WorldWideScience

Sample records for large urban midwestern

  1. Faculty Perceptions of Multicultural Teaching in a Large Urban University

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bigatti, Sylvia M.; Gibau, Gina Sanchez; Boys, Stephanie; Grove, Kathy; Ashburn-Nardo, Leslie; Khaja, Khadiji; Springer, Jennifer Thorington

    2012-01-01

    As college graduates face an increasingly globalized world, it is imperative to consider issues of multicultural instruction in higher education. This study presents qualitative and quantitative findings from a survey of faculty at a large, urban, midwestern university regarding perceptions of multicultural teaching. Faculty were asked how they…

  2. Sex in the City: Breeding Behavior of Urban Peregrine Falcons in the Midwestern US.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Isabel C Caballero

    Full Text Available Peregrine falcons (Falco peregrinus were extirpated from most of the continental United States by widespread use of the pesticide DDT in the 1960s. Populations have rebounded with banning of the pesticide and successful implementation of captive breeding and hacking programs. An essentially new population of Midwestern peregrines now exists that is comprised almost entirely of urban-nesting birds. The new population is considered to be of mixed ancestry, occurs at relatively high densities, and has nest sites in close proximity, factors that could influence breeding behaviors including mate fidelity, nest-site fidelity, extra-pair paternity, and natal dispersal. We investigated these behaviors using a combination of field observations and DNA microsatellite genotyping. Data for eleven microsatellite DNA markers, including eight newly developed for the species, were analyzed from a total of 350 birds from nine Midwestern cities, representing 149 broods collected at 20 nest sites. To document breeding behavior, parentage was inferred by likelihood techniques when both parents were sampled and by parental genotype reconstruction when only one parent was sampled. In cases where neither parent was sampled, a sibship reconstruction approach was used. We found high mate fidelity and nest-site fidelity in urban peregrines; in 122 nesting attempts made by long-term breeders, only 12 (9.8% mate changes and six (4.9% nest-site changes occurred. Only one brood (of 35 tested revealed extra-pair paternity and involved a male tending two offspring of a recently acquired mate. Natal dispersal patterns indicated that female peregrines dispersed on average 226 km, almost twice the distance of males (average 124 km. Despite the novel environment of cities, our results suggest that monogamous breeding, nest fidelity, and female natal dispersal are high in urban peregrines, not unlike other raptors living in non-urban habitats.

  3. "Knowing Their World": Urban Choral Music Educators' Knowledge of Context

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shaw, Julia T.

    2015-01-01

    The purpose of this collective case study was to explore how successful urban choral educators use contextual knowledge to inform pedagogical practice. With choirs in nine of a large midwestern city's demographically varied residential neighborhoods, a children's choir organization provided a research setting that offered a unique view of urban…

  4. How Do We Train Our Future Faculty to Teach? A Multidisciplinary Comparison of Graduate-Level Pedagogy Courses Offered at A Large Midwestern University

    Science.gov (United States)

    O'Loughlin, Valerie Dean; Kearns, Katherine; Sherwood-Laughlin, Catherine; Robinson, Jennifer Meta

    2017-01-01

    This study examines and documents graduate pedagogy courses offered at a large Midwestern research university. Thirty-three graduate pedagogy course instructors from 32 departments (a majority of those offering courses) completed an online survey. We report on enrollment demographics, preparation of faculty to teach such a course, and how a…

  5. Culturally Responsive Peace Education: A Case Study at One Urban Latino K-8 Catholic School

    Science.gov (United States)

    Buck, Brandon

    2016-01-01

    This paper presents a case study of a yearlong research-based peace education program at one urban K-8 private Catholic school situated in a community plagued by structural violence in an enclave of a large Midwestern city. To frame the analysis, the author employs concepts central to culturally responsive pedagogy (including cultural competence,…

  6. Human amplified changes in precipitation-runoff patterns in large river basins of the Midwestern United States

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kelly, Sara A.; Takbiri, Zeinab; Belmont, Patrick; Foufoula-Georgiou, Efi

    2017-10-01

    Complete transformations of land cover from prairie, wetlands, and hardwood forests to row crop agriculture and urban centers are thought to have caused profound changes in hydrology in the Upper Midwestern US since the 1800s. In this study, we investigate four large (23 000-69 000 km2) Midwest river basins that span climate and land use gradients to understand how climate and agricultural drainage have influenced basin hydrology over the last 79 years. We use daily, monthly, and annual flow metrics to document streamflow changes and discuss those changes in the context of precipitation and land use changes. Since 1935, flow, precipitation, artificial drainage extent, and corn and soybean acreage have increased across the region. In extensively drained basins, we observe 2 to 4 fold increases in low flows and 1.5 to 3 fold increases in high and extreme flows. Using a water budget, we determined that the storage term has decreased in intensively drained and cultivated basins by 30-200 % since 1975, but increased by roughly 30 % in the less agricultural basin. Storage has generally decreased during spring and summer months and increased during fall and winter months in all watersheds. Thus, the loss of storage and enhanced hydrologic connectivity and efficiency imparted by artificial agricultural drainage appear to have amplified the streamflow response to precipitation increases in the Midwest. Future increases in precipitation are likely to further intensify drainage practices and increase streamflows. Increased streamflow has implications for flood risk, channel adjustment, and sediment and nutrient transport and presents unique challenges for agriculture and water resource management in the Midwest. Better documentation of existing and future drain tile and ditch installation is needed to further understand the role of climate versus drainage across multiple spatial and temporal scales.

  7. International Student Adaptation to a U.S. College: A Mixed Methods Exploration of the Impact of a Specialized First-Year Course at a Large Midwestern Institution

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kovtun, Olena

    2011-01-01

    This mixed methods study assessed a first-year course for international students, entitled the U.S. Education and Culture, at a large Midwestern public institution. The quantitative results indicated that participation in the course improved students' academic skills, psychosocial development, understanding of social diversity in the U.S., use of…

  8. Prevalence of Diagnosed and Undiagnosed Hepatitis C in a Midwestern Urban Emergency Department.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lyons, Michael S; Kunnathur, Vidhya A; Rouster, Susan D; Hart, Kimberly W; Sperling, Matthew I; Fichtenbaum, Carl J; Sherman, Kenneth E

    2016-05-01

    Targeted hepatitis C virus (HCV) screening is recommended. Implementation of screening in emergency department (ED) settings is challenging and controversial. Understanding HCV epidemiology in EDs could motivate and guide screening efforts. We characterized the prevalence of diagnosed and undiagnosed HCV in a Midwestern, urban ED. This was a cross-sectional seroprevalence study using de-identified blood samples and self-reported health information obtained from consecutively approached ED patients aged 18-64 years. Subjects consented to a "study of diseases of public health importance" and were compensated for participation. The Biochain ELISA kit for Human Hepatitis C Virus was used for antibody assay. Viral RNA was isolated using the Qiagen QIAamp UltraSens Virus kit, followed by real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction using a Bio-Rad CFX96 SYBR Green UltraFast program with melt-curve analysis. HCV antibody was detected in 128 of 924 (14%; 95% confidence interval [CI], 12%-16%) samples. Of these, 44 (34%) self-reported a history of HCV or hepatitis of unknown type and 103 (81%; 95% CI, 73%-87%) were RNA positive. Two additional patients were antibody negative but RNA positive. Fully implemented birth cohort screening for HCV antibody would have missed 36 of 128 (28%) of cases with detectable antibody and 26 of 105 (25%) of those with replicative HCV infection. HCV infection is highly prevalent in EDs. Emergency departments are likely to be uniquely important for HCV screening, and logistical challenges to ED screening should be overcome. Birth cohort screening would have missed many patients, suggesting the need for complementary screening strategies applied to an expanded age range. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press for the Infectious Diseases Society of America. All rights reserved. For permissions, e-mail journals.permissions@oup.com.

  9. Midwestern High-Level Radioactive Waste Transportation Project

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1993-01-01

    On February 17,1989, the Midwestern Office of The Council of State Governments and the US Department of Energy entered into a cooperative agreement authorizing the initiation of the Midwestern High-Level Radioactive Waste Transportation Project. The transportation project continued to receive funding from DOE through amendments to the original cooperative agreement, with December 31, 1993, marking the end of the initial 5-year period. This progress report reflects the work completed by the Midwestern Office from February 17,1989, through December 31,1993. In accordance with the scopes of work governing the period covered by this report, the Midwestern Office of The Council of State Governments has worked closely with the Midwestern High-Level Radioactive Waste Committee. Project staff have facilitated all eight of the committee's meetings and have represented the committee at meetings of DOE's Transportation Coordination Group (TCG) and Transportation External Coordination Working Group (TEC/WG). Staff have also prepared and submitted comments on DOE activities on behalf of the committee. In addition to working with the committee, project staff have prepared and distributed 20 reports, including some revised reports (see Attachment 1). Staff have also developed a library of reference materials for the benefit of committee members, state officials, and other interested parties. To publicize the library, and to make it more accessible to potential users, project staff have prepared and distributed regular notices of resource availability

  10. Analysis of large urban fires

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kang, S.W.; Reitter, T.A.; Takata, A.N.

    1984-11-01

    Fires in urban areas caused by a nuclear burst are analyzed as a first step towards determining their smoke-generation chacteristics, which may have grave implications for global-scale climatic consequences. A chain of events and their component processes which would follow a nuclear attack are described. A numerical code is currently being developed to calculate ultimately the smoke production rate for a given attack scenario. Available models for most of the processes are incorporated into the code. Sample calculations of urban fire-development history performed in the code for an idealized uniform city are presented. Preliminary results indicate the importance of the wind, thermal radiation transmission, fuel distributions, and ignition thresholds on the urban fire spread characteristics. Future plans are to improve the existing models and develop new ones to characterize smoke production from large urban fires. 21 references, 18 figures

  11. Local source impacts on primary and secondary aerosols in the Midwestern United States

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jayarathne, Thilina; Rathnayake, Chathurika M.; Stone, Elizabeth A.

    2016-04-01

    biogenic SOA were not well-represented by a single site and demonstrated local influences. For isoprene SOA, product distributions indicated a larger role for the high-NOx pathway at the urban site. These local sources are largely responsible for differences in population exposures to outdoor PM in the study domain located within the Midwestern US.

  12. The future of large old trees in urban landscapes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Le Roux, Darren S; Ikin, Karen; Lindenmayer, David B; Manning, Adrian D; Gibbons, Philip

    2014-01-01

    Large old trees are disproportionate providers of structural elements (e.g. hollows, coarse woody debris), which are crucial habitat resources for many species. The decline of large old trees in modified landscapes is of global conservation concern. Once large old trees are removed, they are difficult to replace in the short term due to typically prolonged time periods needed for trees to mature (i.e. centuries). Few studies have investigated the decline of large old trees in urban landscapes. Using a simulation model, we predicted the future availability of native hollow-bearing trees (a surrogate for large old trees) in an expanding city in southeastern Australia. In urban greenspace, we predicted that the number of hollow-bearing trees is likely to decline by 87% over 300 years under existing management practices. Under a worst case scenario, hollow-bearing trees may be completely lost within 115 years. Conversely, we predicted that the number of hollow-bearing trees will likely remain stable in semi-natural nature reserves. Sensitivity analysis revealed that the number of hollow-bearing trees perpetuated in urban greenspace over the long term is most sensitive to the: (1) maximum standing life of trees; (2) number of regenerating seedlings ha(-1); and (3) rate of hollow formation. We tested the efficacy of alternative urban management strategies and found that the only way to arrest the decline of large old trees requires a collective management strategy that ensures: (1) trees remain standing for at least 40% longer than currently tolerated lifespans; (2) the number of seedlings established is increased by at least 60%; and (3) the formation of habitat structures provided by large old trees is accelerated by at least 30% (e.g. artificial structures) to compensate for short term deficits in habitat resources. Immediate implementation of these recommendations is needed to avert long term risk to urban biodiversity.

  13. Urban Elementary Single-Sex Math Classrooms: Mitigating Stereotype Threat for African American Girls

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bowe, Anica G.; Desjardins, Christopher D.; Covington Clarkson, Lesa M.; Lawrenz, Frances

    2017-01-01

    This study utilized a mixed-methods approach to holistically examine single-sex and coeducational urban elementary mathematics classes through situated cognitive theory. Participants came from two urban low-income Midwestern elementary schools with a high representation of minority students (n = 77 sixth graders, n = 4 teachers, n = 2 principals).…

  14. 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

  15. High-Poverty Urban High School Students' Plans for Higher Education: Weaving Their Own Safety Nets

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cilesiz, Sebnem; Drotos, Stephanie M.

    2016-01-01

    This qualitative study investigates high-poverty urban high school students' views of and plans regarding higher education, using Bourdieu's theory of reproduction in education as theoretical framework. Interview data from 76 students from six high-poverty urban schools in a metropolitan area in the Midwestern United States were analyzed using…

  16. "Black folk don't get no severe depression": Meanings and expressions of depression in a predominantly black urban neighborhood in Midwestern United States.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Alang, Sirry M

    2016-05-01

    Discrepancies exist between how some Black populations perceive depression and how depression is conceptualized within research and clinical settings. Based on a 12-month ethnography of mental health in a predominantly Black disadvantaged urban neighborhood in Midwestern United States, the current study identifies meanings and common ways of expressing depression among African Americans. Depression was often considered a sign of weakness rather than a health problem that might need medical attention. Associated emotions like sadness and hopelessness were inconsistent with notions of strength. Common indicators of depression included classic symptoms such as hopelessness, loss of sleep, and feeling worthless. However, expressions of depression such as anger, agitation, violent behavior, and a frantic search for social interaction that are inconsistent with DSM-V criteria were also common. These findings have implications for the clinical assessment of depression and for the measurement of depression in community surveys. In addition, the context and meaning of symptoms play an important role in determining whether experiences are indicative of depression. This paper underscores that the provision of patient-centered mental health care requires a better understanding of the conceptualization of disorders within specific contexts. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  17. Population Density and AIDS-Related Stigma in Large-Urban, Small-Urban, and Rural Communities of the Southeastern USA.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kalichman, Seth; Katner, Harold; Banas, Ellen; Kalichman, Moira

    2017-07-01

    AIDS stigmas delay HIV diagnosis, interfere with health care, and contribute to mental health problems among people living with HIV. While there are few studies of the geographical distribution of AIDS stigma, research suggests that AIDS stigmas are differentially experienced in rural and urban areas. We conducted computerized interviews with 696 men and women living with HIV in 113 different zip code areas that were classified as large-urban, small-urban, and rural areas in a southeast US state with high-HIV prevalence. Analyses conducted at the individual level (N = 696) accounting for clustering at the zip code level showed that internalized AIDS-related stigma (e.g., the sense of being inferior to others because of HIV) was experienced with greater magnitude in less densely populated communities. Multilevel models indicated that after adjusting for potential confounding factors, rural communities reported greater internalized AIDS-related stigma compared to large-urban areas and that small-urban areas indicated greater experiences of enacted stigma (e.g., discrimination) than large-urban areas. The associations between anticipated AIDS-related stigma (e.g., expecting discrimination) and population density at the community-level were not significant. Results suggest that people living in rural and small-urban settings experience greater AIDS-related internalized and enacted stigma than their counterparts living in large-urban centers. Research is needed to determine whether low-density population areas contribute to or are sought out by people who experienced greater AIDS-related stigma. Regardless of causal directions, interventions are needed to address AIDS-related stigma, especially among people in sparsely populated areas with limited resources.

  18. Region-Urbanicity Differences in Locus of Control: Social Disadvantage, Structure, or Cultural Exceptionalism?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shifrer, Dara; Sutton, April

    2014-11-01

    People with internal rather than external locus of control experience better outcomes in multiple domains. Previous studies on spatial differences in control within America only focused on the South, relied on aggregate level data or historical evidence, or did not account for other confounding regional distinctions (such as variation in urbanicity). Using data from the National Education Longitudinal Study, we find differences in adolescents' loci of control depending on their region and urbanicity are largely attributable to differences in their social background, and only minimally to structural differences (i.e., differences in the qualities of adolescents' schools). Differences that persist net of differences across adolescents and their schools suggest the less internal control of rural Southern adolescents, and the more internal control of rural and urban Northeastern adolescents, may be due to cultural distinctions in those areas. Results indicate region is more closely associated than urbanicity with differences in locus of control, with Western and Northeastern cultures seemingly fostering more internal control than Midwestern and Southern cultures. These findings contribute to research on spatial variation in a variety of psychological traits.

  19. A regional assessment of chemicals of concern in surface waters of four Midwestern United States national parks

    Science.gov (United States)

    Elliott, Sarah M.; VanderMeulen, David

    2017-01-01

    Anthropogenic chemicals and their potential for adverse biological effects raise concern for aquatic ecosystem health in protected areas. During 2013–15, surface waters of four Midwestern United States national parks were sampled and analyzed for wastewater indicators, pharmaceuticals, personal care products, and pesticides. More chemicals and higher concentrations were detected at the two parks with greater urban influences (Mississippi National River and Recreation Area and Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore) than at the two more remote parks (Apostle Islands National Lakeshore and Isle Royale National Park). Atrazine (10–15 ng/L) and N,N-diethyl-meta-toluamide (16–120 ng/L) were the only chemicals detected in inland lakes of a remote island national park (Isle Royale National Park). Bisphenol A and organophosphate flame retardants were commonly detected at the other sampled parks. Gabapentin and simazine had the highest observed concentrations (> 1000 ng/L) in three and two samples, respectively. At the two parks with urban influences, metolachlor and simazine concentrations were similar to those reported for other major urban rivers in the United States. Environmental concentrations of detected chemicals were often orders of magnitude less than standards or reference values with three exceptions: (1) hydrochlorothiazide exceeded a human health-based screening value in seven samples, (2) estrone exceeded a predicted critical environmental concentration for fish pharmacological effects in one sample, and (3) simazine was approaching the 4000 ng/L Maximum Contaminant Level in one sample even though this concentration is not expected to reflect peak pesticide use. Although few environmental concentrations were approaching or exceeded standards or reference values, concentrations were often in ranges reported to elicit effects in aquatic biota. Data from this study will assist in establishing a baseline for chemicals of concern in Midwestern national parks and

  20. Megacities and Large Urban Complexes - WMO Role in Addressing Challenges and Opportunities

    Science.gov (United States)

    Terblanche, Deon; Jalkanen, Liisa

    2013-04-01

    Megacities and Large Urban Complexes - WMO Role in Addressing Challenges and Opportunities Deon E. Terblanche and Liisa Jalkanen dterblanche@wmo.int ljalkanen@wmo.int World Meteorological Organization, Geneva, Switzerland The 21st Century could amongst others, become known as the century in which our species has evolved from Homo sapiens to Homo urbanus. By now the urban population has surpassed the rural population and the rate of urbanization will continue at such a pace that by 2050 urban dwellers could outnumber their rural counterpart by more than two to one. Most of this growth in urban population will occur in developing countries and along coastal areas. Urbanization is to a large extent the outcome of humans seeking a better life through improved opportunities presented by high-density communities. Megacities and large urban complexes provide more job opportunities and social structures, better transport and communication links and a relative abundance of physical goods and services when compared to most rural areas. Unfortunately these urban complexes also present numerous social and environmental challenges. Urban areas differ from their surroundings by morphology, population density, and with high concentration of industrial activities, energy consumption and transport. They also pose unique challenges to atmospheric modelling and monitoring and create a multi-disciplinary spectrum of potential threats, including air pollution, which need to be addressed in an integrated way. These areas are also vulnerable to the changing climate and its implications to sea-level and extreme events, air quality and related health impacts. Many urban activities are significantly impacted by weather events that would not be considered to be of high impact in less densely populated areas. For instance, moderate precipitation events can cause flooding and landslides as modified urban catchments generally have higher run-off to rainfall ratios than their more pristine rural

  1. Large urban projects and social actors : Forces supporting and opposing the production

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Cuenya, B.E.

    2006-01-01

    This research studies, by means of the analysis of a paradigmatic large urban project in Buenos Aires, the production process of a large urban project furthered by the State and directed to create a new centrality. The analysis is focused on the forces supporting and opposition the project that were

  2. Teachers' Perspectives of Children's Mental Health Service Needs in Urban Elementary Schools

    Science.gov (United States)

    Williams, James Herbert; Horvath, Violet E.; Wei, Hsi-Sheng; Van Dorn, Richard A.; Jonson-Reid, Melissa

    2007-01-01

    This study uses a phenomenological approach to investigate elementary school teachers' perspectives on children's mental health service needs. Focus groups were conducted at two elementary schools with differing levels of available social services in a moderate-sized urban midwestern school district. Data collection centered on six prominent…

  3. Review of Spatial Indexing Techniques for Large Urban Data Management

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Azri, Suhaibah; Ujang, Uznir; Anton, François

    Pressure on land development in urban areas causes progressive efforts in spatial planning and management. The physical expansion of urban areas to accommodate rural migration implies a massive impact to social, economical and political situations of major cities. Most of the models used...... in managing urban areas are moving towards sustainable urban development in order to fulfill current necessities while preserving the resources for future generations. However, in order to manage large amounts of urban spatial data, an efficient spatial data constellation method is needed. With the ease...... of three dimensional (3D) spatial data usage in urban areas as a new source of data input, practical spatial data indexing is necessary to improve data retrieval and management. Current two dimensional (2D) spatial indexing approaches seem not applicable to the current and future spatial developments...

  4. Urban sprawl and air quality in large US cities.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stone, Brian

    2008-03-01

    This study presents the results of a paper of urban spatial structure and exceedances of the 8-h national ambient air quality standard for ozone in 45 large US metropolitan regions. Through the integration of a published index of sprawl with metropolitan level data on annual ozone exceedances, precursor emissions, and regional climate over a 13-year period, the association between the extent of urban decentralization and the average number of ozone exceedances per year, while controlling for precursor emissions and temperature, is measured. The results of this analysis support the hypothesis that large metropolitan regions ranking highly on a quantitative index of sprawl experience a greater number of ozone exceedances than more spatially compact metropolitan regions. Importantly, this relationship was found to hold when controlling for population size, average ozone season temperatures, and regional emissions of nitrogen oxides and volatile organic compounds, suggesting that urban spatial structure may have effects on ozone formation that are independent of its effects on precursor emissions from transportation, industry, and power generation facilities.

  5. National Implications for Urban School Systems: Strategic Planning in the Human Resource Management Department in a Large Urban School District

    Science.gov (United States)

    Johnson, Clarence; Kritsonis, William Allan

    2007-01-01

    This article addresses several key ongoing issues in a large urban school district. Literature focuses on what make a large urban school district effective in Human Resource Management. The effectiveness is addressed through recruitment and retention practices. A comparison of the school district with current research is the main approach to the…

  6. Nuclear EMP simulation for large-scale urban environments. FDTD for electrically large problems.

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Smith, William S. [Los Alamos National Laboratory; Bull, Jeffrey S. [Los Alamos National Laboratory; Wilcox, Trevor [Los Alamos National Laboratory; Bos, Randall J. [Los Alamos National Laboratory; Shao, Xuan-Min [Los Alamos National Laboratory; Goorley, John T. [Los Alamos National Laboratory; Costigan, Keeley R. [Los Alamos National Laboratory

    2012-08-13

    In case of a terrorist nuclear attack in a metropolitan area, EMP measurement could provide: (1) a prompt confirmation of the nature of the explosion (chemical or nuclear) for emergency response; and (2) and characterization parameters of the device (reaction history, yield) for technical forensics. However, urban environment could affect the fidelity of the prompt EMP measurement (as well as all other types of prompt measurement): (1) Nuclear EMP wavefront would no longer be coherent, due to incoherent production, attenuation, and propagation of gamma and electrons; and (2) EMP propagation from source region outward would undergo complicated transmission, reflection, and diffraction processes. EMP simulation for electrically-large urban environment: (1) Coupled MCNP/FDTD (Finite-difference time domain Maxwell solver) approach; and (2) FDTD tends to be limited to problems that are not 'too' large compared to the wavelengths of interest because of numerical dispersion and anisotropy. We use a higher-order low-dispersion, isotropic FDTD algorithm for EMP propagation.

  7. The Feasibility of Small Hydro-Electric Generation in a Large Urban Area

    OpenAIRE

    Benson Y. Zhang; Adam Taylor

    2012-01-01

    The possibilities of generating electric power from relatively small hydro-electric sources in a large urban area is investigated. Two different aspects of hydro-electric sources have been studied: storm/waste water pipes in large multi-tenanted residential buildings and urban storm water discharge area (CSI area). The potential to generate from these sources has been investigated using a micro-turbine. The potential electric power which could be extracted from the sources was estimated using...

  8. Restoring monarch butterfly habitat in the Midwestern US: 'All hands on deck'

    Science.gov (United States)

    Thogmartin, Wayne E.; Lopez-Hoffman, Laura; Rohweder, Jason; Diffendorfer, James E.; Drum, Ryan G.; Semmens, Darius J.; Black, Scott; Caldwell, Iris; Cotter, Donita; Drobney, Pauline; Jackson, Laura L.; Gale, Michael; Helmers, Doug; Hilburger, Steven B.; Howard, Elizabeth; Oberhauser, Karen S.; Pleasants, John M.; Semmens, Brice X.; Taylor, Orley R.; Ward, Patrick; Weltzin, Jake F.; Wiederholt, Ruscena

    2017-01-01

    The eastern migratory population of monarch butterflies (Danaus plexippus plexippus) has declined by >80% within the last two decades. One possible cause of this decline is the loss of ≥1.3 billion stems of milkweed (Asclepias spp.), which monarchs require for reproduction. In an effort to restore monarchs to a population goal established by the US Fish and Wildlife Service and adopted by Mexico, Canada, and the US, we developed scenarios for amending the Midwestern US landscape with milkweed. Scenarios for milkweed restoration were developed for protected area grasslands, Conservation Reserve Program land, powerline, rail and roadside rights of way, urban/suburban lands, and land in agricultural production. Agricultural land was further divided into productive and marginal cropland. We elicited expert opinion as to the biological potential (in stems per acre) for lands in these individual sectors to support milkweed restoration and the likely adoption (probability) of management practices necessary for affecting restoration. Sixteen of 218 scenarios we developed for restoring milkweed to the Midwestern US were at levels (>1.3 billion new stems) necessary to reach the monarch population goal. One of these scenarios would convert all marginal agriculture to conserved status. The other 15 scenarios converted half of marginal agriculture (730 million stems), with remaining stems contributed by other societal sectors. Scenarios without substantive agricultural participation were insufficient for attaining the population goal. Agricultural lands are essential to reaching restoration targets because they occupy 77% of all potential monarch habitat. Barring fundamental changes to policy, innovative application of economic tools such as habitat exchanges may provide sufficient resources to tip the balance of the agro-ecological landscape toward a setting conducive to both robust agricultural production and reduced imperilment of the migratory monarch butterfly.

  9. An assessment of the influence of bioenergy and marketed land amenity values on land uses in the midwestern US

    Science.gov (United States)

    Suk-Won Choi; Brent Sohngen; Ralph. Alig

    2011-01-01

    There is substantial concern that bioenergy policies could swamp other considerations, such as environmental values, and lead to large-scale conversions of land from forest to crops. This study examines how bioenergy and marketed environmental rents for forestland potentially influence land use in the Midwestern US. We hypothesize that current land uses reflect market...

  10. Uses of Cable Television in Eight Midwestern Communities.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gotsch, Constance M.

    This study of midwestern cable television systems was designed to accomplish three purposes: (1) compare recommended administration and franchise provisions with actual administration and franchise provisions to see how these policies relate to the future development of educational channels; (2) determine how educators and cable managers work…

  11. Predicting Social Responsibility and Belonging in Urban After-School Physical Activity Programs with Underserved Children

    Science.gov (United States)

    Martin, Jeffrey J.; Byrd, Brigid; Garn, Alex; McCaughtry, Nate; Kulik, Noel; Centeio, Erin

    2016-01-01

    The purpose of this cross sectional study was to predict feelings of belonging and social responsibility based on the motivational climate perceptions and contingent self-worth of children participating in urban after-school physical activity programs. Three-hundred and four elementary school students from a major Midwestern city participated.…

  12. Restoring monarch butterfly habitat in the Midwestern US: ‘all hands on deck’

    Science.gov (United States)

    Thogmartin, Wayne E.; López-Hoffman, Laura; Rohweder, Jason; Diffendorfer, Jay; Drum, Ryan; Semmens, Darius; Black, Scott; Caldwell, Iris; Cotter, Donita; Drobney, Pauline; Jackson, Laura L.; Gale, Michael; Helmers, Doug; Hilburger, Steve; Howard, Elizabeth; Oberhauser, Karen; Pleasants, John; Semmens, Brice; Taylor, Orley; Ward, Patrick; Weltzin, Jake F.; Wiederholt, Ruscena

    2017-07-01

    The eastern migratory population of monarch butterflies (Danaus plexippus plexippus) has declined by >80% within the last two decades. One possible cause of this decline is the loss of ≥1.3 billion stems of milkweed (Asclepias spp.), which monarchs require for reproduction. In an effort to restore monarchs to a population goal established by the US Fish and Wildlife Service and adopted by Mexico, Canada, and the US, we developed scenarios for amending the Midwestern US landscape with milkweed. Scenarios for milkweed restoration were developed for protected area grasslands, Conservation Reserve Program land, powerline, rail and roadside rights of way, urban/suburban lands, and land in agricultural production. Agricultural land was further divided into productive and marginal cropland. We elicited expert opinion as to the biological potential (in stems per acre) for lands in these individual sectors to support milkweed restoration and the likely adoption (probability) of management practices necessary for affecting restoration. Sixteen of 218 scenarios we developed for restoring milkweed to the Midwestern US were at levels (>1.3 billion new stems) necessary to reach the monarch population goal. One of these scenarios would convert all marginal agriculture to conserved status. The other 15 scenarios converted half of marginal agriculture (730 million stems), with remaining stems contributed by other societal sectors. Scenarios without substantive agricultural participation were insufficient for attaining the population goal. Agricultural lands are essential to reaching restoration targets because they occupy 77% of all potential monarch habitat. Barring fundamental changes to policy, innovative application of economic tools such as habitat exchanges may provide sufficient resources to tip the balance of the agro-ecological landscape toward a setting conducive to both robust agricultural production and reduced imperilment of the migratory monarch butterfly.

  13. BigSUR: large-scale structured urban reconstruction

    KAUST Repository

    Kelly, Tom

    2017-11-22

    The creation of high-quality semantically parsed 3D models for dense metropolitan areas is a fundamental urban modeling problem. Although recent advances in acquisition techniques and processing algorithms have resulted in large-scale imagery or 3D polygonal reconstructions, such data-sources are typically noisy, and incomplete, with no semantic structure. In this paper, we present an automatic data fusion technique that produces high-quality structured models of city blocks. From coarse polygonal meshes, street-level imagery, and GIS footprints, we formulate a binary integer program that globally balances sources of error to produce semantically parsed mass models with associated facade elements. We demonstrate our system on four city regions of varying complexity; our examples typically contain densely built urban blocks spanning hundreds of buildings. In our largest example, we produce a structured model of 37 city blocks spanning a total of 1,011 buildings at a scale and quality previously impossible to achieve automatically.

  14. BigSUR: large-scale structured urban reconstruction

    KAUST Repository

    Kelly, Tom; Femiani, John; Wonka, Peter; Mitra, Niloy J.

    2017-01-01

    The creation of high-quality semantically parsed 3D models for dense metropolitan areas is a fundamental urban modeling problem. Although recent advances in acquisition techniques and processing algorithms have resulted in large-scale imagery or 3D polygonal reconstructions, such data-sources are typically noisy, and incomplete, with no semantic structure. In this paper, we present an automatic data fusion technique that produces high-quality structured models of city blocks. From coarse polygonal meshes, street-level imagery, and GIS footprints, we formulate a binary integer program that globally balances sources of error to produce semantically parsed mass models with associated facade elements. We demonstrate our system on four city regions of varying complexity; our examples typically contain densely built urban blocks spanning hundreds of buildings. In our largest example, we produce a structured model of 37 city blocks spanning a total of 1,011 buildings at a scale and quality previously impossible to achieve automatically.

  15. 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

  16. 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.

  17. A review of the physics of large urban fires

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Brode, H.L.; Small, R.D.

    1986-01-01

    A review of historical urban fires can help to illustrate the nature of large fires and the devastation that they can cause. The observations and descriptions of those fires provide the basis for understanding the much larger fires that would result from a nuclear explosion. The focus of this paper is on the major physical factors that are relevant to the characterization of such fires. Atmospheric responses in the vicinity of a large smoke column are addressed, and the hazards expected to accompany nuclear fires are briefly discussed

  18. EFFECTIVENESS OF LARGE WOODY DEBRIS IN STREAM REHABILITATION PROJECTS IN URBAN BASINS. (R825284)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Urban stream rehabilitation projects commonly include log placement to establish the types of habitat features associated with large woody debris (LWD) in undisturbed streams. Six urban in-stream rehabilitation projects were examined in the Puget Sound Lowland of western Washi...

  19. Large Eddy Simulation of Unstably Stratified Turbulent Flow over Urban-Like Building Arrays

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bobin Wang

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available Thermal instability induced by solar radiation is the most common condition of urban atmosphere in daytime. Compared to researches under neutral conditions, only a few numerical works studied the unstable urban boundary layer and the effect of buoyancy force is unclear. In this paper, unstably stratified turbulent boundary layer flow over three-dimensional urban-like building arrays with ground heating is simulated. Large eddy simulation is applied to capture main turbulence structures and the effect of buoyancy force on turbulence can be investigated. Lagrangian dynamic subgrid scale model is used for complex flow together with a wall function, taking into account the large pressure gradient near buildings. The numerical model and method are verified with the results measured in wind tunnel experiment. The simulated results satisfy well with the experiment in mean velocity and temperature, as well as turbulent intensities. Mean flow structure inside canopy layer varies with thermal instability, while no large secondary vortex is observed. Turbulent intensities are enhanced, as buoyancy force contributes to the production of turbulent kinetic energy.

  20. Co-adapting societal and ecological interactions following large disturbances in urban park woodlands

    Science.gov (United States)

    Margaret Carreiro; Wayne Zipperer

    2011-01-01

    The responses of urban park woodlands to large disturbances provide the opportunity to identify and examine linkages in social-ecological systems in urban landscapes.We propose that the Panarchy model consisting of hierarchically nested adaptive cycles provides a useful framework to evaluate those linkages.We use two case studies as examples – Cherokee Park in...

  1. Spatial Analysis of Large Woody Debris Arrangement in a Midwestern U.S. River System: Geomorphic Implications and Influences

    Science.gov (United States)

    Martin, D. J.

    2013-12-01

    Large woody debris (LWD) is universally recognized as a key component of the geomorphological and ecological function of fluvial systems and has been increasingly incorporated into stream restoration and watershed management projects. However, 'natural' processes of recruitment and the subsequent arrangement of LWD within the river network are poorly understood and are thus, rarely a management consideration. Additionally, LWD research tends to be regionally biased toward mountainous regions, and scale biased toward the micro-scale. In many locations, the lack of understanding has led to the failure of restoration/rehabilitation projects that involved the use of LWD. This research uses geographic information systems and spatial analysis techniques to investigate longitudinal arrangement patterns of LWD in a low-gradient, Midwestern river. A large-scale GPS inventory of LWD was performed on the Big River, located in the eastern Missouri Ozarks resulting in over 5,000 logged positions of LWD along seven river segments covering nearly 100 km of the 237 km river system. A time series analysis framework was used to statistically identify longitudinal spatial patterns of LWD arrangement along the main stem of the river, and correlation analyses were performed to help identify physical controls of those patterns. Results indicate that upstream segments have slightly lower densities than downstream segments, with the exception of the farthest upstream segment. Results also show lack of an overall longitudinal trend in LWD density; however, periodogram analysis revealed an inherent periodicity in LWD arrangement. Periodicities were most evident in the downstream segments with frequencies ranging from 3 km to 7 km. Additionally, Pearson correlation analysis, performed within the segment displaying the strongest periodic behavior, show that LWD densities are correlated with channel sinuosity (r=0.25). Ongoing research is investigating further relationships between arrangement

  2. Spatiotemporally enhancing time-series DMSP/OLS nighttime light imagery for assessing large-scale urban dynamics

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xie, Yanhua; Weng, Qihao

    2017-06-01

    Accurate, up-to-date, and consistent information of urban extents is vital for numerous applications central to urban planning, ecosystem management, and environmental assessment and monitoring. However, current large-scale urban extent products are not uniform with respect to definition, spatial resolution, temporal frequency, and thematic representation. This study aimed to enhance, spatiotemporally, time-series DMSP/OLS nighttime light (NTL) data for detecting large-scale urban changes. The enhanced NTL time series from 1992 to 2013 were firstly generated by implementing global inter-calibration, vegetation-based spatial adjustment, and urban archetype-based temporal modification. The dataset was then used for updating and backdating urban changes for the contiguous U.S.A. (CONUS) and China by using the Object-based Urban Thresholding method (i.e., NTL-OUT method, Xie and Weng, 2016b). The results showed that the updated urban extents were reasonably accurate, with city-scale RMSE (root mean square error) of 27 km2 and Kappa of 0.65 for CONUS, and 55 km2 and 0.59 for China, respectively. The backdated urban extents yielded similar accuracy, with RMSE of 23 km2 and Kappa of 0.63 in CONUS, while 60 km2 and 0.60 in China. The accuracy assessment further revealed that the spatial enhancement greatly improved the accuracy of urban updating and backdating by significantly reducing RMSE and slightly increasing Kappa values. The temporal enhancement also reduced RMSE, and improved the spatial consistency between estimated and reference urban extents. Although the utilization of enhanced NTL data successfully detected urban size change, relatively low locational accuracy of the detected urban changes was observed. It is suggested that the proposed methodology would be more effective for updating and backdating global urban maps if further fusion of NTL data with higher spatial resolution imagery was implemented.

  3. Integrating Infrastructure and Institutions for Water Security in Large Urban Areas

    Science.gov (United States)

    Padowski, J.; Jawitz, J. W.; Carrera, L.

    2015-12-01

    Urban growth has forced cities to procure more freshwater to meet demands; however the relationship between urban water security, water availability and water management is not well understood. This work quantifies the urban water security of 108 large cities in the United States (n=50) and Africa (n=58) based on their hydrologic, hydraulic and institutional settings. Using publicly available data, urban water availability was estimated as the volume of water available from local water resources and those captured via hydraulic infrastructure (e.g. reservoirs, wellfields, aqueducts) while urban water institutions were assessed according to their ability to deliver, supply and regulate water resources to cities. When assessing availability, cities relying on local water resources comprised a minority (37%) of those assessed. The majority of cities (55%) instead rely on captured water to meet urban demands, with African cities reaching farther and accessing a greater number and variety of sources for water supply than US cities. Cities using captured water generally had poorer access to local water resources and maintained significantly more complex strategies for water delivery, supply and regulatory management. Eight cities, all African, are identified in this work as having water insecurity issues. These cities lack sufficient infrastructure and institutional complexity to capture and deliver adequate amounts of water for urban use. Together, these findings highlight the important interconnection between infrastructure investments and management techniques for urban areas with a limited or dwindling natural abundance of water. Addressing water security challenges in the future will require that more attention be placed not only on increasing water availability, but on developing the institutional support to manage captured water supplies.

  4. Parameterization of a Hydrological Model for a Large, Ungauged Urban Catchment

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gerald Krebs

    2016-10-01

    Full Text Available Urbanization leads to the replacement of natural areas by impervious surfaces and affects the catchment hydrological cycle with adverse environmental impacts. Low impact development tools (LID that mimic hydrological processes of natural areas have been developed and applied to mitigate these impacts. Hydrological simulations are one possibility to evaluate the LID performance but the associated small-scale processes require a highly spatially distributed and explicit modeling approach. However, detailed data for model development are often not available for large urban areas, hampering the model parameterization. In this paper we propose a methodology to parameterize a hydrological model to a large, ungauged urban area by maintaining at the same time a detailed surface discretization for direct parameter manipulation for LID simulation and a firm reliance on available data for model conceptualization. Catchment delineation was based on a high-resolution digital elevation model (DEM and model parameterization relied on a novel model regionalization approach. The impact of automated delineation and model regionalization on simulation results was evaluated for three monitored study catchments (5.87–12.59 ha. The simulated runoff peak was most sensitive to accurate catchment discretization and calibration, while both the runoff volume and the fit of the hydrograph were less affected.

  5. Effectiveness of Acupuncture Therapy on Stress in a Large Urban College Population.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schroeder, Stefanie; Burnis, James; Denton, Antony; Krasnow, Aaron; Raghu, T S; Mathis, Kimberly

    2017-06-01

    This study is a randomized controlled clinical trial to study the effectiveness of acupuncture on the perception of stress in patients who study or work on a large, urban college campus. The hypothesis was that verum acupuncture would demonstrate a significant positive impact on perceived stress as compared to sham acupuncture. This study included 111 participants with high self-reported stress levels who either studied or worked at a large, urban public university in the southwestern United States. However, only 62 participants completed the study. The participants were randomized into a verum acupuncture or sham acupuncture group. Both the groups received treatment once a week for 12 weeks. The Cohen's global measure of perceived stress scale (PSS-14) was completed by each participant prior to treatment, at 6 weeks, at 12 weeks, and 6 weeks and 12 weeks post-treatment completion. While participants of both the groups showed a substantial initial decrease in perceived stress scores, at 12 weeks post treatment, the verum acupuncture group showed a significantly greater treatment effect than the sham acupuncture group. This study indicates that acupuncture may be successful in decreasing the perception of stress in students and staff at a large urban university, and this effect persists for at least 3 months after the completion of treatment. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier B.V.

  6. Cyberbullying Presence, Extent, & Forms in a Midwestern Post-Secondary Institution

    Science.gov (United States)

    Smith, J. A.; Yoon, J.

    2013-01-01

    This research study was an investigative inquiry as to the forms and characteristics of cyberbullying present in a midwestern post-secondary educational institution during the 2011-2012 academic year. Cyberbullying incidents have increased in educational situations bringing new ethical and legal issues to light; however, most of the research has…

  7. Tree Species Suitability to Bioswales and Impact on the Urban Water Budget.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Scharenbroch, Bryant C; Morgenroth, Justin; Maule, Brian

    2016-01-01

    Water movement between soil and the atmosphere is restricted by hardscapes in the urban environment. Some green infrastructure is intended to increase infiltration and storage of water, thus decreasing runoff and discharge of urban stormwater. Bioswales are a critical component of a water-sensitive urban design (or a low-impact urban design), and incorporation of trees into these green infrastructural components is believed to be a novel way to return stored water to the atmosphere via transpiration. This research was conducted in The Morton Arboretum's main parking lot, which is one of the first and largest green infrastructure installations in the midwestern United States. The parking lot is constructed of permeable pavers and tree bioswales. Trees in bioswales were evaluated for growth and condition and for their effects on water cycling via transpiration. Our data indicate that trees in bioswales accounted for 46 to 72% of total water outputs via transpiration, thereby reducing runoff and discharge from the parking lot. By evaluating the stomatal conductance, diameter growth, and condition of a variety of tree species in these bioswales, we found that not all species are equally suited for bioswales and that not all are equivalent in their transpiration and growth rates, thereby contributing differentially to the functional capacity of bioswales. We conclude that species with high stomatal conductance and large mature form are likely to contribute best to bioswale function. Copyright © by the American Society of Agronomy, Crop Science Society of America, and Soil Science Society of America, Inc.

  8. A phylogenetic study of canine parvovirus type 2c in midwestern Brazil

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Danúbia S. Fontana

    2013-02-01

    Full Text Available Since the late 1970s, canine parvovirus type 2 (CPV-2 has emerged as a causative agent of fatal severe acute hemorrhagic enteritis in dogs. To date, three antigenic types of CPV-2 were described worldwide (CPV-2a/b/c. This study was conducted to determine the variants of CPV-2 circulating in dogs from the Cuiabá Municipality in Midwestern Brazil. Out of 50 fecal samples, collected between 2009 and 2011, 27 tested positive for CPV-2. A 583 bp fragment of the VP2 gene was amplified by PCR, 13 representative samples were analyzed further by DNA sequencing. All strains were characterized as CPV-2c, displayed a low genetic variability although observed several amino acid substitution. These findings indicated that CPV-2c has been circulating in dogs from the Cuiabá Municipality in Midwestern Brazil.

  9. Homeless Students and Academic Achievement: Evidence from a Large Urban Area

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tobin, Kerri J.

    2016-01-01

    Child homelessness has recently reached levels unprecedented in the United States since the Great Depression. Contemporary research has attempted to isolate the effects of homelessness on education, with mixed results. This study reports results from a study in one large urban area and finds that there is no meaningful difference in achievement…

  10. Highlights of a recycling behaviour study in South Africa’s large urban areas

    CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

    Strydom, WF

    2012-10-01

    Full Text Available behaviour study in South Africa?s large urban areas WF STRYDOM CSIR Natural Resources and the Environment, PO Box 395, Pretoria 0001 Email: wstrydom@csir.co.za ? www.csir.co.za INTRODUCTION The recently promulgated National Environmental Management... representative sample of 2 004 respondents in 11 of the larger South African urban areas, including all the metropolitan municipalities. The survey was conducted in November 2010, before the Waste Act was widely implemented. The objective of the study was...

  11. Towards improving the administrative machinery for health care in the Midwestern State of Nigeria.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ebie, J C

    1976-01-01

    The paper discusses the present machinery for the administration of health care facilities in the Midwestern State of Nigeria and makes suggestions for improvement. The multiplicity of autonomous authorities involved in the running of health care facilities and the compartmentalization of health care into 'preventive' aspects (managed by the State Ministry of Health and Local Authorities) and 'curative' aspects (managed by the State Hospitals Management Board) are seen as the main disadvantages of the present system. A new administrative set-up is suggested, the highlights of which include the creation of a number of Area Health Boards that will have responsibility for all State Government and Local Authority health care facilities in their respective geographically defined areas of jurisdiction (this will abolish the artificial division between the administrations of 'preventive' and 'curative' aspects of health care), more professional divisions in the state Ministry of Health (which will retain responsibility on behalf of government for policy matters and the provision of health care facilities) than at the moment, a State Health Service Commission and A State Health Advisory Committee. It is important for doctors and other personnel in the health care field to know something about the administrative machinery of the health care delivery system in which they work. Apart from doctors who are trained in certain postgraduate fields, most other doctors do not appear to have any formal training in or early exposure to medical administration and yet, some of them get called upon during their career to undertake administrative duties at a very high level. This paper describes the present system of administration of health care facilities in the Midwestern State and offers suggestions for consideration for improvement. It is a well known fact that the administration of health care facilities in the Midwestern State has improved considerably in recent years. The

  12. The role of one large greenspace in mitigating London's nocturnal urban heat island.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Doick, Kieron J; Peace, Andrew; Hutchings, Tony R

    2014-09-15

    The term urban heat island (UHI) describes a phenomenon where cities are on average warmer than the surrounding rural area. Trees and greenspaces are recognised for their strong potential to regulate urban air temperatures and combat the UHI. Empirical data is required in the UK to inform predictions on cooling by urban greenspaces and guide planning to maximise cooling of urban populations. We describe a 5-month study to measure the temperature profile of one of central London's large greenspaces and also in an adjacent street to determine the extent to which the greenspace reduced night-time UHI intensity. Statistical modelling displayed an exponential decay in the extent of cooling with increased distance from the greenspace. The extent of cooling ranged from an estimated 20 m on some nights to 440 m on other nights. The mean temperature reduction over these distances was 1.1 °C in the summer months, with a maximum of 4 °C cooling observed on some nights. Results suggest that calculation of London's UHI using Met Stations close to urban greenspace can underestimate 'urban' heat island intensity due to the cooling effect of the greenspace and values could be in the region of 45% higher. Our results lend support to claims that urban greenspace is an important component of UHI mitigation strategies. Lack of certainty over the variables that govern the extent of the greenspace cooling influence indicates that the multifaceted roles of trees and greenspaces in the UK's urban environment merit further consideration. Crown Copyright © 2014. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  13. Mapping regional patterns of large forest fires in Wildland-Urban Interface areas in Europe.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Modugno, Sirio; Balzter, Heiko; Cole, Beth; Borrelli, Pasquale

    2016-05-01

    Over recent decades, Land Use and Cover Change (LUCC) trends in many regions of Europe have reconfigured the landscape structures around many urban areas. In these areas, the proximity to landscape elements with high forest fuels has increased the fire risk to people and property. These Wildland-Urban Interface areas (WUI) can be defined as landscapes where anthropogenic urban land use and forest fuel mass come into contact. Mapping their extent is needed to prioritize fire risk control and inform local forest fire risk management strategies. This study proposes a method to map the extent and spatial patterns of the European WUI areas at continental scale. Using the European map of WUI areas, the hypothesis is tested that the distance from the nearest WUI area is related to the forest fire probability. Statistical relationships between the distance from the nearest WUI area, and large forest fire incidents from satellite remote sensing were subsequently modelled by logistic regression analysis. The first European scale map of the WUI extent and locations is presented. Country-specific positive and negative relationships of large fires and the proximity to the nearest WUI area are found. A regional-scale analysis shows a strong influence of the WUI zones on large fires in parts of the Mediterranean regions. Results indicate that the probability of large burned surfaces increases with diminishing WUI distance in touristic regions like Sardinia, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, or in regions with a strong peri-urban component as Catalunya, Comunidad de Madrid, Comunidad Valenciana. For the above regions, probability curves of large burned surfaces show statistical relationships (ROC value > 0.5) inside a 5000 m buffer of the nearest WUI. Wise land management can provide a valuable ecosystem service of fire risk reduction that is currently not explicitly included in ecosystem service valuations. The results re-emphasise the importance of including this ecosystem service

  14. 49 Stories That Make an Ultimate STEM Lesson Plan

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mehta, Swati; Mehta, Rohit; Berzina-Pitcher, Inese; Seals, Christopher; Mishra, Punya

    2016-01-01

    In this paper we reviewed what 49 large urban public school district STEM teachers enrolled in a year-long graduate certificate and fellowship program at a large Midwestern university considered as their amazing teaching moments. They were asked to share their amazing teaching moments that would make an Ultimate Lesson Plan in STEM. In smaller…

  15. Neighborhood Environment and Self-Rated Health Among Urban Older Adults

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Arlesia Mathis PhD

    2015-09-01

    Full Text Available Objective: This study examines associations between neighborhood environment and self-rated health (SRH among urban older adults. Method: We selected 217 individuals aged 65+ living in a de-industrialized Midwestern city who answered questions on the 2009 Speak to Your Health survey. The relationship between neighborhood environment and SRH was analyzed using regression models. Neighborhood variables included social support and participation, perceived racism, and crime. Additional models included actual crime indices to compare differences between perceived and actual crime. Results: Seniors who have poor SRH are 21% more likely to report fear of crime than seniors with excellent SRH ( p = .01. Additional analyses revealed Black seniors are 7% less likely to participate in social activities ( p = .005 and 4% more likely to report experiencing racism ( p < .001. Discussion: More than 80% of older adults live in urban areas. By 2030, older adults will account for 20% of the U.S. population. Given the increasing numbers of older adults living in urban neighborhoods, studies such as this one are important. Mitigating environmental influences in the neighborhood that are associated with poor SRH may allow urban older adults to maintain health and reduce disability.

