Exploring the Linkage between Urban Flood Risk and Spatial Patterns in Small Urbanized Catchments of Beijing, China

Science.gov (United States)

Yao, Lei; Chen, Liding; Wei, Wei

2017-01-01

In the context of global urbanization, urban flood risk in many cities has become a serious environmental issue, threatening the health of residents and the environment. A number of hydrological studies have linked urban flooding issues closely to the spectrum of spatial patterns of urbanization, but relatively little attention has been given to small-scale catchments within the realm of urban systems. This study aims to explore the hydrological effects of small-scaled urbanized catchments assigned with various landscape patterns. Twelve typical residential catchments in Beijing were selected as the study areas. Total Impervious Area (TIA), Directly Connected Impervious Area (DCIA), and a drainage index were used as the catchment spatial metrics. Three scenarios were designed as different spatial arrangement of catchment imperviousness. Runoff variables including total and peak runoff depth (Qt and Qp) were simulated by using Strom Water Management Model (SWMM). The relationship between catchment spatial patterns and runoff variables were determined, and the results demonstrated that, spatial patterns have inherent influences on flood risks in small urbanized catchments. Specifically: (1) imperviousness acts as an effective indicator in affecting both Qt and Qp; (2) reducing the number of rainwater inlets appropriately will benefit the catchment peak flow mitigation; (3) different spatial concentrations of impervious surfaces have inherent influences on Qp. These findings provide insights into the role of urban spatial patterns in driving rainfall-runoff processes in small urbanized catchments, which is essential for urban planning and flood management. PMID:28264521

Exploring racial differences in the obesity gender gap.

Science.gov (United States)

Seamans, Marissa J; Robinson, Whitney R; Thorpe, Roland J; Cole, Stephen R; LaVeist, Thomas A

2015-06-01

To investigate whether the gender gap in obesity prevalence is greater among U.S. blacks than whites in a study designed to account for racial differences in socioeconomic and environmental conditions. We estimated age-adjusted, race-stratified gender gaps in obesity (% female obese - % male obese, defined as body mass index ≥30 kg/m(2)) in the National Health Interview Survey 2003 and the Exploring Health Disparities in Integrated Communities-Southwest Baltimore 2003 study (EHDIC-SWB). EHDIC-SWB is a population-based survey of 1381 adults living in two urban, low-income, racially integrated census tracts with no race difference in income. In the National Health Interview Survey, the obesity gender gap was larger in blacks than whites as follows: 7.7 percentage points (ppts; 95% confidence interval (CI): 3.4-11.9) in blacks versus -1.5 ppts (95% CI: -2.8 to -0.2) in whites. In EHDIC-SWB, the gender gap was similarly large for blacks and whites as follows: 15.3 ppts (95% CI: 8.6-22.0) in blacks versus 14.0 ppts (95% CI: 7.1-20.9) in whites. In a racially integrated, low-income urban community, gender gaps in obesity prevalence were similar for blacks and whites. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Neighborhood characteristics and mental health among African Americans and whites living in a racially integrated urban community.

Science.gov (United States)

Gary, Tiffany L; Stark, Sarah A; LaVeist, Thomas A

2007-06-01

Aspects of the environment in which one lives are increasingly being recognized as major contributors to health, yet few empirical studies have focused on mental health. Therefore, we sought to determine if neighborhood characteristics were associated with mental health outcomes among 1408 African-American (59.3%) and white (40.7%) adults living in a socio-economically homogeneous, racially integrated, urban community in Baltimore, MD. Among African Americans and whites, the perception of severe problems in the community was associated with higher levels of stress (approximately 1.8 units higher), anxiety (approximately 1.8 units higher), and depression (OR= approximately 2.0) compared to those who perceived no or few problems (all pCommunity cohesion, the perception that people generally work together, was associated with better mental health among whites only. These findings give further insight into the complex environment of inner-city communities.

Exploring Urban Taxi Drivers’ Activity Distribution Based on GPS Data

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Xiaowei Hu

2014-01-01

Full Text Available With the rapid development of information communication technology and data mining technology, we can obtain taxi vehicle’s real time operation status through the large-scale taxi GPS trajectories data and explore the drivers’ activity distribution characteristics. Based on the 204 continuous hours of 3198 taxi vehicles’ operation data of Shenzhen, China, this paper analyzed the urban taxi driver’s activity distribution characteristics from different temporal and spatial levels. In the time level, we identified the difference with taxi daily operation pattern (weekday versus weekends, continuous time in one day, passengers in vehicle time, and taxi drivers’ operation frequency; in the space level, we explored the taxi driver’s searching pattern, including searching activity space distribution and the relationship between the pick-up locations and the drop-off locations. This research can be helpful for urban taxi drivers’ operation and behavior pattern identification, as well as the contribution to the geographical activity space analysis.

White theology in dialogue with Black Theology: Exploring the contribution of Klippies Kritzinger

OpenAIRE

George J. (Cobus) van Wyngaard

2016-01-01

This article explores the contribution of South African missiologist and theologian Klippies Kritzinger to a critical and anti-racist white theology. It analyses his academic work in response to Black Consciousness and Black Theology from publications during his doctoral studies, throughout the transition to democracy and into the present, where this theme remains a constant presence in his work. The article explores his use of liberation, conversation and re-evangelisation in constructing a ...

Exploring the design space of immersive urban analytics

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Zhutian Chen

2017-06-01

Full Text Available Recent years have witnessed the rapid development and wide adoption of immersive head-mounted devices, such as HTC VIVE, Oculus Rift, and Microsoft HoloLens. These immersive devices have the potential to significantly extend the methodology of urban visual analytics by providing critical 3D context information and creating a sense of presence. In this paper, we propose a theoretical model to characterize the visualizations in immersive urban analytics. Furthermore, based on our comprehensive and concise model, we contribute a typology of combination methods of 2D and 3D visualizations that distinguishes between linked views, embedded views, and mixed views. We also propose a supporting guideline to assist users in selecting a proper view under certain circumstances by considering visual geometry and spatial distribution of the 2D and 3D visualizations. Finally, based on existing work, possible future research opportunities are explored and discussed.

Albedo decreasing trend. White cars proposal and new urban scenarios

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Niccolò Casiddu

2014-05-01

Full Text Available Global warming caused the decrease of the albedo. Emission reduction is the most widely proposed response to this problem. However simple ideas such as cool roofs and cool pavements seem successful remedies to counter the threat. However in Italy another strategy appears more effective. By changing from dark to pastel bright automotive colours a considerable increase of the albedo can be hypothesized: the effect should be from 32% to 50% of the results obtained with an extensive application of the “cool roofs” strategy. Such a proposal involves the creation of new, unexpected cityscapes. The city is a place where the perception of space changes. The car, by definition is an object in motion, but still present, sometimes redundant in the urban landscape. What will be the perceived relationship with buildings, streets, squares where the cars are all white or pastel colour?

Urbanism and Racial Attitudes: A Test of Some Urban Theories.

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Wilson, Thomas C.

1984-01-01

National survey data are used to test the relationship between urbanism and racial attitudes among Whites, and a liberalizing effect of urbanism is found. It appears that urbanism liberalizes racial attitudes by increasing equal-status, cooperative, and relatively personal contact between members of racial subcultures. (Author/RDN)

Exploring Urban America: An Introductory Reader.

Science.gov (United States)

Caves, Roger W.

This introductory text presents a collection of articles from urban-studies journals to introduce undergraduate students to the interdisciplinary field of urban studies. The book is divided into 9 parts as follows: Part 1: Cities and Urbanism; part 2: Urban History; part 3: Urban Policy; part 4: Economic Development; part 5: Community Services and…

Urban park characteristics, genetic variation, and historical demography of white-footed mouse (Peromyscus leucopus populations in New York City

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Jason Munshi-South

2014-03-01

Full Text Available Severe fragmentation is a typical fate of native remnant habitats in cities, and urban wildlife with limited dispersal ability are predicted to lose genetic variation in isolated urban patches. However, little information exists on the characteristics of urban green spaces required to conserve genetic variation. In this study, we examine whether isolation in New York City (NYC parks results in genetic bottlenecks in white-footed mice (Peromyscus leucopus, and test the hypotheses that park size and time since isolation are associated with genetic variability using nonlinear regression and information-theoretic model selection. White-footed mice have previously been documented to exhibit male-biased dispersal, which may create disparities in genetic variation between males and females in urban parks. We use genotypes of 18 neutral microsatellite data and four different statistical tests to assess this prediction. Given that sex-biased dispersal may create disparities between population genetic patterns inferred from bi- vs. uni-parentally inherited markers, we also sequenced a 324 bp segment of the mitochondrial D-loop for independent inferences of historical demography in urban P. leucopus. We report that isolation in urban parks does not necessarily result in genetic bottlenecks; only three out of 14 populations in NYC parks exhibited a signature of a recent bottleneck at 18 neutral microsatellite loci. Mouse populations in larger urban parks, or parks that have been isolated for shorter periods of time, also do not generally contain greater genetic variation than populations in smaller parks. These results suggest that even small networks of green spaces may be sufficient to maintain the evolutionary potential of native species with certain characteristics. We also found that isolation in urban parks results in weak to nonexistent sex-biased dispersal in a species known to exhibit male-biased dispersal in less fragmented environments. In

Exploring How African American Males from an Urban Community Navigate the Interracial and Intra-Racial Dimensions of Their Experiences at an Urban Jesuit High School

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Simmons, Robert W., III

2012-01-01

African American males from urban communities have been attending Jesuit high schools in urban spaces for many years, yet little to no literature exists that explores their experiences while attending these elite private schools. This qualitative study of 10 African American males from an urban community attending a similarly positioned Jesuit…

Recent trends in breast cancer incidence in US white women by county-level urban/rural and poverty status.

Science.gov (United States)

Hausauer, Amelia K; Keegan, Theresa H M; Chang, Ellen T; Glaser, Sally L; Howe, Holly; Clarke, Christina A

2009-06-26

Unprecedented declines in invasive breast cancer rates occurred in the United States between 2001 and 2004, particularly for estrogen receptor-positive tumors among non-Hispanic white women over 50 years. To understand the broader public health import of these reductions among previously unstudied populations, we utilized the largest available US cancer registry resource to describe age-adjusted invasive and in situ breast cancer incidence trends for non-Hispanic white women aged 50 to 74 years overall and by county-level rural/urban and poverty status. We obtained invasive and in situ breast cancer incidence data for the years 1997 to 2004 from 29 population-based cancer registries participating in the North American Association of Central Cancer Registries resource. Annual age-adjusted rates were examined overall and by rural/urban and poverty of patients' counties of residence at diagnosis. Joinpoint regression was used to assess trends by annual quarter of diagnosis. Between 2001 and 2004, overall invasive breast cancer incidence fell 13.2%, with greater reductions among women living in urban (-13.8%) versus rural (-7.5%) and low- (-13.0%) or middle- (-13.8%) versus high- (-9.6%) poverty counties. Most incidence rates peaked around 1999 then declined after second quarter 2002, although in rural counties, rates decreased monotonically after 1999. Similar but more attenuated patterns were seen for in situ cancers. Breast cancer rates fell more substantially in urban and low-poverty, affluent counties than in rural or high-poverty counties. These patterns likely reflect a major influence of reductions in hormone therapy use after July 2002 but cannot exclude possible effects due to screening patterns, particularly among rural populations where hormone therapy use was probably less prevalent.

Exploring space-time structure of human mobility in urban space

Science.gov (United States)

Sun, J. B.; Yuan, J.; Wang, Y.; Si, H. B.; Shan, X. M.

2011-03-01

Understanding of human mobility in urban space benefits the planning and provision of municipal facilities and services. Due to the high penetration of cell phones, mobile cellular networks provide information for urban dynamics with a large spatial extent and continuous temporal coverage in comparison with traditional approaches. The original data investigated in this paper were collected by cellular networks in a southern city of China, recording the population distribution by dividing the city into thousands of pixels. The space-time structure of urban dynamics is explored by applying Principal Component Analysis (PCA) to the original data, from temporal and spatial perspectives between which there is a dual relation. Based on the results of the analysis, we have discovered four underlying rules of urban dynamics: low intrinsic dimensionality, three categories of common patterns, dominance of periodic trends, and temporal stability. It implies that the space-time structure can be captured well by remarkably few temporal or spatial predictable periodic patterns, and the structure unearthed by PCA evolves stably over time. All these features play a critical role in the applications of forecasting and anomaly detection.

Exploring Normative Whiteness: Ensuring Inclusive Pedagogic Practice in Undergraduate Fieldwork Teaching and Learning

Science.gov (United States)

Hughes, Annie

2016-01-01

Higher education commentators have become concerned about how learning and teaching praxis across the sector may unwittingly advantage White British (WB) compared to Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) students. Adopting critical race theory, this article explores these issues in relation to field teaching in geography and related subjects. It reports…

Exploring aspects of urban sustainability and the use of tools in Europe

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jensen, Jesper Ole; Elle, Morten

This paper explores the different aspects of urban sustainability that are embedded in the PETUS cases and the different ways tools are being used – and not used – in the cases. The PETUS cases illustrate the diversity and the complexity of projects aiming for urban sustainability in Europe....... The cases operate on different scales and in different sectors – or attempt to be cross-sector (holistic). The case study comprises of both projects – limited in time and space – and policies for urban sustainability. There are many good examples on tools having provided more sustainable urban...... infrastructure, for instance through evaluations, that motivates actors to improve the project or policy, or by tools opening for using sustainable solutions by involving new types of actors in the decision-making process. In most of the cases, a number of tools are used. When tools are used in practice means...

Recent trends in breast cancer incidence in US white women by county-level urban/rural and poverty status

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Keegan Theresa HM

2009-06-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Unprecedented declines in invasive breast cancer rates occurred in the United States between 2001 and 2004, particularly for estrogen receptor-positive tumors among non-Hispanic white women over 50 years. To understand the broader public health import of these reductions among previously unstudied populations, we utilized the largest available US cancer registry resource to describe age-adjusted invasive and in situ breast cancer incidence trends for non-Hispanic white women aged 50 to 74 years overall and by county-level rural/urban and poverty status. Methods We obtained invasive and in situ breast cancer incidence data for the years 1997 to 2004 from 29 population-based cancer registries participating in the North American Association of Central Cancer Registries resource. Annual age-adjusted rates were examined overall and by rural/urban and poverty of patients' counties of residence at diagnosis. Joinpoint regression was used to assess trends by annual quarter of diagnosis. Results Between 2001 and 2004, overall invasive breast cancer incidence fell 13.2%, with greater reductions among women living in urban (-13.8% versus rural (-7.5% and low- (-13.0% or middle- (-13.8% versus high- (-9.6% poverty counties. Most incidence rates peaked around 1999 then declined after second quarter 2002, although in rural counties, rates decreased monotonically after 1999. Similar but more attenuated patterns were seen for in situ cancers. Conclusion Breast cancer rates fell more substantially in urban and low-poverty, affluent counties than in rural or high-poverty counties. These patterns likely reflect a major influence of reductions in hormone therapy use after July 2002 but cannot exclude possible effects due to screening patterns, particularly among rural populations where hormone therapy use was probably less prevalent.

Exploring Marine Citizenship among Young People in Select Urban and Rural Villages in the Philippines

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Jabar, Melvin A.; Regadio, Crisanto Q., Jr.; Collado, Zaldy C.

2018-01-01

This article explores the understanding of marine citizenship among young people from two villages (urban and rural) in the Philippines. The purpose of the article is to examine the differences and similarities of their attitudes toward and engagement in marine environment conservation in rural and urban contexts. Young Focus Group Discussion…

Urban landscape genetics: canopy cover predicts gene flow between white-footed mouse (Peromyscus leucopus) populations in New York City.

Science.gov (United States)

Munshi-South, Jason

2012-03-01

In this study, I examine the influence of urban canopy cover on gene flow between 15 white-footed mouse (Peromyscus leucopus) populations in New York City parklands. Parks in the urban core are often highly fragmented, leading to rapid genetic differentiation of relatively nonvagile species. However, a diverse array of 'green' spaces may provide dispersal corridors through 'grey' urban infrastructure. I identify urban landscape features that promote genetic connectivity in an urban environment and compare the success of two different landscape connectivity approaches at explaining gene flow. Gene flow was associated with 'effective distances' between populations that were calculated based on per cent tree canopy cover using two different approaches: (i) isolation by effective distance (IED) that calculates the single best pathway to minimize passage through high-resistance (i.e. low canopy cover) areas, and (ii) isolation by resistance (IBR), an implementation of circuit theory that identifies all low-resistance paths through the landscape. IBR, but not IED, models were significantly associated with three measures of gene flow (Nm from F(ST) , BayesAss+ and Migrate-n) after factoring out the influence of isolation by distance using partial Mantel tests. Predicted corridors for gene flow between city parks were largely narrow, linear parklands or vegetated spaces that are not managed for wildlife, such as cemeteries and roadway medians. These results have implications for understanding the impacts of urbanization trends on native wildlife, as well as for urban reforestation efforts that aim to improve urban ecosystem processes. © 2012 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Conceptualizing Urban Exploration as Beyond Tourism and as Anti-Tourism

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Peter ROBINSON

2015-12-01

Full Text Available Urban Exploration (U.E., the activity of exploring hidden parts of the city, is increasingly discussed in a range of academic papers, yet the aspects of this activity which are associated with travel and consumption have not been explored. However, there have been a number of related calls for research. This paper identifies that U.E. requires greater critical inquiry. It is noted that U.E. draws common themes with heritage tourism, adventure tourism, otherness, authenticity and risk, yet is a contradiction to the homogenised tourist experience. It is suggested that U.E. can thus be interpreted as a form of tourism which is outside of accepted norms of behaviour, decision making and typologies and which has significant meaning for future research. Thus, the paper proposes a model which identifies opportunities for further research beyond the current spectrum of tourism academia.

Doing race and ethnicity – exploring the lived experience of whiteness at a Danish Public School

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Tørslev, Mette Kirstine; Nørredam, Marie Louise; Vitus, Kathrine

2017-01-01

This article addresses race and ethnicity as social practices among young students at a Danish public sports school and explores how these practices engage with emotional well-being in the institutional context. The study is based on ethnographic fieldwork carried out in two school classes in 2012......–2013 using multiple qualitative methods. Taking a phenomenological practice approach, the article addresses how racial (and ethnic) practices affect everyday school life. The analysis shows how a common-sense, habitual background of whiteness positions non-white bodies as different and ‘non-belonging’, thus...

IDENTIFICATION OF LEAD AND CADMIUM LEVELS IN WHITE CABBAGE (Brassica rapa L., SOIL, AND IRRIGATION WATER OF URBAN AGRICULTURAL SITES IN THE PHILIPPINES

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Hardiyanto Hardiyanto

2016-10-01

Full Text Available Urban agriculture comprises a variety of farming systems, ranging from subsistence to fully commercialized agriculture. Pollution from automobile exhaust, industrial and commercialactivities may affect humans, crops, soil, and water in and around urban agriculture areas. The research aimed to investigate the level and distribution of lead (Pb and cadmium (Cd in white cabbage (Brassica rapa L., soil, and irrigation water taken from urban sites. The research was conducted in Las Piñas and Parañaque, Metro Manila, Philippines. The field area was divided into three sections based on its distance from the main road (0, 25, and 50 m. Irrigation water was taken from canal (Las Piñas and river (Parañaque. Pb and Cd contents of the extract were measured by Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometry. Combined analysis over locations was used. The relationship between distance from the main road and metal contents was measured by Pearson’s correlation. Based on combined analyses, highly significant difference over locations was only showed on Cd content in white cabbage. Cd content in white cabbage grown in Parañaque was higher than that cultivated in Las Piñas, while Cd content in the soil between both sites was comparable.The average Pb content (1.09 µg g-1 dry weight was highest in the white cabbage grown right beside the main road. A similar trend was also observed in the soil, with the highest concentration being recorded at 26 µg g-1 dry weight. There was a negative relationship between distance from the main road and Pb and Cd contents in white cabbage and the soil. Level of Pb in water taken from the canal and river was similar (0.12 mg l-1, whereaslevels of Cd were 0.0084 and 0.0095 mg l-1, respectively. In general, the concentrations of Pb and Cd in white cabbage and soil as well as irrigation water were still in the acceptable limits. In terms of environmental hazards and polluted city environment, it seems that

Sociostructural factors influencing health behaviors of urban African-American men.

Science.gov (United States)

Plowden, Keith O; Young, Anthony E

2003-06-01

African-American men are suffering disproportionately from most illnesses. Seemingly, action is needed if health disparities that disproportionately affect African-American men as compared to their White and female counterparts are to be reduced or eliminated. An important step in decreasing common health disparities evidenced among African-American men is to understand social factors that act as motivators and barriers to seeking care for most of this vulnerable population. Following a constructionist epistemology, this study used ethnography to explore social structure factors that motivate urban African-American men to seek care. Leininger's Culture Care Diversity and Universality Theory guided this study. Qualitative interviews were conducted with urban African-American men and other individuals in the community to explore understanding, attitudes, and beliefs about health. Critical issues examined included social factors associated with health seeking behaviors. Themes that emerged from these data indicated that critical social factors include: 1) Kinship/significant others; 2) accessibility of resources; 3) ethnohealth belief; and 4) accepting caring environment. The data also indicated a relationship between these social factors and health seeking behaviors of urban African-American men.

White public regard: associations among eating disorder symptomatology, guilt, and White guilt in young adult women.

Science.gov (United States)

Lydecker, Janet A; Hubbard, Rebecca R; Tully, Carrie B; Utsey, Shawn O; Mazzeo, Suzanne E

2014-01-01

As a novel investigation of the role of White racial identity, the current study explored the link between White guilt and disordered eating. Young adult women (N=375), 200 of whom self-identified as White. Measures assessed disordered eating, trait guilt, White guilt, and affect. White guilt is interrelated with disordered eating, particularly bulimic symptomatology. Distress tolerance and tendency to experience negative affect moderated the relation between White guilt and several disordered eating variables. Exploration of White guilt in clinical and research settings can inform understanding and treatment of disordered eating. © 2013.

Identifying Contextual and Emotional Factors to Explore Weight Disparities between Obese Black and White Women

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NiCole R. Keith

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Background Obese black women enrolled in weight loss interventions experience 50% less weight reduction than obese white women. This suggests that current weight loss strategies may increase health disparities. Objective We evaluated the feasibility of identifying daily contextual factors that may influence obesity. Methods In-home interviews with 16 obese (body mass index ≥ 30 black and white urban poor women were performed. For 14 days, ecological momentary assessment (EMA was used to capture emotion and social interactions every other day, and day reconstruction method surveys were used the following day to reconstruct the context of the prior day's EMA. Results Factors included percentage of participants without weight scales (43.8% or fitness equipment (68.8% in the home and exposed to food at work (55.6%. The most frequently reported location, activity, and emotion were home (19.4 ± 8.53, working (7.1 ± 8.80, and happy (6.9 ± 10.03, respectively. Conclusion Identifying individual contexts may lead to valuable insights about obesogenic behaviors and new interventions to improve weight management.

The ecological impact of city lighting scenarios: exploring gap crossing thresholds for urban bats.

Science.gov (United States)

Hale, James D; Fairbrass, Alison J; Matthews, Thomas J; Davies, Gemma; Sadler, Jon P

2015-02-02

As the global population urbanizes, dramatic changes are expected in city lighting and the urban form, which may threaten the functioning of urban ecosystems and the services they deliver. However, little is known about the ecological impact of lighting in different urban contexts. Movement is an important ecological process that can be disrupted by artificial lighting. We explored the impact of lighting on gap crossing for Pipistrellus pipistrellus, a species of bat (Chiroptera) common within UK cities. We aimed to determine whether the probability of crossing gaps in tree cover varied with crossing distance and lighting level, through stratified field surveys. We then used the resulting data on barrier thresholds to model the landscape resistance due to lighting across an entire city and explored the potential impact of scenarios for future changes to street lighting. The level of illumination required to create a barrier effect reduced as crossing distance increased. For those gaps where crossing was recorded, bats selected the darker parts of gaps. Heavily built parts of the case study city were associated with large and brightly lit gaps, and spatial models indicate movement would be highly restricted in these areas. Under a scenario for brighter street lighting, the area of accessible land cover was further reduced in heavily built parts of the city. We believe that this is the first study to demonstrate how lighting may create resistance to species movement throughout an entire city. That connectivity in urban areas is being disrupted for a relatively common species raises questions about the impacts on less tolerant groups and the resilience of bat communities in urban centres. However, this mechanistic approach raises the possibility that some ecological function could be restored in these areas through the strategic dimming of lighting and narrowing of gaps. © 2015 The Authors. Global Change Biology Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Exploring the career choices of white and Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic women pharmacists: A qualitative study.

OpenAIRE

Howells, Kelly; Bower, Peter; Hassell, Karen

2017-01-01

ObjectiveIn the UK, a growing number of females entering pharmacy are women from Black, Asian and minority ethnic groups (BAME). Research shows that BAME women are more likely to work in the community sector and be self-employed locums than white women, and Asian women overrepresented in part-time, lower status roles. This study aims to explore the employment choices of white and BAME women pharmacists to see whether their diverse work patterns are the product of individual choices or other o...

Exploring the career choices of White and Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic women pharmacists: a qualitative study.

Science.gov (United States)

Howells, Kelly; Bower, Peter; Hassell, Karen

2017-12-26

In the UK, a growing number of females entering pharmacy are women from Black, Asian and minority ethnic groups (BAME). Research shows that BAME women are more likely to work in the community sector and be self-employed locums than white women, and Asian women overrepresented in part-time, lower status roles. This study aims to explore the employment choices of white and BAME women pharmacists to see whether their diverse work patterns are the product of individual choices or other organisational factors. This study analyses 28 qualitative interviews conducted with 18 BAME and 10 white women pharmacists. The interview schedule was designed to explore early career choices, future career aspirations and key stages in making their career decisions. The findings show that white and BAME women are influenced by different factors in their early career choices. Cultural preferences for self-employment and business opportunities discourage BAME women from hospital sector jobs early in their careers. Resonating with other studies, the findings show that white and BAME women face similar barriers to career progression if they work part-time. Women working part-time are more likely to face workforce barriers, irrespective of ethnic origin. Cultural preferences may be preventing BAME women from entering the hospital sector. This research is important in the light of current debates about the future shape of pharmacy practice, as well as wider government policy objectives that seek to improve the working lives of health care professionals and promote racial diversity and equality in the workplace. © 2017 The Authors. International Journal of Pharmacy Practice published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Royal Pharmaceutical Society.

Factors Associated With American Indian and White Adolescent Drug Selling in Rural Communities

Science.gov (United States)

Eitle, David; Eitle, Tamela McNulty

2014-01-01

Relatively few studies have examined the correlates of adolescent drug selling in America, with most of these studies focusing on urban settings. The present study examines the risk and protective factors associated with drug selling among American Indian and white adolescents residing in a rural Northwestern state in the United States. Using survey data collected in 2010-2012, we conduct logistic regression analyses exploring the correlates of drug selling (n=568). Generally, we found support for prior explanations of drug selling, but identified some important race-specific differences. Specifically, we found that stress exposure was a risk factor for American Indians, but not whites. Conversely, academic achievement served as a protective factor for white adolescents but not American Indians. Our findings suggest that the race gap in rural drug selling can be explained by considering differences in social bonds, stress exposure, and exposure to substance using family and friends. PMID:26120365

An exploration of how perceptions of the risk of avian influenza in poultry relate to urbanization in Vietnam.

Science.gov (United States)

Finucane, Melissa L; Nghiem, Tuyen; Saksena, Sumeet; Nguyen, Lam; Fox, Jefferson; Spencer, James H; Thau, Trinh Dinh

2014-01-01

This research examined how perceptions of outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) subtype H5N1 in poultry are related to urbanization. Via in-depth interviews with village leaders, household farmers, and large farm operators in modern, transitional, and traditional communes in the north of Vietnam, we explored behaviors, attitudes, cultural values, and traditions that might amplify or attenuate HPAI outbreaks. We also explored conceptualizations of urbanization and its impacts on animal husbandry and disease outbreaks. Qualitative theme analyses identified the key impacts, factors related to HPAI outbreaks, and disease prevention and management strategies. The analyses also highlighted how urbanization improves some aspects of life (e.g., food security, family wealth and health, more employment opportunities, and improved infrastructure), but simultaneously poses significant challenges for poultry farming and disease management. Awareness of qualitative aspects of HPAI risk perceptions and behaviors and how they vary with urbanization processes may help to improve the prevention and management of emerging infectious diseases.

Young, Depressed, and Black: A Comparative Exploration of Depressive Symptomatology among Black and White Collegiate Women

Science.gov (United States)

Longmire-Avital, Buffie; Robinson, Ruthie

2018-01-01

This comparative study explored the rates of depression and psychosocial correlates for 369 collegiate White and Black females. Women between the ages of 18 and 25 were recruited to participate in this anonymous online survey. Black females reported significantly greater amounts of depressive symptomatology (M = 24.61) in comparison to the White…

Different Pathways for Achieving Cleaner Urban Areas

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Schippl, J.; Gudmundsson, Henrik; Sørensen, Claus Hedegaard

2016-01-01

The 2011 White Paper on Transport of the European Commission spells out a series of targets for 2030 and 2050. One of the 10 targets is explicitly related to urban transport and stipulates: ''Halve the use of 'conventionally fuelled' cars in urban transport by 2030; phase them out in cities by 2050....... Achieve essentially CO2-free city logistics in major urban centres by 2030.'' With this paper we present and discuss a roadmap that deals with the question who needs to do what by when in order to reach the White Paper goal for urban transport. The ''stakeholder-driven'' roadmap was developed in the FP7...... project TRANSFORuM. The paper will present the key findings and the suggested action steps identified in the roadmap. The paper will also exemplify three possible urban transformation pathways towards the urban target. This approach emerged from stakeholder consultations which highlighted the need to take...

Straight Gods, White Devils: Exploring Paths to Non-Religion in the Lives of Black LGBTQ People

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Simone Kolysh

2017-01-01

Full Text Available To examine paths to non-religion in the lives of black LGBTQ people, I analyze 10 interviews of black LGBTQ people who were raised Christian. Utilizing an intersectional lens, I conclude that lessons of the Christian home, reinforced in religious school and at church, drew a connection between Christianity, one’s racial and ethnic identity, and heterosexuality in such a way that being LGBTQ was marked un-Christian and foreign, and sometimes associated with whiteness. This further shaped how my participants navigated the urban public sphere, one of the only spheres where they could ‘be LGBTQ’ – some neighborhoods were constructed as Christian, connected to one’s childhood and hostile to LGBTQ people, while others were LGBTQ-friendly, albeit largely white and gentrified. The overall impact of Christianity across multiple spheres influenced which non-religious paths my participants took. One remained with a Christian denomination of her childhood and one remained with a Christian denomination of her mother but not her father. The other eight left Christianity behind, with one choosing a different religion and seven becoming non-religious, holding identities from Unitarian Universalist to atheist. Overall, black LGBTQ people struggle to find acceptance of their LGBTQ identities by people closest to them and acceptance of their racial, ethnic and non-religious identities in largely white and often non-religious LGBTQ spaces. In response, they use different strategies to find community and live coherent lives, whenever possible.

Whose banner are we waving? Exploring STEM partnerships for marginalized urban youth

Science.gov (United States)

Ridgeway, Monica L.; Yerrick, Randy K.

2018-03-01

This case study examines after school programming in citizen science from the perspective of Critical Race Theory. During the course of enacting community outreach projects this data was used to examine the positioning of experts, student, and teachers within the program. This study explores the role of race and ethnicity, and the ways in which marginalization can manifest itself with black urban youth and teachers. Implications for partner selection and training are addressed.

Redefining Rurality: Cosmopolitanism, Whiteness, and the New Latino Diaspora

Science.gov (United States)

Sierk, Jessica

2017-01-01

In mainstream discourse, rural generally implies white, while urban signifies not-white. However, what happens when "rural" communities experience demographic change? This paper examines how students from a rural, New Latino Diaspora community in a Midwestern state complicate traditional notions of rurality. Data from participant…

"Urban, but Not Too Urban": Unpacking Teachers' Desires to Teach Urban Students

Science.gov (United States)

Watson, Dyan

2011-01-01

This study explores 16 novice, urban-trained teachers' evaluations of their current schools. Findings suggest that teachers used the perceived behaviors, values, and beliefs of students to measure how urban a student was and, therefore, to guide their expectations and satisfaction of their placements. The less urban the students were perceived to…

TelCoVis: Visual Exploration of Co-occurrence in Urban Human Mobility Based on Telco Data.

Science.gov (United States)

Wu, Wenchao; Xu, Jiayi; Zeng, Haipeng; Zheng, Yixian; Qu, Huamin; Ni, Bing; Yuan, Mingxuan; Ni, Lionel M

2016-01-01

Understanding co-occurrence in urban human mobility (i.e. people from two regions visit an urban place during the same time span) is of great value in a variety of applications, such as urban planning, business intelligence, social behavior analysis, as well as containing contagious diseases. In recent years, the widespread use of mobile phones brings an unprecedented opportunity to capture large-scale and fine-grained data to study co-occurrence in human mobility. However, due to the lack of systematic and efficient methods, it is challenging for analysts to carry out in-depth analyses and extract valuable information. In this paper, we present TelCoVis, an interactive visual analytics system, which helps analysts leverage their domain knowledge to gain insight into the co-occurrence in urban human mobility based on telco data. Our system integrates visualization techniques with new designs and combines them in a novel way to enhance analysts' perception for a comprehensive exploration. In addition, we propose to study the correlations in co-occurrence (i.e. people from multiple regions visit different places during the same time span) by means of biclustering techniques that allow analysts to better explore coordinated relationships among different regions and identify interesting patterns. The case studies based on a real-world dataset and interviews with domain experts have demonstrated the effectiveness of our system in gaining insights into co-occurrence and facilitating various analytical tasks.

Small-area Variation in Hypertension Prevalence among Black and White Medicaid Enrollees.

Science.gov (United States)

White, Kellee; Stewart, John E; Lòpez-DeFede, Ana; Wilkerson, Rebecca C

2016-07-21

To examine within-state geographic heterogeneity in hypertension prevalence and evaluate associations between hypertension prevalence and small-area contextual characteristics for Black and White South Carolina Medicaid enrollees in urban vs rural areas. Ecological. South Carolina, United States. Hypertension prevalence. Data representing adult South Carolina Medicaid recipients enrolled in fiscal year 2013 (N=409,907) and ZIP Code Tabulation Area (ZCTA)-level contextual measures (racial segregation, rurality, poverty, educational attainment, unemployment and primary care physician adequacy) were linked in a spatially referenced database. Optimized Getis-Ord hotspot mapping was used to visualize geographic clustering of hypertension prevalence. Spatial regression was performed to examine the association between hypertension prevalence and small-area contextual indicators. Significant (alpha=.05) hotspot spatial clustering patterns were similar for Blacks and Whites. Black isolation was significantly associated with hypertension among Blacks and Whites in both urban (Black, b=1.34, P<.01; White, b=.66, P<.01) and rural settings (Black, b=.71, P=.02; White, b=.70, P<.01). Primary care physician adequacy was associated with hypertension among urban Blacks (b=-2.14, P<.01) and Whites (b=-1.74, P<.01). The significant geographic overlap of hypertension prevalence hotspots for Black and White Medicaid enrollees provides an opportunity for targeted health intervention. Provider adequacy findings suggest the value of ACA network adequacy standards for Medicaid managed care plans in ensuring health care accessibility for persons with hypertension and related chronic conditions.

Who You Callin' White?! A Critical Counter-Story on Colouring White Identity

Science.gov (United States)

Matias, Cheryl E.

2013-01-01

This action research, which utilizes critical race theory's counter-storytelling, analyses a process of debunking White students' epistemology of ignorance in a history course at an urban public high school. After piloting a raced curriculum that deliberately re-centers marginalized counter-stories of students of colour, I document its…

Exploration of Urban Spatial Planning Evaluation Based on Humanland Harmony

Science.gov (United States)

Hu, X. S.; Ma, Q. R.; Liang, W. Q.; Wang, C. X.; Xiong, X. Q.; Han, X. H.

2017-09-01

This study puts forward a new concept, "population urbanization level forecast - driving factor analysis - urban spatial planning analysis" for achieving efficient and intensive development of urbanization considering human-land harmony. We analyzed big data for national economic and social development, studied the development trends of population urbanization and its influencing factors using the grey system model in Chengmai county of Hainan province, China. In turn, we calculated the population of Chengmai coming years based on the forecasting urbanization rate and the corresponding amount of urban construction land, and evaluated the urban spatial planning with GIS spatial analysis method in the study area. The result shows that the proposed concept is feasible for evaluation of urban spatial planning, and is meaningful for guiding the rational distribution of urban space, controlling the scale of development, improving the quality of urbanization and thus promoting highly-efficient and intensive use of limited land resource.

Durbolota (weakness), chinta rog (worry illness), and poverty: explanations of white discharge among married adolescent women in an urban slum in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Science.gov (United States)

Rashid, Sabina Faiz

2007-03-01

I carried out ethnographic fieldwork among 153 married adolescent girls, aged 15-19, in a Dhaka slum from December 2001 to January 2003, including 50 in-depth interviews and eight case studies. I also held discussions with family and community members. In this article, I focus on popular understandings of vaginal discharge being caused by durbolota (weakness) and chinta rog (worry illness), as mentioned by young women. Eighty-eight young women reported that they had experienced white discharge, blaming it on a number of factors such as stress and financial hardships, tensions in the household, marital instability, hunger anxiety, and reproductive burdens. For married adolescent women in the urban slum, white discharge has many levels of meaning linked to the broader social, political, and material inequalities in their everyday lives.

Discrete event simulation for exploring strategies: an urban water management case.

Science.gov (United States)

Huang, Dong-Bin; Scholz, Roland W; Gujer, Willi; Chitwood, Derek E; Loukopoulos, Peter; Schertenleib, Roland; Siegrist, Hansruedi

2007-02-01

This paper presents a model structure aimed at offering an overview of the various elements of a strategy and exploring their multidimensional effects through time in an efficient way. It treats a strategy as a set of discrete events planned to achieve a certain strategic goal and develops a new form of causal networks as an interfacing component between decision makers and environment models, e.g., life cycle inventory and material flow models. The causal network receives a strategic plan as input in a discrete manner and then outputs the updated parameter sets to the subsequent environmental models. Accordingly, the potential dynamic evolution of environmental systems caused by various strategies can be stepwise simulated. It enables a way to incorporate discontinuous change in models for environmental strategy analysis, and enhances the interpretability and extendibility of a complex model by its cellular constructs. It is exemplified using an urban water management case in Kunming, a major city in Southwest China. By utilizing the presented method, the case study modeled the cross-scale interdependencies of the urban drainage system and regional water balance systems, and evaluated the effectiveness of various strategies for improving the situation of Dianchi Lake.

Dress Codes Blues: An Exploration of Urban Students' Reactions to a Public High School Uniform Policy

Science.gov (United States)

DaCosta, Kneia

2006-01-01

This qualitative investigation explores the responses of 22 U.S. urban public high school students when confronted with their newly imposed school uniform policy. Specifically, the study assessed students' appraisals of the policy along with compliance and academic performance. Guided by ecological human development perspectives and grounded in…

Exploring complex causal pathways between urban renewal, health and health inequality using a theory-driven realist approach.

Science.gov (United States)

Mehdipanah, Roshanak; Manzano, Ana; Borrell, Carme; Malmusi, Davide; Rodriguez-Sanz, Maica; Greenhalgh, Joanne; Muntaner, Carles; Pawson, Ray

2015-01-01

Urban populations are growing and to accommodate these numbers, cities are becoming more involved in urban renewal programs to improve the physical, social and economic conditions in different areas. This paper explores some of the complexities surrounding the link between urban renewal, health and health inequalities using a theory-driven approach. We focus on an urban renewal initiative implemented in Barcelona, the Neighbourhoods Law, targeting Barcelona's (Spain) most deprived neighbourhoods. We present evidence from two studies on the health evaluation of the Neighbourhoods Law, while drawing from recent urban renewal literature, to follow a four-step process to develop a program theory. We then use two specific urban renewal interventions, the construction of a large central plaza and the repair of streets and sidewalks, to further examine this link. In order for urban renewal programs to affect health and health inequality, neighbours must use and adapt to the changes produced by the intervention. However, there exist barriers that can result in negative outcomes including factors such as accessibility, safety and security. This paper provides a different perspective to the field that is largely dominated by traditional quantitative studies that are not always able to address the complexities such interventions provide. Furthermore, the framework and discussions serve as a guide for future research, policy development and evaluation. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Urban Sound Interfaces

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Breinbjerg, Morten

2012-01-01

This paper draws on the theories of Michel de Certeau and Gaston Bachelard to discuss how media architecture, in the form of urban sound interfaces, can help us perceive the complexity of the spaces we inhabit, by exploring the history and the narratives of the places in which we live. In this pa......This paper draws on the theories of Michel de Certeau and Gaston Bachelard to discuss how media architecture, in the form of urban sound interfaces, can help us perceive the complexity of the spaces we inhabit, by exploring the history and the narratives of the places in which we live....... In this paper, three sound works are discussed in relation to the iPod, which is considered as a more private way to explore urban environments, and as a way to control the individual perception of urban spaces....

Innovations in urban agriculture

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Schans, van der J.W.; Renting, Henk; Veenhuizen, Van René

2014-01-01

This issuehighlights innovations in urban agriculture. Innovation and the various forms of innovations are of particular importance because urban agriculture is adapted to specific urban challenges and opportunities. Innovation is taking place continuously, exploring the multiple fundions of urban

Environmental impact assessment in urban transport planning: Exploring process-related barriers in Spanish practice

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Soria-Lara, Julio A., E-mail: j.a.sorialara@uva.nl; Bertolini, Luca, E-mail: l.bertolini@uva.nl; Brömmelstroet, Marco te, E-mail: M.C.G.teBrommelstroet@uva.nl

2015-01-15

The effectiveness of EIA for evaluating transport planning projects is increasingly being questioned by practitioners, institutions and scholars. The academic literature has traditionally focused more on solving content-related problems with EIA (i.e. the measurement of environmental effects) than on process-related issues (i.e. the role of EIA in the planning process and the interaction between key actors). Focusing only on technical improvements is not sufficient for rectifying the effectiveness problems of EIA. In order to address this knowledge gap, the paper explores how EIA is experienced in the Spanish planning context and offers in-depth insight into EIA process-related issues in the field of urban transport planning. From the multitude of involved actors, the research focuses on exploring the perceptions of the two main professional groups: EIA developers and transport planners. Through a web-based survey we assess the importance of process-related barriers to the effective use of EIA in urban transport planning. The analyses revealed process issues based fundamentally on unstructured stakeholders involvement and an inefficient public participation - Highlights: • Qualitative research on perceptions of EIA participants on EIA processes. • Web-based survey with different participants (EIA-developers; transport planners). • It was seen an inefficient participation of stakeholders during the EIA processes.

Environmental impact assessment in urban transport planning: Exploring process-related barriers in Spanish practice

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Soria-Lara, Julio A.; Bertolini, Luca; Brömmelstroet, Marco te

2015-01-01

The effectiveness of EIA for evaluating transport planning projects is increasingly being questioned by practitioners, institutions and scholars. The academic literature has traditionally focused more on solving content-related problems with EIA (i.e. the measurement of environmental effects) than on process-related issues (i.e. the role of EIA in the planning process and the interaction between key actors). Focusing only on technical improvements is not sufficient for rectifying the effectiveness problems of EIA. In order to address this knowledge gap, the paper explores how EIA is experienced in the Spanish planning context and offers in-depth insight into EIA process-related issues in the field of urban transport planning. From the multitude of involved actors, the research focuses on exploring the perceptions of the two main professional groups: EIA developers and transport planners. Through a web-based survey we assess the importance of process-related barriers to the effective use of EIA in urban transport planning. The analyses revealed process issues based fundamentally on unstructured stakeholders involvement and an inefficient public participation - Highlights: • Qualitative research on perceptions of EIA participants on EIA processes. • Web-based survey with different participants (EIA-developers; transport planners). • It was seen an inefficient participation of stakeholders during the EIA processes

When White Women Cry: How White Women's Tears Oppress Women of Color

Science.gov (United States)

Accapadi, Mamta Motwani

2007-01-01

This article focuses on the tension that arises as the result of the intersection of social identities, namely gender and race. Through examination of a case study I consider the ways in which White women benefit from White privilege through their interactions with Women of Color using the Privileged Identity Exploration Model as the tool for…

Towards chemical profiling of ignitable liquids with comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography: Exploring forensic application to neat white spirits.

Science.gov (United States)

Sampat, Andjoe A S; Lopatka, Martin; Vivó-Truyols, Gabriel; Schoenmakers, Peter J; van Asten, Arian C

2016-10-01

The application of GC×GC-FID and GC×GC-MS for the chemical analysis and profiling of neat white spirit is explored and the benefit of the enhanced peak capacity offered by comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography is demonstrated. An extensive sampling exercise was conducted throughout The Netherlands and the production and logistics in terms of bottling and distribution of white spirits were studied. An exploratory approach based on target-peak tables and principal component analysis was employed to study the brand-to-brand differences and production variations over time. Despite the complex chemical composition of white spirit samples this study shows that chemical variation during productions is actually quite limited. Hence care has to be taken with the chemical comparison for forensic purposes. Although some clustering was noticed on brand level, the large scale production process leads to a very consistent composition across stores and brands. However, because of the broad specifications of this commodity product, substantial chemical variation was found over time. This temporal discrimination could be of forensic value when considering white spirits supplies in individual households. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

White and Black Teachers' Job Satisfaction: Does Relational Demography Matter?

Science.gov (United States)

Fairchild, Susan; Tobias, Robert; Corcoran, Sean; Djukic, Maja; Kovner, Christine; Noguera, Pedro

2012-01-01

Data on the impact of student, teacher, and principal racial and gender composition in urban schools on teacher work outcomes are limited. This study, a secondary data analysis of White and Black urban public school teachers using data taken from the restricted use 2003-04 Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS), examines the effects of relational…

Impacts of land-use change on the water cycle of urban areas within the Upper Great Lakes drainage basin

Science.gov (United States)

Bowling, L. C.; Cherkauer, K. A.; Pijanowski, B. C.; Niyogi, D.

