sectors dealing with housing, which appear to be more open to new ideas to help the market to provide more affordable housing for the middle-income group. Conclusions The formulation of the final draft of flexZhouse led to the following conclusions: • The flexZhouse BM provides a better understanding of the needs of and problems faced by young starters looking for their first home in Malaysia. • The rejection by private developers of the flexZhouse concept shows their resistance to change, and is also due to the early stage of the flexZhouse BM proposal. • The flexZhouse BM creates an alternative solution to affordable housing programmes for the mass housing industry in Malaysia. • The flexZhouse BM revisits the issue of sustainability in the mass housing industry in particular and in the construction industry in general. • The flexZhouse BM extends the idea of ‘open building’ and the concept of ‘infill’ for housing. • The flexZhouse BM is an innovative BM for the housing industry in Malaysia. • Young starters in Malaysia are grappling with the issue of affordable housing and have low literacy in financial investment and management. Ownership is still a popular choice among young people in Malaysia, partly because of the ‘status quo’ among young Malays. The theoretical insights show that housing ownership is especially important for the security of future generations. The study also found that young starters need to be educated about the financial implications and about financial management to better understand the financial complications and to reduce the bankruptcy rate among young Malaysians. Methodological reflections The empirical study was supported by the triangulation of data collected through a design workshop with architects, focus groups and examples from the industry. The qualitative approach combined both deductive and inductive codes that helped to shape the research and achieve the

  4. The impact of housing policies and housing markets on ethnic spatial segregation

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Andersen, Hans Skifter; Andersson, Roger; Wessel, Terje

    2015-01-01

    This paper examines how ethnic segregation is connected to an ethnic division of the housing market and a spatial separation of different housing tenures in four Nordic cities. Explanations for the differences across the cities are found by comparing housing markets and housing policies....... The housing markets are in all four cities ethnically segmented with high concentrations of immigrants in some forms of tenures (especially social/public housing) and low concentrations in others. We further discuss the reasons for the observed pattern. The paper shows that the spatial distribution...... housing, while co-operative housing is crucial in the fourth. It is also shown that a policy of neighbourhood tenure mix in one of the cities has resulted in a relatively low degree of segregation in spite of high concentrations of immigrants in social/public housing....

  5. Electrification situation in MEVIR housing collection; Situacion de la electrificacion en los conjuntos de viviendas de MEVIR

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Nopitsch, R

    1994-07-01

    MEVIR: The Movement of Erradication of the Rural unhealthy housing has made high-priority to build decorous and economic housings in the rural means as well as it has acted as nexus between UTE and the field to be able to take the electric power to different communities. It is in San Gregorio of Polanco (Dept. of Lavalleja). Through a program of the National Directorate of Energy and with financing of the European Economic Community it outlines the option of installing a hybrid system of eolic and fotovoltaic energy. The presents work studies the details of this project.

  6. The Leger house: an affordable super insulated home

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Anon

    2000-03-01

    Building and energy efficient house in a cost-effective manner is not an easy task. The house described in this article is a 1200 sq.ft house, built on the principle of the Arkansas house, a sophisticated example of advanced wood frame construction, meets both these requirements, i.e. it is both energy efficient and good value for the money. It is built on a cast-in place concrete foundation with advanced framing construction techniques, staggered studs spaced on 24 inch centres, on separate plates forming an eight inch thick wall. The exterior sheathing is Dow Styrofoam, over which vinyl siding is installed. Thermal bridging, which is the weak point in conventional framing, received special attention. The outer walls are placed in such a way that they do not touch the floor joist and the plywood subfloor. Windows are wood framed, double glazed, a combination of casement and double hung, with storm windows, and sliding units. The clear span roof truss design gives the freedom of an open interior allowing a continuous unbroken ceiling vapour diffusion retarder. Drywall and oak flooring was installed without interference from partitions which were installed after the ceiling and the floor were in place. All lighting fixtures are on the partitions, so there is no need for penetration of the top plates in the partitions. Similarly, there is no wiring or plumbing in the exterior walls. Insulated steel doors, with magnetic weather stripping open to two airlocks. Domestic hot water and space heating is provided by a tank-less 43,800 Btu/hr Paloma natural gas heater. The water is kept at 160 degrees F and supplied to 46 feet of baseboard. A small conventional air-conditioning unit is installed but was only used for or a total of 12 hours since 1979, since during most of the hot summer days the rooms remain satisfactorily cool at about 80 degrees F, provided doors and windows are kept shut. A heat recovery ventilator has been installed subsequently, but is not considered

  7. Implementing Housing First in Rural Areas: Pathways Vermont

    Science.gov (United States)

    Henwood, Benjamin F.; Melton, Hilary; Shin, Soo-Min; Lawrence-Gomez, Rebeka; Tsemberis, Sam