  16. Decreased losses of woody plant foliage to insects in large urban areas are explained by bird predation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kozlov, Mikhail V; Lanta, Vojtěch; Zverev, Vitali; Rainio, Kalle; Kunavin, Mikhail A; Zvereva, Elena L

    2017-10-01

    Despite the increasing rate of urbanization, the consequences of this process on biotic interactions remain insufficiently studied. Our aims were to identify the general pattern of urbanization impact on background insect herbivory, to explore variations in this impact related to characteristics of both urban areas and insect-plant systems, and to uncover the factors governing urbanization impacts on insect herbivory. We compared the foliar damage inflicted on the most common trees by defoliating, leafmining and gall-forming insects in rural and urban habitats associated with 16 European cities. In two of these cities, we explored quality of birch foliage for herbivorous insects, mortality of leafmining insects due to predators and parasitoids and bird predation on artificial plasticine larvae. On average, the foliage losses to insects were 16.5% lower in urban than in rural habitats. The magnitude of the overall adverse effect of urbanization on herbivory was independent of the latitude of the locality and was similar in all 11 studied tree species, but increased with an increase in the size of the urban area: it was significant in large cities (city population 1-5 million) but not significant in medium-sized and small towns. Quality of birch foliage for herbivorous insects was slightly higher in urban habitats than in rural habitats. At the same time, leafminer mortality due to ants and birds and the bird attack intensity on dummy larvae were higher in large cities than in rural habitats, which at least partially explained the decline in insect herbivory observed in response to urbanization. Our findings underscore the importance of top-down forces in mediating impacts of urbanization on plant-feeding insects: factors favouring predators may override the positive effects of temperature elevation on insects and thus reduce plant damage. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  17. Upper Midwestern U.S. consumers and ethanol: Knowledge, beliefs and consumption

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Johnson, Dana M.; Halvorsen, Kathleen E.; Solomen, Barry D.

    2011-01-01

    This study uses multivariate statistical methods to explore the beliefs of upper Midwestern U.S. residents about global climate change, and possible consumer responses to determine their willingness to pay more for cellulosic ethanol from multiple feedstocks. A mail survey was sent to residents of Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin to determine baseline knowledge, attitudes and beliefs on several aspects of these issues, with a focus on the emerging market for cellulosic ethanol. First, survey responses were compiled and principal components analysis was used to reduce the dimensionality of the data. This resulted in seven factors and a theoretical framework to help understand consumers' beliefs about climate change and possible energy policy responses. Second, these results were combined with insights from previous studies that were used as input for further research hypotheses and multivariate analyses. The factor scores from principal components analysis along with the some of the key control variables (i.e., gender, income, and rural/urban) served as independent variables in three revised multiple regression models of consumer's willingness to pay (WTP) their fair share of any additional cost of cellulosic ethanol, as reported in an earlier study. Four explanatory variables were found to be significant determinants of WTP in every model: environment, energy consumption, and climate change; concerns about climate change impacts; inability to stop climate change; and gasoline prices and consumption. These results suggest strong public support and consumer WTP for cellulosic ethanol production in the region.

  18. Work plan for determining the occurrence of glyphosate, its transformation product AMPA, other herbicide compounds, and antibiotics in midwestern United States streams, 2002

    Science.gov (United States)

    Battaglin, W.A.; Thurman, E.M.; Kolpin, D.W.; Scribner, E.A.; Sandstrom, M.W.; Kuivila, K.M.

    2003-01-01

    Changes in herbicide use in the Midwestern United States have been substantial over the last 5 years. Most significant is a tripling in the use of glyphosate (N-[phosphonomethyl]glycin). Over this same time period (1997­2001), atrazine use increased by 20 percent and acetochlor use increased by 10 percent, while cyanazine use decreased by 99 percent, alachlor use decreased by 70 percent, and metolachlor use decreased by 55 percent. Previous studies have documented that herbicide flushes occur in midwestern streams during runoff events for several weeks to several months following application, and that herbicide concentrations in midwestern streams during flushing events are related to rates of herbicide use.

  19. Urbanization and economic development: a bias toward large cities?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Moomaw, R L; Shatter, A M

    1996-01-01

    "We find that a nation's urban population percentage increases with GDP per capita; industrialization; export orientation; and possibly, foreign assistance. It decreases with the importance of agriculture. Industrialization and agricultural importance have the same implications for the concentration of urban population in cities with 100,000+ population as for the urban percentage. Greater export orientation reduces such concentration. Finally, GDP per capita, population, and export orientation reduce primacy. Political factors, such as whether a country's largest city is also its capital, affect primacy. Our results do not seem to imply that developing-country urbanization today differs fundamentally from urbanization in the past." excerpt

  20. The Role of Racial Discrimination in the Economic Value of Education Among Urban, Low-Income Latina/o Youth: Ethnic Identity and Gender as Moderators.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mroczkowski, Alison L; Sánchez, Bernadette

    2015-09-01

    The present study used resilience theory to explore relationships among perceived racial discrimination, ethnic identity, gender, and economic value of education (EVE) among urban, low-income, Latina/o youth. It was expected that racial discrimination would predict poorer perceptions of the EVE among Latina/o adolescents. Ethnic identity was hypothesized to buffer the negative effect of racial discrimination on Latina/o students' EVE. The participants in this study were 396 urban, low-income Latina/o high school students from a large, Midwestern city who completed surveys in both 9th- and 10th-grade. Structural equation modeling was used to test the relationships among racial discrimination, ethnic identity, and EVE. Results supported a protective model of resilience. Specifically, ethnic identity served as a protective factor by buffering the negative effect of perceived racial discrimination on EVE for male participants. The present study is the first to examine ethnic identity as a buffer of racial discrimination on EVE among Latina/o high school students. Future directions and implications are discussed.

  1. Self-reported healthcare provider utilization across United States Midwestern households

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    S.R. Dominick

    2018-06-01

    Full Text Available Understanding the relationships between health care provider usage and demographics of patients is necessary for the development of educational materials, outreach information, and programs targeting individuals who may benefit from services. This analysis identified relationships between health care provider usage and individual's demographics. A sample of Midwestern U.S. respondents (n = 1265 was obtained through the use of an online survey distributed February 12–26, 2016 and was targeted to be representative of the population of the Midwestern states sampled in terms of sex, age, income, and state of residence. Specific factors identified as significant in contributing to provider usage (in the past five years differed across the eleven provider types studied. In the most commonly used practitioners (the general or primary physician, relationships between provider usage and age, income, health insurance coverage status, and having children in the household were identified. Furthermore, significant (and positive correlations were identified between the usage of various practitioners; reporting the use of one type of practitioner studied was correlated positively with reporting the use of another type of health care provider studied in this analysis. This analysis provides insight into the relationships between health care provider usage and demographics of individuals, which can aid in the development of educational materials, outreach programs, and policy development. Keywords: Healthcare, Provider use, Clinician use, Primary physician

  2. Air quality and exercise-related health benefits from reduced car travel in the midwestern United States.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Grabow, Maggie L; Spak, Scott N; Holloway, Tracey; Stone, Brian; Mednick, Adam C; Patz, Jonathan A

    2012-01-01

    Automobile exhaust contains precursors to ozone and fine particulate matter (PM ≤ 2.5 µm in aerodynamic diameter; PM2.5), posing health risks. Dependency on car commuting also reduces physical fitness opportunities. In this study we sought to quantify benefits from reducing automobile usage for short urban and suburban trips. We simulated census-tract level changes in hourly pollutant concentrations from the elimination of automobile round trips ≤ 8 km in 11 metropolitan areas in the upper midwestern United States using the Community Multiscale Air Quality (CMAQ) model. Next, we estimated annual changes in health outcomes and monetary costs expected from pollution changes using the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Benefits Mapping Analysis Program (BenMAP). In addition, we used the World Health Organization Health Economic Assessment Tool (HEAT) to calculate benefits of increased physical activity if 50% of short trips were made by bicycle. We estimate that, by eliminating these short automobile trips, annual average urban PM2.5 would decline by 0.1 µg/m3 and that summer ozone (O3) would increase slightly in cities but decline regionally, resulting in net health benefits of $4.94 billion/year [95% confidence interval (CI): $0.2 billion, $13.5 billion), with 25% of PM2.5 and most O3 benefits to populations outside metropolitan areas. Across the study region of approximately 31.3 million people and 37,000 total square miles, mortality would decline by approximately 1,295 deaths/year (95% CI: 912, 1,636) because of improved air quality and increased exercise. Making 50% of short trips by bicycle would yield savings of approximately $3.8 billion/year from avoided mortality and reduced health care costs (95% CI: $2.7 billion, $5.0 billion]. We estimate that the combined benefits of improved air quality and physical fitness would exceed $8 billion/year. Our findings suggest that significant health and economic benefits are possible if bicycling replaces short

  3. An Analysis of Oppositional Culture Theory Applied to One Suburban Midwestern High School

    Science.gov (United States)

    Blackard, Tricia; Puchner, Laurel; Reeves, Alison

    2014-01-01

    This study explored whether and to what extent Ogbu and Fordham's Oppositional Culture Theory applied to African American high school students at one Midwestern suburban high school. Based on multiple interviews with six African American students, the study found support for some aspects of the theory but not for others.

  4. School Nurse Perspectives regarding Their Vocational Decisions

    Science.gov (United States)

    Smith, Shirley G.; Firmin, Michael W.

    2009-01-01

    This is a phenomenological, qualitative study of 25 school nurses employed in a large, urban school district in the Midwestern section of the United States. The study's participants possess histories of professional work experiences in nursing specialties other than school nursing. Thematic analysis of the data revealed three prominent factors…

  5. Invasion dynamics of white-nose syndrome fungus, midwestern United States, 2012-2014.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Langwig, Kate E; Hoyt, Joseph R; Parise, Katy L; Kath, Joe; Kirk, Dan; Frick, Winifred F; Foster, Jeffrey T; Kilpatrick, A Marm

    2015-06-01

    White-nose syndrome has devastated bat populations in eastern North America. In Midwestern United States, prevalence increased quickly in the first year of invasion (2012-13) but with low population declines. In the second year (2013-14), environmental contamination led to earlier infection and high population declines. Interventions must be implemented before or soon after fungal invasion to prevent population collapse.

  6. Comparisons of Contraceptive Use between Rural and Urban Teens.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Geske, Savannah; Quevillon, Randal; Struckman-Johnson, Cindy; Hansen, Keith

    2016-02-01

    The purpose of the study was to determine if barriers in rural areas might decrease an adolescent's likelihood of obtaining effective contraception. Previous studies have reported mixed results in comparisons of rural and urban contraception use. Electronic survey. Midwestern Public University. Undergraduate and graduate women. Questionnaire. Participants retrospectively recalled their contraceptive use and barriers to contraceptive use between the 9th and 12th grades. A Barriers to Contraception Use Scale was created using exploratory factor analysis and yielded 31 questions with 1 underlying factor: barriers. Participants were identified as rural or urban using the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) definition and the participant's self-identification. Overall, rural participants endorsed more barriers to accessing contraceptives than urban participants using the OMB definition (χ(2) (2; n = 388) = 2.04; P .05. The Barriers to Contraception Use Scale total score predicted whether an individual would have a prescription for contraceptives 70.5% of the time compared to the base rate of 54.1%. Although no rural-urban differences in actual contraception use were found, rural participants reported more barriers to accessing contraception, and those who endorsed more barriers were less likely to obtain contraceptives while in high school. Pregnancy prevention programs should thus take these barriers into account when developing future interventions. Copyright © 2016 North American Society for Pediatric and Adolescent Gynecology. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  7. Influence of Science, Technology, and Engineering Curriculum on Rural Midwestern High School Student Career Decisions

    Science.gov (United States)

    Killingsworth, John

    Low degree completion in technical and engineering degrees is a growing concern for policymakers and educators in the United States. This study was an examination of the behaviors of adolescents specific to career decisions related to technology and engineering. The central research question for this study was: do rural, Midwestern high school technical and engineering curricula serve to engage students sufficiently to encourage them to persist through high school while sustaining their interests in technology and engineering careers? Engaging students in technology and engineering fields is the challenge for educators throughout the country and the Midwest. Rural schools have the additional challenge of meeting those issues because of resource limitations. Students in three Midwestern schools were surveyed to determine the level of interest in technology and engineering. The generalized likelihood ratio test was used to overcome concerns for small sample sizes. Accounting for dependent variables, multiple independent variables are examined using descriptive statistics to determine which have greater influence on career decisions, specifically those related to technology and engineering. A typical science curriculum is defined for rural Midwestern high schools. This study concludes that such curriculum achieves the goal of maintaining or increasing student interest and engagement in STEM careers. Furthermore, those schools that incorporate contextual and experiential learning activities into the curriculum demonstrate increased results in influencing student career choices toward technology and engineering careers. Implications for parents, educators, and industry professionals are discussed.

  8. Sexting Rates and Predictors From an Urban Midwest High School.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gregg, David; Somers, Cheryl L; Pernice, Francesca Maria; Hillman, Stephen B; Kernsmith, Poco

    2018-06-01

    Risks associated with teen sexting draw increasing concern from teachers and communities as developments in communication software and devices make sharing private content faster and simpler each year. We examined rates, recipients, and predictors of teen sexting to better plan education and preventative policies and strategies. A comprehensive literature review was conducted to determine the most likely predictors of teen sexting using prior survey studies and theoretical conceptions. We surveyed 314 high school students in an urban area of a large Midwestern city. Males were found to more frequently report sexting. Impulsivity, frequency of electronic communication, peer pressure, peer sexting, and social learning significantly predicted sexting beyond age, race, and sex. Self-esteem did not moderate the effect of peer pressure to sext. Structural predictive models attained good fit to the data, and neither were moderated by sex. Sexting was highly associated with reported peer pressure, perceived norms, and impulsive decision making. Adolescents in relationships may be at particular risk of sexting. These findings will help parents, teens, and educators take appropriate measures to inform about and encourage the safe use of technology. © 2018, American School Health Association.

  9. Assessment Practices of School Psychologists When Identifying Children for SED Classes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Strelnieks, Maija; Wessel, Joan

    This study investigated the procedures used by psychologists in a large midwestern urban area for the initial diagnosis and placement of elementary children with severe emotional disturbance (SED) in educational programs in light of the widespread criticism of the use of projective tests due to the questionable reliability of the tests and…

  10. Connecting Schools to Neighborhood Revitalization: The Case of the Maple Heights Neighborhood Association

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pesch, Lawrence P.

    2014-01-01

    This case study focuses on the way a neighborhood association connects schools to broad change in an urban neighborhood of a large Midwestern city. The first section provides a review of the literature on community involvement in school and neighborhood reform. It reviews the historical origins of the current school-community relationship, the…

  11. Improving the Neighborhood Environment for Urban Older Adults: Social Context and Self-Rated Health.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mathis, Arlesia; Rooks, Ronica; Kruger, Daniel

    2015-12-22

    By 2030, older adults will account for 20% of the U.S. Over 80% of older adults live in urban areas. This study examines associations between neighborhood environment and self-rated health (SRH) among urban older adults. We selected 217 individuals aged 65+ living in a deindustrialized Midwestern city who answered questions on the 2009 Speak to Your Health survey. The relationship between neighborhood environment and self-rated health (SRH) was analyzed using regression and GIS models. Neighborhood variables included social support and participation, perceived racism and crime. Additional models included actual crime indices to compare differences between perceived and actual crime. Seniors who have poor SRH are 21% more likely to report fear of crime than seniors with excellent SRH (p = 0.01). Additional analyses revealed Black seniors are 7% less likely to participate in social activities (p = 0.005) and 4% more likely to report experiencing racism (p older adults living in urban neighborhoods, studies such as this one are important for well-being among seniors. Mitigating environmental influences in the neighborhood which are associated with poor SRH may allow urban older adults to maintain health and reduce disability.

  12. Estuarine habitat quality reflects urbanization at large spatial scales in South Carolina's coastal zone.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Van Dolah, Robert F; Riekerk, George H M; Bergquist, Derk C; Felber, Jordan; Chestnut, David E; Holland, A Fredrick

    2008-02-01

    analyses support the hypotheses that estuarine habitat quality reflects upland development patterns at large spatial scales, and that upland urbanization can result in increased risk of biological degradation and reduced safe human use of South Carolina's coastal resources.

  13. Large-scale urban point cloud labeling and reconstruction

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Liqiang; Li, Zhuqiang; Li, Anjian; Liu, Fangyu

    2018-04-01

    The large number of object categories and many overlapping or closely neighboring objects in large-scale urban scenes pose great challenges in point cloud classification. In this paper, a novel framework is proposed for classification and reconstruction of airborne laser scanning point cloud data. To label point clouds, we present a rectified linear units neural network named ReLu-NN where the rectified linear units (ReLu) instead of the traditional sigmoid are taken as the activation function in order to speed up the convergence. Since the features of the point cloud are sparse, we reduce the number of neurons by the dropout to avoid over-fitting of the training process. The set of feature descriptors for each 3D point is encoded through self-taught learning, and forms a discriminative feature representation which is taken as the input of the ReLu-NN. The segmented building points are consolidated through an edge-aware point set resampling algorithm, and then they are reconstructed into 3D lightweight models using the 2.5D contouring method (Zhou and Neumann, 2010). Compared with deep learning approaches, the ReLu-NN introduced can easily classify unorganized point clouds without rasterizing the data, and it does not need a large number of training samples. Most of the parameters in the network are learned, and thus the intensive parameter tuning cost is significantly reduced. Experimental results on various datasets demonstrate that the proposed framework achieves better performance than other related algorithms in terms of classification accuracy and reconstruction quality.

  14. School Nurse Perspectives of Challenges and How They Perceive Success in Their Professional Nursing Roles

    Science.gov (United States)

    Smith, Shirley G.; Firmin, Michael W.

    2009-01-01

    This is a phenomenological study of 25 school nurses employed in a large, urban school district in the midwestern section of the United States. In addition to school nursing, the participants also had professional work experience in other nursing specialties. Thematic analysis of the data focused on the challenges faced by the school nurses, their…

  15. Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices for Respiratory and Hearing Health among Midwestern Farmers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cramer, Mary E; Wendl, Mary J; Sayles, Harlan; Duysen, Ellen; Achutan, Chandran

    2017-07-01

    The purpose of this study was to assess knowledge, attitudes, and practices for hearing and respiratory health/safety among farmers in seven Midwestern states served by a federally funded Agricultural Center. Findings provided a baseline to longitudinally track the Agricultural Center's program outcomes and to design community education to improve safety and health among farmers. This was a cross-sectional study using a 30 item mailed survey to describe farmers' operations, demographics, health conditions, related information sources, and knowledge/attitude/practices for personal protective equipment (PPE) (i.e., ear plugs/muffs and dust masks/respirators). Frequencies and percentages were calculated for each item and according to responses from younger versus older farmers. The unit of study was farm operators (N = 280) randomly selected from a publicly available database of corn/soybean and hog farmers in seven Midwestern states. Findings revealed important knowledge gaps among respondents regarding (1) hazardous exposure sources; (2) long-term health consequences of noise/dust exposure; (3) proper selection/fitting of PPE. Public health nurses and primary care providers in rural communities should address specific knowledge gaps in order to enhance farmers' perceived understanding of their susceptibility to hazardous exposures. Increasing farmers' knowledge through preferred venues may help to improve PPE effectiveness. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  16. 3D exploitation of large urban photo archives

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cho, Peter; Snavely, Noah; Anderson, Ross

    2010-04-01

    Recent work in computer vision has demonstrated the potential to automatically recover camera and scene geometry from large collections of uncooperatively-collected photos. At the same time, aerial ladar and Geographic Information System (GIS) data are becoming more readily accessible. In this paper, we present a system for fusing these data sources in order to transfer 3D and GIS information into outdoor urban imagery. Applying this system to 1000+ pictures shot of the lower Manhattan skyline and the Statue of Liberty, we present two proof-of-concept examples of geometry-based photo enhancement which are difficult to perform via conventional image processing: feature annotation and image-based querying. In these examples, high-level knowledge projects from 3D world-space into georegistered 2D image planes and/or propagates between different photos. Such automatic capabilities lay the groundwork for future real-time labeling of imagery shot in complex city environments by mobile smart phones.

  17. Powerful and large regional authorities are needed to preserve green open space for urban agglomerations

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Carmen Aalbers

    2013-10-01

    Full Text Available Identification and assessment of strategies for the conservation and multifunctional development of green open space in the urban fringe of European urban regions is a challenge to both the academic and the real life world. Within the EU funded research project PLUREL – Peri-urban land use relationships – ‘Strategies and sustainability assessment tools for urban rural linkages’, we developed a methodology for international comparison of regional strategies that considers the policy context at supra-regional level. This methodology helped to explain the reported impacts of strategies. For this we further elaborated the theoretical concept of policy arrangements and policy dimensions by Van Tatenhove et al. (2000 and Arts et al. (2006. Strategies and policy contexts referred to are from Montpellier Agglomeration, a formal coalition of now 31 municipalities, Leipzig-Halle region, a functional urban region (FUR with governance coalitions around green open space preservation strategies, and Hangzhou in China, a very large city with hierarchical formal government. Results showed how the means of influence from different government levels can complement and reinforce each other and raise the effectiveness of the strategies. A combination of hierarchical government with a horizontal coalition between local authorities covering the full FUR can be very effective for managing the land use developments in the urban fringe, even when private business, CSOs or other NGOs are not included in the coalition. Supra-regional authorities do not have to possess the land resources, but setting the Rules of the Game is a powerful means of influence to coerce local municipalities to preserve green open space in the urban fringe.

  18. Plot size recommendations for biomass estimation in a midwestern old-growth forest

    Science.gov (United States)

    Martin A. Spetich; George R Parker

    1998-01-01

    The authors examine the relationship between disturbance regime and plot size for woody biomass estimation in a midwestern old-growth deciduous forest from 1926 to 1992. Analysis was done on the core 19.6 ac of a 50.1 ac forest in which every tree 4 in. d.b.h. and greater has been tagged and mapped since 1926. Five windows of time are compared—1926, 1976, 1981, 1986...

  19. Midwestern High-Level Radioactive Waste Transportation Project

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Dantoin, T.S.

    1990-12-01

    For more than half a century, the Council of State Governments has served as a common ground for the states of the nation. The Council is a nonprofit, state-supported and -directed service organization that provides research and resources, identifies trends, supplies answers and creates a network for legislative, executive and judicial branch representatives. This List of Available Resources was prepared with the support of the US Department of Energy, Cooperative Agreement No. DE-FC02-89CH10402. However, any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of DOE. The purpose of the agreement, and reports issued pursuant to it, is to identify and analyze regional issues pertaining to the transportation of high-level radioactive waste and to inform Midwestern state officials with respect to technical issues and regulatory concerns related to waste transportation

  20. Transitions in midwestern ground water law

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bowman, J.A.; Clark, G.R.

    1989-01-01

    The evolution of ground-water law in eight states in the Midwest (Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Ohio, and Wisconsin) is examined, and a review of transitions in ground-water doctrines is presented. Two underlying themes in changing ground-water management are communicated. First, ground-water law is evolving from private property rules of capture based on the absolute ownership doctrines to rules requiring conservation and sharing of ground water as a public resource. Second, in both courts and state legislatures, a proactive role of ground-water management is emerging, again, with an emphasis on sharing. Both of these trends are apparent in the Midwest. In the last decade midwestern states have (1) seen significant shifts in court decisions on ground-water use with greater recognition of the reciprocal or mutually dependent nature of ground-water rights, and (2) seen increased legislative development of comprehensive ground-water management statutes that emphasize the reciprocal liabilities of ground-water use. These trends are examined and ground-water management programs discussed for eight states in the Midwest

  1. Occurrence of the root-rot pathogen, Fusarium commune, in midwestern and western United States

    Science.gov (United States)

    J. E. Stewart; R. K. Dumroese; N. B. Klopfenstein; M. -S. Kim

    2012-01-01

    Fusarium commune can cause damping-off and root rot of conifer seedlings in forest nurseries. The pathogen is only reported in Oregon, Idaho, and Washington within United States. Fusarium isolates were collected from midwestern and western United States to determine occurrence of this pathogen. DNA sequences of mitochondrial small subunit gene were used to identify F....

  2. Fire in upper Midwestern oak forest ecosystems: an oak forest restoration and management handbook

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee E. Frelich; Peter B. Reich; David W. Peterson

    2015-01-01

    We reviewed the literature to synthesize what is known about the use of fire to maintain and restore oak forests, woodlands, and savannas of the upper Midwestern United States, with emphasis on Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan. Included are (1) known physical and ecological effects of fire on oaks from acorn through seedling, established sapling, and mature stages of...

  3. Dental Fear and Avoidance in Treatment Seekers at a Large, Urban Dental Clinic.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Heyman, Richard E; Slep, Amy M Smith; White-Ajmani, Mandi; Bulling, Lisanne; Zickgraf, Hana F; Franklin, Martin E; Wolff, Mark S

    2016-01-01

    The prevalence and correlates of dental fear have been studied in representative population studies, but not in patients presenting for dental treatment. We hypothesized that dental fear among patients presenting at a large, urban college of dentistry would be similar to that of the population (e.g. 11% high dental fear, 17% to 35% moderate or higher fear) and that fear would be associated with avoidance of routine dental care, increased use of urgent dental care and poor oral health. Participants were 1070 consecutive patients at a large, urban dental care center. All patients completed a clinical interview, including demographics, medical history, dental history and presenting concerns, and behavioral health history. Patients were also asked to rate their dental anxiety/fear on a 1 (none) to 10 (high) scale. Over 20% of patients reported elevated anxiety/fear, of which 12.30% reported moderate and 8.75% high fear. Severity of dental anxiety/fear was strongly related to the likelihood of avoiding dental services in the past and related to myriad presenting problems. As hypothesized, the prevalence of moderate or higher fear in dental patients was considerable and closely matched that found in general population surveys. Thus, the 'dental home' is an ideal location to treat clinically significant dental anxiety/fear.

  4. Determining Perceptual Gaps of Service Quality and Value in Higher Education: A Midwestern Bible College

    Science.gov (United States)

    McIntosh, Benjamin T.

    2017-01-01

    This doctoral research project examined perceptual gaps of service quality and value in the context of higher education. The researcher performed quantitative analysis of survey data gathered from students at a small, Midwestern Bible college. Students self-selected to participate in this research project and, using class status as an independent…

  5. Remapping of the Wind Energy Resource in the Midwestern United States: Preprint

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Schwartz, M.; Elliot, D.

    2001-01-01

    A recent increase in interest and development of wind energy in the Midwestern United States has focused the need for updating wind resource maps of this area. The wind resource assessment group at the National Renewable Energy Lab., a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) laboratory, has produced updated high-resolution (1-km) wind resource maps for several states in this region. This abstract describes the computerized tools and methodology used by NREL to create the higher resolution maps

  6. Measurement of nurse practitioner job satisfaction in a Midwestern state.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kacel, Barbara; Millar, Mary; Norris, Diane

    2005-01-01

    To describe the current level of job satisfaction of nurse practitioners (NPs) in one Midwestern state. This study utilized descriptive correlation design to examine factors that lead to job satisfaction and dissatisfaction among a randomized sample of licensed NPs from a Midwestern state. The sample of 147 NPs (63% return rate) completed self-administered questionnaires about various characteristics of their jobs. Descriptive statistics and correlations were used to analyze the data. The theoretical foundation for the study was Herzberg's Dual Factor Theory of Job Satisfaction. Overall job satisfaction of NPs was minimally satisfied to satisfied. NPs were most satisfied with intrinsic factors and least satisfied with extrinsic factors of their jobs. Factors NPs were most satisfied with were sense of accomplishment, challenge in work, level of autonomy, patient mix, and ability to deliver quality care. NPs were least satisfied with time off to serve on professional committees, reward distribution, amount of involvement in research, opportunity to receive compensation for services outside normal duties, and monetary bonuses available in addition to salary. NPs with 0-1 year practice experience were the most satisfied with their jobs, but satisfaction scores fell steadily with each additional year of experience, reaching a plateau between the 8th to 11th years of practice. Improving job satisfaction for NPs is critical to recruit and retain advanced practice nurses to enhance access to quality, cost-effective care for all patient populations. Satisfied NPs can potentially reduce healthcare costs associated with employee turnover. Employers must look at extrinsic factors such as compensation and opportunities for professional growth to enhance NP job satisfaction.

  7. Projecting the land cover change and its environmental impacts in the Cedar River Basin in the Midwestern United States

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wu, Yiping; Liu, Shuguang; Sohl, Terry L.; Young, Claudia

    2013-01-01

    The physical surface of the Earth is in constant change due to climate forcing and human activities. In the Midwestern United States, urban area, farmland, and dedicated energy crop (e.g., switchgrass) cultivation are predicted to expand in the coming decades, which will lead to changes in hydrological processes. This study is designed to (1) project the land use and land cover (LULC) by mid-century using the FORecasting SCEnarios of future land-use (FORE-SCE) model under the A1B greenhouse gas emission scenario (future condition) and (2) assess its potential impacts on the water cycle and water quality against the 2001 baseline condition in the Cedar River Basin using the physically based soil and water assessment tool (SWAT). We compared the baseline LULC (National Land Cover data 2001) and 2050 projection, indicating substantial expansions of urban area and pastureland (including the cultivation of bioenergy crops) and a decrease in rangeland. We then used the above two LULC maps as the input data to drive the SWAT model, keeping other input data (e.g., climate) unchanged to isolate the LULC change impacts. The modeling results indicate that quick-response surface runoff would increase significantly (about 10.5%) due to the projected urban expansion (i.e., increase in impervious areas), and the baseflow would decrease substantially (about 7.3%) because of the reduced infiltration. Although the net effect may cause an increase in water yield, the increased variability may impede its use for public supply. Additionally, the cultivation of bioenergy crops such as switchgrass in the newly added pasture lands may further reduce the soil water content and lead to an increase in nitrogen loading (about 2.5% increase) due to intensified fertilizer application. These study results will be informative to decision makers for sustainable water resource management when facing LULC change and an increasing demand for biofuel production in this area.

  8. Projecting the land cover change and its environmental impacts in the Cedar River Basin in the Midwestern United States

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wu Yiping; Liu Shuguang; Sohl, Terry L; Young, Claudia J

    2013-01-01

    The physical surface of the Earth is in constant change due to climate forcing and human activities. In the Midwestern United States, urban area, farmland, and dedicated energy crop (e.g., switchgrass) cultivation are predicted to expand in the coming decades, which will lead to changes in hydrological processes. This study is designed to (1) project the land use and land cover (LULC) by mid-century using the FORecasting SCEnarios of future land-use (FORE-SCE) model under the A1B greenhouse gas emission scenario (future condition) and (2) assess its potential impacts on the water cycle and water quality against the 2001 baseline condition in the Cedar River Basin using the physically based soil and water assessment tool (SWAT). We compared the baseline LULC (National Land Cover data 2001) and 2050 projection, indicating substantial expansions of urban area and pastureland (including the cultivation of bioenergy crops) and a decrease in rangeland. We then used the above two LULC maps as the input data to drive the SWAT model, keeping other input data (e.g., climate) unchanged to isolate the LULC change impacts. The modeling results indicate that quick-response surface runoff would increase significantly (about 10.5%) due to the projected urban expansion (i.e., increase in impervious areas), and the baseflow would decrease substantially (about 7.3%) because of the reduced infiltration. Although the net effect may cause an increase in water yield, the increased variability may impede its use for public supply. Additionally, the cultivation of bioenergy crops such as switchgrass in the newly added pasture lands may further reduce the soil water content and lead to an increase in nitrogen loading (about 2.5% increase) due to intensified fertilizer application. These study results will be informative to decision makers for sustainable water resource management when facing LULC change and an increasing demand for biofuel production in this area. (letter)

  9. Why are large cities faster? Universal scaling and self-similarity in urban organization and dynamics

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bettencourt, L. M. A.; Lobo, J.; West, G. B.

    2008-06-01

    Cities have existed since the beginning of civilization and have always been intimately connected with humanity's cultural and technological development. Much about the human and social dynamics that takes place is cities is intuitively recognizable across time, space and culture; yet we still do not have a clear cut answer as to why cities exist or to what factors are critical to make them thrive or collapse. Here, we construct an extensive quantitative characterization of the variation of many urban indicators with city size, using large data sets for American, European and Chinese cities. We show that social and economic quantities, characterizing the creation of wealth and new ideas, show increasing returns to population scale, which appear quantitatively as a power law of city size with an exponent β≃ 1.15 > 1. Concurrently, quantities characterizing material infrastructure typically show economies of scale, namely β≃ 0.8 exponential growth, which inexorably lead to crises of urban organization. To avoid them we show that growth may proceed in cycles, separated by major urban adaptations, with the unintended consequence that the duration of such cycles decreases with larger urban population size and is now estimated to be shorter than a human lifetime.

  10. Climate change beliefs, risk perceptions, and adaptation behavior among Midwestern U.S. crop farmers

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Amber Saylor Mase

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Global climate change presents unique challenges to the resilience of United States agriculture, and farmers and advisors must utilize effective adaptation strategies to be both economically and environmentally sustainable. This study addresses Midwestern U.S. crop farmers’ beliefs about climate change, perceived risks from weather and climate, and attitudes toward adaptation that influence their decisions to adopt adaptation strategies. Analyzing a 2012 survey of nearly 5000 corn farmers across 22 Midwestern U.S. Watersheds, we investigate the most common weather and climate risk management strategies, including purchasing additional crop insurance, implementing conservation practices, and adding new technology. U.S. farmers’ belief in anthropogenic climate change, perceptions of changing weather patterns, climate risks to their farm and attitudes toward adapting are analyzed. Farmers’ perceptions of risk to their own farm, attitudes toward innovation and adaptation attitudes were the most important determinants of adaptation. This study highlights the critical role of risk perceptions in adaptation attitudes as well as behaviors among agriculturalists. Finally, we discuss how these findings could be applied to increase uptake of adaptation strategies and thus resilience of U.S. agriculture to a changing climate.

  11. Comparison of cellulosic ethanol yields from midwestern maize and reconstructed tallgrass prairie systems managed for bioenergy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Maize- and prairie-based systems were investigated as cellulosic feedstocks by conducting a 9 ha side-by-side comparison on fertile soils in the Midwestern United States. Maize was grown continuously with adequate fertilization over years both with and without a winter rye cover crop, and the 31-spe...

  12. A qualitative case study of the legislative process of the hygienist-therapist bill in a large Midwestern state.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dollins, Haley E; Bray, Kimberly Krust; Gadbury-Amyot, Cynthia C

    2013-10-01

    Inequitable access to dental care contributes to oral health disparities. Midlevel dental provider models are utilized across the globe as a way to bridge the gap between preventive and restorative dental professionals and increase access to dental care. The purpose of this study was threefold: to examine lessons learned from the state legislative process related to creation of the hygienist-therapist in a Midwestern state, to improve understanding of the relationship between alternative oral health delivery models and public policy and to inform the development and passage of future policies aimed at addressing the unmet dental needs of the public. This research investigation utilized a qualitative research methodology to examine the process of legislation relating to an alternative oral health delivery model (hygienist-therapist) through the eyes of key stakeholders. Interview data was analyzed and then triangulated with 3 data sources: interviews with key stakeholders, documents and researcher participant field notes. Data analysis resulted in consensus on 3 emergent themes with accompanying categories. The themes that emerged included social justice, partnerships and coalitions, and the legislative process. This qualitative case study suggests that the creation of a new oral health workforce model was a long and arduous process involving multiple stakeholders and negotiation between the parties involved. The creation of this new workforce model was recognized as a necessary step to increasing access to dental care at the state and national level. The research in this case study may serve to inform advocates of access to oral health care as other states pursue their own workforce models.

  13. The Impact of Budget Cutbacks on Music Teaching Positions and District Funding in Three Midwestern States

    Science.gov (United States)

    Burrack, Frederick William; Payne, Phillip; Bazan, Dale E.; Hellman, Daniel S.

    2014-01-01

    The purpose of this study was to investigate the existence and impact of budgetary cutbacks to music teaching positions and district funding in three Midwestern states, namely Kansas, Nebraska, and Missouri. The results revealed cuts to staffing and district funding of music programs without a reduction in student enrollments in 2011-2012…

  14. Incorporating Traditional Healing Into an Urban American Indian Health Organization: A Case Study of Community Member Perspectives

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hartmann, William E.; Gone, Joseph P.

    2013-01-01

    Facing severe mental health disparities rooted in a complex history of cultural oppression, members of many urban American Indian (AI) communities are reaching out for indigenous traditional healing to augment their use of standard Western mental health services. Because detailed descriptions of approaches for making traditional healing available for urban AI communities do not exist in the literature, this community-based project convened 4 focus groups consisting of 26 members of a midwestern urban AI community to better understand traditional healing practices of interest and how they might be integrated into the mental health and substance abuse treatment services in an Urban Indian Health Organization (UIHO). Qualitative content analysis of focus group transcripts revealed that ceremonial participation, traditional education, culture keepers, and community cohesion were thought to be key components of a successful traditional healing program. Potential incorporation of these components into an urban environment, however, yielded 4 marked tensions: traditional healing protocols versus the realities of impoverished urban living, multitribal representation in traditional healing services versus relational consistency with the culture keepers who would provide them, enthusiasm for traditional healing versus uncertainty about who is trustworthy, and the integrity of traditional healing versus the appeal of alternative medicine. Although these tensions would likely arise in most urban AI clinical contexts, the way in which each is resolved will likely depend on tailored community needs, conditions, and mental health objectives. PMID:22731113

  15. Conceptions of Power among Senior Women Administrators at Liberal Arts Colleges in the Upper Midwestern United States

    Science.gov (United States)

    Enke, Kathryn

    2014-01-01

    Women are underrepresented in senior-level leadership positions in higher education institutions, and their experiences are underrepresented in research about leadership and power in higher education. This qualitative study engaged women senior administrators at liberal arts colleges in the Upper Midwestern United States to better understand how…

  16. Ventilation and Air Quality in City Blocks Using Large-Eddy Simulation—Urban Planning Perspective

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mona Kurppa

    2018-02-01

    Full Text Available Buildings and vegetation alter the wind and pollutant transport in urban environments. This comparative study investigates the role of orientation and shape of perimeter blocks on the dispersion and ventilation of traffic-related air pollutants, and the street-level concentrations along a planned city boulevard. A large-eddy simulation (LES model PALM is employed over a highly detailed representation of the urban domain including street trees and forested areas. Air pollutants are represented by massless and passive particles (non-reactive gases, which are released with traffic-related emission rates. High-resolution simulations for four different city-block-structures are conducted over a 8.2 km 2 domain under two contrasting inflow conditions with neutral and stable atmospheric stratification corresponding the general and wintry meteorological conditions. Variation in building height together with multiple cross streets along the boulevard improves ventilation, resulting in 7–9% lower mean concentrations at pedestrian level. The impact of smaller scale variability in building shape was negligible. Street trees further complicate the flow and dispersion. Notwithstanding the surface roughness, atmospheric stability controls the concentration levels with higher values under stably stratified inflow. Little traffic emissions are transported to courtyards. The results provide urban planners direct information to reduce air pollution by proper structural layout of perimeter blocks.

  17. Nitrate/nitrite poisoning in dairy cattle from the Midwestern Minas Gerais, Brazil

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Daniel Amaral Gontijo

    2017-11-01

    Full Text Available ABSTRACT: In a rural property of the Midwestern Minas Gerais, Brazil, three 2.5 to 3-year-old female bovines (7/8 Holstein x 1/8 Gir weighing approximately 380kg died after showing brownish colored mucosa of conjunctiva and vaginal vestibule, gray-bluish tongue, dyspnea, sialorrhea, tympany, and progression to sternal decubitus and death. In the macroscopic evaluation of one of the bovines, dark (chocolate-colored blood of difficult coagulation, and intensely cherry-red skeletal and cardiac musculature were observed. Beyond that were observed brownish lungs, kidneys, liver, and encephalon, and all the stomach compartments were dilated due to large amounts of gas. In addition, the carcass exhaled a nitrous odor. The diphenylamine test and the nitrate dosage in the forage (Pennisetum purpureum, “elephant grass”, Napier grass cultivar used in feeding the bovines showed a high concentration of nitrate, allowing the diagnosis of nitrate/nitrite intoxication. The main factors leading to the poisoning were attributed to excessive fertilization of grass with bovine manure, the occurrence of a drought period followed by a rainy season, lack of adaptation of the bovines to a nitrate-rich diet, and a diet composed almost exclusively of elephant grass. This is the first report of spontaneous nitrate/nitrite poisoning in cattle in southeastern Brazil.

  18. Hydropower, social priorities and the rural–urban development divide: The case of large dams in Cambodia

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Siciliano, Giuseppina; Urban, Frauke; Kim, Sour; Dara Lonn, Pich

    2015-01-01

    Hydropower investment is a priority in many developing countries, as a means to increase electrification rates and promote national development. However, neglect of dam-affected people's needs, can make them vulnerable to the multifaceted impacts of such projects. Using the case of Cambodia's first large dam, the Kamchay dam, this paper reveals social priorities of affected communities and institutional actors linked to environmental and social implications of large hydropower projects using a preference ranking method. Qualitative research revealed concerns among dam-affected communities which included energy access, livelihood changes, environmental impacts, access to natural resources and compensation. Results also reveal divergence between national and local priorities, which in turn brings about an unequal distribution of costs and benefits of the Kamchay Dam between urban and rural areas. The paper provides recommendations to policy-makers, NGOs and international organizations regarding governance issues, consultation processes and mitigation measures. - Highlights: • We assess social priorities linked to the impacts of a large dam in Cambodia. • We examine differences between local actors in the prioritization of the impacts. • Findings show divergences between national and local priorities of dam construction. • Distribution of cost and benefit is spatially unequal between rural and urban areas.

  19. Mothers' Parenting Dimensions and Adolescent Externalizing and Internalizing Behaviors in a Low-Income, Urban Mexican American Sample

    Science.gov (United States)

    Manongdo, Jennifer A.; Garcia, Jorge I. Ramirez

    2007-01-01

    The relation between adolescent-reported parenting behaviors and mother-reported youth externalizing and internalizing behaviors was examined among 91 Mexican American mother-adolescent (ages 13-17) dyads recruited from an immigrant enclave in a large midwestern metropolitan area. Two major dimensions of mothers' parenting emerged: supportive…

  20. Modelling the dispersion and transport of reactive pollutants in a deep urban street canyon: Using large-eddy simulation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zhong, Jian; Cai, Xiao-Ming; Bloss, William James

    2015-01-01

    This study investigates the dispersion and transport of reactive pollutants in a deep urban street canyon with an aspect ratio of 2 under neutral meteorological conditions using large-eddy simulation. The spatial variation of pollutants is significant due to the existence of two unsteady vortices. The deviation of species abundance from chemical equilibrium for the upper vortex is greater than that for the lower vortex. The interplay of dynamics and chemistry is investigated using two metrics: the photostationary state defect, and the inferred ozone production rate. The latter is found to be negative at all locations within the canyon, pointing to a systematic negative offset to ozone production rates inferred by analogous approaches in environments with incomplete mixing of emissions. This study demonstrates an approach to quantify parameters for a simplified two-box model, which could support traffic management and urban planning strategies and personal exposure assessment. - Highlights: • Large-eddy simulation reproduces two unsteady vortices seen in a lab experiment. • Reactive pollutants in an urban street canyon exhibit significant spatial variation. • O 3 production rate inferred by the NO x -O 3 -steady-state-defect approach is discussed. • Ground level sourced pollutants are largely trapped within the lower vortex. • A method of quantifying parameters of a two-box model is developed. - Reactive pollutants in a deep street canyon exhibit significant spatial variation driven by two unsteady vortices. A method of quantifying parameters of a two-box model is developed

  1. Urbanization and Slum Formation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Phua, Kai Hong

    2007-01-01

    The formation of slums need not be inevitable with rapid urbanization. Such an argument appears to be contradicted by evidence of large slum populations in a large number of developing countries and particularly in rapidly urbanizing regions like Asia. The evidence discussed suggests that city authorities faced with rapid urban development lack the capacity to cope with the diverse demands for infrastructural provision to meet economic and social needs. Not only are strategic planning and intervention major issues in agenda to manage rapid urbanization, but city governments are not effectively linking the economic development trajectory to implications for urban growth and, hence, housing needs. In the following discussion, a case study is presented in support of the argument that city governments have to first recognize and then act to establish the link that is crucial between economic development, urban growth, and housing. This is the agendum that has been largely neglected by city and national governments that have been narrowly focused on economic growth with the consequent proliferation of slum formation as a housing solution. PMID:17387618

  2. Don't Tease Me, I'm Working: Examining Humor in a Midwestern Organization Using Ethnography of Communication

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ojha, Ajay K.; Holmes, Tammy L.

    2010-01-01

    Within organizations, the communicative phenomenon of humor is commonplace. Humorous talk is just as important and frequent to regular discourse that takes place between organizational members. In this inquiry we examine humor as a particular way of communicating between members of a small Midwestern United States organization. Specifically, we…

  3. Monitoring sensible heat flux over urban areas in a high-altitude city using Large Aperture Scintillometer and Eddy Covariance

    Science.gov (United States)

    Du, Junping; Timmermans, Wim J.; Ma, Yaoming; Su, Bob; Pema, Tsering

    2017-04-01

    Urbanization leads to modifications of surface energy balance which governs the momentum, heat and mass transfer between urban canopy layer and the atmosphere, thus impacts dynamic processes in the urban ABL and ultimately influence the local, regional and even global climate. It is essential to obtain accurate urban ABL observations to enhance our understanding of land-atmosphere interaction process over the urban area and help to improve the prediction ability of numerical model. However, up to now, there are rarely observations in high latitude cities. In one of the highest cities in the world, Lhasa, Eddy Covariance (EC) measurements have been ongoing since 10 August 2016 and a Large Aperture Scintillometer (LAS) started to work on 12 November 2016, in addition to a UHI network which has been running since 2012. Taking advantage of these observations, this poster will estimate and analyze the surface energy balance in the winter of 2016 in Lhasa, with an emphasis on sensible heat flux. An analytical footprint model and the radiative surface temperature retrieved from Landsat 8 will be employed to compare EC and LAS measurements.

  4. A Study on Coastal Flooding and Risk Assessment under Climate Change in the Mid-Western Coast of Taiwan

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tai-Wen Hsu

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available This study integrated coastal watershed models and combined them with a risk assessment method to develop a methodology to investigate the impact resulting from coastal disasters under climate change. The mid-western coast of Taiwan suffering from land subsidence was selected as the demonstrative area for the vulnerability analysis based on the prediction of sea level rise (SLR, wave run-up, overtopping, and coastal flooding under the scenarios of the years from 2020 to 2039. Databases from tidal gauges and satellite images were used to analyze SLR using Ensemble Empirical Mode Decomposition (EEMD. Extreme wave condition and storm surge were estimated by numerical simulation using the Wind Wave Model (WWM and the Princeton Ocean Model (POM. Coastal inundation was then simulated via the WASH123D watershed model. The risk map of study areas based on the analyses of vulnerability and disaster were established using the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP technique. Predictions of sea level rise, the maximum wave condition, and storm surge under the scenarios of 2020 to 2039 are presented. The results indicate that the sea level at the mid-western coast of Taiwan will rise by an average of 5.8 cm, equivalent to a rising velocity of 2.8 mm/year. The analysis indicates that the Wuqi, Lukang, Mailiao, and Taixi townships are susceptive, low resistant and low resilient and reach the high-risk level. This assessment provides important information for creating an adaption policy for the mid-western coast of Taiwan.

  5. The surface urban heat island response to urban expansion: A panel analysis for the conterminous United States

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Li, Xiaoma; Zhou, Yuyu; Asrar, Ghassem R.; Imhoff, Marc; Li, Xuecao

    2017-12-01

    Abstract: Urban heat island (UHI), a major concern worldwide, affects human health and energy use. With current and anticipated rapid urbanization, improved understanding of the response of UHI to urbanization is important for impact analysis and developing effective adaptation measures and mitigation strategies. Current studies mainly focus on a single or a few big cities and knowledge on the response of UHI to urbanization for large areas is very limited. Modelling UHI caused by urbanization for large areas that encompass multiple metropolitans remains a major scientific challenge/opportunity. As a major indicator of urbanization, urban area size lends itself well for representation in prognostic models to investigate the impacts of urbanization on UHI and the related socioeconomic and environmental effects. However, we have little knowledge on how UHI responds to the increase of urban area size, namely urban expansion, and its spatial and temporal variation over large areas. In this study, we investigated the relationship between surface UHI (SUHI) and urban area size in the climate and ecological context, and its spatial and temporal variations, based on a panel analysis of about 5000 urban areas of 10 km2 or larger, in the conterminous U.S. We found statistically significant positive relationship between SUHI and urban area size, and doubling the urban area size led to a SUHI increase of higher than 0.7 °C. The response of SUHI to the increase of urban area size shows spatial and temporal variations, with stronger SUHI increase in the Northern region of U.S., and during daytime and summer. Urban area size alone can explain as much as 87% of the variance of SUHI among cities studied, but with large spatial and temporal variations. Urban area size shows higher association with SUHI in regions where the thermal characteristics of land cover surrounding the urban are more homogeneous, such as in Eastern U.S., and in the summer months. This study provides a

  6. Influence of Remedial Education Policies: Experiences of Low-Income Native American Women at a Midwestern Community College

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wilson-Armour, Carole Cristine

    2017-01-01

    The purpose of this study was to determine how policies regarding remedial education can influence the experiences of students who identify as low socioeconomic (SES) Native American women at a Midwestern community college. This study proposed to use interpretive policy analysis and phenomenological qualitative research to learn more about how low…

  7. Convergence of agricultural intensification and climate change in the midwestern United States: Implications for soil and water conservation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Society faces substantial challenges to expand food production while adapting to climatic changes and ensuring ecosystem services are maintained. A convergence of these issues is occurring in the Midwestern United States, i.e., the ‘cornbelt’ region that provides substantial grain supplies to world ...

  8. Informal Urban Development in Cairo

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Steinø, Nicolai; Petersen, Mads Dines

    2017-01-01

    The city of Cairo, Egypt, currently experiences rapid urban growth. Large parts of the city expand without formal urban planning. This results in large-scale informal and unplanned development. In addition, the resulting urban fabric and individual buildings feature severe deficiencies when...... it comes to the basic quality of urban space, ventilation and daylight. While retrofitting already built-up areas would be a huge challenge, some minor improvements might be possible in future development even within the current mode of production of these spaces. In recent years, parametric design tools...... have opened up new possibilities for modelling in urban design. By way of a parametric design approach, different urban design parameters can be modified and new urban space scenarios can be rendered three dimensionally in almost real time. In short, this is parametric urban design. It opens up...

  9. Who's in charge: role clarity in a Midwestern watershed group.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Floress, Kristin; Prokopy, Linda Stalker; Ayres, Janet

    2011-10-01

    Studies of collaborative watershed groups show that effective leadership is an important factor for success. This research uses data from in-depth interviews and meeting observation to qualitatively examine leadership in a Midwestern collaborative watershed group operating with government funding. One major finding was a lack of role definition for volunteer steering-committee members. Lack of role clarity and decision-making processes led to confusion regarding project management authority among the group, paid project staff members, and agency personnel. Given the important role of government grants for funding projects to protect water quality, this study offers insight into leadership issues that groups with Clean Water Act Section 319 (h) funds may face and suggestions on how to resolve them.

  10. Some notions on urbanity

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Grønlund, Bo

    According to International Federation of Housing and Planning the majority of the population of the planet will be urban in 2007. That definition of the urban, however, is based on zombie categories, to speak as Ulrich Beck. Urbanization and urban areas as we normally understand them are concepts...... of 'the first modernity'. Nowadays, in 'the second modernity', we have instead to aks: where in the city do you really find urbanity? A large part of what statistically is called urban areas lack urban quality and visible urban life. In the space syntax community urbanity is basically understood...

  11. Assessing the Performance of Large Scale Green Roofs and Their Impact on the Urban Microclimate

    Science.gov (United States)

    Smalls-Mantey, L.; Foti, R.; Montalto, F. A.

    2015-12-01

    In ultra-urban environments green roofs offer a feasible solution to add green infrastructure (GI) in neighborhoods where space is limited. Green roofs offer the typical advantages of urban GI such as stormwater reduction and management while providing direct benefits to the buildings on which they are installed through thermal protection and mitigation of temperature fluctuations. At 6.8 acres, the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center (JJCC) in New York City, hosts the second largest green roof in the United States. Since its installation in August 2013, the Sustainable Water Resource (SWRE) Laboratory at Drexel University has monitored the climate on and around the green roof by means of four weather stations situated on various roof and ground locations. Using two years of fine scale climatic data collected at the JJCC, this study explores the energy balance of a large scale green roof system. Temperature, radiation, evapotranspiration and wind profiles pre- and post- installation of the JJCC green roof were analyzed and compared across monitored locations, with the goal of identifying the impact of the green roof on the building and urban micro-climate. Our findings indicate that the presence of the green roof, not only altered the climatic conditions above the JJCC, but also had a measurable impact on the climatic profile of the areas immediately surrounding it. Furthermore, as a result of the mitigation of roof temperature fluctuations and of the cooling provided during warmer months, an improvement of the building thermal efficiency was contextually observed. Such findings support the installation of GI as an effective practice in urban settings and important in the discussion of key issues including energy conservation measures, carbon emission reductions and the mitigation of urban heat islands.