2006-12-01

Urbanization is altering the global landscape at an unprecedented rate. This form of land cover/land-use change (LCLUC) can significantly reduce infiltration and runoff response times, and alter heat and water vapor fluxes, which can further alter surface-forced regional circulation patterns and modulate precipitation volume and intensity. Spatial patterns of future LCLUC are projected using the Land Transformation Model (LTM), enhanced to incorporate dynamic landcover, economics and policy using Bayesian Belief Networks (LTM- BBN). Different land use scenarios predicted by the LTM-BBN as well as a pre-development scenario are represented through the Unified Noah Land Surface Model (LSM) with an enhanced urban canopy model, embedded in the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model. The coupled WRF-Noah LSM model will be used to investigate the connections between land-use, hydrometeorology and the atmosphere, through analysis of water and energy balances over several urbanized watersheds within the Upper Great Lakes region. Preliminary results focus on a single watershed, the White River in Indiana, which includes the city of Indianapolis. Coupled WRF-Noah simulations made using pre and post-development land use maps provide a 7 year climatology of convective storm morphology around the urban center. Precipitation and other meteorological variables from the WRF-Noah simulations are used to drive simulations of the White River watershed using the Variable Infiltration Capacity (VIC) macroscale hydrologic model. The VIC model has been modified to represent urban areas and has been calibrated for modern flow regimes in the White River watershed. Pre- and post-development VIC simulations are used to assess the impact of Indianapolis area infiltration changes. Finally, VIC model simulations utilizing projected land use change from 2005 through 2040 for the Indianapolis metropolitan area explore the magnitude of future hydrologic change, especially peak flow response

Undermining Racism and a Whiteness Ideology: White Principals Living a Commitment to Equitable and Excellent Schools

Science.gov (United States)

Theoharis, George; Haddix, Marcelle

2011-01-01

This article reports on six White urban principals who came to administration with a commitment to create more equitable and excellent schools for students from marginalized communities. These leaders made strides in raising student achievement, creating a climate of belonging for students, staff, and families, and increasing access to learning…

Urban poverty and infant-health disparities among African Americans and whites in Milwaukee.

Science.gov (United States)

Sims, Mario; Rainge, Yolanda

2002-06-01

This study examined neighborhood and infant health disparities between African-American and white mothers in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Census-block data were used for 1990 and Vital Statistics data were used for 1992 through 1994. African-American mothers lived in less desirable, more segregated neighborhoods than white mothers did in 1990. African-American infant and neonatal mortality rates were twice those of whites (2.3 and 2.0, respectively), while African-American postneonatal mortality rates were three times that of whites (3.0). African-American low and very low birth weight rates were more than twice those of whites (2.5 and 2.6, respectively). All African-American mothers were nearly eight times as likely as all white mothers to have inadequate prenatal care, whereas poor African-American mothers were three times as likely to have inadequate prenatal care as were poor white mothers. Public health experts and practitioners may want to consider the communities of minority patients to devise interventions suitable for addressing health disparities.

Homeowner's Architectural Responses to Crime in Dar Es Salaan : Its impacts and implications to urban architecture, urban design and urban management

OpenAIRE

Bulamile, Ludigija Boniface

2009-01-01

HTML clipboardThis study is about Homeowner’s architectural responses to crime in Dar es Salaam Tanzania: its impacts and implications to urban architecture, urban design and urban management. The study explores and examines the processes through which homeowners respond to crimes of burglary, home robbery and fear of it using architectural or physical elements. The processes are explored and examined using case study methodology in three cases in Dar es Salaam. The cases are residentia...

Urban Knowledge Arena

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Karel Schmeidler

2008-01-01

Full Text Available COST Action C20 – Urban Knowledge Arena is research programme supported by European Co-operation in the Field of Scientific and Technical Research. It is co-ordinated by COST Office and European Science Foundation. The main objective of this Action is to explore and develop a European Arena for cross boundary, integrated knowledge and Know-how on complex urban problems, which is termed Urban Knowledge Arena. The COST Domain Transport and Urban Development aims at fostering international research networking activities of scientist and experts dealing with transport systems and infrastructures, spatial planning, urban land use and development, urban design, architecture and design and civil engineering issues. The focus is on multi and interdisciplinary approaches and the aim is to cover both basic and applied research activities and their changeovers that are relevant to policy and decision making processes. A significant concern is devoted to activities exploring new research needs and developments.

Managing the Urban Image. Cities as Scenery for Events: A White Night Event as a Case Study

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

ELENI ATHANASOPOULOU

2015-12-01

Full Text Available Organizing street events in the cities is not something new. Many cultural, social or religious events take place on the streets, whereas many of them have become international events and attract pan-european attention and coverage. Mega cities are organizing festivals and cultural events in order to attract tourists and contribute to local and regional development. This trend has started growing and spreading around Europe. Medium-sized cities are also organising such multi-dimensional public space events. As a case study it is interesting to present a white night event that took place in Kalamata (a medium-sized city in southern Greece, in August 2013. The shops stayed open until 3 in the morning, offering their products at reduced prices and encouraging people to consume. The city center provided the scenery for an alternative massive celebration. Parties were thrown and concerts took place, around the city. Many people from the Kalamata Region visited Kalamata City. The success was unexpected. This article describes what good can come out of the adoption of a successful north-European cultural white night event (in St. Petersburg and elsewhere. The implementation of an interesting idea, adjusted to the local circumstances, is worth to be looked into. The article concludes that urban scenery can play an important role to the organisation and success of such multicultural events.

Statistical exploration of dataset examining key indicators influencing housing and urban infrastructure investments in megacities

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Adedeji O. Afolabi

2018-06-01

Full Text Available Lagos, by the UN standards, has attained the megacity status, with the attendant challenges of living up to that titanic position; regrettably it struggles with its present stock of housing and infrastructural facilities to match its new status. Based on a survey of construction professionals’ perception residing within the state, a questionnaire instrument was used to gather the dataset. The statistical exploration contains dataset on the state of housing and urban infrastructural deficit, key indicators spurring the investment by government to upturn the deficit and improvement mechanisms to tackle the infrastructural dearth. Descriptive statistics and inferential statistics were used to present the dataset. The dataset when analyzed can be useful for policy makers, local and international governments, world funding bodies, researchers and infrastructural investors. Keywords: Construction, Housing, Megacities, Population, Urban infrastructures

Exploring the linkages among urban form travel behavior and public health with person level data from smart phone applications.

Science.gov (United States)

2013-09-01

The interaction between the built environment, travel behavior and public health is now a major concern for both : researchers and urban planners. Currently, there is little empirical research that explores and examines the : relationship between eac...

Ecological Footprints and Lifestyle Archetypes: Exploring Dimensions of Consumption and the Transformation Needed to Achieve Urban Sustainability

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jennie Moore

2015-04-01

Full Text Available The global urban transition increasingly positions cities as important influencers in determining sustainability outcomes. Urban sustainability literature tends to focus on the built environment as a solution space for reducing energy and materials demand; however, equally important is the consumption characteristics of the people who occupy the city. While size of dwelling and motor vehicle ownership are partially influenced by urban form, they are also influenced by cultural and socio-economic characteristics. Dietary choices and purchases of consumable goods are almost entirely driven by the latter. Using international field data that document urban ways of living, I develop lifestyle archetypes coupled with ecological footprint analysis to develop consumption benchmarks in the domains of: food, buildings, consumables, transportation, and water that correspond to various levels of demand on nature’s services. I also explore the dimensions of transformation that would be needed in each of these domains for the per capita consumption patterns of urban dwellers to achieve ecological sustainability. The dimensions of transformation needed commensurate with ecological carrying capacity include: a 73% reduction in household energy use, a 96% reduction in motor vehicle ownership, a 78% reduction in per capita vehicle kilometres travelled, and a 79% reduction in air kilometres travelled.

Rediscovering Good Teaching: Exploring Selfhood and Solidarity in Urban Contexts

Science.gov (United States)

Mahoney, Timothy

2012-01-01

This paper describes the experiences of preservice teachers developing deeper understanding of themselves and diverse students through participation in the Philadelphia Urban Seminar. The Seminar focuses on the reconstruction of more complete understanding of urban students and urban communities by combining field experience in Philadelphia with…

Mammal diversity and metacommunity dynamics in urban green spaces: implications for urban wildlife conservation.

Science.gov (United States)

Gallo, Travis; Fidino, Mason; Lehrer, Elizabeth W; Magle, Seth B

2017-12-01

As urban growth expands and natural environments fragment, it is essential to understand the ecological roles fulfilled by urban green spaces. To evaluate how urban green spaces function as wildlife habitat, we estimated mammal diversity and metacommunity dynamics in city parks, cemeteries, golf courses, and natural areas throughout the greater Chicago, Illinois, USA region. We found similar α-diversity (with the exception of city parks), but remarkably dissimilar communities in different urban green spaces. Additionally, the type of urban green space greatly influenced species colonization and persistence rates. For example, coyotes (Canis latrans) had the highest, but white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) the lowest probability of persistence in golf courses compared to other green space types. Further, most species had a difficult time colonizing city parks even when sites were seemingly available. Our results indicate that urban green spaces contribute different, but collectively important, habitats for maintaining and conserving biodiversity in cities. © 2017 by the Ecological Society of America.

More Girls Go to College: Exploring the Social and Academic Factors behind the Female Postsecondary Advantage among Hispanic and White Students

Science.gov (United States)

Riegle-Crumb, Catherine

2010-01-01

This study examines the female postsecondary advantage in matriculation among Hispanic and white youth with the goal of exploring whether social capital, in addition to academic performance and orientation, function similarly to help explain females' higher likelihood of college attendance for each group. Utilizing data from the Texas Higher…

Exploring the Design Space of Immersive Urban Analytics

OpenAIRE

Chen, Zhutian; Wang, Yifang; Sun, Tianchen; Gao, Xiang; Chen, Wei; Pan, Zhigeng; Qu, Huamin; Wu, Yingcai

2017-01-01

Recent years have witnessed the rapid development and wide adoption of immersive head-mounted devices, such as HTC VIVE, Oculus Rift, and Microsoft HoloLens. These immersive devices have the potential to significantly extend the methodology of urban visual analytics by providing critical 3D context information and creating a sense of presence. In this paper, we propose an theoretical model to characterize the visualizations in immersive urban analytics. Further more, based on our comprehensiv...

Assessing urban forest effects and values: Toronto's urban forest

Science.gov (United States)

David J. Nowak; Robert E. III Hoehn; Allison R. Bodine; Eric J. Greenfield; Alexis Ellis; Theodore A. Endreny; Yang Yang; Tian Zhou; Ruthanne. Henry

2013-01-01

An analysis of trees in Toronto, Ontario, reveals that this city has about 10.2 million trees with a tree and shrub canopy that covers approximately 26.6 percent of the city. The most common tree species are eastern white-cedar, sugar maple, and Norway maple. The urban forest currently stores an estimated 1.1 million metric tons of carbon valued at CAD$25.0 million. In...

Picturing Urban Green Attachments

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Blok, Anders; Meilvang, Marie Leth

2015-01-01

In this article, we explore the cultural-political tensions and ambiguities of urban ecology, by way of following how activists move and translate between ‘familiar’ and ‘public’ engagements in the green city. Empirically, we locate our exploration in and around Nordhavnen (The North Harbor......), a large-scale sustainable urban development project in Copenhagen. Invoking Laurent Thévenot’s pragmatic sociology of ‘regimes of engagement’, we sketch a culturally sensitive approach to urban ecological activism, highlighting the critical moral capacities involved in building new forms of ‘commonality...

Exploring the multiple-hit hypothesis of preterm white matter damage using diffusion MRI

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Madeleine L. Barnett

2018-01-01

Conclusion: This study suggests multiple perinatal risk factors have an independent association with diffuse white matter injury at term equivalent age and exposure to multiple perinatal risk factors exacerbates dMRI defined, clinically significant white matter injury. Our findings support the multiple hit hypothesis for preterm white matter injury.

ESCO White Paper

Science.gov (United States)

EPA developed this white paper to explore energy performance contracting with Energy Service Companies (ESCOs) and its potential to be a best practice for installing solar thermal water heating systems in the commercial and industrial sector.

The personal is professional: Connecting white urban middle school science teachers' biographies to their teaching of all students

Science.gov (United States)

Oey, Esther Ruth

The purpose of this study was to examine if and in what ways white, urban middle school science teachers use experiences of being marginalized or feeling different to connect to students coming from backgrounds unlike their own---especially students who are racially, culturally, linguistically and otherwise different from them, the school culture and the dominant society. Personal biography was used to frame this study. Data consisted of structured and semi-structured interviews and classroom observations of one female and two male science teachers gathered over one academic year. Results indicated that experiences with difference may be used to inform teachers' practices, but personal biography alone was insufficient to enable the teachers to reflect on their experiences with race, class, gender, and difference. Also, attending to emotions appeared to be an important factor in helping students develop cognitive skills in science classrooms.

Exploring Psychological and Aesthetic Approaches of Bio-Retention Facilities in the Urban Open Space

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Suyeon Kim

2017-11-01

Full Text Available Over the last decades, a number of bio-retention facilities have been installed in urban areas for flood control and green amenity purposes. As urban amenity facilities for citizens, bio-retentions have a lot potential; however, the literature on bio-retentions focused mostly on physiochemical aspects like water quality and runoffs. Hence, this paper aims to explore psychological aspects of bio-retentions such as perceptions and landscape aesthetic value for visitors. In order to achieve this purpose, the study employed on-site interviews and questionnaires in the chosen three case studies as research methodology. For the 3 different locations of bio-retention facilities, interviews and questionnaires were carried out. The surveys of 100 bio-retention users were conducted, investigating their general perceptions and landscape aesthetics of the bio-retention facilities. The paper found that only 34% of the interviewees recognised bio-detention facilities, illustrating that most visitors were not aware of such facilities and were unable to distinguish the differences between bio-retention and conventional gardens. On the other hand, the majority of interviewees strongly supported the concept and function of bio-retentions, especially those who recognised the differences in planting species with conventional urban open spaces. Such main findings also encourage further studies of seeking quantitative values by conducting a correlation analysis between the functions and aesthetics of bio-retention facilities.

Urban forests for sustainable urban development

Science.gov (United States)

Sundara, Denny M.; Hartono, Djoko M.; Suganda, Emirhadi; Haeruman, S. Herman J.

2017-11-01

This paper explores the development of the urban forest in East Jakarta. By 2030 Jakarta area has a target of 30% green area covering 19,845 hectares, including urban forest covering an area of 4,631 hectares. In 2015, the city forest is only 646 hectares, while the city requires 3,985 hectares of new land Urban forest growth from year to year showed a marked decrease with increasing land area awoke to commercial functions, environmental conditions encourage the development of the city to become unsustainable. This research aims to support sustainable urban development and ecological balance through the revitalization of green areas and urban development. Analytical methods for urban forest area is calculated based on the amount of CO2 that comes from people, vehicles, and industrial. Urban spatial analysis based on satellite image data, using a GIS program is an analysis tool to determine the distribution and growth patterns of green areas. This paper uses a dynamic system model to simulate the conditions of the region against intervention to be performed on potential areas for development of urban forests. The result is a model urban forest area is integrated with a social and economic function to encourage the development of sustainable cities.

Caregiver Asthma in Urban Families: Implications for School Absenteeism

Science.gov (United States)

Everhart, Robin S.; Miller, Sarah; Leibach, Gillian G.; Dahl, Alexandra L.; Koinis-Mitchell, Daphne

2018-01-01

Asthma is a significant contributor to missed school days, especially for children living in urban settings. This preliminary study examined the impact of caregiver asthma on school absenteeism in a sample of 102 urban children with asthma from African American, Latino, and non-Latino White backgrounds. Caregivers and children participated in a…

Exploring the Role of Intertextuality in Concept Construction: Urban Second Graders Make Sense of Evaporation, Boiling, and Condensation

Science.gov (United States)

Varelas, Maria; Pappas, Christine C.; Rife, Amy

2006-01-01

The study explores urban second graders' thinking and talking about the concepts of evaporation, boiling, and condensation that emerged in the context of intertextuality within an integrated science-literacy unit on the topic of States of Matter, which emphasized the water cycle. In that unit, children and teacher engaged in a variety of…

Urbanization, Design & Liveability

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Reeh, Henrik; Gehl, Jan

2014-01-01

In this video documentary, produced for the Danish Ministry of Education and the ESOF2014 conference in Copenhagen by Alpha Film, Associate Professor and chairman of Urban Culture Lab, Henrik Reeh, explores urbanization, design, and liveability together with internationally renowned Danish...

Who should do the dishes now? exploring gender and housework in contemporary urban South Wales

OpenAIRE

Mannay, Dawn

2014-01-01

This paper revisits Jane Pilcher’s (1994) seminal chapter from Our Sisters’ Land: The Changing Identities of Women in Wales - ‘Who should do the dishes? Three generations of Welsh women talking about men and housework’. Two decades on from the original study, the paper explores this question in contemporary south Wales by drawing upon data generated in a study of mothers and daughters residing in a Welsh, marginalised, urban housing area. Mothers of daughters in the two eldest groups tended t...

Black and White Women Managers: Access to Opportunity

Science.gov (United States)

Hite, Linda M.

2004-01-01

This study explores the differing views of Black and White female managers regarding access to key career opportunities for White women and women of color. Items addressed include access to hiring, promotions, key assignments, salary increases, acknowledgment for work, and mentors. Access to each is described by comparing White women and women of…

Climate shocks and rural-urban migration in Mexico: Exploring nonlinearities and thresholds

Science.gov (United States)

Nawrotzki, Raphael J.; DeWaard, Jack; Bakhtsiyarava, Maryia; Ha, Jasmine Trang

2016-01-01

Adverse climatic conditions may differentially drive human migration patterns between rural and urban areas, with implications for changes in population composition and density, access to infrastructure and resources, and the delivery of essential goods and services. However, there is little empirical evidence to support this notion. In this study, we investigate the relationship between climate shocks and migration between rural and urban areas within Mexico. We combine individual records from the 2000 and 2010 Mexican censuses (n=683,518) with high-resolution climate data from Terra Populus that are linked to census data at the municipality level (n=2,321). We measure climate shocks as monthly deviation from a 30-year (1961-1990) long-term climate normal period, and uncover important nonlinearities using quadratic and cubic specifications. Satellite-based measures of urban extents allow us to classify migrant-sending and migrant-receiving municipalities as rural or urban to examine four internal migration patterns: rural-urban, rural-rural, urban-urban, and urban-rural. Among our key findings, results from multilevel models reveal that each additional drought month increases the odds of rural-urban migration by 3.6%. In contrast, the relationship between heat months and rural-urban migration is nonlinear. After a threshold of ~34 heat months is surpassed, the relationship between heat months and rural-urban migration becomes positive and progressively increases in strength. Policy and programmatic interventions may therefore reduce climate induced rural-urban migration in Mexico through rural climate change adaptation initiatives, while also assisting rural migrants in finding employment and housing in urban areas to offset population impacts. PMID:28435176

Exploring the Value Orientations of Inuit and White Students: An Empirical Inquiry.

Science.gov (United States)

Roberts, Lance W.; And Others

1989-01-01

Finds that, among 46 Inuit and 11 White 10-16-year-old students in the Northwest Territories (Canada), Inuit students had less modern values than their white peers, but Inuit scores varied considerably both within and among the 5 value orientations examined. Contains 34 references. (SV)

Components and Context: Exploring Sources of Reading Difficulties for Language Minority Learners and Native English Speakers in Urban Schools

Science.gov (United States)

Kieffer, Michael J.; Vukovic, Rose K.

2012-01-01

Drawing on the cognitive and ecological domains within the componential model of reading, this longitudinal study explores heterogeneity in the sources of reading difficulties for language minority learners and native English speakers in urban schools. Students (N = 150) were followed from first through third grade and assessed annually on…

White theology in dialogue with Black Theology: Exploring the ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

2016-05-30

May 30, 2016 ... later work, as a particular white response to Black Theology. To put it in ... things that actually control the lives of people, in other words, the real “gods” ...... Ethics that matters: African, Caribbean, and African American sources ...

White matter hyperintensities and working memory : An explorative study

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van Harten, Barbera; Weinstein, Henry C.; Scheltens, Philip; Sergeant, Joseph A.; Scherder, Erik J. A.; Oosterman, J

2008-01-01

White matter hyperintensities (WMH) are commonly observed in elderly people and may have the most profound effect on executive functions, including working memory. Surprisingly, the Digit Span backward, a frequently employed working memory task, reveals no association with WMH. In the present study,

Examination of the Relationships between Urban Form and Urban Public Services Expenditure in China

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chunming Bo

2017-12-01

Full Text Available This econometric study contributes to the ongoing debate about the costs and benefits of urban form by employing interdisciplinary means—urban planning, econometrics and public administration—to explore the relationship between urban form and urban public services expenditure. In China, particularly, rapid urbanization is accompanied by an increase of urban public services expenditure and a difference in efficiency, which undermines the promotion of urban public service development. The Chinese government has paid great attention to urban sustainable development and promoting urban public services performance; however, until recently there has been a lack of empirical studies exploring the relationship between urban public services expenditure and urban form. Thus, the present research aims to analyze this issue by using relevant indicators based on an econometric model. The results provide a promising basis for improving urban public services expenditure efficiency. Based on the urban area interpreted by remote sensing data and geographic information system, two urban form metrics, the compactness ratio and the elongation ratio, are selected and quantified to describe urban compactness and urban sprawl accurately. Panel data analyses are performed using a cross-sectional dataset of the 30 cities for the years 2007, 2010 and 2013 to assess the likelihood of association between indicators of urban form and urban public services expenditure, while controlling for other determinants, such as educational level, income per capita, degree of industrialization, and unemployment rate. The results indicate that urban elongation is positively correlated to per capita urban public services expenditure and urban compactness is insignificantly correlated to it. Thus, it is recommended that policymakers consider the relationship between urban form and public services expenditure as part of urban planning and on-going strategies to promote public service

Exploring Value Orientations toward the Human-Nature Relationship: A Comparison of Urban Youth in Minnesota, USA and Guangdong, China

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Jie; Ernst, Julie

2015-01-01

Research exploring urban youths' value orientations toward the human-nature relationship was conducted with 59 students from a school in Minneapolis, Minnesota (USA) and 51 students from a school in Guangzhou, Guangdong (China). Quantitative findings suggest that the majority of participants in both groups shared a similar value orientation,…

Exploring the mid-infrared region for urban remote sensing: seasonal and view angle effects

Science.gov (United States)

Krehbiel, C. P.; Kovalskyy, V.; Henebry, G. M.

2013-12-01

Spanning 3-5 microns, the mid-infrared (MIR) region is the mixing zone between reflected sunlight and emitted earthlight in roughly equal proportions. While the MIR has been utilized in atmospheric remote sensing, its potential in terrestrial remote sensing--particularly urban remote sensing, has yet to be realized. One major advantage of the MIR is the ability to penetrate most anthropogenic haze and smog. Green vegetation appears MIR-dark, urban building materials appear MIR-grey, and bare soil and dried vegetation appear MIR-bright. Thus, there is an intrinsic seasonality in MIR radiance dynamics due both to surface type differences and to seasonal change in insolation. These factors merit exploration into the potential applications of the MIR for monitoring urban change. We investigated MIR radiance dynamics in relation to (1) the spectral properties of land cover types, (2) time of year and (3) sensor view zenith angle (VZA). We used Aqua MODIS daily swaths for band 23 (~ 4.05 μm) at 1 km spatial resolution from 2009-2010 and the NLCD Percent Impervious Surface Area (%ISA) 30 m product from 2001 and 2006. We found the effects of time of year, sensor VZA, and %ISA to be three principal factors influencing MIR radiance dynamics. We focused on analyzing the relationship between MIR radiance and %ISA over eight major cities in the Great Plains of the USA. This region is characterized by four distinct seasons, relatively flat terrain, and isolated urban centers situated within a vegetated landscape. We used west-east transects beginning in the agricultural areas outside of each city, passing through the urban core and extending back out into the agricultural periphery to observe the spatial pattern of MIR radiance and how it changes seasonally. Sensor VZA influences radiance dynamics by affecting the proportion of surface elements detected--especially pertinent at the coarse spatial resolution (~1 km) of MODIS. For example, smaller VZAs (30°). Larger VZAs detect

Political fragmentation and widening disparities in African-American and white mortality, 1972-1988.

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Yonsu; Bruckner, Tim A

2016-12-01

During the 1970s and 1980s in the U.S., population movement, urban sprawl and urban governance reform led to a proliferation of local, autonomous jurisdictions. Prior literature examines how this creation of local governments, also referred to as political fragmentation, contributes to economic growth and social inequality. We examine the impact of political fragmentation on health equity by testing the hypothesis that the mortality disparity between whites and African-Americans varies positively with political fragmentation. We retrieved mortality data from the multiple cause-of-death file and calculated total number of local governments per 1000 residents in a county to measure the degree of political fragmentation. We focused on 226 U.S. counties with population size greater than 200,000 and restricted the analysis to four distinct periods with overlapping government and mortality data (1972-73, 1977-78, 1982-83, and 1987-88). We applied generalized estimating equation methods that permit analysis of clustered data over time. Methods also controlled for the age structure of the population, reductions in mortality over time, and confounding by county-level sociodemographic variables. Adjusted coefficients of fragmentation are positive and statistically significant for both whites (coef: 2.60, SE: 0.60, p politically fragmented urban counties and/or time periods. From 1972 to 1988, political fragmentation in large urban counties moves positively with the racial/ethnic gap in mortality between whites and African-Americans. We discuss intervening mechanisms through which political fragmentation may disproportionately affect mortality among African-Americans.

Educational Achievement and Black-White Inequality. Statistical Analysis Report.

Science.gov (United States)

Jacobson, Jonathan; Olsen, Cara; Rice, Jennifer King; Sweetland, Stephen

This study explored relationships between black-white differences in educational achievement and black-white differences in various educational and economic outcomes. Three data sets examined the extent to which black-white differences in labor market outcomes, in educational attainment, and in mathematics and reading achievement were present for…

White dwarfs in cataclysmic variables

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sion, E.M.

1987-01-01

The physical properties and evolutionary state of the underlying white dwarfs in CVs are explored. Observations of 25 white dwarfs with effective temperature upper limits of 9000-75,000 K are discussed. Correlations between effective temperature, orbital period, accretion rate, and CV type with respect to the CV period gap are considered. Quasi-static and hydrodynamic evolutionary models are used to explain the surface temperature/luminosity distribution ratios. 42 references

Beyond the Face of Race: Emo-Cognitive Explorations of White Neurosis and Racial Cray-Cray

Science.gov (United States)

Matias, Cheryl E.; DiAngelo, Robin

2013-01-01

In this article, the authors focus on the emotional and cognitive context that underlies whiteness. They employ interdisciplinary approaches of critical Whiteness studies and critical race theory to entertain how common White responses to racial material stem from the need for Whites to deny race, a traumatizing process that begins in childhood.…

Knowing We Are White: Narrative as Critical Praxis

Science.gov (United States)

Ullucci, Kerri

2012-01-01

A critical concern in preparing teachers for urban schools is helping them make sense of race, identity and racism in schools. Teacher education programs struggle with how to address these issues in classes of primarily White students. Through a document analysis, the present study highlights how teacher educators can use narrative--particularly…

Bright is the New Black - Multi-Year Performance of Generic High-Albedo Roofs in an Urban Climate

Science.gov (United States)

Gaffin, S. R.; Imhoff, M.; Rosenzweig, C.; Khanbilvardi, R.; Pasqualini, A.; Kong, A. Y. Y.; Grillo, D.; Freed, A.; Hillel, D.; Hartung, E.

2012-01-01

High-albedo white and cool roofing membranes are recognized as a fundamental strategy that dense urban areas can deploy on a large scale, at low cost, to mitigate the urban heat island effect. We are monitoring three generic white membranes within New York City that represent a cross-section of the dominant white membrane options for U.S. flat roofs: (1) an ethylene propylene diene monomer (EPDM) rubber membrane; (2) a thermoplastic polyolefin (TPO) membrane and; (3) an asphaltic multi-ply built-up membrane coated with white elastomeric acrylic paint. The paint product is being used by New York City s government for the first major urban albedo enhancement program in its history. We report on the temperature and related albedo performance of these three membranes at three different sites over a multi-year period. The results indicate that the professionally installed white membranes are maintaining their temperature control effectively and are meeting the Energy Star Cool Roofing performance standards requiring a three-year aged albedo above 0.50. The EPDM membrane however shows evidence of low emissivity. The painted asphaltic surface shows high emissivity but lost about half of its initial albedo within two years after installation. Given that the acrylic approach is an important "do-it-yourself," low-cost, retrofit technique, and, as such, offers the most rapid technique for increasing urban albedo, further product performance research is recommended to identify conditions that optimize its long-term albedo control. Even so, its current multi-year performance still represents a significant albedo enhancement for urban heat island mitigation.

Tears Worth Telling: Urban Teaching and the Possibilities of Racial Justice

Science.gov (United States)

Matias, Cheryl E.

2013-01-01

Silencing race dialogue in urban classrooms is painful for students of color. The author of this article, an urban teacher, documents her resistance to colorblind racism by strategically including race in daily classroom practices. She argues that acknowledging emotionality and Whiteness are essential steps that teachers must take to reinvest in…

Temporal dynamics of urbanization-driven environmental changes explored by metal contamination in surface sediments in a restoring urban wetland park

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ma, Jun; Liu, Yi; Yu, Guangbin; Li, Hongbo [Key Laboratory of Urban Environment and Health, Institute of Urban Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xiamen 361021 (China); Yu, Shen, E-mail: syu@iue.ac.cn [Key Laboratory of Urban Environment and Health, Institute of Urban Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xiamen 361021 (China); Jiang, Yueping [The Management Committee of the National Xixi Wetland Park, Hangzhou 310013 (China); Li, Guilin [Key Laboratory of Urban Environment and Health, Institute of Urban Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xiamen 361021 (China); Lin, Jinchang [The Management Committee of the National Xixi Wetland Park, Hangzhou 310013 (China)

2016-05-15

Highlights: • Urban-rural distribution pattern of metals in sediment faded out with urbanization. • Urban emissions were identified as sources of metal elevation in surface sediment. • Metal level homogenization with urbanization posed a moderate risk to the public. - Abstract: Spatial patterns of metal distribution along urban-rural or multi-city gradients indicate that the urbanization process directly lead to metal enrichment and contamination in the environments. However, it has not yet looked at homogenization dynamics of an urban-rural gradient pattern over time with urbanization process in an area. This study monitored anthropogenic metals (Cr, Cu, Pb, and Zn) in surface sediments from channels of a newly-opened National Wetland Park to elucidate the urbanization-driven dissolution of urban-rural gradient pattern between 2008 and 2011. Sixty-eight surface sediment samples were taken from these channels in July of both 2008 and 2011. Results showed that a spatial distribution pattern of total metal contents along the gradient of urbanization influence, evident in 2008, was homogenized in 2011 with the area development. The lead stable isotope ratio analysis identified anthropogenic Pb origins from vehicular exhausts, cements, and coal flying ashes, which elevated metal contents in the inner channels via atmospheric deposition. Specific hazard quotients of the metal contamination in surface sediment were also assessed and enhanced over time in the study wetland park. These findings suggest that emissions from traffic, construction, and energy generation contribute metal loadings in the urbanizing environment.

Temporal dynamics of urbanization-driven environmental changes explored by metal contamination in surface sediments in a restoring urban wetland park

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ma, Jun; Liu, Yi; Yu, Guangbin; Li, Hongbo; Yu, Shen; Jiang, Yueping; Li, Guilin; Lin, Jinchang

2016-01-01

Highlights: • Urban-rural distribution pattern of metals in sediment faded out with urbanization. • Urban emissions were identified as sources of metal elevation in surface sediment. • Metal level homogenization with urbanization posed a moderate risk to the public. - Abstract: Spatial patterns of metal distribution along urban-rural or multi-city gradients indicate that the urbanization process directly lead to metal enrichment and contamination in the environments. However, it has not yet looked at homogenization dynamics of an urban-rural gradient pattern over time with urbanization process in an area. This study monitored anthropogenic metals (Cr, Cu, Pb, and Zn) in surface sediments from channels of a newly-opened National Wetland Park to elucidate the urbanization-driven dissolution of urban-rural gradient pattern between 2008 and 2011. Sixty-eight surface sediment samples were taken from these channels in July of both 2008 and 2011. Results showed that a spatial distribution pattern of total metal contents along the gradient of urbanization influence, evident in 2008, was homogenized in 2011 with the area development. The lead stable isotope ratio analysis identified anthropogenic Pb origins from vehicular exhausts, cements, and coal flying ashes, which elevated metal contents in the inner channels via atmospheric deposition. Specific hazard quotients of the metal contamination in surface sediment were also assessed and enhanced over time in the study wetland park. These findings suggest that emissions from traffic, construction, and energy generation contribute metal loadings in the urbanizing environment.

Participation, politics, and panaceas: exploring the possibilities and limits of participatory urban water governance in Accra, Ghana

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Cynthia Morinville

2014-09-01

Full Text Available Water governance debates have increasingly recognized the importance of adaptive governance for short- and long-term sustainability, especially with respect to increasing climate unpredictability and growing urbanization. A parallel focus on enhancing community participation pervades international development recommendations and policy literature. Indeed, there are often implicit and explicit connections made between the participatory character of water governance institutions and their adaptive capacity. The social-ecological systems literature, however, has also urged caution with respect to embracing panaceas, with increasing calls to be attentive to the limitations of proposed "solutions." We discuss the parallels between the adaptive governance, comanagement, and participatory resource governance literatures and analyze efforts to encourage such participation in urban water governance through Local Water Boards in Accra, Ghana. Drawing on interview data, participant observations, and a survey of 243 individuals, we explored what participatory spaces have been opened or foreclosed as well as the possibilities for adaptive urban water governance in Accra. Applying insights from recent debates about panaceas, we argue that discerning the potential and limits for sustainable resource governance and associated development goals requires that participatory mechanisms be subjected to systematic and contextual analysis.

Shenzhen Comprehensive Transport System Planning:An Exploration of Sustainable Urban Transport Development on Condition of Limited Resources

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

2010-01-01

With "integration" as the direction,Shenzhen Comprehensive Transport Planning integrates the plan,construction and management of all kinds of transport mode in the transport system,and integrates the transport with the social,economic and environment development.The planning specifies the strategic targets,key indicators,development strategies as well as major policies of the comprehensive transport system,which explores an alternative way for the sustainable urban transport development under the condition of limited resources in Shenzhen.

Positive effects of vegetation: Urban heat island and green roofs

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Susca, T.; Gaffin, S.R.; Dell'Osso, G.R.

2011-01-01

This paper attempts to evaluate the positive effects of vegetation with a multi-scale approach: an urban and a building scale. Monitoring the urban heat island in four areas of New York City, we have found an average of 2 deg. C difference of temperatures between the most and the least vegetated areas, ascribable to the substitution of vegetation with man-made building materials. At micro-scale, we have assessed the effect of surface albedo on climate through the use of a climatological model. Then, using the CO 2 equivalents as indicators of the impact on climate, we have compared the surface albedo, and the construction, replacement and use phase of a black, a white and a green roof. By our analyses, we found that both the white and the green roofs are less impactive than the black one; with the thermal resistance, the biological activity of plants and the surface albedo playing a crucial role. - Highlights: → The local morphology and the scarcity of vegetation in NYC core determines its UHI. → We introduce the evaluation of the effects of the surface albedo on climate change. → We use it to compare a black roof with a white and a green one. → Surface albedo has a crucial role in the evaluation of the environmental loads of the roofs. → Vegetation has positive effects on both the urban and the building scale. - Vegetation has positive effects both on an urban scale, mitigating the urban heat island effect; and on a building scale, where albedo, thermal insulation and biological activity of plants play a crucial role.

Some Dynamics of Urban Service Evaluations Among Blacks and Whites

Science.gov (United States)

Durand, Roger

1976-01-01

This study investigates public service evaluations among blacks and whites in St. Louis, Missouri over the period 1956 to 1968. Changes in levels and sources of satisfaction with schools, parks, police protection, and garbage collection are examined. (Author/RM)

Decision Making on Allocating Urban Green Spaces Based upon Spatially-Varying Relationships between Urban Green Spaces and Urban Compaction Degree

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hsueh-Sheng Chang

2015-09-01

Full Text Available The compact city is becoming a prevailing paradigm in the world to control urban sprawl and achieve a pattern of sustainable urban development. However, discussions of the area's overcrowded neighborhoods, its health problems, and the destruction of its green areas have inspired self-examination with respect to the compact city paradigm. High population density attracts even more residents and frequently renders the existing urban green space (UGS insufficient for use as part of a living environment. Due to the unique benefits that these qualities confer, UGS allocation is now considered a significant contributing factor to urban livability. In addition, the UGS allocation may be different due to the presence of many spatial non-stationarity processes. Therefore, this study employs geographically-weighted regression (GWR to explore the unique and spatially-explicit relationships between the degree of urban compaction and UGS within the Taipei metropolitan area. Maps summarizing the GWR results demonstrate that there is significantly insufficient UGS allocation in the central area, which consists mainly of Taipei City. Townships with higher parameters contain UGS levels that better meet the needs of their residents. Overall, the exploration of conceptualizing spatial heterogeneity of relationships between the degree of urban compaction and UGS can provide insightful analyses for decision-making on allocating UGS.

Revisiting Urban Dynamics through Social Urban Data

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Achilleas Psyllidis

2016-11-01

 The contribution of this doctoral thesis is the design and development of a framework of novel methods and tools that enables the fusion of heterogeneous multidimensional data for cities. The framework could foster planners, researchers, and policy makers to capitalize on the new possibilities given by emerging social urban data. Having a deep understanding of the spatiotemporal dynamics of cities and, especially of the activity and movement behavior of people, is expected to play a crucial role in addressing the challenges of rapid urbanization. Overall, the framework proposed by this research has potential to open avenues of quantitative explorations of urban dynamics, contributing to the development of a new science of cities.

Exploring the contexts of urban science classrooms: Cogenerative dialogues, coteaching, and cosmopolitanism

Science.gov (United States)

Emdin, Christopher

The body of work presented in this dissertation is a response to the reported association between poor outcomes in science achievement and students of color in urban schools. By presenting counterexamples to the cultural motif that urban students of color perform poorly in science, I argue that poor achievement cannot be traced to a group of people but can be linked to institutions promoting subject delivery methods that instill distaste for science and compel students to display an illusion of disinterest in school. There are two major goals of this study. First, I plan to demonstrate how plans of action generated by coteachers and cogenerative dialogue groups can coalesce under the ethos of making science and schooling accessible to populations that are traditionally marginalized from science achievement. My second aim is to develop mechanisms for transforming science learning contexts into cosmopolitan learning communities that develop student success in science. Through a three-year ethnographic study of physics and chemistry classrooms in a high school in New York City, I present explorations of the culture and context of the urban classroom as a chief means to meet my goals. In my research, I find that obstacles to identity development around science can be tied to corporate understandings of teaching and learning that are amenable to local efforts toward change. This change is facilitated through the use of transformative tools like cogenerative dialogues, coteaching, and cosmopolitanism. Through the application of these research tools, I uncover and investigate how various misalignments that present themselves in physics and chemistry classrooms serve as signifiers of macro issues that permeate science classrooms from larger fields. By utilizing cogenerative dialogues as a tool for investigating both micro enactments within classrooms and the macro structures that generate these enactments, I show how students and teachers can work together as co

Urbanism Studio 2014

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

This catalogue showcases the master Urbanism Studio results 2014, which have been developed utilising research on station cities completed by Centre for Strategic Urban Research. Together with the Ministry of Housing, Urban and Rural Affairs (MHURA), UC wished to explore development potentials fo...... to waterflow, from market to stream, from hedge to school garden and from trees to icons. 56 students first developed a list of key strategic proposals from the citizens groups vision papers, followed by specific design answers....

Exploring the response of net primary productivity variations to urban expansion and climate change: a scenario analysis for Guangdong Province in China.

Science.gov (United States)

Pei, Fengsong; Li, Xia; Liu, Xiaoping; Lao, Chunhua; Xia, Gengrui

2015-03-01

Urban land development alters landscapes and carbon cycle, especially net primary productivity (NPP). Despite projections that NPP is often reduced by urbanization, little is known about NPP changes under future urban expansion and climate change conditions. In this paper, terrestrial NPP was calculated by using Biome-BGC model. However, this model does not explicitly address urban lands. Hence, we proposed a method of NPP-fraction to detect future urban NPP, assuming that the ratio of real NPP to potential NPP for urban cells remains constant for decades. Furthermore, NPP dynamics were explored by integrating the Biome-BGC and the cellular automata (CA), a widely used method for modeling urban growth. Consequently, urban expansion, climate change and their associated effects on the NPP were analyzed for the period of 2010-2039 using Guangdong Province in China as a case study. In addition, four scenarios were designed to reflect future conditions, namely baseline, climate change, urban expansion and comprehensive scenarios. Our analyses indicate that vegetation NPP in urban cells may increase (17.63 gC m(-2) year(-1)-23.35 gC m(-2) year(-1)) in the climate change scenario. However, future urban expansion may cause some NPP losses of 241.61 gC m(-2) year(-1), decupling the NPP increase of the climate change factor. Taking into account both climate change and urban expansion, vegetation NPP in urban area may decrease, minimally at a rate of 228.54 gC m(-2) year(-1) to 231.74 gC m(-2) year(-1). Nevertheless, they may account for an overall NPP increase of 0.78 TgC year(-1) to 1.28 TgC year(-1) in the whole province. All these show that the provincial NPP increase from climate change may offset the NPP decrease from urban expansion. Despite these results, it is of great significance to regulate reasonable expansion of urban lands to maintain carbon balance. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

An Ethology of Urban Fabric(s)

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Fritsch, Jonas; Thomsen, Bodil Marie Stavning

2014-01-01

The article explores a non-metaphorical understanding of urban fabric(s), shifting the attention from a bird’s eye perspective to the actual, textural manifestations of a variety of urban fabric(s) to be studied in their real, processual, ecological and ethological complexity within urban life. We...... effectuate this move by bringing into resonance a range of intersecting fields that all deal with urban fabric(s) in complementary ways (interaction design and urban design activism, fashion, cultural theory, philosophy, urban computing)....

Exploring Intra-Urban Accessibility and Impacts of Pollution Policies with an Agent-Based Simulation Platform: GaMiroD

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Pierre Fosset

2016-01-01

Full Text Available In this work we address the issue of sustainable cities by focusing on one of their very central components: daily mobility. Indeed, if cities can be interpreted as spatial organizations allowing social interactions, the number of daily movements needed to reach this goal is continuously increasing. Therefore, improving urban accessibility merely results in increasing traffic and its negative externalities (congestion, accidents, pollution, noise, etc., while eventually reducing the quality of life of people in the city. This is why several urban-transport policies are implemented in order to reduce individual mobility impacts while maintaining equitable access to the city. This challenge is however non-trivial and therefore we propose to investigate this issue from the complex systems point of view. The real spatial-temporal urban accessibility of citizens cannot be approximated just by focusing on space and implies taking into account the space-time activity patterns of individuals, in a more dynamic way. Thus, given the importance of local interactions in such a perspective, an agent based approach seems to be a relevant solution. This kind of individual based and “interactionist” approach allows us to explore the possible impact of individual behaviors on the overall dynamics of the city but also the possible impact of global measures on individual behaviors. In this paper, we give an overview of the Miro Project and then focus on the GaMiroD model design from real data analysis to model exploration tuned by transportation-oriented scenarios. Among them, we start with the the impact of a LEZ (Low Emission Zone in the city center.

The white of the 20th century : an explorative survey into Dutch modern art collections

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van Driel, B.A.; van den Berg, K. J.; Gerretzen, J.; Dik, J.

2018-01-01

White pigments were abundantly used in 20th century paintings, and relate to several degradation risks such as titanium white mediated photocatalytic binder degradation or zinc soap formation. Knowledge about the white pigments that were used is essential for risk assessments of 20th century

Fishes of the White River basin, Indiana

Science.gov (United States)

Crawford, Charles G.; Lydy, Michael J.; Frey, Jeffrey W.

1996-01-01

Since 1875, researchers have reported 158 species of fish belonging to 25 families in the White River Basin. Of these species, 6 have not been reported since 1900 and 10 have not been reported since 1943. Since the 1820's, fish communities in the White River Basin have been affected by the alteration of stream habitat, overfishing, the introduction of non-native species, agriculture, and urbanization. Erosion resulting from conversion of forest land to cropland in the 1800's led to siltation of streambeds and resulted in the loss of some silt-sensitive species. In the early 1900's, the water quality of the White River was seriously degraded for 100 miles by untreated sewage from the City of Indianapolis. During the last 25 years, water quality in the basin has improved because of efforts to control water pollution. Fish communities in the basin have responded favorably to the improved water quality.

Crossing Boundaries: Exploring Black Middle and Upper Class Preservice Teachers' Perceptions of Teaching and Learning in High Poverty Urban Schools

Science.gov (United States)

Lewis, Andrea D.

2012-01-01

The intent of this study was to explore the perceptions of Black middle and upper class preservice teachers as they relate to teaching and learning in high poverty urban schools. Participants included 11 senior early childhood education preservice teachers at a historically Black college in the southeast region of the United States. The study was…

Aerospace Operations in Urban Environments: Exploring New Concepts

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Vick, Alan

2000-01-01

.... Peace operations in Somalia, especially the deaths of 18 U.S. servicemen and the wounding of almost 100 others on October 3, 1993, profoundly influenced the American public's perceptions of modern urban combat in the developing world...

Exploring Group Composition among Young, Urban Women of Color in Prenatal Care: Implications for Satisfaction, Engagement, and Group Attendance.