    2013-01-01

    The benefits of Pathways Housing First in addressing chronic homelessness for persons with severe mental illness have been well established. However, the implementation and effectiveness of such programs in rural areas has yet to be examined. We described the model’s adaptations in Vermont, including the use of hybrid assertive community treatment–intensive case management teams, which consisted of service coordinators with geographically based caseloads (staff/client ratio of 1:20) and regional multidisciplinary specialists. The program’s innovative and widespread inclusion of technology into operations facilitated efficiency and responsiveness, and a pilot telehealth initiative supplemented in-person client visits. The program achieved a housing retention rate of 85% over approximately 3 years, and consumers reported decreased time spent homeless, demonstrating that program adaptations and technological enhancements were successful. PMID:24148038

  8. Evaluation of Modeled and Measured Energy Savings in Existing All Electric Public Housing in the Pacific Northwest

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Gordon, Andrew [Building America Partnership for Improved Residential Construction (BA-PIRC), Cocoa, FL (United States); Lubliner, Michael [Building America Partnership for Improved Residential Construction (BA-PIRC), Cocoa, FL (United States); Howard, Luke [Building America Partnership for Improved Residential Construction (BA-PIRC), Cocoa, FL (United States); Kunkle, Rick [Building America Partnership for Improved Residential Construction (BA-PIRC), Cocoa, FL (United States); Salzberg, Emily [Building America Partnership for Improved Residential Construction (BA-PIRC), Cocoa, FL (United States)

    2014-04-01

    This project analyzes the cost effectiveness of energy savings measures installed by a large public housing authority in Salishan, a community in Tacoma Washington. Research focuses on the modeled and measured energy usage of the first six phases of construction, and compares the energy usage of those phases to phase 7. Market-ready energy solutions were also evaluated to improve the efficiency of affordable housing for new and existing (built since 2001) affordable housing in the marine climate of Washington State.

  9. Building America Case Study: Demonstration House of Cold-Climate Solutions for Affordable Housing, Minneapolis, Minnesota

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    2016-05-01

    Single family homes in urban areas that are available for renovation by nonprofit developers are often in rough shape (1MM to 2MM nationally). Budgeting has historically focused on improving homes to meet basic housing standards. A rising interest in the long-term impact of homeownership has introduced the need to balance basic needs with home performance. This demonstration project aims to help nonprofit affordable housing developers become familiar with three Building America performance measures, the installation processes, and impacts and benefits of each. A story and a half home in North Minneapolis, MN was presented by Urban Homeworks our local nonprofit partner. The team helped them install three researched upgrade measures: exterior roof insulation or 'overcoat,' exterior foundation insulation, or 'excavationless', and a combined space and water heating HVAC system or 'combi'. To maximize efficiency of application and to address budget issues, the Team worked with Urban Homeworks to identify ways to use volunteers and construction training programs to install the measures. An open invitation to visit the job site was extended to other nonprofit developers and industry partners to encourage dialog about the systems during live installation.

  10. NorthernSTAR 1-1/2-Story Demonstration House of Cold Climate Solutions for Affordable Housing

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Schirber, T. [Univ. of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN (United States). NorthernSTAR Building America Partnership; Ojczyk, C. [Univ. of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN (United States). NorthernSTAR Building America Partnership; Jacobson, R. [Univ. of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN (United States). NorthernSTAR Building America Partnership

    2016-03-01

    Single family homes in urban areas that are available for renovation by nonprofit developers are often in rough shape (1MM to 2MM nationally). Budgeting has historically focused on improving homes to meet basic housing standards. A rising interest in the long-term impact of homeownership has introduced the need to balance basic needs with home performance. This demonstration project aims to help nonprofit affordable housing developers become familiar with three Building America performance measures, the installation processes, and impacts and benefits of each. A story and a half home in North Minneapolis, MN was presented by Urban Homeworks our local nonprofit partner. The team helped them install three researched upgrade measures: exterior roof insulation or 'overcoat,' exterior foundation insulation, or 'excavationless', and a combined space and water heating HVAC system or 'combi'. To maximize efficiency of application and to address budget issues, the Team worked with Urban Homeworks to identify ways to use volunteers and construction training programs to install the measures. An open invitation to visit the job site was extended to other nonprofit developers and industry partners to encourage dialog about the systems during live installation.

  11. Finding, Serving, and Housing the Homeless: Using Collaborative Research to Prepare Social Work Students for Research and Practice

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lane, Shannon R.; McClendon, Jennifer; Matthews, Natalie

    2017-01-01

    Social work plays a key role in engaging with clients and communities directly affected by housing insecurity and homelessness, and advocating for the right to safe and affordable housing. This article describes methodologies of the Point-in-Time Count and Homeless Management Information Systems and proposes strategies for integrating additional…

  12. Assessment of housing density, space allocation and social hierarchy of laboratory rats on behavioural measures of welfare.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Barker, Timothy Hugh; George, Rebecca Peta; Howarth, Gordon Stanley; Whittaker, Alexandra Louise