  12. Two Sides of the Communicative Coin: Honors and Nonhonors French and Spanish Classes in a Midwestern High School

    Science.gov (United States)

    Morris, Michael

    2005-01-01

    This study compares the instructional practices in honors and nonhonors French and Spanish classes at a Midwestern high school, as well as factors influencing those practices. The researcher observed 54 class sessions and used questionnaires and interviews to obtain teachers' perspectives on instruction. Analysis revealed a statistically…

  13. The influence of environmental factors and dredging on chironomid larval diversity in urban drainage systems in polders strongly influenced by seepage from large rivers

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Vermonden, K.; Brodersen, Klaus Peter; Jacobsen, Dean

    2011-01-01

    , in urban waters strongly influenced by seepage of large rivers. Chironomid assemblages were studied in urban surface-water systems (man-made drainage ditches) in polder areas along lowland reaches of the rivers Rhine-Meuse in The Netherlands. Multivariate analysis was used to identify the key environmental...... factors. Taxon richness, Shannon index (H'), rareness of species, and life-history strategies at urban locations were compared with available data from similar man-made water bodies in rural areas, and the effectiveness of dredging for restoring chironomid diversity in urban waters was tested. Three...... diversity of chironomid communities in urban waters affected by nutrient-rich seepage or inlet of river water...

  14. The spatial extent of agriculturally-induced topsoil removal in the Midwestern United States

    Science.gov (United States)

    Thaler, E.; Larsen, I. J.; Yu, Q.; Keiluweit, M.

    2017-12-01

    Human-induced erosion of soil organic carbon (SOC) degrades soils, leading to decreased crop yields. Here we develop a novel approach for mapping the spatial distribution of complete topsoil loss in agricultural landscapes, focusing on the Midwestern U.S. We used the ferric iron index (FeI) derived from high-resolution satellite imagery to map Fe-rich subsoil exposed by the loss of carbon-rich topsoil. Integrating topographic curvature derived from high resolution topographic data with FeI values demonstrates that FeI values are lowest in concave hollows where eroded soil accumulates, and increase linearly with topographic curvature on convex hilltops. The relationship between FeI and curvature indicates diffusion-like erosion by tillage is a dominant mechanism of soil loss, a mechanism generally not included in soil loss prediction in the U.S. Moreover, the FeI and curvature data indicate SOC-rich topsoil has been completely removed from hilltops, exposing Fe-rich subsoil. This interpretation supported by measurements of FeI using laboratory spectra, extractable-Fe, and organic C from two soil profiles from native prairies, which preserve the pre-agricultural soil profile. FeI increased sharply from the topsoil through the subsoil and total C and extractable Fe content are negatively correlated in both profiles. We calculated topographic curvature for 3.8 x105 km2 of the formerly-glaciated Midwestern U.S. using LiDAR data and found that convex topography, where FeI values suggest topsoil has been completely stripped, covers half of the landscape. Assuming complete removal of original SOC on all hilltops, we estimate that 784 Tg of C has been removed since cultivation began in the mid-1800s and that the SOC decline results in billions of dollars in annual economic losses from decreased crop yields. Restoration of eroded SOC has been proposed as a method to sequester atmospheric CO2 while simultaneously increasing crop yields, and our estimates suggest that

  15. Current status, distribution, and conservation of the Burrowing Owl (Speotyto cunicularia) in midwestern and western North America

    Science.gov (United States)

    Steven R. Sheffield

    1997-01-01

    The Burrowing Owl (Speotyto cunicularia) inhabits open prairie grassland habitat in the midwestern and western US and Canada. For several years now, numbers of this species in North America have been declining at an alarming rate. Currently, Burrowing Owls are listed as endangered in Canada and threatened in Mexico. In the United States, the...

  16. Incidence and mortality from colon and rectal cancer in Midwestern Brazil.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Oliveira, Anderson Gomes de; Curado, Maria Paula; Koechlin, Alice; Oliveira, José Carlos de; Silva, Diego Rodrigues Mendonça E

    2016-01-01

    To describe the incidence and mortality rates from colon and rectal cancer in Midwestern Brazil. Data for the incidence rates were obtained from the Population-Based Cancer Registry (PBCR) according to the available period. Mortality data were obtained from the Mortality Information System (SIM) for the period between 1996 and 2008. Incidence and mortality rates were calculated by gender and age groups. Mortality trends were analyzed by the Joinpoint software. The age-period-cohort effects were calculated by the R software. The incidence rates for colon cancer vary from 4.49 to 23.19/100,000, while mortality rates vary from 2.85 to 14.54/100,000. For rectal cancer, the incidence rates range from 1.25 to 11.18/100,000 and mortality rates range between 0.30 and 7.90/100,000. Colon cancer mortality trends showed an increase among males in Cuiabá, Campo Grande, and Goiania. For those aged under 50 years, the increased rate was 13.2% in Campo Grande. For those aged over 50 years, there was a significant increase in the mortality in all capitals. In Goiânia, rectal cancer mortality in males increased 7.3%. For females below 50 years of age in the city of Brasilia, there was an increase of 8.7%, while females over 50 years of age in Cuiaba showed an increase of 10%. There is limited data available on the incidence of colon and rectal cancer for the Midwest region of Brazil. Colon cancer mortality has generally increased for both genders, but similar data were not verified for rectal cancer. The findings presented herein demonstrate the necessity for organized screening programs for colon and rectal cancer in Midwestern Brazil.

  17. Large-Eddy Simulation of Flow and Pollutant Transport in Urban Street Canyons with Ground Heating

    OpenAIRE

    Li, Xian-Xiang; Britter, Rex E.; Koh, Tieh Yong; Norford, Leslie Keith; Liu, Chun-Ho; Entekhabi, Dara; Leung, Dennis Y. C.

    2009-01-01

    Our study employed large-eddy simulation (LES) based on a one-equation subgrid-scale model to investigate the flow field and pollutant dispersion characteristics inside urban street canyons. Unstable thermal stratification was produced by heating the ground of the street canyon. Using the Boussinesq approximation, thermal buoyancy forces were taken into account in both the Navier–Stokes equations and the transport equation for subgrid-scale turbulent kinetic energy (TKE). The LESs were valida...

  18. Large-Eddy Simulation of Chemically Reactive Pollutant Transport from a Point Source in Urban Area

    Science.gov (United States)

    Du, Tangzheng; Liu, Chun-Ho

    2013-04-01

    Most air pollutants are chemically reactive so using inert scalar as the tracer in pollutant dispersion modelling would often overlook their impact on urban inhabitants. In this study, large-eddy simulation (LES) is used to examine the plume dispersion of chemically reactive pollutants in a hypothetical atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) in neutral stratification. The irreversible chemistry mechanism of ozone (O3) titration is integrated into the LES model. Nitric oxide (NO) is emitted from an elevated point source in a rectangular spatial domain doped with O3. The LES results are compared well with the wind tunnel results available in literature. Afterwards, the LES model is applied to idealized two-dimensional (2D) street canyons of unity aspect ratio to study the behaviours of chemically reactive plume over idealized urban roughness. The relation among various time scales of reaction/turbulence and dimensionless number are analysed.

  19. Glyphosate, other herbicides, and transformation products in Midwestern streams, 2002

    Science.gov (United States)

    Battaglin, W.A.; Kolpin, D.W.; Scribner, E.A.; Kuivila, K.M.; Sandstrom, M.W.

    2005-01-01

    The use of glyphosate has increased rapidly, and there is limited understanding of its environmental fate. The objective of this study was to document the occurrence of glyphosate and the transformation product aminomethylphosphonic acid (AMPA) in Midwestern streams and to compare their occurrence with that of more commonly measured herbicides such as acetochlor, atrazine, and metolachlor. Water samples were collected at sites on 51 streams in nine Midwestern states in 2002 during three runoff events: after the application of pre-emergence herbicides, after the application of post-emergence herbicides, and during harvest season. All samples were analyzed for glyphosate and 20 other herbicides using gas chromatography/mass spectrometry or high performance liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry. The frequency of glyphosate and AMPA detection, range of concentrations in runoff samples, and ratios of AMPA to glyphosate concentrations did not vary throughout the growing season as substantially as for other herbicides like atrazine, probably because of different seasonal use patterns. Glyphosate was detected at or above 0.1 μg/1 in 35 percent of pre-emergence, 40 percent of post-emergence, and 31 percent of harvest season samples, with a maximum concentration of 8.7 μg/1. AMPA was detected at or above 0.1 μg/1 in 53 percent of pre-emergence, 83 percent of post-emergence, and 73 percent of harvest season samples, with a maximum concentration of 3.6 μg/1. Glyphosate was not detected at a concentration at or above the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's maximum contamination level (MCL) of 700 μg/1 in any sample. Atrazine was detected at or above 0.1 μg/1 in 94 percent of pre-emergence, 96 percent of post-emergence, and 57 percent of harvest season samples, with a maximum concentration of 55 μg/1. Atrazine was detected at or above its MCL (3 μg/1) in 57 percent of pre-emergence and 33 percent of post-emergence samples

  20. Glyphasate, other herbicides, and transformation products in midwestern streams, 2002

    Science.gov (United States)

    Battaglin, William A.; Koplin, Dana W.; Scribner, Elizabeth A.; Kuivila, Kathryn; Sandstrom, Mark W.

    2005-01-01

    The use of glyphosate has increased rapidly, and there is limited understanding of its environmental fate. The objective of this study was to document the occurrence of glyphosate and the transformation product aminomethylphosphonic acid (AMPA) in Midwestern streams and to compare their occurrence with that of more commonly measured herbicides such as acetochlor, atrazine, and metolachlor. Water samples were collected at sites on 51 streams in nine Midwestern states in 2002 during three runoff events: after the application of pre-emergence herbicides, after the application of post-emergence herbicides, and during harvest season. All samples were analyzed for glyphosate and 20 other herbicides using gas chromatography/mass spectrometry or high performance liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry. The frequency of glyphosate and AMPA detection, range of concentrations in runoff samples, and ratios of AMPA to glyphosate concentrations did not vary throughout the growing season as substantially as for other herbicides like atrazine, probably because of different seasonal use patterns. Glyphosate was detected at or above 0.1 μg/1 in 35 percent of pre-emergence, 40 percent of post-emergence, and 31 percent of harvest season samples, with a maximum concentration of 8.7 μg/1. AMPA was detected at or above 0.1 μg/1 in 53 percent of pre-emergence, 83 percent of post-emergence, and 73 percent of harvest season samples, with a maximum concentration of 3.6 μg/1. Glyphosate was not detected at a concentration at or above the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's maximum contamination level (MCL) of 700 μg/1 in any sample. Atrazine was detected at or above 0.1 μg/1 in 94 percent of pre-emergence, 96 percent of post-emergence, and 57 percent of harvest season samples, with a maximum concentration of 55 μg/1. Atrazine was detected at or above its MCL (3 μg/1) in 57 percent of pre-emergence and 33 percent of post-emergence samples.

  1. Tree-crown-resolving large-eddy simulation for evaluating greenery effects on urban heat environments

    Science.gov (United States)

    Matsuda, K.; Onishi, R.; Takahashi, K.

    2017-12-01

    Urban high temperatures due to the combined influence of global warming and urban heat islands increase the risk of heat stroke. Greenery is one of possible countermeasures for mitigating the heat environments since the transpiration and shading effect of trees can reduce the air temperature and the radiative heat flux. In order to formulate effective measures, it is important to estimate the influence of the greenery on the heat stroke risk. In this study, we have developed a tree-crown-resolving large-eddy simulation (LES) model that is coupled with three-dimensional radiative transfer (3DRT) model. The Multi-Scale Simulator for the Geoenvironment (MSSG) is used for performing building- and tree-crown-resolving LES. The 3DRT model is implemented in the MSSG so that the 3DRT is calculated repeatedly during the time integration of the LES. We have confirmed that the computational time for the 3DRT model is negligibly small compared with that for the LES and the accuracy of the 3DRT model is sufficiently high to evaluate the radiative heat flux at the pedestrian level. The present model is applied to the analysis of the heat environment in an actual urban area around the Tokyo Bay area, covering 8 km × 8 km with 5-m grid mesh, in order to confirm its feasibility. The results show that the wet-bulb globe temperature (WBGT), which is an indicator of the heat stroke risk, is predicted in a sufficiently high accuracy to evaluate the influence of tree crowns on the heat environment. In addition, by comparing with a case without the greenery in the Tokyo Bay area, we have confirmed that the greenery increases the low WBGT areas in major pedestrian spaces by a factor of 3.4. This indicates that the present model can predict the greenery effect on the urban heat environment quantitatively.

  2. Retention of HIV-Positive Adolescents in Care: A Quality Improvement Intervention in Mid-Western Uganda

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jonathan Izudi

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available Background. Low retention of HIV-positive adolescents in care is a major problem across HIV programs. Approximately 70% of adolescents were nonretained in care at Katooke Health Center, Mid-Western Uganda. Consequently, a quality improvement (QI project was started to increase retention from 29.3% in May 2016 to 90% in May 2017. Methods. In May 2016, we analyzed data for retention, prioritized gaps with theme-matrix selection, analyzed root causes with fishbone diagram, developed site-specific improvement changes and prioritized with countermeasures matrix, and implemented improvement changes with Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA. Identified root causes were missing follow-up strategy, stigma and discrimination, difficult health facility access, and missing scheduled appointments. Interventions tested included generating list of adolescents who missed scheduled appointments, use of mobile phone technology, and linkage of adolescents to nearest health facilities (PDSA 1, Adolescent Only Clinic (PDSA 2, and monthly meetings to address care and treatment challenges (PDSA 3. Results. Retention increased from 17 (29.3% in May 2016 to 60 (96.7% in August 2016 and was maintained above 90% until May 2017 (with exception of February and May 2017 recording 100% retention levels. Conclusion. Context specific, integrated, adolescent-centered interventions implemented using QI significantly improved retention in Mid-Western Uganda.

  3. A Q methodology study of perceptions of poverty among midwestern nursing students.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Work, Janel; Hensel, Desiree; Decker, Kim A

    2015-02-01

    Providing patient-centered care involves understanding how social factors, including poverty, affect health outcomes. The purpose of this study was to explore nursing students' beliefs surrounding the poor. A Q methodology design was used to discover patterns of perceptions towards those living in poverty. The study took place on two campuses of a large public, university in the Midwestern United States. The purposeful sample of 23 Q participants was drawn from students enrolled in the second, third, and final year of study in a baccalaureate nursing program. Participants rank-ordered their level of agreement with a set of 30 statements regarding poverty. Data were analyzed by a three-step process that included correlating participant profiles, performing factor analysis, and generating factor scores. A factor array and narrative were used to explain the findings. Three viewpoints were identified: Judges who tended to feel that poverty was linked to individual behavior; Allies who mostly saw societal reasons for poverty and felt a strong need to assist the poor, and Observers who did not blame individual for their circumstances, but were not as compelled to champion their cause. Given these different perspectives, educators may need to use variety of teaching approaches to help students achieve patient-centered care competencies with their poorest patients. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  4. Associations between Grades and Physical Activity and Food Choices: Results from YRBS from a Large Urban School District

    Science.gov (United States)

    Snelling, Anastasia; Belson, Sarah Irvine; Beard, Jonathan; Young, Kathleen

    2015-01-01

    Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between television viewing time, physical activity level, food consumption patterns, and academic performance of adolescents in a large urban school district in the USA where health disparities are prevalent, particularly among minority residents. Design/Methodology/Approach: The…

  5. Understanding Loan Use and Debt Burden among Low-Income and Minority Students at a Large Urban Community College

    Science.gov (United States)

    Luna-Torres, Maria; McKinney, Lyle; Horn, Catherine; Jones, Sara

    2018-01-01

    This study examined a sample of community college students from a diverse, large urban community college system in Texas. To gain a deeper understanding about the effects of background characteristics on student borrowing behaviors and enrollment outcomes, the study employed descriptive statistics and regression techniques to examine two separate…

  6. The prevalence of two ‘commonly’ encountered synthetic target fibres within a large urban environment

    OpenAIRE

    Palmer, Ray; Burnett, Elisabeth; Luff, Natalie; Wagner, Craig; Stinga, Georgia; Carney, Clare; Sheridan, Kelly

    2015-01-01

    A target fibre study was carried out to assess the random prevalence of two ostensibly commonly encountered synthetic fibre types; black acrylic and blue polyester. The study was performed in an environment which maximised the number of random contacts between textile garments in the population and specific surfaces, namely; seating relating to buses, public houses and cinemas found within a large urban conurbation.\\ud \\ud Surface debris tapings were collected from samples of bus seats (30), ...

  7. Towards Rapid Generation and Visualisation of Large 3D Urban Landscapes for Mobile Device Navigation

    OpenAIRE

    Brujic-Okretic, V.; Gatzidis, C.; Liarokapis, F.; Baker, S.

    2008-01-01

    In this paper a procedural 3D modelling solution for mobile devices is presented based on scripting algorithms allowing for both the automatic and also semi-automatic creation of photorealistic quality virtual urban content. The combination of aerial images, GIS data, 2D ground maps and terrestrial photographs as input data coupled with a user-friendly customized interface permits the automatic and interactive generation of large-scale, accurate, georeferenced and fully-textured 3D virtual ci...

  8. The Urban Heat Island Behavior of a Large Northern Latitude Metropolitan Area

    Science.gov (United States)

    Twine, T. E.; Snyder, P. K.; Hertel, W.; Mykleby, P.

    2012-12-01

    Urban heat islands (UHIs) occur when urban and suburban areas experience elevated temperatures relative to their rural surroundings because of differences in vegetation cover, buildings and other development, and infrastructure. Most cities in the United States are warming at twice the rate of the outlying rural areas and the planet as a whole. Temperatures in the urban center can be 2-5°C warmer during the daytime and as much as 10°C at night. Urban warming is responsible for excessive energy consumption, heat-related health effects, an increase in urban pollution, degradation of urban ecosystems, changes in the local meteorology, and an increase in thermal pollution into urban water bodies. One mitigation strategy involves manipulating the surface energy budget to either reduce the amount of solar radiation absorbed at the surface or offset absorbed energy through latent cooling. Options include using building materials with different properties of reflectivity and emissivity, increasing the reflectivity of parking lots, covering roofs with vegetation, and increasing the amount of vegetation overall through tree planting or increasing green space. The goal of the Islands in the Sun project is to understand the formation and behavior of urban heat islands and to mitigate their effects through sensible city engineering and design practices. As part of this project, we have been characterizing the UHI of the Twin Cities Metropolitan Area (TCMA), a 16,000 square kilometer urban and suburban region located in east central Minnesota that includes the two cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul, and evaluating mitigation strategies for reducing urban warming. Annually, the TCMA has a modest 2-3°C UHI that is especially apparent in winter when the urban core can be up to 5-6°C warmer than the surrounding countryside. We present an analysis of regional temperature variations from a dense network of sensors located throughout the TCMA. We focus on the diurnal and seasonal

  9. Future urban transport

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hansen, Carsten Jahn; Jacobsen, Lars; Möller, Michael

    2000-01-01

    The urban environment is usually associated with a variety of activities, which involve matching the demand for goods, commerce, services, rules and laws, culture and intellectual exchange. Proximity and congregation are essential factors when it comes to the economic efficiency of urban society....... However, the attractiveness of urban environments has caused cites to expand without control in many areas, causing congestion, and environmental and social problems. This session deals with the complexity of urban settings, including the impact of large infrastructure projects relating to safety, noise...

  10. Assessment of long-term and large-scale even-odd license plate controlled plan effects on urban air quality and its implication

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhao, Suping; Yu, Ye; Qin, Dahe; Yin, Daiying; He, Jianjun

    2017-12-01

    To solve traffic congestion and to improve urban air quality, long-lasting and large-scale even-odd license plate controlled plan was implemented by local government during 20 November to 26 December 2016 in urban Lanzhou, a semi-arid valley city of northwest China. The traffic control measures provided an invaluable opportunity to evaluate its effects on urban air quality in less developed cities of northwest China. Based on measured simultaneously air pollutants and meteorological parameters, the abatement of traffic-related pollutants induced by the implemented control measures such as CO, PM2.5 and PM10 (the particulate matter with diameter less than 2.5 μm and 10 μm) concentrations were firstly quantified by comparing the air quality data in urban areas with those in rural areas (uncontrolled zones). The concentrations of CO, NO2 from motor vehicles and fine particulate matter (PM2.5) were shown to have significant decreases of 15%-23% during traffic control period from those measured before control period with hourly maximum CO, PM2.5, and NO2/SO2 reduction of 43%, 35% and 141.4%, respectively. The influence of the control measures on AQI (air quality index) and ozone was less as compared to its effect on other air pollutants. Therefore, to alleviate serious winter haze pollution in China and to protect human health, the stringent long-term and large-scale even-odd license plate controlled plan should be implemented aperiodically in urban areas, especially for the periods with poor diffusion conditions.

  11. Large-Scale Urban Projects, Production of Space and Neo-liberal Hegemony: A Comparative Study of Izmir

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mehmet PENPECİOĞLU

    2013-04-01

    Full Text Available With the rise of neo-liberalism, large-scale urban projects (LDPs have become a powerful mechanism of urban policy. Creating spaces of neo-liberal urbanization such as central business districts, tourism centers, gated residences and shopping malls, LDPs play a role not only in the reproduction of capital accumulation relations but also in the shift of urban political priorities towards the construction of neo-liberal hegemony. The construction of neo-liberal hegemony and the role played by LDPs in this process could not only be investigated by the analysis of capital accumulation. For such an investigation; the role of state and civil society actors in LDPs, their collaborative and conflictual relationships should be researched and their functions in hegemony should be revealed. In the case of Izmir’s two LDPs, namely the New City Center (NCC and Inciraltı Tourism Center (ITC projects, this study analyzes the relationship between the production of space and neo-liberal hegemony. In the NCC project, local governments, investors, local capital organizations and professional chambers collaborated and disseminated hegemonic discourse, which provided social support for the project. Through these relationships and discourses, the NCC project has become a hegemonic project for producing space and constructed neo-liberal hegemony over urban political priorities. In contrast to the NCC project, the ITC project saw no collaboration between state and organized civil society actors. The social opposition against the ITC project, initiated by professional chambers, has brought legal action against the ITC development plans in order to prevent their implementation. As a result, the ITC project did not acquire the consent of organized social groups and failed to become a hegemonic project for producing space.

  12. School Music and Society: A Content Analysis of the Midwestern Conference on School Vocal and Instrumental Music, 1946-1996

    Science.gov (United States)

    West, Chad

    2013-01-01

    This article provides an analysis of the session content presented in the first fifty years (1946-1996) of the (Michigan) state music education conference," The Midwestern Conference on School Vocal and Instrumental Music." The purpose of this study was to examine instructional techniques, technology, social/societal, and multicultural…

  13. Urban Knowledge and Large Housing Estates in Europe

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Andersen, Hans Thor; Dimitrova, Elena; Schmeidler, Karel

    2013-01-01

    Urban challenges have become increasingly important in policy making in Europe during recent decades and greater resources and research activities have been directed toward addressing these challenges. While cities during the 1970s and 1980s were mainly considered as problem containers, they have...

  14. Characterization of anthropogenic impacts in a large urban center by examining the spatial distribution of halogenated flame retardants.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wei, Yan-Li; Bao, Lian-Jun; Wu, Chen-Chou; Zeng, Eddy Y

    2016-08-01

    Anthropogenic impacts have continuously intensified in mega urban centers with increasing urbanization and growing population. The spatial distribution pattern of such impacts can be assessed with soil halogenated flame retardants (HFRs) as HFRs are mostly derived from the production and use of various consumer products. In the present study, soil samples were collected from the Pearl River Delta (PRD), a large urbanized region in southern China, and its surrounding areas and analyzed for a group of HFRs, i.e., polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), decabromodiphenyl ethane, bis(hexachlorocyclopentadieno)cyclooctane (DP) and hexabromobenzene. The sum concentrations of HFRs and PBDEs were in the ranges of 0.66-6500 and 0.37-5700 (mean: 290 and 250) ng g(-1) dry weight, respectively, around the middle level of the global range. BDE-209 was the predominant compound likely due to the huge amounts of usage and its persistence. The concentrations of HFRs were greater in the land-use types of residency, industry and landfill than in agriculture, forestry and drinking water source, and were also greater in the central PRD than in its surrounding areas. The concentrations of HFRs were moderately significantly (r(2) = 0.32-0.57; p urbanization levels, population densities and gross domestic productions in fifteen administrative districts. The spatial distribution of DP isomers appeared to be stereoselective as indicated by the similarity in the spatial patterns for the ratio of anti-DP versus the sum of DP isomers (fanti-DP) and DP concentrations. Finally, the concentrations of HFRs sharply decreased with increasing distance from an e-waste recycling site, indicating that e-waste derived HFRs largely remained in local soil. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  15. Surveillance of Bungowannah pestivirus in the upper Midwestern USA.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Abrahante, J E; Zhang, J W; Rossow, K; Zimmerman, J J; Murtaugh, M P

    2014-08-01

    Pestiviruses, a genetically and antigenically highly diverse group, include one of the most historically significant swine pathogens, that is, classical swine fever virus. In Australia, investigations into swine outbreaks characterized by neonatal mortality, stillbirths and mummified foetuses resulted in the discovery of a new pestivirus, Bungowannah virus. This finding raised the possibility that Bungowannah virus, or a variant thereof, was circulating in swine herds elsewhere in the World. If so, it raised the possibility of a pestivirus emerging as a new swine disease with unknown consequences for animal health and food safety. Thus, we developed three specific qRT-PCR assays to evaluate tissue samples from undiagnosed cases of abortion or respiratory disease for evidence of Bungowannah virus. Examination of 64 samples collected between the Fall of 2007 and Spring of 2010 tested negative for all three genes examined. We conclude that Bungowannah-like pestivirus is unlikely to be present in swine in the upper Midwestern USA. © 2012 Blackwell Verlag GmbH.

  16. Identification and Prediction of Large Pedestrian Flow in Urban Areas Based on a Hybrid Detection Approach

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kaisheng Zhang

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available Recently, population density has grown quickly with the increasing acceleration of urbanization. At the same time, overcrowded situations are more likely to occur in populous urban areas, increasing the risk of accidents. This paper proposes a synthetic approach to recognize and identify the large pedestrian flow. In particular, a hybrid pedestrian flow detection model was constructed by analyzing real data from major mobile phone operators in China, including information from smartphones and base stations (BS. With the hybrid model, the Log Distance Path Loss (LDPL model was used to estimate the pedestrian density from raw network data, and retrieve information with the Gaussian Progress (GP through supervised learning. Temporal-spatial prediction of the pedestrian data was carried out with Machine Learning (ML approaches. Finally, a case study of a real Central Business District (CBD scenario in Shanghai, China using records of millions of cell phone users was conducted. The results showed that the new approach significantly increases the utility and capacity of the mobile network. A more reasonable overcrowding detection and alert system can be developed to improve safety in subway lines and other hotspot landmark areas, such as the Bundle, People’s Square or Disneyland, where a large passenger flow generally exists.

  17. Urban Freight Management with Stochastic Time-Dependent Travel Times and Application to Large-Scale Transportation Networks

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Shichao Sun

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available This paper addressed the vehicle routing problem (VRP in large-scale urban transportation networks with stochastic time-dependent (STD travel times. The subproblem which is how to find the optimal path connecting any pair of customer nodes in a STD network was solved through a robust approach without requiring the probability distributions of link travel times. Based on that, the proposed STD-VRP model can be converted into solving a normal time-dependent VRP (TD-VRP, and algorithms for such TD-VRPs can also be introduced to obtain the solution. Numerical experiments were conducted to address STD-VRPTW of practical sizes on a real world urban network, demonstrated here on the road network of Shenzhen, China. The stochastic time-dependent link travel times of the network were calibrated by historical floating car data. A route construction algorithm was applied to solve the STD problem in 4 delivery scenarios efficiently. The computational results showed that the proposed STD-VRPTW model can improve the level of customer service by satisfying the time-window constraint under any circumstances. The improvement can be very significant especially for large-scale network delivery tasks with no more increase in cost and environmental impacts.

  18. Scaling of the Urban Water Footprint: An Analysis of 65 Mid- to Large-Sized U.S. Metropolitan Areas

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mahjabin, T.; Garcia, S.; Grady, C.; Mejia, A.

    2017-12-01

    Scaling laws have been shown to be relevant to a range of disciplines including biology, ecology, hydrology, and physics, among others. Recently, scaling was shown to be important for understanding and characterizing cities. For instance, it was found that urban infrastructure (water supply pipes and electrical wires) tends to scale sublinearly with city population, implying that large cities are more efficient. In this study, we explore the scaling of the water footprint of cities. The water footprint is a measure of water appropriation that considers both the direct and indirect (virtual) water use of a consumer or producer. Here we compute the water footprint of 65 mid- to large-sized U.S. metropolitan areas, accounting for direct and indirect water uses associated with agricultural and industrial commodities, and residential and commercial water uses. We find that the urban water footprint, computed as the sum of the water footprint of consumption and production, exhibits sublinear scaling with an exponent of 0.89. This suggests the possibility of large cities being more water-efficient than small ones. To further assess this result, we conduct additional analysis by accounting for international flows, and the effects of green water and city boundary definition on the scaling. The analysis confirms the scaling and provides additional insight about its interpretation.

  19. Occurrence of the root-rot pathogen, Fusarium commune, in forest nurseries of the midwestern and western United States

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mee-Sook Kim; Jane E. Stewart; R. Kasten Dumroese; Ned B. Klopfenstein

    2012-01-01

    Fusarium commune can cause damping-off and root rot of conifer seedlings in forest nurseries, and this pathogen has been previously reported from Oregon, Idaho, and Washington, USA. We collected Fusarium isolates from additional nurseries in the midwestern and western USA to more fully determine occurrence of this pathogen. We used DNA sequences of the mitochondrial...

  20. Epidemic Wave Dynamics Attributable to Urban Community Structure: A Theoretical Characterization of Disease Transmission in a Large Network

    Science.gov (United States)

    Eggo, Rosalind M; Lenczner, Michael

    2015-01-01

    Background Multiple waves of transmission during infectious disease epidemics represent a major public health challenge, but the ecological and behavioral drivers of epidemic resurgence are poorly understood. In theory, community structure—aggregation into highly intraconnected and loosely interconnected social groups—within human populations may lead to punctuated outbreaks as diseases progress from one community to the next. However, this explanation has been largely overlooked in favor of temporal shifts in environmental conditions and human behavior and because of the difficulties associated with estimating large-scale contact patterns. Objective The aim was to characterize naturally arising patterns of human contact that are capable of producing simulated epidemics with multiple wave structures. Methods We used an extensive dataset of proximal physical contacts between users of a public Wi-Fi Internet system to evaluate the epidemiological implications of an empirical urban contact network. We characterized the modularity (community structure) of the network and then estimated epidemic dynamics under a percolation-based model of infectious disease spread on the network. We classified simulated epidemics as multiwave using a novel metric and we identified network structures that were critical to the network’s ability to produce multiwave epidemics. Results We identified robust community structure in a large, empirical urban contact network from which multiwave epidemics may emerge naturally. This pattern was fueled by a special kind of insularity in which locally popular individuals were not the ones forging contacts with more distant social groups. Conclusions Our results suggest that ordinary contact patterns can produce multiwave epidemics at the scale of a single urban area without the temporal shifts that are usually assumed to be responsible. Understanding the role of community structure in epidemic dynamics allows officials to anticipate epidemic

  1. Removal of Ozone by Urban and Peri-Urban Forests: Evidence from Laboratory, Field, and Modeling Approaches

    Science.gov (United States)

    Carlo Calfapietra; Arianna Morani; Gregorio Sgrigna; Sara Di Giovanni; Valerio Muzzini; Emanuele Pallozzi; Gabriele Guidolotti; David Nowak; Silvano Fares

    2016-01-01

    A crucial issue in urban environments is the interaction between urban trees and atmospheric pollution, particularly ozone (O3). Ozone represents one of the most harmful pollutants in urban and peri-urban environments, especially in warm climates. Besides the large interest in reducing anthropogenic and biogenic precursors of O3...

  2. Megacities and large urban agglomerations in the coastal zone: interactions between atmosphere, land, and marine ecosystems.

    Science.gov (United States)

    von Glasow, Roland; Jickells, Tim D; Baklanov, Alexander; Carmichael, Gregory R; Church, Tom M; Gallardo, Laura; Hughes, Claire; Kanakidou, Maria; Liss, Peter S; Mee, Laurence; Raine, Robin; Ramachandran, Purvaja; Ramesh, R; Sundseth, Kyrre; Tsunogai, Urumu; Uematsu, Mitsuo; Zhu, Tong

    2013-02-01

    Megacities are not only important drivers for socio-economic development but also sources of environmental challenges. Many megacities and large urban agglomerations are located in the coastal zone where land, atmosphere, and ocean meet, posing multiple environmental challenges which we consider here. The atmospheric flow around megacities is complicated by urban heat island effects and topographic flows and sea breezes and influences air pollution and human health. The outflow of polluted air over the ocean perturbs biogeochemical processes. Contaminant inputs can damage downstream coastal zone ecosystem function and resources including fisheries, induce harmful algal blooms and feedback to the atmosphere via marine emissions. The scale of influence of megacities in the coastal zone is hundreds to thousands of kilometers in the atmosphere and tens to hundreds of kilometers in the ocean. We list research needs to further our understanding of coastal megacities with the ultimate aim to improve their environmental management.

  3. A methodology for the preliminary scoping of future changes in ecosystem services, with an illustration from the future midwestern landscapes study

    Science.gov (United States)

    The product is a white paper defining a methodology for the preliminary scoping of future changes in ecosystem services, with an Illustration from the Future Midwestern Landscapes Study. The scoping method develops a hierarchy of relevant societal values, identifies the ecosyste...

  4. PALM-USM v1.0: A new urban surface model integrated into the PALM large-eddy simulation model

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    J. Resler

    2017-10-01

    Full Text Available Urban areas are an important part of the climate system and many aspects of urban climate have direct effects on human health and living conditions. This implies that reliable tools for local urban climate studies supporting sustainable urban planning are needed. However, a realistic implementation of urban canopy processes still poses a serious challenge for weather and climate modelling for the current generation of numerical models. To address this demand, a new urban surface model (USM, describing the surface energy processes for urban environments, was developed and integrated as a module into the PALM large-eddy simulation model. The development of the presented first version of the USM originated from modelling the urban heat island during summer heat wave episodes and thus implements primarily processes important in such conditions. The USM contains a multi-reflection radiation model for shortwave and longwave radiation with an integrated model of absorption of radiation by resolved plant canopy (i.e. trees, shrubs. Furthermore, it consists of an energy balance solver for horizontal and vertical impervious surfaces, and thermal diffusion in ground, wall, and roof materials, and it includes a simple model for the consideration of anthropogenic heat sources. The USM was parallelized using the standard Message Passing Interface and performance testing demonstrates that the computational costs of the USM are reasonable on typical clusters for the tested configurations. The module was fully integrated into PALM and is available via its online repository under the GNU General Public License (GPL. The USM was tested on a summer heat-wave episode for a selected Prague crossroads. The general representation of the urban boundary layer and patterns of surface temperatures of various surface types (walls, pavement are in good agreement with in situ observations made in Prague. Additional simulations were performed in order to assess the

  5. Few differences in diet and health behaviors and perceptions were observed in adult urban Native American Indians by tribal association, gender, and age grouping.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Carter, Tina L; Morse, Kristin L; Giraud, David W; Driskell, Judy A

    2008-12-01

    Diet and health behaviors and perceptions of adult urban Native American Indians in a large Midwestern city were evaluated for differences by tribal association, gender, and age grouping. The hypothesis was that human behavior is influenced by tribal association, gender, and age grouping in the subject population. The subjects included 33 men and 32 women, with 26 being Sioux; 22 Omaha; and 17 a combination of other tribes. The descriptive survey included two interviewer-administered 24-hour recalls. The majority of subjects were overweight or obese. Significant differences (Por=10% kcal from saturated fat, and >or=300 mg cholesterol/d. Less than Estimated Average Requirements for vitamin A, vitamin C, and iron were consumed by 31%, 59%, and 6%, respectively; 79% consumed less than Adequate Intakes for calcium. Ninety-two percent consumed more than the Tolerable Upper Intake Level for sodium. Few differences were observed in the kilocalorie, vitamin A, vitamin C, calcium, and sodium intakes of these Native American Indians by tribal association, gender, or age grouping. Significant differences in percentages consuming alcohol were observed by gender (Page grouping (Page grouping.

  6. Urban Greening Bay Area

    Science.gov (United States)

    Information about the San Francisco Bay Water Quality Project (SFBWQP) Urban Greening Bay Area, a large-scale effort to re-envision urban landscapes to include green infrastructure (GI) making communities more livable and reducing stormwater runoff.

  7. Juvenile Delinquency and Teenage Pregnancy: A Comparison of Ecological Risk Profiles among Midwestern White and Black Female Juvenile Offenders

    Science.gov (United States)

    Khurana, Atika; Cooksey, Elizabeth C.; Gavazzi, Stephen M.

    2011-01-01

    The authors examined ecological risk factors associated with teen pregnancy with a sample of 1,190 court-involved female juvenile offenders between 11 and 18 years of age. Data were obtained from five Midwestern juvenile county courts using a recently developed youth risk assessment instrument called the global risk assessment device (GRAD). In…

  8. Flow and Pollutant Transport in Urban Street Canyons of Different Aspect Ratios with Ground Heating: Large-Eddy Simulation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Xian-Xiang; Britter, Rex E.; Norford, Leslie K.; Koh, Tieh-Yong; Entekhabi, Dara

    2012-02-01

    A validated large-eddy simulation model was employed to study the effect of the aspect ratio and ground heating on the flow and pollutant dispersion in urban street canyons. Three ground-heating intensities (neutral, weak and strong) were imposed in street canyons of aspect ratio 1, 2, and 0.5. The detailed patterns of flow, turbulence, temperature and pollutant transport were analyzed and compared. Significant changes of flow and scalar patterns were caused by ground heating in the street canyon of aspect ratio 2 and 0.5, while only the street canyon of aspect ratio 0.5 showed a change in flow regime (from wake interference flow to skimming flow). The street canyon of aspect ratio 1 does not show any significant change in the flow field. Ground heating generated strong mixing of heat and pollutant; the normalized temperature inside street canyons was approximately spatially uniform and somewhat insensitive to the aspect ratio and heating intensity. This study helps elucidate the combined effects of urban geometry and thermal stratification on the urban canyon flow and pollutant dispersion.

  9. Urban Security Initiative: Earthquake impacts on the urban ``system of systems``

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Maheshwari, S.; Jones, E.; Rasmussen, S.

    1999-06-01

    This paper is a discussion of how to address the problems of disasters in a large city, a project titled Urban Security Initiative undertaken by the Los Alamos National Laboratory. The paper first discusses the need to address the problems of disasters in large cities and ten provides a framework that is suitable to address this problem. The paper then provides an overview of the module of the project that deals with assessment of earthquake damage on urban infrastructure in large cities and an internet-based approach for consensus building leading to better coordination in the post-disaster period. Finally, the paper discusses the future direction of the project.

  10. Surface runoff and tile drainage transport of phosphorus in the midwestern United States.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Smith, Douglas R; King, Kevin W; Johnson, Laura; Francesconi, Wendy; Richards, Pete; Baker, Dave; Sharpley, Andrew N

    2015-03-01

    The midwestern United States offers some of the most productive agricultural soils in the world. Given the cool humid climate, much of the region would not be able to support agriculture without subsurface (tile) drainage because high water tables may damage crops and prevent machinery usage in fields at critical times. Although drainage is designed to remove excess soil water as quickly as possible, it can also rapidly transport agrochemicals, including phosphorus (P). This paper illustrates the potential importance of tile drainage for P transport throughout the midwestern United States. Surface runoff and tile drainage from fields in the St. Joseph River Watershed in northeastern Indiana have been monitored since 2008. Although the traditional concept of tile drainage has been that it slowly removes soil matrix flow, peak tile discharge occurred at the same time as peak surface runoff, which demonstrates a strong surface connection through macropore flow. On our research fields, 49% of soluble P and 48% of total P losses occurred via tile discharge. Edge-of-field soluble P and total P areal loads often exceeded watershed-scale areal loadings from the Maumee River, the primary source of nutrients to the western basin of Lake Erie, where algal blooms have been a pervasive problem for the last 10 yr. As farmers, researchers, and policymakers search for treatments to reduce P loading to surface waters, the present work demonstrates that treating only surface runoff may not be sufficient to reach the goal of 41% reduction in P loading for the Lake Erie Basin. Copyright © by the American Society of Agronomy, Crop Science Society of America, and Soil Science Society of America, Inc.

  11. Stochastic backscatter modelling for the prediction of pollutant removal from an urban street canyon: A large-eddy simulation

    Science.gov (United States)

    O'Neill, J. J.; Cai, X.-M.; Kinnersley, R.

    2016-10-01

    The large-eddy simulation (LES) approach has recently exhibited its appealing capability of capturing turbulent processes inside street canyons and the urban boundary layer aloft, and its potential for deriving the bulk parameters adopted in low-cost operational urban dispersion models. However, the thin roof-level shear layer may be under-resolved in most LES set-ups and thus sophisticated subgrid-scale (SGS) parameterisations may be required. In this paper, we consider the important case of pollutant removal from an urban street canyon of unit aspect ratio (i.e. building height equal to street width) with the external flow perpendicular to the street. We show that by employing a stochastic SGS model that explicitly accounts for backscatter (energy transfer from unresolved to resolved scales), the pollutant removal process is better simulated compared with the use of a simpler (fully dissipative) but widely-used SGS model. The backscatter induces additional mixing within the shear layer which acts to increase the rate of pollutant removal from the street canyon, giving better agreement with a recent wind-tunnel experiment. The exchange velocity, an important parameter in many operational models that determines the mass transfer between the urban canopy and the external flow, is predicted to be around 15% larger with the backscatter SGS model; consequently, the steady-state mean pollutant concentration within the street canyon is around 15% lower. A database of exchange velocities for various other urban configurations could be generated and used as improved input for operational street canyon models.

  12. Biodiversity of bacteriophages: morphological and biological properties of a large group of phages isolated from urban sewage

    OpenAIRE

    Agata Jurczak-Kurek; Tomasz Gąsior; Bożena Nejman-Faleńczyk; Sylwia Bloch; Aleksandra Dydecka; Gracja Topka; Agnieszka Necel; Magdalena Jakubowska-Deredas; Magdalena Narajczyk; Malwina Richert; Agata Mieszkowska; Borys Wróbel; Grzegorz Węgrzyn; Alicja Węgrzyn

    2016-01-01

    A large scale analysis presented in this article focuses on biological and physiological variety of bacteriophages. A collection of 83 bacteriophages, isolated from urban sewage and able to propagate in cells of different bacterial hosts, has been obtained (60 infecting Escherichia coli, 10 infecting Pseudomonas aeruginosa, 4 infecting Salmonella enterica, 3 infecting Staphylococcus sciuri, and 6 infecting Enterococcus faecalis). High biological diversity of the collection is indicated by its...

  13. Decentralized State-Observer-Based Traffic Density Estimation of Large-Scale Urban Freeway Network by Dynamic Model

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yuqi Guo

    2017-08-01

    Full Text Available In order to estimate traffic densities in a large-scale urban freeway network in an accurate and timely fashion when traffic sensors do not cover the freeway network completely and thus only local measurement data can be utilized, this paper proposes a decentralized state observer approach based on a macroscopic traffic flow model. Firstly, by using the well-known cell transmission model (CTM, the urban freeway network is modeled in the way of distributed systems. Secondly, based on the model, a decentralized observer is designed. With the help of the Lyapunov function and S-procedure theory, the observer gains are computed by using linear matrix inequality (LMI technique. So, the traffic densities of the whole road network can be estimated by the designed observer. Finally, this method is applied to the outer ring of the Beijing’s second ring road and experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness and applicability of the proposed approach.

  14. Environmental sustainability assessment of urban systems applying coupled urban metabolism and life cycle assessment

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Birkved, Morten; Goldstein, Benjamin Paul

    2013-01-01

    environmental sustainability of large urban systems by relating the environmental sustainability performance of urban systems with global environmental burden boundaries quantifying pollution thresholds beyond which performance of global ecosystems services may be detrimentally affected....

  15. Rural-urban migration and urban unemployment in Nigeria.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Aigbokhan, B E

    1988-01-01

    This paper argues that urban unemployment in Nigeria has been due largely to a failure on the part of the government to pursue policies that reflect commitment on its part to its stated objectives, particularly with regard to employment opportunities. Rural-urban migration has been taking place in the country since the 1960s and at an increasing rate since the 1970s. Economic policies have contributed to this, notably the rural-urban imbalance resulting from the pattern of allocation of public investment expenditures and the wages determination process which tends to concentrate more on the urban sector. These have contributed to the widening urban-rural income differentials. In the face of such migration, the urban industrial sector has been able to absorb only a negligible proportion of migrants. A major factor that has contributed to this is the increased capital-intensity of the sector. Some laudable measures have been introduced this year, notably the establishment of the Directorate of Employment and the Directorate of Food, Road, and Rural infrastructure. The latter, if effectively implemented, should enhance rural income and thereby reduce the rural-urban income gap. The former should reduce the problem of open unemployment. While it is too early to assess the effects of these 2 measures on urban unemployment, they may not improve urban unemployment significantly. There is still the need to design policies to increase labor absorption in general.

  16. Towards large-scale mapping of urban three-dimensional structure using Landsat imagery and global elevation datasets

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, P.; Huang, C.

    2017-12-01

    The three-dimensional (3D) structure of buildings and infrastructures is fundamental to understanding and modelling of the impacts and challenges of urbanization in terms of energy use, carbon emissions, and earthquake vulnerabilities. However, spatially detailed maps of urban 3D structure have been scarce, particularly in fast-changing developing countries. We present here a novel methodology to map the volume of buildings and infrastructures at 30 meter resolution using a synergy of Landsat imagery and openly available global digital surface models (DSMs), including the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM), ASTER Global Digital Elevation Map (GDEM), ALOS World 3D - 30m (AW3D30), and the recently released global DSM from the TanDEM-X mission. Our method builds on the concept of object-based height profile to extract height metrics from the DSMs and use a machine learning algorithm to predict height and volume from the height metrics. We have tested this algorithm in the entire England and assessed our result using Lidar measurements in 25 England cities. Our initial assessments achieved a RMSE of 1.4 m (R2 = 0.72) for building height and a RMSE of 1208.7 m3 (R2 = 0.69) for building volume, demonstrating the potential of large-scale applications and fully automated mapping of urban structure.

  17. Urbanization in Africa since independence.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tarver, J D

    1994-01-01

    Over 185 million inhabitants were added to the urban areas of Africa between 1950 and 1990. Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, South Africa, and Swaziland is the most highly urbanized, with 55% in 1990; while less than a quarter of Eastern Africa's population is living in urban centers. By the year 2015 more than half of Africa's population will be living in urban areas. Many parts of Africa have suffered prolonged droughts, overgrazing, locust infestations, and desertification. Millions have become refugees from natural disasters, political oppression, and rural poverty. The large exodus from Africa's rural areas has gone to cities but the large cities have attracted disproportionately large numbers of destitute migrants. Alexandria (1 million), Cairo (2.4 million) and the Witwatersrand in South Africa were the only African urban agglomerations with at least one million inhabitants in 1950. By 1990 the two Egyptian cities together had 12.7 million inhabitants and the Witwatersrand some 5 million, whereas the other 25 urban agglomerations with a million inhabitants each in 1990 had a total population of about 51 million. Lagos, Kinshasa, and Algiers ranged from 3 to 7.7 million. The capitals are the largest cities in at least 54 of the 59 countries and territories. Lagos, Nairobi, and Dar es Salaam are disproportionately larger than the next most populous cities in their countries. The 28 urban agglomerations with at least one million inhabitants had a total population of 70 million in 1990, and are projected to reach 100 million in the year 2000. Overall, Africa's urban population is projected to increase by approximately 135 million in the 1990-2000 decade (from 217 million to 352 million). About 105 million of the growth probably will occur in the smaller urban centers. The total African urban population is likely to reach one billion inhabitants within the next 50 years. It stood at 32 million in 1950. Presently, the United Nations projects 912 million urban residents

  18. Aquaponics in Urban Agriculture: Social Acceptance and Urban Food Planning

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Georgia Pollard

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available Aquaponics is emerging as a novel technology with particular potential for urban agriculture (UA. The social acceptance of aquaponics and its place in urban food planning has not previously been studied. This study used focus groups, key informant interviews, and scenario analyses to investigate the reactions of Adelaide’s urban food opinion leaders and local government area (LGA officials to aquaponics. Most of the focus group participants were unfamiliar with aquaponics. The perceived negatives of the technology received greater attention than the perceived benefits. Aquaponics was thought to be most competitive in either niche or wholesale markets, with a need for scaled guidelines from backyard to large-scale commercial production. For aquaponics in urban settings the influence of urban planning and policy is an important, but to date unstudied, consideration. The urban growers’ opinions of the overcomplicated nature of urban food planning corresponded with the mixed policy responses of the LGAs towards UA. This further supports the participants’ desire for a supportive State Government stance on UA to encourage consistency in LGAs.

  19. Diversity and abundance of aquatic macroinvertebrates in a lotic environment in Midwestern São Paulo State, Brazil

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gabriel Lucas Bochini

    2009-04-01

    Full Text Available This study analyzed the diversity and abundance of an aquatic macroinvertebrate community in the Vargem Limpa stream located in Bauru, Midwestern São Paulo State, and characterized the water quality based on biological parameters. The sampling was carried out during the rain season (December, 2004. It was analyzed and identified 3,068 organisms belonging to 9 macroinvertebrate families. The system showed low richness and diversity of organisms in response to water quality.

  20. Public issues associated with planning a large diameter pipeline in a multi-use urban corridor

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Buszynski, M. [SENES Consultants Ltd., Richmond Hill, ON (Canada)

    2004-07-01

    The demand for natural gas in a downtown area of Toronto is expected to increase significantly due to the proposed construction of two new generation stations. However, there are few opportunities to locate the pipelines in large urban centers because of the lack of foresight by municipalities and others in preserving corridors for utilities. Enbridge Gas conducted a system planning study to determine the best methods for overcoming public issues that were encountered while planning the route for a NPS 36 inch diameter natural gas pipeline in this urban region. In Ontario, distribution pipelines are regulated by the Ontario Energy Board, whose environmental guidelines for the location, construction and operation of hydrocarbon pipelines require the identification of indirectly affected landowners and detailed analysis of public issues and how they can be resolved. Issues include noise, vibration, dust and traffic. Secondary use of the electric transmission rights-of-way resulted in the identification of several other issues, including aesthetics of the right-of-way and loss of privacy for adjacent residential properties. It was determined that the optimal solution was to parallel a section of existing NPS 30 pipeline running in a north-south right-of-way located east of the Don Valley Parkway. The techniques used to address public issues identified 180 directly affected and 3,200 indirectly affected landowners. The Enbridge study revealed that it is possible to plan a right-of-way through an urban corridor in a manner that is compatible with existing development and that satisfies the general public. 6 figs.