Science.gov (United States)

Earnshaw, Valerie A; Rosenthal, Lisa; Cunningham, Shayna D; Kershaw, Trace; Lewis, Jessica; Rising, Sharon Schindler; Stasko, Emily; Tobin, Jonathan; Ickovics, Jeannette R

2016-01-01

Group models of prenatal care continue to grow in popularity. However, little is known about how group composition (similarity or diversity between members of groups) relates to care-related outcomes. The current investigation aimed to explore associations between prenatal care group composition with patient satisfaction, engagement, and group attendance among young, urban women of color. Data were drawn from two studies conducted in New Haven and Atlanta (2001-2004; n = 557) and New York City (2008-2011; n = 375) designed to evaluate group prenatal care among young, urban women of color. Women aged 14 to 25 were assigned to group prenatal care and completed surveys during their second and third trimesters of pregnancy. Group attendance was recorded. Data were merged and analyzed guided by the Group Actor-Partner Interdependence Model using multilevel regression. Analyses explored composition in terms of age, race, ethnicity, and language. Women in groups with others more diverse in age reported greater patient engagement and, in turn, attended more group sessions, b(se) = -0.01(0.01); p = .04. The composition of prenatal care groups seems to be associated with young women's engagement in care, ultimately relating to the number of group prenatal care sessions they attend. Creating groups diverse in age may be particularly beneficial for young, urban women of color, who have unique pregnancy needs and experiences. Future research is needed to test the generalizability of these exploratory findings. Copyright © 2016 Jacobs Institute of Women's Health. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The Urban Adaptation and Adaptation Process of Urban Migrant Children: A Qualitative Study

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Yang; Fang, Xiaoyi; Cai, Rong; Wu, Yang; Zhang, Yaofang

2009-01-01

This article employs qualitative research methods to explore the urban adaptation and adaptation processes of Chinese migrant children. Through twenty-one in-depth interviews with migrant children, the researchers discovered: The participant migrant children showed a fairly high level of adaptation to the city; their process of urban adaptation…

Resilience among Urban American Indian Adolescents: Exploration into the Role of Culture, Self-Esteem, Subjective Well-Being, and Social Support

Science.gov (United States)

Stumblingbear-Riddle, Glenna; Romans, John S. C.

2012-01-01

The effects of enculturation, self-esteem, subjective well-being, and social support on resilience among urban American Indian (AI) adolescents from a South Central region of the U.S. were explored. Of the 196 participants, 114 (58.2%) were female and 82 (41.8%) were male (ages 14-18 years). Thirty-three percent of the variance in resilience was…

"Compromises That We Make": Whiteness in the Dual Language Context

Science.gov (United States)

Burns, Meg

2017-01-01

This case study of a two-way dual language school explores the role of whiteness in a bilingual space, specifically with regards to parent involvement. I ask how whiteness operates in this setting and how the school's response to parent involvement reflects and/or challenges white supremacy. Using the concept of "interest convergence"…

Body fat percentage of urban South African children: implications for health and fitness.

Science.gov (United States)

Goon, D T; Toriola, A L; Shaw, B S; Amusa, L O; Khoza, L B; Shaw, I

2013-09-01

To explore gender and racial profiling of percentage body fat of 1136 urban South African children attending public schools in Pretoria Central. This is a cross-sectional survey of 1136 randomly selected children (548 boys and 588 girls) aged 9-13 years in urban (Pretoria Central) South Africa. Body mass, stature, skinfolds (subscapular and triceps) were measured. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics (means and standard deviations). Differences in the mean body fat percentage were examined for boys and girls according to their age group/race, using independent t-test samples. Girls had a significantly (p = 0.001) higher percentage body fat (22.7 ± 5.7%, 95% CI = 22.3, 23.2) compared to boys (16.1 ± 7.7%, 95% CI = 15.5, 16.8). Percentage body fat fluctuated with age in both boys and girls. Additionally, girls had significantly (p = 0.001) higher percentage body fat measurements at all ages compared to boys. Viewed racially, black children (20.1 ± 7.5) were significantly (p = 0.010) fatter than white children (19.0 ± 7.4) with a mean difference of 4.0. Black children were fatter than white children at ages 9, 10, 12 and 13 years, with a significant difference (p = 0.009) observed at age 12 years. There was a considerably higher level of excessive percentage body fat among school children in Central Pretoria, South Africa, with girls having significantly higher percentage body fat compared to boys. Racially, black children were fatter than white children. The excessive percentage body fat observed among the children in this study has implications for their health and fitness. Therefore, an intervention programme must be instituted in schools to prevent and control possible excessive percentage body fat in this age group.

Urban branding as an effective sustainability tool in urban development

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Reeman Mohammed Rehan

2014-08-01

Urban branding is a new approach toward urban development of sustainable cities. City branding, a novel aspect of urban communication, improves marketing of the city image in various ways by converting the visual image of the city into a brand image. Unique characteristics of the city are featured and a sustainable urban image is created. This paper will focus on city branding as a powerful image-building strategy. In this realm, the branding of Stuttgart, Germany, serves as a successful model of a branding strategy. Next, branding of the city of Port Said, Egypt, will be explored. The principal aim of this paper is to describe how cities become branded; how branding succeeds; and how a viable city image is created. This paper reviews the methods used to brand cities, and concludes by emphasizing the importance of urban branding in terms of sustainability.

Urban-Rural Synergies : An Explorative Study at the NUTS3 Level

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van Leeuwen, Eveline

2015-01-01

Regions are continually developing. Innovations in agricultural and industrial production affect urban and rural areas in different ways, and climate change and developments in transport and (tele)communication have strong effects on the interaction between them. Although urban and rural areas are

What land covers are effective in mitigating a heat island in urban building rooftop?

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, S.; Ryu, Y.

2014-12-01

Since the 20th century, due to the rapid urbanization many urban environment problems have got blossomed and above all heat island has been recognized as an important issue. There are several causes of urban heat island, but land cover change occupies the largest portion of them. Owing to urban expansion, vegetation is changed into asphalt pavements and concrete buildings, which reduces latent heat flux. To mitigate the problems, people enlarge vegetation covers such as planting street trees, making rooftop gardens and constructing parks or install white roofs that feature high albedo on a building. While the white roofs reflect about 70% of solar radiation and absorb less radiation, vegetation has low albedo but cools the air through transpiration and fixes carbon dioxide through photosynthesis. There are some studies concerning which one is more effective to mitigate heat island between the green roof and white roof. This study compares the green roof and white roof and additionally considers carbon fixation that has not been treated in other studies. Furthermore, this study ascertains an efficiency of solar-cell panel that is used for building roof recently. The panel produces electric power but has low albedo which could warm the air. The experiment is conducted at the rooftop in Seoul, Korea and compares green roof (grass), white roof (painted cover), black roof (solar panel) and normal painted roof. Surface temperature and albedo are observed for the four roof types and incoming shortwave, outgoing longwave and carbon flux are measured in green roof solely. In the case of solar panels, the electricity generation is calculated from the incoming radiation. We compute global warming potentials for the four roof types and test which roof type is most effective in reducing global warming potential.

Exploring Diet Quality between Urban and Rural Dwelling Women of Reproductive Age.

Science.gov (United States)

Martin, Julie C; Moran, Lisa J; Teede, Helena J; Ranasinha, Sanjeeva; Lombard, Catherine B; Harrison, Cheryce L

2017-06-08

Health disparities, including weight gain and obesity exist between urban and rural dwelling women. The primary aim was to compare diet quality in urban and rural women of reproductive age, and secondary analyses of the difference in macronutrient and micronutrient intake in urban and rural women, and the predictors of diet quality. Diet quality was assessed in urban ( n = 149) and rural ( n = 394) women by a modified version of the Dietary Guideline Index (DGI) energy, macronutrient and micronutrient intake from a food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) and predictors of diet quality. Diet quality did not significantly differ between urban and rural women (mean ± standard deviation (SD), 84.8 ± 15.9 vs. 83.9 ± 16.5, p = 0.264). Rural women reported a significantly higher intake of protein, fat, saturated fat, monounsaturated fat, cholesterol and iron and a higher score in the meat and meat alternatives component of the diet quality tool in comparison to urban women. In all women, a higher diet quality was associated with higher annual household income (>$Australian dollar (AUD) 80,000 vs. urban and rural women; however, a higher macronutrient consumption pattern was potentially related to a higher lean meat intake in rural women. Women who are unemployed and on a lower income are an important target group for future dietary interventions aiming to improve diet quality.

Exploring the use of tools for urban sustainability in European cities

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jensen, Jesper Ole; Elle, Morten

2007-01-01

This paper outlines the main findings from case studies analysed within the Practical Evaluation Tools for Urban Sustainability (PETUS) project, about the practical use of tools for sustainable urban development in European cities. The paper looks across 60 case studies and identifies the main...... drivers for using tools, the benefits gained by using them and discusses why, in genera, there is limited use of available tools. The main question raised by the PETUS project was, ' why are so few tools for urban sustainability being used, when so many are available?' Recent years have shown a growing...... number of theoretical tools to assess and evaluate urban sustainability. However, experience also shows that only a few of such tools are being used in practice. The paper outlines the motivations for actors to use tools, the benefits achieved and the barriers for using tools. From this, different...

The quest for synergy when developing the urban fringe

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hansen, Jesper Rohr; Engberg, Lars A.

How can planning policies related to urban fringe development and disadvantaged neighbourhoods create synergy? This question is approached and answered by various research fields and explored on various urban-planning levels, displaying case-studies related to urban regeneration, post......-industrial and suburban development and urban fringe literature. The present paper adds to these discussions by analysing two case-studies in Denmark in which local government pursue traditional urban-growth strategies in urban-fringe development - a post-industrial harbour and a large suburb, located just outside...... analyses this synergy by first describing the legislative, interventionist and financial context for urban-growth strategies deployed in the cases. On this background, the paper explores synergy potential related to policy as well as private-sector actors (local businesses, social housing organizations...

Media art and the urban environment engendering public engagement with urban ecology

CERN Document Server

2015-01-01

This illuminating text formally appraises the innovative ways new media artists engage urban ecology. Highlighting the role of artists as agents of technological change, the work reviews new modes of seeing, representing, and connecting within the urban setting. Across fourteen chapters, the book describes how state-of-the-art technology can be exploited in order to create artworks that transcend the technology’s original purpose, thus expanding the language of environmental engagement whilst also demonstrating a clear understanding of the societal issues and values being addressed. Topics and features: Explores urban ecology and its engagement, surveying a diverse range of artists, artworks and performances Assesses how data from smart cities may be used to create artworks that can recast residents’ understanding of urban space Examines dynamic transformations of urban space through the reimagining of urban information Discusses the engagement of urban residents with street art, including collaborative c...

"This Is How We Roll!": How "Successful" White Social Studies Teachers Build Solidarity with African American Students

Science.gov (United States)

Boucher, Michael Lee, Jr.

2013-01-01

Despite a decade of concentration on closing the pervasive achievement gap in America, White students and Black students still attend schools with unequal results. Many strategies aimed at closing the gap exist, including increasing the number of African American teachers, but the majority of urban teachers are White, which will remain the case…

Exploring Culturally Sustaining Writing Pedagogy in Urban Classrooms

Science.gov (United States)

Woodard, Rebecca; Vaughan, Andrea; Machado, Emily

2017-01-01

We examine how culturally sustaining pedagogy that fosters linguistic and cultural pluralism might be taken up in writing instruction. Using data collected through semistructured interviews with nine urban elementary and middle school writing teachers, we document teachers' conceptualizations and enactments of culturally sustaining writing…

An hybrid and non-modern approach to urban studies

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Marc Grau i Solés

2012-03-01

Full Text Available This article draws upon the so-called Forat de la Vergonya urban controversy and the urban transformation process of a neighborhood in Barcelona: el Casc Antic. Drawing on inputs from Actor-Network Theory (ANT, the city is explored as a multiple urban assemblage. Besides, we analyze the dichotomous nature of the modern notion of politics. Especially, the role of object-subject dichotomy is explored. Through the analysis of citizen participation opportunities we propose a new hybrid notion of citizen participation and urban policy.

Race in Buenos Aires. Blackness, Whiteness, African Descent and Mestizaje in the White Capital City

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lea Geler

2016-03-01

Full Text Available This article analyzes how racial categories are produced and reproduced in Buenos Aires, Argentina’s capital city. To that end, this article focuses on the cases of three Afro-Descendant porteña women who, by local standards, are fully white.  Their stories allow us to explore, in the first place, how categories like “black,” “white,” and others are used and understood in contemporary Buenos Aires and how this use configures two types of blackness (racial blackness and popular blackness and makes it impossible for mestizaje categories to emerge. In the second place, through these cases this article explores how people’s very “ways of being” are at play, creating a discriminatory and oppressive environment for people at risk of not matching the ideal of the nation.

Modeling the effects of land cover and use on landscape capability for urban ungulate populations: Chapter 11

Science.gov (United States)

Underwood, Harold; Kilheffer, Chellby R.; Francis, Robert A.; Millington, James D. A.; Chadwick, Michael A.

2016-01-01

Expanding ungulate populations are causing concerns for wildlife professionals and residents in many urban areas worldwide. Nowhere is the phenomenon more apparent than in the eastern US, where urban white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) populations are increasing. Most habitat suitability models for deer have been developed in rural areas and across large (>1000 km2) spatial extents. Only recently have we begun to understand the factors that contribute to space use by deer over much smaller spatial extents. In this study, we explore the concepts, terminology, methodology and state-of-the-science in wildlife abundance modeling as applied to overabundant deer populations across heterogeneous urban landscapes. We used classified, high-resolution digital orthoimagery to extract landscape characteristics in several urban areas of upstate New York. In addition, we assessed deer abundance and distribution in 1-km2 blocks across each study area from either aerial surveys or ground-based distance sampling. We recorded the number of detections in each block and used binomial mixture models to explore important relationships between abundance and key landscape features. Finally, we cross-validated statistical models of abundance and compared covariate relationships across study sites. Study areas were characterized along a gradient of urbanization based on the proportions of impervious surfaces and natural vegetation which, based on the best-supported models, also distinguished blocks potentially occupied by deer. Models performed better at identifying occurrence of deer and worse at predicting abundance in cross-validation comparisons. We attribute poor predictive performance to differences in deer population trajectories over time. The proportion of impervious surfaces often yielded better predictions of abundance and occurrence than did the proportion of natural vegetation, which we attribute to a lack of certain land cover classes during cold and snowy winters

Behind School Doors: The Impact of Hostile Racial Climates on Urban Teachers of Color

Science.gov (United States)

Kohli, Rita

2018-01-01

Despite recruitment efforts, teachers of Color are underrepresented and leaving the teaching force at faster rates than their White counterparts. Using Critical Race Theory to analyze and present representative qualitative narratives from 218 racial justice-oriented, urban teachers of color, this article affirms that urban schools--despite serving…

Social imaginaries, sperm and whiteness

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Andreassen, Rikke

2017-01-01

media coverage of these new families, this article explores contemporary constructions of race, especially whiteness, and gender, and shows how imaginaries of Vikings, genes and white superiority circulate in British media and among British mothers. The article illustrates how a racial discourse, which......This article analyses narratives about so-called Viking babies and Viking sperm. Over the last few years an increasing number of British single women and lesbian couples have been creating families by becoming pregnant with Danish donor sperm, termed ‘Viking sperm’. Through analyses of British...

Exploring Diet Quality between Urban and Rural Dwelling Women of Reproductive Age

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Julie C. Martin

2017-06-01

Full Text Available Health disparities, including weight gain and obesity exist between urban and rural dwelling women. The primary aim was to compare diet quality in urban and rural women of reproductive age, and secondary analyses of the difference in macronutrient and micronutrient intake in urban and rural women, and the predictors of diet quality. Diet quality was assessed in urban (n = 149 and rural (n = 394 women by a modified version of the Dietary Guideline Index (DGI energy, macronutrient and micronutrient intake from a food frequency questionnaire (FFQ and predictors of diet quality. Diet quality did not significantly differ between urban and rural women (mean ± standard deviation (SD, 84.8 ± 15.9 vs. 83.9 ± 16.5, p = 0.264. Rural women reported a significantly higher intake of protein, fat, saturated fat, monounsaturated fat, cholesterol and iron and a higher score in the meat and meat alternatives component of the diet quality tool in comparison to urban women. In all women, a higher diet quality was associated with higher annual household income (>$Australian dollar (AUD 80,000 vs. <$AUD80,000 p = 0.013 and working status (working fulltime/part-time vs. unemployed p = 0.043. Total diet quality did not differ in urban and rural women; however, a higher macronutrient consumption pattern was potentially related to a higher lean meat intake in rural women. Women who are unemployed and on a lower income are an important target group for future dietary interventions aiming to improve diet quality.

High-sodium food choices by southern, urban African Americans with heart failure.

Science.gov (United States)

Kollipara, Usha K; Mo, Vivian; Toto, Kathleen H; Nelson, Lauren L; Schneider, Ruth A; Neily, Jennifer B; Drazner, Mark H

2006-03-01

Sodium restriction is important in the management of heart failure (HF). Although many low-sodium educational resources are available, few are directed specifically at urban African Americans. A registered dietitian prospectively interviewed 50 African-American and 25 white patients in an urban public hospital (derivation cohort) in Dallas, TX, using a food-frequency instrument that listed 146 food choices. Foods >300 mg sodium/serving consumed at least weekly by 50% of an ethnic group were classified as being a high-sodium core food for that group. Classification of foods (core or not core) was validated in a second African-American cohort (n = 144). Five high-sodium food choices were classified as core food in both the derivation and validation African-American cohorts (salt in cooking, canned vegetables, cheese, processed meats, and cold cereal) and another 3 when the derivation and validation cohorts were combined (fast food, fried chicken, and corn bread). Four of these 8 foods were not classified as core foods in whites. Eight high-sodium foods were frequently consumed by southern, urban African Americans with heart failure. Several of these foods were not commonly consumed by whites, emphasizing the need to be sensitive to ethnic differences in dietary habits when educating patients about sodium intake.

Evaluation of urban sprawl and urban landscape pattern in a rapidly developing region.

Science.gov (United States)

Lv, Zhi-Qiang; Dai, Fu-Qiang; Sun, Cheng

2012-10-01

Urban sprawl is a worldwide phenomenon happening particularly in rapidly developing regions. A study on the spatiotemporal characteristics of urban sprawl and urban pattern is useful for the sustainable management of land management and urban land planning. The present research explores the spatiotemporal dynamics of urban sprawl in the context of a rapid urbanization process in a booming economic region of southern China from 1979 to 2005. Three urban sprawl types are distinguished by analyzing overlaid urban area maps of two adjacent study years which originated from the interpretation of remote sensed images and vector land use maps. Landscape metrics are used to analyze the spatiotemporal pattern of urban sprawl for each study period. Study results show that urban areas have expanded dramatically, and the spatiotemporal landscape pattern configured by the three sprawl types changed obviously. The different sprawl type patterns in five study periods have transformed significantly, with their proportions altered both in terms of quantity and of location. The present research proves that urban sprawl quantification and pattern analysis can provide a clear perspective of the urbanization process during a long time period. Particularly, the present study on urban sprawl and sprawl patterns can be used by land use and urban planners.

Financial management of low-income urban families

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Schnittgrund, K.P. (Univ. of California, Riverside); Baker, G.

1983-09-01

The major focus of this research was the difference in financial-management practices used by low-income urban white, black, and Mexican-American families. A random sample of 199 interviews was completed during the spring of 1980 in Phoenix, Arizona, USA. The sample consisted of 69 white, 70 black, and 60 Mexican-American families. Differences in financial behavior did occur for each race. In addition, they were optimistic regarding their own ability to handle money and resolve financial problems but generally negative toward the ability of other families to manage money, use credit, and plan purchases. 20 references, 3 tables.

Exploring the Relationships between White Racial Consciousness, Feminist Identity Development and Family Environment for White Undergraduate Women

Science.gov (United States)

Wolff, Kara E.; Munley, Patrick H.

2012-01-01

A sample of 394 White undergraduate females completed a demographic questionnaire and three assessment measures: the Oklahoma Racial Attitudes Scale-Revised (ORAS-R) (Vandiver & Leach, 2005), the Feminist Identity Composite (FIC) (Fischer et. al., 2000) and the Family Environment Scale-Real Form (FES-R) (Moos & Moos, 1974, 1994, 2002). Four…

Teachers' perceptions of the effectiveness of an urban health sciences curriculum in closing the Black-White test score gap: A participatory case study

Science.gov (United States)

Prince, Joan Marie

1999-12-01

Over the past years, progress in Black academic achievement, particularly in the area of science, has generally slowed or ceased. According to the 1994 NAEP assessment, twelfth-grade Black students are performing at the level of White eighth-grade students in the discipline of science (Department of Education, 1996). These students, in their last year of required schooling, are about to graduate, yet they lag at least four years behind their white counterparts in science achievement. Despite the establishment and implementation of numerous science intervention programs, Black students still suffer from a disparate gap in standardized test score achievement. The purpose of this research is to investigate teachers' perceptions of the effectiveness of an urban sciences intervention tool that was designed to assist in narrowing the Black-White science academic achievement gap. Specifically, what factors affect teachers' personal sense of instructional efficacy, and how does this translate into their outcome expectancy for student academic success? A multiple-case, replicative design, grounded in descriptive theory, was selected for the study. Multiple sources of evidence were queried to provide robust findings. These sources included a validated health sciences self-efficacy instrument, an interview protocol, a classroom observation, and a review of archival material that included case study participants' personnel files and meeting minutes. A cross-comparative analytic approach was selected for interpretation (Yin, 1994). Findings indicate that teachers attribute the success or failure of educational intervention tools in closing the Black-White test score gap to a variety of internal and external factors. These factors included a perceived lack of both monetary and personal support by the school leadership, as well as a perceived lack of parental involvement which impacted negatively on student achievement patterns. The case study participants displayed a depressed

Urban atmospheres.

Science.gov (United States)

Gandy, Matthew

2017-07-01

What is an urban atmosphere? How can we differentiate an 'atmosphere' from other facets of urban consciousness and experience? This essay explores some of the wider cultural, political, and philosophical connotations of atmospheres as a focal point for critical reflections on space and subjectivity. The idea of an 'affective atmosphere' as a distinctive kind of mood or shared corporeal phenomenon is considered in relation to recent developments in phenomenology, extended conceptions of agency, and new understandings of materialism. The essay draws in particular on the changing characteristics of air and light to reflect on different forms of sensory experience and their wider cultural and political connotations. The argument highlights some of the tensions and anomalies that permeate contemporary understandings of urban atmospheres.

Framing African American Students' Success and Failure in Urban Settings: A Typology for Change

Science.gov (United States)

Lewis, Chance W.; James, Marlon; Hancock, Stephen; Hill-Jackson, Valerie

2008-01-01

Grounded in critical race theory, this article seeks to frame the ideological positions of success and failure for African American students in urban school settings. First, we revisit national data and research literature that illustrate the ongoing urban Black-White achievement gap. Second, the Matrix of Achievement Paradigms is shared in an…

Finding a "disappearing" nontimber forest resource: using grounded visualization to explore urbanization impacts on sweetgrass basketmaking in greater Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina

Science.gov (United States)

Patrick T. Hurley; Angela C. Halfacre; Norm S. Levine

2008-01-01

Despite growing interest in urbanization and its social and ecological impacts on formerly rural areas, empirical research remains limited. Extant studies largely focus either on issues of social exclusion and enclosure or ecological change. This article uses the case of sweetgrass basketmaking in Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina, to explore the implications of...

Urbanization Impacts on Mammals across Urban-Forest Edges and a Predictive Model of Edge Effects

OpenAIRE

Villaseñor, Nélida R.; Driscoll, Don A.; Escobar, Martín A. H.; Gibbons, Philip; Lindenmayer, David B.

2014-01-01

With accelerating rates of urbanization worldwide, a better understanding of ecological processes at the wildland-urban interface is critical to conserve biodiversity. We explored the effects of high and low-density housing developments on forest-dwelling mammals. Based on habitat characteristics, we expected a gradual decline in species abundance across forest-urban edges and an increased decline rate in higher contrast edges. We surveyed arboreal mammals in sites of high and low housing den...

GENDER FRONTIERS IN MODERN URBANISM

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ana Alice Costa

2014-08-01

Full Text Available On the basis of what perspectives are the city, the street, the home, the working place and the spaces for leisure being built? On the basis of whose interests and to what purposes are cities ordained? What ideology is behind this “order” proposed to the cities? This article presents a feminist critical analysis of urban modernism since its genesis on the XIX century, in the context of urbanization emerging from industrialization. For the most part, what has been produced on modern urbanism and its planning is male-white-European authored. Analysis, from a feminist perspective, leads to the questioning of “objective” knowledge, produced independently of positionality and thus to the adoption of standpoint epistemologies. Finally, going against the grain of mainstream urbanistic discourse, it demonstrates that the subject of knowledge is not neuter; urbanistic knowledge is produced by men, so as to tend to, and reinforce, patriarchal ideology. The consequences of such a situation are still felt by contemporary women.

School Segregation and Disparities in Urban, Suburban, and Rural Areas

Science.gov (United States)

Logan, John R.; Burdick-Will, Julia

2018-01-01

Much of the literature on racial and ethnic educational inequality focuses on the contrast between Black and Hispanic students in urban areas and white suburban students. This study extends past research on school segregation and racial/ethnic disparities by highlighting the importance of rural areas and regional variation. Although schools in rural America are disproportionately white, they nevertheless are like urban schools, and disadvantaged relative to suburban schools, in terms of poverty and test performance. The group most affected by rural school disadvantage is Native Americans, who are a small share of students nationally but much more prominent and highly disadvantaged in rural areas, particularly in some parts of the country. These figures suggest a strong case for including rural schools in the continuing conversation about how to deal with unfairness in public education. PMID:29430018

Pulsations in carbon-atmosphere white dwarfs: A new chapter in white dwarf asteroseismology

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fontaine, G; Brassard, P; Dufour, P; Green, E M; Liebert, J

2009-01-01

We present some of the results of a survey aimed at exploring the asteroseismological potential of the newly-discovered carbon-atmosphere white dwarfs. We show that, in certains regions of parameter space, carbon-atmosphere white dwarfs may drive low-order gravity modes. We demonstrate that our theoretical results are consistent with the recent exciting discovery of luminosity variations in SDSS J1426+5752 and some null results obtained by a team of scientists at McDonald Observatory. We also present follow-up photometric observations carried out by ourselves at the Mount Bigelow 1.6-m telescope using the new Mont4K camera. The results of follow-up spectroscopic observations at the MMT are also briefly reported, including the surprising discovery that SDSS J1426+5752 is not only a pulsating star but that it is also a magnetic white dwarf with a surface field near 1.2 MG. The discovery of g-mode pulsations in SDSS J1426+5752 is quite significant in itself as it opens a fourth asteroseismological 'window', after the GW Vir, V777 Her, and ZZ Ceti families, through which one may study white dwarfs.

The distribution of urban population and income: explorations using six Asian cases.

Science.gov (United States)

Chakravorty, S

1993-02-01

"Urban concentration (or primacy) and inequality (in size distribution of income) are expected to follow bell shaped curves through the development process. Spatial convergence (through investments in transportation etc.) is expected to precede income convergence. Using longitudinal data from six Asian countries (Japan, Taiwan, Malaysia, the Philippines, Sri Lanka and India) this paper shows that (i) the bell shapes for urban concentration and income inequality generally hold, and (ii) the temporal relationship between the curve peaks is determined by geographical factors (for urban concentration); income inequality is seen to be more policy amenable." excerpt

Our Urban Living Room

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hjortshøj, Rasmus

2016-01-01

Our Urban Living Room is an exhibition and a book, created by Cobe. The theme is based on Cobe’s ten years of practice, grounded in social livability and urban democracy, and our aim to create buildings and spaces that invite Copenhageners to use and define them; as an extended living room, where...... the boundaries between private and public space become fluid. Based on specific Cobe projects, Our Urban Living Room tells stories about the architectural development of Copenhagen, while exploring the progression of the Danish Capital - from an industrial city into an urban living room, known as one...... of the world’s most livable places. Photography by Rasmus Hjortshøj....

Urban and suburban lifestyles and residential preferences in a highly urbanized society

OpenAIRE

Pisman, Ann; Allaert, Georges; Lombaerde, Piet

2013-01-01

It is widely recognized that cities nowadays are confronted with (new) challenges like segregation and suburbanisation. This paper explores the idea that these processes are related with residential choices (or preferences) made by residents with divergent lifestyles and value patterns. The paper focuses on differences between urban and suburban lifestyles and residential preferences. Firstly the concept of lifestyles in general, and urban and suburban lifestyles more specifically, are approa...

Study of urban space / urban life in the suburb

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Melgaard, Bente

This abstract outlines a section of the methods, which I use in my PhD study, to investigate urban space and urban life in suburban areas in Denmark. I will touch upon the overall methodological considerations in the project, and then go deeper into a specific section: the architectural analysis...... of a public suburban space. I use anthropological fieldwork to explore the space and place of everyday suburban life in a Danish suburb. I combine two disciplines – architecture and anthropology, to find layers that have commonality, and in this abstract, I focus on the projects architectural analysis......, in form of a pilot case study. The pilot case study involves to elements, an architectural analysis and an urban life registration of a suburban urban space in ‘Søndermarken’ in Vejle. The object is to study the physical frames and look at how these frames shape the use and patterns of movement...

MODELLING CHALLENGES TO FORECAST URBAN GOODS DEMAND FOR RAIL

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Antonio COMI

2015-12-01

Full Text Available This paper explores the new research challenges for forecasting urban goods demand by rail. In fact, the growing interest to find urban logistics solutions for improving city sustainability and liveability, mainly due to the reduction of urban road accessibility and environmental constraints, has pushed to explore solutions alternative to the road. Multimodal urban logistics, based on the use of railway, seem an interesting alternative solution, but it remained mainly at conceptual level. Few studies have explored the factors, that push actors to find competitive such a system with respect to the road, and modelling framework for forecasting the relative demand. Therefore, paper reviews the current literature, investigates the factors involved in choosing such a mode, and finally, recalls a recent modelling framework and hence proposes some advancements that allow to point out the rail transport alternative.

Metabolization and degradation kinetics of the urban-use pesticide fipronil by white rot fungus Trametes versicolor.

Science.gov (United States)

Wolfand, Jordyn M; LeFevre, Gregory H; Luthy, Richard G

2016-10-12

Fipronil is a recalcitrant phenylpyrazole-based pesticide used for flea/tick treatment and termite control that is distributed in urban aquatic environments via stormwater and contributes to stream toxicity. We discovered that fipronil is rapidly metabolized (t 1/2 = 4.2 d) by the white rot fungus Trametes versicolor to fipronil sulfone and multiple previously unknown fipronil transformation products, lowering fipronil concentration by 96.5%. Using an LC-QTOF-MS untargeted metabolomics approach, we identified four novel fipronil fungal transformation products: hydroxylated fipronil sulfone, glycosylated fipronil sulfone, and two compounds with unresolved structures. These results are consistent with identified enzymatic detoxification pathways wherein conjugation with sugar moieties follows initial ring functionalization (hydroxylation). The proposed pathway is supported by kinetic evidence of transformation product formation. Fipronil loss by sorption, hydrolysis, and photolysis was negligible. When T. versicolor was exposed to the cytochrome P450 enzyme inhibitor 1-aminobenzotriazole, oxidation of fipronil and production of hydroxylated and glycosylated transformation products significantly decreased (p = 0.038, 0.0037, 0.0023, respectively), indicating that fipronil is metabolized intracellularly by cytochrome P450 enzymes. Elucidating fipronil transformation products is critical because pesticide target specificity can be lost via structural alteration, broadening classes of impacted organisms. Integration of fungi in engineered natural treatment systems could be a viable strategy for pesticide removal from stormwater runoff.

A New Urban Agenda: Introduction to the Special Issue on “Sustainable Urban Development”

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Steffen Lehmann

2015-07-01

Full Text Available Since the start of the 21st century, humanity has been a predominantly urban species. This Special Issue is about the future of cities and how urbanization will develop when based on principles of sustainability. It explores the underlying dimensions of the transformation of existing cities and the design of low carbon green precincts and their urban systems. The view of the papers presented in this Special Issue is holistic and takes questions of social sustainability into account. This editorial highlights the contents and methodologies of 13 selected papers, while presenting diverse issues in strategies, concepts and policies for sustainable urban development.

The costume of Shangri-La: thoughts on white privilege, cultural appropriation, and anti-asian racism.

Science.gov (United States)

Kleisath, C Michelle

2014-01-01

This piece poses cultural appropriation as an undertheorized aspect of white privilege in White Privilege Studies. By way of narrative exploration, it asserts that a paucity of scholarship on Orientalism and anti-Asian racism has created a gap in White Privilege Studies that curbs its radical transformative potential. It argues for the value of a structural and historically focused lens for understanding the issue of cultural appropriation, and extends questions of culture and race relations beyond the borders of the United States. It also explores the complex ways that interracial and transnational relationships can influence white racial identity, and illustrates the disruptive potential that queer interracial relationships can offer to dominant historical patterns of white behavior.

Exploring the role of social capital in urban citizens' initiatives in the Netherlands.

Science.gov (United States)

Wentink, Carlijn; Vaandrager, Lenneke; van Dam, Rosalie; Hassink, Jan; Salverda, Irini

2017-07-24

This research explores the role of social capital in urban citizens' initiatives in the Netherlands, by using in-depth interviews. Social capital was operationalized as shared norms and values, connectedness, trust and reciprocity. The findings show that initiatives form around a shared idea or ambition (shared norms and values). An existing network of relationships (connectedness) is needed for an idea to emerge and take form. Connectedness can also increase as a result of an initiative. Some level of trust between people needs to be present from the start of the initiative. For the initiative to persist, strong in-group connections seem important, as well as a good balance between investments and returns. This reciprocity is mainly about intangible assets, such as energy and friendship. This study concludes that social capital within citizens' initiatives is both a prerequisite for the formation of initiatives and a result of the existence of initiatives. Copyright © 2017 SESPAS. Publicado por Elsevier España, S.L.U. All rights reserved.

Urban design for mobilities

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jensen, Ole B.

2017-01-01

. In this paper, we shall explore the potential for a better understanding of contemporary urban challenges through the cross-disciplinary approach of ‘Mobilities design’. The paper investigates how this notion is based on an understanding of materialities and social action that is framed under the heading...... of ‘material pragmatism’. The paper critically discusses transport versus mobilities and uses the combination of urban design and mobilities not just to argue for a pragmatic approach to urban transformation, but also to illustrate how such a different frame of understanding is better suitable for the ‘kind...

Urban forestry research needs: a participatory assessment process

Science.gov (United States)

Kathleen L. Wolf; Linda E. Kruger

2010-01-01

New research initiatives focusing on urban ecology and natural resources are underway. Such programs coincide with increased local government action in urban forest planning and management, activities that are enhanced by scientific knowledge. This project used a participatory stakeholder process to explore and understand urban forestry research and technology transfer...

White on black: can white parents teach black adoptive children how to understand and cope with racism?

Science.gov (United States)

Smith, Darron T; Juarez, Brenda G; Jacobson, Cardell K

2011-01-01

In this article, the authors examine White parents’ endeavors toward the racial enculturation and inculcation of their transracially adopted Black children. Drawing on in-depth interviews, the authors identify and analyze themes across the specific race socialization strategies and practices White adoptive parents used to help their adopted Black children to develop a positive racial identity and learn how to effectively cope with issues of race and racism. The central aim of this article is to examine how these lessons about race help to connect family members to U.S. society’s existing racial hierarchy and how these associations position individuals to help perpetuate or challenge the deeply embedded and historical structures of White supremacy. The authors use the notion of White racial framing to move outside of the traditional arguments for or against transracial adoption to instead explore how a close analysis of the adoptive parents’ racial instructions may serve as a learning tool to foster more democratic and inclusive forms of family and community.

Listening to their voices: Exploring mathematics-science identity development of African American males in an urban school community

Science.gov (United States)

Wilson, Kimi Leemar

National data continues to show an underrepresentation of African American males pursuing science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) majors, careers and professions in the United States. Whites and Asian Americans are continuously positioned as the face of STEM education and participation. And while research has provided ways to support mathematics and science learning for African American males, there still remains a gap in understanding how their formed mathematics-science identities in K-12 public schooling influences STEM participation. The research undertaken in this study explores this gap, and uses an integrative identity framework to understand mathematics-science identity development which goes beyond personal identity, and explores the relational, collective and material components of identity. Specifically, this research seeks to answer the following research questions: What are the shared lived experiences that exist between a group of African American male students developing a mathematics-science identity, and how these shared lived experiences shape their mathematics-science identity development? Therefore, by analyzing African American males lived experiences employing an integrative identity framework fosters a greater understanding of how mathematics-science identity is formed in K-12 public schools, which impacts STEM education and participation. The high school aged youth featured in this study consist of four African American males, who live in a moderate size city in California. Data for this study consists of observations, phenomenological interviews, and policy document analysis that took place over six months. Data has been analyzed to describe and interpret the young men's mathematics and science experiences, as revealed in their K-12 public school education. This inquiry sought to make meaning of how African American males experience mathematics and science teaching and learning within K-12 public schooling and how these

Urban land planning in Serbia

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zeković Slavka L.

2002-01-01

Full Text Available In this paper, the capitalization, urban land management and planning routine have been explored. The focus dwells on the praxis and urban planning perspectives as a link and means for realizing the public interest in space and the role of 'urban transplants' as a lever of urban development. It has also been pointed to a certain discrimination of the property status and property rights through the category of 'public interest', which is articulated by way of urban planning. The unfairness of the existing planning system towards private property and 'taxation' of entrepreneurial activities is evident, especially in urban land use i.e. installing the height of the land rent. It is expected that urban planning is competent upon the background of societal democratization, privatization and introduction of market institutions where the perspectives shift towards democratic transformation, the regulatory role and protection of property rights and different actors’ interests in using urban land. The conclusion is that changes in the management of urban land are required with recommendations to consider public-private sector partnerships.

Urban Surfaces in a New Era

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Støvring, Jan Luxhøj

Pluvial floods in highly urbanized areas are a frequently occurring problem for society due to intense rainstorms and the continuous sealing of the urban landscape. Permeable pavement (PP) systems offer more benefits for dealing with pluvial floods. The aim of this thesis is two-fold: 1) to explore...

Build Artifacts in Sustainable Urban Projects

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Pinheiro-Croisel, Rebecca; Hernes, Tor

2015-01-01

This paper explores innovation and social behaviourist theory in relation to sustainable urban projects in the highly institutionalized public sector (towns). Using empirical data from France, we examine the dynamics of a design process in which unexpected practices generated innovative urban...... into a movement of collective action, which presupposed the acquisition of a new identity. Ultimately, our objective is to combine social behaviourist theory and innovation theory and to facilitate innovative design in urban projects....

Capacity issues in local communities for integral urban regeneration

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mrđenović Tatjana

2013-01-01

Full Text Available The subject of the research in wider sense is organizational-communication capacity of local communities in Serbia in the frame of sustainable development. Along with this, the paper will explore potentialities of Faludi's model of multiplanning agencies as well as Healey's collaborative theory for better efficiency and effectiveness of planning in the process of urban regeneration. Specifically the paper will research relation between organizational structure of local communities in Serbia and their potentialities to provide adequate communication towards integral information for urban regeneration. Research is framed with a problem of efficiency and effectiveness in creating urban regeneration policies, strategies, designs, and technical solutions. The problem will be focused to Serbian context; characterized with inadequate, transitional, system of governance that is moving from centralistic towards decentralist model. This will be further explored through level and type of participation in the process of urban regeneration. The hypothesis of the research explores the nature of the relation between number and types of communication channels, provided by organizational structure of local communities that should enable effectiveness and efficiency of urban regeneration. In other words the hypothesis is: number and types of communication channels (variable A influences the effectiveness and efficiency of urban planning for sustainable urban regeneration (variable B. The aims of the paper are identification of the regulations between the variables. Expected result is establishing the model for measuring the capacity of local communities for integral urban regeneration.

Exploring public databases to characterize urban flood risks in Amsterdam

Science.gov (United States)

Gaitan, Santiago; ten Veldhuis, Marie-claire; van de Giesen, Nick

2015-04-01

Cities worldwide are challenged by increasing urban flood risks. Precise and realistic measures are required to decide upon investment to reduce their impacts. Obvious flooding factors affecting flood risk include sewer systems performance and urban topography. However, currently implemented sewer and topographic models do not provide realistic predictions of local flooding occurrence during heavy rain events. Assessing other factors such as spatially distributed rainfall and socioeconomic characteristics may help to explain probability and impacts of urban flooding. Several public databases were analyzed: complaints about flooding made by citizens, rainfall depths (15 min and 100 Ha spatio-temporal resolution), grids describing number of inhabitants, income, and housing price (1Ha and 25Ha resolution); and buildings age. Data analysis was done using Python and GIS programming, and included spatial indexing of data, cluster analysis, and multivariate regression on the complaints. Complaints were used as a proxy to characterize flooding impacts. The cluster analysis, run for all the variables except the complaints, grouped part of the grid-cells of central Amsterdam into a highly differentiated group, covering 10% of the analyzed area, and accounting for 25% of registered complaints. The configuration of the analyzed variables in central Amsterdam coincides with a high complaint count. Remaining complaints were evenly dispersed along other groups. An adjusted R2 of 0.38 in the multivariate regression suggests that explaining power can improve if additional variables are considered. While rainfall intensity explained 4% of the incidence of complaints, population density and building age significantly explained around 20% each. Data mining of public databases proved to be a valuable tool to identify factors explaining variability in occurrence of urban pluvial flooding, though additional variables must be considered to fully explain flood risk variability.

Expanding METCO and Closing Achievement Gaps. White Paper No. 129

Science.gov (United States)

Apfelbaum, Katherine; Ardon, Ken

2015-01-01

School systems around the United States are heavily segregated by income and race. At the same time, an achievement gap between white and nonwhite students persists despite many efforts to close it. Against this background, in this white paper the authors explore the history and successes of the Metropolitan Council for Educational Opportunity…

City Size, Density and Sectoral Structure: Exploring Urban Sustainability in the Regions.

Science.gov (United States)

Svirejeva-Hopkins, Anastasia

2010-05-01

For the first time in history, the Global population is more urban than rural and the trend is obvious at various scales. Cities do not serve just as dynamic centres of activities, jobs and consumption markets, social interactions and cultural expressions, but also carry the weight of the main environmental problems of current times and the near future. Global Warming, air and water pollution, population growth and recourse constraints, i.e. reduction of carrying capacity of the environment are among the well known ones. The overall aim of this research is to develop mitigation (at various scales) and adaptation systems, tailored to urban settlements. They should be effective at the very local as well as regional levels, assess and introduce innovative urban technologies and policies, reduce ecological footprint of cities and increase recycling efficiency. We propose the empirical method of urban sustainability assessment, that supports our hypothesis that city functioning, the changes in its population and area growth depends on the size, average and internal densities and the geographical form. The existing cities of three regions are examined: Western and Eastern Europe (incl. Russia), Latin America and China. There are fundamental urban developmental differences and also within the first region, namely between EU countries and the Eastern part of European geographical region. The cities are considered not only as some agglomerates of areas with dense population but from the ecological point of view, namely examining inflow of food and energy and outflow of waste products across the boundaries. There are major differences between the patterns of urbanisation in the studied regions, urban systems functioning and resilience. Continuous investigation of these differenced helps building regional scenarios of cities development, population allocation and pollution management for the 21st century.

Commuting behaviour and urban form: a longitudinal study of a polycentric urban region in Denmark

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Grunfelder, Julien; Nielsen, Thomas Alexander Sick

2012-01-01

is a polycentric urban region in Denmark. Data from the National Transport Survey of Denmark were used for this quantitative analysis and two time periods were selected to highlight any potential changes over time. Empirical findings indicate that urban form and location variables help to explain the three......This paper is an empirical investigation of the relation between urban form and commuting behaviour in a polycentric urban region. It explores to what extent urban form and location variables help to explain commuting time, distance and mode based on an empirical case, East Jutland, which...... selected aspects of commuting. However, urban form variables have greater explanatory power in explaining commuting modes than commuting time and commuting distance. No general trends in commuting were detectable from the data. Finally, the empirical findings revealed specificities of the case study...

Rotation of the accreting white dwarfs and diversity of type Ia supernovae

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Uenishi, Tatsuhiro; Nomoto, Kenichi; Hachisu, Izumi

2003-01-01

We consider rotation of progenitor white dwarfs for a possible source of the diversity of Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia). Hydrostatic structure of rotating white dwarfs with different masses are calculated. Evolutionary sequences of white dwarfs are explored and the effect of 'supercritical' rotation in binary system is examined. Possible effects of rotation to cause diversity of SNe Ia are discussed

Real-time craving differences between black and white smokers.

Science.gov (United States)

Carter, Brian L; Paris, Megan M; Lam, Cho Y; Robinson, Jason D; Traylor, Amy C; Waters, Andrew J; Wetter, David W; Cinciripini, Paul M

2010-01-01

Black and White smokers may experience aspects of nicotine dependence, including craving, differently. This study used a naturalistic technique, ecological momentary assessment (EMA), to explore differences in craving, mood, expectancy, and smoking enjoyment between Black and White smokers. Participants carried personal digital assistants (PDAs) programmed to obtain multiple daily assessments. Black smokers reported higher craving after smoking and at random assessment times and higher cigarette enjoyment. No differences were found in mood or expectancy. Racial differences in psychological factors related to smoking are explored in the contexts of genetic, sociological, and psychophysiological distinctions. Implications for practice and research are discussed. (Am J Addict 2010;00:1-5).

Urban inequities; urban rights: a conceptual analysis and review of impacts on children, and policies to address them.

Science.gov (United States)

Stephens, Carolyn

2012-06-01

This paper explores current conceptual understanding of urban social, environmental, and health inequality and inequity, and looks at the impact of these processes on urban children and young people in the 21st century. This conceptual analysis was commissioned for a discussion paper for UNICEF's flagship publication: State of the World's Children 2012: Children in an Urban World. The aim of the paper is to examine evidence on the meaning of urban inequality and inequity for urban children and young people. It further looks at the controversial policies of targeting "vulnerable" young people, and policies to achieve the urban MDGs. Finally, the paper looks briefly at the potential of concepts such as environment justice and rights to change our understanding of urban inequality and inequity.

A Meta-Analysis of Urban Climate Change Adaptation ...

Science.gov (United States)

The concentration of people, infrastructure, and ecosystem services in urban areas make them prime sites for climate change adaptation. While advances have been made in developing frameworks for adaptation planning and identifying both real and potential barriers to action, empirical work evaluating urban adaptation planning processes has been relatively piecemeal. Existing assessments of current experience with urban adaptation provide necessarily broad generalizations based on the available peer-reviewed literature. This paper uses a meta-analysis of U.S. cities’ current experience with urban adaptation planning drawing from 54 sources that include peer-reviewed literature, government reports, white papers, and reports published by non-governmental organizations. The analysis specifically evaluates the institutional support structures being developed for urban climate change adaptation. The results demonstrate that adaptation planning is driven by a desire to reduce vulnerability and often catalyzes new collaborations and coordination mechanisms in urban governance. As a result, building capacity for urban climate change adaptation planning requires a focus not only on city governments themselves but also on the complex horizontal and vertical networks that have arisen around such efforts. Existing adaptation planning often lacks attention to equity issues, social vulnerability, and the influence of non-climatic factors on vulnerability. Engaging city govern

Re-racialization of Addiction and the Redistribution of Blame in the White Opioid Epidemic.