    2017-01-01

    Minimum space allowances for laboratory rats are legislated based on weight and stocking rates, with the understanding that increased housing density encourages crowding stress. However, there is little evidence for these recommendations, especially when considering positive welfare outcomes. This study consisted of two experiments which investigated the effects of housing density (rats per cage), space allocation (surface area per rat) and social rank (dominance hierarchy) on the ability to perform simple behavioural tests. Male Sprague Dawley (SD) rats (n = 64) were allocated to either high-density (n = 8) or low-density (n = 8) cages. The second experiment investigated the effects of surface area. SD rats (n = 40) were housed in dyads in either the large (n = 10) or small (n = 10) cage. In both experiments, animals were tested on a judgment bias paradigm, with their responses to an ambiguous stimulus being ascribed as optimistic or pessimistic. Animals were also tested on open-field, novel-object recognition and social-interaction tests. Recordings were taken from 1700-2100h daily for rat observation and social rank establishment. Dominant animals responded with significantly more optimistic decisions compared to subordinates for both the housing density (psocial affiliative behaviours in the social-interaction test, and spent more time in the centre of the open-field test for both experiments. No significance was detected between housing density or space allocation treatments. These findings suggest that social rank is a significantly greater modifier of affective state than either housing density or space allocation. This finding has not yet been reported and suggests that future drafts of housing guidelines should consider animal social status in addition to floor space requirements.

  13. Assessment of housing density, space allocation and social hierarchy of laboratory rats on behavioural measures of welfare

    Science.gov (United States)

    George, Rebecca Peta; Howarth, Gordon Stanley; Whittaker, Alexandra Louise

    2017-01-01

    Minimum space allowances for laboratory rats are legislated based on weight and stocking rates, with the understanding that increased housing density encourages crowding stress. However, there is little evidence for these recommendations, especially when considering positive welfare outcomes. This study consisted of two experiments which investigated the effects of housing density (rats per cage), space allocation (surface area per rat) and social rank (dominance hierarchy) on the ability to perform simple behavioural tests. Male Sprague Dawley (SD) rats (n = 64) were allocated to either high-density (n = 8) or low-density (n = 8) cages. The second experiment investigated the effects of surface area. SD rats (n = 40) were housed in dyads in either the large (n = 10) or small (n = 10) cage. In both experiments, animals were tested on a judgment bias paradigm, with their responses to an ambiguous stimulus being ascribed as optimistic or pessimistic. Animals were also tested on open-field, novel-object recognition and social-interaction tests. Recordings were taken from 1700-2100h daily for rat observation and social rank establishment. Dominant animals responded with significantly more optimistic decisions compared to subordinates for both the housing density (ptest, and spent more time in the centre of the open-field test for both experiments. No significance was detected between housing density or space allocation treatments. These findings suggest that social rank is a significantly greater modifier of affective state than either housing density or space allocation. This finding has not yet been reported and suggests that future drafts of housing guidelines should consider animal social status in addition to floor space requirements. PMID:28926644

  14. Discovery and Reuse of Open Datasets: An Exploratory Study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sara

    2016-07-01

    Full Text Available Objective: This article analyzes twenty cited or downloaded datasets and the repositories that house them, in order to produce insights that can be used by academic libraries to encourage discovery and reuse of research data in institutional repositories. Methods: Using Thomson Reuters’ Data Citation Index and repository download statistics, we identified twenty cited/downloaded datasets. We documented the characteristics of the cited/downloaded datasets and their corresponding repositories in a self-designed rubric. The rubric includes six major categories: basic information; funding agency and journal information; linking and sharing; factors to encourage reuse; repository characteristics; and data description. Results: Our small-scale study suggests that cited/downloaded datasets generally comply with basic recommendations for facilitating reuse: data are documented well; formatted for use with a variety of software; and shared in established, open access repositories. Three significant factors also appear to contribute to dataset discovery: publishing in discipline-specific repositories; indexing in more than one location on the web; and using persistent identifiers. The cited/downloaded datasets in our analysis came from a few specific disciplines, and tended to be funded by agencies with data publication mandates. Conclusions: The results of this exploratory research provide insights that can inform academic librarians as they work to encourage discovery and reuse of institutional datasets. Our analysis also suggests areas in which academic librarians can target open data advocacy in their communities in order to begin to build open data success stories that will fuel future advocacy efforts.

  15. Creating Open Education Resources for Teaching and Community Development through Action Research: An Overview of the Makerere AgShare Project

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kaneene, John B.; Ssajjakambwe, Paul; Kisaka, Stevens; Miller, RoseAnn; Kabasa, John D.

    2013-01-01

    The AgShare Phase I Program, conducted at Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda, was formed to create open education resources for teaching and community development through action research. The study was conducted by an interdisciplinary team of investigators from fields of veterinary medicine and agri-business. Two master of science students…

  16. Effects of Metabolic Cage Housing on Rat Behavior and Performance in the Social Interaction Test.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Whittaker, Alexandra L; Lymn, Kerry A; Howarth, Gordon S

    2016-01-01

    Although the metabolic cage is commonly used for housing nonhuman animals in the laboratory, it has been recognized as constituting a unique stressor. Such an environment would be expected to affect behavioral change in animals housed therein. However, few studies have specifically addressed the nature or magnitude of this change. The current study sought to characterize the behavioral time budget of rats in metabolic cage housing in comparison to that of individually housed animals in standard open-top cages. Rats in metabolic cages spent less time moving, manipulating enrichment, and carrying out rearing behaviors, and there was a corresponding shift toward inactivity. In an applied Social Interaction Test, behavioral scoring implied that metabolic cage housing had an anxiogenic effect. In conclusion, metabolic cage housing produces measurable effects on spontaneous and evoked behavior in rats in the laboratory. These behavioral changes may lead to a negative emotional state in these animals, which could have negative welfare consequences. Further research is needed to quantify the existence and magnitude of such an effect on rat well being.