  1. A Production Efficiency Model-Based Method for Satellite Estimates of Corn and Soybean Yields in the Midwestern US

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Andrew E. Suyker

    2013-11-01

    Full Text Available Remote sensing techniques that provide synoptic and repetitive observations over large geographic areas have become increasingly important in studying the role of agriculture in global carbon cycles. However, it is still challenging to model crop yields based on remotely sensed data due to the variation in radiation use efficiency (RUE across crop types and the effects of spatial heterogeneity. In this paper, we propose a production efficiency model-based method to estimate corn and soybean yields with MODerate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS data by explicitly handling the following two issues: (1 field-measured RUE values for corn and soybean are applied to relatively pure pixels instead of the biome-wide RUE value prescribed in the MODIS vegetation productivity product (MOD17; and (2 contributions to productivity from vegetation other than crops in mixed pixels are deducted at the level of MODIS resolution. Our estimated yields statistically correlate with the national survey data for rainfed counties in the Midwestern US with low errors for both corn (R2 = 0.77; RMSE = 0.89 MT/ha and soybeans (R2 = 0.66; RMSE = 0.38 MT/ha. Because the proposed algorithm does not require any retrospective analysis that constructs empirical relationships between the reported yields and remotely sensed data, it could monitor crop yields over large areas.

  2. Corporation-led urban development

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Potters, B.; Heurkens, E.W.T.M.

    2015-01-01

    Since a couple of years a remarkable phenomenon is witnessed in the field of urban development which entails that large multinationals corporations, such as IKEA and Siemens, start to engage in urban development projects. As their motivation to do so is unclear, it is difficult to estimate whether

  3. Potential effects of urbanization on urban thermal comfort, a case study of Nairobi city, Kenya: A review

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ongoma Victor

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available This study reviews the effect of urbanization on human thermal comfort over Nairobi city in Kenya. Urbanization alters urban center's land use and land cover, modifying the climate of the urban setting. The modification in climate affects human comfort and the environment at large. This study focuses on the recent studies conducted in Nairobi city and many other cities globally to examine modification of wind, temperature and humidity over Nairobi. There was observed reduction in wind speed and relative humidity over the city, posing threat to human and animal comfort and the environment at large. The city of Nairobi, just like other cities globally is observed to experience urban heat island (UHI. The observed increase in minimum temperature as compared to maximum temperature signifies overall warming. A combination of all these changes reduces human comfort. Borrowing lessons from developed cities, increasing the urban forest cover is thus suggested as one of the practical and effective measures that can help prevent further modification of weather and urban climates. The study recommends further research involving multi-sectoral urban stake holders, on forcing driving urban thermal comfort. In the short term, design and construction of appropriate structures can help minimize energy consumption and emissions, thus enhancing comfort.

  4. Changing industrial patterns in the metroplitan Chicago area

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Allardice, D.

    1994-12-31

    The industrial base of Chicago, and most Midwestern cities, continues to change. These changes are particularly visible in the manufacturing sector where the exodus of companies has left behind abandoned factories and industrial sites that now blight the urban landscape. As urban centers have seen a steady decline in their ability to attract and maintain their manufacturing base, great interest has been placed in seeing what can be done to attract economic activity back into the urban center. For most Midwestern cities, this often means trying to either replace or stem the tide of manufacturing facilities that have left the city for {open_quotes}greenfields{close_quotes} in suburban or rural locations or have simply moved overseas. On the replacement front, to compensate for the loss of manufacturing, some cities such as Chicago have managed to expand other areas of their economies, such as business services, finance, and tourism and recreation to maintain their vitality. This paper discusses three aspects of the changing economic landscape of Chicago and other Midwestern urban areas. First, some historical perspective will be provided on how Chicago came to be a manufacturing center and what factors since World War II have led manufacturing facilities to move away from the urban center. Second, the future prospects for manufacturing in the central city will be examined. Finally, what policies may help increase (or at the very least maintain) the concentration of manufacturing in Chicago will be discussed.

  5. Changing industrial patterns in the metroplitan Chicago area

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Allardice, D.

    1994-01-01

    The industrial base of Chicago, and most Midwestern cities, continues to change. These changes are particularly visible in the manufacturing sector where the exodus of companies has left behind abandoned factories and industrial sites that now blight the urban landscape. As urban centers have seen a steady decline in their ability to attract and maintain their manufacturing base, great interest has been placed in seeing what can be done to attract economic activity back into the urban center. For most Midwestern cities, this often means trying to either replace or stem the tide of manufacturing facilities that have left the city for open-quotes greenfieldsclose quotes in suburban or rural locations or have simply moved overseas. On the replacement front, to compensate for the loss of manufacturing, some cities such as Chicago have managed to expand other areas of their economies, such as business services, finance, and tourism and recreation to maintain their vitality. This paper discusses three aspects of the changing economic landscape of Chicago and other Midwestern urban areas. First, some historical perspective will be provided on how Chicago came to be a manufacturing center and what factors since World War II have led manufacturing facilities to move away from the urban center. Second, the future prospects for manufacturing in the central city will be examined. Finally, what policies may help increase (or at the very least maintain) the concentration of manufacturing in Chicago will be discussed

  6. Air pollutant dispersion from a large semi-enclosed stadium in an urban area: high-resolution CFD modeling versus full-scale measurements

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Hooff, van T.A.J.; Blocken, B.J.E.; Seppelt, R.; Voinov, A.A.; Lange, S.; Bankamp, D.

    2012-01-01

    Abstract: High-resolution CFD simulations and full-scale measurements have been performed to assess the dispersion of air pollutants (CO2) from the large semi-enclosed Amsterdam ArenA football stadium. The dispersion process is driven by natural ventilation by the urban wind flow and by buoyancy,

  7. Determinants of frequent Internet use in an urban kidney transplant population in the United States: characterizing the digital divide.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lockwood, Mark; Saunders, Milda; Josephson, Michelle A; Becker, Yolanda T; Lee, Christopher

    2015-03-01

    The Internet is a staple of electronic communication and is essential to the emerging telemonitoring and health information technology interventions for adults with chronic diseases. To identify determinants of frequent Internet use in an urban kidney transplant population in the United States. A single center, cross-sectional survey study. An urban Midwestern transplant center. 78 pretransplant and 177 posttransplant patients. Frequent Internet use, defined as using the Internet more than 5 hours per week. Only 38% of participants reported being frequent Internet users. Non-Hispanic blacks and participants who reported their race/ethnicity as "other" were significantly less likely than whites to report being frequent Internet users. Women were 59% less likely than men to be frequent users of the Internet. Those who reported having kidney disease for more than 3 years were more likely to report being frequent Internet users. As education increased, Internet use increased. As age increased, Internet use decreased. Alternatives to electronic information sources and/or additional resources should be considered for those who may fall in the so-called digital divide.

  8. Accelerators and the Midwestern Universities Research Association in the 1950s

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kerst, D.W.

    1989-01-01

    The birth of the cooperative research group, the Midwestern Universities Research Association (MURA) is documented in this article, following the promise high energy particles heralded by the invention of alternating-gradient focusing. Regular meetings were established and theoretical research work concentrated on orbits, with the help of the new digital computers. Space charge effects for charge distributions in the beam and the radio frequency ''knock out'' diagnostic technique were also studied. Experimental work on the Cosmotron confirmed the findings and also led to the discovery and use of the fixed-field alternating gradient (FFAG) magnet for direct-current operation which occupied much of MURA's future activities. FFAG accelerators with direct current ring magnets were invented with greatly increased beam intensities. These in turn made colliding beam machines possible. The MURA group later built a 50MeV electron model of a colliding-beam FFAG synchrotron, later used for beam stacking. (UK)

  9. Urban photovoltaic electricity policies

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NONE

    2009-10-15

    This report for the International Energy Agency (IEA) made by Task 10 of the Photovoltaic Power Systems (PVPS) programme takes a look at urban photovoltaic electricity policies. The mission of the Photovoltaic Power Systems Programme is to enhance the international collaboration efforts which accelerate the development and deployment of photovoltaic solar energy as a significant and sustainable renewable energy option. The objective of Task 10 is stated as being to enhance the opportunities for wide-scale, solution-oriented application of photovoltaics in the urban environment. The goal of the study presented was to evaluate a standardised basis for urban policies regarding photovoltaic integration in a set of cities in the countries participating in the IEA's Task 10, Urban Scale PV. The investigation was focused on three topics: the present state of the policies, the prospects for future policies fostering photovoltaic deployment and the prospects for future policies to cope with large-scale photovoltaic integration. The first section analyses the state of the policies; this analysis is then confirmed in section 2, which deals with present obstacles to PV deployment and solutions to overcome them. The third section investigates future prospects for PV deployment with the question of mastering large scale integration. The report concludes that cities could formulate urban solutions by developing integrated, specific provisions for PV deployment in their urban infrastructure planning.

  10. Useful to Usable (U2U): Transforming climate information into usable tools to support Midwestern agricultural production

    Science.gov (United States)

    Prokopy, L. S.; Widhalm, M.

    2014-12-01

    There is a close connection between weather and climate patterns and successful agricultural production. Therefore, incorporating climate information into farm management is likely to reduce the risk of economic losses and increase profitability. While weather and climate information is becoming ever more abundant and accessible, the use of such information in the agricultural community remains limited. Useful to Usable (U2U): Transforming Climate Variability and Change Information for Cereal Crop Producers is a USDA-NIFA funded research and extension project focused on improving the use of climate information for agricultural production in the Midwestern United States by developing user-driven decision tools and training resources. The U2U team is a diverse and uniquely qualified group of climatologists, crop modelers, agronomists, and social scientists from 9 Midwestern universities and two NOAA Regional Climate Centers. Together, we strive to help producers make better long-term plans on what, when and where to plant and also how to manage crops for maximum yields and minimum environmental damage. To ensure relevance and usability of U2U products, our social science team is using a number of techniques including surveys and focus groups to integrate stakeholder interests, needs, and concerns into all aspects of U2U research. It is through this coupling of physical and social science disciplines that we strive to transform existing climate information into actionable knowledge.

  11. [Urban construction, professions, and immigration at the origin of urban studies in Venezuela, 1870-1957].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Martin Frechilla, J J

    1996-01-01

    The individuals and circumstances involved in the creation of the first graduate urban studies program in Venezuela are recalled, beginning with the odernization of Caracas under the impulse of President Antonio Guzman Blanco, elected in 1870. Guzman Blanco converted himself into Venezuela's first urbanist with the establishment of organizational frameworks and completion of massive public works projects, which were based largely on the urban models of the US and Europe. Engineering and public health were consolidated as the two most influential sources of professional competence for guiding urban development. By the mid-1930s, growth fueled by petroleum revenues was causing rapid urbanization, and it became apparent that trained professionals able to manage the increasingly complex tasks of urban planning were in short supply. A new surge of modernizing construction began in 1936 and led to a cooperative arrangement with a French firm, whose personnel were to be required to train Venezuelan engineers for future service in urban planning. An influx of refugees from the Spanish Civil War and the increasing influence of urban planning processes in the US were also observed. The National Commission on Urbanism was created in 1946 as a dependency of the Ministry of Planning to facilitate public administration of the development and control of cities. Throughout the period, a debate was underway on the need for a multidisciplinary approach to urban planning versus a primarily architectural or engineering approach. In 1957, some consensus was reached on the need for urban planning to be viewed as more than a speciality of architecture. A framework was developed for a graduate program in 1969 in the Central University of Venezuela. The National Commission on Urbanism was disbanded in 1957, largely because of its excessive focus on architecture to the exclusion of other disciplines relevant to the urbanization process.

  12. Global assessment of urban and peri-urban agriculture: irrigated and rainfed croplands

    Science.gov (United States)

    Thebo, A. L.; Drechsel, P.; Lambin, E. F.

    2014-11-01

    The role of urban agriculture in global food security is a topic of increasing discussion. Existing research on urban and peri-urban agriculture consists largely of case studies that frequently use disparate definitions of urban and peri-urban agriculture depending on the local context and study objectives. This lack of consistency makes quantification of the extent of this practice at the global scale difficult. This study instead integrates global data on croplands and urban extents using spatial overlay analysis to estimate the global area of urban and peri-urban irrigated and rainfed croplands. The global area of urban irrigated croplands was estimated at about 24 Mha (11.0 percent of all irrigated croplands) with a cropping intensity of 1.48. The global area of urban rainfed croplands found was approximately 44 Mha (4.7 percent of all rainfed croplands) with a cropping intensity of 1.03. These values were derived from the MIRCA2000 Maximum Monthly Cropped Area Grids for irrigated and rainfed crops and therefore their sum does not necessarily represent the total urban cropland area when the maximum extent of irrigated and rainfed croplands occurs in different months. Further analysis of croplands within 20 km of urban extents show that 60 and 35 percent of, respectively, all irrigated and rainfed croplands fall within this distance range.

  13. Global assessment of urban and peri-urban agriculture: irrigated and rainfed croplands

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Thebo, A L; Drechsel, P; Lambin, E F

    2014-01-01

    The role of urban agriculture in global food security is a topic of increasing discussion. Existing research on urban and peri-urban agriculture consists largely of case studies that frequently use disparate definitions of urban and peri-urban agriculture depending on the local context and study objectives. This lack of consistency makes quantification of the extent of this practice at the global scale difficult. This study instead integrates global data on croplands and urban extents using spatial overlay analysis to estimate the global area of urban and peri-urban irrigated and rainfed croplands. The global area of urban irrigated croplands was estimated at about 24 Mha (11.0 percent of all irrigated croplands) with a cropping intensity of 1.48. The global area of urban rainfed croplands found was approximately 44 Mha (4.7 percent of all rainfed croplands) with a cropping intensity of 1.03. These values were derived from the MIRCA2000 Maximum Monthly Cropped Area Grids for irrigated and rainfed crops and therefore their sum does not necessarily represent the total urban cropland area when the maximum extent of irrigated and rainfed croplands occurs in different months. Further analysis of croplands within 20 km of urban extents show that 60 and 35 percent of, respectively, all irrigated and rainfed croplands fall within this distance range. (letter)

  14. Job Satisfaction of Elementary Principals in Large Urban Communities

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mitchell, Cathryn M.

    2010-01-01

    The purpose of this study was to determine job satisfaction levels of elementary principals in "major urban" districts in Texas and to identify strategies these principals used to cope with the demands of the position. Additionally, the project sought to find structures and supports needed to attract and retain principals in the…

  15. Timing of avian breeding in an urbanized world

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    de Jong, M.; Van den Eertwegh, L.; Beskers, R.; De Vries, P.P.; Spoelstra, K.; Visser, M.E.

    2017-01-01

    A large part of the world is urbanized, and the process of urbanization is ongoing. Species differ in the extent to which they are impacted by urbanization, depending on adaption capacity, and on the fitness consequences when adaptation lags behind. One prominent effect of urbanization is the

  16. The Implementation of Clay Modeling and Rat Dissection into the Human Anatomy and Physiology Curriculum of a Large Urban Community College

    Science.gov (United States)

    Haspel, Carol; Motoike, Howard K.; Lenchner, Erez

    2014-01-01

    After a considerable amount of research and experimentation, cat dissection was replaced with rat dissection and clay modeling in the human anatomy and physiology laboratory curricula at La Guardia Community College (LAGCC), a large urban community college of the City University of New York (CUNY). This article describes the challenges faculty…

  17. Large-eddy simulation of pollutant dispersion from a ground-level area source over urban street canyons with irreversible chemical reactions

    Science.gov (United States)

    Du, T. Z.; Liu, C.-H.; Zhao, Y. B.

    2014-10-01

    In this study, the dispersion of chemically reactive pollutants is calculated by large-eddy simulation (LES) in a neutrally stratified urban canopy layer (UCL) over urban areas. As a pilot attempt, idealized street canyons of unity building-height-to-street-width (aspect) ratio are used. Nitric oxide (NO) is emitted from the ground surface of the first street canyon into the domain doped with ozone (O3). In the absence of ultraviolet radiation, this irreversible chemistry produces nitrogen dioxide (NO2), developing a reactive plume over the rough urban surface. A range of timescales of turbulence and chemistry are utilized to examine the mechanism of turbulent mixing and chemical reactions in the UCL. The Damköhler number (Da) and the reaction rate (r) are analyzed along the vertical direction on the plane normal to the prevailing flow at 10 m after the source. The maximum reaction rate peaks at an elevation where Damköhler number Da is equal or close to unity. Hence, comparable timescales of turbulence and reaction could enhance the chemical reactions in the plume.

  18. 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...

  19. Spatial and Temporal Evolution of Urban Systems in China during Rapid Urbanization

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Huan Li

    2016-07-01

    Full Text Available The structure of urban hierarchy and the role of cities of different sizes have drawn considerable scholarly interests and societal concerns. This paper analyzes the evolution and underlying mechanisms of urban hierarchy in China during the recent period of rapid urbanization. By comparing scale changes of seven types of cities (megacity, large city, Type I big city, Type II big city, medium-sized city, type I small city and type II small city, we find that allometry is the main characteristic of urban hierarchical evolution in China. We also test the validity of Zipf’s law and Gibrat’s law, which broaden the scope of existing studies by including county-level cities. We find that urban hierarchical distribution is lognormal, rather than Pareto. The result also shows that city size growth rates are constant across cities of different types. For better understanding of the mechanisms of urban hierarchical formation, we measure the optimal city size and resource allocation by the Pareto optimality criterion and non-parametric frontier method. The main findings are as follows: (1 scale efficiency is still at a relatively low level among the seven types of cities; (2 the economic efficiency of megacities and large cities is overestimated when compared to economic-environmental efficiency. Hence, this paper has two policy implications: (1 to correct factor market (land, labor and infrastructure investment distortions among different types of cities for the improvement of efficiency; (2 to strengthen rural property rights to improve social equity, as well as land use intensity.

  20. Modelling the dispersion and transport of reactive pollutants in a deep urban street canyon: using large-eddy simulation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhong, Jian; Cai, Xiao-Ming; Bloss, William James

    2015-05-01

    This study investigates the dispersion and transport of reactive pollutants in a deep urban street canyon with an aspect ratio of 2 under neutral meteorological conditions using large-eddy simulation. The spatial variation of pollutants is significant due to the existence of two unsteady vortices. The deviation of species abundance from chemical equilibrium for the upper vortex is greater than that for the lower vortex. The interplay of dynamics and chemistry is investigated using two metrics: the photostationary state defect, and the inferred ozone production rate. The latter is found to be negative at all locations within the canyon, pointing to a systematic negative offset to ozone production rates inferred by analogous approaches in environments with incomplete mixing of emissions. This study demonstrates an approach to quantify parameters for a simplified two-box model, which could support traffic management and urban planning strategies and personal exposure assessment. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  1. Large Scale Asset Extraction for Urban Images

    KAUST Repository

    Affara, Lama Ahmed; Nan, Liangliang; Ghanem, Bernard; Wonka, Peter

    2016-01-01

    Object proposals are currently used for increasing the computational efficiency of object detection. We propose a novel adaptive pipeline for interleaving object proposals with object classification and use it as a formulation for asset detection. We first preprocess the images using a novel and efficient rectification technique. We then employ a particle filter approach to keep track of three priors, which guide proposed samples and get updated using classifier output. Tests performed on over 1000 urban images demonstrate that our rectification method is faster than existing methods without loss in quality, and that our interleaved proposal method outperforms current state-of-the-art. We further demonstrate that other methods can be improved by incorporating our interleaved proposals. © Springer International Publishing AG 2016.

  2. Large Scale Asset Extraction for Urban Images

    KAUST Repository

    Affara, Lama Ahmed

    2016-09-16

    Object proposals are currently used for increasing the computational efficiency of object detection. We propose a novel adaptive pipeline for interleaving object proposals with object classification and use it as a formulation for asset detection. We first preprocess the images using a novel and efficient rectification technique. We then employ a particle filter approach to keep track of three priors, which guide proposed samples and get updated using classifier output. Tests performed on over 1000 urban images demonstrate that our rectification method is faster than existing methods without loss in quality, and that our interleaved proposal method outperforms current state-of-the-art. We further demonstrate that other methods can be improved by incorporating our interleaved proposals. © Springer International Publishing AG 2016.

  3. The Relationship of Policymaking and Networking Characteristics among Leaders of Large Urban Health Departments.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Leider, Jonathon P; Castrucci, Brian C; Harris, Jenine K; Hearne, Shelley

    2015-08-06

    The relationship between policy networks and policy development among local health departments (LHDs) is a growing area of interest to public health practitioners and researchers alike. In this study, we examine policy activity and ties between public health leadership across large urban health departments. This study uses data from a national profile of local health departments as well as responses from a survey sent to three staff members (local health official, chief of policy, chief science officer) in each of 16 urban health departments in the United States. Network questions related to frequency of contact with health department personnel in other cities. Using exponential random graph models, network density and centrality were examined, as were patterns of communication among those working on several policy areas using exponential random graph models. All 16 LHDs were active in communicating about chronic disease as well as about use of alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs (ATOD). Connectedness was highest among local health officials (density = .55), and slightly lower for chief science officers (d = .33) and chiefs of policy (d = .29). After accounting for organizational characteristics, policy homophily (i.e., when two network members match on a single characteristic) and tenure were the most significant predictors of formation of network ties. Networking across health departments has the potential for accelerating the adoption of public health policies. This study suggests similar policy interests and formation of connections among senior leadership can potentially drive greater connectedness among other staff.

  4. Flow and Pollutant Transport in Urban Street Canyons of Different Aspect Ratios with Ground Heating: Large-Eddy Simulation

    OpenAIRE

    Li, Xian-Xiang; Koh, Tieh-Yong; Britter, Rex E; Norford, Leslie Keith; Entekhabi, Dara

    2010-01-01

    A validated large-eddy simulation model was employed to study the effect of the aspect ratio and ground heating on the flow and pollutant dispersion in urban street canyons. Three ground-heating intensities (neutral, weak and strong) were imposed in street canyons of aspect ratio 1, 2, and 0.5. The detailed patterns of flow, turbulence, temperature and pollutant transport were analyzed and compared. Significant changes of flow and scalar patterns were caused by ground heating in the street ca...

  5. Long-term changes in nitrate conditions over the 20th century in two Midwestern Corn Belt streams

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kelly, Valerie J.; Stets, Edward G.; Crawford, Charles G.

    2015-01-01

    Long-term changes in nitrate concentration and flux between the middle of the 20th century and the first decade of the 21st century were estimated for the Des Moines River and the Middle Illinois River, two Midwestern Corn Belt streams, using a novel weighted regression approach that is able to detect subtle changes in solute transport behavior over time. The results show that the largest changes in flow-normalized concentration and flux occurred between 1960 and 1980 in both streams, with smaller or negligible changes between 1980 and 2004. Contrasting patterns were observed between (1) nitrate export linked to non-point sources, explicitly runoff of synthetic fertilizer or other surface sources and (2) nitrate export presumably associated with point sources such as urban wastewater or confined livestock feeding facilities, with each of these modes of transport important under different domains of streamflow. Surface runoff was estimated to be consistently most important under high-flow conditions during the spring in both rivers. Nitrate export may also have been considerable in the Des Moines River even under some conditions during the winter when flows are generally lower, suggesting the influence of point sources during this time. Similar results were shown for the Middle Illinois River, which is subject to significant influence of wastewater from the Chicago area, where elevated nitrate concentrations were associated with at the lowest flows during the winter and fall. By modeling concentration directly, this study highlights the complex relationship between concentration and streamflow that has evolved in these two basins over the last 50 years. This approach provides insights about changing conditions that only become observable when stationarity in the relationship between concentration and streamflow is not assumed.

  6. MIDWESTERN REGIONAL CENTER OF THE DOE NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR CLIMATIC CHANGE RESEARCH

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Burton, Andrew J. [Michigan Technological University

    2014-02-28

    The goal of NICCR (National Institute for Climatic Change Research) was to mobilize university researchers, from all regions of the country, in support of the climatic change research objectives of DOE/BER. The NICCR Midwestern Regional Center (MRC) supported work in the following states: North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan, Indiana, and Ohio. The MRC of NICCR was able to support nearly $8 million in climatic change research, including $6,671,303 for twenty projects solicited and selected by the MRC over five requests for proposals (RFPs) and $1,051,666 for the final year of ten projects from the discontinued DOE NIGEC (National Institute for Global Environmental Change) program. The projects selected and funded by the MRC resulted in 135 peer-reviewed publications and supported the training of 25 PhD students and 23 Masters students. Another 36 publications were generated by the final year of continuing NIGEC projects supported by the MRC. The projects funded by the MRC used a variety of approaches to answer questions relevant to the DOE’s climate change research program. These included experiments that manipulated temperature, moisture and other global change factors; studies that sought to understand how the distribution of species and ecosystems might change under future climates; studies that used measurements and modeling to examine current ecosystem fluxes of energy and mass and those that would exist under future conditions; and studies that synthesized existing data sets to improve our understanding of the effects of climatic change on terrestrial ecosystems. In all of these efforts, the MRC specifically sought to identify and quantify responses of terrestrial ecosystems that were not well understood or not well modeled by current efforts. The MRC also sought to better understand and model important feedbacks between terrestrial ecosystems, atmospheric chemistry, and regional

  7. ASSESSMENT OF URBAN BUILT ENVIRONMENT QUALITY ON THE URBANIZED TERRITORIES: INTERREGIONAL COMPARISONS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ovsiannikova T. Yu.

    2015-06-01

    Full Text Available The urbanization and growth of a cities role, formation of cities as reference points of regions economic development are modern global tendencies. Cities concentrate human and investment resources on their territory, so in large part cities cause competitiveness of the regions in the global market. For preservation of competitive advantages regions need to form on the urbanized territories not only the favorable environment for business, but also for the population life. This paper deals with the problem of an assessment of urban built environment quality, due to urban built environment is a space-material basis of life quality of the population on the urbanized territories. The role of the cities in social and economic development of regions and their considerable influence on competitiveness of territories in the global competition for economic resources are proved. The method of assessment of urban built environment quality on the basis of calculation of an integrated index is proposed. Interregional comparisons on the example of regions of the Siberian and Ural Federal districts are completed. The offered method of assessment of urban built environment quality allows to range the urbanized territories on usefulness for living, to reveal most and the least developed spheres of city infrastructure.

  8. Urban air quality

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Fenger, J.

    1999-01-01

    Since 1950 the world population has more than doubled, and the global number of cars has increased by a factor of 10. In the same period the fraction of people living in urban areas has increased by a factor of 4. In year 2000 this will amount to nearly half of the world population. About 20 urban regions will each have populations above 10 million people. Seen over longer periods, pollution in major cities tends to increase during the built up phase, they pass through a maximum and are then again reduced, as abatement strategies are developed. In the industrialised western world urban air pollution is in some respects in the last stage with effectively reduced levels of sulphur dioxide and soot. In recent decades however, the increasing traffic has switched the attention to nitrogen oxides, organic compounds and small particles. In some cities photochemical air pollution is an important urban problem, but in the northern part of Europe it is a large-scale phenomenon, with ozone levels in urban streets being normally lower than in rural areas. Cities in Eastern Europe have been (and in many cases still are) heavily polluted. After the recent political upheaval, followed by a temporary recession and a subsequent introduction of new technologies, the situation appears to improve. However, the rising number of private cars is an emerging problem. In most developing countries the rapid urbanisation has so far resulted in uncontrolled growth and deteriorating environment. Air pollution levels are here still rising on many fronts. Apart from being sources of local air pollution, urban activities are significant contributors to transboundary pollution and to the rising global concentrations of greenhouse gasses. Attempts to solve urban problems by introducing cleaner, more energy-efficient technologies will generally have a beneficial impact on these large-scale problems. Attempts based on city planning with a spreading of the activities, on the other hand, may generate

  9. A microcomputer-based model for identifying urban and suburban roadways with critical large truck accident rates

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Brogan, J.D.; Cashwell, J.W.

    1992-01-01

    This paper presents an overview of techniques for merging highway accident record and roadway inventory files and employing the combined data set to identify spots or sections on highway facilities in urban and suburban areas with unusually high large truck accident rates. A statistical technique, the rate/quality control method, is used to calculate a critical rate for each location of interest. This critical rate may then be compared to the location's actual accident rate to identify locations for further study. Model enhancements and modifications are described to enable the technique to be employed in the evaluation of routing alternatives for the transport of radioactive material

  10. Leveraging Regional Exploration to Develop Geologic Framework for CO2 Storage in Deep Formations in Midwestern United States

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Neeraj Gupta

    2009-09-30

    Obtaining subsurface data for developing a regional framework for geologic storage of CO{sub 2} can require drilling and characterization in a large number of deep wells, especially in areas with limited pre-existing data. One approach for achieving this objective, without the prohibitive costs of drilling costly standalone test wells, is to collaborate with the oil and gas drilling efforts in a piggyback approach that can provide substantial cost savings and help fill data gaps in areas that may not otherwise get characterized. This leveraging with oil/gas drilling also mitigates some of the risk involved in standalone wells. This collaborative approach has been used for characterizing in a number of locations in the midwestern USA between 2005 and 2009 with funding from U.S. Department of Energy's National Energy Technology Laboratory (DOE award: DE-FC26-05NT42434) and in-kind contributions from a number of oil and gas operators. The results are presented in this final technical report. In addition to data collected under current award, selected data from related projects such as the Midwestern Regional Carbon Sequestration Partnership (MRCSP), the Ohio River Valley CO{sub 2} storage project at and near the Mountaineer Plant, and the drilling of the Ohio Stratigraphic well in Eastern Ohio are discussed and used in the report. Data from this effort are also being incorporated into the MRCSP geologic mapping. The project activities were organized into tracking and evaluation of characterization opportunities; participation in the incremental drilling, basic and advanced logging in selected wells; and data analysis and reporting. Although a large number of opportunities were identified and evaluated, only a small subset was carried into the field stage. Typical selection factors included reaching an acceptable agreement with the operator, drilling and logging risks, and extent of pre-existing data near the candidate wells. The region of study is primarily along

  11. Socio-economic drivers of large urban biomass cogeneration: Sustainable energy supply for Austria's capital Vienna

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Madlener, Reinhard; Bachhiesl, Mario

    2007-01-01

    This paper provides a detailed case study on Austria's by far largest biomass cogeneration plant. The plant is located in the city of Vienna and scheduled to be put into operation by mid-2006. Given the urban location of the plant and its significant biomass fuel input requirements, fuel delivery logistics play an important role-not only from an economic point of view, but also in relation to supply security and environmental impact. We describe and analyse the history of the project, putting particular emphasis on the main driving forces and actors behind the entire project development process. From this analysis we deduce the following main socio-economic drivers and success factors for the realisation of large bioenergy projects in urban settings: (1) a critical mass of actors; (2) a priori political consensus; (3) the existence of a problem (and problem awareness) that calls for decisive steps to be taken; (4) institutional innovation and changes in the mindset of the main decision makers; (5) favourable economic conditions; (6) change agents that are actively engaged from an early stage of development; (7) intra-firm supporters at different hierarchical levels and from different departments; and (8) targeted study tours that help to reduce uncertainty, to enable leapfrogging in project planning and design, and to build up confidence in the project's feasibility and chance of success

  12. Studying the urban thermal environment under a human-biometeorological point of view: The case of a large coastal metropolitan city, Athens

    Science.gov (United States)

    Katavoutas, George; Georgiou, Giorgos K.; Asimakopoulos, Dimosthenis N.

    2015-01-01

    The thermal environment in modern cities has become potentially unfavorable and harmful for its residents, as a result of urbanization and industrialization. Exposure to these extreme thermal conditions increases the heat stress of people in cities considerably. In this context, the present study aims to investigate the urban thermal environment of the large coastal metropolitan city of Athens, in a human-biometeorologically significant way, utilizing the thermo-physiological assessment index PET. The analysis was based on three hour measurements derived from three-year datasets (2006-2009), at 12 monitoring sites located in the urban complex of Athens, on its boundaries and beyond them. The differences of PET values have been investigated in order to attribute urban and exurban thermal characteristics to the considered sites. The frequency and spatial distribution of PET as well as the urban/rural differences of PET have also been analyzed. Finally, a trend analysis has been applied in order to detect possible PET trends by employing long-term recording data (1985-2008). In terms of thermal human-biometeorological conditions, the analysis reveals that among the considered stations, those located inside the urban complex and the industrialized area present urban thermal characteristics, regardless the fact that they are installed either in a park and on a hill or at an open field. The spatial distribution of PET, at 0200 LST, shows a difference of about 3 to 4 °C, on the main axis of the city (SSW-NNE) in the summer period, while the difference exceeds 2.5 °C in the winter period. In general, cooler (less warm) thermal perception is observed at the north/northeast sites of the city as well as at the areas beyond the eastern boundaries of it. The PET differences between urban and rural sites hold a positive sign, except of those at 0500 LST and at 0800 LST. The highest differences are noted at 1400 LST and the most intense of them is noticed in the summer period

  13. People, places and infrastructure: Countering urban violence and ...

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

    People, Places, and Infrastructure: Countering Urban Violence and Promoting Justice in Mumbai, Rio, and Durban. In today's rapidly urbanizing world, cities offer economic opportunity and social mobility, yet they are also places of violence for increasingly large numbers of residents. As urbanization spreads, new sites are ...

  14. Evaluation of a Worksite Diabetes Education Program at a Large Urban Medical Center.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Renda, Susan; Baernholdt, Marianne; Becker, Kathleen

    2016-01-01

    Evidence suggests that diabetes education can be delivered at the worksite to better support employees' diabetes self-management and improve productivity and health care costs. This study was conducted to address the feasibility of a diabetes worksite education program for employees at a large urban academic health care institution. The diabetes education program was delivered in the diabetes center at the institution, a resource that was previously underutilized by employees. Through collaboration with groups in the institution, 20 employees of diverse ethnicity participated in the worksite diabetes education program with positive outcomes: improved glycemic control measured (HbA1c), attainment of self-management goals, and satisfaction with the program. Work absences trended downward, but numbers of hospitalizations and emergency department visits were unchanged in the 3 months following education. Recommendations include replication of the study with more employee participation and program evaluation over a longer period of time to continue assessment of employees' educational needs. © 2015 The Author(s).

  15. How species traits and affinity to urban land use control large-scale species frequency

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Knapp, Sonja; Kuehn, Ingolf; Bakker, Jan P.; Kleyer, Michael; Klotz, Stefan; Ozinga, Wim A.; Poschlod, Peter; Thompson, Ken; Thuiller, Wilfried; Roemermann, Christine

    Although urban areas only occupy c. 2.8% of the earth's land surface, urbanization threatens biodiversity as areas of high human population density often coincide with high biodiversity. Therefore, nature conservation should concentrate on both remote areas and densely populated regions. Protecting

  16. How species traits and affinity to urban land use control large-scale species frequency

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Knapp, S.; Kuhn, I.; Bakker, J.P.; Kleyer, M.; Klotz, S.; Ozinga, W.A.; Poschlod, P.; Thompson, K.; Thuiller, W.; Romermann, C.

    2009-01-01

    Although urban areas only occupy c. 2.8% of the earth's land surface, urbanization threatens biodiversity as areas of high human population density often coincide with high biodiversity. Therefore, nature conservation should concentrate on both remote areas and densely populated regions. Protecting

  17. Reduced Urban Heat Island intensity under warmer conditions

    Science.gov (United States)

    Scott, Anna A.; Waugh, Darryn W.; Zaitchik, Ben F.

    2018-06-01

    The Urban Heat Island (UHI), the tendency for urban areas to be hotter than rural regions, represents a significant health concern in summer as urban populations are exposed to elevated temperatures. A number of studies suggest that the UHI increases during warmer conditions, however there has been no investigation of this for a large ensemble of cities. Here we compare urban and rural temperatures in 54 US cities for 2000–2015 and show that the intensity of the Urban Heat Island, measured here as the differences in daily-minimum or daily-maximum temperatures between urban and rural stations or ΔT, in fact tends to decrease with increasing temperature in most cities (38/54). This holds when investigating daily variability, heat extremes, and variability across climate zones and is primarily driven by changes in rural areas. We relate this change to large-scale or synoptic weather conditions, and find that the lowest ΔT nights occur during moist weather conditions. We also find that warming cities have not experienced an increasing Urban Heat Island effect.

  18. GOVERNANCE, URBAN COMPETITIVENESS AND CRISIS IN SPAIN

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Xosé SOMOZA MEDINA

    2016-07-01

    Full Text Available This article describes the rise of the term governance from its beginnings in the business world and the neoliberal economic thought through its application in urban renewal actions in the world’s major cities. Over the analysis, we argue that it was the theoretical discourse of urban governance and competitiveness that for decades enabled the private property sector to direct the urban regeneration processes of greatest added value. Changes in transport infrastructures and the abandonment of old industrial facilities left large central segments of the city available for redevelopment in line with the theories of post-Fordist capitalism. The global economic crisis has paralysed many of these projects, which had entailed the investment of large sums of public money and yielded low social returns. At the same time, criticism has been levelled against governance and strategic planning. Here, I examine the processes of governance and competitiveness as an urban objective and recent examples of urban renewal in Spanish cities.

  19. Turbulence and pollutant transport in urban street canyons under stable stratification: a large-eddy simulation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, X.

    2014-12-01

    Thermal stratification of the atmospheric surface layer has strong impact on the land-atmosphere exchange of turbulent, heat, and pollutant fluxes. Few studies have been carried out for the interaction of the weakly to moderately stable stratified atmosphere and the urban canopy. This study performs a large-eddy simulation of a modeled street canyon within a weakly to moderately stable atmosphere boundary layer. To better resolve the smaller eddy size resulted from the stable stratification, a higher spatial and temporal resolution is used. The detailed flow structure and turbulence inside the street canyon are analyzed. The relationship of pollutant dispersion and Richardson number of the atmosphere is investigated. Differences between these characteristics and those under neutral and unstable atmosphere boundary layer are emphasized.

  20. The Urban Enclave, a Spatio–Temporal Logic of the Urbanized Periphery: Effects on Residential Segregation and Urban Fragmentation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Guénola Capron

    2016-07-01

    Full Text Available The production of the metropolitan peripheries in Latin America has been characterized by the development of urban, residential and commercial enclaves. These enclaves encompass both large urban housing projects of social interest and subdivisions and gated communities for high–income populations. Both peripheries respond to very different social reasons but have a common spatial logic: the enclave, which deepens the isolation and social distance with its surroundings, generating segregation and fragmentation. We seek to rescue the social and spatial processes of ‘enclosing’ or ‘insularity’ in two cases: a gated community in the northeast — Zona Esmeralda— and a social housing urban complex in the east —San Buenaventura—, both bordering the metropolitan area of the Mexico Valley.

  1. The Great Village. Urban genetic of the present-day Tokio megalopolis

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    José Durán Fernández

    2018-05-01

    Full Text Available The origin of the urban form of the Tokyo mMegalopolis, its urban genetics, is found in nature. Before Tokyo was a big city, it was a large village immersed in a large garden. The qualities of the urban space of Tokyo come from that urban entity that remained stable during the three centuries that Pax Tokugawa lasted (1603-1868. Tokyo was a huge urban organization where lived more than 4 million people and it extended by the fluvial plain of 32,000 km2 of Kanto plateau. The large village has been identified as the pre-urban state of Tokyo's current megalopolis, a state of lethargy prior to the rapid process of densification that transformed the large village into a large city in a few decades, and a place as complex and extensive as the contemporary scattered city. The methodology performed consists of a scalar analysis of the great village in a downward direction, starting from a wide view of the Kanto plateau until arriving at the urban landscapes built on the periphery of Edo, its metropolitan center. The article is a compendium of eight short texts, which together with their respective eight graphic documents, build the corpus of the research. The reader faces a graphic essay formed by small chapters that will immerse him in the great village, the genesis of the largest urban agglomeration on the planet.

  2. Price changes in the gasoline market: Are Midwestern gasoline prices downward sticky?

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1999-03-01

    This report examines a recurring question about gasoline markets: why, especially in times of high price volatility, do retail gasoline prices seem to rise quickly but fall back more slowly? Do gasoline prices actually rise faster than they fall, or does this just appear to be the case because people tend to pay more attention to prices when they're rising? This question is more complex than it might appear to be initially, and it has been addressed by numerous analysts in government, academia and industry. The question is very important, because perceived problems with retail gasoline pricing have been used in arguments for government regulation of prices. The phenomenon of prices at different market levels tending to move differently relative to each other depending on direction is known as price asymmetry. This report summarizes the previous work on gasoline price asymmetry and provides a method for testing for asymmetry in a wide variety of situations. The major finding of this paper is that there is some amount of asymmetry and pattern asymmetry, especially at the retail level, in the Midwestern states that are the focus of the analysis. Nevertheless, both the amount asymmetry and pattern asymmetry are relatively small. In addition, much of the pattern asymmetry detected in this and previous studies could be a statistical artifact caused by the time lags between price changes at different points in the gasoline distribution system. In other words, retail gasoline prices do sometimes rise faster than they fall, but this is largely a lagged market response to an upward shock in the underlying wholesale gasoline or crude oil prices, followed by a return toward the previous baseline. After consistent time lags are factored out, most apparent asymmetry disappears

  3. Hypertension and diabetes in Africa: design and implementation of a large population-based study of burden and risk factors in rural and urban Malawi

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Amelia Catharine Crampin

    2016-02-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background The emerging burden of cardiovascular disease and diabetes in sub-Saharan Africa threatens the gains made in health by the major international effort to combat infectious diseases. There are few data on distribution of risk factors and outcomes in the region to inform an effective public health response. A comprehensive research programme is being developed aimed at accurately documenting the burden and drivers of NCDs in urban and rural Malawi; to design and test intervention strategies. The programme includes population surveys of all people aged 18 years and above, linking individuals with newly diagnosed hypertension and diabetes to healthcare and supporting clinical services. The successes, challenges and lessons learnt from the programme to date are discussed. Results Over 20,000 adults have been recruited in rural Karonga and urban Lilongwe. The urban population is significantly younger and wealthier than the rural population. Employed urban individuals, particularly males, give particular recruitment challenges; male participation rates were 80.3 % in the rural population and 43.6 % in urban, whilst female rates were 93.6 and 75.6 %, respectively. The study is generating high quality data on hypertension, diabetes, lipid abnormalities and risk factors. Conclusions It is feasible to develop large scale studies that can reliably inform the public health approach to diabetes, cardiovascular disease and other NCDs in Sub-Saharan Africa. It is essential for studies to capture both rural and urban populations to address disparities in risk factors, including age structure. Innovative approaches are needed to address the specific challenge of recruiting employed urban males.

  4. Growing ‘Smart’? Urbanization Processes in the Pune Urban Agglomeration

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Carsten Butsch

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available The Indian city of Pune witnessed rapid growth and deep transformation processes in the last three decades. This paper assesses past developments and recent structures and processes against the concept of urban sustainability. Following an overview of the historical development, the dimensions of sustainability are discussed separately, based on empirical findings. Urban growth puts enormous pressure on Pune’s land and water resources, changing the ecology of the area. The increasing water demand of Pune’s growing population competes with growing energy and water demands. An assessment of future climate change impacts indicates that the storage capacity of the reservoirs is more frequently not met during the rainy season. In addition, extreme dry years can aggravate the effects of land use change on water resources in the future. The city’s growth and especially the large in-migration has also changed Pune’s social fabric significantly. Wealth is distributed unevenly in the city and social disparities can be observed along two fault lines, namely along classes and caste groups. The population development and the increasing socioeconomic polarization are linked to the economic development of the city. Pune’s formal economy has a robust base. However, as in many cities of the Global South, the informal economy is the most relevant source of income for large parts of the population. Pune’s development is challenged by informality, poor infrastructure and inadequate planning and governance. Recently new approaches towards urban renewal and smart city development were launched. These new approaches aim at overcoming blockades in the traditional planning. A special challenge for urban planning is the transformation of urban fringe areas of the city, as this process is currently taking place in an unsustainable manner. The paper concludes that urban development has to become holistic, integrative and participative and should abandon the

  5. Innovation was not enough a history of the Midwestern Universities Research Association (MURA)

    CERN Document Server

    Jones, Lawrence; Sessler, Andrew; Symon, Keith; Young, Donald

    2010-01-01

    This book presents a history of the Midwestern Universities Research Association (MURA) during its lifetime from the early 1950s to the late 1960s. MURA was responsible for a number of important contributions to the science of particle accelerators, including the invention of fixed field alternating gradient accelerators (FFAG), as well as contributions to accelerator orbit theory, radio frequency acceleration techniques, colliding beams technology, orbit instabilities, computation methods, and designs of accelerator magnets and linear accelerator cavities. A number of students were trained by MURA in accelerator techniques, and went on to important posts where they made further contributions to the field. The authors were all members of the MURA staff and themselves made many contributions to the field. No other such history exists, and there are relatively few publications devoted to the history of particle accelerators.

  6. Urban Cooperative Banks :At CrossRoads

    OpenAIRE

    Nagarajapillai, Ramu

    2008-01-01

    Urban Cooperative Bank in India, with their long history of over 100 years, play an important role in financial inclusion. The mainstay of these banks was rooted in their captive clientele the forms of shareholders, and also in some cases specific community or location. This shielded them from the competition from large commercial banks. Recently, Indian banking industry has witnessed failure of a large number of Urban Cooperative banks. What are the reasons for these failures and what lays a...

  7. The Relationship of Policymaking and Networking Characteristics among Leaders of Large Urban Health Departments

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jonathon P. Leider

    2015-08-01

    Full Text Available Background: The relationship between policy networks and policy development among local health departments (LHDs is a growing area of interest to public health practitioners and researchers alike. In this study, we examine policy activity and ties between public health leadership across large urban health departments. Methods: This study uses data from a national profile of local health departments as well as responses from a survey sent to three staff members (local health official, chief of policy, chief science officer in each of 16 urban health departments in the United States. Network questions related to frequency of contact with health department personnel in other cities. Using exponential random graph models, network density and centrality were examined, as were patterns of communication among those working on several policy areas using exponential random graph models. Results: All 16 LHDs were active in communicating about chronic disease as well as about use of alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs (ATOD. Connectedness was highest among local health officials (density = .55, and slightly lower for chief science officers (d = .33 and chiefs of policy (d = .29. After accounting for organizational characteristics, policy homophily (i.e., when two network members match on a single characteristic and tenure were the most significant predictors of formation of network ties. Conclusion: Networking across health departments has the potential for accelerating the adoption of public health policies. This study suggests similar policy interests and formation of connections among senior leadership can potentially drive greater connectedness among other staff.

  8. Disease-Causing Fungi in Homes and Yards in the Midwestern United States

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dennis J. Baumgardner

    2016-04-01

    Full Text Available A number of fungal pathogens that may result in a variety of human diseases are found in residential homes and yards. The growth of these microscopic fungi is often favored by particular characteristics of the dwelling and nearby outdoor environment. Evolved virulence factors or increased ability of specific fungi to grow in diverse, and sometimes harsh, microenvironments presented by the domestic environment may promote growth and pathogenesis. Infection may occur by inhalation or direct inoculation and include endemic fungi in addition to opportunistic or emerging species. Systemic or locally aggressive fungal infections are particularly likely and may be life-threatening in those with compromised immune systems. Allergic disease may include sinusitis, pneumonitis and immediate hypersensitivity. Controversial topics include mycotoxins, volatile organic compounds and sick building syndrome. This narrative review describes the usual presentations, domestic environmental sources, prevention techniques and risk of acquiring these diseases in the Midwestern United States.

  9. Beyond urban legends: an emerging framework of urban ecology, as illustrated by the Baltimore Ecosystem Study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Steward T.A. Pickett; Mary L. Cadenasso; J. Morgan Grove; Peter M. Groffman; Lawrence E. Band; Christopher G. Boone; William R., Jr. Burch; Susan B. Grimmond; John Hom; Jennifer C. Jenkins; Neely L. Law; Charles H. Nilon; Richard V. Pouyat; Katalin Szlavecz; Paige S. Warren; Matthew A. Wilson

    2008-01-01

    The emerging discipline of urban ecology is shifting focus from ecological processes embedded within cities to integrative studies of large urban areas as biophysical-social complexes. Yet this discipline lacks a theory. Results from the Baltimore Ecosystem Study, part of the Long Term Ecological Research Network, expose new assumptions and test existing assumptions...

  10. The Effect of Urban Heat Island on Climate Warming in the Yangtze River Delta Urban Agglomeration in China

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Qunfang Huang

    2015-07-01

    Full Text Available The Yangtze River Delta (YRD has experienced rapid urbanization and dramatic economic development since 1978 and the Yangtze River Delta urban agglomeration (YRDUA has been one of the three largest urban agglomerations in China. We present evidence of a significant urban heat island (UHI effect on climate warming based on an analysis of the impacts of the urbanization rate, urban population, and land use changes on the warming rate of the daily average, minimal (nighttime and maximal (daytime air temperature in the YRDUA using 41 meteorological stations observation data. The effect of the UHI on climate warming shows a large spatial variability. The average warming rates of average air temperature of huge cities, megalopolises, large cities, medium-sized cities, and small cities are 0.483, 0.314 ± 0.030, 0.282 ± 0.042, 0.225 ± 0.044 and 0.179 ± 0.046 °C/decade during the period of 1957–2013, respectively. The average warming rates of huge cities and megalopolises are significantly higher than those of medium-sized cities and small cities, indicating that the UHI has a significant effect on climate warming (t-test, p < 0.05. Significantly positive correlations are found between the urbanization rate, population, built-up area and warming rate of average air temperature (p < 0.001. The average warming rate of average air temperature attributable to urbanization is 0.124 ± 0.074 °C/decade in the YRDUA. Urbanization has a measurable effect on the observed climate warming in the YRD aggravating the global climate warming.

  11. Uncovering urban human mobility from large scale taxi GPS data

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tang, Jinjun; Liu, Fang; Wang, Yinhai; Wang, Hua

    2015-11-01

    Taxi GPS trajectories data contain massive spatial and temporal information of urban human activity and mobility. Taking taxi as mobile sensors, the information derived from taxi trips benefits the city and transportation planning. The original data used in study are collected from more than 1100 taxi drivers in Harbin city. We firstly divide the city area into 400 different transportation districts and analyze the origin and destination distribution in urban area on weekday and weekend. The Density-Based Spatial Clustering of Applications with Noise (DBSCAN) algorithm is used to cluster pick-up and drop-off locations. Furthermore, four spatial interaction models are calibrated and compared based on trajectories in shopping center of Harbin city to study the pick-up location searching behavior. By extracting taxi trips from GPS data, travel distance, time and average speed in occupied and non-occupied status are then used to investigate human mobility. Finally, we use observed OD matrix of center area in Harbin city to model the traffic distribution patterns based on entropy-maximizing method, and the estimation performance verify its effectiveness in case study.

  12. Complex Urban LiDAR Data Set

    OpenAIRE

    Jeong, Jinyong; Cho, Younggun; Shin, Young-Sik; Roh, Hyunchul; Kim, Ayoung

    2018-01-01

    This paper presents a Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) data set that targets complex urban environments. Urban environments with high-rise buildings and congested traffic pose a significant challenge for many robotics applications. The presented data set is unique in the sense it is able to capture the genuine features of an urban environment (e.g. metropolitan areas, large building complexes and underground parking lots). Data of two-dimensional (2D) and threedimensional (3D) LiDAR, which...

  13. Can you hear me now? Limited use of technology among an urban HIV-infected cohort.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shacham, E; Stamm, K; Overton, E T

    2009-08-01

    Recent studies support technology-based behavioral interventions for individuals with HIV. This study focused on the use of cell phone and internet technologies among a cohort of 515 HIV-infected individuals. Socio-demographic and clinic data were collected among individuals presenting at an urban Midwestern university HIV clinic in 2007. Regular internet usage occurred more often with males, Caucasians, those who were employed, had higher income, and were more educated. Higher levels of education and income >$10,000 predicted regular usage when controlling for race, employment, and gender. Cell phone ownership was associated with being Caucasian, employed, more educated, and salary >$10,000. Employment was the only predictor of owning a cell phone when controlling for income, race, and education. Individuals who were educated were more likely to know how to text message. Employment and post-high school education predicted knowledge of text messaging, when controlling for age. Disparities among internet, cell phone, and text messaging usage exist among HIV-infected individuals.