Science.gov (United States)

Mendoza, Sonia; Rivera, Allyssa Stephanie; Hansen, Helena Bjerring

2018-04-27

New York City has the largest number of opioid dependent people of U.S. cities, and within New York, Whites have the highest rate of prescription opioid and heroin overdose deaths. The rise of opioid abuse among Whites has resulted in popular narratives of victimization by prescribers, framing of addiction as a biological disease, and the promise of pharmaceutical treatments that differ from the criminalizing narratives that have historically described urban Latino and black narcotic use. Through an analysis of popular media press and interviews with opioid prescribers and community pharmacists in Staten Island-the epicenter of opioid overdose in New York City and the most suburban and white of its boroughs-we found that narratives of white opioid users disrupted notions of the addict as "other," producing alternative logics of blame that focus on prescribers and the encroachment of dealers from outside of white neighborhoods. © 2018 by the American Anthropological Association.

Exploring Urban Environments Using Virtual and Augmented Reality

OpenAIRE

Stelios Papakonstantinou; Vesna Brujic-Okretic; Fotis Liarokapis

2007-01-01

In this paper, we propose the use of specific system architecture, based on mobile device, for navigation in urban environments. The aim of this work is to assess how virtual and augmented reality interface paradigms can provide enhanced location based services using real-time techniques in the context of these two different technologies. The virtual reality interface is based on faithful graphical representation of the localities of interest, coupled with sensory information on the location ...

What School Movies and "TFA" Teach Us about Who Should Teach Urban Youth: Dominant Narratives as Public Pedagogy

Science.gov (United States)

Cann, Colette N.

2015-01-01

White teacher savior films (WTSFs) depict the teaching profession as one for which conventional credentialing is unnecessary. White teachers with little training and experience perform miracles in urban classrooms where trained, experienced teachers have failed. This same narrative is echoed in alternative credential programs such as Teach For…

Characterizing urban structure using taxi GPS data

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Zheng, Zhong; Zhou, Suhong; Rasouli, S.; Timmermans, H.J.P.

2014-01-01

Scholars have explored urban structure from many perspectives. Developments in ICT have made it possible to discover spatial patterns in activities using big data. The identified patterns allow us to better understand urban structure. This chapter reports the collection of taxi GPS records for a

Competing or co-existing? Representations of HIV/AIDS by white ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

This study explores the social representations of HIV and AIDS that circulate among white women teachers in South Africa, a group whose personal risk of the disease is low but who have a major role to play in shaping attitudes to HIV/AIDS among children and young people. The study examines how white women talk ...

Exploring the lived experience and chronic low back pain beliefs of English-speaking Punjabi and white British people: a qualitative study within the NHS.

Science.gov (United States)

Singh, Gurpreet; Newton, Christopher; O'Sullivan, Kieran; Soundy, Andrew; Heneghan, Nicola R

2018-02-11

Disabling chronic low back pain (CLBP) is associated with negative beliefs and behaviours, which are influenced by culture, religion and interactions with healthcare practitioners (HCPs). In the UK, HCPs encounter people from different cultures and ethnic backgrounds, with South Asian Indians (including Punjabis) forming the largest ethnic minority group. Better understanding of the beliefs and experiences of ethnic minorities with CLBP might inform effective management. To explore the CLBP beliefs and experiences of English-speaking Punjabi and white British people living with CLBP, explore how beliefs may influence the lived experience of CLBP and conduct cross-cultural comparisons between the two groups. Qualitative study using semistructured interviews set within an interpretive description framework and thematic analysis. A National Health Service hospital physiotherapy department, Leicester, UK. 10 CLBP participants (5 English-speaking Punjabi and 5 white British) purposively recruited from physiotherapy waiting lists. Participants from both groups held negative biomedical CLBP beliefs such as the 'spine is weak', experienced unfulfilling interactions with HCPs commonly due to a perceived lack of support and negative psychosocial dimensions of CLBP with most participants catastrophising about their CLBP. Specific findings to Punjabi participants included (1) disruption to cultural-religious well-being, as well as (2) a perceived lack of understanding and empathy regarding their CLBP from the Punjabi community. In contrast to their white British counterparts, Punjabi participants reported initially using passive coping strategies; however, all participants reported a transition towards active coping strategies. CLBP beliefs and experiences, irrespective of ethnicity, were primarily biomedically orientated. However, cross-cultural differences included cultural-religious well-being, the community response to CLBP experienced by Punjabi participants and coping

Exploring the lived experience and chronic low back pain beliefs of English-speaking Punjabi and white British people: a qualitative study within the NHS

Science.gov (United States)

Singh, Gurpreet; Newton, Christopher; O’Sullivan, Kieran

2018-01-01

Introduction Disabling chronic low back pain (CLBP) is associated with negative beliefs and behaviours, which are influenced by culture, religion and interactions with healthcare practitioners (HCPs). In the UK, HCPs encounter people from different cultures and ethnic backgrounds, with South Asian Indians (including Punjabis) forming the largest ethnic minority group. Better understanding of the beliefs and experiences of ethnic minorities with CLBP might inform effective management. Objectives To explore the CLBP beliefs and experiences of English-speaking Punjabi and white British people living with CLBP, explore how beliefs may influence the lived experience of CLBP and conduct cross-cultural comparisons between the two groups. Design Qualitative study using semistructured interviews set within an interpretive description framework and thematic analysis. Setting A National Health Service hospital physiotherapy department, Leicester, UK. Participants 10 CLBP participants (5 English-speaking Punjabi and 5 white British) purposively recruited from physiotherapy waiting lists. Results Participants from both groups held negative biomedical CLBP beliefs such as the ‘spine is weak’, experienced unfulfilling interactions with HCPs commonly due to a perceived lack of support and negative psychosocial dimensions of CLBP with most participants catastrophising about their CLBP. Specific findings to Punjabi participants included (1) disruption to cultural-religious well-being, as well as (2) a perceived lack of understanding and empathy regarding their CLBP from the Punjabi community. In contrast to their white British counterparts, Punjabi participants reported initially using passive coping strategies; however, all participants reported a transition towards active coping strategies. Conclusion CLBP beliefs and experiences, irrespective of ethnicity, were primarily biomedically orientated. However, cross-cultural differences included cultural-religious well-being, the

Female Migration, Local Context and Contraception Use in Urban ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Although there are studies of the influence of rural-urban migration on contraceptive use in Africa, one question poorly explored is how the urban destination context shapes rural-urban migrants' use of contraceptives. Using data from the 2003 Mozambique Demographic and Health Survey, we examine the effect of ...

Air quality and urban form in U.S. urban areas: evidence from regulatory monitors.

Science.gov (United States)

Clark, Lara P; Millet, Dylan B; Marshall, Julian D

2011-08-15

The layout of an urban area can impact air pollution via changes in emissions and their spatial distribution. Here, we explore relationships between air quality and urban form based on cross-sectional observations for 111 U.S. urban areas. We employ stepwise linear regression to quantify how long-term population-weighted outdoor concentrations of ozone, fine particulate matter (PM(2.5)), and other criteria pollutants measured by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency depend on urban form, climate, transportation, city size, income, and region. Aspects of urban form evaluated here include city shape, road density, jobs-housing imbalance, population density, and population centrality. We find that population density is associated with higher population-weighted PM(2.5) concentrations (p urban form variables are associated with 4%-12% changes in population-weighted concentrations-amounts comparable, for example, to changes in climatic factors. Our empirical findings are consistent with prior modeling research and suggest that urban form could potentially play a modest but important role in achieving (or not achieving) long-term air quality goals.

A window on urban sustainability

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Stigt, Rien van; Driessen, Peter P.J.; Spit, Tejo J.M.

2013-01-01

Sustainable urban development requires the integration of environmental interests in urban planning. Although various methods of environmental assessment have been developed, plan outcomes are often disappointing due to the complex nature of decision-making in urban planning, which takes place in multiple arenas within multiple policy networks involving diverse stakeholders. We argue that the concept of ‘decision windows’ can structure this seemingly chaotic chain of interrelated decisions. First, explicitly considering the dynamics of the decision-making process, we further conceptualized decision windows as moments in an intricate web of substantively connected deliberative processes where issues are reframed within a decision-making arena, and interests may be linked within and across arenas. Adopting this perspective in two case studies, we then explored how decision windows arise, which factors determine their effectiveness and how their occurrence can be influenced so as to arrive at more sustainable solutions. We conclude that the integration of environmental interests in urban planning is highly dependent on the ability of the professionals involved to recognize and manipulate decision windows. Finally, we explore how decision windows may be opened. -- Highlights: • Decision-making about sustainable urban development occurs in networks. • The concept of ‘decision windows’ was further elaborated. • Decision windows help understand how environmental interests enter decision-making. • Decision windows can, to some extent, be influenced

A window on urban sustainability

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Stigt, Rien van, E-mail: rien.vanstigt@hu.nl [Research Center for Technology and Innovation, Utrecht University of Applied Sciences, P.O. Box 182, 3500 AD Utrecht (Netherlands); Driessen, Peter P.J., E-mail: p.driessen@uu.nl [Copernicus Institute of Sustainable Development, Faculty of Geosciences, Utrecht University, P.O. Box 80.115, 3508 TC Utrecht (Netherlands); Spit, Tejo J.M., E-mail: T.J.M.Spit@uu.nl [Department of Human Geography and Spatial Planning, Faculty of Geosciences, Utrecht University, P.O. Box 80.115, 3508 TC Utrecht (Netherlands)

2013-09-15

Sustainable urban development requires the integration of environmental interests in urban planning. Although various methods of environmental assessment have been developed, plan outcomes are often disappointing due to the complex nature of decision-making in urban planning, which takes place in multiple arenas within multiple policy networks involving diverse stakeholders. We argue that the concept of ‘decision windows’ can structure this seemingly chaotic chain of interrelated decisions. First, explicitly considering the dynamics of the decision-making process, we further conceptualized decision windows as moments in an intricate web of substantively connected deliberative processes where issues are reframed within a decision-making arena, and interests may be linked within and across arenas. Adopting this perspective in two case studies, we then explored how decision windows arise, which factors determine their effectiveness and how their occurrence can be influenced so as to arrive at more sustainable solutions. We conclude that the integration of environmental interests in urban planning is highly dependent on the ability of the professionals involved to recognize and manipulate decision windows. Finally, we explore how decision windows may be opened. -- Highlights: • Decision-making about sustainable urban development occurs in networks. • The concept of ‘decision windows’ was further elaborated. • Decision windows help understand how environmental interests enter decision-making. • Decision windows can, to some extent, be influenced.

The Employment Advantages of Skilled Urban Areas

OpenAIRE

Diaz Escobar, Ana Maria

2011-01-01

This paper explores whether the agglomeration of human capital leads to social employment advantages in urban labor markets of a developing country: Colombia. I estimate the social effects of human capital agglomeration by comparing employment opportunities of individuals located in urban areas in which the level of education differs. Results show that employment opportunities are higher on average in skilled urban areas. Three explanations have been offered: human capital externalities, prod...

Understanding Controversies in Urban Climate Change Adaptation

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Baron, Nina; Petersen, Lars Kjerulf

2015-01-01

This article explores the controversies that exist in urban climate change adaptation and how these controversies influence the role of homeowners in urban adaptation planning. A concrete SUDS project in a housing cooperative in Copenhagen has been used as a case study thereby investigating the m...

Urban Intensification and Expansion in Sub-Saharan Africa: Impacts on Urban Agriculture and Food Security

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Uzokwe, V. N. E. N.; Muchelo, R. O.; Odeh, I. A.

2015-12-01

In Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), urban intensification and expansion are increasing at alarming rates due to rapid population growth and rural-to-urban migration. This has led to the premise that the proportion of SSA urban residents most vulnerable to food insecurity is the highest in the world. Using a focused survey and multi-temporal (decadal) land use/cover classification of Landsat images, we explored the effect of urban intensification and expansion on urban agriculture and food security, focusing on a megacity and a regional center in Uganda: Kampala and Mbarara, respectively. We found that food insecurity arose due to a number of reasons, among which are: i) expansion and intensification of of urban settlements into previously productive agricultural lands in urban and peri-urban areas; ii) loss of predominantly young (rural agricultural) adult labor force to urban centers, leading to decline in rural food production; iii) lack of proper urban planning incorporating green and agricultural development leading to low productive market garden systems. We discussed these outcomes in light of existing studies which estimated that urban agriculture alone supports over 800 million people globally and accounts for 15-20% of world food supply. In spite of this relatively low contribution by urban/peri-urban agriculture, it probably accounts for higher proportion of food supply to urban poor in SSA and thus are most vulnerable to the loss of urban and peri-urban agricultural land. Further recommendations require policy makers and urban planners to team up to design a suitable framework for sustainable urban planning and development.

Does Urban Form Affect Urban NO2? Satellite-Based Evidence for More than 1200 Cities.

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Bechle, Matthew J; Millet, Dylan B; Marshall, Julian D

2017-11-07

Modifying urban form may be a strategy to mitigate urban air pollution. For example, evidence suggests that urban form can affect motor vehicle usage, a major contributor to urban air pollution. We use satellite-based measurements of urban form and nitrogen dioxide (NO 2 ) to explore relationships between urban form and air pollution for a global data  set of 1274 cities. Three of the urban form metrics studied (contiguity, circularity, and vegetation) have a statistically significant relationship with urban NO 2 ; their combined effect could be substantial. As illustration, if findings presented here are causal, that would suggest that if Christchurch, New Zealand (a city at the 75th percentile for all three urban-form metrics, and with a network of buses, trams, and bicycle facilities) was transformed to match the urban form of Indio - Cathedral City, California, United States (a city at the 25th percentile for those same metrics, and exhibiting sprawl-like suburban development), our models suggest that Christchurch's NO 2 concentrations would be ∼60% higher than its current level. We also find that the combined effect of urban form on NO 2 is larger for small cities (β × IQR = -0.46 for cities urban population and are where much of the future urban growth is expected to occur. This work highlights the need for future study of how changes in urban form and related land use and transportation policies impact urban air pollution, especially for small cities.

Urbanisation and its discontents: urban refugees in Tanzania

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Marc Sommers

1999-04-01

Full Text Available This article explores the different labels under which refugees in Dar es Salaam may be categorised. It identifies and profiles differentgroups of urban refugee in Dar es Salaam and considers some common assumptions about urban refugees.

Exploring the Use of ICTs in Learning and Disseminating Livestock Husbandry Knowledge to Urban and Peri-Urban Communities in Tanzania

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Angello, Consolata

2015-01-01

This paper discusses the importance of various Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in learning and disseminating relevant information on livestock husbandry in Tanzania. The paper is part of a study that investigated the extent of use of ICTs by urban and peri-urban livestock keepers and how access and dissemination of livestock…

Suburbanization, Intra-Urban Mobility and Homeownership Aspirations

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Andreasen, Manja Hoppe

construction of housing, financed, built and inhabited by individual residents, who are predominantly long-term urban residents moving from central parts of the city and who are engaging in urban-based livelihood activities, which are often critically reliant on daily or regular mobility and access to central...... parts of the city. The findings highlight residents’ search for affordable urban housing as well as intra-urban residential mobility as central dynamics in urban expansion. The thesis also highlights how the on-going transformation processes differ from common conceptions of suburbanization in important......Urban expansion is a significant trend in cities of Africa, but the processes and dynamics of urban expansion are still understudied and poorly understood. This PhD thesis presents an explorative study of the processes and dynamics of urban expansion in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. The research...

Urban Land Allocation Model of Territorial Expansion by Urban Planners and Housing Developers

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Carolina Cantergiani

2017-12-01

Full Text Available Agent-based models have recently been proposed as potential tools to support urban planning due to their capacity to simulate complex behaviors. The complexity of the urban development process arises from strong interactions between various components driven by different agents. AMEBA (agent-based model for the evolution of urban areas is a prototype of an exploratory, spatial, agent-based model that considers the main agents involved in the urban development process (urban planners, developers, and the population. The prototype consists of three submodels (one for each agent that have been developed independently and present the same structure. However, the first two are based on a land use allocation technique, and the last one, as well as their integration, on an agent-based model approach. This paper describes the conceptualization and performance of the submodels that represent urban planners and developers, who are the agents responsible for officially launching expansion and defining the spatial allocation of urban land. The prototype was tested in the Corredor del Henares (an urban–industrial area in the Region of Madrid, Spain, but is sufficiently flexible to be adapted to other study areas and generate different future urban growth contexts. The results demonstrate that this combination of agents can be used to explore various policy-relevant research questions, including urban system interactions in adverse political and socioeconomic scenarios.

Lunar architecture and urbanism, 2nd ed

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Sherwood, Brent

2005-01-01

As the space population grows over time, persistent issues of human urbanism will eclipse within a historically short time the technical challenges of space exploration that dominate current efforts. Although urban design teams will have to integrate many new disciplines into their already renaissance array of expertise, doing so will enable them to adapt ancient, proven solutions to opportunities afforded by expanding urbanism offworld. This paper updates the author's original 1988 treatment of the subject.

Contrasting responses of urban and rural surface energy budgets to heat waves explain synergies between urban heat islands and heat waves

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Li, Dan; Sun, Ting; Liu, Maofeng; Yang, Long; Wang, Linlin; Gao, Zhiqiu

2015-01-01

Heat waves (HWs) are projected to become more frequent and last longer over most land areas in the late 21st century, which raises serious public health concerns. Urban residents face higher health risks due to synergies between HWs and urban heat islands (UHIs) (i.e., UHIs are higher under HW conditions). However, the responses of urban and rural surface energy budgets to HWs are still largely unknown. This study analyzes observations from two flux towers in Beijing, China and reveals significant differences between the responses of urban and rural (cropland) ecosystems to HWs. It is found that UHIs increase significantly during HWs, especially during the nighttime, implying synergies between HWs and UHIs. Results indicate that the urban site receives more incoming shortwave radiation and longwave radiation due to HWs as compared to the rural site, resulting in a larger radiative energy input into the urban surface energy budget. Changes in turbulent heat fluxes also diverge strongly for the urban site and the rural site: latent heat fluxes increase more significantly at the rural site due to abundant available water, while sensible heat fluxes and possibly heat storage increase more at the urban site. These comparisons suggest that the contrasting responses of urban and rural surface energy budgets to HWs are responsible for the synergies between HWs and UHIs. As a result, urban mitigation and adaption strategies such as the use of green roofs and white roofs are needed in order to mitigate the impact of these synergies. (letter)

Induced Abortion Practices in an Urban Indian Slum: Exploring Reasons, Pathways and Experiences.

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Behera, Deepanjali; Bharat, Shalini; Chandrakant Gawde, Nilesh

2015-09-01

To explore the context, experiences and pathways of seeking abortion care among married women in a minority dominated urban slum community in Mumbai city of India. A mixed-method study was conducted using a systematic random sampling method to select 282 respondents from the slum community. One fifth of these womenreported undergoing at least one induced abortion over past five years. A quantitative survey was conducted among these women (n = 57) using structured face-to-face interviews. Additionally, in-depths interviews involving 11 respondents, 2 community health workers and 2 key informants from the community were conducted for further exploration of qualitative data. The rate of induced abortion was 115.6 per 1000 pregnancies in the study area with an abortion ratio of 162.79 per 1000 live births. Frequent pregnancies with low birth spacing and abortions were reported among the women due to restricted contraception use based on religious beliefs. Limited supportfrom husband and family compelled the women to seek abortion services, mostly secretly, from private, unskilled providers and unregistered health facilities. Friends and neighbors were main sources of advice and link to abortion services. Lack of safe abortion facilities within accessible distance furtherintensifies the risk of unsafe abortions. Low contraception usage based on rigid cultural beliefs and scarcely accessible abortion services were the root causes of extensive unsafe abortions.Contraception awareness and counseling with involvement of influential community leaders as well as safe abortion services need to be strengthened to protect these deprived women from risks of unwanted pregnancies and unsafe abortions.

Induced Abortion Practices in an Urban Indian Slum: Exploring Reasons, Pathways and Experiences

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Deepanjali Behera

2015-10-01

Full Text Available Objective:To explore the context, experiences and pathways of seeking abortion care among married women in a minority dominated urban slum community in Mumbai city of India.Materials and methods:A mixed-method study was conducted using a systematic random sampling method to select 282 respondents from the slum community. One fifth of these womenreported undergoing at least one induced abortion over past five years. A quantitative survey was conducted among these women (n=57 using structured face-to-face interviews. Additionally, in-depths interviews involving 11 respondents, 2 community health workers and 2 key informants from the community were conducted for further exploration of qualitative data.Results:The rate of induced abortion was 115.6 per 1000 pregnancies in the study area with an abortion ratio of 162.79 per 1000 live births. Frequent pregnancies with low birth spacing and abortions were reported among the women due to restricted contraception use based on religious beliefs. Limited supportfrom husband and family compelled the women to seek abortion services, mostly secretly, from private, unskilled providers and unregistered health facilities. Friends and neighbors were main sources of advice and link to abortion services. Lack of safe abortion facilities within accessible distance furtherintensifies the risk of unsafe abortions.Conclusion:Low contraception usage based on rigid cultural beliefs and scarcely accessible abortion services were the root causes of extensive unsafe abortions.Contraception awareness and counseling with involvement of influential community leaders as well as safe abortion services need to be strengthened to protect these deprived women from risks of unwanted pregnancies and unsafe abortions.

Differences in Household Saving between Non-Hispanic White and Hispanic Households

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Fisher, Patti J.; Hsu, Chungwen

2012-01-01

This study uses the 2007 Survey of Consumer Finances to empirically explore differences in saving behavior between Hispanic (N = 533) and non-Hispanic White (N = 2,473) households. The results of the logistic regression model show that self-employed Hispanics were more likely to save, while self-employment was not significant for Whites. Being…

Developing Resilient Urban Waterfronts : Integrating Adaptation into Urban Development and Management

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van Veelen, P.C.; Deppisch, Sonja

2017-01-01

There is a growing attention for integrating climate change adaptation into policies, strategies and decision-making processes (e.g. mainstreaming). This paper explores to what extent climate adaptation can be integrated into processes of urban development and change, based on case study research in

A School-Based Mindfulness Intervention for Urban Youth: Exploring Moderators of Intervention Effects

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Gould, Laura Feagans; Dariotis, Jacinda K.; Mendelson, Tamar; Greenberg, Mark. T.

2012-01-01

This study examines gender, grade-level, and baseline depressive symptoms as potential moderators of a school-based mindfulness intervention's impact on the self-regulatory outcomes of urban youth. Ninety-seven participants from four urban public schools were randomly assigned to an intervention or wait-list control condition. Fourth and fifth…

Urban Interaction Design

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Brynskov, Martin; Bermúdez, Juan Carlos Carvajal; Fernández, Manu

This book is an effort to explore the newly emerging field of urban interaction design that addresses these issues. In the first part of the book, 'Foundations', we look into its origins. Where do its practitioners come from? How are they working together? What methodologies do they bring...... to the table? What are the key concepts they are addressing in their work? In the second part of the book named 'Trends', we go into current developments in the networked city and how urban interaction design as a field addresses these. Taken together, these sections will not give the definite definition...

White Women, Racial Identity, and Learning about Racism in Graduate Preparation Programs

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Robbins, Claire K.

2016-01-01

This study explored how White women learned about racism and White privilege in higher education and student affairs (HESA) master's degree programs. Drawn from a grounded theory, findings included 16 coursework and pre-professional experiences that generated racial dissonance, leading to "hunger" for more knowledge about racism and…

Qualifying Urban Landscapes

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Juel Clemmensen, Thomas; Daugaard, Morten; Nielsen, Tom

This paper is based on a research project aimed at contributing to the qualification of the aesthetical value of the contemporary urban landscape. We see our work as part of a tradition within the architectural profession of making explorative projects, which combines analysis of the contemporary...

Exploring the diversity of urban and peri-urban agricultural systems in Sudano-Sahelian West Africa: An attempt towards a regional typology

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Dossa, L.C.; Abdulkadir, A.; Amadou, H.; Sangare, S.; Schlecht, E.

2011-01-01

Developing appropriate and innovative technologies and policies to respond to the challenges that urban and peri-urban agriculture (UPA) faces in West Africa requires a better understanding of the existing production systems. Although there is an increasing recognition of the importance of UPA in

“I Live by Shooting Hill” – A Qualitative Exploration of Conflict and Violence among Urban Youth in New Haven, Connecticut

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Shuval, Kerem; Massey, Zohar; O Caughy, Margaret; Cavanaugh, Brenda; Pillsbury, Charles A; Groce, Nora

2013-01-01

To elucidate urban youths’ perceptions of conflict and violence we conducted a qualitative study among minority urban youths in New Haven, Connecticut. We utilized the ecological framework to explore the multilevel nature of the findings, and triangulated results with a parallel quantitative study. We found risk factors for violence at multiple levels including lack of interpersonal anger management skills (individual level); parents not physically present in the household (relationship level); residence in crime and gang-ridden neighborhoods (community level); and socioeconomic inequalities between neighborhoods, as reflected by participants’ perception of the inadequacy of neighborhood resources to provide safety (societal level). Neighborhood resources were perceived as sparse, and police were not regarded as a protective factor (sometimes rather as racially discriminatory). Participants’ statements pertaining to feelings of isolation, racism, and violence without strong parental, neighborhood, and school support may impede prosocial attitudes and behaviors throughout adolescence and young adulthood. PMID:22643467

Pedagogy beyond Piracy: Un-Learning the White Body to Recreate a Body of Learning

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Perkinson, James W.

2012-01-01

This essay highlights a range of questions that arise when white suburban students engage urban neighborhoods of poverty and color in the United States. How can involvement in an "other" context move beyond "educational tourism"? The essay presents a pedagogical style that raises questions of the kind of socialized body one…

How Culture Influences Teacher Self-Reflective Problem Solving Behavior and Self-Efficacy: Experiences of White Female Teachers Working through Relationship with Black Students in a Mid-Western American City

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Tolson, Bonnie Lynn

2013-01-01

Teachers make a difference. White female middle-class teachers represent 84 percent of Americas' teachers. How does culture influence the self-reflective problem-solving behaviors of urban teachers? Urban schools fail youth by opening the doors for a mass exodus. The problem solving behavior of urban teachers may contribute to the student exodus…

Black God and white devil in the urban ghettos of America: Religion and black nationalism of the Nation of Islam

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Zbigniew Marcin Kowalewski

2013-01-01

Full Text Available The Nation of Islam, commonly known as the Black Muslim movement,appeared during the Great Depression in the black ghettos of the big urban andindustrial centers in the northern United States. It was founded by W. Fard Muhammad,one of the probably most mysterious figures in the history of Black America,in whom his followers saw the incarnation of Allah. Its doctrine was a combinationof an extremely heterodox or “heretical” Islam and a separatist variety of blacknationalism. A quarter of century later, the marginal sect led by Elijah Muhammadas Messenger of Allah became the most important new religious movement to emerge in the U.S. in the twentieth century. It has proved to be the largest and longest-lived nationalist movement among the American blacks. Its activities, including the preaching of “black internationalism”, were seen by the federal authorities as a threat to national security. The outstanding revolutionary leader Malcolm X emerged from its bosom. Rooted in the lowest layers of the black working class, the Nation of Islam durably and successfully questions the liberal middle-class leadership of the northern black communities, which aspires toward integration into white society.

Mortality by skin color/race and urbanity of Brazilian cities.

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de Oliveira, Bruno Luciano Carneiro Alves; Luiz, Ronir Raggio

2017-08-01

The skin color/race and urbanity are structural determinants of health. The relationship between these variables produces structure of social stratification that defines inequalities in the experiences of life and death. Thus, this study describes the characteristics of the mortality indicators by skin color/race according level of urbanity and aggregation to the metropolitan region (MR) of 5565 cities in Brazil, controlling for gender and age. Descriptive study which included the calculation of measures relating to 1,050,546 deaths in the year survey of 2010 by skin color/race White, Black, and Brown according to both sexes, for five age groups and three levels of urbanity of cities in Brazil that were aggregated or not to the MR in the year of study. The risk of death was estimated by calculating premature mortality rate (PMR) at 65 years of age, per 100,000 and age adjusted. The structure of mortality by skin color/race Black and Brown reflects worse levels of health and excessive premature deaths, with worse situation for men. The Whites, especially women, tend to live longer and in better health than other racial groups. The age-adjusted PMR indicates distinct risk of death by skin color/race, this risk was higher in men than in women and in Blacks than in other racial groups of both sexes. There have been precarious levels of health in the urban space and the MR has intensified these inequalities. The research pointed out that the racial inequality in the mortality was characterized by interaction of race with other individual and contextual determinants of health. Those Blacks and Browns are the groups most vulnerable to the iniquities associated with occurrence of death, but these differences in the profile and the risk of death depend on the level of urbanity and aggregation MR of Brazilian cities in 2010.

Performative Urban Architecture

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Thomsen, Bo Stjerne; Jensen, Ole B.

The paper explores how performative urban architecture can enhance community-making and public domain using socio-technical systems and digital technologies to constitute an urban reality. Digital medias developed for the web are now increasingly occupying the urban realm as a tool for navigating...... the physical world e.g. as exemplified by the Google Walk Score and the mobile extension of the Google Maps to the iPhone. At the same time the development in pervasive technologies and situated computing extends the build environment with digital feedback systems that are increasingly embedded and deployed...... using sensor technologies opening up for new access considerations in architecture as well as the ability for a local environment to act as real-time sources of information and facilities. Starting from the NoRA pavilion for the 10th International Architecture Biennale in Venice the paper discusses...

Widening rural-urban disparities in all-cause mortality and mortality from major causes of death in the USA, 1969-2009.

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Singh, Gopal K; Siahpush, Mohammad

2014-04-01

This study examined trends in rural-urban disparities in all-cause and cause-specific mortality in the USA between 1969 and 2009. A rural-urban continuum measure was linked to county-level mortality data. Age-adjusted death rates were calculated by sex, race, cause-of-death, area-poverty, and urbanization level for 13 time periods between 1969 and 2009. Cause-of-death decomposition and log-linear and Poisson regression were used to analyze rural-urban differentials. Mortality rates increased with increasing levels of rurality overall and for non-Hispanic whites, blacks, and American Indians/Alaska Natives. Despite the declining mortality trends, mortality risks for both males and females and for blacks and whites have been increasingly higher in non-metropolitan than metropolitan areas, particularly since 1990. In 2005-2009, mortality rates varied from 391.9 per 100,000 population for Asians/Pacific Islanders in rural areas to 1,063.2 for blacks in small-urban towns. Poverty gradients were steeper in rural areas, which maintained higher mortality than urban areas after adjustment for poverty level. Poor blacks in non-metropolitan areas experienced two to three times higher all-cause and premature mortality risks than affluent blacks and whites in metropolitan areas. Disparities widened over time; excess mortality from all causes combined and from several major causes of death in non-metropolitan areas was greater in 2005-2009 than in 1990-1992. Causes of death contributing most to the increasing rural-urban disparity and higher rural mortality include heart disease, unintentional injuries, COPD, lung cancer, stroke, suicide, diabetes, nephritis, pneumonia/influenza, cirrhosis, and Alzheimer's disease. Residents in metropolitan areas experienced larger mortality reductions during the past four decades than non-metropolitan residents, contributing to the widening gap.

Constraints on modified gravity models from white dwarfs

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Banerjee, Srimanta; Singh, Tejinder P. [Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai 400005, Maharashtra (India); Shankar, Swapnil, E-mail: srimanta.banerjee@tifr.res.in, E-mail: swapnil.shankar@cbs.ac.in, E-mail: tpsingh@tifr.res.in [Department of Physics, Centre for Excellence in Basic Sciences, Mumbai 400098, Maharashtra (India)

2017-10-01

Modified gravity theories can introduce modifications to the Poisson equation in the Newtonian limit. As a result, we expect to see interesting features of these modifications inside stellar objects. White dwarf stars are one of the most well studied stars in stellar astrophysics. We explore the effect of modified gravity theories inside white dwarfs. We derive the modified stellar structure equations and solve them to study the mass-radius relationships for various modified gravity theories. We also constrain the parameter space of these theories from observations.

Socioeconomic, Rural-Urban, and Racial Inequalities in US Cancer Mortality: Part I-All Cancers and Lung Cancer and Part II-Colorectal, Prostate, Breast, and Cervical Cancers

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Singh, K. G.; Williams, S. D.

2011-01-01

We analyzed socioeconomic, rural-urban, and racial inequalities in US mortality from all cancers, lung, colorectal, prostate, breast, and cervical cancers. A deprivation index and rural-urban continuum were linked to the 2003-2007 county-level mortality data. Mortality rates and risk ratios were calculated for each socioeconomic, rural-urban, and racial group. Weighted linear regression yielded relative impacts of deprivation and rural-urban residence. Those in more deprived groups and rural areas had higher cancer mortality than more affluent and urban residents, with excess risk being marked for lung, colorectal, prostate, and cervical cancers. Deprivation and rural-urban continuum were independently related to cancer mortality, with deprivation showing stronger impacts. Socioeconomic inequalities existed for both whites and blacks, with blacks experiencing higher mortality from each cancer than whites within each deprivation group. Socioeconomic gradients in mortality were steeper in nonmetropolitanlitan areas. Mortality disparities may reflect inequalities in smoking and other cancer-risk factors, screening, and treatment

Stories of Smartness and Whiteness in School Pictures and Yearbooks

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Bybee, Eric Ruiz

2016-01-01

This article explores the way that discourses of smartness and whiteness are produced and reproduced in schooling. Using an approach grounded in narrative research, I explore the convergences and contradictions between my own educational autobiography and the representations of schooling found in my school pictures and yearbooks. In my analysis, I…

Space, place and ecology: Doing ecofeminist urban theology in Gauteng

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Annalet van Schalkwyk

2014-11-01

Full Text Available The basic motivation for this article is to explore the critical, yet hopeful vision which urban theologians – and specifically ecofeminist urban theologians – have for justice, reconciliation and abundance of life in urban Gauteng. This requires that urban spatiality, with its conflicting sides in a rampantly capitalist Gauteng, needs to be understood. It also requires an understanding of how urbanity and ecology may – yet so often do not – overlap. According to ecofeminist theologian Anne Primavesi, space and place needs to be understood in relation to the earth as the body of God – a web of interrelated and interconnected subjects and living beings which constitute the earth with its various ecosystems. This belies the established understanding that space and place is created mostly through the anthropocentric activity and mastery of people. Such an ecological understanding of space, place and urbanity leads to my exploration of a missiology of space as the manifestation of the presence of God in the spaces of nature and human civilisation. I conclude by proposing the practice of urban mission as making the liturgical and sacramental links between ecology, space, and the reclamation of urban space as sacred by Christian and other agents of urban activism.

The informal sector in urban Nigeria: Reflections from almost four ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

It was the ILO city-study mission to Lagos in 1975 that pioneered the concept ... Manie Geyer (Director), Centre for Regional & Urban Innovation and Statistical .... reverse is the case with men (65.2%) ... titled Urban development, income ..... banks (26.6%-31.6%); cooperative ...... network: Exploring the matters arising. Urban ...

The organisational structure of urban environmental stewardship

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Dana R. Fisher; Lindsay Campbell; Erika S. Svendsen

2012-01-01

How is the organisational structure of urban environmental stewardship groups related to the diverse ways that civic stewardship is taking place in urban settings? The findings of the limited number of studies that have explored the organisational structure of civic environmentalism are combined with the research on civic stewardship to answer this question. By...

Universal scaling of the distribution of land in urban areas

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Riascos, A. P.

2017-09-01

In this work, we explore the spatial structure of built zones and green areas in diverse western cities by analyzing the probability distribution of areas and a coefficient that characterize their respective shapes. From the analysis of diverse datasets describing land lots in urban areas, we found that the distribution of built-up areas and natural zones in cities obey inverse power laws with a similar scaling for the cities explored. On the other hand, by studying the distribution of shapes of lots in urban regions, we are able to detect global differences in the spatial structure of the distribution of land. Our findings introduce information about spatial patterns that emerge in the structure of urban settlements; this knowledge is useful for the understanding of urban growth, to improve existing models of cities, in the context of sustainability, in studies about human mobility in urban areas, among other applications.

Woody invasions of urban trails and the changing face of urban forests in the great plains, USA

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Nemec, K.T.; Allen, Craig R.; Alai, A.; Clements, G.; Kessler, A.C.; Kinsell, T.; Major, A.; Stephen, B.J.

2011-01-01

Corridors such as roads and trails can facilitate invasions by non-native plant species. The open, disturbed habitat associated with corridors provides favorable growing conditions for many non-native plant species. Bike trails are a corridor system common to many urban areas that have not been studied for their potential role in plant invasions. We sampled five linear segments of urban forest along bike trails in Lincoln, Nebraska to assess the invasion of woody non-native species relative to corridors and to assess the composition of these urban forests. The most abundant plant species were generally native species, but five non-native species were also present: white mulberry (Morus alba), common buckthorn (Rhamnus cathartica), tree-of-heaven (Ailanthus altissima), honeysuckle (Lonicera spp.) and elm (Ulmus spp.). The distribution of two of the woody species sampled, common buckthorn and honeysuckle, significantly decreased with increasing distance from a source patch of vegetation (P = 0.031 and 0.030). These linear habitats are being invaded by non-native tree and shrub species, which may change the structure of these urban forest corridors. If non-native woody plant species become abundant in the future, they may homogenize the plant community and reduce native biodiversity in these areas. ?? 2011 American Midland Naturalist.

Incorporating real-time traffic and weather data to explore road accident likelihood and severity in urban arterials.

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Theofilatos, Athanasios

2017-06-01

The effective treatment of road accidents and thus the enhancement of road safety is a major concern to societies due to the losses in human lives and the economic and social costs. The investigation of road accident likelihood and severity by utilizing real-time traffic and weather data has recently received significant attention by researchers. However, collected data mainly stem from freeways and expressways. Consequently, the aim of the present paper is to add to the current knowledge by investigating accident likelihood and severity by exploiting real-time traffic and weather data collected from urban arterials in Athens, Greece. Random Forests (RF) are firstly applied for preliminary analysis purposes. More specifically, it is aimed to rank candidate variables according to their relevant importance and provide a first insight on the potential significant variables. Then, Bayesian logistic regression as well finite mixture and mixed effects logit models are applied to further explore factors associated with accident likelihood and severity respectively. Regarding accident likelihood, the Bayesian logistic regression showed that variations in traffic significantly influence accident occurrence. On the other hand, accident severity analysis revealed a generally mixed influence of traffic variations on accident severity, although international literature states that traffic variations increase severity. Lastly, weather parameters did not find to have a direct influence on accident likelihood or severity. The study added to the current knowledge by incorporating real-time traffic and weather data from urban arterials to investigate accident occurrence and accident severity mechanisms. The identification of risk factors can lead to the development of effective traffic management strategies to reduce accident occurrence and severity of injuries in urban arterials. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd and National Safety Council. All rights reserved.

The Embeddedness of White Fragility within White Pre-Service Principals' Reflections on White Privilege

Science.gov (United States)

Hines, Mack T., III

2016-01-01

This study analyzes the prevalence of white fragility within the six white, pre-service principals' online responses to readings about white privilege. Six white, pre-service principals were asked to provide commentary to class readings on the relevance of white privilege to their preparation for future positions as principals. The findings showed…

Policy Influence and Urban Slums in Latin America : Ecohealth ...

International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)

It will do so by funding an exploration of urban slums and human health in the region; a study of Ecohealth policy influence in Ecuador and Mexico; and an international ... Linking research to urban planning at the ICLEI World Congress 2018.

Schools as Radical Sanctuaries: Decolonizing Urban Education through the Eyes of Youth of Color. Issues in the Research, Theory, Policy, and Practice of Urban Education

Science.gov (United States)

Antrop-Gonzalez, Rene

2011-01-01

Large, comprehensive urban high schools were designed and constructed with the belief that they could meet the needs of all its students, academic and otherwise. By and large, however, these schools have only done a good job of sorting students for specific jobs in a society based on capitalism and White supremacy. Consequently, students schooled…

Returning from the Horizon: Introducing Urban Island Studies

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Xavier Barceló Pinya

2015-12-01

Full Text Available Island studies tends to focus on peripheral, isolated, and marginal aspects of island communities, while urban studies has showed scant awareness of islandness: Although many people research cities on islands, there is little tradition of researching island cities or urban archipelagos per se. Island cities (densely populated small islands and population centres of larger islands and archipelagos nevertheless play import cultural, economic, political, and environmental roles on local, regional, and global scales. Many major cities and ports have developed on small islands, and even villages can fulfil important urban functions on lightly populated islands. Island concepts are also deployed to metaphorically describe developments in urban space. The journal Urban Island Studies explores island and urban processes around the world, taking an island approach to urban research and an urban approach to island research.

Urban Transportation Systems in Bogotá and Copenhagen

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Pineda, Andres Felipe Valderrama; Jørgensen, Ulrik

2008-01-01

In this paper we explore the socio-technical dynamics of developing new urban transport systems. Based on the analysis of empirical material from the study of the Transmilenio in Bogotá and the Metro in Copenhagen, we propose that the design, construction and operation of urban transport systems...

Gender issues in urban indigenous communities in Nigeria ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

This paper therefore attempts to examine gender issues in five indigenous communities in Port Harcourt. The communities are: Abuloma, Oroazi, Rumuadaolu, Elekahia and Ogbuna-abali. The key questions explored in the study are: how are urban indigenous women been marginalized in the process of urban growth and ...

Urban violence and displacement, gender, and community ties ...

International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)

2017-10-20

Oct 20, 2017 ... SAIC experts explored poverty, violence, and inequality in 40 cities across Latin America, South Asia, and sub-Saharan Africa. The 15 research ... Urban violence and displacement, gender, and community ties. October 20 ... in urban spaces. Return to main page: Solutions to make cities safe and inclusive.

Sustaining white homonormativity: the kids are all right as public pedagogy.

Science.gov (United States)

Kennedy, Tammie M

2014-01-01

At a time when lesbian families are experiencing more acceptance, gaining membership into mainstream society often depends on diluting any kind of queer sensibility that might challenge the centrality of white, neoliberal, middle-class values. Although many queer scholars have traced the link between "normativity" and gay and lesbian representations, few have noted how whiteness operates in these depictions. Building on the analyses forwarded by scholarship on white normativity and homonormativity, this article explores how the representation of a lesbian family in the movie The Kids Are All Right promotes white homonormativity to appeal to a mainstream audience. Interrogating Kids… at the intersection of same-sex families and white homonormativity reveals how the film's appeal to universality invokes hegemonic racial hierarchies that mask the ways "normal" conceals power and liberatory progress.

Urban science classrooms and new possibilities: on intersubjectivity and grammar in the third space

Science.gov (United States)

Emdin, Christopher

2009-03-01

In this article I explore research in urban science education inspired by the work of Kris Gutierrez in a paper based on her 2005 Scribner Award. It addresses key points in Gutierrez's work by exploring theoretical frameworks for research and approaches to teaching and research that expand the discourse on the agency of urban youth in corporate school settings. The work serves as an overview of under-discussed approaches and theoretical frameworks to consider in teaching and conducting research with marginalized urban youth in urban science classrooms.

Urban tree diversity - Taking stock and looking ahead

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Morgenroth, J.; Östberg, Johan; Bosch, C. Konijnendijk van den

2016-01-01

The first International Conference on Urban Tree Diversity hosted in June 2014 by the Swedish University of Agricultural Science in Alnarp, Sweden highlighted the need for a better understanding of the current state of urban tree diversity. Here we present and discuss a selection of urban tree...... diversity themes with the intention of developing and sharing knowledge in a research area that is gaining momentum. We begin by discussing the specific role of species diversity in ecosystem service provision and ecosystem stability. This is followed by exploring the urban conditions that affect species...... richness. Having determined that many ecosystem services depend on urban tree species diversity and that urban environments are capable of supporting high species diversity, we conclude by addressing how to govern for urban tree diversity....

Environmental conflicts in urban regeneration areas

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Aunsborg, Christian; Sørensen, Michael Tophøj

2006-01-01

in more land-based freight and less shipping, amalgamation of industries and re-location due to new localization parameters. As the case may be, these structural alterations bring about more or less abandoned and worn-down areas. Typically, the areas are located centrally in the towns. With that......, they hold a substantial need for redevelopment and revitalization from an urban planning and management point of view as well as a considerable development potential, as the areas generally offer an attractive possibility for building new housing, offices and other white-collar workplaces. However......, redevelopment of these older business areas faces great challenges; especially compared to urban (re)development in general. The property structure and ownerships are often complex and need re-composition to meet new land uses, the soil may be polluted from former activities implying large clearing costs...

The Impact of White Teachers on the Academic Achievement of Black Students: An Exploratory Qualitative Analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Douglas, Bruce; Lewis, Chance W.; Douglas, Adrian; Scott, Malcolm Earl; Garrison-Wade, Dorothy

2008-01-01

In today's school systems, students of color, particularly in urban settings, represent the majority student populations (Lewis, Hancock, James, & Larke, in press). Interestingly, the educators--teachers and administrators--that comprise these settings are predominately White, and, in turn, the students of color commonly face pressures that…

Using Spatial Semantics and Interactions to Identify Urban Functional Regions

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yandong Wang

2018-03-01

Full Text Available The spatial structures of cities have changed dramatically with rapid socio-economic development in ways that are not well understood. To support urban structural analysis and rational planning, we propose a framework to identify urban functional regions and quantitatively explore the intensity of the interactions between them, thus increasing the understanding of urban structures. A method for the identification of functional regions via spatial semantics is proposed, which involves two steps: (1 the study area is classified into three types of functional regions using taxi origin/destination (O/D flows; and (2 the spatial semantics for the three types of functional regions are demonstrated based on point-of-interest (POI categories. To validate the existence of urban functional regions, we explored the intensity of interactions quantitatively between them. A case study using POI data and taxi trajectory data from Beijing validates the proposed framework. The results show that the proposed framework can be used to identify urban functional regions and promotes an enhanced understanding of urban structures.

Should policy ethics come in two colours: green or white?

Science.gov (United States)

Oswald, Malcolm

2013-05-01

When writing about policy, do you think in green or white? If not, I recommend that you do. I suggest that writers and journal editors should explicitly label every policy ethics paper either 'green' or 'white'. A green paper is an unconstrained exploration of a policy question. The controversial 'After-birth abortion' paper is an example. Had it been labelled as 'green', readers could have understood what Giubilini and Minerva explained later: that it was a discussion of philosophical ideas, and not a policy proposal advocating infanticide. A serious policy proposal should be labelled by writer(s) and editor(s) as 'white'. Its purpose should be to influence policy. In order to influence policy, I suggest three essential, and two desirable, characteristics of any white paper. Most importantly, a white paper should be set in the context in which the policy is to be made and applied.