  17. Understanding of Danish passive houses based on pilot project Comfort Houses

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Brunsgaard, C.

    2010-12-15

    The aim of the research is to investigate the notion of passive houses in Denmark. When this PhD thesis was initiated, the Danish building industry has just started to become interested in the passive house concept, but the knowledge was very limited. To be able to speed up the process of constructing Danish passive houses or other low energy concepts Saint-Gobain Isover Scandinavia took the initiative to the pilot project of the Comfort Houses, ten single-family houses constructed as passive houses, and wanted to share the knowledge with the building industry and other interested. This PhD thesis was a part of the strategy. If the concept of passive houses should be successfully promoted and achieve a significant sale in Denmark, it is believed that it is necessary to do a holistic approach. Besides energy savings and new structural solutions more qualitative aspects like architecture, everyday life and the future ways of living needs to be integrated in the future understanding of passive houses. This Ph.D. thesis therefore studies the following research question: What can the experience from the Comfort Houses enlighten about the future production and use of Danish passive houses? This understanding is achieved through studies of different study fields to be able to create a more holistic understanding of the concept both covering qualitative and quantitative analysis. The main focus will be on the study fields Design Process, Architecture and Everyday Life and the Indoor environment, which will answer the following sub-research questions: 1) How has the consortiums behind the Comfort Houses approached the design process according to teamwork, method and tools? And what barriers and possibilities lie within the approaches? 2) How do the occupants of the Comfort Houses experience the passive house architecture and the technical service systems? And has their everyday life changed by moving into a passive house? If so, how? 3) To what extent do the Comfort Houses

  18. Supporting the advancement of science: Open access publishing and the role of mandates

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Phelps Lisa

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available Abstract In December 2011 the United States House of Representatives introduced a new bill, the Research Works Act (H.R.3699, which if passed could threaten the public's access to US government funded research. In a digital age when professional and lay parties alike look more and more to the online environment to keep up to date with developments in their fields, does this bill serve the best interests of the community? Those in support of the Research Works Act argue that government open access mandates undermine peer-review and take intellectual property from publishers without compensation, however journals like Journal of Translational Medicine show that this is not the case. Journal of Translational Medicine in affiliation with the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer demonstrates how private and public organisations can work together for the advancement of science.

  19. Green Open Space: Awareness for Health or Sustainability?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dewi, O. C.; Chairunnisa, I.; Hidayat, T.; Anggraini, M.; Napitupulu, A.

    2018-03-01

    Universitas Indonesia in cooperation with American Red Cross and Indonesian Red Cross have been assisting green open space revitalisation program in 7 locations in Bogor Regency (2016-2017). The program was held under The Urban Disaster Risk Reduction Greater Jakarta Project; an initiative program from American Red Cross Indonesia. This project was not only improving the existing green open space quality, but also creating one adapted from public land. The revitalization project figures what happened on daily basis on the existing land, proposing new programming facilities, community-based construction, monitoring and handing over. This paper discovers the meaning of a green space for the community, whether the community aware of its benefit on human health or environmental sustainability. The research question is does the community aware of green open space benefit for human health or environmental sustainability? Or both? The original data from the community was gathered and grouped based on its relevance with environmental quality and public health.

  20. The Open Access Dilemma

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pratt, Timothy

    2017-01-01

    Community colleges, with their commitment to open access, admit millions of students each year who are unprepared for college-level work, even though they have earned a high-school diploma. For decades the schools had a built-in base of students attracted to their open doors and relative affordability. But enrollment at public two-year college has…

  1. Radon house doctor

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Nitschke, I.A.; Brennan, T.; Wadach, J.B.; O'Neil, R.

    1986-01-01

    The term house doctor may be generalized to include persons skilled in the use of instruments and procedures necessary to identify, diagnose, and correct indoor air quality problems as well as energy, infiltration, and structural problems in houses. A radon house doctor would then be a specialist in radon house problems. Valuable experience in the skills necessary to be developed by radon house doctors has recently been gained in an extensive radon monitoring and mitigation program in upstate New York sponsored by Niagara Mohawk Power Corporation and the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority. These skills, to be described in detail in this paper, include: (i) the use of appropriate instruments, (ii) the evaluation of the symptoms of a radon-sick house, (iii) the diagnostic procedures required to characterize radon sources in houses, (iv) the prescription procedures needed to specify treatment of the problem, (v) the supervision of the implementation of the treatment program, (vi) the check-up procedures required to insure the house cured of radon problems. 31 references, 3 tables

  2. A model for the design and evaluation of energy efficient northern housing

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Semple, B. [Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp., Ottawa, ON (Canada); Dragnea, M. [Nunavut Housing Corp., Iqaluit, NU (Canada)