  14. Assembling urban riskscapes

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Blok, Anders

    2016-01-01

    model of climate resilience, within unequal local–global assemblages of urban planning and power. This work of resilience-building is shown to revolve around Surat-based economic and political elites, who deploy mobile consultancy knowledges to render particular urban ‘riskscapes’ (in)visible, in ways...... knowledge practices, I suggest, link into and enable different visions and commitments to competing ‘scales of change’ for the city. By thus allowing us to grasp the situated tools, practices and knowledges through which ‘large-scale’ processes of urban change—development, climate resilience, justice...... conducive to specific forms of middle-class development. In turn, the article shows how this ‘official’ work of resilience-building is challenged and contested by fragmented civic–professional publics, mobilizing their own versions of counter-expertise towards alternative riskscapes. These heterogeneous...

  15. Water-quality assessment of the largely urban blue river basin, Metropolitan Kansas City, USA, 1998 to 2007

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wilkison, D.H.; Armstrong, D.J.; Hampton, S.A.

    2009-01-01

    From 1998 through 2007, over 750 surface-water or bed-sediment samples in the Blue River Basin - a largely urban basin in metropolitan Kansas City - were analyzed for more than 100 anthropogenic compounds. Compounds analyzed included nutrients, fecal-indicator bacteria, suspended sediment, pharmaceuticals and personal care products. Non-point source runoff, hydrologic alterations, and numerous waste-water discharge points resulted in the routine detection of complex mixtures of anthropogenic compounds in samples from basin stream sites. Temporal and spatial variations in concentrations and loads of nutrients, pharmaceuticals, and organic wastewater compounds were observed, primarily related to a site's proximity to point-source discharges and stream-flow dynamics. ?? 2009 ASCE.

  16. Urban freight transportation : challenges, failures and successes

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Kant, G.; Quak, H.; Peeters, R.; van Woensel, T.; Zijm, H.; Klumpp, M.; Clausen, U.; ten Hompel, M.

    2016-01-01

    In this paper, we present the challenges, failures and successes on urban freight transportation. We first identify the various involved stakeholders with their interests. Then we evaluate a large number of urban freight transport initiatives and identify lessons learned, which are distinguished in

  17. Urban freight transportation : Challenges, failure, and successes

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Kant, Goos; Quak, H.; Peeters, Rene; Woensel van, T.; Zijm, H.; Klumpp, M.; Clausen, U.; Ten Hompel, M.

    2016-01-01

    In this paper, we present the challenges, failures and successes on urban freight transportation. We first identify the various involved stakeholders with their interests. Then we evaluate a large number of urban freight transport initiatives and identify lessons learned, which are distinguished in

  18. Quantifying the Spatiotemporal Patterns of Urbanization along Urban-Rural Gradient with a Roadscape Transect Approach: A Case Study in Shanghai, China

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zhonghao Zhang

    2016-08-01

    Full Text Available Quantifying the landscape pattern change can effectively demonstrate the ecological progresses and the consequences of urbanization. Based on remotely sensed land cover data in 1994, 2000, 2006 and a gradient analysis with landscape metrics at landscape- and class- level, we attempted to characterize the individual and entire landscape patterns of Shanghai metropolitan during the rapid urbanization. We highlighted that a roadscape transect approach that combined the buffer zone method and the transect-based approach was introduced to describe the urban-rural patterns of agricultural, residential, green, industrial, and public facilities land along the railway route. Our results of landscape metrics showed significant spatiotemporal patterns and gradient variations along the transect. The urban growth pattern in two time spans conform to the hypothesis for diffusion–coalescence processes, implying that the railway is adaptive as a gradient element to analyze the landscape patterns with urbanization. As the natural landscape was replaced by urban landscape gradually, the desakota region expanded its extent widely. Suburb areas witnessed the continual transformation from the predominantly rural landscape to peri-urban landscape. Furthermore, the gap between urban and rural areas remained large especially in public service. More reasonable urban plans and land use policies should push to make more efforts to transition from the urban-rural separation to coordinated urban-rural development. This study is a meaningful trial in demonstrating a new form of urban–rural transects to study the landscape change of large cities. By combining gradient analysis with landscape metrics, we addressed the process of urbanization both spatially and temporally, and provided a more quantitative approach to urban studies.

  19. Lower Genital Tract Trauma in A Tertiary Care Centre in Mid-Western Nepal.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Adhikari, A K; Dutta, M; Das, C R

    2017-01-01

    The study of lower genital tract trauma has become important in gynaecological practice. There is paucity of reports on this clinical entity from our settings. The main aim of this study is to document injuries in female lower genital tract in Mid-Western Nepal. Sixty female patients admitted to the hospital with genital tract injuries caused by coitus or accidents were included in the study. Details of the causes of trauma clinical presentations and management were recorded. These injuries were grouped according to etiological factors. This study included 33 (55%) coital injuries and 27 (45%) non- coital injuries. Out of coital injury, 12 cases were criminal assault (rape) in age group of 4 to 18 years. Four unmarried girls had consensual sex. Non-coital injuries were due to fall from height, cattle horn injuries, straddle type of trauma, vulvar haematoma and anorectal injuries. Appropriate surgical intervention can avert morbidity and mortality.

  20. Hydrometeorological and statistical analyses of heavy rainfall in Midwestern USA

    Science.gov (United States)

    Thorndahl, S.; Smith, J. A.; Krajewski, W. F.

    2012-04-01

    During the last two decades the mid-western states of the United States of America has been largely afflicted by heavy flood producing rainfall. Several of these storms seem to have similar hydrometeorological properties in terms of pattern, track, evolution, life cycle, clustering, etc. which raise the question if it is possible to derive general characteristics of the space-time structures of these heavy storms. This is important in order to understand hydrometeorological features, e.g. how storms evolve and with what frequency we can expect extreme storms to occur. In the literature, most studies of extreme rainfall are based on point measurements (rain gauges). However, with high resolution and quality radar observation periods exceeding more than two decades, it is possible to do long-term spatio-temporal statistical analyses of extremes. This makes it possible to link return periods to distributed rainfall estimates and to study precipitation structures which cause floods. However, doing these statistical frequency analyses of rainfall based on radar observations introduces some different challenges, converting radar reflectivity observations to "true" rainfall, which are not problematic doing traditional analyses on rain gauge data. It is for example difficult to distinguish reflectivity from high intensity rain from reflectivity from other hydrometeors such as hail, especially using single polarization radars which are used in this study. Furthermore, reflectivity from bright band (melting layer) should be discarded and anomalous propagation should be corrected in order to produce valid statistics of extreme radar rainfall. Other challenges include combining observations from several radars to one mosaic, bias correction against rain gauges, range correction, ZR-relationships, etc. The present study analyzes radar rainfall observations from 1996 to 2011 based the American NEXRAD network of radars over an area covering parts of Iowa, Wisconsin, Illinois, and

  1. Large-Scale Urban Decontamination; Developments, Historical Examples and Lessons Learned

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Rick Demmer

    2007-02-01

    Recent terrorist threats and actual events have lead to a renewed interest in the technical field of large scale, urban environment decontamination. One of the driving forces for this interest is the real potential for the cleanup and removal of radioactive dispersal device (RDD or “dirty bomb”) residues. In response the U. S. Government has spent many millions of dollars investigating RDD contamination and novel decontamination methodologies. Interest in chemical and biological (CB) cleanup has also peaked with the threat of terrorist action like the anthrax attack at the Hart Senate Office Building and with catastrophic natural events such as Hurricane Katrina. The efficiency of cleanup response will be improved with these new developments and a better understanding of the “old reliable” methodologies. Perhaps the most interesting area of investigation for large area decontamination is that of the RDD. While primarily an economic and psychological weapon, the need to cleanup and return valuable or culturally significant resources to the public is nonetheless valid. Several private companies, universities and National Laboratories are currently developing novel RDD cleanup technologies. Because of its longstanding association with radioactive facilities, the U. S. Department of Energy National Laboratories are at the forefront in developing and testing new RDD decontamination methods. However, such cleanup technologies are likely to be fairly task specific; while many different contamination mechanisms, substrate and environmental conditions will make actual application more complicated. Some major efforts have also been made to model potential contamination, to evaluate both old and new decontamination techniques and to assess their readiness for use. Non-radioactive, CB threats each have unique decontamination challenges and recent events have provided some examples. The U. S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), as lead agency for these emergency

  2. Modelling of a large-scale urban contamination situation and remediation alternatives

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Thiessen, K.M.; Arkhipov, A.; Batandjieva, B.; Charnock, T.W.; Gaschak, S.; Golikov, V.; Hwang, W.T.; Tomas, J.; Zlobenko, B.

    2009-01-01

    The Urban Remediation Working Group of the International Atomic Energy Agency's EMRAS (Environmental Modelling for Radiation Safety) program was organized to address issues of remediation assessment modelling for urban areas contaminated with dispersed radionuclides. The present paper describes the first of two modelling exercises, which was based on Chernobyl fallout data in the town of Pripyat, Ukraine. Modelling endpoints for the exercise included radionuclide concentrations and external dose rates at specified locations, contributions to the dose rates from individual surfaces and radionuclides, and annual and cumulative external doses to specified reference individuals. Model predictions were performed for a 'no action' situation (with no remedial measures) and for selected countermeasures. The exercise provided a valuable opportunity to compare modelling approaches and parameter values, as well as to compare the predicted effectiveness of various countermeasures with respect to short-term and long-term reduction of predicted doses to people.

  3. : 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...

  4. Environmental contamination with Staphylococcus aureus at a large, Midwestern university campus.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Thapaliya, Dipendra; Taha, Mohammed; Dalman, Mark R; Kadariya, Jhalka; Smith, Tara C

    2017-12-01

    Staphylococcus aureus can cause minor to severe life-threatening infections. The changing epidemiology of S. aureus is of public health concern due to the emergence of multi-drug resistant (MDR) strains. Environmental surfaces play a crucial role in the transmission of S. aureus. The objective of this study was to examine environmental contamination and molecular characteristics of S. aureus in health professional-associated (HPA) and non-health professional-associated (NHPA) buildings at a large university. A total of 152 environmental surface samples were collected from two HPA and two NHPA campus buildings. Bacterial culture and diagnostics were done using standard microbiology methods. Polymerase chain reaction was conducted to detect mecA and PVL genes. All isolates were spa typed. A subset of isolates was characterized via multi-locus sequence typing (MLST). All S. aureus isolates were tested for antibiotic susceptibility. The overall contamination of S. aureus and methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) was 22.4% (34/152) and 5.9% (9/152) respectively. Similar prevalence of contamination was found in HPA and NHPA buildings. A total of 17 different spa types were detected among 34 S. aureus isolates. The majority of the MRSA isolates belonged to clonal complex (CC) 8. One isolate was positive for PVL. Eleven different sequence types (STs) were detected from 17 tested isolates. ST8 was the most common. Twelve isolates (35.3%) were MDR. Almost 27% (9/34) of the isolates were MRSA. The highest contamination of S. aureus was found in high hand-touch areas such as door knobs, suggesting that human interaction in crowded environments such as academic institutions plays a crucial role in S. aureus/MRSA transmission via inanimate objects. Additionally, more than one-third of the isolates were MDR. These data reinforce the need to implement effective prevention strategies outside the healthcare setting to decrease the incidence of drug-resistant S. aureus infections

  5. Effect of stable stratification on dispersion within urban street canyons: A large-eddy simulation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Xian-Xiang; Britter, Rex; Norford, Leslie K.

    2016-11-01

    This study employs a validated large-eddy simulation (LES) code with high tempo-spatial resolution to investigate the effect of a stably stratified roughness sublayer (RSL) on scalar transport within an urban street canyon. The major effect of stable stratification on the flow and turbulence inside the street canyon is that the flow slows down in both streamwise and vertical directions, a stagnant area near the street level emerges, and the vertical transport of momentum is weakened. Consequently, the transfer of heat between the street canyon and overlying atmosphere also gets weaker. The pollutant emitted from the street level 'pools' within the lower street canyon, and more pollutant accumulates within the street canyon with increasing stability. Under stable stratification, the dominant mechanism for pollutant transport within the street canyon has changed from ejections (flow carries high-concentration pollutant upward) to unorganized motions (flow carries high-concentration pollutant downward), which is responsible for the much lower dispersion efficiency under stable stratifications.

  6. Decision support for large-scale remediation strategies by fused urban metabolism and life cycle assessment

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Ohms, Pernille; Andersen, Camilla; Landgren, Mathilde

    2018-01-01

    Purpose: This paper seeks to identify the most environmental friendly way of conducting a refurbishment of Broendby Strand, with focus on PCB remediation. The actual identification is conducted by comparing four remediation techniques using urban metabolism fused with life cycle assessment (UM......-LCA) in combination with information relating to cost and efficiency of the compared techniques. The methodological goal of our paper is to test UM-LCA as a decision support tool and discuss application of the method in relation to large refurbishment projects. Methods: To assess the environmental performance of PCB......-remediation techniques, the UM-LCA method was applied. By combining UM and LCA methodologies, the total environmental impact potentials of the remediation techniques were calculated. To build an inventory for each technique, we contacted and interviewed experts and studied existing literature, cases, and projects...

  7. Urban Decontamination Experience at Pripyat Ukraine - 13526

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Paskevych, Sergiy [Institute for Safety Problems of Nuclear Power Plants, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, 36 a Kirova str. Chornobyl, Kiev region, 07200 (Ukraine); Voropay, Dmitry [Federal State Unitary Enterprise ' Russian State Center of Inventory and Registration and Real Estate - Federal Bureau of Technical Inventory' , 37-2 Bernadsky Prospekt, Moscow Russia 119415 (Russian Federation); Schmieman, Eric [Battelle Memorial Institute, PO Box 999 MSIN K6-90, Richland, WA 99352 (United States)

    2013-07-01

    This paper describes the efficiency of radioactive decontamination activities of the urban landscape in the town of Pripyat, Ukraine. Different methods of treatment for various urban infrastructure and different radioactive contaminants are assessed. Long term changes in the radiation condition of decontaminated urban landscapes are evaluated: 1. Decontamination of the urban system requires the simultaneous application of multiple methods including mechanical, chemical, and biological. 2. If a large area has been contaminated, decontamination of local areas of a temporary nature. Over time, there is a repeated contamination of these sites due to wind transport from neighboring areas. 3. Involvement of earth-moving equipment and removal of top soil by industrial method achieves 20-fold reduction in the level of contamination by radioactive substances, but it leads to large amounts of waste (up to 1500 tons per hectare), and leads to the re-contamination of treated areas due to scatter when loading, transport pollutants on the wheels of vehicles, etc.. (authors)

  8. Brain size and urbanization in birds

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    Anders; Pape; M?ller; Johannes; Erritz?e

    2015-01-01

    Background: Brain size may affect the probability of invasion of urban habitats if a relatively larger brain entails superior ability to adapt to novel environments. However, once urbanized urban environments may provide poor quality food that has negative consequences for normal brain development resulting in an excess of individuals with small brains.Methods: Here we analyze the independent effects of mean, standard deviation and skewness in brain mass for invasion of urban habitats by 108 species of birds using phylogenetic multiple regression analyses weighted by sample size.Results: There was no significant difference in mean brain mass between urbanized and non-urbanized species or between urban and rural populations of the same species, and mean brain mass was not significantly correlated with time since urbanization. Bird species that became urbanized had a greater standard deviation in brain mass than non-urbanized species, and the standard deviation in brain mass increased with time since urbanization. Brain mass was significantly left skewed in species that remained rural, while there was no significant skew in urbanized species. The degree of left skew was greater in urban than in rural populations of the same species, and successfully urbanized species decreased the degree of left skew with time since urbanization. This is consistent with the hypothesis that sub-optimal brain development was more common in rural habitats resulting in disproportionately many individuals with very smal brains.Conclusions: These findings do not support the hypothesis that large brains promote urbanization, but suggest that skewness has played a role in the initial invasion of urban habitats, and that variance and skew in brain mass have increased as species have become urbanized.

  9. Brain size and urbanization in birds

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    Anders Pape Mller; Johannes Erritze

    2015-01-01

    Background:Brain size may affect the probability of invasion of urban habitats if a relatively larger brain entails superior ability to adapt to novel environments. However, once urbanized urban environments may provide poor quality food that has negative consequences for normal brain development resulting in an excess of individuals with small brains. Methods:Here we analyze the independent effects of mean, standard deviation and skewness in brain mass for invasion of urban habitats by 108 species of birds using phylogenetic multiple regression analyses weighted by sample size. Results:There was no significant difference in mean brain mass between urbanized and non-urbanized species or between urban and rural populations of the same species, and mean brain mass was not significantly correlated with time since urbanization. Bird species that became urbanized had a greater standard deviation in brain mass than non-urbanized species, and the standard deviation in brain mass increased with time since urbanization. Brain mass was significantly left skewed in species that remained rural, while there was no significant skew in urbanized species. The degree of left skew was greater in urban than in rural populations of the same species, and successfully urbanized species decreased the degree of left skew with time since urbanization. This is consistent with the hypothesis that sub-optimal brain development was more common in rural habitats resulting in disproportionately many individuals with very smal brains. Conclusions:These findings do not support the hypothesis that large brains promote urbanization, but suggest that skewness has played a role in the initial invasion of urban habitats, and that variance and skew in brain mass have increased as species have become urbanized.

  10. Urban Consortium Energy Task Force - Year 21 Final Report

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NONE

    2003-04-01

    The Urban Consortium Energy Task Force (UCETF), comprised of representatives of large cities and counties in the United States, is a subgroup of the Urban Consortium, an organization of the nation's largest cities and counties joined together to identify, develop and deploy innovative approaches and technological solutions to pressing urban issues.

  11. Integration of HIV and TB Services Results in Improved TB Treatment Outcomes and Earlier Prioritized ART Initiation in a Large Urban HIV Clinic in Uganda

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Hermans, Sabine M.; Castelnuovo, Barbara; Katabira, Catherine; Mbidde, Peter; Lange, Joep M. A.; Hoepelman, Andy I. M.; Coutinho, Alex; Manabe, Yukari C.

    2012-01-01

    Background: The World Health Organization recommends that treatment of tuberculosis (TB) in HIV-infected patients should be integrated with HIV care. In December 2008, a separate outdoor-integrated TB/HIV clinic was instituted for attendees of a large urban HIV clinic in Uganda. We sought to

  12. Beliefs about the cause of schizophrenia among caregivers in Midwestern Nigeria

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Osayi Igberase

    2017-07-01

    Full Text Available Schizophrenia is a devastating illness with a chronic and relapsing course. While Western countries may endorse, biological and psychosocial causes more commonly than supernatural causes, non-western cultures like Nigeria in contrast, tend to endorse supernatural causes. Belief in supernatural causes has been reported to have consequences for treatment seeking behavior. This study aimed to examine the causes of schizophrenia reported by family members of outpatients with schizophrenia in a neuropsychiatric hospital in Midwestern Nigeria. In this study, we recruited a convenient sample of 200 consecutive caregivers of patients visiting the outpatient department of the Psychiatric Hospital, Benin City, Nigeria. These primary caregivers were unpaid relatives who provided support to patients. The patients were service users who fulfilled the diagnostic criteria of the International Classification of Disease [ICD-10; World Health Organization 1993] for schizophrenia and had been on treatment for at least two years. Majority (72.0% of caregivers endorsed supernatural causes as most important in the etiology of schizophrenia, while 28.0% endorsed natural causes. Every participant without formal education endorsed supernatural attribution. In our study, it was evident that participants embraced multiple causal attributions for schizophrenia.

  13. EVERYDAY LANDSCAPE AND MEANING IN URBAN LIVING

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    LAKSHMI PRIYA RAJENDRAN

    2013-11-01

    Full Text Available This paper conceptualizes landscape from a temporal and spatial perspective which emphasizes peoples’ interactions and activities as an inherent part of understanding the landscape itself. Today, peoples’ interaction with the landscape has become more complex, largely owing to the changing notions of place in contemporary urban living. In this context, the paper examines the role and significance of the landscapes of everyday life in urban environment and delineates how it (reconstructs ordinary human and social meanings that are necessary conditions for our existence. The paper is presented in three sections. In the first section, it discusses the concept of everyday life and its relevance in the contemporary urban living. In the following section, it examines the complexities encountered in urban landscapes today .The third section of the paper discusses how meaningful interaction experienced with everyday landscapes offer valuable insights for addressing the challenges posed by the complexities of urban city living. The paper concludes by highlighting the need for attention towards the largely neglected or overlooked domains of ‘ordinary’ everyday landscape by designer professionals, which plays a crucial role in creating meaningful relationship between people and place.

  14. Numerical modeling of flows and pollutant dispersion within and above urban street canyons under unstable thermal stratification by large-eddy simulation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chan, Ming-Chung; Liu, Chun-Ho

    2013-04-01

    Recently, with the ever increasing urban areas in developing countries, the problem of air pollution due to vehicular exhaust arouses the concern of different groups of people. Understanding how different factors, such as urban morphology, meteorological conditions and human activities, affect the characteristics of street canyon ventilation, pollutant dispersion above urban areas and pollutant re-entrainment from the shear layer can help us improve air pollution control strategies. Among the factors mentioned above, thermal stratification is a significant one determining the pollutant transport behaviors in certain situation, e.g. when the urban surface is heated by strong solar radiation, which, however, is still not widely explored. The objective of this study is to gain an in-depth understanding of the effects of unstable thermal stratification on the flows and pollutant dispersion within and above urban street canyons through numerical modeling using large-eddy simulation (LES). In this study, LES equipped with one-equation subgrid-scale (SGS) model is employed to model the flows and pollutant dispersion within and above two-dimensional (2D) urban street canyons (flanked by idealized buildings, which are square solid bars in these models) under different intensities of unstable thermal stratifications. Three building-height-to-street-width (aspect) ratios, 0.5, 1 and 2, are included in this study as a representation of different building densities. The prevailing wind flow above the urban canopy is driven by background pressure gradient, which is perpendicular to the street axis, while the condition of unstable thermal stratification is induced by applying a higher uniform temperature on the no-slip urban surface. The relative importance between stratification and background wind is characterized by the Richardson number, with zero value as a neutral case and negative value as an unstable case. The buoyancy force is modeled by Boussinesq approximation and the

  15. Uncertainty propagation in urban hydrology water quality modelling

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Torres Matallana, Arturo; Leopold, U.; Heuvelink, G.B.M.

    2016-01-01

    Uncertainty is often ignored in urban hydrology modelling. Engineering practice typically ignores uncertainties and uncertainty propagation. This can have large impacts, such as the wrong dimensioning of urban drainage systems and the inaccurate estimation of pollution in the environment caused

  16. On the Pollutant Plume Dispersion in the Urban Canopy Layer over 2D Idealized Street Canyons: A Large-Eddy Simulation Approach

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wong, Colman C. C.; Liu, Chun-Ho

    2010-05-01

    Anthropogenic emissions are the major sources of air pollutants in urban areas. To improve the air quality in dense and mega cities, a simple but reliable prediction method is necessary. In the last five decades, the Gaussian pollutant plume model has been widely used for the estimation of air pollutant distribution in the atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) in an operational manner. Whereas, it was originally designed for rural areas with rather open and flat terrain. The recirculating flows below the urban canopy layer substantially modify the near-ground urban wind environment and so does the pollutant distribution. Though the plume height and dispersion are often adjusted empirically, the accuracy of applying the Gaussian pollutant plume model in urban areas, of which the bottom of the flow domain consists of numerous inhomogeneous buildings, is unclear. To elucidate the flow and pollutant transport, as well as to demystify the uncertainty of employing the Gaussian pollutant plume model over urban roughness, this study was performed to examine how the Gaussian-shape pollutant plume in the urban canopy layer is modified by the idealized two-dimensional (2D) street canyons at the bottom of the ABL. The specific objective is to develop a parameterization so that the geometric effects of urban morphology on the operational pollutant plume dispersion models could be taken into account. Because atmospheric turbulence is the major means of pollutant removal from street canyons to the ABL, the large-eddy simulation (LES) was adopted to calculate explicitly the flows and pollutant transport in the urban canopy layer. The subgrid-scale (SGS) turbulent kinetic energy (TKE) conservation was used to model the SGS processes in the incompressible, isothermal conditions. The computational domain consists of 12 identical idealized street canyons of unity aspect ratio which were placed evenly in the streamwise direction. Periodic boundary conditions (BCs) for the flow were applied

  17. Adjustment of Turbulent Boundary-Layer Flow to Idealized Urban Surfaces: A Large-Eddy Simulation Study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cheng, Wai-Chi; Porté-Agel, Fernando

    2015-05-01

    Large-eddy simulations (LES) are performed to simulate the atmospheric boundary-layer (ABL) flow through idealized urban canopies represented by uniform arrays of cubes in order to better understand atmospheric flow over rural-to-urban surface transitions. The LES framework is first validated with wind-tunnel experimental data. Good agreement between the simulation results and the experimental data are found for the vertical and spanwise profiles of the mean velocities and velocity standard deviations at different streamwise locations. Next, the model is used to simulate ABL flows over surface transitions from a flat homogeneous terrain to aligned and staggered arrays of cubes with height . For both configurations, five different frontal area densities , equal to 0.028, 0.063, 0.111, 0.174 and 0.250, are considered. Within the arrays, the flow is found to adjust quickly and shows similar structure to the wake of the cubes after the second row of cubes. An internal boundary layer is identified above the cube arrays and found to have a similar depth in all different cases. At a downstream location where the flow immediately above the cube array is already adjusted to the surface, the spatially-averaged velocity is found to have a logarithmic profile in the vertical. The values of the displacement height are found to be quite insensitive to the canopy layout (aligned vs. staggered) and increase roughly from to as increases from 0.028 to 0.25. Relatively larger values of the aerodynamic roughness length are obtained for the staggered arrays, compared with the aligned cases, and a maximum value of is found at for both configurations. By explicitly calculating the drag exerted by the cubes on the flow and the drag coefficients of the cubes using our LES results, and comparing the results with existing theoretical expressions, we show that the larger values of for the staggered arrays are related to the relatively larger drag coefficients of the cubes for that

  18. Is Urban Economic Growth Inclusive in India?

    OpenAIRE

    Tripathi, Sabyasachi

    2013-01-01

    This paper measures the overall inclusive growth of a city by considering changing trends in the key economic variables based on ‘Borda ranking’ and establishes a relationship between city economic growth and overall city inclusive growth. By using data of 52 large cities in India, this paper finds that higher urban economic growth is associated with an increase in urban inequality, a reduction in urban poverty, and a lower level of overall inclusive growth of a city.

  19. Alternative fuelds in urban fleets

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Lindsay, T.

    1994-12-31

    In this presentation the author addresses four main objectives. They are to: discuss programs that are driving the introduction of alternative fuels into fleet operations in urban areas around the country; define alternative fuels; quantify the present use and future projections on alternative fuel vehicles (AVFs) in the Chicago metropolitan statistical area; and discuss benefits of increased use of alternative fuels in urban areas. Factors which touch on these points include: present domestic dependence on petroleum for autos, with usage exceeding production; the large populations in urban areas which do not meet Clean Air Standards; recent legislative initiatives which give guidance and aid in the adoption of such strategies.

  20. Alternative fuelds in urban fleets

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lindsay, T.

    1994-01-01

    In this presentation the author addresses four main objectives. They are to: discuss programs that are driving the introduction of alternative fuels into fleet operations in urban areas around the country; define alternative fuels; quantify the present use and future projections on alternative fuel vehicles (AVFs) in the Chicago metropolitan statistical area; and discuss benefits of increased use of alternative fuels in urban areas. Factors which touch on these points include: present domestic dependence on petroleum for autos, with usage exceeding production; the large populations in urban areas which do not meet Clean Air Standards; recent legislative initiatives which give guidance and aid in the adoption of such strategies

  1. Welcoming Wind Turbines and the PIMBY ("Please in My Backyard") Phenomenon: The Culture of the Machine in the Rural American Midwest.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brinkman, Joshua T; Hirsh, Richard F

    This article argues that the welcoming of wind turbines in midwestern farming communities, the so-called PIMBY ("Please in My Backyard") phenomenon, constitutes only the most recent expression of a historical process of farmers forming an ultramodern identity, one that still goes largely unappreciated by relatively backward city residents. We conclude that farmers undertook a two-step process to develop a modern identity that incorporated rural values. In the first step, beginning early in the twentieth century, agrarians employed a discourse of rural capitalistic modernity to combat urban yokel stereotypes within the context of a broader rural-urban conflict. This rural capitalistic modernity strengthened during the cold war until it transformed, in the second step, into the current ultramodern discourse. Wind turbines, in addition to providing economic benefits, function ontologically to maintain an identity of rural citizens as savvy producers and users of technology, and to deflect stereotypes imposed by their urban cousins.

  2. The financialisation of urban capitalism

    OpenAIRE

    Guironnet, Antoine

    2017-01-01

    Myriads of urban objects and spaces located in city-regions have turned into financial assets. Office buildings, shopping malls, student dwellings, and large utilities are purchased by investment funds and listed property companies, which seek to capitalise on the future income streams based on their use by firms and people. Urban redevelopment and financial markets are thus intertwined through the financing circuits of property markets. By analysing the interactions between the financial str...

  3. Spatiotemporal Patterns of Urbanization in a Developed Region of Eastern Coastal China

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jiadan Li

    2014-06-01

    Full Text Available This study presents a practical methodology to monitor the spatiotemporal characteristics of urban expansion in response to rapid urbanization at the provincial scale by integrating remote sensing, urban built-up area boundaries, spatial metrics and spatial regression. Sixty-seven cities were investigated to examine the differences of urbanization intensity, urbanization patterns and urban land use efficiency in conjunction with the identification of socio-economic indicators and planning strategies. Planning proposals to allocate the urbanization intensity among different-sized cities by considering sustainable urban development were also explored. The results showed that the urban area of Zhejiang Province expanded from 31,380 ha in 1980 to 415,184 ha in 2010, indicating that the area of the urban region expanded to more than 13-times the initial urban area. The urban built-up area boundaries became more complex and irregular in shape as the urban area expanded throughout the entire study period. Rapid urban population growth and economic development were identified as significant in stimulating the urban expansion process. However, different-sized cities exhibited marked differences in urban development. Small cities experienced the rapidest urbanization before 2000. Large cities, which are estimated to have the highest urban land use efficiency, had the most dramatic sprawl in urban area at the beginning of the 21st century. Promoting the development of large cities to mega-cities is recommended in Zhejiang Province to ensure sustainable urban development with consideration of land resource preservation.

  4. Can urban rail transit curb automobile energy consumption?

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lin, Boqiang; Du, Zhili

    2017-01-01

    With the rapid development of China's economy and the speed of urbanization, China's automobile sector has experienced rapid development. The rapid development of the automobile sector has increased energy consumption. According to the results of this paper, automobile energy consumption accounted for about 10.73% of total energy consumption in China in 2015, about 3.6 times the proportion a decade ago. With the deterioration of urban traffic conditions, relying on expanding the amount of vehicles and city road network cannot solve the problem. Urban rail transit is energy-saving and less-polluting, uses less space, has large capacity, and secure. Urban rail transit, according to the principle of sustainable development, is a green transportation system and should be especially adopted for large and medium-sized cities. The paper uses the binary choice model (Probit and Logit) to analyze the main factors influencing the development of rail transit in Chinese cities, and whether automobile energy consumption is the reason for the construction of urban rail transit. Secondly, we analyze the influence of urban rail transit on automobile energy consumption using DID model. The results indicate that the construction of urban rail traffic can restrain automobile energy consumption significantly, with continuous impact in the second year. - Highlights: • Investigate the main factors influencing the building of rail transit for Chinese cities. • Analyze the influence of urban rail transit on automobile energy consumption by DID model. • The results indicate that the construction of urban rail traffic can restrain automobile energy consumption significantly.

  5. Lymphatic filariasis patient identification in a large urban area of Tanzania: An application of a community-led mHealth system.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mwingira, Upendo; Chikawe, Maria; Mandara, Wilfred Lazarus; Mableson, Hayley E; Uisso, Cecilia; Mremi, Irene; Malishee, Alpha; Malecela, Mwele; Mackenzie, Charles D; Kelly-Hope, Louise A; Stanton, Michelle C

    2017-07-01

    Lymphatic filariasis (LF) is best known for the disabling and disfiguring clinical conditions that infected patients can develop; providing care for these individuals is a major goal of the Global Programme to Eliminate LF. Methods of locating these patients, knowing their true number and thus providing care for them, remains a challenge for national medical systems, particularly when the endemic zone is a large urban area. A health community-led door-to-door survey approach using the SMS reporting tool MeasureSMS-Morbidity was used to rapidly collate and monitor data on LF patients in real-time (location, sex, age, clinical condition) in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Each stage of the phased study carried out in the three urban districts of city consisted of a training period, a patient identification and reporting period, and a data verification period, with refinements to the system being made after each phase. A total of 6889 patients were reported (133.6 per 100,000 population), of which 4169 were reported to have hydrocoele (80.9 per 100,000), 2251 lymphoedema-elephantiasis (LE) (43.7 per 100,000) and 469 with both conditions (9.1 per 100,000). Kinondoni had the highest number of reported patients in absolute terms (2846, 138.9 per 100,000), followed by Temeke (2550, 157.3 per 100,000) and Ilala (1493, 100.5 per 100,000). The number of hydrocoele patients was almost twice that of LE in all three districts. Severe LE patients accounted for approximately a quarter (26.9%) of those reported, with the number of acute attacks increasing with reported LE severity (1.34 in mild cases, 1.78 in moderate cases, 2.52 in severe). Verification checks supported these findings. This system of identifying, recording and mapping patients affected by LF greatly assists in planning, locating and prioritising, as well as initiating, appropriate morbidity management and disability prevention (MMDP) activities. The approach is a feasible framework that could be used in other large

  6. Lymphatic filariasis patient identification in a large urban area of Tanzania: An application of a community-led mHealth system.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Upendo Mwingira

    2017-07-01

    Full Text Available Lymphatic filariasis (LF is best known for the disabling and disfiguring clinical conditions that infected patients can develop; providing care for these individuals is a major goal of the Global Programme to Eliminate LF. Methods of locating these patients, knowing their true number and thus providing care for them, remains a challenge for national medical systems, particularly when the endemic zone is a large urban area.A health community-led door-to-door survey approach using the SMS reporting tool MeasureSMS-Morbidity was used to rapidly collate and monitor data on LF patients in real-time (location, sex, age, clinical condition in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Each stage of the phased study carried out in the three urban districts of city consisted of a training period, a patient identification and reporting period, and a data verification period, with refinements to the system being made after each phase. A total of 6889 patients were reported (133.6 per 100,000 population, of which 4169 were reported to have hydrocoele (80.9 per 100,000, 2251 lymphoedema-elephantiasis (LE (43.7 per 100,000 and 469 with both conditions (9.1 per 100,000. Kinondoni had the highest number of reported patients in absolute terms (2846, 138.9 per 100,000, followed by Temeke (2550, 157.3 per 100,000 and Ilala (1493, 100.5 per 100,000. The number of hydrocoele patients was almost twice that of LE in all three districts. Severe LE patients accounted for approximately a quarter (26.9% of those reported, with the number of acute attacks increasing with reported LE severity (1.34 in mild cases, 1.78 in moderate cases, 2.52 in severe. Verification checks supported these findings.This system of identifying, recording and mapping patients affected by LF greatly assists in planning, locating and prioritising, as well as initiating, appropriate morbidity management and disability prevention (MMDP activities. The approach is a feasible framework that could be used in other large

  7. The role of city size and urban form in the surface urban heat island.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhou, Bin; Rybski, Diego; Kropp, Jürgen P

    2017-07-06

    Urban climate is determined by a variety of factors, whose knowledge can help to attenuate heat stress in the context of ongoing urbanization and climate change. We study the influence of city size and urban form on the Urban Heat Island (UHI) phenomenon in Europe and find a complex interplay between UHI intensity and city size, fractality, and anisometry. Due to correlations among these urban factors, interactions in the multi-linear regression need to be taken into account. We find that among the largest 5,000 cities, the UHI intensity increases with the logarithm of the city size and with the fractal dimension, but decreases with the logarithm of the anisometry. Typically, the size has the strongest influence, followed by the compactness, and the smallest is the influence of the degree to which the cities stretch. Accordingly, from the point of view of UHI alleviation, small, disperse, and stretched cities are preferable. However, such recommendations need to be balanced against e.g. positive agglomeration effects of large cities. Therefore, trade-offs must be made regarding local and global aims.

  8. Vulnerability Identification and Resilience Enhancements of Urban Environments

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Fischer, K.; Riedel, W.; Häring, I.; Nieuwenhuijs, A.H.; Crabbe, S.; Trojaborg, S.; Hynes, W.; Müllers, I.

    2012-01-01

    Steadily increasing number of the world’s population is living in ur-ban centres. The issue of security and citizen safety in densely populated areas is a growing concern. Considering terrorism and large scale accident scenarios, natural disasters and crime, urban planning practice must be

  9. Urban Typologies: Towards an ORNL Urban Information System (UrbIS)

    Science.gov (United States)

    KC, B.; King, A. W.; Sorokine, A.; Crow, M. C.; Devarakonda, R.; Hilbert, N. L.; Karthik, R.; Patlolla, D.; Surendran Nair, S.

    2016-12-01

    Urban environments differ in a large number of key attributes; these include infrastructure, morphology, demography, and economic and social variables, among others. These attributes determine many urban properties such as energy and water consumption, greenhouse gas emissions, air quality, public health, sustainability, and vulnerability and resilience to climate change. Characterization of urban environments by a single property such as population size does not sufficiently capture this complexity. In addressing this multivariate complexity one typically faces such problems as disparate and scattered data, challenges of big data management, spatial searching, insufficient computational capacity for data-driven analysis and modelling, and the lack of tools to quickly visualize the data and compare the analytical results across different cities and regions. We have begun the development of an Urban Information System (UrbIS) to address these issues, one that embraces the multivariate "big data" of urban areas and their environments across the United States utilizing the Big Data as a Service (BDaaS) concept. With technological roots in High-performance Computing (HPC), BDaaS is based on the idea of outsourcing computations to different computing paradigms, scalable to super-computers. UrbIS aims to incorporate federated metadata search, integrated modeling and analysis, and geovisualization into a single seamless workflow. The system includes web-based 2D/3D visualization with an iGlobe interface, fast cloud-based and server-side data processing and analysis, and a metadata search engine based on the Mercury data search system developed at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). Results of analyses will be made available through web services. We are implementing UrbIS in ORNL's Compute and Data Environment for Science (CADES) and are leveraging ORNL experience in complex data and geospatial projects. The development of UrbIS is being guided by an investigation of

  10. River chloride trends in snow-affected urban watersheds: increasing concentrations outpace urban growth rate and are common among all seasons.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Corsi, Steven R; De Cicco, Laura A; Lutz, Michelle A; Hirsch, Robert M

    2015-03-01

    Chloride concentrations in northern U.S. included in this study have increased substantially over time with average concentrations approximately doubling from 1990 to 2011, outpacing the rate of urbanization in the northern U.S. Historical data were examined for 30 monitoring sites on 19 streams that had chloride concentration and flow records of 18 to 49 years. Chloride concentrations in most studied streams increased in all seasons (13 of 19 in all seasons; 16 of 19 during winter); maximum concentrations occurred during winter. Increasing concentrations during non-deicing periods suggest that chloride was stored in hydrologic reservoirs, such as the shallow groundwater system, during the winter and slowly released in baseflow throughout the year. Streamflow dependency was also observed with chloride concentrations increasing as streamflow decreased, a result of dilution during rainfall- and snowmelt-induced high-flow periods. The influence of chloride on aquatic life increased with time; 29% of sites studied exceeded the concentration for the USEPA chronic water quality criteria of 230 mg/L by an average of more than 100 individual days per year during 2006-2011. The rapid rate of chloride concentration increase in these streams is likely due to a combination of possible increased road salt application rates, increased baseline concentrations, and greater snowfall in the Midwestern U.S. during the latter portion of the study period. Published by Elsevier B.V.

  11. Urbanization eases water crisis in China

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wu, Yiping; Liu, Shu-Guang; Ji, Chen

    2012-01-01

    Socioeconomic development in China has resulted in rapid urbanization, which includes a large amount of people making the transition from rural areas to cities. Many have speculated that this mass migration may have worsened the water crisis in many parts of the country. However, this study shows that the water crisis would be more severe if the rural-to-urban migration did not occur.

  12. 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...

  13. Climate change, equity and the Sustainable Development Goals : an urban perspective

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Reckien, D.; Creutzig, F.; Fernandez, B.; Lwasa, Shuaib; Tovar-Restrepo, M.; McEvoy, D.; Satterthwaite, D.

    2017-01-01

    Climate change is acknowledged as the largest threat to our societies in the coming decades, potentially affecting large and diverse groups of urban residents in this century of urbanization. As urban areas house highly diverse people with differing vulnerabilities, intensifying climate change is

  14. Seoul's greenbelt: an experiment in urban containment

    Science.gov (United States)

    David N. Bengston; Youn Yeo-Chang

    2005-01-01

    Urban containment policies are considered by some to be a promising approach to growth management. The greenbelt-based urban containment policy of Seoul, Republic of Korea is examined as a case study. Seoul's greenbelt has generated both significant social costs and benefits. Korea's greenbelt policy is currently being revised, largely due to pressure from...

  15. Benchmarking urban energy efficiency in the UK

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Keirstead, James

    2013-01-01

    This study asks what is the ‘best’ way to measure urban energy efficiency. There has been recent interest in identifying efficient cities so that best practices can be shared, a process known as benchmarking. Previous studies have used relatively simple metrics that provide limited insight on the complexity of urban energy efficiency and arguably fail to provide a ‘fair’ measure of urban performance. Using a data set of 198 urban UK local administrative units, three methods are compared: ratio measures, regression residuals, and data envelopment analysis. The results show that each method has its own strengths and weaknesses regarding the ease of interpretation, ability to identify outliers and provide consistent rankings. Efficient areas are diverse but are notably found in low income areas of large conurbations such as London, whereas industrial areas are consistently ranked as inefficient. The results highlight the shortcomings of the underlying production-based energy accounts. Ideally urban energy efficiency benchmarks would be built on consumption-based accounts, but interim recommendations are made regarding the use of efficiency measures that improve upon current practice and facilitate wider conversations about what it means for a specific city to be energy-efficient within an interconnected economy. - Highlights: • Benchmarking is a potentially valuable method for improving urban energy performance. • Three different measures of urban energy efficiency are presented for UK cities. • Most efficient areas are diverse but include low-income areas of large conurbations. • Least efficient areas perform industrial activities of national importance. • Improve current practice with grouped per capita metrics or regression residuals

  16. Interpersonal Influence and Alcohol-Related Interventions in the College Environment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Thomas, Richard W.; Seibold, David R.

    A study examined the interpersonal influence strategies reported by college students in two alcohol-related situations--a drunk driving intervention situation and a non-driving alcohol abuse situation. Subjects, 489 undergraduate students attending a large midwestern university, a large central midwestern university, or a mid-sized upper…

  17. Application of GIS in Urban Traffic Noise Pollution

    OpenAIRE

    Manouchehr Omidvari; Ali Asghar Alesheikh

    2010-01-01

    Large urban areas are facing growing problems of noise pollutions. Geospatial Information Systems (GIS) can conveniently be adapted to gather, analyze and present noise information. GIS can also be extended to answer to user specific problems through deterministic and statistics models. The objectives of this research were to measure urban traffic noise levels, analyze temporal and spatial dynamics of urban traffic-induced noise pollution in the first districted of Tehran estimate the noise f...

  18. Impacts of large-scale introduction of hydrogen in the road transport sector on urban air pollution and human exposure in Copenhagen

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Jensen, S.S.; Ketzel, M.; Brandt, J.; Frohn, L.M.; Winther, M.; Nielsen, O.K. (Aarhus Univ.. National Environmental Research Institute, Roskilde (Denmark)); Joergensen, K.; Karlsson, K. (Technical Univ. of Denmark, Risoe National Lab. for Sustainable Energy. Dept. of System Analysis, Roskilde (Denmark))

    2011-07-15

    The aim of the project 'Environmental and Health Impact Assessment of Scenarios for Renewable Energy Systems with Hydrogen' (HYSCENE) is to improve modelling of the environmental impacts and related socio-cultural and welfare economic impacts of a proposed hydrogen/renewable energy system with focus on large-scale introduction of hydrogen as energy carrier in the road transport sector (http://hyscene.dmu.dk). This extended abstract will focus on the impacts on urban air pollution and human exposure. (Author)

  19. 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...

  20. Urbanization and the more-individuals hypothesis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chiari, Claudia; Dinetti, Marco; Licciardello, Cinzia; Licitra, Gaetano; Pautasso, Marco

    2010-03-01

    1. Urbanization is a landscape process affecting biodiversity world-wide. Despite many urban-rural studies of bird assemblages, it is still unclear whether more species-rich communities have more individuals, regardless of the level of urbanization. The more-individuals hypothesis assumes that species-rich communities have larger populations, thus reducing the chance of local extinctions. 2. Using newly collated avian distribution data for 1 km(2) grid cells across Florence, Italy, we show a significantly positive relationship between species richness and assemblage abundance for the whole urban area. This richness-abundance relationship persists for the 1 km(2) grid cells with less than 50% of urbanized territory, as well as for the remaining grid cells, with no significant difference in the slope of the relationship. These results support the more-individuals hypothesis as an explanation of patterns in species richness, also in human modified and fragmented habitats. 3. However, the intercept of the species richness-abundance relationship is significantly lower for highly urbanized grid cells. Our study confirms that urban communities have lower species richness but counters the common notion that assemblages in densely urbanized ecosystems have more individuals. In Florence, highly inhabited areas show fewer species and lower assemblage abundance. 4. Urbanized ecosystems are an ongoing large-scale natural experiment which can be used to test ecological theories empirically.

  1. Understanding Urban Regeneration in Turkey

    Science.gov (United States)

    Candas, E.; Flacke, J.; Yomralioglu, T.

    2016-06-01

    In Turkey, rapid population growth, informal settlements, and buildings and infrastructures vulnerable to natural hazards are seen as the most important problems of cities. Particularly disaster risk cannot be disregarded, as large parts of various cities are facing risks from earthquakes, floods and landslides and have experienced loss of lives in the recent past. Urban regeneration is an important planning tool implemented by local and central governments in order to reduce to disaster risk and to design livable environments for the citizens. The Law on the Regeneration of Areas under Disaster Risk, commonly known as the Urban Regeneration Law, was enacted in 2012 (Law No.6306, May 2012). The regulation on Implementation of Law No. 6306 explains the fundamental steps of the urban regeneration process. The relevant institutions furnished with various authorities such as expropriation, confiscation and changing the type and place of your property which makes urban regeneration projects very important in terms of property rights. Therefore, urban regeneration projects have to be transparent, comprehensible and acceptable for all actors in the projects. In order to understand the urban regeneration process, the legislation and projects of different municipalities in Istanbul have been analyzed. While some steps of it are spatial data demanding, others relate to land values. In this paper an overview of the urban regeneration history and activities in Turkey is given. Fundamental steps of the urban regeneration process are defined, and particularly spatial-data demanding steps are identified.

  2. The framework of urban exposome: Application of the exposome concept in urban health studies.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Andrianou, Xanthi D; Makris, Konstantinos C

    2018-05-02

    Horizontal challenges, such as climate change or the growing populations, and their manifestations require the development of multidisciplinary research synergies in urban health that could benefit from concepts, such as the human exposome. Cities are composed of interconnected systems which are influenced, by global trends, national policies and local complexities. In this context, the exposome concept could be expanded having the city setting in its core, providing the conceptual framework for the new generation of urban studies. The objectives of this work were to define the urban exposome and outline its utility. The urban exposome can be defined as the continuous spatiotemporal surveillance/monitoring of quantitative and qualitative indicators associated with the urban external and internal domains that shape up the quality of life and the health of urban populations, using small city areas, i.e. neighborhoods, quarters, or smaller administrative districts, as the point of reference. Research should focus on the urban exposome's measurable units at different levels, i.e. the individuals, small, within-city areas and the populations. The urban exposome framework applied in the city of Limassol, Cyprus combines three elements: (i) a mixed-methods study on stakeholders' opinions about quality of life in the city; (ii) a systematic assessment of secondary data from the cancer and death registries, including city infrastructure data; and (iii) a population health and biomonitoring survey. Continuous assessment of environmental and health indicators that are routinely collected, and the incorporation of primary data from population studies, will allow for the timely identification of within-city health and environmental disparities to inform policy making and public health interventions. The urban exposome could facilitate evidence-based public health response, offering researchers, policy-makers, and citizens effective tools to address the societal needs of large

  3. Urban metabolism: A review of research methodologies

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zhang, Yan

    2013-01-01

    Urban metabolism analysis has become an important tool for the study of urban ecosystems. The problems of large metabolic throughput, low metabolic efficiency, and disordered metabolic processes are a major cause of unhealthy urban systems. In this paper, I summarize the international research on urban metabolism, and describe the progress that has been made in terms of research methodologies. I also review the methods used in accounting for and evaluating material and energy flows in urban metabolic processes, simulation of these flows using a network model, and practical applications of these methods. Based on this review of the literature, I propose directions for future research, and particularly the need to study the urban carbon metabolism because of the modern context of global climate change. Moreover, I recommend more research on the optimal regulation of urban metabolic systems. Highlights: •Urban metabolic processes can be analyzed by regarding cities as superorganisms. •Urban metabolism methods include accounting, assessment, modeling, and regulation. •Research methodologies have improved greatly since this field began in 1965. •Future research should focus on carbon metabolism and optimal regulation. -- The author reviews research progress in the field of urban metabolism, and based on her literature review, proposes directions for future research

  4. Urban agriculture: a global analysis of the space constraint to meet urban vegetable demand

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Martellozzo, F; Landry, J-S; Plouffe, D; Seufert, V; Ramankutty, N; Rowhani, P

    2014-01-01

    Urban agriculture (UA) has been drawing a lot of attention recently for several reasons: the majority of the world population has shifted from living in rural to urban areas; the environmental impact of agriculture is a matter of rising concern; and food insecurity, especially the accessibility of food, remains a major challenge. UA has often been proposed as a solution to some of these issues, for example by producing food in places where population density is highest, reducing transportation costs, connecting people directly to food systems and using urban areas efficiently. However, to date no study has examined how much food could actually be produced in urban areas at the global scale. Here we use a simple approach, based on different global-scale datasets, to assess to what extent UA is constrained by the existing amount of urban space. Our results suggest that UA would require roughly one third of the total global urban area to meet the global vegetable consumption of urban dwellers. This estimate does not consider how much urban area may actually be suitable and available for UA, which likely varies substantially around the world and according to the type of UA performed. Further, this global average value masks variations of more than two orders of magnitude among individual countries. The variations in the space required across countries derive mostly from variations in urban population density, and much less from variations in yields or per capita consumption. Overall, the space required is regrettably the highest where UA is most needed, i.e., in more food insecure countries. We also show that smaller urban clusters (i.e., <100 km 2 each) together represent about two thirds of the global urban extent; thus UA discourse and policies should not focus on large cities exclusively, but should also target smaller urban areas that offer the greatest potential in terms of physical space. (letters)

  5. Disentangling urban habitat and matrix effects on wild bee species.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fischer, Leonie K; Eichfeld, Julia; Kowarik, Ingo; Buchholz, Sascha

    2016-01-01

    In face of a dramatic decline of wild bee species in many rural landscapes, potential conservation functions of urban areas gain importance. Yet effects of urbanization on pollinators, and in particular on wild bees, remain ambiguous and not comprehensively understood. This is especially true for amenity grassland and extensively managed wastelands within large-scale residential housing areas. Using Berlin as a study region, we aimed to investigate (a) if these greenspaces are accepted by wild bee assemblages as foraging habitats; (b) how assemblage structure of bees and individual bee species are affected by different habitat (e.g., management, flower density) and urban matrix variables (e.g., isolation, urbanization); and (c) to what extent grassland restoration can promote bees in urban environments. In summer 2012, we collected 62 bee species belonging to more than 20% of the taxa known for Berlin. Urbanization significantly affected species composition of bees; 18 species were affiliated to different levels of urbanization. Most bee species were not affected by any of the environmental variables tested, and urbanization had a negative effect only for one bee species. Further, we determined that restoration of diverse grasslands positively affected bee species richnesss in urban environments. We conclude that differently structured and managed greenspaces in large-scale housing areas can provide additional foraging habitats and refuges for pollinators. This supports approaches towards a biodiversity friendly management within urban regions and may be of particular importance given that anthropogenic pressure is increasing in many rural landscapes.