Observations of the "egg white injury" in ants.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Laure-Anne Poissonnier

Full Text Available A key determinant of the relationship between diet and longevity is the balance of protein to carbohydrate in the diet. Eating excess protein relative to carbohydrate shortens lifespan in solitary and social insects. Here we explored how lifespan and behavior in ants was affected by the quality of protein ingested and the presence of associated antinutrients (i.e. compounds that interfere with the absorption of nutrients. We tested diets prepared with either egg white protein only or a protein mixture. Egg white contains an anti-nutrient called avidin. Avidin binds to the B vitamin biotin, preventing its absorption. First, we demonstrate that an egg-white diet was twice as deleterious as a protein-mixture diet. Second, we show that ingestion of egg-white diet drastically affected social behavior, triggering elevated levels of aggression within the colony. Lastly, we reveal that by adding biotin to the egg white diet we were able to lessen its detrimental effects. This latest result suggests that ants suffered biotin deficiency when fed the egg white diet. In conclusion, anti-nutrients were known to affect health and performance of animals, but this is the first study showing that anti-nutrients also lead to severe changes in behavior.

Poverty, race, and CKD in a racially and socioeconomically diverse urban population.

Science.gov (United States)

Crews, Deidra C; Charles, Raquel F; Evans, Michele K; Zonderman, Alan B; Powe, Neil R

2010-06-01

Low socioeconomic status (SES) and African American race are both independently associated with end-stage renal disease and progressive chronic kidney disease (CKD). However, despite their frequent co-occurrence, the effect of low SES independent of race has not been well studied in CKD. Cross-sectional study. 2,375 community-dwelling adults aged 30-64 years residing within 12 neighborhoods selected for both socioeconomic and racial diversity in Baltimore City, MD. Low SES (self-reported household income or =125% of guideline); white and African American race. CKD defined as estimated glomerular filtration rate poverty and CKD, stratified by race. Of 2,375 participants, 955 were white (347 low SES and 608 higher SES) and 1,420 were African American (713 low SES and 707 higher SES). 146 (6.2%) participants had CKD. Overall, race was not associated with CKD (OR, 1.05; 95% CI, 0.57-1.96); however, African Americans had a much greater odds of advanced CKD (estimated glomerular filtration rate urban populations. Low SES has a profound relationship with CKD in African Americans, but not whites, in an urban population of adults, and its role in the racial disparities seen in CKD is worthy of further investigation. Copyright 2010 National Kidney Foundation, Inc. All rights reserved.

Genotoxicity Biomonitoring Along a Coastal Zone Under Influence of Offshore Petroleum Exploration (Southeastern Brazil).

Science.gov (United States)

Gutiérrez, Juan Manuel; da Conceição, Moisés Basilio; Molisani, Mauricio Mussi; Weber, Laura Isabel

2018-03-01

Offshore oil exploration creates threats to coastal ecosystems, including increasing urbanization and associated effluent releases. Genotoxicity biomarkers in mussels were determined across a gradient of coastal zone influences of offshore petroleum exploration in southeastern Brazil. Coastal ecosystems such as estuaries, beaches and islands were seasonally monitored for genotoxicity evaluation using the brown mussel Perna perna. The greatest DNA damage (5.2% ± 1.9% tail DNA and 1.5‰  ± 0.8‰ MN) were observed in urban estuaries, while Santana Archipelago showed levels of genotoxicity near zero and is considered a reference site. Mussels from urban and pristine beaches showed intermediate damage levels, but were also influenced by urbanization. Thus, mussel genotoxicity biomarkers greatly indicated the proposed oil exploration and urbanization scenarios that consequently are genetically affecting coastal organisms.

Planning urban megaprojects in the Gulf: The international consultancy firms in urban planning between global and contingent

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Oula Aoun

2016-06-01

Full Text Available Driven by globalization and market openings, many architecture and engineering firms have become global. By focusing on the urban megaprojects in the Gulf, a particular cultural and political context, this paper argues that such firms have a major role in the rapid urban transformation of Gulf countries and act as transfer agents of an international knowledge in the urban planning domain. However, the transfer is adapted by several context-related characteristics, such as local governance, urban knowledge, and regulatory framework. This paper explores the procedural adaptation of these firms to the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC in terms of internal structure, methodology, adopted tools, and interaction with the context. The level of learning that results from this transfer is also investigated.

Into the urban wild

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Mollee, Eefke Maria; Pouliot, Mariéve; McDonald, Morag A.

2017-01-01

In sub-Saharan Africa, many people depend on natural resources for their livelihoods. While urbanisation causes landscape changes, little is known of how this process affects the use of wild plant resources by urban populations. This study contributes to addressing this knowledge gap by exploring...

Explorations of Public Participation Approach to the Framing of Resilient Urbanism

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Wei-Kuang; Liu, Li-Wei; Shiu, Yi-Shiang; Shen, Yang-Ting; Lin, Feng-Cheng; Hsieh, Hua-Hsuan

2017-08-01

Under the framework of developing resilient and livable cities, this study was aimed at engaging local communities to achieve the goal of public participation. Given the prevalence of smart mobile devices, an interactive app called “Citizen Probe” was designed to guide users to participate in building resilient and livable urban spaces by enabling users to report the condition of their living environment. The app collects feedback from users regarding the perceived condition of the urban environment, and this information is used to further develop an open online index system. The index system serves as a guide for the public to actively transform their city into a resilient and livable urban environment. The app was designed for the reporting of flood incidents with the objective of resilient disaster prevention, which can be achieved by enabling users to identify disaster conditions in order to develop a database for basic disaster information. The database can be used in the prevention and mitigation of disasters and to provide a foundation for developing indices for assessing the resilience and livability of urban areas. Three communities in Taichung, Taiwan, participated in the study. Residents of these communities were requested to use the app and identify local environmental conditions to obtain spatial data according to four stages in disaster response: assessment, readiness, response, and recovery. A volunteered geographic information database was developed to display maps for providing users with current reports of predisaster risk assessment, disaster response capacity, real-time disaster conditions, and overall disaster recovery. In addition, the database can be used as a useful tool for researchers to conduct GIS analyses and initiate related discussions. The interactive app raises public awareness on disaster prevention and makes disaster prevention a daily norm. Further discussion between the public and experts will be initiated to assist in

Picturing the city: young people's representations of urban environments

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Beneker, T.; Sanders, R.; Tani, S.; Taylor, L.

2010-01-01

Urban environments form the setting of everyday life for most Western young people. This article explores visual representations of cities made by young people in a range of environments within four countries. The findings inform a larger study on urban geographies within geography education. We

Latin American Urbanization Presented as a Decision-Making Dilemma.

Science.gov (United States)

Rengert, Arlene C.; Monk, Janice J.

1981-01-01

Describes a college-level geography unit on the socioeconomic influences affecting urban migration of women in Latin America. In role-playing modules, students explore dilemmas influencing individual migration decisions, Peace Corps project planning, and long-term international aid programs for urban Peruvian women. (AM)

Large urban fire environment: trends and model city predictions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Larson, D.A.; Small, R.D.

1983-01-01

The urban fire environment that would result from a megaton-yield nuclear weapon burst is considered. The dependence of temperatures and velocities on fire size, burning intensity, turbulence, and radiation is explored, and specific calculations for three model urban areas are presented. In all cases, high velocity fire winds are predicted. The model-city results show the influence of building density and urban sprawl on the fire environment. Additional calculations consider large-area fires with the burning intensity reduced in a blast-damaged urban center

White dwarf radii and boundary-layer constraints in three dwarf novae

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wood, J.H.

1990-01-01

The structure of the boundary layer between the accretion disc and white dwarf in three quiescent dwarf novae is explored with high signal-to-noise eclipse light curves obtained by phase folding 12-20 eclipses. Models of the eclipse shapes of various white dwarf/boundary layer configurations that might be at the centres of the accretion discs are calculated and compared with observations of the eclipses in Z Cha, OY Car and HT Cas. Possible models for the central objects are found to be a white dwarf with or without its lower hemisphere occulted by the disc, or a white dwarf with an optically thick boundary layer significantly extended in latitude up and down its sides. The most likely of these models for each system is an unocculted white dwarf with no boundary layer contributing significantly to the optical flux, or a white dwarf totally covered by an optically thick boundary layer. (author)

Exploring DeepMedic for the purpose of segmenting white matter hyperintensity lesions

Science.gov (United States)

Lippert, Fiona; Cheng, Bastian; Golsari, Amir; Weiler, Florian; Gregori, Johannes; Thomalla, Götz; Klein, Jan

2018-02-01

DeepMedic, an open source software library based on a multi-channel multi-resolution 3D convolutional neural network, has recently been made publicly available for brain lesion segmentations. It has already been shown that segmentation tasks on MRI data of patients having traumatic brain injuries, brain tumors, and ischemic stroke lesions can be performed very well. In this paper we describe how it can efficiently be used for the purpose of detecting and segmenting white matter hyperintensity lesions. We examined if it can be applied to single-channel routine 2D FLAIR data. For evaluation, we annotated 197 datasets with different numbers and sizes of white matter hyperintensity lesions. Our experiments have shown that substantial results with respect to the segmentation quality can be achieved. Compared to the original parametrization of the DeepMedic neural network, the timings for training can be drastically reduced if adjusting corresponding training parameters, while at the same time the Dice coefficients remain nearly unchanged. This enables for performing a whole training process within a single day utilizing a NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580 graphics board which makes this library also very interesting for research purposes on low-end GPU hardware.

Multiscale and Multitemporal Urban Remote Sensing

Science.gov (United States)

Mesev, V.

2012-07-01

The remote sensing of urban areas has received much attention from scientists conducting studies on measuring sprawl, congestion, pollution, poverty, and environmental encroachment. Yet much of the research is case and data-specific where results are greatly influenced by prevailing local conditions. There seems to be a lack of epistemological links between remote sensing and conventional theoretical urban geography; in other words, an oversight for the appreciation of how urban theory fuels urban change and how urban change is measured by remotely sensed data. This paper explores basic urban theories such as centrality, mobility, materiality, nature, public space, consumption, segregation and exclusion, and how they can be measured by remote sensing sources. In particular, the link between structure (tangible objects) and function (intangible or immaterial behavior) is addressed as the theory that supports the wellknow contrast between land cover and land use classification from remotely sensed data. The paper then couches these urban theories and contributions from urban remote sensing within two analytical fields. The first is the search for an "appropriate" spatial scale of analysis, which is conveniently divided between micro and macro urban remote sensing for measuring urban structure, understanding urban processes, and perhaps contributions to urban theory at a variety of scales of analysis. The second is on the existence of a temporal lag between materiality of urban objects and the planning process that approved their construction, specifically how time-dependence in urban structural-functional models produce temporal lags that alter the causal links between societal and political functional demands and structural ramifications.

Exploring the relation between urbanization and residential CO2 emissions in China: a PTR approach

OpenAIRE

Hu, Zongyi; Tang, Liwei

2013-01-01

Recent empirical work suggests that urbanization and residential CO2 emissions are related. This paper investigates the nonlinear impact of urbanization on residential CO2 emissions over the period 1997–2011 in China by applying the Candelon et al. (2012) methodology. The results show that the relationship between urbanization and residential CO2 emissions is negative over the sample which is inconsistent with the previous studies. In addition, we find the absolute difference of the estimated...

Urban design for mobilities

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jensen, Ole B.

2017-01-01

. In this paper, we shall explore the potential for a better understanding of contemporary urban challenges through the cross-disciplinary approach of ‘Mobilities design’. The paper investigates how this notion is based on an understanding of materialities and social action that is framed under the heading...

Urban Evolution: The Role of Water

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sujay S. Kaushal

2015-07-01

Full Text Available The structure, function, and services of urban ecosystems evolve over time scales from seconds to centuries as Earth’s population grows, infrastructure ages, and sociopolitical values alter them. In order to systematically study changes over time, the concept of “urban evolution” was proposed. It allows urban planning, management, and restoration to move beyond reactive management to predictive management based on past observations of consistent patterns. Here, we define and review a glossary of core concepts for studying urban evolution, which includes the mechanisms of urban selective pressure and urban adaptation. Urban selective pressure is an environmental or societal driver contributing to urban adaptation. Urban adaptation is the sequential process by which an urban structure, function, or services becomes more fitted to its changing environment or human choices. The role of water is vital to driving urban evolution as demonstrated by historical changes in drainage, sewage flows, hydrologic pulses, and long-term chemistry. In the current paper, we show how hydrologic traits evolve across successive generations of urban ecosystems via shifts in selective pressures and adaptations over time. We explore multiple empirical examples including evolving: (1 urban drainage from stream burial to stormwater management; (2 sewage flows and water quality in response to wastewater treatment; (3 amplification of hydrologic pulses due to the interaction between urbanization and climate variability; and (4 salinization and alkalinization of fresh water due to human inputs and accelerated weathering. Finally, we propose a new conceptual model for the evolution of urban waters from the Industrial Revolution to the present day based on empirical trends and historical information. Ultimately, we propose that water itself is a critical driver of urban evolution that forces urban adaptation, which transforms the structure, function, and services of urban

‘No Blue’ White LED

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ou, Haiyan; Corell, Dennis Dan; Dam-Hansen, Carsten

2010-01-01

This paper explored the feasibility of making a white LED light source by color mixing method without using the blue color. This ‘no blue’ white LED has potential applications in photolithography room illumination, medical treatment and biophotonics research. A no-blue LED was designed......-2005. Even after 15 days of illumination, no effect was observed. So this LED-based solution was demonstrated to be a very promising light source for photolithography room illumination due to its better color rendering in addition to energy efficiency, long life time and design flexibility. Additionally......, and the prototype was fabricated. The spectral power distribution of both the LED bulb and the yellow fluorescent tube was measured. Based on that, colorimetric values were calculated and compared on terms of chromatic coordinates, correlated color temperature, color rendering index, and chromatic deviation...

THE USE-POTENTIAL OF QUERCUS ALIENA VAR. ACUTESERRATA FOR URBAN PLANTATIONS – BASED ON HABITAT STUDIES IN THE QINLING MOUNTAINS, CHINA

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Henrik SJÖMAN

2015-12-01

Full Text Available Traditionally, a limited number of species and genera dominate the tree stock in streets and urban sites, and recent surveys in European and North American cities show that few species/genera continue to dominate. Yet, over the past decades, a growing proportion of those commonly used species have shown increasing difficulties to cope with urban sites. This has led to considerable and persistent arguments for using a more varied range of trees, including stress-tolerant species, at urban paved sites. This study examined forest systems occurring between 1300-2200 m asl. in the Qinling Mountains, China, in order to evaluate the oriental white oaks (Quercus aliena var. acuteserrata Maximowicz ex Wenzig growth and development in warm and dry forest habitats and hence evaluate its potential for urban paved sites in northern parts of central Europe and in adjoining milder parts of northern Europe. In total, 102 oriental white oak where found in the studied plots and here showed very promising development in habitats experiencing drier conditions than those in park environments in Copenhagen, and is therefore interesting for urban paved sites were the demands of a greater catalogue of tolerant trees are highly needed.

The Conundrum of Impacts of Climate Change on Urbanization and the Urban Heat Island Effect

Science.gov (United States)

Quattrochi, Dale A.

2011-01-01

The twenty-first century is the first urban century according to the United Nations Development Program. The focus on cities reflects awareness of the growing percentage of the world's population that lives in urban areas. In 2000, approximately 3 billion people representing about 40% of the global population resided in urban areas. The United Nations estimates that by 2025, 60% of the world s population will live in urban areas. As a consequence, the number of megacities (those cities with populations of 10 million inhabitants or more) will increase by 100 by 2025. Thus, there is a critical need to understand the spatial growth of urban areas and what the impacts are on the environment. Moreover, there is a critical need to assess how under global climate change, cities will affect the local, regional, and even global climate. As urban areas increase in size, it is anticipated there will be a concomitant growth of the Urban Heat Island effect (UHI), and the attributes that are related to its spatial and temporal dynamics. Therefore, how climate change, including the dynamics of the UHI, will affect the urban environment, must be explored to help mitigate potential impacts on the environment (e.g., air quality, heat stress, vectorborne disease) and on human health and well being, to develop adaptation schemes to cope with these impacts.

Urban Literacies: Critical Perspectives on Language, Learning, and Community. Language & Literacy Series

Science.gov (United States)

Kinloch, Valerie, Ed.

2011-01-01

Urban Literacies showcases cutting-edge perspectives on urban education and language and literacy by respected junior and senior scholars, researchers, and teacher educators. The authors explore--through various theoretical orientations and diverse methodologies--meanings of urban education in the lives of students and their families across three…

Workshop Report On Sustainable Urban Development

Science.gov (United States)

Langhoff, Stephanie; Martin, Gary; Barone, Larry; Wagener, Wolfgang

2010-01-01

The key workshop goal was to explore and document how NASA technologies, such as remote sensing, climate modeling, and high-end computing and visualization along with NASA assets such as Earth Observing Satellites (EOS) and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) can contribute to creating and managing a sustainable urban environment. The focus was on the greater Bay Area, but many aspects of the workshop were applicable to urban management at the local, regional and global scales. A secondary goal was to help NASA better understand the problems facing urban managers and to make city leaders in the Bay Area more aware of NASA's capabilities. By bringing members of these two groups together we hope to see the beginnings of new collaborations between NASA and those faced with instituting sustainable urban management in Bay Area cities.

Cross-Cultural Peer Mentoring: One Approach to Enhancing White Faculty Adjustment at Black Colleges

Science.gov (United States)

Louis, Dave A.

2015-01-01

White faculty members at Black colleges in the United States face numerous social obstacles. Exploring the experiences of White faculty members at four historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) and their adjustment to a minority status assists the comprehension of issues surrounding this subgroup. Utilizing a phenomenological approach,…

Urban Water Innovation Network (UWIN): Transitioning Toward Sustainbale Urban Water Systems

Science.gov (United States)

Arabi, M.

2015-12-01

City water systems are at risk of disruption from global social and environmental hazards, which could have deleterious effects on human health, property, and loss of critical infrastructure. The Urban Water Innovation Network (UWIN), a consortium of 14 academic institutions and other key partners across the U.S., is working to address challenges that threaten urban water systems across the nation. UWIN's mission is to create technological, institutional and management solutions to help communities increase the resilience of their water systems and enhance their preparedness for responding to water crisis. The network seeks solutions that achieve widespread adoption consistent with inclusive, equitable and sustainable urban development. The integrative and adaptive analysis framework of UWIN is presented. The framework identifies a toolbox of sustainable solutions by simultaneously minimizing pressures, enhancing resilience to extreme events, and maximizing cobenefits. The benefits of sustainable urban water solutions for linked urban ecosystems, economies, and arrangements for environmental justice and social equity, will be discussed. The network encompasses six U.S. regions with varying ecohydrologic and climatic regimes ranging from the coastal moist mid-latitude climates of the Mid-Atlantic to the subtropical semi-arid deserts of the Southwest. These regions also represent a wide spectrum of demographic, cultural, and policy settings. The opportunities for cross-site assessments that facilitate the exploration of locally appropriate solutions across regions undergoing various development trajectories will be discussed.

A covenant of halflings? developing a roadmap for the european urban transport goal

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Gudmundsson, Henrik; Schippl, Jens; Anderton, Karen

2015-01-01

; and to phase them out by 2050; and “To achieve ‘essentially CO2- free city logistics’ in major urban centres by 2030.” This paper describes how the EU FP7 project TRANSFORUM conducted a stakeholder-driven process to produce a roadmap for the urban transport goal. A main conclusion was that the implementation......In the 2011 Transport Policy White Paper, the European Commission introduced ten goals for a more competitive and resource efficient transport system. One of the goal concerns urban transport, with the dual targets: “To halve the use of ‘conventionally-fuelled’ cars in urban transport by 2030...... of a roadmap for urban transport needs to adopt a broad and open approach, given the diversity among member states and cities across Europe. Also it was found that replacing conventional vehicles and fuels is an important but not sufficient strategy to reach the goal. A roadmap to reach towards the ‘halving...

Towards a Pedagogy of Land: The Urban Context

Science.gov (United States)

Styres, Sandra; Haig-Brown, Celia; Blimkie, Melissa

2013-01-01

This article examines the possibilities when shifting what we have come to call a pedagogy of Land from rural to urban contexts. The authors explore some persisting questions around what it means to bring a pedagogy of Land into classrooms and communities in urban settings. The authors consider the ways a pedagogy of Land might translate from…

People’s Preferences of Urban Design Qualities for Walking on a Commercial Street

Science.gov (United States)

Ernawati, J.; Surjono; Sudarmo, B. S.

2018-03-01

This research aims to explore people’s preferences of urban design qualities for walking on a commercial street, with Kawi Street located in a commercial neighborhood in the town of Malang Indonesia as the case study. Based on a literature review, this study used eight urban design qualities, i.e., enclosure, legibility, human scale, transparency, complexity, coherence, linkage, and imageability. This study applied a survey research method using a self-administered paper-pencil questionnaire applying two measurement techniques: Likert scale was used to explore people’s evaluations of urban design qualities of the street, while multiple-rating scales were used to measure people’s preference for walking on the street. One hundred and ten people randomly selected as respondents. Regression analysis was employed to explore the influence of urban design qualities on people preference for walking. Results indicated four urban design qualities that affect people’s choice for walking on a commercial street, i.e., transparency, coherence, linkage, and imageability. Implications of the findings will be discussed in the paper.

Can green roofs reduce urban heat stress in vulnerable urban communities: A coupled atmospheric and social modeling approach

Science.gov (United States)

Sharma, A.; Woodruff, S.; Budhathoki, M.; Hamlet, A. F.; Fernando, H. J. S.; Chen, F.

2017-12-01

Urban areas provide organized, engineered, sociological and economical infrastructure designed to provide a high quality of life, but the implementation and management of urban infrastructure has been a continued challenge. Increasing urbanization, warming climate, as well as anthropogenic heat emissions that accompany urban development generates "stress". This rapidly increasing `urban stress' affects the sustainability of cities, making populations more vulnerable to extreme hazards, such as heat. Cities are beginning to extensively use green roofs as a potential urban heat mitigation strategy. This study explores the potential of green roofs to reduce summertime temperatures in the most vulnerable neighborhoods of the Chicago metropolitan area by combining social vulnerability indices (a function of exposure, sensitivity and adaptive capacity), and temperatures from mesoscale model. Numerical simulations using urbanized version the Advanced Research Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model were performed to measure rooftop temperatures, a representative variable for exposure in this study. The WRF simulations were dynamically coupled with a green roof algorithm as a part of urban parameterization within WRF. Specifically, the study examines roof surface temperature with changing green roof fractions and how would they help reduce exposure to heat stress for vulnerable urban communities. This study shows an example of applied research that can directly benefit urban communities and be used by urban planners to evaluate mitigation strategies.

Marital Alternatives and Marital Disruption.

Science.gov (United States)

Udry, J. Richard

1981-01-01

Explores the usefulness of "marital alternatives" as a dimension in explaining marital stability, using longitudinal data from a panel of married, White, urban couples from 16 urban areas. Results indicated the dimension of marital alternatives appeared to be a better predictor of marital disruption than marital satisfaction. (Author/RC)

Crime and the “poverty penalty” in urban Ghana | IDRC ...

International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)

2016-04-28

Apr 28, 2016 ... Ghana's rapid urbanization has contributed to a reduction in poverty across the ... of their three-year project, “Exploring the crime and poverty nexus in urban Ghana. ... ​Youth violence and the shift of land disputes from rural ...

Reconfiguring Urban Sustainability Transitions, Analysing Multiplicity

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mike Hodson

2017-02-01

Full Text Available Cities, and the networked infrastructures that sustain urban life, are seen as crucial sites for creating more sustainable futures. Yet, although there are many plans, the realisation of sustainable urban infrastructures on the ground is uneven. To develop better ways of understanding why this is the case, the paper makes a conceptual contribution by engaging with current understanding of urban sustainability transitions, using urban sustainable mobility as a reference point. It extends these insights to argue that urban transitions are not about technological or social innovation per se, but about how multiple innovations are experimented with, combined and reconfigured in existing urban contexts and how such processes are governed. There are potentially many ways in which urban sustainable mobility can be reconfigured contextually. Innovation is in the particular form of reconfiguration rather than individual technologies. To make analytical sense of this multiplicity, a preliminary framework is developed that offers the potential to think about urban transitions as contextual and reconfigurational. We argue that there is a need to embrace multiplicity and to understand its relationships to forms of reconfiguration, through empirical exploration and further theoretical and conceptual development. The preliminary framework is a contribution to doing so and we set out future directions for research.

Perceptions of marital interaction among black and white newlyweds.

Science.gov (United States)

Oggins, J; Veroff, J; Leber, D

1993-09-01

Perceptions of marital interactions were gathered from a representative sample of urban newlywed couples (199 Black and 174 White). A factor analysis of the reports found 6 factors common to husbands and wives: Disclosing Communication, Affective Affirmation, Negative Sexual Interaction, Traditional Role Regulation, Destructive Conflict, and Constructive Conflict. Avoiding Conflict was specific to men and Positive Coorientation was specific to women. Wives reported fewer constructive and more destructive conflict behaviors. Compared with Whites, Blacks reported more disclosure, more positive sexual interactions, and fewer topics of disagreement. They also more often reported leaving the scene of conflict and talking with others more easily than with the spouse. As hypothesized, perceptions that marital interactions affirm one's sense of identity strongly predicted marital well-being. Although regression analyses predicting marital happiness yielded few interactions with race or gender, those that are significant, coupled with race and gender differences in perceiving interaction, suggest taking a contextual orientation to the meaning of marital interaction.

Sustainability, resilience and governance of an urban food system: a case study of peri-urban Wuhan

OpenAIRE

Dolley, Jonathan

2017-01-01

While it is clear that urban food systems need to be made resilient so that broader sustainability\\ud goals can be maintained over time, it has been a matter of debate as to how resilience should be\\ud conceptualised when applied to social-ecological systems. Through a case study of peri-urban\\ud Wuhan, this research develops and applies a resilience based conceptual framework for periurban\\ud food systems analysis in order to explore the potential for an enhanced understanding of\\ud resilien...

Exploring the patterns and evolution of self-organized urban street networks through modeling

Science.gov (United States)

Rui, Yikang; Ban, Yifang; Wang, Jiechen; Haas, Jan

2013-03-01

As one of the most important subsystems in cities, urban street networks have recently been well studied by using the approach of complex networks. This paper proposes a growing model for self-organized urban street networks. The model involves a competition among new centers with different values of attraction radius and a local optimal principle of both geometrical and topological factors. We find that with the model growth, the local optimization in the connection process and appropriate probability for the loop construction well reflect the evolution strategy in real-world cities. Moreover, different values of attraction radius in centers competition process lead to morphological change in patterns including urban network, polycentric and monocentric structures. The model succeeds in reproducing a large diversity of road network patterns by varying parameters. The similarity between the properties of our model and empirical results implies that a simple universal growth mechanism exists in self-organized cities.

The Racial Divide in Support for the Death Penalty: Does White Racism Matter?

Science.gov (United States)

Unnever, James D.; Cullen, Francis T.

2007-01-01

Using data from the 2000 National Election Study, this research investigates the sources of the racial divide in support for capital punishment with a specific focus on white racism. After delineating a measure of white racism, we explore whether it can account for why a majority of African Americans oppose the death penalty while most whites…

Practical Implementation of Sustainable Urban Management Tools

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Nielsen, Susanne Balslev; Jensen, Jesper Ole; Hoffmann, Birgitte

2006-01-01

The paper discusses how to promote the use of decision support tools for urban sustainable development. The interest in decision support tools based on indicators is increasing among practitioners and researchers. The research has so far focused on indicator types and systems of indicators...... and goals for urban sustainability whereas less focus has been on the context of implementation and even less on what we can learn from practical experiences about the usefulness of urban sustainable indicator tools. This paper explores the practical implementation of urban sustainable management tools....... It is generally agreed that in order to make indicators and other sustainability management tools work it is necessary that they are integrated in the relevant urban organisational levels, in a way that creates commitment to the subsequent goals. This includes involvement of organisations, individuals and other...

Jeff Foxworthy’s Redneck Humor and the Boundaries of Middle-Class American Whiteness

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

J. David Thomas

2016-04-01

Full Text Available Recent studies examine the use of rhetorical boundaries to produce intra-racial othering within whiteness. I expand this project by exploring the textual and social codes in Jeff Foxworthy humor that demarcate the boundaries between the redneck and the non-redneck. Such boundaries are complex, porous fault-lines that use symbolic pollution embedded in humor to stigmatize White outsiders. Social codes referencing symbolic pollution establish boundaries to define and insulate a normative, mainstream White identity from the intra-racial threat of redneck identity. This project provides a novel addition to whiteness studies by taking redneck humor analytically seriously and concludes by drawing comparisons between codes found in Foxworthy humor and those levied against rural Whites during the eugenics era.

Consequences of Urban Stability Conditions for Computational Fluid Dynamics Simulations of Urban Dispersion

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lundquist, J K; Chan, S T

2005-11-30

The validity of omitting stability considerations when simulating transport and dispersion in the urban environment is explored using observations from the Joint URBAN 2003 field experiment and computational fluid dynamics simulations of that experiment. Four releases of sulfur hexafluoride, during two daytime and two nighttime intensive observing periods, are simulated using the building-resolving computational fluid dynamics model, FEM3MP to solve the Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes equations with two options of turbulence parameterizations. One option omits stability effects but has a superior turbulence parameterization using a non-linear eddy viscosity (NEV) approach, while the other considers buoyancy effects with a simple linear eddy viscosity (LEV) approach for turbulence parameterization. Model performance metrics are calculated by comparison with observed winds and tracer data in the downtown area, and with observed winds and turbulence kinetic energy (TKE) profiles at a location immediately downwind of the central business district (CBD) in the area we label as the urban shadow. Model predictions of winds, concentrations, profiles of wind speed, wind direction, and friction velocity are generally consistent with and compare reasonably well with the field observations. Simulations using the NEV turbulence parameterization generally exhibit better agreement with observations. To further explore this assumption of a neutrally-stable atmosphere within the urban area, TKE budget profiles slightly downwind of the urban wake region in the 'urban shadow' are examined. Dissipation and shear production are the largest terms which may be calculated directly. The advection of TKE is calculated as a residual; as would be expected downwind of an urban area, the advection of TKE produced within the urban area is a very large term. Buoyancy effects may be neglected in favor of advection, shear production, and dissipation. For three of the IOPs, buoyancy

Smartness as Property: A Critical Exploration of Intersections between Whiteness and Disability Studies

Science.gov (United States)

Leonardo, Zeus; Broderick, Alicia A.

2011-01-01

Background/Context: Two scholars who each primarily identify as a scholar of critical race/whiteness studies and a scholar of disability studies, respectively, engage in this article in a purposeful dialogue that responds to the invitation put forth by Baglieri, Bejoian, Broderick, Connor, and Valle to engage with the construct of inclusive…

Influence of urban resilience measures in the magnitude and behaviour of energy fluxes in the city of Porto (Portugal) under a climate change scenario

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rafael, S.; Martins, H.; Sá, E.; Carvalho, D.; Borrego, C.; Lopes, M.

2016-01-01

Different urban resilience measures, such as the increase of urban green areas and the application of white roofs, were evaluated with the WRF-SUEWS modelling system. The case study consists of five heat waves occurring in Porto (Portugal) urban area in a future climate scenario. Meteorological forcing and boundary data were downscaled for Porto urban area from the CMIP5 earth system model MPI-ESM, for the Representative Concentration Pathway RCP8.5 scenario. The influence of different resilience measures on the energy balance components was quantified and compared between each other. Results show that the inclusion of green urban areas increases the evaporation and the availability of surface moisture, redirecting the energy to the form of latent heat flux (maximum increase of + 200 W m"−"2) rather than to sensible heat. The application of white roofs increases the solar radiation reflection, due to the higher albedo of such surfaces, reducing both sensible and storage heat flux (maximum reductions of − 62.8 and − 35 W m"−"2, respectively). The conjugations of the individual benefits related to each resilience measure shows that this measure is the most effective one in terms of improving the thermal comfort of the urban population, particularly due to the reduction of both sensible and storage heat flux. The obtained results contribute to the knowledge of the surface-atmosphere exchanges and can be of great importance for stakeholders and decision-makers. - Graphical abstract: A combination of white roofs and increased green urban areas has the potential do reduce the sensible heat flux of urban areas, being of great effectiveness in improving the thermal comfort of the urban population under future climate. - Highlights: • Evaluation of energy fluxes behaviour under RCP8.5 climate change scenario • Increase in the frequency, duration and magnitude of severe heat waves • Cities must become resilient to be able to deal with climate change �

Equity, sustainability and governance in urban settings.

Science.gov (United States)

Rice, Marilyn; Hancock, Trevor

2016-03-01

In this commentary the urban setting is explored from the perspective of ecological sustainability and social equity. Urban-related issues are highlighted related to social inequality, deficits in urban infrastructures, behavior-related illnesses and risks, global ecological changes, and urban sprawl. Approaches to addressing these issues are described from the perspective of urban governance, urban planning and design, social determinants of health, health promotion, and personal and community empowerment. Examples of successful strategies are provided from Latin America, including using participatory instruments (assessments, evaluation, participatory budgeting, etc.), establishing intersectoral committees, increasing participation of civil society organizations, and developing virtual forums and networks to channel participatory and collaborative processes. A way forward is proposed, using the urban setting to show the imperative of creating intersectoral policies and programs that produce environments that are both healthy and sustainable. It will be important to include new forms of social participation and use social media to facilitate citizen decision-making and active participation of all sectors of society, especially excluded groups. © The Author(s) 2015.

The influence of urban development and social mobility on socioeconomic level: The application of GIS on urban ecosystems

Science.gov (United States)

Suhaili Mansor, Nur; Zulhaidi Mohd Shafri, Helmi; Mansor, Shattri; Paradhan, Biswajeet

2014-06-01

Specifically, the integration between social sciences and natural science are fundamental in our understanding of the economic, social and technological transformations that have drastically changed the society. This study will be based on the municipality of Sungai Petani, Kedah as it has been most influenced by urbanization and urban development. Urban development in Sungai Petani is closely associated with a tremendous increase in demand for land, which is highly related to population growth, human movement and their social mobility. The qualitative case study taken will rely on the visual interpretation technique that would allow the researcher to develop a map of urban changes detection. The potential application of GIS information to estimate socioeconomic indicators and the modelling of socio-economic activities that are explored in this study is hoped to increase further our understanding of the impacts of development and urbanization on social life.

The influence of urban development and social mobility on socioeconomic level: The application of GIS on urban ecosystems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mansor, Nur Suhaili; Shafri, Helmi Zulhaidi Mohd; Mansor, Shattri; Paradhan, Biswajeet

2014-01-01

Specifically, the integration between social sciences and natural science are fundamental in our understanding of the economic, social and technological transformations that have drastically changed the society. This study will be based on the municipality of Sungai Petani, Kedah as it has been most influenced by urbanization and urban development. Urban development in Sungai Petani is closely associated with a tremendous increase in demand for land, which is highly related to population growth, human movement and their social mobility. The qualitative case study taken will rely on the visual interpretation technique that would allow the researcher to develop a map of urban changes detection. The potential application of GIS information to estimate socioeconomic indicators and the modelling of socio-economic activities that are explored in this study is hoped to increase further our understanding of the impacts of development and urbanization on social life

Exploring Association between Morphology of Tree Planting and User Activities in Urban Public Space; An opportunity of Urban Public Space Revitalisation

Science.gov (United States)

Shen, Qi; Liu, Yan

2018-03-01

This paper discusses the association between the morphology of tree planting in urban riverside brown field and user activities. With the growth of popularity, the revitalisation of urban public space is also promising. This research used drone photography and mapping to systematically surveys sample sites. An original observation study of user activities proceed in four sample public spaces in Sheffield. The study results found there are huge popularity and duration difference of user activities between various tree planting morphologies and typologies. The public space with lawn and rounded by mature trees attracted most users with the most activity types; the neat and silent public space is the favourite choice of lunch and reading, meanwhile it got the longest activity duration; but the space with sparse morphology and small trees are more likely be forgotten and abandoned. This finding offered a great opportunity for urban public space revitalisation in post-industrial cities.

Urbanization Is Associated with Divergence in Pace-of-Life in Great Tits

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Anne Charmantier

2017-05-01

Full Text Available As an extension of the classic life history theory, the recently highlighted pace-of-life syndrome hypothesis predicts the coevolution of behavioral, physiological and life-history traits. For instance, bolder and shyer individuals do not only differ in personality profiles, but also in neuro-endocrinology and breeding patterns. While theory predicts that bolder (i.e., proactive, more aggressive individuals should colonize more rapidly urbanized habitats than shyer (i.e., reactive, less aggressive individuals, it is also predicted that across generations, adaptive selection processes could favor shyer individuals that are more sensitive to novel environmental cues. Here we compared two personality traits (handling aggression, exploration score in a novel environment, one physiological trait related to stress response (breath rate and four breeding traits (lay date, clutch size, hatching success and fledging success in a rural and an urban study population of Mediterranean great tits Parus major. Mixed models revealed strong phenotypic divergence between forest and city in most traits explored, in particular in personality, whereby urban great tits were more reactive to stress and faster explorers compared to rural birds (yet not more aggressive. Urban birds also laid smaller broods earlier in spring compared to their rural conspecifics, and city broods resulted in lower hatching success yet interestingly fledging success was similar. Nest-box centered measures of anthropogenic (artificial light, pedestrians, and cars perturbation and resource abundance allowed us to go beyond the classical forest/city comparison by exploring the phenotypic variation across an urbanization gradient. This revealed that high urbanization in nest-box surroundings was associated overall with earlier breeding and smaller clutches, but also with faster breath rate, although these trends showed strong annual variation. Ongoing rapid urbanization and non-random gene flow

Gaming gentrification. An explorative device for urban policy making

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sandra Annunziata

2013-03-01

Full Text Available Gentrification is an urban phenomenon that can be seen as a game in which a multiplicity of agencies have uneven power to participate. An alternative narrative to the process can only be shaped by intercepting and informing the decision making process that concerns the development of the future gentrifying areas. This can be done with a participatory and educative game that invites participants to re-image the future of the city. This assumption stimulated the creation of a board game called Gentrification: What’s in it for Hackney Wick?

Urban versus conventional agriculture, taxonomy of resource profiles: a review

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Goldstein, Benjamin Paul; Hauschild, Michael Zwicky; Fernandez, John

2016-01-01

Urban agriculture appears to be a means to combat the environmental pressure of increasing urbanization and food demand. However, there is hitherto limited knowledge of the efficiency and scaling up of practices of urban farming. Here, we review the claims on urban agriculture’s comparative...... performance relative to conventional food production. Our main findings are as follows: (1) benefits, such as reduced embodied greenhouse gases, urban heat island reduction, and storm water mitigation, have strong support in current literature. (2) Other benefits such as food waste minimization and ecological...... footprint reduction require further exploration. (3) Urban agriculture benefits to both food supply chains and urban ecosystems vary considerably with system type. To facilitate the comparison of urban agriculture systems we propose a classification based on (1) conditioning of the growing space and (2...

Resilience Principles as a Tool for Exploring Options for Urban Resilience

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Wardekker, J.A.|info:eu-repo/dai/nl/306644398

The world is becoming increasingly urban and cities face a constant struggle with the complex environmental, social, economic, and political challenges of the 21st century. Many international organizations have argued that cities will need to become more resilient to these challenges. However, it is

Exploring the Urban Heat Island (UHI) Effect in Port Louis, Mauritius

African Journals Online (AJOL)

2012r

2014-10-13

Oct 13, 2014 ... namely: environmental contamination stemming from traffic congestion, the ... problem of UHI may become a more important issue than global warming because the rate of ..... MIGRATION, population distribution and development in the world. ... Urban Heat Island and Climate Change: An Assessment of.

White matter tract integrity in treatment-resistant gambling disorder

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Chamberlain, Samuel R.; Derbyshire, Katherine; Daws, Richard E.

2016-01-01

Background: Gambling disorder is a relatively common psychiatric disorder recently re-classified within the DSM-5 under the category of ‘substance-related and addictive disorders’. Aims: To compare white matter integrity in patients with gambling disorder with healthy controls; to explore...

Behavioral Correlations Associated with Fear of Humans Differ between Rural and Urban Burrowing Owls

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Martina Carrete

2017-05-01

Full Text Available Behavioral studies are fundamental to understanding how animal populations face global change. Although much research has centered upon the idea that individuals can adaptively modify their behaviors to cope with environmental changes, recent evidence supports the existence of individual differences in suites of correlated behaviors. However, little is known about how selection can change these behavioral structures in populations subject to different environmental constraints. The colonization of urban environments by birds has been related to their inter-individual variability in their fear of humans, measured as their flight initiation distance to an approaching human, such that urban life would select for fearless individuals. This behavior has been demonstrated to be heritable and highly consistent throughout the adult lifespan of burrowing owls (Athene cunicularia. Here, we experimentally assessed, in field conditions, whether urban life involves changes in other behaviors such as exploration and antipredatory response through their correlation with fear of humans. Breeding urban birds were more fearless toward humans and were quicker to explore a new food resource and defend their nests from predators than their rural counterparts. However, while fear of humans positively correlated with exploration and antipredatory response in the rural population, it only correlated with exploration in the urban one. Predator release in urban environments could relax—and even counterselect—antipredator behaviors, thus dismantling the behavioral correlation existent in natural populations. Altogether, our results suggest that rural and urban animals may differ in some behavioral aspects, may be as a consequence of the selection processes acting during the colonization of urban areas as well as the different ecological environments encountered by individuals.

Behavioural change in an urban smart-grid community

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Milovanovic, Marko; Steg, Emmalina; Spears, Russell

2014-01-01

Achieving long term behavioral change is a challenging task, especially when it comes to changing energy use habits. In our research we explore the social route to behavioral change, and examine how people influence each other in urban communities. We explore the conditions under which individuals

White matter abnormalities of microstructure and physiological noise in schizophrenia.

Science.gov (United States)

Cheng, Hu; Newman, Sharlene D; Kent, Jerillyn S; Bolbecker, Amanda; Klaunig, Mallory J; O'Donnell, Brian F; Puce, Aina; Hetrick, William P

2015-12-01

White matter abnormalities in schizophrenia have been revealed by many imaging techniques and analysis methods. One of the findings by diffusion tensor imaging is a decrease in fractional anisotropy (FA), which is an indicator of white matter integrity. On the other hand, elevation of metabolic rate in white matter was observed from positron emission tomography (PET) studies. In this report, we aim to compare the two structural and functional effects on the same subjects. Our comparison is based on the hypothesis that signal fluctuation in white matter is associated with white matter functional activity. We examined the variance of the signal in resting state fMRI and found significant differences between individuals with schizophrenia and non-psychiatric controls specifically in white matter tissue. Controls showed higher temporal signal-to-noise ratios clustered in regions including temporal, frontal, and parietal lobes, cerebellum, corpus callosum, superior longitudinal fasciculus, and other major white matter tracts. These regions with higher temporal signal-to-noise ratio agree well with those showing higher metabolic activity reported by studies using PET. The results suggest that individuals with schizophrenia tend to have higher functional activity in white matter in certain brain regions relative to healthy controls. Despite some overlaps, the distinct regions for physiological noise are different from those for FA derived from diffusion tensor imaging, and therefore provide a unique angle to explore potential mechanisms to white matter abnormality.

The geography of urban agriculture: New trends and challenges

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Duží Barbora

2017-09-01

Full Text Available In the article, which is a theoretical and conceptual introduction for the Special Issue of Moravian Geographical Reports on ‘New trends and challenges of urban agriculture in the context of Europe’, the authors resume and review diverging issues of urban agriculture, exploring and discussing them from a geographical perspective and in a wider context of the transformation of urban and rural spaces, urban regeneration and renewal, agricultural restructuring, multifunctionality, ecosystem services, land-use conflicts and social responsibility. After the introduction that depicts a changing role of agriculture in the context of urban and rural transformations, the current research on urban agriculture in Europe is summarised and reviewed. Then the main trends and concepts of growing and expanding urban agriculture are presented and discussed with a special emphasis on the challenges these pose to geographers.

Narrative Constructions of Whiteness among White Undergraduates

Science.gov (United States)

Foste, Zak

2017-01-01

This critical narrative inquiry was guided by two overarching research questions. First, this study examined how white undergraduates interpreted and gave meaning to their white racial identities. This line of inquiry sought to understand how participants made sense of their white racial selves, the self in relation to people of color, and the…

Offshoring White-Collar Work: An Explorative Investigation of the Processes and Mechanisms in Two Danish Manufacturing Firms

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Slepniov, Dmitrij; Larsen, Marcus Møller; Wæhrens, Brian Vejrum

2010-01-01

of this paper is two folded: to explain why knowledge-intensive service work in manufacturing firms is increasingly subject to offshoring and to understand the effects of this process on integration mechanisms for the firms involved. The empirical part of the study is based on two qualitative case studies...... of Danish manufacturers, and on the basis of these, we first argue that the drivers of white-collar work offshoring in many respects are parallel to those of the earlier wave of blue-collar work offshoring. However, the existing offshoring and outsourcing frameworks do not necessarily adequately address....... By relating white-collar work offshoring to integration means companies instigate to manage it, we attempt to bridge the existing knowledge gaps and advance understanding of the process of white-collar work offshoring and its implications....

Designing green and blue infrastructure to support healthy urban living

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Gehrels, H.; Meulen, S. vsn der; Schasfoort, F.; Bosch, P.R.; Brolsma, R.; Dinter, D. van; Geerling, G.J.; Goossen, M.; Jacobs, C.; Jong, M. de; Kok, S.; Massop, H.; Oste, L.; Perez-Soba, M.; Rovers, V.; Smit, A.; Verweij, P.; Vries, B. de; Weijers, E.

2016-01-01

There is a growing awareness in cities throughout the world that green and blue infrastructure can offer a wide range of ecosystem services to support a healthy urban environment. For example, landscape architects explore possibilities in their design of the urban landscape to use the potential of

Geochemical and stable isotope variations in baseflow from an urbanized watershed: White Rock Creek, Dallas, Texas

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hercod, D.J.; Gregory, R.T.