    2007-07-01

    The Nunavut Housing Corporation (NHC) is responsible for improving the housing and living conditions in communities throughout Nunavut. In response to the current housing shortage, NHC recently initiated a joint project with Canada Mortgage and Housing (CMHC) to develop a sustainable solution to housing in the Arctic. The result was a new energy efficient row house design called the NHC 5-Plex which has become a model for a culturally responsible housing design that meets the needs of Inuit families. This paper presented the design and development process undertaken for this project. It also described how the integration of new construction materials and products designed for cold climates, strategic project management, and cooperation between the NHC and CMHC were used to address the goals of energy efficiency and affordability for Arctic housing. Energy conservation calculations were presented along with the comparative and cost analysis used for the project. The energy modelling of the building performance was undertaken through a technical and design review of windows and insulating materials for energy efficiency, flame ratings, combustibility, sound transmission and water permeability. The heating and ventilation strategies were also evaluated in an effort to address issues of indoor air quality. It was concluded that in order to address the challenge of rising energy costs, the R value in the NHC 5-plex should be increased and the energy savings should be monitored. 3 refs., 6 figs.

  3. Housing First or no housing? Housing and homelessness at the end of alcohol and drug treatment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dyb, Evelyn

    2016-10-01

    The rate of alcohol and drug dependency is high among homeless persons in Norway as well as in other Western societies. National homeless surveys also show a certain correlation between discharge from institutions and homelessness. However, the rate of homelessness versus the rate with fixed abode at the end of specialised alcohol and drug treatment has not been examined using quantitative methods. A cross-sectional survey was conducted in alcohol and drug treatment units in the national health services and private clinics. The survey investigates the housing outcome at the end of treatment compared to the situation at the start of treatment using an individual questionnaire for patients ending treatment in a specific time window. Housing outcome is measured by the odds ratio of having a fixed abode at the end of treatment in relation to main intoxicating substance, type of treatment (in- and outpatient), completing versus cutting short the treatment, housing situation at the start of treatment, socioeconomic capital, mental health problems, individual plan, medical assisted treatment, and a set of background variables. The housing versus homeless situation hardly changes during the treatment period. In both a bivariate analysis and a simple multivariate model, principal intoxicating substance is the strongest predictor of having a fixed abode both before and after treatment. However, a more sophisticated analysis indicates that socioeconomic resources and social capital play along with the preferred intoxicating substance as predictors of having permanent housing. After more than a decade of a housing-led national homeless policy, and wide embracement of Housing First approaches in the European Union, homeless persons entering specialised alcohol and drug treatment are likely to return to the streets and hostels at the end of treatment. Access to housing after treatment is very limited for those lacking resources to solve their housing problem without assistance

  4. Can Housing and Service Interventions Reduce Family Separations for Families Who Experience Homelessness?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shinn, Marybeth; Brown, Scott R; Gubits, Daniel

    2017-09-01

    Family break-up is common in families experiencing homelessness. This paper examines the extent of separations of children from parents and of partners from each other and whether housing and service interventions reduced separations and their precursors among 1,857 families across 12 sites who participated in the Family Options Study. Families in shelters were randomized to offers of one of three interventions: permanent housing subsidies that reduce expenditures for rent to 30% of families' income, temporary rapid re-housing subsidies with some services directed at housing and employment, and transitional housing in supervised facilities with extensive psychosocial services. Each group was compared to usual care families who were eligible for that intervention but received no special offer. Twenty months later, permanent housing subsidies almost halved rates of child separation and more than halved rates of foster care placements; the other interventions did not affect separations significantly. Predictors of separation were primarily homelessness and drug abuse (all comparisons), and alcohol dependence (one comparison). Although housing subsidies reduced homelessness, alcohol dependence, intimate partner violence, and economic stressors, the last three variables had no association with child separations in the subsidy comparison; thus subsidies had indirect effects via reductions in homelessness. No intervention reduced partner separations. © Society for Community Research and Action 2016.

  5. Phylogenetic comparisons of a coastal bacterioplankton community with its counterparts in open ocean and freshwater systems.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rappé; Vergin; Giovannoni

    2000-09-01

    In order to extend previous comparisons between coastal marine bacterioplankton communities and their open ocean and freshwater counterparts, here we summarize and provide new data on a clone library of 105 SSU rRNA genes recovered from seawater collected over the western continental shelf of the USA in the Pacific Ocean. Comparisons to previously published data revealed that this coastal bacterioplankton clone library was dominated by SSU rRNA gene phylotypes originally described from surface waters of the open ocean, but also revealed unique SSU rRNA gene lineages of beta Proteobacteria related to those found in clone libraries from freshwater habitats. beta Proteobacteria lineages common to coastal and freshwater samples included members of a clade of obligately methylotrophic bacteria, SSU rRNA genes affiliated with Xylophilus ampelinus, and a clade related to the genus Duganella. In addition, SSU rRNA genes were recovered from such previously recognized marine bacterioplankton SSU rRNA gene clone clusters as the SAR86, SAR11, and SAR116 clusters within the class Proteobacteria, the Roseobacter clade of the alpha subclass of the Proteobacteria, the marine group A/SAR406 cluster, and the marine Actinobacteria clade. Overall, these results support and extend previous observations concerning the global distribution of several marine planktonic prokaryote SSU rRNA gene phylotypes, but also show that coastal bacterioplankton communities contain SSU rRNA gene lineages (and presumably bacterioplankton) shown previously to be prevalent in freshwater habitats.