  6. Complex mixtures of dissolved pesticides show potential aquatic toxicity in a synoptic study of Midwestern U.S. streams

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nowell, Lisa H.; Moran, Patrick W.; Schmidt, Travis S.; Norman, Julia E.; Nakagaki, Naomi; Shoda, Megan E.; Mahler, Barbara J.; Van Metre, Peter C.; Stone, Wesley W.; Sandstrom, Mark W.; Hladik, Michelle L.

    2018-01-01

    Aquatic organisms in streams are exposed to pesticide mixtures that vary in composition over time in response to changes in flow conditions, pesticide inputs to the stream, and pesticide fate and degradation within the stream. To characterize mixtures of dissolved-phase pesticides and degradates in Midwestern streams, a synoptic study was conducted at 100 streams during May–August 2013. In weekly water samples, 94 pesticides and 89 degradates were detected, with a median of 25 compounds detected per sample and 54 detected per site. In a screening-level assessment using aquatic-life benchmarks and the Pesticide Toxicity Index (PTI), potential effects on fish were unlikely in most streams. For invertebrates, potential chronic toxicity was predicted in 53% of streams, punctuated in 12% of streams by acutely toxic exposures. For aquatic plants, acute but likely reversible effects on biomass were predicted in 75% of streams, with potential longer-term effects on plant communities in 9% of streams. Relatively few pesticides in water—atrazine, acetochlor, metolachlor, imidacloprid, fipronil, organophosphate insecticides, and carbendazim—were predicted to be major contributors to potential toxicity. Agricultural streams had the highest potential for effects on plants, especially in May–June, corresponding to high spring-flush herbicide concentrations. Urban streams had higher detection frequencies and concentrations of insecticides and most fungicides than in agricultural streams, and higher potential for invertebrate toxicity, which peaked during July–August. Toxicity-screening predictions for invertebrates were supported by quantile regressions showing significant associations for the Benthic Invertebrate-PTI and imidacloprid concentrations with invertebrate community metrics for MSQA streams, and by mesocosm toxicity testing with imidacloprid showing effects on invertebrate communities at environmentally relevant concentrations. This study documents the most

  7. Is urbanization a risk factor for substance misuse?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schifano, Fabrizio

    2008-07-01

    More than half of the world's population is living in urban areas, but the evidence about urban-rural differences in drug use is not clearly defined. The present paper aims to review the international literature addressing the role of urbanization and related parameters in association with substance misuse. In particular, the evidence of urbanization being a risk factor for substance misuse is examined. Although it has been suggested that substance misuse is typically a characteristic of large urban areas, this did not appear to be a consistent observation from the literature review. Furthermore, the urban context may offer a relative proximity of health services and prompter emergency intervention in case of overdose. Although more efforts have to be put into explaining substance misuse in general, identifying which characteristics of the urban context are modifiable, and under what circumstances, is an important theoretical, empirical, and public health question.

  8. Occurrence of dichloroacetamide herbicide safeners and co-applied herbicides in midwestern U.S. streams

    Science.gov (United States)

    Woodward, Emily; Hladik, Michelle; Kolpin, Dana W.

    2018-01-01

    Dichloroacetamide safeners (e.g., AD-67, benoxacor, dichlormid, and furilazole) are co-applied with chloroacetanilide herbicides to protect crops from herbicide toxicity. While such safeners have been used since the early 1970s, there are minimal data about safener usage, occurrence in streams, or potential ecological effects. This study focused on one of these research gaps, occurrence in streams. Seven Midwestern U.S. streams (five in Iowa and two in Illinois), with extensive row-crop agriculture, were sampled at varying frequencies from spring 2016 through summer 2017. All four safeners were detected at least once; furilazole was the most frequently detected (31%), followed by benoxacor (29%), dichlormid (15%), and AD-67 (2%). The maximum concentrations ranged from 42 to 190 ng/L. Stream detections and concentrations of safeners appear to be driven by a combination of timing of application (spring following herbicide application) and precipitation events. Detected concentrations were below known toxicity levels for aquatic organisms.

  9. Proceedings of the 6. Canadian Urban Forest Conference : fires, storms, and pests : crisis in our urban forests

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NONE

    2006-07-01

    There is an increasing awareness in Canada of the benefits and values of urban forests in environmental, social and economic terms. However, the mountain pine beetle (MPB) infestation in British Columbia (BC) has infected vast tracts of the province's forest lands over the last several years, and there is evidence that the beetle plague is now causing major devastation in urban areas. Fires are increasing in size and moving from surrounding forest lands into towns and cities in the province and have taken a toll on people and properties in urban areas. Storms and hurricanes have imposed damage on trees in urban areas in the Maritimes, Quebec and Ontario. This conference presented strategies for urban forest managers faced with a variety of disturbances. Issues concerning emergency preparedness and the role of utilities in urban forestry matters were examined and tools for valuing and marketing the urban forest were reviewed. Landscaping for the mitigation of fires was discussed along with tree hazard assessment techniques. The positive financial impact made to communities by their urban forests was emphasized and guidelines and support tools to help municipalities maintain and enhance their urban forests were outlined. The establishment of research priorities for urban forestry was recommended, as well as the identification of unique and threatened habitats both in, and near, large and small municipalities. Twenty-four presentations were given at this conference, of which 3 have been catalogued separately for inclusion in this database. refs., tabs., figs.

  10. Examining Rural/Urban Differences in Prescription Opioid Misuse Among US Adolescents.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Monnat, Shannon M; Rigg, Khary K

    2016-01-01

    This study examines differences in prescription opioid misuse (POM) among adolescents in rural, small urban, and large urban areas of the United States and identifies several individual, social, and community risk factors contributing to those differences. We used nationally representative data from the 2011 and 2012 National Survey on Drug Use and Health and estimated binary logistic regression and formal mediation models to assess past-year POM among 32,036 adolescents aged 12-17. Among adolescents, 6.8% of rural, 6.0% of small urban, and 5.3% of large urban engaged in past-year POM. Net of multiple risk and protective factors, rural adolescents have 35% greater odds and small urban adolescents have 21% greater odds of past-year POM compared to large urban adolescents. The difference between rural and small urban adolescents was not significant. Criminal activity, lower perceived substance use risk, and greater use of emergency medical treatment partially contribute to higher odds among rural adolescents, but they are also partially buffered by less peer substance use, less illicit drug access, and stronger religious beliefs. Researchers, policy makers, and treatment providers must consider the complex array of individual, social, and community risk and protective factors to understand rural/urban differences in adolescent POM. Potential points of intervention to prevent POM in general and reduce rural disparities include early education about addiction risks, use of family drug courts to link criminal offenders to treatment, and access to nonemergency medical services to reduce rural residents' reliance on emergency departments where opioid prescribing is more likely. © 2015 National Rural Health Association.

  11. CFD analysis of flow in engine compartment of large urban bus; Ogata bus no engine room nai nagare kaiseki

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Hoshino, H; Otake, M; Iioka, K [Nissan Diesel Motor Co. Ltd., Saitama (Japan); Sato, K [Subaru Research Center Co. Ltd., Tokyo (Japan)

    1997-10-01

    A CFD simulation was performed to analyze the air flow in the engine compartment of a large urban bus. The conventional simulation technique takes a long time to perform the parameter study of a complex engine compartment shape. In this study, the use of orthogonal grids made modeling the engine compartment easy, so parameter study on modification of the engine compartment structure could be conducted in a short time. Thus this simulation enables engineers to more clearly understand the air flow patterns in the engine compartment, and to get guidlines for modifying the compartment structure to improve the cooling performance. 1 ref., 12 figs.

  12. Reassessment of urbanization effect on surface air temperature trends at an urban station of North China

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bian, Tao; Ren, Guoyu

    2017-11-01

    Based on a homogenized data set of monthly mean temperature, minimum temperature, and maximum temperature at Shijiazhuang City Meteorological Station (Shijiazhuang station) and four rural meteorological stations selected applying a more sophisticated methodology, we reanalyzed the urbanization effects on annual, seasonal, and monthly mean surface air temperature (SAT) trends for updated time period 1960-2012 at the typical urban station in North China. The results showed that (1) urbanization effects on the long-term trends of annual mean SAT, minimum SAT, and diurnal temperature range (DTR) in the last 53 years reached 0.25, 0.47, and - 0.50 °C/decade, respectively, all statistically significant at the 0.001 confidence level, with the contributions from urbanization effects to the overall long-term trends reaching 67.8, 78.6, and 100%, respectively; (2) the urbanization effects on the trends of seasonal mean SAT, minimum SAT, and DTR were also large and statistically highly significant. Except for November and December, the urbanization effects on monthly mean SAT, minimum SAT, and DTR were also all statistically significant at the 0.05 confidence level; and (3) the annual, seasonal, and monthly mean maximum SAT series at the urban station registered a generally weaker and non-significant urbanization effect. The updated analysis evidenced that our previous work for this same urban station had underestimated the urbanization effect and its contribution to the overall changes in the SAT series. Many similar urban stations were being included in the current national and regional SAT data sets, and the results of this paper further indicated the importance and urgency for paying more attention to the urbanization bias in the monitoring and detection of global and regional SAT change based on the data sets.

  13. Modeling and evaluation of urban pollution events of atmospheric heavy metals from a large Cu-smelter.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Bing; Stein, Ariel F; Castell, Nuria; Gonzalez-Castanedo, Yolanda; Sanchez de la Campa, A M; de la Rosa, J D

    2016-01-01

    Metal smelting and processing are highly polluting activities that have a strong influence on the levels of heavy metals in air, soil, and crops. We employ an atmospheric transport and dispersion model to predict the pollution levels originated from the second largest Cu-smelter in Europe. The model predicts that the concentrations of copper (Cu), zinc (Zn), and arsenic (As) in an urban area close to the Cu-smelter can reach 170, 70, and 30 ng m−3, respectively. The model captures all the observed urban pollution events, but the magnitude of the elemental concentrations is predicted to be lower than that of the observed values; ~300, ~500, and ~100 ng m−3 for Cu, Zn, and As, respectively. The comparison between model and observations showed an average correlation coefficient of 0.62 ± 0.13. The simulation shows that the transport of heavy metals reaches a peak in the afternoon over the urban area. The under-prediction in the peak is explained by the simulated stronger winds compared with monitoring data. The stronger simulated winds enhance the transport and dispersion of heavy metals to the regional area, diminishing the impact of pollution events in the urban area. This model, driven by high resolution meteorology (2 km in horizontal), predicts the hourly-interval evolutions of atmospheric heavy metal pollutions in the close by urban area of industrial hotspot.

  14. An optimum city size? The scaling relationship for urban population and fine particulate (PM_2_._5) concentration

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Han, Lijian; Zhou, Weiqi; Pickett, Steward T.A.; Li, Weifeng; Li, Li

    2016-01-01

    We utilize the distribution of PM_2_._5 concentration and population in large cities at the global scale to illustrate the relationship between urbanization and urban air quality. We found: 1) The relationship varies greatly among continents and countries. Large cities in North America, Europe, and Latin America have better air quality than those in other continents, while those in China and India have the worst air quality. 2) The relationships between urban population size and PM_2_._5 concentration in large cities of different continents or countries were different. PM_2_._5 concentration in large cities in North America, Europe, and Latin America showed little fluctuation or a small increasing trend, but those in Africa and India represent a “U” type relationship and in China represent an inverse “U” type relationship. 3) The potential contribution of population to PM_2_._5 concentration was higher in the large cities in China and India, but lower in other large cities. - Highlights: • Urban population and PM_2_._5 concentration varies greatly among regions. • Urban population size increase does not always enhances PM_2_._5 concentration. • Population's potential contribution to PM_2_._5 concentration higher in China. - We utilize the distribution of PM_2_._5 concentration and population in large cities at the global scale to illustrate the relationship between urbanization and urban air quality.

  15. INTERFERENCES OF THE ENVIRONMENTAL LAW WITH THE URBAN LAW

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Elena IFTIME

    2014-06-01

    Full Text Available Addressing the large, complex issue of influences that urbanization can have on the environment, requires first of all, some general considerations on the interferences between the urban law and the environmental law. The urban law investigates and regulates the affecting and planning of the urban space. Therefore, this type of regulations are at the interference with the environmental law , which, inter alia , deals with the protection and conservation of the environment in the urban settlements, in the built space and also the ecological deployment of the activities in this space. The interaction between the two is becoming increasingly important especially when the urban law is increasingly correlated with the environmental protection, the natural space and the ecological activities.

  16. Urban CO2 emissions in China: Spatial boundary and performance comparison

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cai, Bofeng; Zhang, Lixiao

    2014-01-01

    Different names/concepts and therefore different spatial boundaries for cities in China are responsible for the conflicting and confusing results associated with urban CO 2 emissions accounting. In this study, four types of urban boundaries, i.e., city administrative boundary (UB 1 ), city district boundary (UB 2 ), city built-up area (UB 3 ) and urban proper (UB 4 ), were identified and defined. Tianjin was subsequently selected as the case city to illustrate the different performances of CO 2 emissions with respect to these four boundaries using a 1-km grid dataset built bottom-up by point-emission sources. Different urban boundaries can induce a difference in CO 2 emissions as large as 654%. UB 1 and UB 2 are not the appropriate proxies for urban boundaries in the analysis of urban CO 2 emissions, although UB 1 is a widely adopted boundary. UB 3 is a good representative of city clusters and urban sprawl in a certain region, whereas UB 4 is the appropriate system boundary for such issues as urban CO 2 emissions in light of landscape characteristics and pertinent human activities, as well as the comparability to counterparts in developed countries. These results provide sound policy implications for the improvement of urban energy management and carbon emission abatement in China. - highlights: • Four types of urban boundaries in China were clarified and defined. • Different urban boundaries will induce deviation in CO 2 emissions as large as 654%. • The UB 4 stands for appropriate urban boundary for urban CO 2 emissions analysis. • Gridded data proves to be supplementary tools for urban CO 2 emissions accounting

  17. Assessment of Urban Pluvial Flood Risk and Efficiency of Adaptation Options Through Simulations – A New Generation of Urban Planning Tools

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Löwe, Roland; Urich, Christian; Sto. Domingo, Niña Donna Farpale

    2017-01-01

    the possibility to systematically test various flood risk adaptation measures ranging from large infrastructure changes over decentralised water management to urban planning policies. We have tested the framework in a case study in Melbourne, Australia considering 9 scenarios for urban development and climate......-off investments. Urban planning policies proved to be an efficient means for the reduction of flood risk, while implementing property buyback and pipe increases in a guideline-oriented manner was too costly. Random variations in location and time point of urban development could have significant impact on flood......We present a new framework for flexible testing of flood risk adaptation strategies in a variety of urban development and climate scenarios. This framework couples the 1D-2D hydrodynamic simulation package MIKE FLOOD with the agent-based urban development model DAnCE4Water and provides...

  18. Large floating structures technological advances

    CERN Document Server

    Wang, BT

    2015-01-01

    This book surveys key projects that have seen the construction of large floating structures or have attained detailed conceptual designs. This compilation of key floating structures in a single volume captures the innovative features that mark the technological advances made in this field of engineering, and will provide a useful reference for ideas, analysis, design, and construction of these unique and emerging urban projects to offshore and marine engineers, urban planners, architects and students.

  19. Fluid Mechanics of Urban Environments

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fernando, Harindra J.

    2008-11-01

    The rapid urbanization of the Earth has led to highly populated cities that act as concentrated centers of anthropogenic stressors on the natural environment. The degradation of environmental quality due to such stressors, in turn, greatly impacts human behavior. Anthropogenic stressors largely originate as a result of coupling between man-made urban elements (i.e., networks of engineering and socio-economic infrastructures) and the environment, for which surrounding fluid motions play a key role. In recent years, research efforts have been directed at the understanding and modeling of fluid motions in urban areas, infrastructure dynamics and interactions thereof, with the hope of identifying environmental impacts of urbanization and complex outcomes (or ``emergent properties'') of nominally simple interactions between infrastructures and environment. Such consequences play an important role in determining the ``resilience'' of cities under anthropogenic stressors, defined as maintaining the structure and essential functions of an urbanity without regime shifts. Holistic integrated models that meld the dynamics of infrastructures and environment as well as ``quality of life'' attributes are becoming powerful decision-making tools with regard to sustainability of urban areas (continuance or even enhancement of socio-economic activities in harmony with the environment). The rudimentary forms of integrated models are beginning to take shape, augmented by comprehensive field studies and advanced measurement platforms to validate them. This presentation deals with the challenges of modeling urban atmosphere, subject to anthropogenic forcing. An important emergent property, the Urban Heat Island, and its role in determining resilience and sustainability of cities will be discussed based on the prediction of a coupled model.

  20. The Danish urban system pre-1800

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Christensen, Søren Bitsch; Mikkelsen, Jørgen

    2006-01-01

    , religious and military centres. From 1200 to 1350 Denmark, similar to the German area, underwent considerable urbanization; a large number of market towns were created, and in contrast to the older ones they were mercantile towns. Denmark thus clearly became the most urbanized country in Scandinavia....... As Copenhagen grew in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, the urban system decisively changed its character in the direction of a primate system. The characteristics of the primate system are particularly distinct within the boundaries of the Kingdom of Denmark, but less pronounced if the entire monarchy...... is included in the period in which Denmark was a conglomerate state. The institutional conditions must in general be attributed considerable importance in explaining Danish urban development. Thus, Denmark is one of the countries where town privileges were of great significance until the middle...

  1. Disentangling urban habitat and matrix effects on wild bee species

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Leonie K. Fischer

    2016-11-01

    Full Text Available In face of a dramatic decline of wild bee species in many rural landscapes, potential conservation functions of urban areas gain importance. Yet effects of urbanization on pollinators, and in particular on wild bees, remain ambiguous and not comprehensively understood. This is especially true for amenity grassland and extensively managed wastelands within large-scale residential housing areas. Using Berlin as a study region, we aimed to investigate (a if these greenspaces are accepted by wild bee assemblages as foraging habitats; (b how assemblage structure of bees and individual bee species are affected by different habitat (e.g., management, flower density and urban matrix variables (e.g., isolation, urbanization; and (c to what extent grassland restoration can promote bees in urban environments. In summer 2012, we collected 62 bee species belonging to more than 20% of the taxa known for Berlin. Urbanization significantly affected species composition of bees; 18 species were affiliated to different levels of urbanization. Most bee species were not affected by any of the environmental variables tested, and urbanization had a negative effect only for one bee species. Further, we determined that restoration of diverse grasslands positively affected bee species richnesss in urban environments. We conclude that differently structured and managed greenspaces in large-scale housing areas can provide additional foraging habitats and refuges for pollinators. This supports approaches towards a biodiversity friendly management within urban regions and may be of particular importance given that anthropogenic pressure is increasing in many rural landscapes.

  2. Allergic rhinitis in northern vietnam: increased risk of urban living according to a large population survey

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lâm Hoàng

    2011-08-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Little is known about prevalence and risk factors of allergic rhinitis and chronic nasal symptoms among adults in Vietnam. We aimed to estimate the prevalence, risk factor patterns and co-morbidities of allergic rhinitis and chronic nasal symptoms in one urban and one rural area in northern Vietnam. Methods A cross-sectional questionnaire survey was conducted from August 2007 to January 2008 in urban Hoankiem and rural Bavi in Hanoi among adults aged 21-70 years. Of 7008 randomly selected subjects, 91.7% participated in Bavi and 70.3% in Hoankiem. Results Allergic rhinitis ever or chronic nasal symptoms were reported by 50.2%. The prevalence of allergic rhinitis ever was considerably higher in Hoankiem compared to Bavi, 29.6% vs 10.0% (p Conclusions Allergic rhinitis ever was considerably more common in the urban area. Nasal blocking and runny nose was each reported by about one third of the studied sample with no major urban-rural difference. Further, exposure to air pollution at work was significantly associated with allergic rhinitis ever, nasal blocking and runny nose.

  3. Measure for Measure: Urban Water and Energy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chini, C.; Stillwell, A. S.

    2017-12-01

    Urban environments in the United States account for a majority of the population and, as such, require large volumes of treated drinking water supply and wastewater removal, both of which need energy. Despite the large share of water that urban environments demand, there is limited accounting of these water resources outside of the city itself. In this study, we provide and analyze a database of drinking water and wastewater utility flows and energy that comprise anthropogenic fluxes of water through the urban environment. We present statistical analyses of the database at an annual, spatial, and intra-annual scale. The average daily per person water flux is estimated as 563 liters of drinking water and 496 liters of wastewater, requiring 340 kWh/1000 m3 and 430 kWh/1000 m3 of energy, respectively, to treat these resources. This energy demand accounts for 1% of the total annual electricity production of the United States. Additionally, the water and embedded energy loss associated with non-revenue water (estimated at 15.8% annually) accounts for 9.1 km3of water and 3600 GWh, enough electricity to power 300,000 U.S. households annually. Through the analysis and benchmarking of the current state of urban water fluxes, we propose the term `blue city,' which promotes urban sustainability and conservation policy focusing on water resources. As the nation's water resources become scarcer and more unpredictable, it is essential to include water resources in urban sustainability planning and continue data collection of these vital resources.

  4. Flooding in the southern Midwestern United States, April–May 2017

    Science.gov (United States)

    Heimann, David C.; Holmes, Robert R.; Harris, Thomas E.

    2018-03-09

    Excessive rainfall resulted in flooding on numerous rivers throughout the southern Midwestern United States (southern Midwest) in late April and early May of 2017. The heaviest rainfall, between April 28 and 30, resulted in extensive flooding from eastern Oklahoma to southern Indiana including parts of Missouri, Arkansas, and Illinois.Peak-of-record streamflows were set at 21 U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) streamgages in the southern Midwest during the resulting April–May 2017 flooding and each of the five States included in the study area had at least one streamgage with a peak of record during the flood. The annual exceedance probability (AEP) estimates for the April–May 2017 peak streamflows indicate that peaks at 5 USGS streamgages had AEPs of 0.2 percent or less (500-year recurrence interval or greater), and peak streamflows at 15 USGS streamgages had AEPs in the range from greater than 0.2 to 1 percent (500- to 100-year recurrence intervals).Examination of the magnitude of the temporal changes in median annual peak streamflows indicated positive increases, in general, throughout the study area for each of the 1930–2017, 1956–2017, 1975–2017, and 1989–2017 analysis periods. The median increase in peak streamflows was greatest in 1975–2017 and 1989–2017 with maximum increases of 8 to 10 percent per year. No stations in the 1975–2017 or 1989–2017 analysis period had median negative changes in peak streamflows.

  5. Urban growth and poverty in India, 1983–2005

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Lanjouw, Peter; Murgai, Rinku

    2010-01-01

    Although poverty in India remains disproportionately rural at the aggregate level, urban poverty is growing in importance. Efforts to address urban poverty should note its spatial distribution. This paper shows that the incidence of poverty in India’s small towns is markedly higher than in large

  6. Modelling urban travel times

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Zheng, F.

    2011-01-01

    Urban travel times are intrinsically uncertain due to a lot of stochastic characteristics of traffic, especially at signalized intersections. A single travel time does not have much meaning and is not informative to drivers or traffic managers. The range of travel times is large such that certain

  7. Urban farming model in South Jakarta

    Science.gov (United States)

    Indrawati, E.

    2018-01-01

    The development of infrastructure rapidly, large of population and large of urbanization. Meanwhile, agricultural land is decreasing and agricultural production continues to decline. The productive crops is needed for consumption and it is also to improve the environment from oxygen provisioning, antidote to air pollution and to improve soil conditions. The use of yard land for horticultural crops (vegetables, fruits and ornamental plants), spices, medicines, herbs etc. can benefit for the owners of the yard particularly and the general public. The purpose of this research is to identify the model of home yard utilization, mosque yard, office, school, urban park and main road and sub main road, which can improve environmental quality in Pesanggrahan district. The method of analysis used descriptive analysis method by observation. Then analyzed the percentage of the use of yard with productive crops as urban farming. The results showed that the most productive crops were planted in Kelurahan Pesanggrahan 67% which compared with in Kelurahan Ulujami 47%, and in Kelurahan Petukangan Utara 27%. The most types of productive crops were grown as fruit trees and vegetable crops.

  8. Delivering a Multi-Functional and Resilient Urban Forest

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    James D. Hale

    2015-04-01

    Full Text Available Tree planting is widely advocated and applied in urban areas, with large-scale projects underway in cities globally. Numerous potential benefits are used to justify these planting campaigns. However, reports of poor tree survival raise questions about the ability of such projects to deliver on their promises over the long-term. Each potential benefit requires different supporting conditions—relating not only to the type and placement of the tree, but also to the broader urban system within which it is embedded. This set of supporting conditions may not always be mutually compatible and may not persist for the lifetime of the tree. Here, we demonstrate a systems-based approach that makes these dependencies, synergies, and tensions more explicit, allowing them to be used to test the decadal-scale resilience of urban street trees. Our analysis highlights social, environmental, and economic assumptions that are implicit within planting projects; notably that high levels of maintenance and public support for urban street trees will persist throughout their natural lifespan, and that the surrounding built form will remain largely unchanged. Whilst the vulnerability of each benefit may be highly context specific, we identify approaches that address some typical weaknesses, making a functional, resilient, urban forest more attainable.

  9. Noise in large cities in Brazil

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gerges, Samir N. Y.

    2004-05-01

    Large cities' noise is considered by the World Health Organization to be the third most hazardous pollution, preceded by air and water pollution. In urban centers, in general, and especially in developing countries such as Brazil, large populations are affected by excessive noise due mainly to traffic flow. The Brazilian Federal Government specifies noise limits, but each state can enforce its own set of noise limits, providing they are lower. The rapid economic growth, together with large migration of northern Brazilians to the developing southern urban areas in search of more lucrative jobs in construction and industrial sectors, resulted in a fast increase in activities such as vehicle and bus traffic, home construction, and development of all necessary infrastructures to support this growth. Urban noise in Brazil has been receiving the attention of national authorities only since 1990, when the Federal Government approved the first ``Program of Community Silence,'' based on ISO R 1996-1971. This paper highlights the noise situation in the five largest and most populated cities in Brazil: Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Belo Horizonte, Porto Alegre and Curitiba [Zannin et al., Appl. Acoust. 63, 351-358 (2002)].

  10. Performativity and the project: enacting urban transport security in Europe

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Hoijtink, M.

    2015-01-01

    In April 2011, a large consortium of European rail and security suppliers, transport operators and research organisations launched the Secured Urban Transportation - European Demonstration (SECUR-ED) project with the objective of providing public transport operators with the means to enhance urban

  11. 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....

  12. MUWS (Microbiology in Urban Water Systems – an interdisciplinary approach to study microbial communities in urban water systems

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    P. Deines

    2010-07-01

    Full Text Available Microbiology in Urban Water Systems (MUWS is an integrated project, which aims to characterize the microorganisms found in both potable water distribution systems and sewer networks. These large infrastructure systems have a major impact on our quality of life, and despite the importance of these systems as major components of the water cycle, little is known about their microbial ecology. Potable water distribution systems and sewer networks are both large, highly interconnected, dynamic, subject to time and varying inputs and demands, and difficult to control. Their performance also faces increasing loading due to increasing urbanization and longer-term environmental changes. Therefore, understanding the link between microbial ecology and any potential impacts on short or long-term engineering performance within urban water infrastructure systems is important. By combining the strengths and research expertise of civil-, biochemical engineers and molecular microbial ecologists, we ultimately aim to link microbial community abundance, diversity and function to physical and engineering variables so that novel insights into the performance and management of both water distribution systems and sewer networks can be explored. By presenting the details and principals behind the molecular microbiological techniques that we use, this paper demonstrates the potential of an integrated approach to better understand how urban water system function, and so meet future challenges.

  13. Assessing ecological sustainability in urban planning - EcoBalance model

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Wahlgren, I., Email: irmeli.wahlgren@vtt.fi

    2012-06-15

    Urban planning solutions and decisions have large-scale significance for ecological sustainability (eco-efficiency) the consumption of energy and other natural resources, the production of greenhouse gas and other emissions and the costs caused by urban form. Climate change brings new and growing challenges for urban planning. The EcoBalance model was developed to assess the sustainability of urban form and has been applied at various planning levels: regional plans, local master plans and detailed plans. The EcoBalance model estimates the total consumption of energy and other natural resources, the production of emissions and wastes and the costs caused directly and indirectly by urban form on a life cycle basis. The results of the case studies provide information about the ecological impacts of various solutions in urban development. (orig.)

  14. Large eddy simulation of fire-induced buoyancy driven plume dispersion in an urban street canyon under perpendicular wind flow

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Hu, L.H., E-mail: hlh@ustc.edu.cn [State Key Laboratory of Fire Science, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui 230026 (China); Huo, R.; Yang, D. [State Key Laboratory of Fire Science, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui 230026 (China)

    2009-07-15

    The dispersion of fire-induced buoyancy driven plume in and above an idealized street canyon of 18 m (width) x 18 m (height) x 40 m (length) with a wind flow perpendicular to its axis was investigated by Fire Dynamics Simulator (FDS), Large Eddy Simulation (LES). Former studies, such as that by Oka [T.R. Oke, Street design and urban canopy layer climate, Energy Build. 11 (1988) 103-113], Gayev and Savory [Y.A. Gayev, E. Savory, Influence of street obstructions on flow processes within street canyons. J. Wind Eng. Ind. Aerodyn. 82 (1999) 89-103], Xie et al. [S. Xie, Y. Zhang, L. Qi, X. Tang, Spatial distribution of traffic-related pollutant concentrations in street canyons. Atmos. Environ. 37 (2003) 3213-3224], Baker et al. [J. Baker, H. L. Walker, X. M. Cai, A study of the dispersion and transport of reactive pollutants in and above street canyons-a large eddy simulation, Atmos. Environ. 38 (2004) 6883-6892] and Baik et al. [J.-J. Baik, Y.-S. Kang, J.-J. Kim, Modeling reactive pollutant dispersion in an urban street canyon, Atmos. Environ. 41 (2007) 934-949], focus on the flow pattern and pollutant dispersion in the street canyon with no buoyancy effect. Results showed that with the increase of the wind flow velocity, the dispersion pattern of a buoyant plume fell into four regimes. When the wind flow velocity increased up to a certain critical level, the buoyancy driven upward rising plume was re-entrained back into the street canyon. This is a dangerous situation as the harmful fire smoke will accumulate to pollute the environment and thus threaten the safety of the people in the street canyon. This critical re-entrainment wind velocity, as an important parameter to be concerned, was further revealed to increase asymptotically with the heat/buoyancy release rate of the fire.

  15. Large eddy simulation of fire-induced buoyancy driven plume dispersion in an urban street canyon under perpendicular wind flow.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hu, L H; Huo, R; Yang, D

    2009-07-15

    The dispersion of fire-induced buoyancy driven plume in and above an idealized street canyon of 18 m (width) x 18 m (height) x 40 m (length) with a wind flow perpendicular to its axis was investigated by Fire Dynamics Simulator (FDS), Large Eddy Simulation (LES). Former studies, such as that by Oka [T.R. Oke, Street design and urban canopy layer climate, Energy Build. 11 (1988) 103-113], Gayev and Savory [Y.A. Gayev, E. Savory, Influence of street obstructions on flow processes within street canyons. J. Wind Eng. Ind. Aerodyn. 82 (1999) 89-103], Xie et al. [S. Xie, Y. Zhang, L. Qi, X. Tang, Spatial distribution of traffic-related pollutant concentrations in street canyons. Atmos. Environ. 37 (2003) 3213-3224], Baker et al. [J. Baker, H. L. Walker, X. M. Cai, A study of the dispersion and transport of reactive pollutants in and above street canyons--a large eddy simulation, Atmos. Environ. 38 (2004) 6883-6892] and Baik et al. [J.-J. Baik, Y.-S. Kang, J.-J. Kim, Modeling reactive pollutant dispersion in an urban street canyon, Atmos. Environ. 41 (2007) 934-949], focus on the flow pattern and pollutant dispersion in the street canyon with no buoyancy effect. Results showed that with the increase of the wind flow velocity, the dispersion pattern of a buoyant plume fell into four regimes. When the wind flow velocity increased up to a certain critical level, the buoyancy driven upward rising plume was re-entrained back into the street canyon. This is a dangerous situation as the harmful fire smoke will accumulate to pollute the environment and thus threaten the safety of the people in the street canyon. This critical re-entrainment wind velocity, as an important parameter to be concerned, was further revealed to increase asymptotically with the heat/buoyancy release rate of the fire.

  16. Large eddy simulation of fire-induced buoyancy driven plume dispersion in an urban street canyon under perpendicular wind flow

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hu, L.H.; Huo, R.; Yang, D.

    2009-01-01

    The dispersion of fire-induced buoyancy driven plume in and above an idealized street canyon of 18 m (width) x 18 m (height) x 40 m (length) with a wind flow perpendicular to its axis was investigated by Fire Dynamics Simulator (FDS), Large Eddy Simulation (LES). Former studies, such as that by Oka [T.R. Oke, Street design and urban canopy layer climate, Energy Build. 11 (1988) 103-113], Gayev and Savory [Y.A. Gayev, E. Savory, Influence of street obstructions on flow processes within street canyons. J. Wind Eng. Ind. Aerodyn. 82 (1999) 89-103], Xie et al. [S. Xie, Y. Zhang, L. Qi, X. Tang, Spatial distribution of traffic-related pollutant concentrations in street canyons. Atmos. Environ. 37 (2003) 3213-3224], Baker et al. [J. Baker, H. L. Walker, X. M. Cai, A study of the dispersion and transport of reactive pollutants in and above street canyons-a large eddy simulation, Atmos. Environ. 38 (2004) 6883-6892] and Baik et al. [J.-J. Baik, Y.-S. Kang, J.-J. Kim, Modeling reactive pollutant dispersion in an urban street canyon, Atmos. Environ. 41 (2007) 934-949], focus on the flow pattern and pollutant dispersion in the street canyon with no buoyancy effect. Results showed that with the increase of the wind flow velocity, the dispersion pattern of a buoyant plume fell into four regimes. When the wind flow velocity increased up to a certain critical level, the buoyancy driven upward rising plume was re-entrained back into the street canyon. This is a dangerous situation as the harmful fire smoke will accumulate to pollute the environment and thus threaten the safety of the people in the street canyon. This critical re-entrainment wind velocity, as an important parameter to be concerned, was further revealed to increase asymptotically with the heat/buoyancy release rate of the fire.

  17. Comparing Outcomes of Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting Among Large Teaching and Urban Hospitals in China and the United States.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zheng, Zhe; Zhang, Heng; Yuan, Xin; Rao, Chenfei; Zhao, Yan; Wang, Yun; Normand, Sharon-Lise; Krumholz, Harlan M; Hu, Shengshou

    2017-06-01

    Coronary artery disease is prevalent in China, with concomitant increases in the volume of coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG). The present study aims to compare CABG-related outcomes between China and the United States among large teaching and urban hospitals. Observational analysis of patients aged ≥18 years, discharged from acute-care, large teaching and urban hospitals in China and the United States after hospitalization for an isolated CABG surgery. Data were obtained from the Chinese Cardiac Surgery Registry in China and the National Inpatient Sample in the United States. Analysis was stratified by 2 periods: 2007, 2008, and 2010; and 2011 to 2013 periods. The primary outcome was in-hospital mortality, and the secondary outcome was length of stay. The sample included 51 408 patients: 32 040 from 77 hospitals in the China-CABG group and 19 368 from 303 hospitals in the US-CABG group. In the 2007 to 2008, 2010 period and for all-age and aged ≥65 years, the China-CABG group had higher mortality than the US-CABG group (1.91% versus 1.58%, P =0.059; and 3.12% versus 2.20%, P =0.004) and significantly higher age-, sex-, and comorbidity-adjusted odds of death (odds ratio, 1.58; 95% confidential interval, 1.22-2.04; and odds ratio, 1.73; 95% confidential interval, 1.24-2.40). There were no significant mortality differences in the 2011 to 2013 period. For preoperative, postoperative, and total hospital stay, respectively, the median (interquartile range) length of stay across the entire study period between China-CABG and US-CABG groups were 9 (8) versus 1 (3), 9 (6) versus 6 (3), and 20 (12) versus 7 (5) days (all P China and the United States. The longer length of stay in China may represent an opportunity for improvement. © 2017 The Authors.

  18. Rainfall-induced landslide vulnerability Assessment in urban area reflecting Urban structure and building characteristics

    Science.gov (United States)

    Park, C.; Cho, M.; Lee, D.

    2017-12-01

    Landslide vulnerability assessment methodology of urban area is proposed with urban structure and building charateristics which can consider total damage cost of climate impacts. We used probabilistic analysis method for modeling rainfall-induced shallow landslide susceptibility by slope stability analysis and Monte Carlo simulations. And We combined debris flows with considering spatial movements under topographical condition and built environmental condition. Urban vulnerability of landslide is assessed by two categories: physical demages and urban structure aspect. Physical vulnerability is related to buildings, road, other ubran infra. Urban structure vulnerability is considered a function of the socio-economic factors, trigger factor of secondary damage, and preparedness level of the local government. An index-based model is developed to evaluate the life and indirect damage under landslide as well as the resilience ability against disasters. The analysis was performed in a geographic information system (GIS) environment because GIS can deal efficiently with a large volume of spatial data. The results of the landslide susceptibility assessment were compared with the landslide inventory, and the proposed approach demonstrated good predictive performance. The general trend found in this study indicates that the higher population density areas under a weaker fiscal condition that are located at the downstream of mountainous areas are more vulnerable than the areas in opposite conditions.

  19. Virtual reality in urban water management: communicating urban flooding with particle-based CFD simulations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Winkler, Daniel; Zischg, Jonatan; Rauch, Wolfgang

    2018-01-01

    For communicating urban flood risk to authorities and the public, a realistic three-dimensional visual display is frequently more suitable than detailed flood maps. Virtual reality could also serve to plan short-term flooding interventions. We introduce here an alternative approach for simulating three-dimensional flooding dynamics in large- and small-scale urban scenes by reaching out to computer graphics. This approach, denoted 'particle in cell', is a particle-based CFD method that is used to predict physically plausible results instead of accurate flow dynamics. We exemplify the approach for the real flooding event in July 2016 in Innsbruck.

  20. Urban church forests for local temperature regulation: Implications the role of managing and incorporating urban green space in urban planning

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tulu Tolla TURA

    2016-11-01

    Full Text Available The global surface temperature shows an increment of 0.50.1C per decade and 1.050.3C per century from 1880-2014 with greater increases in cities than non-urban areas. Global communities are shifting towards urbanization due to various factors. Urbanization has caused lack of stable condition for dwellers due to environmental and anthropogenic factors such as land cover changes. Urban temperature rising is the main factors hindering urban dwellers at global level due to insufficient green areas. Social institutions are playing important role in urban greening and urban climate regulation. Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahido Church has long history in indigenous trees biodiversity conservation that plays largely greening role in urban and rural parts of the country. However, there is a research gap in Ethiopia regarding the role of urban green area in the church yards in regulating urban temperature and microclimate change. Therefore, the study evaluated the role of church managed forests in Addis Ababa in regulating surface temperature. Surface temperature inside four church forests at a buffer radius of 0–50 m, 50–100 m, 100–200 m and 200–500 m estimated using Landsat image thermal band 6 of 1986, 2000 and 2010 and ground measurement by ambient thermometer at 10:00 am, 12:30 am and 3:00 pm local time. The ground measurement was done in order to validate satellite image analysis. Plant species diversity, DBH, H, HC, BH and BA was measured. There were 1167 trees in the four studied churches. The mean temperatures of the studied sites were 22.50.1, 23.250.2, 240.6, 24.61.1 and 25.52.2C on site,0–50 m, 50–100 m, 100–200m and 200–500 m respectively for 1986 images; 23.20.5, 23.31.0, 24.32.1, 24.82.2 and 25.51.8C on site, 0-50 m, 50–100 m, 100–200 m and 200–500 m respectively for 2000 images and 23.20.3, 23.270.2, 23.71.6, 241.4 and 24.71.3C on site, 0–50 m, 50–100 m

  1. SPACE AND MEANING CHANGE IN URBANIZATION AND MODERNIZATION PROCESS: An Urban Park in the First Capital of the Ottoman Empire

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gul ATANUR

    2015-03-01

    Full Text Available The foundations of Westernization Movement in Turkey were laid in late Ottoman Empire. Following the fall of the Ottoman Empire and the proclamation of the republic, urban space became highly important and modernist architects from the west planned a large number of Turkish cities. The concept of urban park was introduced and parks became significant components of modern life in this period. Bursa, too, was influenced by this movement; it was planned by western planners and an urban park was built. However, the meaning of urban parks within the ideal of modern life in Turkey and in Bursa has changed over time.  This study is based on urban development periods in Turkey and it presents the change Bursa Kültürpark in Bursa, the early modern city of Turkey, underwent during the process from modernization to globalization.

  2. 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.

  3. Population, migration and urbanization.

    Science.gov (United States)

    1982-06-01

    in rural areas. According to UN data, at the global level the trend in longterm and permanent migration is towards stabilization or decline in the rate of movement into developed countries like the US, Canada, the UK, and Australia from developing countries. Migrants in the Asian and Pacific region mostly tend to be in the 15-25 year age group. Most migrants streams are male dominant. The rural urban migration stream includes a large proportion of people who are better educated than their rural counterparts but generally less educated than the urban natives. Reasons for migrating in the Asian and Pacific region are economic, educational, sociocultural and political. A negative factor in rural migration is that it deprives villages of the ablest people.

  4. Can Aerosol Offset Urban Heat Island Effect?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jin, M. S.; Shepherd, J. M.

    2009-12-01

    The Urban Heat Island effect (UHI) refers to urban skin or air temperature exceeding the temperatures in surrounding non-urban regions. In a warming climate, the UHI may intensify extreme heat waves and consequently cause significant health and energy problems. Aerosols reduce surface insolation via the direct effect, namely, scattering and absorbing sunlight in the atmosphere. Combining the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) AERONET (AErosol RObotic NETwork) observations over large cities together with Weather Research and Forecasting Model (WRF) simulations, we find that the aerosol direct reduction of surface insolation range from 40-100 Wm-2, depending on seasonality and aerosol loads. As a result, surface skin temperature can be reduced by 1-2C while 2-m surface air temperature by 0.5-1C. This study suggests that the aerosol direct effect is a competing mechanism for the urban heat island effect (UHI). More importantly, both aerosol and urban land cover effects must be adequately represented in meteorological and climate modeling systems in order to properly characterize urban surface energy budgets and UHI.

  5. Inventory of greenhouse gas emissions from on-road vehicles in Midwestern USA States and integrated approach to achieving environmental sustainability in transportation : USDOT Region V Regional University Transportation Center final report : technical su

    Science.gov (United States)

    2016-12-29

    Two project objectives one technical and one educational- were laid out in this project. The technical objective was to assess current inventory of greenhouse gases (GHG) in the six Midwestern states of the nation and to estimate improvements as ...

  6. Large-Eddy Simulation of Flow and Pollutant Transport in Urban Street Canyons with Ground Heating

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Xian-Xiang; Britter, Rex E.; Koh, Tieh Yong; Norford, Leslie K.; Liu, Chun-Ho; Entekhabi, Dara; Leung, Dennis Y. C.

    2010-11-01

    Our study employed large-eddy simulation (LES) based on a one-equation subgrid-scale model to investigate the flow field and pollutant dispersion characteristics inside urban street canyons. Unstable thermal stratification was produced by heating the ground of the street canyon. Using the Boussinesq approximation, thermal buoyancy forces were taken into account in both the Navier-Stokes equations and the transport equation for subgrid-scale turbulent kinetic energy (TKE). The LESs were validated against experimental data obtained in wind-tunnel studies before the model was applied to study the detailed turbulence, temperature, and pollutant dispersion characteristics in the street canyon of aspect ratio 1. The effects of different Richardson numbers ( Ri) were investigated. The ground heating significantly enhanced mean flow, turbulence, and pollutant flux inside the street canyon, but weakened the shear at the roof level. The mean flow was observed to be no longer isolated from the free stream and fresh air could be entrained into the street canyon at the roof-level leeward corner. Weighed against higher temperature, the ground heating facilitated pollutant removal from the street canyon.

  7. Developing a pediatric palliative care service in a large urban hospital: challenges, lessons, and successes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Edlynn, Emily S; Derrington, Sabrina; Morgan, Helene; Murray, Jennifer; Ornelas, Beatriz; Cucchiaro, Giovanni

    2013-04-01

    We report the process of creating a new palliative care service at a large, urban children's hospital. Our aim was to provide a detailed guide to developing an inpatient consultation service, along with reporting on the challenges, lessons, and evaluation. We examined the hiring process of personnel and marketing strategies, a clinical database facilitated ongoing quality review and identified trends, and a survey project assessed provider satisfaction and how referring physicians used the palliative care service. The pilot phase of service delivery laid the groundwork for a more effective service by creating documentation templates and identifying relevant data to track growth and outcomes. It also allowed time to establish a clear delineation of team members and distinction of roles. The survey of referring physicians proved a useful evaluation starting point, but conclusions could not be generalized because of the low response rate. It may be necessary to reconsider the survey technique and to expand the sample to include patients and families. Future research is needed to measure the financial benefits of a well-staffed inpatient pediatric palliative care service.

  8. Parent and Child Perspectives on Mothering and Fathering: The Influence of Ecocultural Niches

    Science.gov (United States)

    Newland, Lisa A.; Chen, Hui-Hua; Coyl-Shepherd, Diana D.; Liang, Yi-Ching; Carr, Eliann R.; Dykstra, Emily; Gapp, Susan C.

    2013-01-01

    This mixed-methods study examined differences in parent involvement, perceptions, practices, and context by parent gender, nationality, and education level. Mothers, fathers, and their school-age children participated at two sites: the Midwestern USA ("n" = 99) and urban Central Taiwan ("n"?=?100). Parents completed…

  9. 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…

  10. Causes of Potential Urban Heat Island Space Using Heat flux Budget Under Urban Canopy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kwon, Y. J.; Lee, D. K.

    2017-12-01

    Raised concerns about possible contribution from urban heat island to global warming is about 30 percent. Therefore, mitigating urban heat island became one of major issues to solve among urban planners, urban designers, landscape architects, urban affair decision makers and etc. Urban heat island effect on a micro-scale is influenced by factors such as wind, water vapor and solar radiation. Urban heat island effect on a microscale is influenced by factors like wind, water vapor and solar radiation. These microscopic climates are also altered by factors affecting the heat content in space, like SVF and aspect ratio depending on the structural characteristics of various urban canyon components. Indicators of heat mitigation in urban design stage allows us to create a spatial structure considering the heat balance budget. The spatial characteristics affect thermal change by varying heat storage, emitting or absorbing the heat. The research defines characteristics of the space composed of the factors affecting the heat flux change as the potential urban heat island space. Potential urban heat island spaces are that having higher heat flux than periphery space. The study is to know the spatial characteristics that affects the subsequent temperature rise by the heat flux. As a research method, four types of potential heat island space regions were analyzed. I categorized the spatial types by comparing parameters' value of energy balance in day and night: 1) day severe areas, 2) day comfort areas, 3) night severe areas, 4) night comfort areas. I have looked at these four types of potential urban heat island areas from a microscopic perspective and investigated how various forms of heat influences on higher heat flux areas. This research was designed to investigate the heat indicators to be reflected in the design of urban canyon for heat mitigation. As a result, severe areas in daytime have high SVF rate, sensible heat is generated. Day comfort areas have shadow effect

  11. Sleep patterns and predictors of disturbed sleep in a large population of college students.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lund, Hannah G; Reider, Brian D; Whiting, Annie B; Prichard, J Roxanne

    2010-02-01

    To characterize sleep patterns and predictors of poor sleep quality in a large population of college students. This study extends the 2006 National Sleep Foundation examination of sleep in early adolescence by examining sleep in older adolescents. One thousand one hundred twenty-five students aged 17 to 24 years from an urban Midwestern university completed a cross-sectional online survey about sleep habits that included the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), the Epworth Sleepiness Scale, the Horne-Ostberg Morningness-Eveningness Scale, the Profile of Mood States, the Subjective Units of Distress Scale, and questions about academic performance, physical health, and psychoactive drug use. Students reported disturbed sleep; over 60% were categorized as poor-quality sleepers by the PSQI, bedtimes and risetimes were delayed during weekends, and students reported frequently taking prescription, over the counter, and recreational psychoactive drugs to alter sleep/wakefulness. Students classified as poor-quality sleepers reported significantly more problems with physical and psychological health than did good-quality sleepers. Students overwhelmingly stated that emotional and academic stress negatively impacted sleep. Multiple regression analyses revealed that tension and stress accounted for 24% of the variance in the PSQI score, whereas exercise, alcohol and caffeine consumption, and consistency of sleep schedule were not significant predictors of sleep quality. These results demonstrate that insufficient sleep and irregular sleep-wake patterns, which have been extensively documented in younger adolescents, are also present at alarming levels in the college student population. Given the close relationships between sleep quality and physical and mental health, intervention programs for sleep disturbance in this population should be considered. Copyright 2010 Society for Adolescent Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  12. Alternative approaches to food : Community supported agriculture in urban China

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Krul, K.; Ho, P.P.S.

    2017-01-01

    One of the most remarkable features of China's development path is its large-scale and fast-paced urbanization. As cities already accommodate more than half of China's population, new challenges to urban food systems have emerged concurrently. Concerns over environmental degradation and food

  13. 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.

  14. Exploring The Art of Urban Design as Sensorial Experience

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Smith, Shelley

    2015-01-01

    to their size, speed and flux. Relating to aesthetics as perception, the art of urban design in contemporary urbanity then seems to lie in accessing the ability to experience in a setting that makes it difficult to do so. This paper will explore the potential for aesthetic (sensorial) experience as the art......Contemporary urbanity is characterised by factors such as a large scale, hypermobility and momentary temporality. In terms of the physical spaces that these factors generate and the presence of users in them, this translates to spaces that challenge the ability to perceive and participate due...... of urban design, and look for that potential in the constituent elements and subsequent spaces of contemporary urbanity from the perspective of both the user and the practitioner....

  15. From the litter up and the sky down: Perspectives on urban ...

    Science.gov (United States)

    The structure of the urban forest represents the complex product of local biophysical conditions, socio-economic milieu, people preferences and management with rare counterparts in rural forests. However, urban forest structure, as similarly observed in rural forests, affects key ecological and hydrological processes as well as the plethora of organisms regulating these processes. This seminar talk will firstly present key mechanisms regulating urban eco-hydrological processes “from a litter up” perspective. In particular, fine scale effects of urban forest structure upon i) organic matter decomposition, and comminution, ii) community-assembly of decomposers, detritivores, and ecosystem engineers (i.e. bacteria, litter-dwelling macrofauna, ants), and iii) stormwater runoff infiltration and interception will be discussed. The second part of this intervention will look at the structure of the urban forest “from a sky down” perspective. Recent findings from large scale LiDAR investigations will be presented to discuss social and biophysical drivers affecting urban forest structure at sub-continental scale, as well as short-term tree loss dynamics across residential landscapes, and how these can potentially affect eco-hydrological processes at large scale. Urban forest structure, as similarly observed in rural forests, affects key ecological and hydrological processes as well as the plethora of organisms regulating these processes.

  16. Towards an Urbanism of Entanglement

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Tietjen, Anne

    2009-01-01

    perspectives on polarised urban development in Denmark. Starting from a dynamic relational concept of the city, East and North Jutland can be perceived as different regional situations within a potentially unlimited networked urban landscape. At the same time, the enhancement of active site relationships comes...... a radical urbanisation process that challenges the domain and the procedures of urban design. Key words are regionalisation, dissolution of the city/countryside dichotomy, and regional, national and transnational networks. At the same time, the discourse on polarisation marks a shift from an ideal...... of spatial equality throughout Denmark to an ideal of balanced development. This shift dates back to the 1980s but has gained new topicality in light of increased spatial inequality. Current Danish spatial policy targets the two large city regions around Copenhagen and in East Jutland as the engines...