1995-01-01

Public concerns about surface water quality and its impact on health issues have put a premium on the ability to predict surface and groundwater quality in urban areas. The movement of toxins and nutrients in urban areas is largely controlled by interactions with soil and aquifer minerals along hydrologic pathways. Despite progress in theoretical modeling of the effects of these interactions on water chemistry, it is presently impossible to predict overall trends in urban water quality. Determining the controls on stream water chemistry is problematic due to the interplay between different hydrologic reservoirs which cannot be easily observed or measured. Natural tracers, such as dissolved ions and isotopes, provide an indirect method for observing subsurface interactions and are useful for time series analysis of stream water composition. Ionic species are generally nonconservative components because of chemical reactions and are thus useful for discerning the overall discharge chemistry affected by the relationship

Geochemical and stable isotope variations in baseflow from an urbanized watershed: White Rock Creek, Dallas, Texas

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hercod, D.J.; Gregory, R.T. [State Medical Univ., Dallas, TX (United States). Dept. of Geological Sciences; Brady, P.V. [State Medical Univ., Dallas, TX (United States). Dept. of Geological Sciences]|[Sandia National Labs., Albuquerque, NM (United States)

1995-03-01

Public concerns about surface water quality and its impact on health issues have put a premium on the ability to predict surface and groundwater quality in urban areas. The movement of toxins and nutrients in urban areas is largely controlled by interactions with soil and aquifer minerals along hydrologic pathways. Despite progress in theoretical modeling of the effects of these interactions on water chemistry, it is presently impossible to predict overall trends in urban water quality. Determining the controls on stream water chemistry is problematic due to the interplay between different hydrologic reservoirs which cannot be easily observed or measured. Natural tracers, such as dissolved ions and isotopes, provide an indirect method for observing subsurface interactions and are useful for time series analysis of stream water composition. Ionic species are generally nonconservative components because of chemical reactions and are thus useful for discerning the overall discharge chemistry affected by the relationship.

Not Driven by High-Stakes Tests: Exploring Science Assessment and College Readiness of Students from an Urban Portfolio Community High School

Science.gov (United States)

Fleshman, Robin Earle

This case study seeks to explore three research questions: (1) What science teaching and learning processes, perspectives, and cultures exist within the science classroom of an urban portfolio community high school? (2) In what ways does the portfolio-based approach prepare high school students of color for college level science coursework, laboratory work, and assessment? (3) Are portfolio community high school students of color college ready? Is there a relationship between students' science and mathematics performance and college readiness? The overarching objectives of the study are to learn, understand, and describe an urban portfolio community high school as it relates to science assessment and college readiness; to understand how the administration, teachers, and alumni perceive the use of portfolios in science learning and assessment; and to understand how alumni view their preparation and readiness for college and college science coursework, laboratory work, and assessments. The theoretical framework of this study encompasses four theories: critical theory, contextual assessment, self-regulated learning, and ethic of care. Because the urban high school studied partnered with a community-based organization (CBO), it identifies as a community school. Therefore, I provide context regarding the concept, culture, and services of community schools. Case study is the research design I used to explore in-depth this urban portfolio community high school, which involved mixed methods for data collection and analysis. In total, six alumni/current college students, five school members (administrators and teachers), and three CBO members (administrators, including myself) participated in the study. In addition to school artefacts and student portfolios collected, classroom and portfolio panel presentation observations and 13 semi-structured interviews were conducted to understand the portfolio-based approach as it pertains to science learning and assessment and college

Temporal dynamics of a subtropical urban forest in San Juan, Puerto Rico, 2001-2010

Science.gov (United States)

J. M. Tucker Lima; C. L. Staudhammer; T. J. Brandeis; F. J. Escobedo; W. Zipperer

2013-01-01

Several studies report urban tree growth and mortality rates as well as species composition, structural dynamics, and other characteristics of urban forests in mostly temperate, inland urban areas. Temporal dynamics of urban forests in subtropical and tropical forest regions are, until now, little explored and represent a new and important direction for study and...

Policy Tools for Addressing Urban Sprawl: Urban Growth Boundaries

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Eric J. STRAUSS

2006-02-01

Full Text Available The analysis herein explores the topic of urban growth boundaries and how local governments in Romania could use this growth management tool in order to address unplanned, haphazard growth that is taking place at the fringe of cities and in the villages/ farming communities that surround them. The structure of the paper is threefold. The first section focuses on a brief socio-economic profile of Cluj-Napoca, Romania. The aim is to provide a better context and facilitate the reader’s understanding of the nature of urban growth and suburbanization in Romania. Cluj-Napoca is currently in the process of adopting a master plan for the city and specific policy recommendations on how to address urban sprawl may prove useful. The authors hope to stir a debate among scholars, practitioners, and residents with regard to how the city of Cluj will further develop and whether future development should occur in the same manner it occurred during the last 10 years. The second section of the paper is meant to introduce the concepts of growth management and urban growth boundaries. The former is described in terms of a planning philosophy while the latter is portrayed as a specific policy tool that growth management advocates suggest it could be used in order to fight sprawl. A case study on urban growth boundaries is presented in order to underscore specific advantages and disadvantages associated with establishing a growth boundary. The last section comprises several preliminary policy recommendations for the city of Cluj-Napoca. Because of the incomplete data the authors currently have on critical issues some of the recommendations are general in scope and need to be further detailed.

Determinants of urban resource use and resilience: a comprehensive framework

Science.gov (United States)

Romero-Lankao, P.; Bourgeron, P.; Gochis, D. J.; Rothman, D. S.; Wilhelmi, O.

2015-12-01

During the past decades urbanization has proceeded at unprecedented - yet varied - rates across urban areas globally. The social and environmental transformations implied by urban development have put many regions at risk of transforming the very characteristics that make them attractive and healthy. Meanwhile, climate change is adding new sources of risk and an array of uncertainties to the mix. These changes create risks that vary according to the characteristics of the demographic, economic, ecological, built-environment (technological) and governance dimensions of urbanization and urban areas as socioecological systems. However, few studies have explored the variation in these dimensions across urban areas. I will present a comprehensive analytical framework that explores, in urban areas, patterns of interplay, synergy and tradeoff between socio-demographic, economic, technological, ecological, and governance (SETEG) factors as they shape two issues, traditionally analyzed by separate disciplinary domains: resource use and resilience to climate hazards. Three questions guide this effort: 1) What indicators can be used to socio-demographic, economic, technological, ecological, and governance (SETEG) determinants of urban populations' resource use and resilience to climate hazards? 2) What indicators are important? 3) What combinations (i.e., tradeoffs, synergies) of causal factors better explain urban populations' resource use and resilience to hazards? The interplay between these factors as they shape a population's resource use and resilience is not exempted from synergies and tradeoffs that require careful analysis. Consider population density, a key indicator of urban form. Scholars have found that while more compact cities are more energy efficient and emit less GHG, heat stress is much worse in more compact cities. This begs the question of which combination of urban form factors need to be considered by urban planners when designing effective urban

White Teachers/Diverse Classrooms: A Guide to Building Inclusive Schools, Promoting High Expectations, and Eliminating Racism

Science.gov (United States)

Landsman, Julie, Ed.; Lewis, Chance W., Ed.

2006-01-01

For African Americans, school is often not a place to learn but a place of low expectations and failure. In urban schools with concentrations of poverty, often fewer than half the ninth graders leave with a high school diploma. In this book, Black and White teachers provide an insightful approach to inclusive and equitable teaching and illustrate…

Sketches from the Urban Internationale. Voluntary Societies, International Organizations and US Foundations at the City's Bedside 1900-1960

OpenAIRE

Saunier, Pierre-Yves

1999-01-01

International audience; The international milieu of town planning is an exciting web of people, books, exhibits, congresses or ideas. Its exploration is a tool to complete our national-oriented understandings of the ways in which the urban scene was conceived in the 20th century. This article sets its exploration in the wider context of the "Urban Internationale", this sphere dedicated to the declensions of "urban issues" such as town planning, housing and urban government. It is proposed tha...

Human perceptions before and after a 50% reduction in an urban deer herd's density

Science.gov (United States)

David W. Henderson; Robert J. Warren; David H. Newman; J. Michael Bowker; Jennifer S. Cromwell; Jeffrey J. Jackson

2000-01-01

Overabundant white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) populations in urban and suburban areas can be controversial because of potential damage to landscape vegetation, deer-vehicle collisions, and fear over transmission of tick-borne diseases. Herd reduction is often proposed to solve these problems; however, the ability of human residents to...

Characterization and spatial modeling of urban sprawl in the Wuhan Metropolitan Area, China

Science.gov (United States)

Zeng, Chen; Liu, Yaolin; Stein, Alfred; Jiao, Limin

2015-02-01

Urban sprawl has led to environmental problems and large losses of arable land in China. In this study, we monitor and model urban sprawl by means of a combination of remote sensing, geographical information system and spatial statistics. We use time-series data to explore the potential socio-economic driving forces behind urban sprawl, and spatial models in different scenarios to explore the spatio-temporal interactions. The methodology is applied to the city of Wuhan, China, for the period from 1990 to 2013. The results reveal that the built-up land has expanded and has dispersed in urban clusters. Population growth, and economic and transportation development are still the main causes of urban sprawl; however, when they have developed to certain levels, the area affected by construction in urban areas (Jian Cheng Qu (JCQ)) and the area of cultivated land (ACL) tend to be stable. Spatial regression models are shown to be superior to the traditional models. The interaction among districts with the same administrative status is stronger than if one of those neighbors is in the city center and the other in the suburban area. The expansion of urban built-up land is driven by the socio-economic development at the same period, and greatly influenced by its spatio-temporal neighbors. We conclude that the integration of remote sensing, a geographical information system, and spatial statistics offers an excellent opportunity to explore the spatio-temporal variation and interactions among the districts in the sprawling metropolitan areas. Relevant regulations to control the urban sprawl process are suggested accordingly.

: Urban design, urban project, urban art, urban composition ... a question of vocabulary?

OpenAIRE

Pinson , Daniel

2014-01-01

Actes à paraître; International audience; The term "urbanism" of Pierre Clerget (1910) put the mess in the practice and the formations in France. Urban planning is thus, on the academic level, a coexistence of disciplinary approaches, which does not help to a multidisciplinary urban training. Thinking about "urban design", after beautifull city, urban composition, or alongside the urban project and other territorial approaches can help to see more clearly in town planning.; Le terme « urbanis...

Urban Experiments and Concrete Utopias

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Andersson, Lasse

2009-01-01

The paper explores how concrete urban experiments can challenge the pecuniary version of the experience city and stimulate a locally rooted and democratic version of an experience based city using heterotopias and concrete utopias as the link between top down planning and bottom up experiments...... administrations with public participation in order to shape a cultural agenda. The second part of the paper looks at two cases: NDSM in Amsterdam and Platform4 in Aalborg suggesting that it is concrete urban experiments like these that can create a link between visions and local reality in the Experience city...

From urban form to urban relations: in search for a new kind of reflexive and critical knowledge in urban geography and city monitoring

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jean Bernard Racine

2004-12-01

Full Text Available The paper explores what unites the social environment the material environment. both the material form, and, jointly, the sensibility that echoes it. .It argues that urban geographers need to develop a research model drawing on urban geography, on urbanism and on land management and capable of integrating the thoughts, the emotions, the affects and the valu-es of city dwellers and citizens and therefore knowledge situated at a micro-social level. However, such research still would need to lead to truly regulatory knowledge. Its translati-on into practical measures needs to be democratically approved, especially by actors who know how to think and act both locally and globally, in relation to multiple and complex territories of affiliation and intervention. This implies a huge effort of the imagination and of construction, both at the theoretical level and at the level of the operational tools needed. Indeed, the concept of “ urban project ”, which has been frequently encountered since the end of the ‘70s and which is supposed finally to supersede functionalist urbanism, cannot be conceived of without taking into consideration the population’s capability to participate and embrace projects or, on the contrary, to oppose them.

Characterizing Urban Volumetry Using LIDAR Data

Science.gov (United States)

Santos, T.; Rodrigues, A. M.; Tenedório, J. A.

2013-05-01

Urban indicators are efficient tools designed to simplify, quantify and communicate relevant information for land planners. Since urban data has a strong spatial representation, one can use geographical data as the basis for constructing information regarding urban environments. One important source of information about the land status is imagery collected through remote sensing. Afterwards, using digital image processing techniques, thematic detail can be extracted from those images and used to build urban indicators. Most common metrics are based on area (2D) measurements. These include indicators like impervious area per capita or surface occupied by green areas, having usually as primary source a spectral image obtained through a satellite or airborne camera. More recently, laser scanning data has become available for large-scale applications. Such sensors acquire altimetric information and are used to produce Digital Surface Models (DSM). In this context, LiDAR data available for the city is explored along with demographic information, and a framework to produce volumetric (3D) urban indexes is proposed, and measures like Built Volume per capita, Volumetric Density and Volumetric Homogeneity are computed.

An Exploration of the Motivational Profile of Secondary Urban Agriculture Students

Science.gov (United States)

Anderson, James C., II

2013-01-01

This descriptive-correlational study examined the personal factors that may affect the self-determination of 110 freshmen who have elected to enroll in an urban agriculture program. The personal factors, termed the motivational profile, consisted of influences in the decision to enroll in the program, the student's type of motivation to attend the…

Near-infrared imaging of white dwarfs with candidate debris disks

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wang, Zhongxiang; Tziamtzis, Anestis; Wang, Xuebing

2014-01-01

We have carried out JHK s imaging of 12 white dwarf debris disk candidates from the WIRED Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 7 catalog, aiming to confirm or rule out disks among these sources. On the basis of positional identification and the flux density spectra, we find that seven white dwarfs have excess infrared emission, but mostly at Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer W1 and W2 bands. Four are due to nearby red objects consistent with background galaxies or very low mass dwarfs, and one exhibits excess emission at JHK s consistent with an unresolved L0 companion at the correct distance. While our photometry is not inconsistent with all seven excesses arising from disks, the stellar properties are distinct from the known population of debris disk white dwarfs, making the possibility questionable. In order to further investigate the nature of these infrared sources, warm Spitzer imaging is needed, which may help resolve galaxies from the white dwarfs and provide more accurate flux measurements.

Using Community-Based Participatory Research to Explore Backyard Gardening Practices and Soil Lead Concentrations in Urban Neighborhoods.

Science.gov (United States)

Johnson, Sheri; Cardona, Dalila; Davis, Jeremy; Gramling, Benjamin; Hamilton, Chelsea; Hoffmann, Ray; Ruis, Sabrina; Soldat, Doug; Ventura, Steve; Yan, Ke

2016-01-01

Lead exposure is a serious health threat for children. Soil is an important exposure pathway, primarily through ingestion and inhalation. Urban agriculture is increasing. Potential environmental health risks associated with residential gardening may not be well known to community residents. A community-based participatory research (CBPR) approach was implemented to explore the relationship between urban residential vegetable gardening and lead exposure in children. The primary objectives were to characterize local backyard vegetable gardening practices, measure residential and commercial soil lead concentrations and spatial distributions, and identify priorities for individual and collective action. Participants were recruited in two stages. In phase 1, adult gardeners participated in structured interviews. In phase 2, a multistage representative sampling approach was implemented to recruit adult gardeners for interviews and soil testing. Twenty adults participated in gardening practice interviews. Adults perceive many benefits from backyard gardening and initially expressed few concerns about lead exposure risk. Results indicate that children are actively involved in backyard gardening. Total soil lead concentrations from 17 residential properties ranged from 7 to 3,234 mg kg-1(median, 187; mean, 432). Commercial soils had lead concentrations that ranged from 6 to 13 mg kg(-1) (median, 6.5; mean, 7.6). Nonparametric Mann-Whitney comparisons indicated a significant difference in lead concentration between commercial soil and residential soil (p<0.0001). Advocacy for resources needed to eliminate dangerous levels of lead from the environment, especially in communities where divestment has occurred, is enhanced through CBPR. Increasing access to soil testing is an important action step.

Urbanization impacts on mammals across urban-forest edges and a predictive model of edge effects.

Science.gov (United States)

Villaseñor, Nélida R; Driscoll, Don A; Escobar, Martín A H; Gibbons, Philip; Lindenmayer, David B

2014-01-01

With accelerating rates of urbanization worldwide, a better understanding of ecological processes at the wildland-urban interface is critical to conserve biodiversity. We explored the effects of high and low-density housing developments on forest-dwelling mammals. Based on habitat characteristics, we expected a gradual decline in species abundance across forest-urban edges and an increased decline rate in higher contrast edges. We surveyed arboreal mammals in sites of high and low housing density along 600 m transects that spanned urban areas and areas turn on adjacent native forest. We also surveyed forest controls to test whether edge effects extended beyond our edge transects. We fitted models describing richness, total abundance and individual species abundance. Low-density housing developments provided suitable habitat for most arboreal mammals. In contrast, high-density housing developments had lower species richness, total abundance and individual species abundance, but supported the highest abundances of an urban adapter (Trichosurus vulpecula). We did not find the predicted gradual decline in species abundance. Of four species analysed, three exhibited no response to the proximity of urban boundaries, but spilled over into adjacent urban habitat to differing extents. One species (Petaurus australis) had an extended negative response to urban boundaries, suggesting that urban development has impacts beyond 300 m into adjacent forest. Our empirical work demonstrates that high-density housing developments have negative effects on both community and species level responses, except for one urban adapter. We developed a new predictive model of edge effects based on our results and the literature. To predict animal responses across edges, our framework integrates for first time: (1) habitat quality/preference, (2) species response with the proximity to the adjacent habitat, and (3) spillover extent/sensitivity to adjacent habitat boundaries. This framework will

Explorative Observations of the Urban Climate System in the Rotterdam Metropolis

Science.gov (United States)

Jacobs, C. M.; van Hove, L. W.; Heusinkveld, B. G.; Steeneveld, G.; van Heerwaarden, C.; Elbers, J. A.

2009-12-01

Until recently, the Urban Heat Island (UHI) effect was thought to be relatively unimportant for Dutch conditions since The Netherlands are located in the mild Cfb climate, close to the sea. This view altered after the heat waves of 2003 and 2006 that caused an excess mortality between 1400 and 2200. The excess mortality was found in the cities in particular. Climate projections show that also in The Netherlands heat waves will likely become more frequent in the next decades, which may form an important threat to the livability in urban areas. However, information regarding UHI in Dutch cities is completely lacking, both from observational and model perspective, which hampers the design of suitable adaptation and heat mitigation strategies. In this study, an assessment of the intensity of UHI in the city of Rotterdam is made. The main aim is to assess whether or not heat stress already is or will be a critical issue in the Rotterdam area. Traverse measurements were performed in the city using two cargo bicycles as a mobile platform, equipped specifically for urban meteorology measurements. The cargo bicycles allow manoeuvring easily through the narrow streets in the city. They are equipped with a thermometer, a humidity sensor, a 2-dimensional sonic anemometer and a set of radiation sensors to measure solar radiation and infrared radiation exchange from six directions. The data are recorded at 1 Hz, and connected with concurrent GPS readings. The instruments are powered by a solar panel mounted on the baggage carrier. Measurements were performed along two previously determined routes through a number of characteristic urban districts, including an industrial area, an older residential area, a city park and the harbour area. The routes were photographed at fixed intervals from 50 cm above the ground with a fisheye lens pointing upwards. The observations were carried out during four 1-2h time intervals on 6 August 2009, a warm day with a maximum temperature of near 30

Benefits of donkeys in rural and urban areas in northwest Nigeria

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Hassan, M.R.; Steenstra, F.A.; Udo, H.M.J.

2013-01-01

The objective of this study is to explore the benefits of donkeys for rural and urban smallholder farmers in northwest Nigeria. We visited 112 smallholder donkey farmers located in rural and urban areas from four states in northwest Nigeriathrough four focus group meetings, interviews with

Urban Modality

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jorge Gil

2016-02-01

Full Text Available This thesis proposes a framework for evaluating the mobility potential and performance of urban areas in the city region, as an instrument to support urban development that contributes positively to regional sustainable mobility objectives. The research takes a quantitative approach, modelling and measuring the characteristics of a city-region and of its individual urban areas, in terms of travel patterns and socioeconomic characteristics of the resident population, and in terms of built environment characteristics. It then explores how the built environment defines the affordances of urban areas for travelling by particular modes of transport, i.e. its walk-ability, cycleability, drive-ability and transit-ability, by developing a typology of what I call their ‘urban modality’. And finally the work combines this typology with the socio-economic characteristics of urban areas to determine their sustainable mobility potential and performance. It focuses on the case of the Randstad region of the Netherlands and its VINEX neighbourhoods, which are an emblematic example of new urban areas created under a policy programme with sustainable mobility objectives. A key stance in this work is the understanding that the location of an urban area in the region can be indicative of its population’s travel patterns, because the built environment (infrastructural and socio-economic characteristics are interrelated and present strong regional spatial patterns. What types of urban areas support sustainable travel patterns, and what are their spatial characteristics? How do new neighbourhoods compare to the best performing urban areas, and to other areas of the same ‘modality’ type? These are some of the questions addressed in this study. There are two main contributions of this research: the methods for building and analysing integrated multimodal network models, and the framework for contextual performance evaluation using urban area typologies. The

Differences from somewhere: the normativity of whiteness in bioethics in the United States.

Science.gov (United States)

Myser, Catherine

2003-01-01

I argue that there has been inadequate attention to and questioning of the dominance and normativity of whiteness in the cultural construction of bioethics in the United States. Therefore we risk reproducing white privilege and white supremacy in its theory, method, and practices. To make my argument, I define whiteness and trace its broader social and legal history in the United States. I then begin to mark whiteness in U.S. bioethics, recasting Renee Fox's sociological marking of its American-ness as an important initial marking of its whiteness/WASP ethos. Furthermore, I consider the attempts of social scientists to highlight sociocultural diversity as a corrective in U.S. bioethics. I argue that because they fail to problematize white dominance and normativity and the white-other dualism when they describe the standpoints of African-American, Asian-American, and Native-American others, their work merely inoculates difference and creates or maintains minoritized spaces. Accordingly, the dominant white center of mainstream U.S. bioethics must be problematized and displaced for diversity research to make a difference. In conclusion, I give several examples of how we might advance the recommended endeavor of exploring our own ethnicity, class, and other social positioning and norms operating in U.S. bioethics, briefly highlighting "white talk" as one challenge.

Intermediaries in sustainable urban transitions

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hoffmann, Birgitte; Agger, Annika

´s, or semi public institutions. Our claim is that interme-diary actors have the potential to reach a broader scope of citizens due to their particular role in between public au-thorities and civil society. The key question of the paper is how the intermediary actors facilitate citizens' participatory...... processes in sustainable urban management and the paper explores the development of communities of practise as a way to develop learning processes and new practises? The aim is to analyse approaches of involving citizens and how they contribute to the development of new actor configurations in urban social...... the development of new practises plays a part in multi level transitions. Empirically, the article is based on case studies from Denmark of local environmental centres, green guides etc. that have performed innovative forms of involving citizens in sustainable urban development. The empirical material...

Performative Urban Environments

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jensen, Ole B.; Thomsen, Bo Stjerne

2008-01-01

The chapter explores how temporary architectural structures can become media for bottom-up approaches to urban development. Urban interactions in the city developed from the sidewalks were seen as locally bounded neighbourhoods. However, with the advent of contemporary network technologies....... In investigating architectural media-constructions the paper draws on the notion of ‘Capsular Civilization'. Arguing that architectural capsules in the cities' in-between spaces may become the media and places of meaningful interaction by establishing a feedback loop guided by social interaction. Architecture thus......-organizing, communicative environments for an organized complexity between flows of local interactions and network behaviour. The chapter applies the concepts on the case of the Pavilion Project, NoRA, built for the 10th International Architecture Biennale in Venice for the network of Food College Denmark....

Object technology: A white paper

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Jordan, S.R.; Arrowood, L.F.; Cain, W.D.; Stephens, W.M.; Vickers, B.D.

1992-05-11

Object-Oriented Technology (OOT), although not a new paradigm, has recently been prominently featured in the trade press and even general business publications. Indeed, the promises of object technology are alluring: the ability to handle complex design and engineering information through the full manufacturing production life cycle or to manipulate multimedia information, and the ability to improve programmer productivity in creating and maintaining high quality software. Groups at a number of the DOE facilities have been exploring the use of object technology for engineering, business, and other applications. In this white paper, the technology is explored thoroughly and compared with previous means of developing software and storing databases of information. Several specific projects within the DOE Complex are described, and the state of the commercial marketplace is indicated.

Climate conscious citizenship in a digital urban setting

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Andersen, Sophie Esmann; Nielsen, Anne Ellerup

2011-01-01

Climate change has challenged urban life, and as an omnipresent force, Nature sets the agenda for urban living. Using stakeholder theory to conceptualise urban life, we approach Nature as both an omnipresent stakeholder and an issue to be continuously addressed and related to. Adapting the stakeh......Climate change has challenged urban life, and as an omnipresent force, Nature sets the agenda for urban living. Using stakeholder theory to conceptualise urban life, we approach Nature as both an omnipresent stakeholder and an issue to be continuously addressed and related to. Adapting...... explore how the citizen is framed and invited to enact his/her responsibilities to the natural environment in an urban setting and how the digital mediation facilitates various forms of relations and climate conscious positions, incorporating both narcissistic desires, universal anxiety, moral obligations......, ethical virtue and image performance. Statements from the actual confessors/committers exemplify this. Thus, the paper provides insight into understanding the complexity of climate-conscious citizenship as a complex configuration of paradoxical, co-existing ethics and arguments....

Countermeasures for Intensive Use of Land from the Perspective of Urban-Rural Integration

OpenAIRE

Jia, Li-bin

2012-01-01

This paper analyzes problems of excessive emphasis on expansion of urban land, improper village and town construction, and low land utilization efficiency in urban-rural integration construction. In line with characteristics and principle of intensive land use of urban-rural integration, it puts forward integration of urban-rural land layout, practically exploring connotation, and improving land intensification in many ways. Based on these, it presents countermeasures for intensive use of lan...

Weber's Historical Urban Sociology: City as a Base of Modern Society

OpenAIRE

Sunar, Lütfi

2011-01-01

Since the beginning of modernity, discussions concerning the development and characteristics of occidental city in the West have played a central role in defining modern society and exploring its origins. In that, both the synchronous emergence of modern society with urbanization and the manifestation of modernity-triggering capitalism as an urban phenomenon have been instrumental. In that regard, early sociologists have focused their attention on urban development and characteristics of occi...

A Review of Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems Considering the Climate Change and Urbanization Impacts

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Qianqian Zhou

2014-04-01

Full Text Available Climate change and urbanization are converging to challenge city drainage infrastructure due to their adverse impacts on precipitation extremes and the environment of urban areas. Sustainable drainage systems have gained growing public interest in recent years, as a result of its positive effects on water quality and quantity issues and additional recreational amenities perceived in the urban landscape. This paper reviews recent progress in sustainable drainage development based on literature across different disciplinary fields. After presenting the key elements and criteria of sustainable drainage design, various devices and examples of sustainable drainage systems are introduced. The state-of-the-art model approaches and decision-aid tools for assessing the sustainable alternatives are discussed and compared. The paper further explores some limitations and difficulties in the application of the innovative solutions and suggests an integrated and trans-disciplinary approach for sustainable drainage design.

Circuity Characteristics of Urban Travel Based on GPS Data: A Case Study of Guangzhou

OpenAIRE

Xiaoshu Cao; Feiwen Liang; Huiling Chen; Yongwei Liu

2017-01-01

A longer, wider and more complicated change in the travel path is put forward to adapt to the rapidly increasing expansion of metropolises in the field of urban travel. Urban travel requires higher levels of sustainable urban transport. Therefore,this paper explores the circuity characteristics of urban travel and investigates the temporal relationship between time and travel circuity and the spatial relationship between distance and travel circuity to understand the efficiency of urban trave...

Exploring the role of intertextuality in concept construction: Urban second graders make sense of evaporation, boiling, and condensation

Science.gov (United States)

Varelas, Maria; Pappas, Christine C.; Rife, Amy

2006-09-01

The study explores urban second graders' thinking and talking about the concepts of evaporation, boiling, and condensation that emerged in the context of intertextuality within an integrated science-literacy unit on the topic of States of Matter, which emphasized the water cycle. In that unit, children and teacher engaged in a variety of activities (reading information books, doing hands-on explorations, writing, drawing, discussing) in a dialogically oriented way where teacher and children shared the power and the burden of making meaning. The three qualitative interrelated analyses showed children who initiated or continued productive links to texts, broadly defined, that gave them spaces to grapple with complex ideas and ways of expressing them. Although some children showed preference for a certain way of thinking about evaporation, boiling, and condensation, the data do not point toward a definite conclusion relative to whether children subscribe or not to a particular conceptual position. Children had multiple, complex, and often speculative, tentative, and emergent ways of accessing and interpreting these phenomena, and their conceptions were contextually based - different contexts offered opportunities for students to theorize about different aspects of the phenomena (along with some similar aspects). Children also theorized about aspects of the same phenomena in different ways.

A Remote Sensing-based Characterization of the Urban Heat Island and its Implications for Modeled Estimates of Urban Biogenic Carbon Fluxes in Boston, MA.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, J.; Friedl, M. A.; Hutyra, L.; Hardiman, B. S.

2015-12-01

Urban land use occupies a small but critical proportion of global land area for the carbon cycle, and in the coming decades, urban land area is expected to nearly double. Conversion of natural land cover to urban land cover imposes myriad ecological effects, including increased land surface and air temperatures via the urban heat island effect. In this study, we characterize the seasonal and spatial characteristics of the urban heat island over Boston, MA and estimate its consequences on biogenic carbon fluxes with a remote sensing-based model. Using a 12-year time series of emissivity- and atmospherically-corrected land surface temperatures from Landsat TM and ETM+ imagery, we find a high degree of spatial heterogeneity and consistent seasonal patterns in the thermal properties of Boston, controlled mainly by variations in vegetative cover. Field measurements of surface air temperature across an urbanization gradient show season- and vegetation-dependent patterns consistent with those observed in the Landsat data. With a fused data set that combines surface air temperature, MODIS, and Landsat observations, we modify and run the Vegetation Photosynthesis and Respiration Model (VPRM) to explore 1) how elevated temperatures affect diurnal and seasonal patterns of hourly urban biogenic carbon fluxes in Massachusetts in 2013 and 2014 and 2) to what extent these fluxes follow spatial patterns found in the urban heat island. Model modifications simulate the ecological effects of urbanization, including empirical adjustments to reanalysis-driven air temperatures (up to 5 K) and ecosystem respiration reduced by impervious surface area. Model results reveal spatio-temporal patterns consistent with strong land use and vegetation cover controls on biogenic carbon fluxes, with non-trivial biogenic annual net ecosystem exchange occurring in urban and suburban areas (up to -2.5 MgC/ha/yr). We specifically consider the feedbacks between Boston's urban heat island and landscape

Spirituality, Religiousness, and Alcoholism Treatment Outcomes: A Comparison between Black and White Participants

Science.gov (United States)

Krentzman, Amy R.; Farkas, Kathleen J.; Townsend, Aloen L.

2012-01-01

This study addresses an unexplained finding in the alcoholism treatment field: despite the health and socioeconomic disparities that exist between blacks and whites at intake, blacks and whites achieve equivalent treatment outcomes. Using Project MATCH data, this study explores religiousness and spirituality as strengths in the African American community that may account in part for equivalent outcomes. Using binary logistic regression, this study found that as purpose in life increased, blacks were more likely to achieve sobriety than whites. This study provides evidence that purpose in life is a cultural strength and an advantage among blacks in achieving sobriety. PMID:22707846

Urban Principals' Understanding of Cyber Bullying: New Role in School Leadership

Science.gov (United States)

Jean-Paul, Max R.

2013-01-01

Technological advances have made cyberbullying a major problem in urban schools. In this study, I sought to explore the relationship between urban school administrators' leadership styles (team vs. transformational) and their handling of cyberbullying. I developed a survey CARES (Cyberbullying Administrative Review in Education for Schools) to…

An Alternative View of the Thirties: The Industrial Photographs of Lewis Wickes Hine and Margaret Bourke-White.

Science.gov (United States)

Smith, C. Zoe

The photographs of Margaret Bourke-White and Lewis Wickes Hine are graphic accounts of the urban industrial United States during the Depression of the 1930s. Hine was a sociologist who initially used his camera to promote social reform and is best remembered for his photographs of immigrants at Ellis Island, New York, and of children laboring in…

Urban Flooding: A Social and Environmental Issue

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Luciana Travassos

2012-06-01

Full Text Available Investigate the introduction of environmental considerations in public policy and urban interventions are complex. This article aims to observe the parameters that have been established in plans and projects for the management of storm and river water in urban watercourses located in a variety of cities, looking to raise some essential premises for public policy on urban drainage in the Brazilian context. It seeks to understand how these plans deal with floods and urban settlements in flood areas, and also explore the actions taken before, during and after extreme events. It could be say that adequately address drainage is primarily for institutional changes and, alongside the actions detailed throughout the article, for an investment of major consequence to allow decent housing to a significant portion of the population, an important set of environmental imprint actions.

Talk about a Racial Eclipse: Narratives of Institutional Evasion in an Urban School-University Partnership

Science.gov (United States)

Phelps Moultrie, Jada; Magee, Paula A.; Paredes Scribner, Samantha M.

2017-01-01

During a student teaching experience, teacher education candidates affiliated with an urban School of Education school-university partnership witnessed a disturbing interaction between an early career White male teacher and a first-grade Black male student at an assigned elementary school. The subsequent interactions among the teacher, principal,…

Influence of urban resilience measures in the magnitude and behaviour of energy fluxes in the city of Porto (Portugal) under a climate change scenario

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Rafael, S., E-mail: sandra.rafael@ua.pt; Martins, H.; Sá, E.; Carvalho, D.; Borrego, C.; Lopes, M.

2016-10-01

Different urban resilience measures, such as the increase of urban green areas and the application of white roofs, were evaluated with the WRF-SUEWS modelling system. The case study consists of five heat waves occurring in Porto (Portugal) urban area in a future climate scenario. Meteorological forcing and boundary data were downscaled for Porto urban area from the CMIP5 earth system model MPI-ESM, for the Representative Concentration Pathway RCP8.5 scenario. The influence of different resilience measures on the energy balance components was quantified and compared between each other. Results show that the inclusion of green urban areas increases the evaporation and the availability of surface moisture, redirecting the energy to the form of latent heat flux (maximum increase of + 200 W m{sup −2}) rather than to sensible heat. The application of white roofs increases the solar radiation reflection, due to the higher albedo of such surfaces, reducing both sensible and storage heat flux (maximum reductions of − 62.8 and − 35 W m{sup −2}, respectively). The conjugations of the individual benefits related to each resilience measure shows that this measure is the most effective one in terms of improving the thermal comfort of the urban population, particularly due to the reduction of both sensible and storage heat flux. The obtained results contribute to the knowledge of the surface-atmosphere exchanges and can be of great importance for stakeholders and decision-makers. - Graphical abstract: A combination of white roofs and increased green urban areas has the potential do reduce the sensible heat flux of urban areas, being of great effectiveness in improving the thermal comfort of the urban population under future climate. - Highlights: • Evaluation of energy fluxes behaviour under RCP8.5 climate change scenario • Increase in the frequency, duration and magnitude of severe heat waves • Cities must become resilient to be able to deal with climate change �

Using Popular Theatre for Engaging Racialized Minority Girls in Exploring Questions of Identity and Belonging

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Jo-Anne; De Finney, Sandrina

2004-01-01

This chapter examines the use of popular theatre as a methodology to investigate racialized minority girls' processes of identity formation and experiences of exclusion and belonging in predominantly white, urban Victoria, B.C., Canada. The article draws on transnational feminist frameworks that emphasize intersectionality and locality to…

Visual exploration of big spatio-temporal urban data: a study of New York City taxi trips.

Science.gov (United States)

Ferreira, Nivan; Poco, Jorge; Vo, Huy T; Freire, Juliana; Silva, Cláudio T

2013-12-01

As increasing volumes of urban data are captured and become available, new opportunities arise for data-driven analysis that can lead to improvements in the lives of citizens through evidence-based decision making and policies. In this paper, we focus on a particularly important urban data set: taxi trips. Taxis are valuable sensors and information associated with taxi trips can provide unprecedented insight into many different aspects of city life, from economic activity and human behavior to mobility patterns. But analyzing these data presents many challenges. The data are complex, containing geographical and temporal components in addition to multiple variables associated with each trip. Consequently, it is hard to specify exploratory queries and to perform comparative analyses (e.g., compare different regions over time). This problem is compounded due to the size of the data-there are on average 500,000 taxi trips each day in NYC. We propose a new model that allows users to visually query taxi trips. Besides standard analytics queries, the model supports origin-destination queries that enable the study of mobility across the city. We show that this model is able to express a wide range of spatio-temporal queries, and it is also flexible in that not only can queries be composed but also different aggregations and visual representations can be applied, allowing users to explore and compare results. We have built a scalable system that implements this model which supports interactive response times; makes use of an adaptive level-of-detail rendering strategy to generate clutter-free visualization for large results; and shows hidden details to the users in a summary through the use of overlay heat maps. We present a series of case studies motivated by traffic engineers and economists that show how our model and system enable domain experts to perform tasks that were previously unattainable for them.

Assessing the Impact of Urbanization on Direct Runoff Using Improved Composite CN Method in a Large Urban Area

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Chunlin; Liu, Miao; Hu, Yuanman; Shi, Tuo; Zong, Min; Walter, M. Todd

2018-01-01

Urbanization is one of the most widespread anthropogenic activities, which brings a range of physical and biochemical changes to hydrological system and processes. Increasing direct runoff caused by land use change has become a major challenge for urban ecological security. Reliable prediction of the quantity and rate of surface runoff is an inherently difficult and time-consuming task for large ungauged urban areas. In this study, we combined Geographic Information System and remote sensing technology with an improved Soil Conservation Service curve number model to evaluate the effects of land use change on direct runoff volume of the four-ring area in Shenyang, China, and analyzed trends of direct runoff at different scales. Through analyzing trends of direct runoff from 1984 to 2015 at different scales, we explored how urbanization and other potential factors affect direct runoff changes. Total direct runoff volume increased over time, and trends varied from the inner urban area to suburban area. Zones 1 and 2 had a tendency toward decreasing direct runoff volume and risks, while Zones 3 and 4 showed gradual increases at both regional and pixel scales. The most important influence on direct runoff change was urban surface change caused by urbanization. This study presents a framework for identifying hotspots of runoff increase, which can provide important guidance to urban managers in future green infrastructure planning, in the hopes of improving the security of urban water ecological patterns. PMID:29673182

Assessing the Impact of Urbanization on Direct Runoff Using Improved Composite CN Method in a Large Urban Area.

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Chunlin; Liu, Miao; Hu, Yuanman; Shi, Tuo; Zong, Min; Walter, M Todd

2018-04-17

Urbanization is one of the most widespread anthropogenic activities, which brings a range of physical and biochemical changes to hydrological system and processes. Increasing direct runoff caused by land use change has become a major challenge for urban ecological security. Reliable prediction of the quantity and rate of surface runoff is an inherently difficult and time-consuming task for large ungauged urban areas. In this study, we combined Geographic Information System and remote sensing technology with an improved Soil Conservation Service curve number model to evaluate the effects of land use change on direct runoff volume of the four-ring area in Shenyang, China, and analyzed trends of direct runoff at different scales. Through analyzing trends of direct runoff from 1984 to 2015 at different scales, we explored how urbanization and other potential factors affect direct runoff changes. Total direct runoff volume increased over time, and trends varied from the inner urban area to suburban area. Zones 1 and 2 had a tendency toward decreasing direct runoff volume and risks, while Zones 3 and 4 showed gradual increases at both regional and pixel scales. The most important influence on direct runoff change was urban surface change caused by urbanization. This study presents a framework for identifying hotspots of runoff increase, which can provide important guidance to urban managers in future green infrastructure planning, in the hopes of improving the security of urban water ecological patterns.

The new urban politics as a politics of carbon control.

Science.gov (United States)

Jonas, Andrew E G; Gibbs, David; While, Aidan

2011-01-01

The new urban politics (NUP) literature has helped to draw attention to a new generation of entrepreneurial urban regimes involved in the competition to attract investment to cities. Interurban competition often had negative environmental consequences for the urban living place. Yet knowledge of the environment was not very central to understanding the NUP. Entrepreneurial urban regimes today are struggling to deal with climate change and reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. Carbon reduction strategies could have profound implications for interurban competition and the politics of urban development. This paper explores the rise of a distinctive low-carbon urban polity—carbon control—and examines its potential ramifications for a new environmental politics of urban development (NEPUD). The NEPUD signals the growing centrality of carbon control in discourses, strategies and struggles around urban development. Using examples from cities in the US and Europe, the paper examines how these new environmental policy considerations are being mainstreamed in urban development politics. Alongside competitiveness, the management of carbon emissions represents a new yet at the same time contestable mode of calculation in urban governance.

Variable links within perceived police legitimacy?: fairness and effectiveness across races and places.

Science.gov (United States)

Taylor, Ralph B; Wyant, Brian R; Lockwood, Brian

2015-01-01

This work examines connections between two threads of community residents' perceptions of local police legitimacy, effectiveness and procedural fairness, and how those links depend on race, place, and race/place combinations. Previous works have connected these two threads, but have failed (a) to explore the variability of that connection by race, place, and race/place combinations across communities spanning the urban to suburban to rural continuum or (b) to model mutual influence. An extension of the group position thesis and work on minority views of police practices suggest how these variations might be patterned. Data were derived from a 2003 probability-based sampling survey of household respondents across Pennsylvania (n=1289). Generalized confirmatory factor analysis models built procedural fairness and effectiveness indices for four groups: whites in urban core counties, non-whites in urban core counties, whites in non-urban core counties, and non-whites in non-urban core counties. Non-recursive structural equation models revealed variable impacts of perceived police effectiveness on perceived police fairness and, to a lesser extent, of fairness on effectiveness. Implications for a more structurally and contextually aware understanding of links in police legitimacy models are developed. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Trends of overweight and obesity among white and American Indian school children in South Dakota, 1998-2010.

Science.gov (United States)

Hearst, Mary O; Biskeborn, Kristin; Christensen, Mathew; Cushing, Carrie

2013-01-01

To investigate the prevalence of overweight and obesity among white and American Indian children in a predominantly rural state. Using a repeated, cross-sectional design of school children's height and weight, the study sample included 361,352 measures of children who were 5.0-19.9 years, attending school across 13 academic calendar years. Trained staff measured height, weight, and recorded gender, age, and race. Data were voluntarily reported to the State Department of Health. American Indian children consistently had higher rates of overweight and obesity compared to white children. Across the years, 16.3% of white students were overweight, whereas 19.3% of American Indian students were overweight. In addition, 14.5% of white children were obese and 25.9% of American Indian children were obese. Examining by rural versus urban schools, prevalence of overweight had been increasing among white male and female students and American Indian female students living in rural areas. Obesity is also increasing among rural white females and male and female American Indian children. The findings here suggest that although American Indian children are at higher risk, in general, compared to white children, rural populations in general are experiencing increases in childhood overweight and obesity. Targeted rural interventions beginning at an early age are necessary to improve the health of rural children, especially in American Indian communities. Copyright © 2013 The Obesity Society.

The potential role of waste biomass in the future urban electricity system

OpenAIRE

Jiang, Yu; Werf, van der, Edwin; Ierland, van, Ekko C.; Keesman, Karel J.

2017-01-01

The share of intermittent renewable electricity (IRE) in the future urban electricity system is expected to increase significantly. Sufficient back-up capacity is needed in the period when IRE output is low. Bioenergy is both dispatchable and carbon-neutral, and can hence be a promising option to back up IRE. The objective of this study is to explore the potential of urban waste biomass in backing up IRE in an urban electricity system. An urban electricity system model is developed to project...

Segmenting wine markets with diverse price functions: Evidence from California red and white wines sold in British Columbia

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Richard Carew

2017-06-01

Full Text Available Previous hedonic price studies on wine market segments, exploring diverse price functions, are constrained by pre-determined price breakpoints, the total number of segments, or both. Using British Columbia Liquor Distribution Branch (BCLDB retail price data of California red and white wines, this study adopts an endogenous approach to explore the total number of market segments and identify breakpoints in price dispersion simultaneously. Results show that red and white California wines are grouped into two (breaking at Can$14 per bottle and three (breaking at Can$16 and $30 per bottle price segments, respectively. Also, implicit prices of wine attributes such as grape variety and geographic origin differ for red and white wines across market segments.

Urban Environmental Education: Leveraging Technology and Ecology to Engage Students in Studying the Environment

Science.gov (United States)

Barnett, Michael; Vaughn, Meredith Houle; Strauss, Eric; Cotter, Lindsey

2011-01-01

In this paper, we describe the outcomes of the first year of an intensive, urban ecology focused, summer program for urban high school youth. Students in our program conduct scientific investigations of their urban ecosystems while exploring potential career options in science and technology fields. In conducting their investigations, the students…

Urban poverty and infant mortality rate disparities.

Science.gov (United States)

Sims, Mario; Sims, Tammy L; Bruce, Marino A

2007-04-01

This study examined whether the relationship between high poverty and infant mortality rates (IMRs) varied across race- and ethnic-specific populations in large urban areas. Data were drawn from 1990 Census and 1992-1994 Vital Statistics for selected U.S. metropolitan areas. High-poverty areas were defined as neighborhoods in which > or = 40% of the families had incomes below the federal poverty threshold. Bivariate models showed that high poverty was a significant predictor of IMR for each group; however, multivariate analyses demonstrate that maternal health and regional factors explained most of the variance in the group-specific models of IMR. Additional analysis revealed that high poverty was significantly associated with minority-white IMR disparities, and country of origin is an important consideration for ethnic birth outcomes. Findings from this study provide a glimpse into the complexity associated with infant mortality in metropolitan areas because they suggest that the factors associated with infant mortality in urban areas vary by race and ethnicity.

Advancing Sustainability through Urban Green Space: Cultural Ecosystem Services, Equity, and Social Determinants of Health

Science.gov (United States)

Jennings, Viniece; Larson, Lincoln; Yun, Jessica

2016-01-01

Urban green spaces provide an array of benefits, or ecosystem services, that support our physical, psychological, and social health. In many cases, however, these benefits are not equitably distributed across diverse urban populations. In this paper, we explore relationships between cultural ecosystem services provided by urban green space and the social determinants of health outlined in the United States Healthy People 2020 initiative. Specifically, we: (1) explore connections between cultural ecosystem services and social determinants of health; (2) examine cultural ecosystem services as nature-based health amenities to promote social equity; and (3) recommend areas for future research examining links between urban green space and public health within the context of environmental justice. PMID:26861365

Ecological resistance in urban streams: the role of natural and legacy attributes

Science.gov (United States)

Utz, Ryan M.; Hopkins, Kristina G.; Beesley, Leah; Booth, Derek B.; Hawley, Robert J.; Baker, Matthew E.; Freeman, Mary C.; Jones, Krista L.