  6. Household air pollution from wood burning in two reconstructed houses from the Danish Viking Age.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Christensen, J M; Ryhl-Svendsen, M

    2015-06-01

    During 13 winter weeks, an experimental archeology project was undertaken in two Danish reconstructed Viking Age houses with indoor open fireplaces. Volunteers inhabited the houses under living conditions similar to those of the Viking Age, including cooking and heating by wood fire. Carbon monoxide (CO) and particulate matter (PM2.5 ) were measured at varying distances to the fireplace. Near the fireplaces CO (mean) was 16 ppm. PM2.5 (mean) was 3.40 mg/m(3) , however, measured in one house only. The CO:PM mass ratio was found to increase from 6.4 to 22 when increasing the distance to the fire. Two persons carried CO sensors. Average personal exposure was 6.9 ppm, and from this, a personal PM2.5 exposure of 0.41 mg/m(3) was estimated. The levels found here were higher than reported from modern studies conducted in dwellings using biomass for cooking and heating. While this may be due to the Viking house design, the volunteer's lack of training in attending a fire maybe also played a role. Even so, when comparing to today's issues arising from the use of open fires, it must be assumed that also during the Viking Age, the exposure to woodsmoke was a contributing factor to health problems. © 2014 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  7. How do Housing Subsidies Improve Quality of Life Among Homeless Adults? A Mediation Analysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    O'Connell, Maria; Sint, Kyaw; Rosenheck, Robert

    2018-03-01

    Supported housing, combining rent subsidies with intensive case management, is associated with improvements in quality of life of homeless adults, but factors mediating their impact on quality of life have not been studied. Twelve-month outcome data from a randomized trial of the Housing and Urban Development- Veterans Affairs Supported Housing program (HUD-VASH) showed that access to a housing rent subsidy plus intensive case management (ICM) was associated with greater improvement in subjective quality of life than ICM alone. Multiple mediation analyses were applied to identify variables that significantly mediated the relationship between receipt of housing voucher and improvements in quality of life. Significant mediating covariates were those whose 95% bias-corrected confidence intervals, when added to the model predicting improvement in quality of life, did not overlap zero. Increases in the number of days housed, size of social network, and availability of emotional support appear to mediate improvement in quality of life and account for 71% of the benefit attributable to having a rent subsidy. Improvement in subjective quality of life though housing subsidies is mediated by gains in both material and psychosocial factors. Mediating factors deserve special attention in supported housing services. © Society for Community Research and Action 2018.

  8. House Price, House Quality and Economic Growth

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    De Vries, P.; Boelhouwer, P.J.

    2010-01-01

    The literature on housing markets suggest that periods of economic growth are characterised by a demand for better housing quality and increasing prices. The basic principles of the theory are that the short-run price fluctuations occur due to market imperfection, while over the long term, causality

  9. A Comparative Study of the Traditional Houses Kaili and Bugis-Makassar in Indonesia

    Science.gov (United States)

    Suharto, M. F.; Kawet, R. S. S. I.; Tumanduk, M. S. S. S.

    2018-02-01

    In this study, I compared the physical elements of two Indonesian traditional houses between a Kaili tribe (Central Sulawesi) and a Bugis-Makassar tribe (South Sulawesi). If we viewed of the name, meaning and function from both traditional houses have similarities, namely the Souraja/Saoraja house (House of the King), however, observed more detail the physical elements of architecture also show the differences. The spatial, physical and stylistic systems (N. John Habraken’s theory) were applied to analyze their differences and the similarities of the physical elements of architecture on those two traditional houses. The results of the analysis identified that the physical elements of architecture such as the orientation, the function and distribution of rooms (the spatial system), the constructions and materials of floor, wall and roof (the physical system) and the opening types of the door and window as well as ornaments used showed similarities. Meanwhile the physical elements of architecture such as the arrangement of columns, form and spatial pattern as well as the placement of the stairs (the spatial system), the constructions and materials of foundation, column and beam (the physical system) as well as the form of the roof and façade found differences of both traditional houses.

  10. Stress and fatigue analysis of fuelling machine housing of 500 MWe PHWR

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Dutta, B.K.; Ramana, W.V.; Kushwaha, H.S.; Kakodkar, A.