  17. Scaling Law of Urban Ride Sharing

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tachet, R.; Sagarra, O.; Santi, P.; Resta, G.; Szell, M.; Strogatz, S. H.; Ratti, C.

    2017-03-01

    Sharing rides could drastically improve the efficiency of car and taxi transportation. Unleashing such potential, however, requires understanding how urban parameters affect the fraction of individual trips that can be shared, a quantity that we call shareability. Using data on millions of taxi trips in New York City, San Francisco, Singapore, and Vienna, we compute the shareability curves for each city, and find that a natural rescaling collapses them onto a single, universal curve. We explain this scaling law theoretically with a simple model that predicts the potential for ride sharing in any city, using a few basic urban quantities and no adjustable parameters. Accurate extrapolations of this type will help planners, transportation companies, and society at large to shape a sustainable path for urban growth.

  18. Spatial patterns and temporal changes in atmospheric-mercury deposition for the midwestern USA, 2001–2016

    Science.gov (United States)

    Risch, Martin R.; Kenski, Donna M.

    2018-01-01

    Spatial patterns and temporal changes in atmospheric-mercury (Hg) deposition were examined in a five-state study area in the Midwestern USA where 32% of the stationary sources of anthropogenic Hg emissions in the continental USA were located. An extensive monitoring record for wet and dry Hg deposition was compiled for 2001–2016, including 4666 weekly precipitation samples at 13 sites and 27 annual litterfall-Hg samples at 7 sites. This study is the first to examine these Hg data for the Midwestern USA. The median annual precipitation-Hg deposition at the study sites was 10.4 micrograms per square meter per year (ug/m2/year) and ranged from 5.8 ug/m2/year to 15.0 ug/m2/year. The median annual Hg concentration was 9.4 ng/L. Annual litterfall-Hg deposition had a median of 16.1 ug/m2/year and ranged from 9.7 to 23.4 ug/m2/year. Isopleth maps of annual precipitation-Hg deposition indicated a recurring spatial pattern similar to one revealed by statistical analysis of weekly precipitation-Hg deposition. In that pattern, high Hg deposition in southeastern Indiana was present each year, frequently extending to southern Illinois. Most of central Indiana and central Illinois had similar Hg deposition. Areas with comparatively lower annual Hg deposition were observed in Michigan and Ohio for many years and frequently included part of northern Indiana. The area in southern Indiana where high Hg deposition predominated had the highest number of extreme episodes of weekly Hg deposition delivering up to 15% of the annual Hg load from precipitation in a single week. Modeled 48-h back trajectories indicated air masses for these episodes often arrived from the south and southwest, crossing numerous stationary sources of Hg emissions releasing from 23 to more than 300 kg Hg per year. This analysis suggests that local and regional, rather than exclusively continental or global Hg emissions were likely contributing to the extreme episodes and at least in part, to the spatial

  19. Migration magnet: The role of work experience in rural-urban wage differentials

    OpenAIRE

    Michaelsen, Maren; Haisken-DeNew, John

    2015-01-01

    This study uses the nationally representative Mexican Family Life Survey (MxFLS) to identify systematic differences in earnings returns to human capital endowments for formal and informal sector workers in rural and urban Mexico. Returns to experience are critical in explaining the large urban wage gap in a Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition and indeed drive pull migration from the rural informal sector to the urban informal sector, exacerbating urban population congestion in already over-crowded m...

  20. Photorealistic large-scale urban city model reconstruction.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Poullis, Charalambos; You, Suya

    2009-01-01

    The rapid and efficient creation of virtual environments has become a crucial part of virtual reality applications. In particular, civil and defense applications often require and employ detailed models of operations areas for training, simulations of different scenarios, planning for natural or man-made events, monitoring, surveillance, games, and films. A realistic representation of the large-scale environments is therefore imperative for the success of such applications since it increases the immersive experience of its users and helps reduce the difference between physical and virtual reality. However, the task of creating such large-scale virtual environments still remains a time-consuming and manual work. In this work, we propose a novel method for the rapid reconstruction of photorealistic large-scale virtual environments. First, a novel, extendible, parameterized geometric primitive is presented for the automatic building identification and reconstruction of building structures. In addition, buildings with complex roofs containing complex linear and nonlinear surfaces are reconstructed interactively using a linear polygonal and a nonlinear primitive, respectively. Second, we present a rendering pipeline for the composition of photorealistic textures, which unlike existing techniques, can recover missing or occluded texture information by integrating multiple information captured from different optical sensors (ground, aerial, and satellite).

  1. Relation of urbanization to stream habitat and geomorphic characteristics in nine metropolitan areas of the United States

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fitzpatrick, Faith A.; Peppler, Marie C.

    2010-01-01

    environmental settings. The relations between watershed-scale indicators of urbanization and stream habitat depended on physiography and climate, hydrology, pre-urban channel alterations, reach-scale slope and presence of bedrock, and amount of bank stabilization and grade control. Channels increased in size with increasing percentages of impervious surfaces in southeastern and midwestern metropolitan areas regardless of whether the pre-existing land use was forest or agriculture. The amount of enlargement depended on annual precipitation and frequency of high-flow events. The lack of a relation between channel enlargement and increasing impervious surfaces in other metropolitan areas was thought to be confounded by pre-urbanization hydrologic and channel alterations. Direct relations of channel shape and streambed substrate to urbanization were variable or lacking, probably because the type, amount, and source of sediment are dependent on the phase of urbanization. Reach-scale slope also was important for determining variations in streambed substrate and habitat complexity (percentage of riffles and runs). Urbanization-associated changes in reach-scale riparian vegetation varied geographically, partially depending on pre-existing riparian vegetation characteristics. Bank erosion increased in Milwaukee?Green Bay and Boston urban streams, and bank erosion also increased with an increase in a streamflow flashiness index. However, potential relations likely were confounded by the frequent use of channel stabilization and bank protection in urban settings. Low-flow reach volume did not decrease with increasing urbanization, but instead was related to natural landscape characteristics and possibly other unmeasured factors. The presence of intermittent bedrock in some sampled reaches likely limited some geomorphic responses to urbanization, such as channel bed erosion. Results from this study emphasize the importance of including a wide range of landscape variables at m

  2. Enhanced Methodologies to Enumerate Persons Experiencing Homelessness in a Large Urban Area.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Troisi, Catherine L; D'Andrea, Ritalinda; Grier, Gary; Williams, Stephen

    2015-10-01

    Homelessness is a public health problem, and persons experiencing homelessness are a vulnerable population. Estimates of the number of persons experiencing homelessness inform funding allocations and services planning and directly determine the ability of a community to intervene effectively in homelessness. The point-in-time (PIT) count presents a logistical problem in large urban areas, particularly those covering a vast geographical area. Working together, academia, local government, and community organizations improved the methodology for the count. Specific enhancements include use of incident command system (ICS), increased number of staging areas/teams, specialized outreach and Special Weapons and Tactics teams, and day-after surveying to collect demographic information. This collaboration and enhanced methodology resulted in a more accurate estimate of the number of persons experiencing homelessness and allowed comparison of findings for 4 years. While initial results showed an increase due to improved counting, the number of persons experiencing homelessness counted for the subsequent years showed significant decrease during the same time period as a "housing first" campaign was implemented. The collaboration also built capacity in each sector: The health department used ICS as a training opportunity; the academics enhanced their community health efforts; the service sector was taught and implemented more rigorous quantitative methods; and the community was exposed to public health as a pragmatic and effective discipline. Improvements made to increase the reliability of the PIT count can be adapted for use in other jurisdictions, leading to improved counts and better evaluation of progress in ending homelessness. © The Author(s) 2015.

  3. Urban acupuncture

    CERN Document Server

    Lerner, Jaime

    2014-01-01

    During his three terms as mayor of Curitiba, Brazil in the 1970s and ‘80s, architect and urbanist Jaime Lerner transformed his city into a global model of the sustainable and livable community. Through his pioneering work, Lerner has learned that changes to a community don’t need to be large-scale and expensive to have a transformative impact—in fact, one block, park or a single person can have an outsized effect on life in the surrounding city. In Urban Acupuncture, his first work published in English, Lerner celebrates these “pinpricks” of urbanism—projects, people and initiatives from around the world that ripple through their communities to uplift city life. With meditative and descriptive prose, Lerner brings readers around the world to streets and neighborhoods where urban acupuncture has been practiced best, from the bustling La Boqueria market in Barcelona to the revitalization of the Cheonggyecheon River in Seoul, South Korea. Through this journey, Lerner invites us to re-examine the true...

  4. Urban greening: environmentalism or marketable aesthetics

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dominic Bowd

    2015-11-01

    Full Text Available In recent decades, urban greening has been conceptualized, and subsequently marketed, as a way of making cities more sustainable. Urban greening has been actualized in large global cities, regional centers, and also in many cities in the Global South, where it has been touted as a potential solution to the urban heat island (UHI effect and as a way of reducing carbon dioxide (CO2 emissions. This involves planting street trees and installing curbside gardens, bioswales, green walls, green roofs, and the redevelopment of former industrial zones into urban parklands. This paper questions the assumption that this “greening” of the city must necessarily lead to positive environmental impacts. While such infrastructure itself might be constructed with environmental principles in mind, wider questions concerning the production of such landscapes, and the consumption-orientated lifestyles of those who inhabit these urban landscapes, are seldom considered. Moreover, green aesthetics and environmental sustainability are not always as mutually inclusive as the concepts might suggest, as aesthetics are often a dominating influence in the process of planning green urban environments. This review reorients the focus on the way in which the UHI effect and CO2 emissions have been framed by utilizing Foucault's (1980 “regimes of truth,” where environmental issues are contextualized within the “colonised lifeworld” of free-market forces. This review suggests that for sustainability to be achieved in urban contexts, the process of urban greening must move beyond quick techno-fixes through engagement in the co-production of knowledge.

  5. Measuring Thermal Characteristics of Urban Landscapes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Luvall, Jeffrey C.; Quattrochi, Dale A.; Rickman, Doug L.

    1999-01-01

    The additional heating of the air over the city is the result of the replacement of naturally vegetated surfaces with those composed of asphalt, concrete, rooftops and other man-made materials. The temperatures of these artificial surfaces can be 20 to 40 C higher than vegetated surfaces. Materials such as asphalt store much of the sun's energy and remains hot long after sunset. This produces a dome of elevated air temperatures 5 to 8 C greater over the city, compared to the air temperatures over adjacent rural areas. This effect is called the "urban heat island". Urban landscapes are a complex mixture of vegetated and nonvegetated surfaces. It is difficult to take enough temperature measurements over a large city area to characterize the complexity of urban radiant surface temperature variability. However, the use of remotely sensed thermal data from airborne scanners are ideal for the task. In a study funded by NASA, a series of flights over Huntsville, Alabama were performed in September 1994 and over Atlanta, Georgia in May 1997. Analysis of thermal energy responses for specific or discrete surfaces typical of the urban landscape (e.g., asphalt, building rooftops, vegetation) requires measurements at a very fine spatial scale (i.e., urban forest in both mitigating the urban heat island effect, in making cities more aesthetically pleasing and more habitable environments, and in overall cooling of the community. In this presentation we will examine the techniques of analyzing remotely sensed data for measuring the effect of various urban surfaces on their contribution to the urban heat island effect.

  6. The Influence of Roof Material on Diurnal Urban Canyon Breathing

    Science.gov (United States)

    Abuhegazy, Mohamed; Yaghoobian, Neda

    2017-11-01

    Improvements in building energy use, air quality in urban canyons and in general urban microclimates require understanding the complex interaction between urban morphology, materials, climate, and inflow conditions. Review of the literature indicates that despite a long history of valuable urban microclimate studies, more comprehensive approaches are needed to address energy, and heat and flow transport in urban areas. In this study, a more comprehensive simulation of the diurnally varying street canyon flow and associated heat transport is numerically investigated, using Large-eddy Simulation (LES). We use computational modeling to examine the impact of diurnal variation of the heat fluxes from urban surfaces on the air flow and temperature distribution in street canyons with a focus on the role of roof materials and their temperature footprints. A detailed building energy model with a three-dimensional raster-type geometry provides urban surface heat fluxes as thermal boundary conditions for the LES to determine the key aero-thermodynamic factors that affect urban street ventilation.

  7. 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.

  8. 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.

  9. A Method for Mapping Future Urbanization in the United States

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lahouari Bounoua

    2018-04-01

    Full Text Available Cities are poised to absorb additional people. Their sustainability, or ability to accommodate a population increase without depleting resources or compromising future growth, depends on whether they harness the efficiency gains from urban land management. Population is often projected as a bulk national number without details about spatial distribution. We use Landsat and population data in a methodology to project and map U.S. urbanization for the year 2020 and document its spatial pattern. This methodology is important to spatially disaggregate projected population and assist land managers to monitor land use, assess infrastructure and distribute resources. We found the U.S. west coast urban areas to have the fastest population growth with relatively small land consumption resulting in future decrease in per capita land use. Except for Miami (FL, most other U.S. large urban areas, especially in the Midwest, are growing spatially faster than their population and inadvertently consuming land needed for ecosystem services. In large cities, such as New York, Chicago, Houston and Miami, land development is expected more in suburban zones than urban cores. In contrast, in Los Angeles land development within the city core is greater than in its suburbs.

  10. The soundscapes of lakes across an urbanization gradient.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kuehne, Lauren M; Padgham, Britta L; Olden, Julian D

    2013-01-01

    BACKGROUND/METHODOLOGY: A significant implication of increasing urbanization is anthropogenic noise pollution. Although noise is strongly associated with disruption of animal communication systems and negative health effects for humans, the study of these consequences at ecologically relevant spatial and temporal scales (termed soundscape ecology) is in early stages of application. In this study, we examined the above- and below-water soundscape of recreational and residential lakes in the region surrounding a large metropolitan area. Using univariate and multivariate approaches we test the importance of large- and local-scale landscape factors in driving acoustic characteristics across an urbanization gradient, and visualize changes in the soundscape over space and time. Anthropogenic noise (anthrophony) was strongly predicted by a landcover-based metric of urbanization (within a 10 km radius), with presence of a public park as a secondary influence; this urbanization signal was apparent even in below-water recordings. The percent of hourly measurements exceeding noise thresholds associated with outdoor disturbance was 67%, 17%, and 0%, respectively, for lakes characterized as High, Medium, and Low urbanization. Decreased biophony (proportion of natural sounds) was associated with presence of a public park followed by increased urbanization; time of day was also a significant predictor of biophony. Local-scale (shoreline) residential development was not related to changes in anthrophony or biophony. The patterns we identify are illustrated with a multivariate approach which allows use of entire sound samples and facilitates interpretation of changes in a soundscape. As highly valued residential and recreation areas, lakes represent everyday soundscapes important to both humans and wildlife. Our findings that many of these areas, particularly those with public parks, routinely experience sound types and levels associated with disturbance, suggests that urban

  11. The soundscapes of lakes across an urbanization gradient.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lauren M Kuehne

    Full Text Available UNLABELLED: BACKGROUND/METHODOLOGY: A significant implication of increasing urbanization is anthropogenic noise pollution. Although noise is strongly associated with disruption of animal communication systems and negative health effects for humans, the study of these consequences at ecologically relevant spatial and temporal scales (termed soundscape ecology is in early stages of application. In this study, we examined the above- and below-water soundscape of recreational and residential lakes in the region surrounding a large metropolitan area. Using univariate and multivariate approaches we test the importance of large- and local-scale landscape factors in driving acoustic characteristics across an urbanization gradient, and visualize changes in the soundscape over space and time. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Anthropogenic noise (anthrophony was strongly predicted by a landcover-based metric of urbanization (within a 10 km radius, with presence of a public park as a secondary influence; this urbanization signal was apparent even in below-water recordings. The percent of hourly measurements exceeding noise thresholds associated with outdoor disturbance was 67%, 17%, and 0%, respectively, for lakes characterized as High, Medium, and Low urbanization. Decreased biophony (proportion of natural sounds was associated with presence of a public park followed by increased urbanization; time of day was also a significant predictor of biophony. Local-scale (shoreline residential development was not related to changes in anthrophony or biophony. The patterns we identify are illustrated with a multivariate approach which allows use of entire sound samples and facilitates interpretation of changes in a soundscape. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: As highly valued residential and recreation areas, lakes represent everyday soundscapes important to both humans and wildlife. Our findings that many of these areas, particularly those with public parks, routinely experience sound

  12. Carbon fluxes from an urban tropical grassland

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ng, B.J.L.; Hutyra, L.R.; Nguyen, H.; Cobb, A.R.; Kai, F.M.; Harvey, C.; Gandois, L.

    2015-01-01

    Turfgrass covers a large fraction of the urbanized landscape, but the carbon exchange of urban lawns is poorly understood. We used eddy covariance and flux chambers in a grassland field manipulative experiment to quantify the carbon mass balance in a Singapore tropical turfgrass. We also assessed how management and variations in environmental factors influenced CO 2 respiration. Standing aboveground turfgrass biomass was 80 gC m −2 , with a mean ecosystem respiration of 7.9 ± 1.1 μmol m −2  s −1 . The contribution of autotrophic respiration was 49–76% of total ecosystem respiration. Both chamber and eddy covariance measurements suggest the system was in approximate carbon balance. While we did not observe a significant relationship between the respiration rates and soil temperature or moisture, daytime fluxes increased during the rainy interval, indicating strong overall moisture sensitivity. Turfgrass biomass is small, but given its abundance across the urban landscape, it significantly influences diurnal CO 2 concentrations. - Highlights: • We measured urban turfgrass CO 2 respiration rates and soil characteristics. • Mean observed ecosystem respiration was 7.9 ± 1.1 μmol m −2  s −1 . • Soil temperature and moisture were largely insignificant drivers of observed flux. - We found a Singapore urban turfgrass to be approximately carbon neutral, with a mean ecosystem respiration of 7.9 ± 1.1 μmol m −2  s −1

  13. Urban Environmental Education for Global Transformation Initiatives - Integrating Information and Communication Systems for Urban Sustainability in 2050.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chaudhari, K.

    2017-12-01

    The Urban population of developing countries is predicted to rise from one third in 1990 to over 50% by 2025. In 1950 the world's total urban population was 734 million, of whom 448 million were living in developed countries and remaining 286 were in developing region. The total population on earth is predicted to increase by more than one billion people within the next 15 years, reaching 8.5 billion in 2030, and to increase further to 9.7 billion in 2050 and 11.2 billion by 2100. Looking at the ever increasing urbanization.In 2016, an estimated 54.5 per cent of the world's populations inhabited in urban region. By 2030, urban areas are projected to shelter 60 per cent of people worldwide and one in every three people will live in cities with at least half a million inhabitants.On the basis of these figures and other global trends, it would appear that Africa and Asia will have the highest share of world's urban growth in next 25 years, resulting consideration rise of large number of metropolitan cities and towns. Therefore issues related to urban climate change will be important for socio economic development for urban transformation through environmental sustainability.The information and communication systems plays an important role in achieving the social sustainability through environmental sustainability for urban transformation. This presentation aims to start the Global initiatives on the problem identifications in environment education for global transformation, education for socio-economic and environmental sustainability due to urbanization in 2050 to investigate problems related to social-economic risks and management issues resulting from urbanization to aid mitigation planning in globalized world and to educate scientists and local populations to form a basis for sustainable solutions in environment learning.The presentation aims to assess the potential of information and communication technology for environment education,both within different

  14. Framework for integration of urban planning, strategic environmental assessment and ecological planning for urban sustainability within the context of China

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    He Jia; Bao Cunkuan; Shu Tingfei; Yun Xiaoxue; Jiang Dahe; Brwon, Lex

    2011-01-01

    Sustainable development or sustainability has been highlighted as an essential principle in urban master planning, with increasing recognition that uncontrollable urbanization may well give rise to various issues such as overexploitation of natural resources, ecosystem destruction, environmental pollution and large-scale climate change. Thus, it is deemed necessary to modify the existing urban and regional administrative system so as to cope with the challenges urban planning is being confronted with and realize the purpose of urban sustainability. This paper contributed to proposing a mechanism which helps to make urban planning with full consideration of issues with respect to sustainable development. We suggested that the integration of urban planning, SEA and ecological planning be a multi-win strategy to offset deficiency of each mentioned political tool being individually applied. We also proposed a framework where SEA and ecological planning are fully incorporated into urban planning, which forms a two-way constraint mechanism to ascertain environmental quality of urban planning, although in practice, planning and SEA processes may conditionally be unified. Moreover, as shown in the case study, the integration of the three political tools may be constrained due to slow changes in the contextual factors, in particular the political and cultural dimensions. Currently within the context of China, there may be three major elements which facilitate integration of the three political tools, which are (1) regulatory requirement of PEIA on urban planning, (2) the promotion or strong administrative support from government on eco-district building, and (3) the willingness of urban planners to collaborate with SEA experts or ecologists.

  15. 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...

  16. Urbanization: Concepts, Trends and Analysis in Three Latin American Cities

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Piña William Alfonso

    2014-09-01

    Full Text Available Explanatory models on the urban expansion process have focussed mainly on the dynamic of cities in the developed countries that are characterized by a strong institutional framework, a culture of urban planning, and compliance with the rules. This paper analyses the phenomenon of urban expansion in three Latin American cities (Buenos Aires, Santiago de Chile and Mexico City, taking into account cities with a strong process of urbanization and where the local administration does not have enough control over the growth of cities due to the high rate of migration determining sub-urbanization, peri-urbanization, exo-urbanization, and counter-urbanization processes similar to developed countries. However, these processes may be related to hidden or displaced urbanization in rural areas of municipalities and metropolitan areas or intermediate cities due to the dynamics of urban consolidation. In every Latin American country, the participation and combination of these phenomena are different, although the results are similar: the advance of urban expansion with more segmented, disperse and distant patterns of large urban centres. This analysis determine the characteristics of the urbanization process taking into account physical and geographic aspects, urbanization trends and socioeconomic features in cities selected of Latin America and determines their impact determining the importance to formulate adequate policies that integrates environmental and socioeconomic aspects to achieve sustainable development in urban contexts.

  17. The relationship between urban form and air pollution depends on seasonality and city size.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Yupeng; Wu, Jianguo; Yu, Deyong; Ma, Qun

    2018-06-01

    Understanding how urban form is related to air pollution is important to urban planning and sustainability, but the urban form-air pollution relationship is currently muddled by inconsistent findings. In this study, we investigated how the compositional and configurational attributes of urban form were related to different air pollution measures (PM 2.5 , API, and exceedance) in 83 Chinese cities, with explicit consideration of city size and seasonality. Ten landscape metrics were selected to quantify urban form attributes, and Spearman's correlation was used to quantify the urban form-air pollution relationship. Our results show that the urban form and air pollution relationship was dominated by city size and moderated by seasonality. Specifically, urban air pollution levels increased consistently and substantially from small to medium, large, and megacities. The urban form-air pollution relationship depended greatly on seasonality and monsoons. That is, the relationship was more pronounced in spring and summer than fall and winter, as well as in cities affected by monsoons. Urban air pollution was correlated more strongly with landscape composition metrics than landscape configuration metrics which seemed to affect only PM 2.5 concentrations. Our study suggests that, to understand how air pollution levels are related to urban form, city size and seasonality must be explicitly considered (or controlled). Also, in order to mitigate urban air pollution problems, regional urban planning is needed to curb the spatial extent of built-up areas, reduce the degree of urban fragmentation, and increase urban compactness and contiguity, especially for large and megacities.

  18. Climate risks for the Midwestern USA

    Science.gov (United States)

    Barthelmie, R. J.; Pryor, S. C.; Scavia, D.; Downer, C. W.; Gaden, M.; Iverson, L.; Nordstrom, R.; Patz, J.; Robertson, G. P.

    2012-12-01

    The Midwest comprises about 20% of the US population, contributes 20% of the national gross domestic product, plays a key role in the nation's food production and is home to a number of major urban centers and critical infrastructure. In 2011, eleven of the record fourteen weather-related disasters with damages of over $1 billion in the United States affected the Midwest, and 2012 has seen widespread drought that have devastated yields of essential agricultural crops. In this presentation, we briefly summarize key vulnerabilities within the region and document adaptation steps that have been and are being taken to enhance resilience. Based on the current literature and robust projections for key climate-relevant metrics defined using historical data and computed primarily from output of the NARCCAP simulations, our major findings are as follows: 1) In the short term, longer growing seasons and rising carbon dioxide levels will tend to increase certain crop yields. However, in some cases, those benefits will be offset by increased occurrence of extreme events such as heat-waves, droughts and floods. 2) The species composition of natural ecosystems is expected to change as habitats for many tree species shift northward. The role of the regions forests as a net sink of carbon is at risk from the combined effect of multiple stressors. 3) Increased heat wave intensity and frequency, degraded air quality, and reduced water quality will increase public health risks. For example, there is evidence that in the absence of major mitigation efforts, the frequency of days in Chicago with temperatures in excess of 90 deg F will double by the middle part of this century. 4) The Midwest has a highly energy-intensive economy and emits a disproportionately large amount of heat-trapping gases. It also has a large, and increasingly realized, potential to reduce emissions that cause climate change. Energy infrastructure in the region is vulnerable to increased demand (e.g., the Midwest

  19. Spatial Relationships of Urban Land Use, Soils and Heavy Metal ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Michael Horsfall

    Urban soils are largely affected by impact of urbanization whose ... pattern is related to the social and economic aspect of the society. ... and tourists in the Lagos Mainland Area. .... humidity level is generally high all over the State .... environment and human health. ... The analysis of the concentration of heavy metals.

  20. Hydrological impacts of urbanization at the catchment scale

    Science.gov (United States)

    Oudin, Ludovic; Salavati, Bahar; Furusho-Percot, Carina; Ribstein, Pierre; Saadi, Mohamed

    2018-04-01

    The impacts of urbanization on floods, droughts and the overall river regime have been largely investigated in the past few decades, but the quantification and the prediction of such impacts still remain a challenge in hydrology. We gathered a sample of 142 catchments that have a documented increase in urban areas over the hydrometeorological record period in the United States. The changes in river flow regimes due to urban spread were differentiated from climate variability using the GR4J conceptual hydrological model. High, low and mean flows were impacted at a threshold of a 10% total impervious area. Moreover, the historical evolution of urban landscape spatial patterns was used to further detail the urbanization process in terms of extent and fragmentation of urban areas throughout the catchment and to help interpret the divergent impacts observed in streamflow behaviors. Regression analysis pointed out the importance of major wastewater treatment facilities that might overpass the effects of imperviousness, and therefore further research should either take them explicitly into account or select a wastewater facility-free catchment sample to clearly evaluate the impacts of urban landscape on low flows.

  1. Impacts of large-scale circulation on urban ambient concentrations of gaseous elemental mercury in New York, USA

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    H. Mao

    2017-09-01

    Full Text Available The impact of large-scale circulation on urban gaseous elemental mercury (GEM was investigated through analysis of 2008–2015 measurement data from an urban site in New York City (NYC, New York, USA. Distinct annual cycles were observed in 2009–2010 with mixing ratios in warm seasons (i.e., spring–summer 10–20 ppqv ( ∼  10–25 % higher than in cool seasons (i.e., fall–winter. This annual cycle was disrupted in 2011 by an anomalously strong influence of the US East Coast trough in that warm season and was reproduced in 2014 associated with a particularly strong Bermuda High. The US East Coast trough axis index (TAI and intensity index (TII were used to characterize the effect of the US East Coast trough on NYC GEM, especially in winter and summer. The intensity and position of the Bermuda High appeared to have a significant impact on GEM in warm seasons. Regional influence on NYC GEM was supported by the GEM–carbon monoxide (CO correlation with r of 0.17–0.69 (p ∼  0 in most seasons. Simulated regional and local anthropogenic contributions to wintertime NYC anthropogenically induced GEM concentrations were averaged at  ∼  75 % and 25 %, with interannual variation ranging over 67 %–83 % and 17 %–33 %, respectively. Results from this study suggest the possibility that the increasingly strong Bermuda High over the past decades could dominate over anthropogenic mercury emission control in affecting ambient concentrations of mercury via regional buildup and possibly enhancing natural and legacy emissions.

  2. TrajAnalytics: A Web-Based Visual Analytics Software of Urban Trajectory

    OpenAIRE

    Zhao, Ye; AL-Dohuki, Shamal; Eynon, Thomas; Kamw, Farah; Sheets, David; Ma, Chao; Ye, Xinyue; Hu, Yueqi; Feng, Tinghao; Yang, Jing

    2017-01-01

    Advanced technologies in sensing and computing have created urban trajectory datasets of humans and vehicles travelling over urban road networks. Understanding and analyzing the large-scale, complex data reflecting city dynamics is of great importance to enhance both human lives and urban environments. Domain practitioners, researchers, and decision-makers need to store, manage, query and visualize such big datasets. We develop a software system named TrajAnalytics, which explicitly supports ...

  3. Negotiating Urban Citizenship: The Urban Poor, Brokers and The State in Mexico City and Khartoum

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Denissen, I.N.M.

    2014-01-01

    This study is about citizenship and informality in megacities. The percentage of the world population living in cities is expected to further increase in the coming decades. Urbanisation is characterised by informality in large parts of the globe. Despite urban dwellers formally having the right to

  4. Substantial Mortality of Cabbage Looper (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) From Predators in Urban Agriculture Is not Influenced by Scale of Production or Variation in Local and Landscape-Level Factors.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lowenstein, David M; Gharehaghaji, Maryam; Wise, David H

    2017-02-01

    As Midwestern (United States) cities experience population decline, there is growing interest in converting underutilized vacant spaces to agricultural production. Urban agriculture varies in area and scope, yet most growers use similar cultivation practices such as avoiding chemical control of crop pests. For community gardens and farms that sell produce commercially, effective pest suppression by natural enemies is important for both societal, economic, and marketing reasons. To gauge the amount of prey suppression at 28 urban food-production sites, we measured removal of sentinel eggs and larvae of the cabbage looper Trichoplusia ni (Hubner), a caterpillar pest that defoliates Brassica. We investigated how landscape and local factors, such as scale of production, influence cabbage looper mortality caused by predators. Predators removed 50% of eggs and 25% of larvae over a 3-d period. Landscape factors did not predict mortality rates, and the amount of loss and damage to sentinel prey were similar across sites that differed in scale (residential gardens, community gardens, and farms). To confirm that removal of sentinel items was likely caused by natural enemies, we set up a laboratory assay that measured predation of cabbage looper eggs and larvae by several predators occurring in urban gardens. Lady beetles caused the highest mortality rates, suggesting their potential value for biocontrol; spiders and pirate bugs also consumed both eggs and larvae at high rates. Our results suggest that urban growers benefit from high consumption rates of cabbage looper eggs and larvae by arthropod predators. © The Authors 2016. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Entomological Society of America. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

  5. Rural-urban migration and child survival in urban Bangladesh: are the urban migrants and poor disadvantaged?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Islam, M Mazharul; Azad, Kazi Md Abul Kalam

    2008-01-01

    This paper analyses the levels and trends of childhood mortality in urban Bangladesh, and examines whether children's survival chances are poorer among the urban migrants and urban poor. It also examines the determinants of child survival in urban Bangladesh. Data come from the 1999-2000 Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey. The results indicate that, although the indices of infant and child mortality are consistently better in urban areas, the urban-rural differentials in childhood mortality have diminished in recent years. The study identifies two distinct child morality regimes in urban Bangladesh: one for urban natives and one for rural-urban migrants. Under-five mortality is higher among children born to urban migrants compared with children born to life-long urban natives (102 and 62 per 1000 live births, respectively). The migrant-native mortality differentials more-or-less correspond with the differences in socioeconomic status. Like childhood mortality rates, rural-urban migrants seem to be moderately disadvantaged by economic status compared with their urban native counterparts. Within the urban areas, the child survival status is even worse among the migrant poor than among the average urban poor, especially recent migrants. This poor-non-poor differential in childhood mortality is higher in urban areas than in rural areas. The study findings indicate that rapid growth of the urban population in recent years due to rural-to-urban migration, coupled with higher risk of mortality among migrant's children, may be considered as one of the major explanations for slower decline in under-five mortality in urban Bangladesh, thus diminishing urban-rural differentials in childhood mortality in Bangladesh. The study demonstrates that housing conditions and access to safe drinking water and hygienic toilet facilities are the most critical determinants of child survival in urban areas, even after controlling for migration status. The findings of the study may

  6. 75 FR 52173 - Proposed Urban Area Criteria for the 2010 Census

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-08-24

    ... avoid confusion with the Census Bureau's official urban- rural classifications. I. History Over the... been possible previously. Rather than delineating urban areas in an interactive and manual fashion, the... consistent fashion. For example, the Census Bureau split large agglomerations for Census 2000 by using...

  7. Teaching MBA Students Teamwork and Team Leadership Skills: An Empirical Evaluation of a Classroom Educational Program

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hobson, Charles J.; Strupeck, David; Griffin, Andrea; Szostek, Jana; Rominger, Anna S.

    2014-01-01

    A comprehensive educational program for teaching behavioral teamwork and team leadership skills was rigorously evaluated with 148 MBA students enrolled at an urban regional campus of a Midwestern public university. Major program components included (1) videotaped student teams in leaderless group discussion (LGD) exercises at the course beginning…

  8. Strong contributions of local background climate to urban heat islands

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhao, Lei; Lee, Xuhui; Smith, Ronald B.; Oleson, Keith

    2014-07-01

    The urban heat island (UHI), a common phenomenon in which surface temperatures are higher in urban areas than in surrounding rural areas, represents one of the most significant human-induced changes to Earth's surface climate. Even though they are localized hotspots in the landscape, UHIs have a profound impact on the lives of urban residents, who comprise more than half of the world's population. A barrier to UHI mitigation is the lack of quantitative attribution of the various contributions to UHI intensity (expressed as the temperature difference between urban and rural areas, ΔT). A common perception is that reduction in evaporative cooling in urban land is the dominant driver of ΔT (ref. 5). Here we use a climate model to show that, for cities across North America, geographic variations in daytime ΔT are largely explained by variations in the efficiency with which urban and rural areas convect heat to the lower atmosphere. If urban areas are aerodynamically smoother than surrounding rural areas, urban heat dissipation is relatively less efficient and urban warming occurs (and vice versa). This convection effect depends on the local background climate, increasing daytime ΔT by 3.0 +/- 0.3 kelvin (mean and standard error) in humid climates but decreasing ΔT by 1.5 +/- 0.2 kelvin in dry climates. In the humid eastern United States, there is evidence of higher ΔT in drier years. These relationships imply that UHIs will exacerbate heatwave stress on human health in wet climates where high temperature effects are already compounded by high air humidity and in drier years when positive temperature anomalies may be reinforced by a precipitation-temperature feedback. Our results support albedo management as a viable means of reducing ΔT on large scales.

  9. EVALUATION OF URBANIZATION INFLUENCES ON URBAN ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Osondu

    2012-07-27

    Jul 27, 2012 ... climate over the cities that affect human comfort and his environment. Proper urban ... Key Words: Urbanization, Comfort, Pollution, Modification, Albedo, Urban Heat Island ... effects of land surface change on the climate of a.

  10. An assessment of transit ridership: increased suburban to urban public transportation options in Houston, Texas.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2008-11-01

    Suburban development is occurring near urban areas across America. Often these communities are : separated by large masses of land with no linkage to the urban core. Referred to as urban sprawl, this type : of development causes a challenge for trans...

  11. 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.

  12. Knowledge Production, Urban Locations and the Importance of Local Networks

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Skytt-Larsen, Christine Benna; Winther, Lars

    2015-01-01

    This paper analyses the relationship between knowledge production and urban locations in industrial design, a knowledge-intensive business service (KIBS). KIBS concentrate in urban locations. This is often explained by the co-location of client firms and market access in large cities. Recent...... research on knowledge production, however, reveals that knowledge productive networks are significant for both the competitiveness and location of KIBS. Thus, to understand the urban location of industrial design, it is important to analyse how knowledge production is organized within the industry....... Industrial design is concentrated in urban locations, but most of its clients are located elsewhere. Hence, it seems that industrial design firms concentrate in urban locations mainly because their knowledge networks include specific types of formal and informal local social networks....

  13. Finding Urban Identity through Culture-led Urban Regeneration

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kyu Hong Hwang

    Full Text Available ABSTRACT: A city experiencing a cycle from growth to decline cannot maintain sustainable development without the type of urban identity that could be consolidated by culture-led urban regeneration. A plan for urban regeneration in a declining urban area should be practiced partially or on the whole according to the characteristics of the community. By transforming a low-value and deteriorated area into a highly valued district, the local community can simultaneously restore its social pride, revive the local economy, and realize an urban identity.Firstly, this paper examines urban decline in order to better understand urban regeneration and the need for multidisciplinary management, and also, by considering the necessity for and universal types of urban regeneration, investigates the characteristics of culture-led urban regeneration as a tool for realizing socio-economic revival and urban identity. In particular, this study suggests the action techniques and benchmarking points for urban regeneration by analyzing cases of culture-led urban regeneration in Korea. Three subjects were considered as case studies in this paper: 1 Hanok village in Jeonju city, which changed from a twilight zone to a tourist attraction; 2 Changdong district in Changwon city, which recovered from an area of declining and dark alleyways that had been the hub for arts and culture in the 1970s to become a new artist village; and 3 Cheongju city, which is being transformed from an idle industrial facility into a cultural space. This thesis suggests the implementation process of culture-led urban regeneration to find an urban identity through analysis of the causes of urban decline, the methods of regeneration, and the results of urban regeneration in the three aforementioned cases. In the conclusion section of this paper, the implementation process for culture-led urban regeneration is summarized as consisting of 5 phases: Phase 1, the diagnosis of decline; Phase 2

  14. Variations in vanadium, nickel and lanthanoid element concentrations in urban air

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Moreno, Teresa; Querol, Xavier; Alastuey, Andres; Rosa, Jesus de la; Sanchez de la Campa, Ana Maria; Minguillon, MariCruz; Pandolfi, Marco; Gonzalez-Castanedo, Yolanda; Monfort, Eliseo; Gibbons, Wes

    2010-01-01

    The emission of trace metal pollutants by industry and transport takes place on a scale large enough to alter atmospheric chemistry and results in measurable differences between the urban background of inhalable particulate matter (PM) in different towns. This is particularly well demonstrated by the technogenic release into the atmosphere of V, Ni, and lanthanoid elements. We compare PM concentrations of these metals in large datasets from five industrial towns in Spain variously influenced by emissions from refinery, power station, shipping, stainless steel, ceramic tiles and brick-making. Increased La/Ce values in urban background inhalable PM, due to La-contamination from refineries and their residual products (fuel oils and petcoke), contrast with Ce-rich emissions from the ceramic related industry, and clearly demonstrate the value of this ratio as a sensitive and reliable tracer for many point source emissions. Similarly, anomalously high V/Ni values (> 4) can detect the influence of nearby high-V petcoke and fuel oil combustion, although the use of this ratio in urban background PM is limited by overlapping values in natural and anthropogenic materials. Geochemical characterisation of urban background PM is a valuable compliment to the physical monitoring of aerosols widely employed in urban areas, especially given the relevance of trace metal inhalation to urban health issues.

  15. Assessment of urban pluvial flood risk and efficiency of adaptation options through simulations - A new generation of urban planning tools

    Science.gov (United States)

    Löwe, Roland; Urich, Christian; Sto. Domingo, Nina; Mark, Ole; Deletic, Ana; Arnbjerg-Nielsen, Karsten

    2017-07-01

    We present a new framework for flexible testing of flood risk adaptation strategies in a variety of urban development and climate scenarios. This framework couples the 1D-2D hydrodynamic simulation package MIKE FLOOD with the agent-based urban development model DAnCE4Water and provides the possibility to systematically test various flood risk adaptation measures ranging from large infrastructure changes over decentralised water management to urban planning policies. We have tested the framework in a case study in Melbourne, Australia considering 9 scenarios for urban development and climate and 32 potential combinations of flood adaptation measures. We found that the performance of adaptation measures strongly depended on the considered climate and urban development scenario and the other implementation measures implemented, suggesting that adaptive strategies are preferable over one-off investments. Urban planning policies proved to be an efficient means for the reduction of flood risk, while implementing property buyback and pipe increases in a guideline-oriented manner was too costly. Random variations in location and time point of urban development could have significant impact on flood risk and would in some cases outweigh the benefits of less efficient adaptation strategies. The results of our setup can serve as an input for robust decision making frameworks and thus support the identification of flood risk adaptation measures that are economically efficient and robust to variations of climate and urban layout.

  16. Nineteenth-century urbanization as sacred process: insights from German Strasbourg.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Steinhoff, Anthony J

    2011-01-01

    This article examines a crucial site for modernity’s encounter with religion during the long nineteenth century, albeit one largely ignored both by religious and urban historians: the modern big city. Drawing on evidence from Strasbourg, which joined the ranks of Germany’s big cities soon after the Franco-Prussian War, it points out first, that urbanization had a significant urban dimension. It altered the absolute and relative size of the city’s faith communities, affected the confessional composition of urban neighborhoods, and prompted faith communities to mark additional parts of the urban landscape as sacred. Second, while urban growth—both demographic and physical—frequently challenged traditional understandings of religious community, it also facilitated the construction of new understandings of piety and community, especially via voluntary organizations and the religious media. Thereby, urbanization emerged as a key force behind sacralization in city and countryside as the nineteenth century ended and the twentieth began.

  17. Nature of urban interventions in changing the old center of a globalizing Doha

    OpenAIRE

    Gharib, Remah; Salama, Ashraf

    2017-01-01

    Doha, Qatar is continuously positioning itself at the forefront of international urbanism with different qualities of expression in terms of economy, culture, and global outlook, and is characterized by fast-tracked urban development process with large-scale urban interventions in the old center. Although the unprecedented urban growth of this city continues to be a subject of discussion, little attention has been given to investigate the new interventions and the resulting effects they have ...

  18. Spatial Linkage and Urban Expansion: AN Urban Agglomeration View

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jiao, L. M.; Tang, X.; Liu, X. P.

    2017-09-01

    Urban expansion displays different characteristics in each period. From the perspective of the urban agglomeration, studying the spatial and temporal characteristics of urban expansion plays an important role in understanding the complex relationship between urban expansion and network structure of urban agglomeration. We analyze urban expansion in the Yangtze River Delta Urban Agglomeration (YRD) through accessibility to and spatial interaction intensity from core cities as well as accessibility of road network. Results show that: (1) Correlation between urban expansion intensity and spatial indicators such as location and space syntax variables is remarkable and positive, while it decreases after rapid expansion. (2) Urban expansion velocity displays a positive correlation with spatial indicators mentioned above in the first (1980-1990) and second (1990-2000) period. However, it exhibits a negative relationship in the third period (2000-2010), i.e., cities located in the periphery of urban agglomeration developing more quickly. Consequently, the hypothesis of convergence of urban expansion in rapid expansion stage is put forward. (3) Results of Zipf's law and Gibrat's law show urban expansion in YRD displays a convergent trend in rapid expansion stage, small and medium-sized cities growing faster. This study shows that spatial linkage plays an important but evolving role in urban expansion within the urban agglomeration. In addition, it serves as a reference to the planning of Yangtze River Delta Urban Agglomeration and regulation of urban expansion of other urban agglomerations.

  19. Issues - I. Renewable energies and urban planning law - Urban planning law and renewable energies: I love you, neither I

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gregory Kalfleche

    2012-01-01

    After having noticed that fossil energies must still be used beside renewable energies, and that renewable energies have some negative impacts on landscape and on the environment, the author highlights the fact that the French urban planning law gives a strong support to small renewable energy production units. In a second part, he shows that despite a commitment for the development of renewable energies, urban planning law mostly remains a constraint as far as the development of large units is concerned

  20. Constructing sites on a large scale

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Braae, Ellen Marie; Tietjen, Anne

    2011-01-01

    Since the 1990s, the regional scale has regained importance in urban and landscape design. In parallel, the focus in design tasks has shifted from master plans for urban extension to strategic urban transformation projects. A prominent example of a contemporary spatial development approach...... for setting the design brief in a large scale urban landscape in Norway, the Jaeren region around the city of Stavanger. In this paper, we first outline the methodological challenges and then present and discuss the proposed method based on our teaching experiences. On this basis, we discuss aspects...... is the IBA Emscher Park in the Ruhr area in Germany. Over a 10 years period (1988-1998), more than a 100 local transformation projects contributed to the transformation from an industrial to a post-industrial region. The current paradigm of planning by projects reinforces the role of the design disciplines...

  1. Large eddy simulation of pollutant gas dispersion with buoyancy ejected from building into an urban street canyon.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hu, L H; Xu, Y; Zhu, W; Wu, L; Tang, F; Lu, K H

    2011-09-15

    The dispersion of buoyancy driven smoke soot and carbon monoxide (CO) gas, which was ejected out from side building into an urban street canyon with aspect ratio of 1 was investigated by large eddy simulation (LES) under a perpendicular wind flow. Strong buoyancy effect, which has not been revealed before, on such pollution dispersion in the street canyon was studied. The buoyancy release rate was 5 MW. The wind speed concerned ranged from 1 to 7.5m/s. The characteristics of flow pattern, distribution of smoke soot and temperature, CO concentration were revealed by the LES simulation. Dimensionless Froude number (Fr) was firstly introduced here to characterize the pollutant dispersion with buoyancy effect counteracting the wind. It was found that the flow pattern can be well categorized into three regimes. A regular characteristic large vortex was shown for the CO concentration contour when the wind velocity was higher than the critical re-entrainment value. A new formula was theoretically developed to show quantitatively that the critical re-entrainment wind velocities, u(c), for buoyancy source at different floors, were proportional to -1/3 power of the characteristic height. LES simulation results agreed well with theoretical analysis. The critical Froude number was found to be constant of 0.7. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  2. Differences in passenger car and large truck involved crash frequencies at urban signalized intersections: an exploratory analysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dong, Chunjiao; Clarke, David B; Richards, Stephen H; Huang, Baoshan

    2014-01-01

    The influence of intersection features on safety has been examined extensively because intersections experience a relatively large proportion of motor vehicle conflicts and crashes. Although there are distinct differences between passenger cars and large trucks-size, operating characteristics, dimensions, and weight-modeling crash counts across vehicle types is rarely addressed. This paper develops and presents a multivariate regression model of crash frequencies by collision vehicle type using crash data for urban signalized intersections in Tennessee. In addition, the performance of univariate Poisson-lognormal (UVPLN), multivariate Poisson (MVP), and multivariate Poisson-lognormal (MVPLN) regression models in establishing the relationship between crashes, traffic factors, and geometric design of roadway intersections is investigated. Bayesian methods are used to estimate the unknown parameters of these models. The evaluation results suggest that the MVPLN model possesses most of the desirable statistical properties in developing the relationships. Compared to the UVPLN and MVP models, the MVPLN model better identifies significant factors and predicts crash frequencies. The findings suggest that traffic volume, truck percentage, lighting condition, and intersection angle significantly affect intersection safety. Important differences in car, car-truck, and truck crash frequencies with respect to various risk factors were found to exist between models. The paper provides some new or more comprehensive observations that have not been covered in previous studies. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  3. A blueprint for strategic urban research: the urban piazza.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kourtit, Karima; Nijkamp, Peter; Franklin, Rachel S; Rodríguez-Pose, Andrés

    2014-01-01

    Urban research in many countries has failed to keep up with the pace of rapidly and constantly evolving urban change. The growth of cities, the increasing complexity of their functions and the complex intra- and inter-urban linkages in this 'urban century' demand new approaches to urban analysis, which, from a systemic perspective, supersede the existing fragmentation in urban studies. In this paper we propose the concept of the urban piazza as a framework in order to address some of the inefficiencies associated with current urban analysis. By combining wealth-creating potential with smart urban mobility, ecological resilience and social buzz in this integrated and systemic framework, the aim is to set the basis for a ' New Urban World ' research blueprint, which lays the foundation for a broader and more integrated research programme for strategic urban issues.

  4. Turbulent Plume Dispersion over Two-dimensional Idealized Urban Street Canyons

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wong, C. C. C.; Liu, C. H.

    2012-04-01

    Human activities are the primary pollutant sources which degrade the living quality in the current era of dense and compact cities. A simple and reasonably accurate pollutant dispersion model is helpful to reduce pollutant concentrations in city or neighborhood scales by refining architectural design or urban planning. The conventional method to estimate the pollutant concentration from point/line sources is the Gaussian plume model using empirical dispersion coefficients. Its accuracy is pretty well for applying to rural areas. However, the dispersion coefficients only account for the atmospheric stability and streamwise distance that often overlook the roughness of urban surfaces. Large-scale buildings erected in urban areas significantly modify the surface roughness that in turn affects the pollutant transport in the urban canopy layer (UCL). We hypothesize that the aerodynamic resistance is another factor governing the dispersion coefficient in the UCL. This study is thus conceived to study the effects of urban roughness on pollutant dispersion coefficients and the plume behaviors. Large-eddy simulations (LESs) are carried out to examine the plume dispersion from a ground-level pollutant source over idealized 2D street canyons in neutral stratification. Computations with a wide range of aspect ratios (ARs), including skimming flow to isolated flow regimes, are conducted. The vertical profiles of pollutant distribution for different values of friction factor are compared that all reach a self-similar Gaussian shape. Preliminary results show that the pollutant dispersion is closely related to the friction factor. For relatively small roughness, the factors of dispersion coefficient vary linearly with the friction factor until the roughness is over a certain level. When the friction factor is large, its effect on the dispersion coefficient is less significant. Since the linear region covers at least one-third of the full range of friction factor in our empirical

  5. Structure of urban movements: polycentric activity and entangled hierarchical flows.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Camille Roth

    Full Text Available The spatial arrangement of urban hubs and centers and how individuals interact with these centers is a crucial problem with many applications ranging from urban planning to epidemiology. We utilize here in an unprecedented manner the large scale, real-time 'Oyster' card database of individual person movements in the London subway to reveal the structure and organization of the city. We show that patterns of intraurban movement are strongly heterogeneous in terms of volume, but not in terms of distance travelled, and that there is a polycentric structure composed of large flows organized around a limited number of activity centers. For smaller flows, the pattern of connections becomes richer and more complex and is not strictly hierarchical since it mixes different levels consisting of different orders of magnitude. This new understanding can shed light on the impact of new urban projects on the evolution of the polycentric configuration of a city and the dense structure of its centers and it provides an initial approach to modeling flows in an urban system.

  6. A Backward-Lagrangian-Stochastic Footprint Model for the Urban Environment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Chenghao; Wang, Zhi-Hua; Yang, Jiachuan; Li, Qi

    2018-02-01

    Built terrains, with their complexity in morphology, high heterogeneity, and anthropogenic impact, impose substantial challenges in Earth-system modelling. In particular, estimation of the source areas and footprints of atmospheric measurements in cities requires realistic representation of the landscape characteristics and flow physics in urban areas, but has hitherto been heavily reliant on large-eddy simulations. In this study, we developed physical parametrization schemes for estimating urban footprints based on the backward-Lagrangian-stochastic algorithm, with the built environment represented by street canyons. The vertical profile of mean streamwise velocity is parametrized for the urban canopy and boundary layer. Flux footprints estimated by the proposed model show reasonable agreement with analytical predictions over flat surfaces without roughness elements, and with experimental observations over sparse plant canopies. Furthermore, comparisons of canyon flow and turbulence profiles and the subsequent footprints were made between the proposed model and large-eddy simulation data. The results suggest that the parametrized canyon wind and turbulence statistics, based on the simple similarity theory used, need to be further improved to yield more realistic urban footprint modelling.