2016-01-01

Urbanization substantially changes the physicochemical and biological characteristics of streams. The trajectory of negative effect is broadly similar around the world, but the nature and magnitude of ecological responses to urban growth differ among locations. Some heterogeneity in response arises from differences in the level of urban development and attributes of urban water management. However, the heterogeneity also may arise from variation in hydrologic, biological, and physicochemical templates that shaped stream ecosystems before urban development. We present a framework to develop hypotheses that predict how natural watershed and channel attributes in the pre-urban-development state may confer ecological resistance to urbanization. We present 6 testable hypotheses that explore the expression of such attributes under our framework: 1) greater water storage capacity mitigates hydrologic regime shifts, 2) coarse substrates and a balance between erosive forces and sediment supply buffer morphological changes, 3) naturally high ionic concentrations and pH pre-adapt biota to water-quality stress, 4) metapopulation connectivity results in retention of species richness, 5) high functional redundancy buffers trophic function from species loss, and 6) landuse history mutes or reverses the expected trajectory of eutrophication. Data from past comparative analyses support these hypotheses, but rigorous testing will require targeted investigations that account for confounding or interacting factors, such as diversity in urban infrastructure attributes. Improved understanding of the susceptibility or resistance of stream ecosystems could substantially strengthen conservation, management, and monitoring efforts in urban streams. We hope that these preliminary, conceptual hypotheses will encourage others to explore these ideas further and generate additional explanations for the heterogeneity observed in urban streams.

Urban environments of the entrepreneurial city : from Aker Brygge to Tjuvholmen

OpenAIRE

Ellefsen, Halvor Weider

2017-01-01

The focus of this thesis is the regeneration of industrial harbor and brownfield areas to properties primed for urban development along the urban waterfront of Oslo, Norway. The project revolves around an empirical study of Tjuvholmen, a privately operated waterfront development scheme, centrally located in the city. The point of departure for the thesis is to explore how Tjuvholmen was conceptualized as urban environment, within a particular model of political-economic cond...

Let's Talk about Race, Baby: How a White Professor Teaches White Students about White Privilege and Racism

Science.gov (United States)

Heinze, Peter

2008-01-01

There are a variety of methods by which the themes of White privilege and racism can be presented to White students. By using the concept of racial identity a continuum of racism can be considered. Furthermore, addressing White privilege and racism in the context of a multicultural psychology course allows White students to have a greater…

Sustainable urban development and geophysics

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Lanbo; Chan, L. S.

2007-09-01

The new millennium has seen a fresh wave of world economic development especially in the Asian-Pacific region. This has contributed to further rapid urban expansion, creating shortages of energy and resources, degradation of the environment, and changes to climatic patterns. Large-scale, new urbanization is mostly seen in developing countries but urban sprawl is also a major social problem for developed nations. Urbanization has been accelerating at a tremendous rate. According to data collected by the United Nations [1], 50 years ago less than 30% of the world population lived in cities. Now, more than 50% are living in urban settings which occupy only about 1% of the Earth's surface. During the period from 1950 to 1995, the number of cities with a population higher than one million increased from 83 to 325. By 2025 it is estimated that more than 60% of 8.3 billion people (the projected world population [1]) will be city dwellers. Urbanization and urban sprawl can affect our living quality both positively and negatively. In recent years geophysics has found significant and new applications in highly urbanized settings. Such applications are conducive to the understanding of the changes and impacts on the physical environment and play a role in developing sustainable urban infrastructure systems. We would like to refer to this field of study as 'urban geophysics'. Urban geophysics is not simply the application of geophysical exploration in the cities. Urbanization has brought about major changes to the geophysical fields of cities, including those associated with electricity, magnetism, electromagnetism and heat. An example is the increased use of electromagnetic waves in wireless communication, transportation, office automation, and computer equipment. How such an increased intensity of electromagnetic radiation affects the behaviour of charged particles in the atmosphere, the equilibrium of ecological systems, or human health, are new research frontiers to be

Planning Urban Development from an Outsider’s Perspective: Siem Reap, the Backdrop of Changing Urban Representations

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Adele Esposito

2014-11-01

Full Text Available This article explores the internationalization of urban planning in Siem Reap, the town situated as the gateway to the Archaeological Park of Angkor. After Angkor was listed as a World Heritage Site in 1992, international donors and consultants have been involved in the management of Siem Reap Province, where the archaeological park is located. Not only have they been engaged in the conservation and the enhancement of the  archaeological heritage, but they have also planned the future development of nearby Siem Reap. Foreign consultants, coming from Europe and East Asia, have tried to determine what the best suitable models and tools for the urban development of Siem Reap should be, while tourism development and foreign investments were constantly growing. No planning proposal implemented has been completely successful but, several teams of international consultants have carried out new plans that acknowledged the evolution of the urban context. In this article, I question the representation of urban space formulated by these plans and the way they were constructed by consultants coming from different cultural backgrounds and having specific objectives. The article describes how Siem Reap’s built heritage and recent urban phenomena are perceived and analyzes how internationally shared notions and principles (e.g., the discourse of “sustainable development” influence the imagination of future urban development. Faced with the failure of this series of plans, Siem Reap appears to be the backdrop to where evolving urban imagination takes place.

An Urban Way of Life

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Haase, Kirstine

This paper presents how my PhD project “An Urban Way of life – practices, networks and identities in Odense 1100-1500 AD” engages with the overall research perspectives presented in the research and public outreach project “Urban Encounters”. I will explore how urbanism in Medieval Odense can...... of the cultural deposits and sampling for scientific analysis. It resulted in an extensive finds assemblage and well-preserved structures such as booths, houses, byres and stables, latrines, paths, roads, fences, manure heaps and much more with a vast potential for further research. One of the features...... was a large latrine from the 15th century that contained a variety of finds such as coopered beakers, seeds from plants or fruits and ceramics. The latrine does not only tell about people and practices of daily life but studied with a contextual approach and chaine operatoire as point of departure...

Race, Class, and Cultural Reproduction: Critical Theories in Urban Education

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Elaine M. Walker

2003-11-01

Full Text Available In spite of decades of reform attempts urban education remains an intractable policy issue for educators. National and state level data continue to show disparities in educational achievement and attainment between students from affluent and poor urban communities. If past policies have not proven to be effective in substantially improving urban educational systems the question is why? In this paper the argument is raised that urban educational policies lack sound epistemological grounding. Policies are divorced from an understanding of the “urban problematic”. Functionalist in orientation these policies have for the most part sought to “fix” urban schools by focusing on micro-ecological issues. In this paper three theoretical perspectives are explored for their potential contribution to inform research and policy on urban educational issues. The three perspectives are: 1 class theories 2 critical race theory and 3 cultural reproduction theories.

The implementation of biofiltration systems, rainwater tanks and urban irrigation in a single-layer urban canopy model

Science.gov (United States)

Demuzere, Matthias; Coutts, Andrew; Goehler, Maren; Broadbent, Ashley; Wouters, Hendrik; van Lipzig, Nicole; Gebert, Luke

2015-04-01

Urban vegetation is generally considered as a key tool to modify the urban energy balance through enhanced evapotranspiration (ET). Given that vegetation is most effective when it is healthy, stormwater harvesting and retention strategies (such as water sensitive urban design) could be used to support vegetation and promote ET. This study presents the implementation of a vegetated lined bio-filtration system (BFS) combined with a rainwater tank (RWT) and urban irrigation system in the single-layer urban canopy model Community Land Model-Urban. Runoff from roof and impervious road surface fractions is harvested and used to support an adequate soil moisture level for vegetation in the BFS. In a first stage, modelled soil moisture dynamics are evaluated and found reliable compared to observed soil moisture levels from biofiltration pits in Smith Street, Melbourne (Australia). Secondly, the impact of BFS, RWT and urban irrigation on ET is illustrated for a two-month period in 2012 using varying characteristics for all components. Results indicate that (i) a large amount of stormwater is potentially available for indoor and outdoor water demands, including irrigation of urban vegetation, (ii) ET from the BFS is an order of magnitude larger compared to the contributions from the impervious surfaces, even though the former only covers 10% of the surface fraction and (iii) attention should be paid to the cover fraction and soil texture of the BFS, size of the RWT and the surface fractions contributing to the collection of water in the RWT. Overall, this study reveals that this model development can effectuate future research with state-of-the-art urban climate models to further explore the benefits of vegetated biofiltration systems as a water sensitive urban design tool optimised with an urban irrigation system to maintain healthy vegetation.

A critical knowledge pathway to a sustainable future in an urbanizing planet

Science.gov (United States)

Romero-Lankao, P.

2014-12-01

The pace and scale of contemporary urbanization is a defining feature of the Anthropocene, which characterizes the dominance of human influence on the global environment. Although urban areas occupy less than three percent of the global land surface, they have global-scale impacts on natural resources, social dynamics, human wellbeing and the environment. The global environmental changes already underway are profound and in some ways irreversible. Altogether, these have serious implications for future human and environmental health, and social wellbeing. Despite considerable research and policy attention to cities, efforts are strongly needed towards integration that builds upon this and facilitates intensive interactions among disciplines in developing new perspectives, theory and methods for understanding urbanizations and urban systems as they drive and are affected by global environmental change, and for exploring options to achieve sustainability and resilience in an urbanizing world. I will present initial outcomes from a 2014 NSF/Future Earth-funded activity to develop a co-designed and interdisciplinary urban initiative within the Future Earth framework. The complexity of urban systems and the global sustainability challenges we face require inter- and trans-disciplinary research approaches that adopt a contextual approach to finding solutions. I will synthesize perspectives spanning multiple urban research and practice communities from workshops that took place over 2014 including the 2104 UGEC Conference, where emphasis was given to exploring: knowledge gaps and key urban research and socially-relevant questions moving forward; major challenges and opportunities for developing conceptual and methodological frameworks that support the global transformation to sustainability in the context of an urbanizing planet; operational mechanisms that must be in place for a successful interdisciplinary urban project that fits within Future Earth.

Urban gardens: catalysts for restorative commons infrastructure

Science.gov (United States)

John Seitz

2009-01-01

One of 18 articles inspired by the Meristem 2007 Forum, "Restorative Commons for Community Health." The articles include interviews, case studies, thought pieces, and interdisciplinary theoretical works that explore the relationship between human health and the urban...

Exploring the Impacts of School Reforms on Underrepresented Urban Students' College Persistence

Science.gov (United States)

Yavuz, Olcay

2016-01-01

This longitudinal quantitative study investigates how participation in the Comprehensive College Readiness Access and Success Program (CCRASP) affects underrepresented urban students' college persistence. Results revealed that CCRASP participation was associated with higher percentages of students enrolling in both 2- and 4-year colleges as…

Tumours in white suckers from Lake Michigan tributaries: Pathology and prevalence

Science.gov (United States)

Blazer, Vicki S.; Walsh, H.L.; Braham, R.P.; Hahn, C. M.; Mazik, P.; McIntyre, P.B.

2016-01-01

The prevalence and histopathology of neoplastic lesions were assessed in white suckerCatostomus commersonii captured at two Lake Michigan Areas of Concern (AOCs), the Sheboygan River and Milwaukee Estuary. Findings were compared to those observed at two non-AOC sites, the Root and Kewaunee rivers. At each site, approximately 200 adult suckers were collected during their spawning migration. Raised skin lesions were observed at all sites and included discrete white spots, mucoid plaques on the body surface and fins and large papillomatous lesions on lips and body. Microscopically, hyperplasia, papilloma and squamous cell carcinoma were documented. Liver neoplasms were also observed at all sites and included both hepatocellular and biliary tumours. Based on land use, the Kewaunee River was the site least impacted by human activities previously associated with fish tumours and had significantly fewer liver neoplasms when compared to the other sites. The proportion of white suckers with liver tumours followed the same patterns as the proportion of urban land use in the watershed: the Milwaukee Estuary had the highest prevalence, followed by the Root, Sheboygan and Kewaunee rivers. The overall skin neoplasm (papilloma and carcinoma) prevalence did not follow the same pattern, although the percentage of white suckers with squamous cell carcinoma exhibited a similar relationship to land use. Testicular tumours (seminoma) were observed at both AOC sites but not at the non-AOC sites. Both skin and liver tumours were significantly and positively associated with age but not sex.

Urban water - a new frontier in isotope hydrology.

Science.gov (United States)

Ehleringer, James R; Barnette, Janet E; Jameel, Yusuf; Tipple, Brett J; Bowen, Gabriel J

2016-01-01

Isotope hydrology has focused largely on landscapes away from densely inhabited regions. In coming decades, it will become increasingly more important to focus on water supplies and dynamics within urban systems. Stable isotope analyses provide important information to water managers within large cities, particularly in arid regions where evaporative histories of water sources, vulnerabilities, and reliabilities of the water supplies can be major issues. Here the spatial and vertical understanding of water supporting urban systems that comes from stable isotope analyses can serve as a useful management tool. We explore this research frontier using the coupled natural-human landscape of the Salt Lake Valley, USA, with its greater than one million inhabitants. We first provide data on the stable isotope ratios of the hydrologic system's primary components: precipitation, incoming surface waters, and terminus waters in this closed basin. We then explore the spatial and temporal patterns of drinking waters within the urban landscape and the new opportunities to better link isotope ratio data with short- and long-term management interests of water managers.

Urban lifestyle and urban biodiversity

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Petersen, L. K.; Lyytimäki, J.; Normander, B.

2007-01-01

This report is concerned with the relations between lifestyles of urban populations on one hand and protection of biodiversity in urban areas on the other. Urban areas are of importance for the general protection of biodiversity. In the surroundings of cities and within urban sprawls there can...... biodiversity, recreational, educational and other needs. However, uncovered and unsealed space is constantly under pressure for building and infrastructure development in the urban landscape, and the design and usages of urban green structure is a matter of differing interests and expectations. Integrating...... the green needs of urban lifestyle in the planning process does not come by itself. Nor does finding the synergies between urban lifestyle and urban biodiversity. Careful planning including stakeholder involvement is required. In this process various mapping techniques and use of indicators can be most...

Essays in Societal System Dynamics and Transportation : Report of the Third Annual Workshop in Urban and Regional Systems Analysis

Science.gov (United States)

1981-03-01

This document contains the White Papers on urban-regional modeling presented at the Workshop as well as additional research papers aimed at increasing our understanding of the relationships between transportation and society. The ultimate aim is to p...

Perceived cancer risk: why is it lower among nonwhites than whites?

Science.gov (United States)

Orom, Heather; Kiviniemi, Marc T; Underwood, Willie; Ross, Levi; Shavers, Vickie L

2010-03-01

We explored racial/ethnic differences in perceived cancer risk and determinants of these differences in a nationally representative sample of whites, blacks, Hispanics, and Asians. Multiple regression techniques, including mediational analyses, were used to identify determinants and quantify racial/ethnic differences in the perception of the risk of developing cancer among 5,581 adult respondents to the 2007 Health Information Trends Survey (HINTS). Blacks, Hispanics, and Asians reported lower perceived cancer risk than whites [Bs = -0.40, -0.34, and -0.69, respectively; (Ps risk were attenuated in older respondents because perceived cancer risk was negatively associated with age for whites but not for nonwhites. Nonwhites had lower perceptions of cancer risk than whites. Some of the racial/ethnic variability in perceived risk may be due to racial and ethnic differences in awareness of one's family history of cancer and its relevance for cancer risk, experiences with behavioral risk factors, and salience of cancer risk information.

Understanding, preventing urban violence in Kinshasa | IDRC ...

International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)

2015-11-05

Nov 5, 2015 ... ... are exploring the underlying dynamics of life in the capital city and analyzing how they ... poverty, and inequality that holds the key to understanding the links between ... Social cohesion: solution or driver of urban violence?

Evolution of double white dwarf binaries undergoing direct-impact accretion: Implications for gravitational wave astronomy

Science.gov (United States)

Kremer, Kyle; Breivik, Katelyn; Larson, Shane L.; Kalogera, Vassiliki

2017-01-01

For close double white dwarf binaries, the mass-transfer phenomenon known as direct-impact accretion (when the mass transfer stream impacts the accretor directly rather than forming a disc) may play a pivotal role in the long-term evolution of the systems. In this analysis, we explore the long-term evolution of white dwarf binaries accreting through direct-impact and explore implications of such systems to gravitational wave astronomy. We cover a broad range of parameter space which includes initial component masses and the strength of tidal coupling, and show that these systems, which lie firmly within the LISA frequency range, show strong negative chirps which can last as long as several million years. Detections of double white dwarf systems in the direct-impact phase by detectors such as LISA would provide astronomers with unique ways of probing the physics governing close compact object binaries.

A Socio-Ecological Exploration of Fear of Crime in Urban Green Spaces

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Maruthaveeran, Sreetheran

of crime in Malaysia and possibly also other countries. It is pertinent to further investigate the interactions of the attributes (e.g., dense vegetation, graffiti, presence of drug addicts) which evoke fear of crime in urban green spaces. Although it is important to investigate how physical...

Multi level governance framework for sustainable urban mobility

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Gudmundsson, Henrik

2013-01-01

Cities constitute the backbone of European historic development and provide the basis of its economic future. The near neglect of cities in existing European policies for sustainable growth and development such as the Europe 2020 strategy is untenable. The 2011 White Paper has sought to face...... seem essential to move cities beyond business as usual. Research-wise we need to understand in more detail the political and contextual background for successes - and failures - of European cities. This could help build an effective multi level governance framework for sustainable urban mobility...

Urban School Chiefs Under Fire.

Science.gov (United States)

Cuban, Larry

This study examines three veteran urban school superintendents who were highly respected by their colleagues but who came under intense pressure from forces outside the school systems in the 1960's. Chapter 1 explores the context of the desegregation controversy and the furor over an independent evaluation that faced Benjamin C. Willis in Chicago.…

From Slum Clearance to Urban Policy

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Vagnby, Bo Hellisen; Jensen, Ole B.

2002-01-01

the physical and social living conditions in the cities, as well as discussing the actors and their interests behind these approaches. Thus the aim is to use the theory of planning dosctrine to investigate how Danish urban policy has changed historically, under different rationales and on behalf of different......The article explores the societal conditions under which the various approaches to Danish housing improvement and urban renewal have been exercised since the early part of the 20th century. In doing, so, the article analyses the specific approaches used by the Danish state in order to improve...... stakeholder interests and powers....

RE-EXPLORING LATE OTTOMAN BUILDINGS IN TODAY’S ISTANBUL

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Irem Maro Kırış

2013-07-01

Full Text Available The late-Ottoman early-Republican period had delineated a unique, heterogeneous  stage in the course of Istanbul’s transformation into a modern city. Istanbul at the turn of the 19th century, exhibited a setting under influence of political, ideological, historical, cultural and social factors. The active, long settlement history, imperial heritage, urban texture, cosmopolitan social structure, metropolitan growth, westernization, nationalism, demands of contemporary city life, the modern integrating with the existent local were among them. In this study, architecture of the late-Ottoman Istanbul will be explored through selected buildings that reflected the architectural/urban development of their time, held significance in terms of function, form/style, technology and urban features, represented leading architects’ work, specific trends, and marked strategic locations. Consecutive part of the study will cover a re-exploration of these buildings in their current condition, after a century has passed since they were constructed. Such a  comparison, besides providing a record of urban transformation in Istanbul, discloses different faces of the encounter with globalization, and points to contemporary local and global architectural problems of the metropolis in general.

Exploiting Earth observation data pools for urban analysis: the TEP URBAN project

Science.gov (United States)

Heldens, W.; Esch, T.; Asamer, H.; Boettcher, M.; Brito, F.; Hirner, A.; Marconcini, M.; Mathot, E.; Metz, A.; Permana, H.; Zeidler, J.; Balhar, J.; Soukop, T.; Stankek, F.

2017-10-01

Large amounts of Earth observation (EO) data have been collected to date, to increase even more rapidly with the upcoming Sentinel data. All this data contains unprecedented information, yet it is hard to retrieve, especially for nonremote sensing specialists. As we live in an urban era, with more than 50% of the world population living in cities, urban studies can especially benefit from the EO data. Information is needed for sustainable development of cities, for the understanding of urban growth patterns or for studying the threats of natural hazards or climate change. Bridging this gap between the technology-driven EO sector and the information needs of environmental science, planning, and policy is the driver behind the TEP-Urban project. Modern information technology functionalities and services are tested and implemented in the Urban Thematic Exploitation Platform (U-TEP). The platform enables interested users to easily exploit and generate thematic information on the status and development of the environment based on EO data and technologies. The beta version of the web platform contains value added basic earth observation data, global thematic data sets, and tools to derive user specific indicators and metrics. The code is open source and the architecture of the platform allows adding of new data sets and tools. These functionalities and concepts support the four basic use scenarios of the U-TEP platform: explore existing thematic content; task individual on-demand analyses; develop, deploy and offer your own content or application; and, learn more about innovative data sets and methods.

Urbanization impacts on mammals across urban-forest edges and a predictive model of edge effects.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nélida R Villaseñor

Full Text Available With accelerating rates of urbanization worldwide, a better understanding of ecological processes at the wildland-urban interface is critical to conserve biodiversity. We explored the effects of high and low-density housing developments on forest-dwelling mammals. Based on habitat characteristics, we expected a gradual decline in species abundance across forest-urban edges and an increased decline rate in higher contrast edges. We surveyed arboreal mammals in sites of high and low housing density along 600 m transects that spanned urban areas and areas turn on adjacent native forest. We also surveyed forest controls to test whether edge effects extended beyond our edge transects. We fitted models describing richness, total abundance and individual species abundance. Low-density housing developments provided suitable habitat for most arboreal mammals. In contrast, high-density housing developments had lower species richness, total abundance and individual species abundance, but supported the highest abundances of an urban adapter (Trichosurus vulpecula. We did not find the predicted gradual decline in species abundance. Of four species analysed, three exhibited no response to the proximity of urban boundaries, but spilled over into adjacent urban habitat to differing extents. One species (Petaurus australis had an extended negative response to urban boundaries, suggesting that urban development has impacts beyond 300 m into adjacent forest. Our empirical work demonstrates that high-density housing developments have negative effects on both community and species level responses, except for one urban adapter. We developed a new predictive model of edge effects based on our results and the literature. To predict animal responses across edges, our framework integrates for first time: (1 habitat quality/preference, (2 species response with the proximity to the adjacent habitat, and (3 spillover extent/sensitivity to adjacent habitat boundaries. This

Disparity in Breast Cancer Late Stage at Diagnosis in Missouri: Does Rural Versus Urban Residence Matter?

Science.gov (United States)

Williams, Faustine; Thompson, Emmanuel

2016-06-01

Despite the fact that black women have a lower incidence of breast cancer compared to white women, black women experience higher death rates than any other group. We examined the stage of breast cancer presentation by race and geographic region using population-based breast cancer incidence in all 115 counties in the state of Missouri. We used 2003-2008 breast cancer incidence data from Missouri Cancer Registry and Research Center. County of residence was categorized as urban or rural using the rural-urban continuum code. We computed the conditional proportion of stage at diagnosis by race and metropolitan status and also used Pearson's chi-squared test with Yates' continuity correction to determine statistical significance of association. Results of the study indicate that a greater proportion of black women (38.8 %) compared to white women (30.2 %) were diagnosed with more advanced breast metastasis. Our results further suggest that stage at diagnosis depended on county of residence or metropolitan status (p = .04). Women living in non-metropolitan counties were slightly more likely to have late-stage breast cancer than their metropolitan counterparts (32.0 vs 30.7 %). Overall, black women had 1.5-fold increased odds of late-stage breast cancer diagnosis compared to their white counterparts (OR = 1.50; 95 % CI, 1.39, 1.63; p diagnosis among women living in non-metropolitan or rural counties was over 11 % higher compared with their metropolitan or urban counterpart. The current study corroborates previous findings that the risk of late-stage breast cancer diagnosis was higher among women residing in non-metropolitan rural counties.

Differential diagnosis of white matter diseases in the tropics: An overview

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Pandit Lekha

2009-01-01

Full Text Available In hospitals in the tropics, the availability of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI facilities in urban areas and especially in teaching institutions have resulted in white matter diseases being frequently reported in a variety of clinical settings. Unlike the west where multiple sclerosis (MS is the commonest white matter disease encountered, in the tropics, there are myriad causes for the same. Infectious and post infectious disorders probably account for the vast majority of these diseases. Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV infection tops the list of infective conditions. Central nervous system (CNS tuberculosis occasionally presents with patchy parenchymal lesions unaccompanied by meningeal involvement. Human T cell leukemia virus (HTLV infection and cystic inflammatory lesions such as neurocysticercosis are important causes to be considered in the differential diagnosis. Diagnosing post infectious demyelinating disorders is equally challenging since more than a third of cases seen in the tropics do not present with history of past infection or vaccinations. Metabolic and deficiency disorders such as Wernicke′s encephalopathy, osmotic demyelinating syndrome associated with extra pontine lesions and Vitamin B12 deficiency states can occassionaly cause confusion in diagnosis. This review considers a few important disorders which manifest with white matter changes on MRI and create diagnostic difficulties in a population in the tropics.

Eight energy and material flow characteristics of urban ecosystems.

Science.gov (United States)

Bai, Xuemei

2016-11-01

Recent decades have seen an expanding literature exploring urban energy and material flows, loosely branded as urban metabolism analysis. However, this has occurred largely in parallel to the mainstream studies of cities as ecosystems. This paper aims to conceptually bridge these two distinctive fields of research, by (a) identifying the common aspects between them; (b) identifying key characteristics of urban ecosystems that can be derived from energy and material flow analysis, namely energy and material budget and pathways; flow intensity; energy and material efficiency; rate of resource depletion, accumulation and transformation; self-sufficiency or external dependency; intra-system heterogeneity; intersystem and temporal variation; and regulating mechanism and governing capacity. I argue that significant ecological insight can be, or has the potential to be, drawn from the rich and rapidly growing empirical findings of urban metabolism studies to understand the behaviour of cities as human-dominated, complex systems. A closer intellectual linkage and cross pollination between urban metabolism and urban ecosystem studies will advance our scientific understanding and better inform urban policy and management practices.

Data for Participation and Participation as Data: Supporting Incremental Participatory Decision-Making in Urban Planning

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ddamba, Joshua; Dittrich, Yvonne

2015-01-01

Current literature on urban planning explores how to use ICT to support citizen participation. Advances in open data and its possibility to easily represent data on maps, opens up new opportunities to support participation and decision making in urban projects. This article investigates how spatial...... process and the decisions that are part of it. The paper concludes with design implications for decision support for urban planning. In future research, the intention is to explore these implications in a Participatory Design process....... of an urban renewal project, the article investigates the use of structured and unstructured data for participation. The fieldwork is conducted using ethnographically inspired methods, based on participatory observations, interviews and document analysis. As a result, the incremental decisions, the resulting...

Growing quality of life: urban trees, birth weight, and crime

Science.gov (United States)

John Kirkland; Geoffrey Donovan

2011-01-01

City dwellers can find many reasons to value neighborhood trees. The urban greenery provides relief from the built environment that many find appealing. In fact, a previous study found that a tree in front of a home increased that home's sales price by more than $7,000. Two new studies explore the measurable effects that urban trees and green spaces have a human...

A Comparison of Colour and Black and White T. V.

Science.gov (United States)

Reich, Carol; Meisner, Alan

The relative educational effectiveness of color vs. black and white television has not been exhaustively explored. While previous studies have concentrated on the factual retention of subject matter--bypassing the subjective attitudes--this study was designed to thoroughly analyze both areas. Using Osgood's Semantic Differential and the Liking…

Gender differences in the effects of urban neighborhood on depressive symptoms in Jamaica.

Science.gov (United States)

Mullings, Jasneth Asher; McCaw-Binns, Affette Michelle; Archer, Carol; Wilks, Rainford

2013-12-01

To explore the mental health effects of the urban neighborhood on men and women in Jamaica and the implications for urban planning and social development. A cross-sectional household sample of 2 848 individuals 15-74 years of age obtained from the Jamaica Health and Lifestyle Survey 2007-2008 was analyzed. Secondary analysis was undertaken by developing composite scores to describe observer recorded neighborhood features, including infrastructure, amenities/services, physical conditions, community socioeconomic status, and green spaces around the home. Depressive symptoms were assessed using the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV). Bivariate and multivariate methods were used to explore the associations among gender, neighborhood factors, and risk of depressive symptoms. While no associations were found among rural residents, urban neighborhoods were associated with increased risk of depressive symptoms. Among males, residing in a neighborhood with poor infrastructure increased risk; among females, residing in an informal community/unplanned neighborhood increased risk. The urban neighborhood contributes to the risk of depression symptomatology in Jamaica, with different environmental stressors affecting men and women. Urban and social planners need to consider the physical environment when developing health interventions in urban settings, particularly in marginalized communities.

Sa Pusod ng Lungsod: Mga Alamat, Mga Kababalaghan Bilang Mitolohiyang Urban

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Eugene Y. Evasco

2000-06-01

Full Text Available Local urban legends such as narratives about supernatural occurrences and mythological characters-the manananggal of Tondo; white lady at Loakan Road, Baguio, and Balete Drive, Quezon City; the kambal-ahas of Robinson's Galleria and a mall in Davao City; pugot-ulo of Tagaytay City; engkantada of the market; tiyanak; mandaragit (Haring Kuto; salvation army of Calbayog City; the lost souls in the buildings which have existed since the Philippine Revolution and the World War II; and the anitos in mango and aratiles trees within the city-are intimately connected with the folk beliefs, philosophy, and mythology of the country. Interview results from various urbanized locales in the Philippines provide the context of the metaphor, motif, and images in the stories via a yearlong documentation and transcription. They also corroborate what sociologists and anthropologists have previously concluded, that the tensions due to urbanization, alienation, politics, technology, militarization, ecological degradation, and industrialization have been instrumental in the creation of modern folklore. The development of oral literature in the Philippines and the use of urban legends have effectively contributed to the production of popular culture and literature of the Philippines.

Social and economic well-being in the conditions of the urban space: the evolution of methodological approaches in the historical urban studies

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ageev Ilya

2016-01-01

Full Text Available A city as a type of a human settlement is characterized by high population density, welldeveloped infrastructure, comfortable living conditions. However, a city is a source of social problems due to high population density, limited resources and conflicts between indigenous population and newcomers. The article analyzes the development of research about the city, provides an assessment of the scope of the historical urban studies in the development of solutions to contemporary problems of urban space. Methodological resource of historical urban studies allows fully exploring the city as a set of historically interconnected spaces and social processes. The analysis of the problem field of historical urban studies at various stages of its formation allowed tracing the evolution of ideas about the city as an object of scientific knowledge, to identify future prospects of research on conditions of Russian urban development, to improve the comfort of living in them.

Monitoring the trajectory of urban nighttime light hotspots using a Gaussian volume model

Science.gov (United States)

Zheng, Qiming; Jiang, Ruowei; Wang, Ke; Huang, Lingyan; Ye, Ziran; Gan, Muye; Ji, Biyong

2018-03-01

Urban nighttime light hotspot is an ideal representation of the spatial heterogeneity of human activities within a city, which is sensitive to regional urban expansion pattern. However, most of previous studies related to nighttime light imageries focused on extracting urban extent, leaving the spatial variation of radiance intensity insufficiently explored. With the help of global radiance calibrated DMSP-OLS datasets (NTLgrc), we proposed an innovative framework to explore the spatio-temporal trajectory of polycentric urban nighttime light hotspots. Firstly, NTLgrc was inter-annually calibrated to improve the consistency. Secondly, multi-resolution segmentation and region-growing SVM classification were employed to remove blooming effect and to extract potential clusters. At last, the urban hotspots were identified by a Gaussian volume model, and the resulting parameters were used to quantitatively depict hotspot features (i.e., intensity, morphology and centroid dynamics). The result shows that our framework successfully captures hotspots in polycentric urban area, whose Ra2 are over 0.9. Meanwhile, the spatio-temporal dynamics of the hotspot features intuitively reveal the impact of the regional urban growth pattern and planning strategies on human activities. Compared to previous studies, our framework is more robust and offers an effective way to describe hotspot pattern. Also, it provides a more comprehensive and spatial-explicit understanding regarding the interaction between urbanization pattern and human activities. Our findings are expected to be beneficial to governors in term of sustainable urban planning and decision making.

Association of food security status with overweight and dietary intake: exploration of White British and Pakistani-origin families in the Born in Bradford cohort.

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, T C; Sahota, P; Pickett, K E; Bryant, M

2018-04-24

Food insecurity has been associated with dietary intake and weight status in UK adults and children although results have been mixed and ethnicity has not been explored. We aimed to compare prevalence and trajectories of weight and dietary intakes among food secure and insecure White British and Pakistani-origin families. At 12 months postpartum, mothers in the Born in Bradford cohort completed a questionnaire on food security status and a food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) assessing their child's intake in the previous month; at 18 months postpartum, mothers completed a short-form FFQ assessing dietary intake in the previous 12 months. Weights and heights of mothers and infants were assessed at 12-, 24-, and 36-months postpartum, with an additional measurement of children taken at 4-5 years. Associations between food security status and dietary intakes were assessed using Wilcoxon-Mann-Whitney for continuous variables and χ 2 or Fisher's exact tests for categorical variables. Quantile and logistic regression were used to determine dietary intakes adjusting for mother's age. Linear mixed effects models were used to assess longitudinal changes in body mass index (BMI) in mothers and BMI z-scores in children. At 12 months postpartum, White British mothers reported more food insecurity than Pakistani-origin mothers (11% vs 7%; p secure (β = 0.44 units, 95% CI: 0.33, 0.55). This was also found in Pakistani-origin children (BMI z-score: food insecure β = 0.40 units, 95% CI: 0.22, 0.59; food secure β = 0.25 units, 95% CI: 0.20, 0.29). No significant increases in BMI were observed for food secure or insecure White British mothers while BMI z-score increased by 0.17 (95% CI: 0.13, 0.21) for food secure White British children. Food insecure mothers and children had dietary intakes of poorer quality, with fewer vegetables and higher consumption of sugar-sweetened drinks. Food security status is associated with body weight and dietary intakes

Lessons for Asteroseismology from White Dwarf Stars

OpenAIRE

Metcalfe, Travis S.

2005-01-01

The interpretation of pulsation data for Sun-like stars is currently facing challenges quite similar to those faced by white dwarf modelers ten years ago. The observational requirements for uninterrupted long-term monitoring are beginning to be satisfied by successful multi-site campaigns and dedicated satellite missions. But exploration of the most important physical parameters in theoretical models has been fairly limited, making it difficult to establish a detailed best-fit model for a par...

Morphological patterns of urban sprawl territories

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Angelica I. Stan

2013-12-01

Full Text Available In the context of global criticism on urban sprawl, the questions which arises are: what can we do with the expansion forms already occurred in most part of our cities; can they be fully or partially integrated into the city? But first, which exactly are the common morphological features of urban expansion areas in large European cities, and (by comparison in Romania? The urban form correlated to these „sparwl patterns” and „sprawl mechanisms” shows more then the lack of planning, but a social input in occuping the territory, related with a specific meaning of the landscape. The paper explores the relationship between the five distinct morphological patterns ways of forming in relation to spatial and landscape shapes which they generate, in the territories of sprawl, all illustrated through case studies of Bucharest.

Success in One High-Poverty, Urban Elementary School: A Case Study

Science.gov (United States)

Holman, Shavonna Leigh

2011-01-01

The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore the efforts implemented in a high-poverty, urban elementary school in order to increase academic achievement. The central research question was: (1) How do teachers and administrators in a high-poverty, urban school describe the strategies they use to achieve academic success? The sub-questions…

Visualizing Conflict: Possibilities for Urban Research

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Juan Francisco Saldarriaga

2017-04-01

Full Text Available The Center for Spatial Research (CSR is undertaking a multiyear project investigating what we have termed Conflict Urbanism. The term designates not simply the conflicts that take place in cities, but also conflict as a structuring principle of cities intrinsically, as a way of inhabiting and creating urban space. The increasing urbanization of warfare and the policing and surveillance of everyday life are examples of the term (Graham, 2010; Misselwitz & Rieniets, 2006; Weizman, 2014, but conflict is not limited to war and violence. Cities are not only destroyed but also built through conflict. They have long been arenas of friction, difference, and dissidence, and their irreducibly conflictual character manifests itself in everything from neighborhood borders, to differences of opinion and status, to ordinary encounters on the street. One major way in which CSR undertakes research is through interrogating the world of ‘big data.’ This includes analyzing newly accessible troves of ‘urban data,’ working to open up new areas of research and inquiry, as well as focusing on data literacy as an essential part of communicating with these new forms of urban information. In what follows we discuss two projects currently under way at CSR that use mapping and data visualization to explore and analyze Conflict Urbanism in two different contexts: the city of Aleppo, and the nation of Colombia.

White Ring; White ring

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Aoki, H.; Yuzawa, H. [Nikken Sekkei Ltd., Osaka (Japan)

1998-01-05

White Ring is a citizen`s gymnasium used for figure skating and short track speed skating games of 18th Winter Olympic Games in 1998. White Ring is composed of a main-arena and a sub-arena. For the main-arena with an area 41mtimes66m, an ice link can be made by disengaging the potable floor and by flowing brine in the bridged polystyrene pipes embedded in the concrete floor. Due to the fortunate groundwater in this site, well water is used for the outside air treatment energy in 63% during heating and in 35% during cooling. Ammonia is used as a cooling medium for refrigerating facility. For the heating of audience area in the large space, heat load from the outside is reduced by enhancing the heat insulation performance of the roof of arena. The audience seats are locally heated using heaters. For the White Ring, high quality environment is realized for games through various functions of the large-scale roof of the large space. Success of the big event was expected. 15 figs., 4 tabs.

Bose-Einstein condensation in helium white dwarf stars. I

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Mosquera, M.E. [Faculty of Astronomy and Geophysics, University of La Plata, Paseo del Bosque s.n., La Plata (Argentina); Department of Physics, University of La Plata, c.c. 67 1900, La Plata (Argentina); Civitarese, O., E-mail: osvaldo.civitarese@fisica.unlp.edu.a [Department of Physics, University of La Plata, c.c. 67 1900, La Plata (Argentina); Benvenuto, O.G.; De Vito, M.A. [Faculty of Astronomy and Geophysics, University of La Plata, Paseo del Bosque s.n., La Plata (Argentina); Instituto de Astrofisica La Plata, CCT (Argentina)

2010-01-18

The formation of a Bose-Einstein condensate in the interior of helium white dwarfs stars is discussed. Following the proposal made by Gabadadze and Rosen, we have explored the consequences of such a mechanism by calculating the cooling time of the stars. We have found that it is shorter than the value predicted by the standard model.

The Role of Native Tree Species on Leaf Breakdown Dynamics of the Invasive Tree of Heaven ( Ailanthus altissima) in an Urban Stream

Science.gov (United States)

Swan, C.; Healey, B.

2005-05-01

Anthropogenic disturbance of ecosystem processes is increasingly being explored in urban settings. One profound impact is the striking increase in the distribution of invasive plant species. For example, Tree of Heaven (Ailanthus altissima, TOH), introduced into the U.S. from Asia in 1784, is a successful colonist of recently deforested habitats. As a result, remnant patches in urban ecosystems have become overrun with this tree species, excluding native species via fast growth and allelopathy. While suffering from human-induced degradation, urban streams still support food webs that function to process riparian-derived organic matter (e.g., leaves, wood). The purpose of this study was to (1) estimate leaf litter breakdown of native tree leaves and those of TOH in an urban stream, (2) study the detritivore feeding rate of the same leaf species, and (3) determine if increasing native species richness of leaf litter can alter breakdown of TOH leaves. Field manipulations of leaf pack composition were done in a highly urbanized stream (>30% upstream urban land use) in Baltimore County, Maryland, USA. This was complimented by a series of laboratory feeding experiments employing similar leaf treatments and local shredding invertebrate taxa. Breakdown of TOH alone was extremely rapid, significantly exceeding that of all native tree species employed. Furthermore, mixing TOH with native tree species, red maple and white oak, substantially reduced TOH decay compared to decay of TOH alone. However, supporting laboratory studies showed that TOH was a preferred resource by shredding invertebrates over all native species. Subsequent analysis of the structural integrity of all leaf species revealed that TOH was the least resistant to force, possibly explaining the counterintuitive decrease of TOH decay in mixtures. We interpret this as meaning the stream invertebrates, while preferring to consume TOH, appeared not to influence TOH decay in mixtures with native species. Instead

Intended Consequences: Challenging White Teachers' Habitus and Its Influence in Urban Schools Implementing an Arts-Based Educational Reform

Science.gov (United States)

Woollen, Susan; Otto, Stacy

2014-01-01

Reform efforts like the urban, arts-based initiative Project ARTS are designed to provide intentional, equitable methods of improving students' learning, yet few urban educators have been sufficiently trained to recognize differences in habitus between themselves and their students. For equitable reform to occur teachers must understand their…

Evidence for Functional Networks within the Human Brain's White Matter.

Science.gov (United States)

Peer, Michael; Nitzan, Mor; Bick, Atira S; Levin, Netta; Arzy, Shahar

2017-07-05

brain. However, most fMRI studies ignored a major part of the brain, the white-matter, discarding signals from it as arising from noise. Here we use resting-state fMRI data from 176 subjects to show that signals from the human white-matter contain meaningful information. We identify 12 functional networks composed of interacting long-distance white-matter tracts. Moreover, we show that these networks are highly correlated to resting-state gray-matter networks, highlighting their functional role. Our findings enable reinterpretation of many existing fMRI datasets, and suggest a new way to explore the white-matter role in cognition and its disturbances in neuropsychiatric disorders. Copyright © 2017 the authors 0270-6474/17/376394-14$15.00/0.

Differentiation of African components of ancestry to stratify groups in a case-control study of a Brazilian urban population.

Science.gov (United States)

Silbiger, Vivian N; Hirata, Mario H; Luchessi, Andre D; Genvigir, Fabiana D V; Cerda, Alvaro; Rodrigues, Alice C; Willrich, Maria A V; Arazi, Simone S; Dorea, Egidio L; Bernik, Marcia M S; Faludi, Andre A; Bertolami, Marcelo C; Santos, Carla; Carracedo, Angel; Salas, Antonio; Freire, Ana; Lareu, Maria Victoria; Phillips, Christopher; Porras-Hurtado, Liliana; Fondevila, Manuel; Hirata, Rosario D C

2012-06-01

Balancing the subject composition of case and control groups to create homogenous ancestries between each group is essential for medical association studies. We explored the applicability of single-tube 34-plex ancestry informative markers (AIM) single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) to estimate the African Component of Ancestry (ACA) to design a future case-control association study of a Brazilian urban sample. One hundred eighty individuals (107 case group; 73 control group) self-described as white, brown-intermediate or black were selected. The proportions of the relative contribution of a variable number of ancestral population components were similar between case and control groups. Moreover, the case and control groups demonstrated similar distributions for ACA 0.50 categories. Notably a high number of outlier values (23 samples) were observed among individuals with ACA population. This can be achieved using a straight forward multiplexed AIM-SNPs assay of highly discriminatory ancestry markers.

White Dwarf Stars

OpenAIRE

Kepler, S. O.; Romero, Alejandra Daniela; Pelisoli, Ingrid; Ourique, Gustavo

2017-01-01

White dwarf stars are the final stage of most stars, born single or in multiple systems. We discuss the identification, magnetic fields, and mass distribution for white dwarfs detected from spectra obtained by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey up to Data Release 13 in 2016, which lead to the increase in the number of spectroscopically identified white dwarf stars from 5000 to 39000. This number includes only white dwarf stars with log g >= 6.5 stars, i.e., excluding the Extremely Low Mass white dw...

Urban pram strolling: a mobilities design perspective

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jensen, Martin Trandberg

2017-01-01

This paper explores a neglected mode of mobility through an ethnographic study of pram strollers in Copenhagen. I illustrate the analytic advantages of mobilities design thinking to explore how pram strolling is shaped by material designs and experienced through affective atmospheres, embodied...... the affordances of surfaces. In this process, I relate pram strolling to questions of urban accessibility issues, and more generally, reflect on the future applications and potentials of mobilities design thinking....

Effects of combined-sewer overflows and urban runoff on the water quality of Fall Creek, Indianapolis, Indiana

Science.gov (United States)

Martin, Jeffrey D.

1995-01-01

In 1986, the U.S. Geological Survey and the Indianapolis Department of Public Works began a study to evaluate the effects of combined-sewer overflows and urban runoff discharging to Fall Geek on the White River. This report describes the effects of combined-sewer overflows and urban runoff on the water quality of Fall Creek during summer 1987 by comparing the water quality during base flow with that during storm runoff and by comparing water quality in the urbanized area with that in the less urbanized area upstream from the combined-sewer overflows. Data were collected at three streamflow-gaging stations located upstream from, downstream from, and in the middle of 27 combined-sewer overflows on Fall Creek. The most downstream station also was immediately downstream from the discharge of filter backwash from a water-treatment plant for public supply.

Exploring the role of daily ‘modality styles’ and urban structure in holidays and longer weekend trips

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Große, Juliane; Olafsson, Anton Stahl; Carstensen, Trine Agervig

2018-01-01

comprehensively researched. However, other travel domains (e.g., occasional weekend trips or holidays) have only recently received more attention, despite their environmental impact. The paper investigates whether and how daily travel patterns (‘modality styles’) correspond with non-daily travel behaviour...... in the commuter belt of Greater Copenhagen in spring 2016. First, we identify ‘modality styles’ by grouping the sample based on the respondents’ daily mode choices. Second, we relate the identified modality styles to socio-economic and socio-demographic factors, frequency and mode choice of longer weekend trips...... and holidays, and travel-related attitudes. The results reveal that the urban structure of a residential location (e.g., urban vs. peri-urban) exerts to some extent influence on the constitution of daily modality styles. We found, furthermore, a tendency for more weekend trips and holidays among the urban...