    1987-01-01

    One of the most appealing features of the Pressurised Heavy Water Reactors is the online refuelling capability. For this a fuelling machine is used. This machine opens a reactor channel by removing a seal plug and a shield plug and then does the necessary fuelling by pushing fuel bundles from a fuel magazine by rams. After necessary fuelling the machine closes the channel automatically. One of the most important parts of the fuelling machine is its pressure housing which becomes a part of the reactor channel during refuelling operation. It houses the fuel magazine, separators and rams. Beside channel pressure and other mechanical loads, the pressure housing experiences thermal transients during refuelling. The housing consists of two cylindrical shells having one end-closer in each. They are connected with each other by a large sized coupling. There are many holes on both the end-closers to accommodate ram movement, separators and magazine rive mechanisms. Some of these holes intersect with each other in the housing end-closers and hence end-closers are reinforced accordingly. This also makes the end-closers nonsymmetric. In the following sections the various analysis done to compute general stress distribution, stress concentration factors near to various holes, temperature transients during refuelling and also allowable fatigue cycles for pressure housing of fuelling machine for the proposed 500 MWe are described. (orig.)

  11. Stress and fatigue analysis of fuelling machine housing of 500 MWe PHWR

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Dutta, B.K.; Ramana, W.V.; Kushwaha, H.S.; Kakodkar, A.

    1987-01-01

    One of the most appealing features of the Pressurised Heavy Water Reactors is the online refuelling capability. For this a fuelling machine is used. This machine opens a reactor channel by removing a seal plug and a shield plug and then does the necessary fuelling by pushing fuel bundles from a fuel magazine by rams. After necessary fuelling the machine closes the channel automatically. One of the most important parts of the fuelling machine is its pressure housing which becomes a part of the reactor channel during refuelling operation. It houses the fuel magazine, separators and rams. Beside channel pressure and other mechanical loads, the pressure housing experiences thermal transients during refuelling. The housing consists of two cylindrical shells having one end-closer in each. They are connected with each other by a large sized coupling. There are many holes on both the end-closers to accommodate ram movement, separators and magazine drive mechanisms. Some of these holes intersect with each other in the housing end-closures and hence end-closures are reinforced accordingly. This also makes the end-closures nonsymmetric. In the following sections the various analysis done to compute general stress distribution, stress concentration factors near to various holes, temperature transients during refuelling and also allowable fatigue cycles for pressure housing of fuelling machine for the proposed 500 MWe are described

  12. Periodicals Price Survey 2008: Embracing Openness

    Science.gov (United States)

    Van Orsdel, Lee C.; Born, Kathleen

    2008-01-01

    Evidence for open access as an emergent, global state of mind is everywhere. The "New York Times" went "open" last September, and the "Wall Street Journal" is slated to follow. Increasingly, scholarly communities are breaking with tradition and calling for the open sharing of research, software, and data. Amongst these global initiatives is the…

  13. Exposures Related to House Dust Microbiota in a U.S. Farming Population.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee, Mi Kyeong; Carnes, Megan U; Butz, Natasha; Azcarate-Peril, M Andrea; Richards, Marie; Umbach, David M; Thorne, Peter S; Beane Freeman, Laura E; Peddada, Shyamal D; London, Stephanie J

    2018-06-01

    Environmental factors can influence the house dust microbiota, which may impact health outcomes. Little is known about how farming exposures impact the indoor microbiota. We aimed to identify exposures related to bacterial communities in house dust in a U.S. farming population. We used 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing to characterize bacterial communities in vacuumed dust samples from the bedrooms of a subset of 879 households of farmers and farmers' spouses enrolled in the Agricultural Lung Health Study (ALHS), a case-control study of asthma nested within the Agricultural Health Study (AHS) in North Carolina and Iowa. Information on current farming (past 12 mo), including both crop and animal farming, and other potential microbial sources was obtained via questionnaires. We used linear regression to evaluate associations between exposures and bacterial diversity within each sample, analysis of similarity (ANOSIM), and permutational multivariate analysis of variance (PERMANOVA) to identify exposures related to diversity between samples, and analysis of composition of microbiome to examine whether exposures related to diversity were also related to differential abundance of specific operational taxonomic units (OTUs). Current farming was positively associated with bacterial diversity in house dust, with or without adjustment for nonfarm exposures related to diversity, including presence of indoor pets, home condition, and season of dust collection. Many taxa exhibited differential abundance related to farming. Some taxa in the phyla Chloroflexi and Verrucomicrobia were associated [false discovery rate (FDR)<0.05] with farming but not with other nonfarm factors. Many taxa correlated with the concentration of house dust of endotoxin, commonly studied as a general marker of exposure to the farming environment. In this farming population, house dust microbiota differed by current farming status. Understanding the determinants of the indoor microbiota is the first step

  14. Tech House

    Science.gov (United States)