"Who Are Your Friends?" Complexities in Multicultural Education

Science.gov (United States)

Epstein, Shira Eve

2010-01-01

In this paper, I explore the experiences of fourth and fifth grade students engaged in Beyond Today, an urban after school program, that aimed to enact a social reconstructionist multicultural curriculum. The program gathered White, Black, and Latino/a youth to explore issues of discrimination and social justice and develop leadership towards…

The effects of whiteness on the health of whites in the USA.

Science.gov (United States)

Malat, Jennifer; Mayorga-Gallo, Sarah; Williams, David R

2018-02-01

Whites in the USA are the dominant racial group, with greater than average access to most material and social rewards. Yet, while whites have better outcomes than other racial groups on some health indicators, whites paradoxically compare poorly on other measures. Further, whites in the USA also rank poorly in international health comparisons. In this paper, we present a framework that combines the concept of whiteness-a system that socially, economically, and ideologically benefits European descendants and disadvantages people in other groups-with research from a variety of fields in order to comprehensively model the social factors that influence whites' health. The framework we present describes how whiteness and capitalism in the USA shape societal conditions, individual social characteristics and experiences, and psychosocial responses to circumstances to influence health outcomes. We detail specific examples of how social policies supported by whiteness, the narratives of whiteness, and the privileges of whiteness may positively and negatively affect whites' health. In doing so, we suggest several areas for future research that can expand our understanding of how social factors affect health and can contribute to the patterns and paradoxes of whites' health. By expanding research to include theoretically-grounded analyses of the dominant group's health, we can achieve a more complete picture of how systems of racial inequity affect health. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Urban Quality Development & Management

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lehmann, Martin; Fryd, Ole

2008-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this article is to describe and discuss the development and the structure of a new international master on the subject of Urban Quality Development & Management, and explore the potential of the process and the outcome in serving as models adoptable by faculty at other......: Urban quality development and management is dependent on human resource development, institutionalised networks and confident exchange of knowledge, and must identify and incorporate multiple environmental, social, economic and cultural aspects. The authors find that at the core of innovative societies......, an interlinkage exists between practice (business, civil society, governance) and theory (research, education). The case illustrates how a new curriculum takes time to develop and implement and how it relies on confidence and trust between partners, in this case cities and universities, before being able to plant...

Property-driven Urban Change in Post-Socialist Shanghai: Reading the Television Series Woju

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Samuel Y. Liang

2010-01-01

Full Text Available In late 2009, the television series Woju (蜗居 received extremely high audience ratings in major Chinese cities. Its visual narratives engage the public and comment on social developments by presenting detailed pictures of urban change in Shanghai and the everyday lives of a range of urban characters who are involved in and affected by the urban-restructuring process and represent three distinct social groups: “white-collar” immigrants, low-income local residents, and powerful officials. By analysing the visual narratives of these characters, this article highlights the loss of the city’s historical identity and shows how the reorganization of urban space translates into a reallocation of resources, power and prestige among the social groups. The article also shows that Woju repre-sents a new development in literary and television production in the age of the Internet and globalization; its imaginative construct of the city was based on transnational and virtual rather than local and neighbourhood experience. This also testifies to the loss of the city’s established identity in cultural production.

The impact of conventional dietary intake data coding methods on foods typically consumed by low-income African-American and White urban populations.

Science.gov (United States)

Mason, Marc A; Fanelli Kuczmarski, Marie; Allegro, Deanne; Zonderman, Alan B; Evans, Michele K

2015-08-01

Analysing dietary data to capture how individuals typically consume foods is dependent on the coding variables used. Individual foods consumed simultaneously, like coffee with milk, are given codes to identify these combinations. Our literature review revealed a lack of discussion about using combination codes in analysis. The present study identified foods consumed at mealtimes and by race when combination codes were or were not utilized. Duplicate analysis methods were performed on separate data sets. The original data set consisted of all foods reported; each food was coded as if it was consumed individually. The revised data set was derived from the original data set by first isolating coded foods consumed as individual items from those foods consumed simultaneously and assigning a code to designate a combination. Foods assigned a combination code, like pancakes with syrup, were aggregated and associated with a food group, defined by the major food component (i.e. pancakes), and then appended to the isolated coded foods. Healthy Aging in Neighborhoods of Diversity across the Life Span study. African-American and White adults with two dietary recalls (n 2177). Differences existed in lists of foods most frequently consumed by mealtime and race when comparing results based on original and revised data sets. African Americans reported consumption of sausage/luncheon meat and poultry, while ready-to-eat cereals and cakes/doughnuts/pastries were reported by Whites on recalls. Use of combination codes provided more accurate representation of how foods were consumed by populations. This information is beneficial when creating interventions and exploring diet-health relationships.

Risk and protection for HIV/AIDS in African-American, Hispanic, and White adolescents.

Science.gov (United States)

Bartlett, Robin; Buck, Raymond; Shattell, Mona M

2008-07-01

African-Americans and Hispanics are disproportionately affected by HIV/AIDS in the United States. HIV infection is often acquired during adolescence, a time when risky sexual behaviors are at their peak. This study explored relationships among selected risk factors, protective factors, and risky sexual behaviors among African-American, Hispanic, and White adolescents, from a sample of adolescents from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. African-Americans and Hispanics were more likely to have sexual intercourse without the use of birth control than were Whites. African-Americans were more likely to have sexual behavior with multiple sexual partners than either Hispanics or Whites were, and African-Americans had higher self-esteem than did Hispanics and Whites. In order to develop culturally sensitive, effective interventions to prevent HIV/AIDS in adolescents, racial differences in risk and protective factors must be examined.

Global forecasts of urban expansion to 2030 and direct impacts on biodiversity and carbon pools

OpenAIRE

Seto, Karen C.; Güneralp, Burak; Hutyra, Lucy R.

2012-01-01

Urban land-cover change threatens biodiversity and affects ecosystem productivity through loss of habitat, biomass, and carbon storage. However, despite projections that world urban populations will increase to nearly 5 billion by 2030, little is known about future locations, magnitudes, and rates of urban expansion. Here we develop spatially explicit probabilistic forecasts of global urban land-cover change and explore the direct impacts on biodiversity hotspots and tropical carbon biomass. ...

RACE DIFFERENCES IN DIET QUALITY OF URBAN FOOD-INSECURE BLACKS AND WHITES REVEALS RESLIENCY IN BLACKS

Science.gov (United States)

Allen, Allyssa J.; Kuczmarski, Marie Fanelli; Evans, Michele K.; Zonderman, Alan B.; Waldstein, Shari R.

2015-01-01

Introduction Evidence from epidemiological studies shows a link between food insecurity and diet intake or quality. However, the moderating effect of race in this relation has not yet been studied. Methods Food insecurity (USDA Food Security Module) and diet quality (Healthy Eating Index-2010; HEI) were measured in 1,741 participants from the Healthy Aging in Neighborhoods of Diversity across the Life Span (HANDLS) study. Data were collected from 2004–2009 and analyzed in 2014. Multivariable regression assessed the interaction of race and food insecurity on HEI scores, adjusting for age, sex, poverty status, single parent status, drug, alcohol, and cigarette use, and co-morbid diseases. Results The interaction of food insecurity and race was significantly associated with diet quality (p=.001). In the absence of food insecurity, HEI scores were similar across race. However, with each food insecurity item endorsed, HEI scores were substantially lower for Whites compared to Blacks. An ad-hoc analysis revealed that Blacks were more likely than Whites to participate in SNAP (p quality. Conclusions Study findings provide the first evidence that the influence of food insecurity on diet quality may be potentiated for Whites, but not Blacks. Additionally, results show that Blacks are more likely to participate in SNAP, and show attendant buffering of the effects of food insecurity on diet quality. These findings may have important implications for understanding how food insecurity affects diet quality differentially by race. PMID:27294760

Interdisciplinary Pathways for Urban Metabolism Research

Science.gov (United States)

Newell, J. P.

2011-12-01

With its rapid rise as a metaphor to express coupled natural-human systems in cities, the concept of urban metabolism is evolving into a series of relatively distinct research frameworks amongst various disciplines, with varying definitions, theories, models, and emphases. In industrial ecology, housed primarily within the disciplinary domain of engineering, urban metabolism research has focused on quantifying material and energy flows into, within, and out of cities, using methodologies such as material flow analysis and life cycle assessment. In the field of urban ecology, which is strongly influenced by ecology and urban planning, research focus has been placed on understanding and modeling the complex patterns and processes of human-ecological systems within urban areas. Finally, in political ecology, closely aligned with human geography and anthropology, scholars theorize about the interwoven knots of social and natural processes, material flows, and spatial structures that form the urban metabolism. This paper offers three potential interdisciplinary urban metabolism research tracks that might integrate elements of these three "ecologies," thereby bridging engineering and the social and physical sciences. First, it presents the idea of infrastructure ecology, which explores the complex, emergent interdependencies between gray (water and wastewater, transportation, etc) and green (e.g. parks, greenways) infrastructure systems, as nested within a broader socio-economic context. For cities to be sustainable and resilient over time-space, the theory follows, these is a need to understand and redesign these infrastructure linkages. Second, there is the concept of an urban-scale carbon metabolism model which integrates consumption-based material flow analysis (including goods, water, and materials), with the carbon sink and source dynamics of the built environment (e.g. buildings, etc) and urban ecosystems. Finally, there is the political ecology of the material

Landscape based urban drainage - adapting cities to heavier rain storms. P33.09

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Backhaus, A.; Bergman, M.; Birch, Heidi

2009-01-01

Climate changes will lead to more intensive rain events in Northern Europe. This will challenge the capacity of drainage systems in urban areas. Conventional sewer based solutions is reaching its technical and economical limits, and complementing strategies are necessary. The Danish research...... project “Black, Blue and Green –Integrated Infrastructure Planning as Key to Sustainable Urban Water Systems” explores the potentials of local detention and infiltration of rainwater by using the urban landscape. Hydrologists, environmental chemists, landscape architects and urban planners join forces...

Unsightly urban menaces and the rescaling of residential segregation in the United States.

Science.gov (United States)

Hanlon, James

2011-01-01

In this article, the author uses a slum clearance project in Lexington, Kentucky, as a lens through which to examine the spatial dynamics of racial residential segregation during the first half of the twentieth century. At the time, urban migration and upward socioeconomic mobility on the part of African Americans destabilized extant residential segregation patterns. Amid this instability, various spatial practices were employed in the interest of maintaining white social and economic supremacy. The author argues that such practices were indicative of a thoroughgoing reinvention of urban socio-spatial order that in turn precipitated the vastly expanded scale of residential segregation still found in U.S. cities today. Evidence of this reinvented ordering of urban space lies in the rendering of some long-standing African American neighborhoods as “out of place” within it and the use of slum clearance to remove the “menace” such neighborhoods posed to it.

Influence of urban resilience measures in the magnitude and behaviour of energy fluxes in the city of Porto (Portugal) under a climate change scenario.

Science.gov (United States)

Rafael, S; Martins, H; Sá, E; Carvalho, D; Borrego, C; Lopes, M

2016-10-01

Different urban resilience measures, such as the increase of urban green areas and the application of white roofs, were evaluated with the WRF-SUEWS modelling system. The case study consists of five heat waves occurring in Porto (Portugal) urban area in a future climate scenario. Meteorological forcing and boundary data were downscaled for Porto urban area from the CMIP5 earth system model MPI-ESM, for the Representative Concentration Pathway RCP8.5 scenario. The influence of different resilience measures on the energy balance components was quantified and compared between each other. Results show that the inclusion of green urban areas increases the evaporation and the availability of surface moisture, redirecting the energy to the form of latent heat flux (maximum increase of +200Wm(-2)) rather than to sensible heat. The application of white roofs increases the solar radiation reflection, due to the higher albedo of such surfaces, reducing both sensible and storage heat flux (maximum reductions of -62.8 and -35Wm(-2), respectively). The conjugations of the individual benefits related to each resilience measure shows that this measure is the most effective one in terms of improving the thermal comfort of the urban population, particularly due to the reduction of both sensible and storage heat flux. The obtained results contribute to the knowledge of the surface-atmosphere exchanges and can be of great importance for stakeholders and decision-makers. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Cultural Brokers and Student Teachers: A Partnership We Need for Teacher Education in Urban Schools

Science.gov (United States)

Lane, Paula J.

2017-01-01

Paula Lane, who has supervised student teachers at a university in the suburban wine country of northern California for the past 12 years, describes a field experience with a group of new student teachers in an urban school. Like the majority of teacher candidates in education programs, the pre-service teacher education students were White and…

On White Shame and Vulnerability | Bailey | South African Journal of ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

In this paper I address a tension in Vice's claim that humility and silence offer effective moral responses to white shame. Vice describes these twin virtues using inward-turning language of moral self-repair, but she also acknowledges that this 'personal, inward directed project' has relational dimensions. Her failure to explore ...

Blinded by the White: A Comparative Analysis of Jury Challenges on Racial Grounds

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Thalia Anthony

2017-08-01

Full Text Available Indigenous peoples in Australia, the United States and Canada are significantly overrepresented as defendants in criminal trials and yet vastly underrepresented on juries in criminal trials. This means that all-white juries mostly determine the guilt of Indigenous defendants or white defendants responsible for harming Indigenous victims. In this article, we explore cases in which Indigenous defendants have perceived that an all-white jury’s prejudice against Indigenous people would prevent them receiving a fair trial. It focuses on Indigenous defendants (often facing charges in relation to protesting against white racism challenging the array of all-white juries. Across these cases, Australian courts rely on formal notions of fairness in jury selection to dismiss the Indigenous defendant’s perception of bias and foreclose an inquiry into the potential prejudices of white jurors. We compare the Australian judicial ‘colour-blindness’ towards all-white juries with that of the United States and Canada. We argue that the tendency for courts in the United States and Canada to question jurors on their biases provides useful lessons for Australian judiciaries, including in relation to the impending trials of Indigenous defendants in Kalgoorlie, Western Australia, accused of committing crimes in response to white racist violence. Nonetheless, across all jurisdictions where there is a challenge to the array based on racial composition, courts consistently uphold all-white juries. We suggest that the judicial view of the racial neutrality of white jury selection misapprehends the substantive biases in jury selection and the injustice perceived by defendants in having a white jury adjudicate an alleged crime that is committed in circumstances involving protest against white prejudice.

City-integrated renewable energy for urban sustainability.

Science.gov (United States)

Kammen, Daniel M; Sunter, Deborah A

2016-05-20

To prepare for an urban influx of 2.5 billion people by 2050, it is critical to create cities that are low-carbon, resilient, and livable. Cities not only contribute to global climate change by emitting the majority of anthropogenic greenhouse gases but also are particularly vulnerable to the effects of climate change and extreme weather. We explore options for establishing sustainable energy systems by reducing energy consumption, particularly in the buildings and transportation sectors, and providing robust, decentralized, and renewable energy sources. Through technical advancements in power density, city-integrated renewable energy will be better suited to satisfy the high-energy demands of growing urban areas. Several economic, technical, behavioral, and political challenges need to be overcome for innovation to improve urban sustainability. Copyright © 2016, American Association for the Advancement of Science.

A Method for Exploring the Link between Urban Area Expansion over Time and the Opportunity for Crime in Saudi Arabia

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mofza Algahtany

2016-10-01

Full Text Available Urban area expansion is one of the most critical types of worldwide change, and most urban areas are experiencing increased growth in population and infrastructure development. Urban change leads to many changes in the daily activities of people living within an affected area. Many studies have suggested that urbanization and crime are related. However, they focused particularly on land uses, types of land use, and urban forms, such as the physical features of neighbourhoods, roads, shopping centres, and bus stations. Understanding the correlation between urban area expansion and crime is very important for criminologists and urban planning decision-makers. In this study, we have used satellite images to measure urban expansion over a 10-year period and tested the correlations between these expansions and the number of criminal activities within these specific areas. The results show that there is a measurable relationship between urban expansion and criminal activities. Our findings support the crime opportunity theory as one possibility, which suggests that population density and crime are conceptually related. We found the correlations are stronger where there has been greater urban growth. Many other factors that may affect crime rate are not included in this paper, such as information on the spatial details of the population, city planning, economic considerations, the distance from the city centre, neighbourhood quality, and police numbers. However, this study will be of particular interest to those who aim to use remote sensing to study patterns of crime.

Race, Charter Schools, and Conscious Capitalism: On the Spatial Politics of Whiteness as Property (and the Unconscionable Assault on Black New Orleans)

Science.gov (United States)

Buras, Kristen L.

2011-01-01

In this article, Kristen L. Buras examines educational policy formation in New Orleans and the racial, economic, and spatial dynamics shaping the city's reconstruction since 2005. More specifically, Buras draws on the critical theories of whiteness as property, accumulation by dispossession, and urban space economy to describe the strategic…

OPEN SOURCE APPROACH TO URBAN GROWTH SIMULATION

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

A. Petrasova

2016-06-01

Full Text Available Spatial patterns of land use change due to urbanization and its impact on the landscape are the subject of ongoing research. Urban growth scenario simulation is a powerful tool for exploring these impacts and empowering planners to make informed decisions. We present FUTURES (FUTure Urban – Regional Environment Simulation – a patch-based, stochastic, multi-level land change modeling framework as a case showing how what was once a closed and inaccessible model benefited from integration with open source GIS.We will describe our motivation for releasing this project as open source and the advantages of integrating it with GRASS GIS, a free, libre and open source GIS and research platform for the geospatial domain. GRASS GIS provides efficient libraries for FUTURES model development as well as standard GIS tools and graphical user interface for model users. Releasing FUTURES as a GRASS GIS add-on simplifies the distribution of FUTURES across all main operating systems and ensures the maintainability of our project in the future. We will describe FUTURES integration into GRASS GIS and demonstrate its usage on a case study in Asheville, North Carolina. The developed dataset and tutorial for this case study enable researchers to experiment with the model, explore its potential or even modify the model for their applications.

Exploring the economic impacts of agglomeration economies in urban rail projects

OpenAIRE

Gwee, Tat Meng

2017-01-01

In recent years, the potential to produce economic benefits has become increasingly important to the decision-making process for urban passenger rail investments. Such benefits are seen as a motivation for rail investment either by encouraging jobs to locate in a particular location or by opening up new journey-to-work opportunities for residential areas. However, while a significant portion of the benefits (e.g. travel time savings) are already well captured under the present Cost-Benefit An...

Corrupt Language, Corrupt Thought: The White Paper "The Importance of Teaching"

Science.gov (United States)

Lumby, Jacky; Muijs, Daniel

2014-01-01

This article deconstructs the language of the 2010 UK Coalition Government's White Paper, "The Importance of Teaching". It uses analytical frameworks related to rhetoric established by Aristotle and Cicero. It explores the mechanisms of language using both critical discourse analysis and content analysis, offering quantitative data on…

Urban-architectural workshop as an opportunity for theoretical reflection: Example of the international urban-architectural workshop Maribor-South

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Peter Šenk

2013-07-01

Full Text Available The paper presents the international urban-architectural workshop Maribor-South (2010-11 as a model for “Maribor’s” urban-architectural workshops, which urban planners evaluate and use to direct urban development and theoretical discussion. The presented interdisciplinary project explored possibilities for designing the southern edge of the city in the area where the southern bypass construction is planned. In addition describing the example of the workshop, which develops the theoretical field through a “practical and project approach” with the defined project basis, i.e. the defined area of discussion and project issue, the paper also highlights the opportunity for a “theoretical approach”. The theoretical approach aims at providing a wider insight into the related theoretical field based on a generalised spatial issue. As one of the key priorities of contemporary urban planning and sustainable urban redevelopment, the planned direction of urban development in the areas of constructing transport infrastructure, which is evident in the first approach, moves into a wider referential field (no longer directly related to the project with the second approach by examining the issues of mobility, space, place, diversity of infrastructures of contemporary space, etc. While in the first approach developing design concepts strives for theoretical conceptualisation, the second approach facilitates focusing on finding links between the theoretical concept and manifestations in real space, though the approaches are always separated. Their operationality is possible only on the level of “combinatorial thinking” and remains beyond direct instrumentality.

Research into Factors Contributing to Discipline Use and Disproportionality in Major Urban Schools

Science.gov (United States)

Mcloughlin, Caven S.; Noltemeyer, Amity L.

2010-01-01

Compared to other school typologies, major urban high poverty schools more frequently use exclusionary discipline and apply these techniques disproportionately to African American students. We explored school demographic variables predicting these two outcomes using data from 440 major urban, high poverty schools. Results suggest a different set…

An Exploration Geophysics Course With an Environmental Focus for an Urban Minority Institution

Science.gov (United States)

Kenyon, P. M.

2004-12-01

A hands-on exploration geophysics field course with an environmental focus has been developed with NSF support for use at the City College of New York in Manhattan. To maximize access for the students, no prerequisites beyond introductory earth science and physics are required. The course is taught for three hours on Saturday mornings. This has resulted in it attracting not only regular City College students, but also earth science teachers studying for alternate certification or Master's degrees. After a brief introduction to the nature of geophysics and to concepts in data processing, the course is taught in four three-week modules, one each on seismology, resistivity surveying, electromagnetic ground conductivity, and magnetic measurements. Each module contains one week of theory, a field experience, computer data analysis, and a final report. Field exercises are planned to emphasize teamwork and include realistic urban applications of the techniques. Student surveys done in conjunction with this course provide insights into the motivations and needs of the mostly minority students taking it. In general, these students come to the course already comfortable with teamwork and with working in the field. The questionnaires indicate that their greatest need is increased knowledge of the methods of geophysics and of the problems that can be attacked using it. Most of the students gave high ratings to the course, citing the fieldwork as the part that they most enjoyed. The results of these surveys will be presented, along with examples of the field exercises used. The computer analysis assignments written for this course will also be available.

Advancing sustainability through urban green space: cultural ecosystem services, equity, and social determinants of health

Science.gov (United States)

Viniece Jennings; Lincoln Larson; Jessica Yun

2016-01-01

Urban green spaces provide an array of benefits, or ecosystem services, that support our physical, psychological, and social health. In many cases, however, these benefits are not equitably distributed across diverse urban populations. In this paper, we explore relationships between cultural ecosystem services provided by urban green space and the social determinants...

Toooot! Vroooom! The urban soundscape in Indonesia

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Colombijn, F.

2007-01-01

This article will explore the soundscape of Indonesian cities: What are the main components of the soundscape and how do people experience the urban sounds? The soundscape has changed in the course of history through the interconnected processes of modernization and globalization, and yet, the

Urban Planning Dealing with Change and Infrastructure

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sonja Deppisch

2015-07-01

Full Text Available This paper deals with urban planning and change processes potentially impacting local infrastructure. The overarching theoretical frame is social-ecological resilience thinking and its potential application to as well as implications for urban land-use development. The paper draws its main attention on if this concept can be of use for urban planners dealing with change and urban infrastructure and if a readiness towards its application can be identified. This endeavor is informed by two explorative studies in Germany. One study gains its material from a scenario process with planning practitioners and further urban stakeholders of a medium-sized city. Main topic was how to deal with the challenges of climate change impacts in urban planning and development. The second explorative study reflects research results on the readiness to apply the resilience concept to urban planning dealing with change and local infrastructure in a small community. The scenario process showed that applying social-ecological resilience thinking to urban planning helps to critically reflect so far taken paths in local built infrastructure, to take on an integrated perspective and to develop new and innovative strategies for further land-use development. Nevertheless, such a process requires additional financial as well as human resources and translation exercises. Also, the given path dependency as well as financial constrains are hindering to perceive any leeway in infrastructure development at the political level, so that any real implementation at the moment seems to be out of sight, which is also caused by multi-level dependencies.  Normal 0 21 false false false DE X-NONE X-NONE /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Normale Tabelle"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0cm; mso-para-margin-right:0cm

The Problematic Potential of Universities to Advance Critical Urban Politics

Science.gov (United States)

Pendras, Mark; Dierwechter, Yonn

2012-01-01

Recent research has explored the connections between universities and the cities/places in which they are located. Increasingly, emphasis is placed on the economic role of the university and on universities as urban stabilizers that can mobilize investment and advance development goals. This article explores a different charge for the university:…

Astero-archaeology: Reading the galactic history recorded in the white dwarf stars

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Wood, M.A.

1990-01-01

Galactic history is written in its oldest stars, the white dwarfs. Although still some years away from reading the details of that history, significant limits can already be placed on both the Galactic age and star formation history. The following is a complete analysis of the problem, starting with a fresh exploration of the physics of white dwarf stars. An extensive grid of numerical model sequences is presented and these are used to describe in detail the behavior of the white dwarf stars as a function of mass, core composition, surface layer masses and compositions, and uncertainties in the constitutive physics. These model sequences are used to decode the information contained in the white dwarf luminosity function. A theoretical context is established for current and future observations by presenting luminosity functions computed with differing choices for the input white dwarf evolutionary sequences, the assumed age of the local disk, the star formation rate as a function of time, and the possibility of scale height inflation of the disk with time. Finally, white dwarf cosmochronology is discussed within the context of other, conflicting, methods of cosmochronology. How this work can help resolve these conflicts and shed light on fundamental problems in galaxy formation and cosmology.

Astero-archaeology: Reading the galactic history recorded in the white dwarf stars

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wood, M.A.

1990-01-01

Galactic history is written in its oldest stars, the white dwarfs. Although still some years away from reading the details of that history, significant limits can already be placed on both the Galactic age and star formation history. The following is a complete analysis of the problem, starting with a fresh exploration of the physics of white dwarf stars. An extensive grid of numerical model sequences is presented and these are used to describe in detail the behavior of the white dwarf stars as a function of mass, core composition, surface layer masses and compositions, and uncertainties in the constitutive physics. These model sequences are used to decode the information contained in the white dwarf luminosity function. A theoretical context is established for current and future observations by presenting luminosity functions computed with differing choices for the input white dwarf evolutionary sequences, the assumed age of the local disk, the star formation rate as a function of time, and the possibility of scale height inflation of the disk with time. Finally, white dwarf cosmochronology is discussed within the context of other, conflicting, methods of cosmochronology. How this work can help resolve these conflicts and shed light on fundamental problems in galaxy formation and cosmology

Modeling Global Urbanization Supported by Nighttime Light Remote Sensing

Science.gov (United States)

Zhou, Y.

2015-12-01

Urbanization, a major driver of global change, profoundly impacts our physical and social world, for example, altering carbon cycling and climate. Understanding these consequences for better scientific insights and effective decision-making unarguably requires accurate information on urban extent and its spatial distributions. In this study, we developed a cluster-based method to estimate the optimal thresholds and map urban extents from the nighttime light remote sensing data, extended this method to the global domain by developing a computational method (parameterization) to estimate the key parameters in the cluster-based method, and built a consistent 20-year global urban map series to evaluate the time-reactive nature of global urbanization (e.g. 2000 in Fig. 1). Supported by urban maps derived from nightlights remote sensing data and socio-economic drivers, we developed an integrated modeling framework to project future urban expansion by integrating a top-down macro-scale statistical model with a bottom-up urban growth model. With the models calibrated and validated using historical data, we explored urban growth at the grid level (1-km) over the next two decades under a number of socio-economic scenarios. The derived spatiotemporal information of historical and potential future urbanization will be of great value with practical implications for developing adaptation and risk management measures for urban infrastructure, transportation, energy, and water systems when considered together with other factors such as climate variability and change, and high impact weather events.

Urbanization and the Resulting Peripheralization in Solo Raya, Indonesia

Science.gov (United States)

Pradoto, W.; Mardiansjah, F. H.; Manullang, O. R.; Putra, A. A.

2018-02-01

Dynamic urbanization in Solo Raya, a local term for Surakarta Metropolitan, amongst rapid regional based-urbanization in Indonesia, shows the unbalance pattern of growth. A number of Surakarta City’s peripherals become the newly growing area which is characterized by a well-facilitated region, while the former urbanized areas next to the city center present the declining process. Different socioeconomic development triggers a unique mosaic of socio-spatial pattern, on which the phenomena of peripheralization could be investigated. Urban investment that boosted by the political will of both the national and local government has led to a shift in demographic condition. A relatively massive in-migration has been attracted to the peripheral and creates the new landscape of urban-rural society. Complex dynamic of metropolitan growth and the resulting peripheralization reminds that socio-spatial pattern calls the challenges for managing the rapid change of land use and space use. The pattern of urbanization that differs upon the surrounding areas of Surakarta City would be interesting to be explored. This paper will discuss the conceptual framework of peripheral urbanization and the methodological approach. It is actually the part of ongoing research on peripheralisation in Solo Raya.

Gender differences in the effects of urban neighborhood on depressive symptoms in Jamaica

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jasneth Asher Mullings

2013-12-01

Full Text Available OBJECTIVE: To explore the mental health effects of the urban neighborhood on men and women in Jamaica and the implications for urban planning and social development. METHODS: A cross-sectional household sample of 2 848 individuals 15-74 years of age obtained from the Jamaica Health and Lifestyle Survey 2007-2008 was analyzed. Secondary analysis was undertaken by developing composite scores to describe observer recorded neighborhood features, including infrastructure, amenities/services, physical conditions, community socioeconomic status, and green spaces around the home. Depressive symptoms were assessed using the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV. Bivariate and multivariate methods were used to explore the associations among gender, neighborhood factors, and risk of depressive symptoms. RESULTS: While no associations were found among rural residents, urban neighborhoods were associated with increased risk of depressive symptoms. Among males, residing in a neighborhood with poor infrastructure increased risk; among females, residing in an informal community/unplanned neighborhood increased risk. CONCLUSIONS: The urban neighborhood contributes to the risk of depression symptomatology in Jamaica, with different environmental stressors affecting men and women. Urban and social planners need to consider the physical environment when developing health interventions in urban settings, particularly in marginalized communities.

Racializing white drag.

Science.gov (United States)

Rhyne, Ragan

2004-01-01

While drag is primarily understood as a performance of gender, other performative categories such as race, class, and sexuality create drag meaning as well. Though other categories of identification are increasingly understood as essential elements of drag by performers of color, whiteness remains an unmarked category in the scholarship on drag performances by white queens. In this paper, I argue that drag by white queens must be understood as a performance of race as well as gender and that codes of gender excess are specifically constructed through the framework of these other axes of identity. This essay asks whether white performance by white queens necessarily reinscribes white supremacy through the performance of an unmarked white femininity, or might drag performance complicate (though not necessarily subvert) categories of race as well as gender? In this essay, I will suggest that camp drag performances, through the deployment of class as a crucial category of performative femininity, might indeed be a key site through which whiteness is denaturalized and its power challenged. Specifically, I will read on camp as a politicized mode of race, class and gender performance, focusing on the intersections of these categories of identity in the drag performance of Divine.

The public health response to 'do-it-yourself' urbanism.

Science.gov (United States)

Sibbald, Shannon L; Graham, Ross; Gilliland, Jason

2017-09-01

Greater understanding of the important and complex relationship between the built environment and human health has made 'healthy places' a focus of public health and health promotion. While current literature concentrates on creating healthy places through traditional decision-making pathways (namely, municipal land use planning and urban design processes), this paper explores do-it-yourself (DIY) urbanism: a movement circumventing traditional pathways to, arguably, create healthy places and advance social justice. Despite being aligned with several health promotion goals, DIY urbanism interventions are typically illegal and have been categorized as a type of civil disobedience. This is challenging for public health officials who may value DIY urbanism outcomes, but do not necessarily support the means by which it is achieved. Based on the literature, we present a preliminary approach to health promotion decision-making in this area. Public health officials can voice support for DIY urbanism interventions in some instances, but should proceed cautiously.

A Critical Interrogation of Privilege, Race, Class, and Power in a University Faculty-Urban Community Relationship

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Noel, Jana

2010-01-01

I am the Coordinator of the Urban Teacher Education Center, a teacher preparation program located at a very low income, culturally diverse elementary school that serves children from two neighborhood public housing projects. As a White, middle-class, Ph.D. educated, female, I must consistently consider how people in the neighborhoods may take a…

Deaf capital: an exploration of the relationship between stigma and value in deaf multilevel marketing participation in Urban India.

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Friedner, Michele

2014-12-01

This article ethnographically examines how some deaf people in urban India have begun to orient themselves toward the future by participating in multilevel marketing businesses. In the absence of other structural possibilities for deaf future-making, deaf Indians have turned to such businesses in search of social, economic, and moral livelihood. This article analyzes participation in one particular business and asks how participating within the business both enables and disables the cultivation of specific ideas of development. Particular attention is devoted to exploring the multiple registers of the concept of "deaf development" and how such development may be cultivated through multilevel marketing businesses. This article aims to make a critical intervention in medical anthropology studies of disability by arguing that disability (or in this case deafness) can function as a source of value, therefore highlighting tensions between stigma and value. © 2014 by the American Anthropological Association.

School as Community, Community as School: Examining Principal Leadership for Urban School Reform and Community Development

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Green, Terrance L.

2018-01-01

For decades, reform has been a persistent issue in urban schools. Research suggests that urban school reforms that are connected to equitable community development efforts are more sustainable, and that principals play a pivot role in leading such efforts. Yet, limited research has explored how urban school principals connect school reform with…

Race, School, and Seinfeld: Autoethnographic Sketching in Black and White

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Wamsted, John O.

2011-01-01

Applying the Deluzoguattarian concept of the trace, this article explores interactions between a White teacher and his Black students and the way race is coconstructed therein. Using a short story by the Argentine mystery writer Jorge Luis Borges as a frame, the author connects the poststructural philosophy of the trace to current notions of…

Race Differences in Diet Quality of Urban Food-Insecure Blacks and Whites Reveals Resiliency in Blacks.

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Allen, Allyssa J; Kuczmarski, Marie Fanelli; Evans, Michele K; Zonderman, Alan B; Waldstein, Shari R

2016-12-01

Evidence from epidemiological studies shows a link between food insecurity and diet intake or quality. However, the moderating effect of race in this relation has not yet been studied. Food insecurity (USDA Food Security Module) and diet quality (Healthy Eating Index-2010; HEI) were measured in 1741 participants from the Healthy Aging in Neighborhoods of Diversity across the Life Span (HANDLS) study. Data were collected from 2004 to 2009 and analyzed in 2014. Multivariable regression assessed the interaction of race and food insecurity on HEI scores, adjusting for age, sex, poverty status, single parent status, drug, alcohol and cigarette use, and comorbid diseases. The interaction of food insecurity and race was significantly associated with diet quality (p = 0.001). In the absence of food insecurity, HEI scores were similar across race. However, with each food insecurity item endorsed, HEI scores were substantially lower for Whites compared to Blacks. An ad hoc analysis revealed that Blacks were more likely than Whites to participate in SNAP (p race stratified analyses revealed that Blacks participating in SNAP showed diminished associations of food insecurity with diet quality. Study findings provide the first evidence that the influence of food insecurity on diet quality may be potentiated for Whites, but not Blacks. Additionally, results show that Blacks are more likely to participate in SNAP and show attendant buffering of the effects of food insecurity on diet quality. These findings may have important implications for understanding how food insecurity affects diet quality differentially by race.

Community Foresight for Urban Sustainability

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Mortensen, Jonas Egmose; Eames, Malcolm

2011-01-01

be necessary to deliver sustainability. In so doing, however, backcasting may run the risk of obscuring significant differences in current lived experience, negating alternative problem framings and normatively derived views of what constitutes sustainability. This paper reports an innovative UK attempt...... to develop an inclusive 'bottom-up' Community Foresight process for urban sustainability research. Unlike most backcasting studies, the methodology was initially grounded in an exploration of the community participants' current lived experience and understandings of sustainability. Given the particular...... purpose of the study the primary outcome from the work was structured around the articulation of a 'community-led' agenda for urban sustainability research, rather than an explicit normative vision and transition pathway. However, the methodology could easily be adapted for use in other contexts...

“Shared Growth” Urban Renewal Initiatives in Makati City, Metro Manila, Philippines

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Michael V. Tomeldan

Full Text Available ABSTRACT: Urban renewal is a strategy for revitalizing underutilized and degraded sections of an inner city in the hopes of reducing crime, enhancing the environment, preventing further depreciation of land values, and stimulating economic activity. Many urban renewal projects in the past, however, have been associated with substantial demolition of properties, the displacement of residents, expensive infrastructure, and the gentrification of the urban renewal site.In this study, urban renewal schemes in Makati City, Philippines, are explored to determine the appropriate developments for identified urban renewal sites that are situated on the fringes of its affluent sections. The urban renewal proposals seek to involve the participation of the residents of the blighted areas so that they themselves can benefit from the revitalization initiatives. The conceptualized “shared growth” urban renewal initiatives will attempt to minimize dislocation, encourage investment, improve the urban environment, create a more vibrant neighborhood, and spread the economic benefits of the initiatives to the original residents of the redevelopment sites. KEYWORDS: Urban renewal, shared growth, sustainable urbanism

Youth Entrepreneurship and Socioeconomic Change in Urban Ghana

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Langevang, Thilde

2016-01-01

This chapter examines how young people in urban Africa are responding to globalization, economic restructuring, and socioeconomic change through various forms of entrepreneurship. The chapter charts different conceptualizations of entrepreneurship and explores its relationship to young people’s c...

Tampa Bay Extension Agents’ Views of Urban Extension: Philosophy and Program Strategies

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Amy Harder

2017-06-01

Full Text Available The purpose of this article was to explore the concept of urban Extension as perceived by Extension agents within the Tampa Bay area, one of Florida’s fastest growing metropolitan areas. From a theoretical perspective, it is critical to understand Extension agents’ beliefs about urban Extension because behaviors are directly related to attitudes (Ajzen, 2012. In 2016, a qualitative investigation was undertaken to explore the perspectives of 23 agents working within the Tampa Bay area. Results showed the majority of agents believed that context and client needs are unique for urban Extension, and that to a lesser extent, unique agent expertise is required. Further, these beliefs impacted how agents reported their approach to programming, with an emphasis on providing convenience and seeking partnerships. Difficulties were identified related to identifying the role of Extension in a resource-rich environment of service providers, which contributed to the existence of a perceived disconnect between urban audiences and Extension. Opportunities exist for Extension leadership to provide strategic organizational support that will enhance agents’ abilities to succeed in the metropolitan environment.

The Farm Wife Mystery School: Women's Use of Social Media in the Contemporary North American Urban Homestead Movement

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Smith, Antonia

2015-01-01

Within the larger North American food security movement, self-professed "urban homesteaders" have been tearing up their backyard lawns to plant vegetable gardens and install chicken coops in search of greater self-sufficiency and independence from industrial agriculture and the corporate food chain. Participants are most often white,…

The Influence of Urban Planning Affected Static and Stable Meteorological Field on Air Pollution

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Zhang, Yue; Zhang, Liyuan; Zhang, Yunwei

2018-02-01

Accompany with the rapid urbanized and industrialized process, the built-up area and the number of high-rise buildings increased fast. Urban air quality is facing with the challenge caused by the rapid increase in energy consumption, motor vehicles owned, and the city construction. Long term high precision analysis on Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region has been conducted in this article, so as to explore the influence of rapid increase in urban size and tall building amount on occurrence frequency of urban static and stable meteorological conditions as well as the contribution to urban PM2.5 pollution.

White matter integrity deficits in prefrontal-amygdala pathways in Williams syndrome.

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Avery, Suzanne N; Thornton-Wells, Tricia A; Anderson, Adam W; Blackford, Jennifer Urbano

2012-01-16

Williams syndrome is a neurodevelopmental disorder associated with significant non-social fears. Consistent with this elevated non-social fear, individuals with Williams syndrome have an abnormally elevated amygdala response when viewing threatening non-social stimuli. In typically-developing individuals, amygdala activity is inhibited through dense, reciprocal white matter connections with the prefrontal cortex. Neuroimaging studies suggest a functional uncoupling of normal prefrontal-amygdala inhibition in individuals with Williams syndrome, which might underlie both the extreme amygdala activity and non-social fears. This functional uncoupling might be caused by structural deficits in underlying white matter pathways; however, prefrontal-amygdala white matter deficits have yet to be explored in Williams syndrome. We used diffusion tensor imaging to investigate prefrontal-amygdala white matter integrity differences in individuals with Williams syndrome and typically-developing controls with high levels of non-social fear. White matter pathways between the amygdala and several prefrontal regions were isolated using probabilistic tractography. Within each pathway, we tested for between-group differences in three measures of white matter integrity: fractional anisotropy (FA), radial diffusivity (RD), and parallel diffusivity (λ(1)). Individuals with Williams syndrome had lower FA, compared to controls, in several of the prefrontal-amygdala pathways investigated, indicating a reduction in white matter integrity. Lower FA in Williams syndrome was explained by significantly higher RD, with no differences in λ(1), suggestive of lower fiber density or axon myelination in prefrontal-amygdala pathways. These results suggest that deficits in the structural integrity of prefrontal-amygdala white matter pathways might underlie the increased amygdala activity and extreme non-social fears observed in Williams syndrome. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Urbanism & urban qualities New data and methodologies

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

2009-01-01

The interest in urban spaces and their qualities has become stronger in recent years. A substantial volume of projects aims to create attractive urban spaces reasons of Sustainability, Quality of Life and urban vitality. But who actually uses the urban spaces, which urban spaces are used? How do...... they use them? What characterizes the good urban space? And how and by who is it evaluated? How is a better co-operation between urban space researchers, decision makers and users established? Is it the right urban spaces which receive investments? How can research optimize the basis for decisions......?   Proceedings from the conference "Urbanism & urban qualities - new data & methodologies" held 24th of June 2009 at The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen....

Household pathway selection of energy consumption during urbanization process in China

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sun, Chuanwang; Ouyang, Xiaoling; Cai, Hongbo; Luo, Zhichao; Li, Aijun

2014-01-01

Highlights: • Energy consumption patterns have long-term impacts on energy demand. • We explore determinants and structure of household energy consumption. • Tobit and OLS models are adopted to explore factors influencing energy expenditure. • Residential energy consumption in 2030 is evaluated using scenario analysis. - Abstract: China’s growing energy demand is driven by urbanization. Facing the problem of energy scarcity, residential energy consumption is a crucial area of energy conservation and emissions reduction. Household energy consumption patterns, which are characterized by effects of “path lock-in”, have long-term impacts on China’s energy demand. Based on the survey data, this paper explores factors that influence household energy consumption and analyzes the structure of residential energy consumption in China. Based on the results of analysis of variance (ANOVA), this paper applies the Tobit and Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) models to investigate impacts of variables of “the tiered pricing for household electricity (TPHE)”, “solar energy usage”, “automobile ownership”, “rural or urban areas”, “household income” and “city scale” on the residential energy expenditure. In addition, household energy consumption is estimated under different scenarios including improving the utilization of solar energy, rise in energy prices and the increase in automobile ownership. Residential energy consumption in 2030 is evaluated by simulating different models for urban development. Policy recommendations are suggested for China’s urban development strategy, new energy development and household pathway selection of energy consumption

Urban growth in American cities : glimpses of U.S. urbanization

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Auch, Roger; Taylor, Janis; Acevedo, William

2004-01-01

The Earth's surface is changing rapidly. Changes are local, regional, national, and even global in scope. Some changes have natural causes, such as earthquakes or drought. Other changes, such as urban expansion, agricultural intensification, resource extraction, and water resources development, are examples of human-induced change that have significant impact upon people, the economy, and resources. The consequences that result from these changes are often dramatic and widespread (Buchanan, Acevedo, and Zirbes, 2002)It is the role of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) to provide useful and relevant scientific information both to the agencies within the Department of the Interior and to the Nation in general. In an effort to comply with this task, USGS scientists are assessing the status of, and the trends in, the Nation's land surface. This assessment provides useful information for regional and national land use decisionmaking. This knowledge can be used to deal with issues of significance to the Nation, such as quality-of-life, ecology of urban environments, ecosystem health, ecological integrity, water quality and quantity concerns, resource availability, vulnerability to natural hazards, safeguards to human health, air and land quality, and accessibility to scientific information. Results of these assessments can also be analyzed to reveal rates and trends in land use change. Results from urban growth studies provide a firm foundation for continuing research that explores the consequences of human modification of the landscape.The USGS seeks to illustrate and explain the spatial history of urban growth and corresponding land use change. Scientists are studying urban environments from a regional perspective and a time scale of decades to measure the changes that have occurred in order to help understand the impact of anticipated changes in the future.Within this booklet are pairs of images of selected urbanized regions from across the Nation. These image pairs

Entrepreneurship within Urban and Rural Areas

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Freire-Gibb, L. Carlos; Nielsen, Kristian

2014-01-01

The entrepreneurial dynamics of urban and rural areas are different, and this paper explores creativity and social networks factors in both places. The probabilities of becoming an entrepreneur and of surviving are analyzed. The results are based on longitudinal data combined with a questionnaire......, common entrepreneurship beliefs can be questioned and entrepreneurship theory benefited....

Is it possible to explore Peccei-Quinn axions from frequency-dependence radiation dimming?

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jimenez, Raul; Pena-Garay, Carlos; Verde, Licia

2011-01-01

We explore how the Peccei-Quinn (PQ) axion parameter space can be constrained by the frequency-dependence dimming of radiation from astrophysical objects. To do so we perform accurate calculations of photon-axion conversion in the presence of a variable magnetic field. We propose several tests where the PQ axion parameter space can be explored with current and future astronomical surveys: the observed spectra of isolated neutron stars, occultations of background objects by white dwarfs and neutron stars, the light-curves of eclipsing binaries containing a white dwarf. We find that the lack of dimming of the light-curve of a detached eclipsing white dwarf binary recently observed, leads to relevant constraints on the photon-axion conversion. Current surveys designed for Earth-like planet searches are well matched to strengthen and improve the constraints on the PQ axion using astrophysical objects radiation dimming.

Fifty shades of white: how white feather brightness differs among species

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Igic, Branislav; D'Alba, Liliana; Shawkey, Matthew D.

2018-04-01

White colouration is a common and important component of animal visual signalling and camouflage, but how and why it varies across species is poorly understood. White is produced by wavelength-independent and diffuse scattering of light by the internal structures of materials, where the degree of brightness is related to the amount of light scattered. Here, we investigated the morphological basis of brightness differences among unpigmented pennaceous regions of white body feathers across 61 bird species. Using phylogenetically controlled comparisons of reflectance and morphometric measurements, we show that brighter white feathers had larger and internally more complex barbs than duller white feathers. Higher brightness was also associated with more closely packed barbs and barbules, thicker and longer barbules, and rounder and less hollow barbs. Larger species tended to have brighter white feathers than smaller species because they had thicker and more complex barbs, but aquatic species were not significantly brighter than terrestrial species. As similar light scattering principals affect the brightness of chromatic signals, not just white colours, these findings help broaden our general understanding of the mechanisms that affect plumage brightness. Future studies should examine how feather layering on a bird's body contributes to differences between brightness of white plumage patches within and across species.