    1978-01-01

    The members of the Swain family- Dr. Charles "Bill" Swain, wife Elaine, daughter Carol, 17, son "Chuck", 12, and dog Susie have an interesting assignment. They are active participants in an important NASA research program involving the application of space-age technology to home construction. b' Transplanted Floridians, the Swains now reside in NASA's Tech House, loatedat Langley Research Center, Hampton, Virginia. Their job is to use and help evaluate the variety of advanced technology systems in Tech House. A contemporary three-bedroom home, Tech House incorporates NASA technology, the latest commercial building techniques and other innovations, all designed to reduce energy and water consumption and to provide new levels of comfort, convenience, security and fire safety. Tech House equipment performed well in initial tests, but a house is not a home until it has people. That's where the Swains come in. NASA wants to see how the various systems work under actual living conditions, to confirm the effectiveness of the innovations or to determine necessary modifications for improvement. The Swains are occupying the house for a year, during which NASA engineers are computer monitoring the equipment and assembling a record of day-to-day performance. . Tech House is a laboratory rather than a mass production prototype, but its many benefits may influence home design and construction. In a period of sharply rising utility costs, widespread adoption of Tech House features could provide large-scale savings to homeowners and potentially enormous national benefit in resources conservation. Most innovations are aerospace spinoffs: Some of the equipment is now commercially available; other systems are expected to be in production within a few years. Around 1980, a Tech House-type of home could be built for $45-50,000 (1 976 dollars). It is estimated that the homeowner would save well over $20,000 (again 1976 dollars) in utility costs over the average mortgage span of 20 years.

  15. Predicting future UK housing stock and carbon emissions

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Natarajan, Sukumar; Levermore, Geoffrey J.

    2007-01-01

    This paper presents a novel method for exploring future transformations in the UK housing stock. The method is shown to be more robust and faster than existing methods through various tests. A Java-based implementation of the method in a new model of the UK housing stock, DECarb, is examined using a back-cast scenario from 1970 to 1996. The results show an average difference of -5.4% between predicted and actual energy demand. Comparison with predicted carbon emissions from the BRE's BREHOMES model shows a difference of around -0.9% for the same period. These results suggest that DECarb is likely to be an effective tool in examining future scenarios since the same objects and processes used in back-casting in the model are also used in forecasting. The model has an open framework and could therefore significantly benefit ongoing domestic and non-domestic climate futures research. (author)

  16. The Special Importance of Housing Policy for the Housing Situation of Ethnic Minorities

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Andersen, Hans Skifter; Magnusson Turner, Lena; Søholt, Susanne

    The purpose of this article is to uncover, whether housing policy has a special importance for immigrants, compared with the whole population, by comparing housing policies and immigrants’ housing outcomes in four Nordic countries: Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden. There are substantial...... population varies much. These differences can only to some extent be explained by income inequalities on the housing markets in the countries, inequalities that affect immigrants. Other important explanations of why immigrants perform worse on the housing market is the shortage of rental housing (Norway......’ housing options are strict needs test for social/public housing (Finland)....

  17. The Special Importance of Housing Policy for the Housing Situation of Ethnic Minorities

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Andersen, Hans Skifter; Turner, Lena Magnusson; Søholt, Susanne

    2013-01-01

    The purpose of this article is to uncover, whether housing policy has a special importance for immigrants, compared with the whole population, by comparing housing policies and immigrants’ housing outcomes in four Nordic countries: Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden. There are substantial...... population varies much. These differences can only to some extent be explained by income inequalities on the housing markets in the countries, inequalities that affect immigrants. Other important explanations of why immigrants perform worse on the housing market is the shortage of rental housing (Norway......’ housing options are strict needs test for social/public housing (Finland)....

  18. 76 FR 58197 - Pre-Release Community Confinement

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-09-20

    ... advance notice and comment'' under the Administrative Procedure Act (5 U.S.C. 552, et seq.). Sacora v... as follows: ``Community confinement'' means residence in a community treatment center, halfway house... defendant to his or her place of residence continuously, except for authorized absences, enforced by...

  19. Medical-Legal Partnerships At Veterans Affairs Medical Centers Improved Housing And Psychosocial Outcomes For Vets.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tsai, Jack; Middleton, Margaret; Villegas, Jennifer; Johnson, Cindy; Retkin, Randye; Seidman, Alison; Sherman, Scott; Rosenheck, Robert A

    2017-12-01

    Medical-legal partnerships-collaborations between legal professionals and health care providers that help patients address civil legal problems that can affect health and well-being-have been implemented at several Veterans Affairs (VA) medical centers to serve homeless and low-income veterans with mental illness. We describe the outcomes of veterans who accessed legal services at four partnership sites in Connecticut and New York in the period 2014-16. The partnerships served 950 veterans, who collectively had 1,384 legal issues; on average, the issues took 5.4 hours' worth of legal services to resolve. The most common problems were related to VA benefits, housing, family issues, and consumer issues. Among a subsample of 148 veterans who were followed for one year, we observed significant improvements in housing, income, and mental health. Veterans who received more partnership services showed greater improvements in housing and mental health than those who received fewer services, and those who achieved their predefined legal goals showed greater improvements in housing status and community integration than those who did not. Medical-legal partnerships represent an opportunity to expand cross-sector, community-based partnerships in the VA health care system to address social determinants of mental health.

  20. iPhone Open Application Development Write Native Applications Using the Open Source Tool Chain

    CERN Document Server

    Zdziarski, Jonathan

    2008-01-01

    Developers everywhere are eager to create applications for the iPhone, and many of them prefer the open source, community-developed tool chain to Apple's own toolkit. This new edition of iPhone Open Application Development covers the latest version of the open toolkit -- now updated for Apple's iPhone 2.x software and iPhone 3G -- and explains in clear language how to create applications using Objective-C and the iPhone API.