  7. Introducing Urban Cultural Heritage Management into Urban Planning Management

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    2008-01-01

    <正>1. Concept comparison of urban cultural heritage management and urban planning management 1.1 Urban cultural heritage managementUrban cultural heritage management is an important component of cultural heritage management which is a systematic conser-vation to maintain the cultural value of cul-tural heritages so as to meet the enjoyment demand of the current or future generations. At present, the cultural heritage conserva-tion principles have been defined by many worldwide laws or charters, such as the Venice Charter of ICOMOS, the UNESCO World Heritage Convention, etc., and have been brought into legislation or policies in many countries. The fi nal goal of urban cul-tural heritage management is to find a real sustainable approach to manage heritages, which could benefit the heritages them-selves, the heritage managers and the local communities as well. Cultural heritage man-agement includes the management of urban cultural heritages, that of natural heritages in non-urban areas and that of intangible cultural heritages.1.2 Urban planning managementUrban planning management is a type of urban management. From the practical viewpoint, urban management should be an overall management which includes urban planning management, urban infrastructure and public facility management, urban en-vironment and public order management, etc., takes urban infrastructures and public resources as management object, and ischaracterized by the goal of exerting the comprehensive effects of economy, society and environment. While from the techni-cal viewpoint, urban planning management refers to the planning management executed by urban governments based on the relevant laws and regulations, including the manage-ment of urban land-use and that of different types of constructions. It actually means the organizing, guiding, controlling and coordinating process focusing on different construction projects in cities. The urban cultural heritage mentioned here includes all the physical

  8. The Contributions of Urban Landscape to Urban Life

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ahmet Tuğrul Polat

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available The issues of urban and urbanization emerged after the industrial revolution. Thus, cities that have increased rapidly in population have become points of attraction for people. Over the past century, the world population has begun to gather quickly in urban areas. Cities are transforming into unhealthy living environments with distorted ecological balance, lost green areas and aesthetic qualities. The value of accessible green spaces in urban areas is increasing to the unprecedented levels. The green space system seen as a necessity in the cities have provided the emergence of the "urban landscape" phenomenon. The issue of urban landscape is now a very serious concept. The landscape change is moving along with the level of civilization. Primarily, guidance service should be offered for more efficient, comfortable and protective areas. An interdisciplinary approach is needed in the creation of urban spaces. In this study, the term of urban landscape was explained and the researches about the contributions of urban landscape to urban life were examined and suggestions were made about the subject.

  9. Urban soils as hotspots of anthropogenic carbon accumulation: Review of stocks, mechanisms and factors

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vasenev, Viacheslav; Kuzyakov, Yakov

    2017-04-01

    Urban soils and cultural layers accumulate carbon (C) over centuries and consequently large C stocks are sequestered below the cities. These C stocks as well as the full range of processes and mechanisms leading to high C accumulation in urban soils remain unknown. We collected data on organic (SOC), inorganic (SOC) and black (pyrogenic) (BC) C content in urban and natural soils from 100 papers based on Scopus and Web-of-Knowledge databases. The yielded database includes 770 values on SOC, SIC and BC stocks from 118 cities worldwide. The collected data were analyzed considering the effects of climatic conditions and urban-specific factors: city size, age and functional zoning. For the whole range of climatic conditions, the C contents in urban soils were 1.5-3 times higher than in respective natural soils. This higher C content and much deeper C accumulation in urban soils resulted in 3 to 5 times higher C stocks compared to natural soils. Urban SOC stocks were positively correlated with latitude, whereas SIC stocks were less affected by climate. The city size and age were the main factors controlling intra-city variability of C stocks with higher stocks in small cities compared to megapolises and in medieval compared to new cities. The inter-city variability of C stocks was dominated by functional zoning: large SOC and N stocks in residential areas and large SIC and BC stocks in industrial zones and roadsides were similar for all climates and for cities of different size and age. Substantial stocks of SOC, SIC and N were sequestered for long-term in the subsoils and cultural layers of the sealed soils, which underline the importance of these 'hidden' stocks for C assessments. Typical and specific for urban soils is that the anthropogenic factor overshadows the other five factors of soil formation. Substantial C stocks in urban soils and cultural layers result from specific mechanisms of C accumulation in cities: i) large and long-term C inputs from outside the

  10. Tour guides developing urban ecotourism destinations

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Meged, Jane Widtfeldt; Lasa-Gonzalez, Anne Cecilie

    is “controlled by other stakeholder and largely beyond the influence of tour guides” (ibid). In fact Weiler and Black (2015) argue that pathways and extend have never been investigated on how interpretative guiding improves the economic viability and competitiveness of business, and social and cultural benefits...... to local communities and destinations. In this paper, we want to propose a research agenda where guides have a central role in cooperation with public and private key stakeholder in development of a scalable participatory model for sustainable urban ecotourism. Wang & Wang (2013) define urban ecotourism...... as an “activity system to satisfy needs of the locals and visitors for using local natural scenery, culture and folk customs, and also to maintain ecological balance of urban environment and establish environment-friendly concepts” (2013:1). Drawing on Iterative Participatory Design, where “the concept is defined...

  11. 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.

  12. Mega-event strategy as a tool of urban transformation : Sydney's experience

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Chen, Y.; Spaans, M.

    2009-01-01

    Mega-event strategies and their impact on host cities have drawn increasing interest, as organising large-scale urban events has become part of a deliberate urban policy strategy to promote local economic growth and put the host city on the world agenda. Thus far, the research addressing what

  13. Urban farming activity towards sustainable wellbeing of urban dwellers

    Science.gov (United States)

    Othman, N.; Mohamad, M.; Latip, R. A.; Ariffin, M. H.

    2018-02-01

    In Malaysia, urban farming is viewed as a catalyst towards achieving the well-being of urban dwellers and natural environment. Urban farming is a strategy for Malaysia’s food and economic security, and as one of the foci in the agriculture transformation whereby urban dwellers are encouraged to participate in this activity. Previous study proved that urban farming can help to address social problems of food security, urban poverty and high living cost, also provides leisure and recreation among urban dwellers. Thus, this study investigates the best urban farming practices suitable for urban setting, environment and culture of urban dwellers. Data collection was done via questionnaire survey to urban farmers of a selected community garden in Subang Jaya, Selangor. Meanwhile, on-site observations were carried out on gardening activities and the gardens’ physical attributes. The study sample encompasses of 131 urban farmers of 22 community gardens in Subang Jaya. It was found that most of the community gardens practiced crops planting on the ground or soil base planting and dwellers in the lower income group with monthly low household income constitutes the majority (83.2%) of the respondents. Social and health benefits are the highest motivating factors for urban farmers. This study provides unprecedented insights on urban farming practices and motivations in a Malaysian setting.

  14. Does Urbanization Affect Rural Poverty? Evidence from Indian Districts

    OpenAIRE

    Calì, Massimiliano; Menon, Carlo

    2013-01-01

    Although a high rate of urbanization and a high incidence of rural poverty are two distinct features of many developing countries, there is little knowledge of the effects of the former on the latter. Using a large sample of Indian districts from the 1983-1999 period, the authors find that urbanization has a substantial and systematic poverty-reducing effect in the surrounding rural areas....

  15. A direct observation method for auditing large urban centers using stratified sampling, mobile GIS technology and virtual environments.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lafontaine, Sean J V; Sawada, M; Kristjansson, Elizabeth

    2017-02-16

    With the expansion and growth of research on neighbourhood characteristics, there is an increased need for direct observational field audits. Herein, we introduce a novel direct observational audit method and systematic social observation instrument (SSOI) for efficiently assessing neighbourhood aesthetics over large urban areas. Our audit method uses spatial random sampling stratified by residential zoning and incorporates both mobile geographic information systems technology and virtual environments. The reliability of our method was tested in two ways: first, in 15 Ottawa neighbourhoods, we compared results at audited locations over two subsequent years, and second; we audited every residential block (167 blocks) in one neighbourhood and compared the distribution of SSOI aesthetics index scores with results from the randomly audited locations. Finally, we present interrater reliability and consistency results on all observed items. The observed neighbourhood average aesthetics index score estimated from four or five stratified random audit locations is sufficient to characterize the average neighbourhood aesthetics. The SSOI was internally consistent and demonstrated good to excellent interrater reliability. At the neighbourhood level, aesthetics is positively related to SES and physical activity and negatively correlated with BMI. The proposed approach to direct neighbourhood auditing performs sufficiently and has the advantage of financial and temporal efficiency when auditing a large city.

  16. Urban biomass - not an urban legend

    Science.gov (United States)

    Utilizing biomass from urban landscapes could significantly contribute to the nation’s renewable energy needs. There is an estimated 16.4 million hectares of land in urban areas cultivated with turfgrass and associated vegetation. Vegetation in urban areas is intensely managed which lead to regula...

  17. Assessing Urban Forest Structure, Ecosystem Services, and Economic Benefits on Vacant Land

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gunwoo Kim

    2016-07-01

    Full Text Available An urban forest assessment is essential for developing a baseline from which to measure changes and trends. The most precise way to assess urban forests is to measure and record every tree on a site, but although this may work well for relatively small populations (e.g., street trees, small parks, it is prohibitively expensive for large tree populations. Thus, random sampling offers a cost-effective way to assess urban forest structure and the associated ecosystem services for large-scale assessments. The methodology applied to assess ecosystem services in this study can also be used to assess the ecosystem services provided by vacant land in other urban contexts and improve urban forest policies, planning, and the management of vacant land. The study’s findings support the inclusion of trees on vacant land and contribute to a new vision of vacant land as a valuable ecological resource by demonstrating how green infrastructure can be used to enhance ecosystem health and promote a better quality of life for city residents.

  18. Engaging the Community Cultural Wealth of Latino Immigrant Families in a Community-Based Program

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gil, Elizabeth

    2017-01-01

    The purpose of this qualitative case study utilizing ethnographic methods was to understand how family members' participation in Digital Home, a community-based technology program in an urban mid-sized Midwestern city, built on and fostered Latino immigrant families' community cultural wealth (Yosso, 2005) in order to increase their abilities to…

  19. Drivers of sustained hygiene behaviour change: A case study from mid-western Nepal.

    Science.gov (United States)

    McMichael, Celia; Robinson, Priscilla

    2016-08-01

    Behaviour change is central to the prevention of many population health problems, yet it is typically difficult to initiate and sustain. This paper reports on an evaluation of a water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) intervention in mid-western Nepal, with particular focus on the drivers and barriers for handwashing with soap/ash and elimination of open defecation. The research was conducted during October-November 2014, two and half years following the intervention's end-point. Qualitative data were collected from the target community (n = 112) via group discussions, interviews and drawings/stories of 'most significant change'. Households' handwashing/water facilities and toilets were observed. Analysis was informed by a model that highlights environmental, psychosocial and technological factors that shape hygiene behaviours across multiple levels, from the habitual to the structural (Dreibelbis et al. 2013). Findings indicate the intervention has supported development of new norms around hygiene behaviours. Key drivers of sustained hygiene behaviour were habit formation, emotional drivers (e.g. disgust, affiliation), and collective action and civic pride; key constraints included water scarcity and socio-economic disadvantage. Identifying and responding to the drivers and constraints of hygiene behaviour change in specific contexts is critical to sustained behaviour change and population health impact. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  20. ASSESSING URBAN DROUGHTS IN A SMART CITY FRAMEWORK

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    R. Obringer

    2016-06-01

    Full Text Available This study aims to integrate environmental data for drought monitoring to reduce uncertainty in urban drought characterization as part of the smart city framework. Currently, drought monitoring in urban areas is a challenge. This is due, in part, to a lack of knowledge on the subject of urban droughts and urban drought vulnerability. A critical part to assessing urban drought and implementing the necessary policies is determining drought conditions. Often the timing and severity of the drought can leave cities to enforce water restrictions, so accuracy of this determination has socioeconomic implications. To determine drought conditions, we need to know the water balance over the urban landscape, of which evapotranspiration (ET is a key variable. However, ET data and models have high uncertainty when compared to other hydrological variables (i.e., precipitation. This is largely due to ill-defined empirical models for characterizing the urban surface resistance parameter (rs that is used in ET calculations. We propose a method to estimate rs values using a combination of the Surface Temperature Initiated Closure (STIC method that calculates regional evapotranspiration data and an inverted version of the Penman-Monteith equation. We use this approach across the region surrounding Indianapolis, IN (USA from 2010-2014. We discuss the potential for this method to be integrated in to smart city framework to improve urban drought assessment.

  1. Exploring Predictors of Information Use to Self-Manage Blood Pressure in Midwestern African American Women with Hypertension.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jones, Lenette M; Veinot, Tiffany; Pressler, Susan J; Coleman-Burns, Patricia; McCall, Alecia

    2018-06-01

    Self-management of hypertension requires patients to find, understand, and use information to lower their blood pressure. Little is known about information use among African American women with hypertension, therefore the purpose of this study was to examine predictors of self-reported information use to self-manage blood pressure. Ninety-four Midwestern African American women (mean age = 59) completed questionnaires about information behaviors (seeking, sharing, use) and personal beliefs (attitude, social norms) related to self-management of blood pressure. Linear regression was used to identify significant predictors of information use. The total variance explained by the model was 36%, F(7, 79) = 6.29, p < .001. Information sharing was the only significant predictor (beta = .46, p < .001). These results provide evidence that information sharing is a potential health behavior to support intervention strategies for African American women with hypertension.

  2. Cities as Novel Biomes;Recognizing Urban Ecosystem Services as Anthropogenic

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Stephanie ePincetl

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available Urban Ecosystem Science is now an established science, arising along side the historic shift of humans to becoming in majority urban dwellers. In this Perspective I suggest there is a need to develop a new framework for UES as embedded in distinct urban biomes that can be classified by city-type and typologized. UES are largely the artifact of human decision making from what to plant where, to determining the urban infrastructure type in which UES will be placed. Developing urban typologies by climate zone, level of development, size and history will better enable the understanding of UES. I attempt to show the rise of the importance of nature, and of urban nature following the development of industrial city, and the importance of human intent in creating these urban ecosystems over time. If humans choose to manage cities through increasing UES, this will require coupled shifts, the shift in rules and regulations, goals and processes and shifts in urban form, infrastructure and function – socio-technical-ecological changes – driven by human decision-making. Such efforts will vary widely by city -- by urban biome.

  3. Air pollution removal by urban trees and shrubs in the United States

    Science.gov (United States)

    David J. Nowak; Daniel E. Crane; Jack C. Stevens

    2006-01-01

    A modeling study using hourly meteorological and pollution concentration data from across the coterminous United States demonstrates that urban trees remove large amounts of air pollution that consequently improve urban air quality. Pollution removal (03, PM10, NO2, SO2, CO)...

  4. Futures of global urban expansion: uncertainties and implications for biodiversity conservation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Güneralp, B.; Seto, K. C.

    2013-03-01

    Urbanization will place significant pressures on biodiversity across the world. However, there are large uncertainties in the amount and location of future urbanization, particularly urban land expansion. Here, we present a global analysis of urban extent circa 2000 and probabilistic forecasts of urban expansion for 2030 near protected areas and in biodiversity hotspots. We estimate that the amount of urban land within 50 km of all protected area boundaries will increase from 450 000 km2 circa 2000 to 1440 000 ± 65 000 km2 in 2030. Our analysis shows that protected areas around the world will experience significant increases in urban land within 50 km of their boundaries. China will experience the largest increase in urban land near protected areas with 304 000 ± 33 000 km2 of new urban land to be developed within 50 km of protected area boundaries. The largest urban expansion in biodiversity hotspots, over 100 000 ± 25 000 km2, is forecasted to occur in South America. Uncertainties in the forecasts of the amount and location of urban land expansion reflect uncertainties in their underlying drivers including urban population and economic growth. The forecasts point to the need to reconcile urban development and biodiversity conservation strategies.

  5. Futures of global urban expansion: uncertainties and implications for biodiversity conservation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Güneralp, B; Seto, K C

    2013-01-01

    Urbanization will place significant pressures on biodiversity across the world. However, there are large uncertainties in the amount and location of future urbanization, particularly urban land expansion. Here, we present a global analysis of urban extent circa 2000 and probabilistic forecasts of urban expansion for 2030 near protected areas and in biodiversity hotspots. We estimate that the amount of urban land within 50 km of all protected area boundaries will increase from 450 000 km 2 circa 2000 to 1440 000 ± 65 000 km 2 in 2030. Our analysis shows that protected areas around the world will experience significant increases in urban land within 50 km of their boundaries. China will experience the largest increase in urban land near protected areas with 304 000 ± 33 000 km 2 of new urban land to be developed within 50 km of protected area boundaries. The largest urban expansion in biodiversity hotspots, over 100 000 ± 25 000 km 2 , is forecasted to occur in South America. Uncertainties in the forecasts of the amount and location of urban land expansion reflect uncertainties in their underlying drivers including urban population and economic growth. The forecasts point to the need to reconcile urban development and biodiversity conservation strategies. (letter)

  6. Analysis of Global Urban Temperature Trends and Urbanization Impacts

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee, K. I.; Ryu, J.; Jeon, S. W.

    2018-04-01

    Due to urbanization, urban areas are shrinking green spaces and increasing concrete, asphalt pavement. So urban climates are different from non-urban areas. In addition, long-term macroscopic studies of urban climate change are becoming more important as global urbanization affects global warming. To do this, it is necessary to analyze the effect of urbanization on the temporal change in urban temperature with the same temperature data and standards for urban areas around the world. In this study, time series analysis was performed with the maximum, minimum, mean and standard values of surface temperature during the from 1980 to 2010 and analyzed the effect of urbanization through linear regression analysis with variables (population, night light, NDVI, urban area). As a result, the minimum value of the surface temperature of the urban area reflects an increase by a rate of 0.28K decade-1 over the past 31 years, the maximum value reflects an increase by a rate of 0.372K decade-1, the mean value reflects an increase by a rate of 0.208 decade-1, and the standard deviation reflects a decrease by rate of 0.023K decade-1. And the change of surface temperature in urban areas is affected by urbanization related to land cover such as decrease of greenery and increase of pavement area, but socioeconomic variables are less influential than NDVI in this study. This study are expected to provide an approach to future research and policy-planning for urban temperature change and urbanization impacts.

  7. Scenarios for a urban energy transition. Actors, regulations, technologies

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Debizet, Gilles; Blanco, Sylvie; Buclet, Nicolas; Forest, Fabrice; Gauthier, Caroline; La Branche, Stephane; Menanteau, Philippe; Schneuwly, Patrice; Tabourdeau, Antoine

    2016-01-01

    Cities concentrate populations, consumptions, levers of actions, and are places of various experiments for energy transition. This book aims at giving an overview of possible scenarios of development of renewable energies in urban context. It is based on interviews of actors of the energy, building and urban planning sectors by researchers in town planning, management, technology, political and economic sciences. The authors examine what would occur if large companies would manage entire quarters, if local authorities would supervise production and supply, if the State would take control of all fields of action again, or if consumer cooperatives would exchange energy and pool productions. In its different chapters, the book presents four scenarios of energy coordination in urban context by 2040, discuss energy transition in urban spaces, discuss the perspectives of evolution towards more autonomous cities and quarters from an energetic point of view, and discuss business models and urban energetic innovations

  8. Beyond urban penalty and urban sprawl: back to living conditions as the focus of urban health.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Freudenberg, Nicholas; Galea, Sandro; Vlahov, David

    2005-02-01

    Researchers have long studied urban health, both to describe the consequences of urban living and to design interventions to promote the health of people living in cities. Two approaches to understanding the impact of cities on health have been dominant, namely, urban health penalty and urban sprawl. The urban penalty approach posits that cities concentrate poor people and expose them to unhealthy physical and social environments. Urban sprawl focuses on the adverse health and environmental effects of urban growth into outlying areas. We propose a model that integrates these approaches and emphasizes urban living conditions as the primary determinant of health. The aim of the model is to move beyond describing the health-related characteristics of various urban populations towards identifying opportunities for intervention. Such a shift in framework enables meaningful comparisons that can inform public health activities at the appropriate level and evaluate their effectiveness in improving the health of urban populations. The model is illustrated with two examples from current urban public health practice.

  9. 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.

  10. Urban Sprawl Analysis and Modeling in Asmara, Eritrea

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mussie G. Tewolde

    2011-09-01

    Full Text Available The extension of urban perimeter markedly cuts available productive land. Hence, studies in urban sprawl analysis and modeling play an important role to ensure sustainable urban development. The urbanization pattern of the Greater Asmara Area (GAA, the capital of Eritrea, was studied. Satellite images and geospatial tools were employed to analyze the spatiotemporal urban landuse changes. Object-Based Image Analysis (OBIA, Landuse Cover Change (LUCC analysis and urban sprawl analysis using Shannon Entropy were carried out. The Land Change Modeler (LCM was used to develop a model of urban growth. The Multi-layer Perceptron Neural Network was employed to model the transition potential maps with an accuracy of 85.9% and these were used as an input for the ‘actual’ urban modeling with Markov chains. Model validation was assessed and a scenario of urban land use change of the GAA up to year 2020 was presented. The result of the study indicated that the built-up area has tripled in size (increased by 4,441 ha between 1989 and 2009. Specially, after year 2000 urban sprawl in GAA caused large scale encroachment on high potential agricultural lands and plantation cover. The scenario for year 2020 shows an increase of the built-up areas by 1,484 ha (25% which may cause further loss. The study indicated that the land allocation system in the GAA overrode the landuse plan, which caused the loss of agricultural land and plantation cover. The recommended policy options might support decision makers to resolve further loss of agricultural land and plantation cover and to achieve sustainable urban development planning in the GAA.

  11. Measuring Thermal Characteristics of Urban Landscapes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Luvall, Jeffrey C.; Quattrochi, Dale A.; Rickman, Doug L.

    1999-01-01

    The additional heating of the air over the city is the result of the replacement of naturally vegetated surfaces with those composed of asphalt, concrete, rooftops and other man-made materials. The temperatures of these artificial surfaces can be 20 to 40 C higher than vegetated surfaces. Materials such as asphalt store much of the sun's energy and remains hot long after sunset. This produces a dome of elevated air temperatures 5 to 8 C greater over the city, compared to the air temperatures over adjacent rural areas. This effect is called the "urban heat island". Urban landscapes are a complex mixture of vegetated and nonvegetated surfaces. It is difficult to take enough temperature measurements over a large city area to characterize the complexity of urban radiant surface temperature variability. However, the use of remotely sensed thermal data from airborne scanners are ideal for the task. In a study funded by NASA, a series of flights over Huntsville, Alabama were performed in September 1994 and over Atlanta, Georgia in May 1997. Analysis of thermal energy responses for specific or discrete surfaces typical of the urban landscape (e.g., asphalt, building rooftops, vegetation) requires measurements at a very fine spatial scale (i.e., energy regimes. Additionally, very fine scale spatial resolution thermal infrared data, such as that obtained from aircraft, are very useful for demonstrating to planning officials, policy makers, and the general populace, what the benefits are of the urban forest in both mitigating the urban heat island effect, in making cities more aesthetically pleasing and more habitable environments, and in overall cooling of the community. In this presentation we will examine the techniques of analyzing remotely sensed data for measuring the effect of various urban surfaces on their contribution to the urban heat island effect.

  12. The Effectiveness of Planning Control on Urban Growth: Evidence from Hangzhou, China

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yizhou Wu

    2017-05-01

    Full Text Available Urban sprawl presents a serious challenge for sustainable urban land use. Urban planning attempts to guarantee sustainable urban development and proper use of land resources. However, a large gap usually exists between planning and actual development. This paper aims to analyze the evolutionary characteristics of urban form and the spatiotemporal dynamics of urban planning from 1964 to 2013, using the case of Hangzhou, China. We proposed a framework that included remote sensing, landscape metrics, and control effectiveness indexes. The results indicated that urban planning failed to perform effectively in Hangzhou, reflected by the uncontrolled urban sprawl during all the planning periods. The low effectiveness of planning was resulted from multiple factors, including historical economic events that made expansion unexpected, functional orientation of planning which drove fragmented suburbanization, the ineffective methods for forecasting population and land use, and the influences by the market forces. The findings deepen the understanding of the impacts of urban planning, and provide references for making rational urban management decisions and sustainable urban land management.

  13. 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)

  14. Coastal Urbanization and Land Planning in Southern France

    OpenAIRE

    Robert , Samuel; Prévost , Aurélie; Fox , Dennis; Trémélo , Marie-Laure; Pasqualini , Vanina

    2015-01-01

    International audience; Urban sprawl is one of the main pressures affecting coastal areas in the Mediterranean. To assist spatial planning and coastal management policies, the study of urbanization and the characterization of the evolution of built-up areas along the coast are essential prerequisites. In this perspective, the production of land use data sets at a large-scale is necessary. They allow spatio-temporal analysis and, simultaneously, may be used to assess the efficiency of city pla...

  15. Determination of Urban Thermal Characteristics on an Urban/Rural ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Determination of Urban Thermal Characteristics on an Urban/Rural Land Cover Gradient Using Remotely Sensed Data. ... an urbanization process and the urban heat island (UHI) phenomenon is known to significantly compromise urban environmental quality and has been linked to climate change and associated impacts.

  16. Fiscal Policy in Urban Education. A Volume in Research in Education Fiscal Policy and Practice.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Roellke, Christopher, Ed.; Rice, Jennifer King, Ed.

    This volume focuses on school finance challenges in large urban school districts, fiscal accountability in these schools, and the fiscal dimensions of urban school reform. The 12 papers are (1) "School Finance and Urban Education Reform" (Christopher Roellke and Jennifer King Rice); (2) "Can Whole-School Reform Improve the…

  17. Socio-economic differentials in child stunting are consistently larger in urban than rural areas

    OpenAIRE

    Menon, Purnima; Ruel, Marie T.; Morris, Saul Sutkover

    2000-01-01

    Urban-rural comparisons of childhood undernutrition suggest that urban populations are better-off than rural populations. However, these comparisons could mask the large differentials that exist among socioeconomic groups in urban areas. Data from the Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) for 11 countries from three regions were used to test the hypothesis that intra-urban differentials in child stunting were greater than intra-rural differentials, and that the prevalence of stunting among the...

  18. Reducing urban heat island effects to improve urban comfort and balance energy consumption in Bucharest (Romania)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Constantinescu, Dan; Ochinciuc, Cristina Victoria; Cheval, Sorin; Comşa, Ionuţ; Sîrodoev, Igor; Andone, Radu; Caracaş, Gabriela; Crăciun, Cerasella; Dumitrescu, Alexandru; Georgescu, Mihaela; Ianoş, Ioan; Merciu, Cristina; Moraru, Dan; Opriş, Ana; Paraschiv, Mirela; Raeţchi, Sonia; Saghin, Irina; Schvab, Andrei; Tătui-Văidianu, Nataşa

    2017-04-01

    In the recent decades, extreme temperature events and derived hazards are frequent and trigger noteworthy impacts in Romania, especially over the large urban areas. The cities produce significant disturbances of many elements of the regional climate, and generates adverse effects such as Urban Heat Islands (UHI). This presentation condenses the outputs of an ongoing research project (REDBHI) developed through (2013-2017) focused on developing a methodology for monitoring and forecasting indoor climate and energy challenges related to the intensity of UHI of Bucharest (Romania), based on relevant urban climate zones (UCZs). Multi-criteria correlations between the UHI and architectural, urban and landscape variables were determined, and the vulnerability of buildings expressed in the form of transfer function between indoor micro-climate and outdoor urban environment. The vulnerability of civil buildings was determined in relation with the potential for amplifying the thermal hazards intensity through the anthropogenic influence. The project REDBHI aims at developing innovative and original products, with direct applicability, which can be used in any urban settlement and have market potential with regards to energy design and consulting. The concrete innovative outcomes consist of a) localization of the Bucharest UCZs according to the UHI intensity, identifying reference buildings and sub-zones according to urban anthropic factors and landscape pattern; b) typology of representative buildings with regards to energy consumption and CO2 emitted as a result of building exploitation; c) 3D modelling of the reference buildings and of the thermal/energy reaction to severe climatic conditions d) empirical validation of the dynamic thermal/energy analysis; d) development of an pilot virtual studio capable to simulate climate alerts, analyse scenarios and suggest measures to mitigate the UHI effects, and disseminate the outcomes for educational purposes; e) compendium of

  19. "All White Americans in the County" and Other Loaded Subjects: Race, Community, and Morality in a Second Grade Classroom

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schaenen, Inda L.

    2010-01-01

    This teacher research inquiry is a critical discourse analysis of second grade classroom talk about racial identity and dialect difference within the theoretical framework of moral philosophy. Participants in the study, which took place in an urban public district in a Midwestern United States city, included ten African American students and a…

  20. Structure and Flow: Toward an Organic Approach to Critical Multiliteracies in a Writing Workshop

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schaenen, Inda

    2010-01-01

    This qualitative case study reports on a three-year writing enrichment program among second, third, and fourth graders at a public urban elementary school in a medium-sized midwestern city. Designed as teacher research, the inquiry is a phenomenological examination of the experience of the workshop for its participants, including more than one…

  1. Testing the Limits: The Purposes and Effects of Additional, External Elementary Mathematics Assessment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lombardi, Karen Ann

    2011-01-01

    This mixed-methods case study focuses on the third through fifth grade classrooms at a public elementary school in a Midwestern urban school district where the Northwest Evaluation Association's (NWEA) Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) assessment is being implemented. According to the school district, the goals of these tests are: to show…

  2. Urbanization and Condition of Urban Slums in India

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Digambar Abaji Chimankar

    2016-08-01

    Full Text Available The present paper attempted to study the urbanization in India and condition of urban slums in terms of water, sanitation, electricity, garbage collection and health care, and education which are supposed to be basic minimum needs for the slum dwellers. India is going through the process of rapid urbanization because of industrialization like other third world countries.  The percent of urbanization increase from 27.8 percent in 2001 to 31.1 percent in 2011 census. The increase in the percentage of population in urban areas is because of natural growth, rural to urban migration and the reclassification of village and towns. The share of the slum population in the total urban population of the country was 18.3 percent in 2001 while in 2011 it was 17.4 percent. The condition of urban slums in India is to be improved so as to make them better for living.

  3. Internal and International Migration Across the Urban Hierarchy in Albania.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lerch, Mathias

    2016-01-01

    The interactions between the processes of urbanization and international migration in less developed and transition countries have important repercussions for socioeconomic development, but are not well understood. Based on the retrospective data from the Albanian Living Standards Measurement Survey 2008, we first assess the geography of migration in terms of the rural-urban continuum, the urban hierarchy and the outside world since 1990. We then investigate the spatio-temporal diffusion of rural-to-urban and international movements using survival models. Results reveal an immediate onset of large-scale rural exodus, despite the post-communist crisis. Internal migrants mainly moved to the capital, bypassing secondary cities, and were predominantly female. Initially, international migrants were primarily men who tended to originate from the main urban agglomerations. The diffusion of opportunities to emigrate down the urban hierarchy and across the sexes then redirected the rural exodus abroad, despite domestic economic development. This evolution in population mobility is related to the gendered patterns and interlinkages of the two flows, as well as to rising inequalities within the urban hierarchy.

  4. Alleviating Urban Energy Poverty in Latin America

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NONE

    2006-02-15

    This regional study is comprised of three case studies, which concentrate on Greater Buenos Aires, Caracas and Rio de Janeiro - Caju. Each case focuses on the analysis of specific aspects of urban poverty, energy availability and policies to improve living conditions from the energy point of view. Unlike other developing regions in the world, the problem of energy poverty in Latin America has been concentrated increasingly in the large cities and urban areas. This problem has deep systemic, economic, political, structural and cultural roots. Providing basic energy services to the urban poor is an issue that requires far more attention and expertise than it is receiving today, and therefore WEC has taken the initiative to address this issue, and the results of their study are presented in this report.

  5. Food systems: New-Ruralism versus New-Urbanism.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Azadi, Hossein; Van Acker, Veronique; Zarafshani, Kiumars; Witlox, Frank

    2012-08-30

    There is a growing debate on whether agricultural land in urban fringes should be maintained or converted to other uses. While 'pro-ruralists' believe agricultural land conversion can threaten food security and cause rural-urban migration, 'pro-urbanists' find it a necessary change for transition from a primitive agricultural-based community to an advanced industrial-based society which has the capacity to create mass productions. New-Ruralists follow an agricultural-based development approach that promotes small-medium farming and acknowledges rural lifestyle while New-Urbanists give a priority to large industrial-based sectors and encourage urban lifestyle. Given the unlike concerns of different societies, the paper concludes that the approaches might have different priorities in the less developed, developing, and developed world. Copyright © 2012 Society of Chemical Industry.

  6. Modeling the Hydrologic Effects of Large-Scale Green Infrastructure Projects with GIS

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bado, R. A.; Fekete, B. M.; Khanbilvardi, R.

    2015-12-01

    Impervious surfaces in urban areas generate excess runoff, which in turn causes flooding, combined sewer overflows, and degradation of adjacent surface waters. Municipal environmental protection agencies have shown a growing interest in mitigating these effects with 'green' infrastructure practices that partially restore the perviousness and water holding capacity of urban centers. Assessment of the performance of current and future green infrastructure projects is hindered by the lack of adequate hydrological modeling tools; conventional techniques fail to account for the complex flow pathways of urban environments, and detailed analyses are difficult to prepare for the very large domains in which green infrastructure projects are implemented. Currently, no standard toolset exists that can rapidly and conveniently predict runoff, consequent inundations, and sewer overflows at a city-wide scale. We demonstrate how streamlined modeling techniques can be used with open-source GIS software to efficiently model runoff in large urban catchments. Hydraulic parameters and flow paths through city blocks, roadways, and sewer drains are automatically generated from GIS layers, and ultimately urban flow simulations can be executed for a variety of rainfall conditions. With this methodology, users can understand the implications of large-scale land use changes and green/gray storm water retention systems on hydraulic loading, peak flow rates, and runoff volumes.

  7. Global Trends and Current Status of Commercial Urban Rooftop Farming

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Devi Buehler

    2016-10-01

    Full Text Available The aim of this study was to analyze current practices in commercial urban rooftop farming (URF. In recent years, URF has been experiencing increasing popularity. It is a practice that is well-suited to enhancing food security in cities and reducing the environmental impact that results from long transportation distances that are common in conventional agriculture. To date, most URF initiatives have been motivated by social and educational factors rather than the aim of creating large sustainable food production systems in cities. The commercial operation of urban rooftop farms, should they become profitable, is likely to attract notable private investment, allowing a significant level of high quality urban food production to be achieved. There is a reasonable amount of literature available on urban farming that deals with its potential, and its limitations. However, it does not focus on commercial operations. In contrast to other surveys and theoretical papers, this study of URF focuses on large and commercial operations. The analysis showed that commercial URFs can be grouped into two main types: Firstly, hydroponic systems in greenhouses where mostly leafy greens, tomatoes, and herbs are grown; secondly, soil-based open-air farms that grow a large variety of vegetables. Hydroponics is frequently seen as the key technology for commercial urban food production. While the technology is not in and of itself sustainable, hydroponic farms often make an effort to implement environmentally friendly technologies and methods. However, there is still untapped potential to systemically integrate farms into buildings. The findings of this study identified where future research is needed in order to make URF a widespread sustainable solution.

  8. Novel and lost forests in the Upper Midwestern United States, from new estimates of settlement-era composition, stem density, and biomass

    Science.gov (United States)

    Goring, Simon; Mladenoff, David J.; Cogbill, Charles; Record, Sydne; Paciorek, Christopher J.; Dietze, Michael C.; Dawson, Andria; Matthes, Jaclyn; McLachlan, Jason S.; Williams, John W.

    2016-01-01

    EuroAmerican land-use and its legacies have transformed forest structure and composition across the United States (US). More accurate reconstructions of historical states are critical to understanding the processes governing past, current, and future forest dynamics. Here we present new gridded (8x8km) reconstructions of pre-settlement (1800s) forest composition and structure from the upper Midwestern US (Minnesota, Wisconsin, and most of Michigan), using 19th Century Public Land Survey System (PLSS), with estimates of relative composition, above-ground biomass, stem density, and basal area for 28 tree types. This mapping is more robust than past efforts, using spatially varying correction factors to accommodate sampling design, azimuthal censoring, and biases in tree selection.

  9. Anatomo-pathological aspects of parasitism by nematodes of the superfamily Metastrongyloidea in wild crab-eating fox (Cerdocyon thous in Midwestern Brazil

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jair Alves Ferreira Júnior

    Full Text Available ABSTRACT: Nematodes of the superfamily Metastrongyloidea affect the respiratory, cardiovascular, and nervous systems of domestic carnivores and are uncommonly detected in wild animals. This report describes the lesions associated with pulmonary parasitism by nematodes of the superfamily Metastrongyloidea in a wild crab-eating fox ( Cerdocyon thous in the Federal District, Brazil. Grossly, there was pulmonary hyperemia, edema, and emphysema. Microscopically, there was granulomatous arteritis associated with intravascular metastrongylid. The anatomical location, characteristic lesion, and histological features of the parasite suggested that the nematode involved in this case is Angiostrongylus vasorum . This worm is frequently reported parasitizing pulmonary arteries of domestic canids but is uncommonly described in wild canids in Midwestern Brazil.

  10. Counter-intuitive influence of Himalayan river morphodynamics on Indus Civilisation urban settlements

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Singh, Ajit; Thomsen, Kristina Jørkov; Sinha, Rajiv

    2017-01-01

    Urbanism in the Bronze-age Indus Civilisation (similar to 4.6-3.9 thousand years before the present, ka) has been linked to water resources provided by large Himalayan river systems, although the largest concentrations of urban-scale Indus settlements are located far from extant Himalayan rivers....

  11. Path Dependence in Financing Urban Infrastructure Development in China: 1949–2016

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Zhan, C.; de Jong, W.M.; de Bruijn, J.A.

    2017-01-01

    In the past few decades, urban infrastructures in China have seen an enormous upgrade, and due to large-scale urbanization many more investments are due in the coming years. In order to supplement public funding, Public Private Partnerships (PPP) and municipal bonds have recently grown popular in

  12. Anthropogenic Carbon Pump in an Urbanized Estuary

    Science.gov (United States)

    Park, J. H.; Yoon, T. K.; Jin, H.; Begum, M. S.

    2015-12-01

    The importance of estuaries as a carbon source has been increasingly recognized over the recent decades. However, constraining sources of CO2 evasion from urbanized estuaries remains incomplete, particularly in densely populated river systems receiving high loads of organic carbon from anthropogenic sources. To account for major factors regulating carbon fluxes the tidal reach of the Han River estuary along the metropolitan Seoul, characterization of organic carbon in the main stem and major urban tributaries were combined with continuous, submersible sensor measurements of pCO2 at a mid-channel location over a year and continuous underway measurements using a submersible sensor and two equilibrator sytems across the estuarine section receiving urban streams. Single-site continuous measurements exhibited large seasonal and diurnal variations in pCO2, ranging from sub-ambient air levels to exceptionally high values approaching 10,000 ppm. Diurnal variations of pCO2 were pronounced in summer and had an inverse relationship with dissolved oxygen, pointing to a potential role of day-time algal consumption of CO2. Cruise measurements displayed sharp pCO2 pulses along the confluences of urban streams as compared with relatively low values along the upper estuary receiving low-CO2 outflows from upstream dams. Large downstream increases in pCO2, concurrent with increases in DOC concentrations and fluorescence intensities indicative of microbially processed organic components, imply a translocation and subsequent dilution of CO2 carried by urban streams and/or fast transformations of labile C during transit along downstream reaches. The unique combination of spatial and temporal continuous measurements of pCO2 provide insights on estuarine CO2 pulses that might have resulted from the interplay between high loads of CO2 and organic C of anthropogenic origin and their priming effects on estuarine microbial processing of terrigenous and algal organic matter.

  13. Research on the Design of Visually Impaired Interactive Accessibility in Large Urban Public Transport System

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Weiru

    2017-12-01

    In medieval times, due to people’s reliance on belief, public space of Christianity came into being. With the rise of secularization, religion gradually turned into private belief, and accordingly public space returned to private space. In the 21st century, due to people’s reliance on intelligent devices, information-interactive public space emerges, and as information interaction is constantly constraining the visually impaired, public space regressed to the exclusive space of limited people[1]. Modernity is marked by technical rationality, but an ensuing basic problem lies in the separation between human action, ethics and public space. When technology fails to overcome obstacles for a particular group, the gap between the burgeoning intelligent phenomena and the increasing ratio of visually impaired is also expanding, ultimately resulting in a growing number of “blind spots” in information-interactive space. Technological innovation not only promotes the development of the information industry, but also promotes the rapid development of the transportation industry. Traffic patterns are diversifying and diverging nowadays, but it’s a fatal blow for people with visually disabilities, Because they still can only experience the most traditional mode of transportation, sometimes even not go out. How to guarantee their interactive accessibility in large urban public transport system right, currently, is a very important research direction.

  14. The comparative evidence for urban species sorting by anthropogenic noise.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cardoso, Gonçalo C; Hu, Yang; Francis, Clinton D

    2018-02-01

    Anthropogenic noise is more intense at lower sound frequencies, which could decrease urban tolerance of animals with low-frequency vocalizations. Four large comparative studies tested whether anthropogenic noise filters bird species according to the sound frequencies they use and produced discrepant results. We reanalysed data from these studies to explain their different results. Urban tolerance of bird species (defined here as often occurring and breeding in cities) is very weakly related to urban preference or relative abundance (defined based on changes in population density from urban to nearby rural environments). Data on urban preference/abundance are potentially accurate for individual cities but differ among cities for the same species, whereas existing data on urban tolerance are coarser but provide a more global synthesis. Cross-species comparisons find a positive association between the sound frequency of song and urban tolerance, but not urban preference/abundance. We found that showing an association between song frequency and urban tolerance requires controlling for additional species traits that influence urban living. On the contrary, controlling for other species traits is not required to show a positive association between song frequency and use of noisy relative to quiet areas within the same type of environment. Together, comparative evidence indicates that masking by urban noise is part of a larger set of factors influencing urban living: all else being equal, species with high-frequency sounds are more likely to tolerate cities than species with low-frequency sounds, but they are not more likely to prefer, or to be more abundant in, urban than non-urban habitats.

  15. Urbanization and traffic related exposures as risk factors for Schizophrenia

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Pedersen, Carsten Bøcker; Mortensen, Preben Bo

    2006-01-01

    to nearest major road had no significant effect. CONCLUSIONS: The cause(s) or exposure(s) responsible for the urban-rural differences in schizophrenia risk were closer related to the degree of urbanization than to the geographical distance to nearest major road. Traffic related exposures might thus be less......BACKGROUND: Urban birth or upbringing increase schizophrenia risk. Though unknown, the causes of these urban-rural differences have been hypothesized to include, e.g., infections, diet, toxic exposures, social class, or an artefact due to selective migration. METHODS: We investigated the hypothesis...... that traffic related exposures affect schizophrenia risk and that this potential effect is responsible for the urban-rural differences. The geographical distance from place of residence to nearest major road was used as a proxy variable for traffic related exposures. We used a large population-based sample...

  16. Urban blight and urban redesign

    OpenAIRE

    Zsilincsar, Walter

    2018-01-01

    The phenomenon of urban blight dates back to the 19th century when industrialisation starting in Europe and North America initiated an uncontrolled urban growth in combination with strong demand in cheap an quickly constructed housing. Ghettoisation of mainly the working-class population and other “marginal groups” were the consequence together with a constant decay of single buildings, whole blocks and quarters. These general aspects of urban blight with its additional facettes or aspects re...

  17. Creating and validating GIS measures of urban design for health research.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Purciel, Marnie; Neckerman, Kathryn M; Lovasi, Gina S; Quinn, James W; Weiss, Christopher; Bader, Michael D M; Ewing, Reid; Rundle, Andrew

    2009-12-01

    Studies relating urban design to health have been impeded by the unfeasibility of conducting field observations across large areas and the lack of validated objective measures of urban design. This study describes measures for five dimensions of urban design - imageability, enclosure, human scale, transparency, and complexity - created using public geographic information systems (GIS) data from the US Census and city and state government. GIS measures were validated for a sample of 588 New York City block faces using a well-documented field observation protocol. Correlations between GIS and observed measures ranged from 0.28 to 0.89. Results show valid urban design measures can be constructed from digital sources.

  18. Large eddy simulation of reactive pollutants in a deep urban street canyon: Coupling dynamics with O3-NOx-VOC chemistry.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhong, Jian; Cai, Xiao-Ming; Bloss, William James

    2017-05-01

    A large eddy simulation (LES) model coupled with O 3 -NO x -VOC chemistry is implemented to simulate the coupled effects of emissions, mixing and chemical pre-processing within an idealised deep (aspect ratio = 2) urban street canyon under a weak wind condition. Reactive pollutants exhibit significant spatial variations in the presence of two vertically aligned unsteady vortices formed in the canyon. Comparison of the LES results from two chemical schemes (simple NO x -O 3 chemistry and a more comprehensive Reduced Chemical Scheme (RCS) chemical mechanism) shows that the concentrations of NO 2 and O x inside the street canyon are enhanced by approximately 30-40% via OH/HO 2 chemistry. NO, NO x , O 3 , OH and HO 2 are chemically consumed, while NO 2 and O x (total oxidant) are chemically produced within the canyon environment. Within-canyon pre-processing increases oxidant fluxes from the canyon to the overlying boundary layer, and this effect is greater for deeper street canyons (as found in many traditional European urban centres) than shallower (lower aspect ratio) streets. There is clear evidence of distinct behaviours for emitted chemical species and entrained chemical species, and positive (or negative) values of intensities of segregations are found between pairs of species with similar (or opposite) behaviour. The simplified two-box model underestimated NO and O 3 levels, but overestimated NO 2 levels for both the lower and upper canyon compared with the more realistic LES-chemistry model. This suggests that the segregation effect due to incomplete mixing reduces the chemical conversion rate of NO to NO 2 . This study reveals the impacts of nonlinear O 3 -NO x -VOC photochemical processes in the incomplete mixing environment and provides a better understanding of the pre-processing of emissions within canyons, prior to their release to the urban boundary layer, through the coupling of street canyon dynamics and chemistry. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd

  19. A plea for putting the issue of Urbanizing Deltas on the New Urban Agenda, UN Habitat III

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Meijer, V.J.; Peters, R; Kuzniecow Bacchin, T.; Hooimeijer, F.L.; Nijhuis, S.

    2016-01-01

    Urbanizing deltas belong to the most promising regions of the world, considering their large concentrations of population, their role in the world’s ecosystems and their significance to the world’s economy. At the same time, these regions are dealing with extreme vulnerability and face multiple

  20. Urban Stage 2014: Navigating Relationships during a Collaboration between Local Businesses, Nonprofits, a Large University, and a Mid-Sized City

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    David A. Driskill

    2015-04-01

    Full Text Available The Urban Stage was constructed as a temporary urbanism project to demonstrate environmental, cultural, economic and social sustainability in an urban environment. One block of Avenue J in downtown Lubbock, Texas was constructed and activated between October 30 and November 7, 2014. This paper will focus on the collaboration and decision making processes between the City of Lubbock, Texas Tech University, and community organizations that enabled this project to take place. The collaborative process between these diverse entities was inherently complex by virtue of the existing organizational structures and complicated further by bureaucratic inertia, the bureaucratic avoidance of responsibility. Leadership actions at various levels of organizational structure were required in order to overcome this bureaucratic inertia and install the Urban Stage.

  1. Urban flood risk warning under rapid urbanization.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Yangbo; Zhou, Haolan; Zhang, Hui; Du, Guoming; Zhou, Jinhui

    2015-05-01

    In the past decades, China has observed rapid urbanization, the nation's urban population reached 50% in 2000, and is still in steady increase. Rapid urbanization in China has an adverse impact on urban hydrological processes, particularly in increasing the urban flood risks and causing serious urban flooding losses. Urban flooding also increases health risks such as causing epidemic disease break out, polluting drinking water and damaging the living environment. In the highly urbanized area, non-engineering measurement is the main way for managing urban flood risk, such as flood risk warning. There is no mature method and pilot study for urban flood risk warning, the purpose of this study is to propose the urban flood risk warning method for the rapidly urbanized Chinese cities. This paper first presented an urban flood forecasting model, which produces urban flood inundation index for urban flood risk warning. The model has 5 modules. The drainage system and grid dividing module divides the whole city terrain into drainage systems according to its first-order river system, and delineates the drainage system into grids based on the spatial structure with irregular gridding technique; the precipitation assimilation module assimilates precipitation for every grids which is used as the model input, which could either be the radar based precipitation estimation or interpolated one from rain gauges; runoff production module classifies the surface into pervious and impervious surface, and employs different methods to calculate the runoff respectively; surface runoff routing module routes the surface runoff and determines the inundation index. The routing on surface grid is calculated according to the two dimensional shallow water unsteady flow algorithm, the routing on land channel and special channel is calculated according to the one dimensional unsteady flow algorithm. This paper then proposed the urban flood risk warning method that is called DPSIR model based

  2. Urban strategies and post-event legacy : The case of summer Olympic cities

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Chen, Y.

    2012-01-01

    Mega-event strategies and their impact on host cities have drawn increasing interest, as organising large-scale urban events has become part of a deliberate urban policy strategy to promote local economic growth, improve the city image and put the host city on the world agenda. Most cities stressed

  3. "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…

  4. Teachers for Inclusive, Diverse Urban Settings

    Science.gov (United States)

    Reese, Leslie; Richards-Tutor, Cara; Hansuvadha, Nat; Pavri, Shireen; Xu, Shelley

    2018-01-01

    In this article, the authors discuss the creation of an Urban Dual Credential Program (UDCP) at a large, comprehensive state university in California, a program meant to prepare dually-certified teachers in general education (California Multiple Subject Credential) and special education (California Education Specialist Credential in mild/moderate…

  5. Participatory urbanism

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Ejsing-Duun, Stine

    2016-01-01

    cannot directly influence their structures, they can influence their contours through such leisure practices. In this chapter focus will be on how citizens’ engagement in locative leisure activities may allow them to co-create urban space. This participatory urbanism is a form of everyday democracy......Urban areas are planned structures that cannot easily be changed. Urban areas do however still afford physical spaces for various types of leisure expression and participation, from street art to parkour and from urban gaming to artistic happenings. Thus, while citizens who inhabit the urban areas...

  6. Environmental influences on physical activity in rural Midwestern adults: a qualitative approach.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chrisman, Matthew; Nothwehr, Faryle; Yang, Ginger; Oleson, Jacob

    2015-01-01

    Qualitative research can be used to examine multiple factors associated with physical activity and help practitioners identify language used by the rural adult population when discussing this behavior. Three focus groups were conducted among 19 residents of multiple towns in a rural Midwestern county to examine the language and influences on rural physical activity. Focus group members were asked to define physical activity, exercise, community, and neighborhood. They were asked about the activities they engaged in and facilitators and barriers to those activities. A guidebook was developed to capture major themes and common patterns that emerged in the responses to the topics discussed. The data were reviewed for repeated statements and points that were agreed on by multiple participants. Important factors associated with physical activity include the importance of social support and modeling physical activity behavior. Also, the influence of pets and children was important for engaging these adults in physical activity. The focus group members engaged in walking and bicycling in their neighborhood streets and community trails, and desired to see community buildings be open to the public for exercise. This study revealed contextual issues and culturally relevant language for practitioners to use in tailoring physical activity measurement tools or designing interventions for a rural adult population. Social support (specifically, seeing others being active and using pets as motivators for being active) and policy attitudes may be targeted for interventions to increase physical activity in rural adults. © 2014 Society for Public Health Education.

  7. Vulnerability to Urban Heat Island in São Paulo Municipality: An Approach to Support the Mitigation Measures Implementation in Urban Planning

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Juliana Siqueira-Gay

    2017-10-01

    Full Text Available In the practice of urban and environmental planning, especially in the context of adaptation to environmental changes, there is a demand for studies that integrate social, economic and environmental information of the population and related risk. Particularly in large urban centers, waterproofing and verticalization have the potential to increase local air temperature, triggering the phenomenon of heat islands. Therefore, this phenomenon has side effects such as public health problems, pollution and changes in the air circulation. In view of the risks and consequences of the urban heat islands, this paper aims to analyze the priority areas for implementing measures to mitigate the effects of the urban heat islands phenomenon in São Paulo City (Brazil. A vulnerability index was proposed considering the social and environmental dimensions, relating the capacity of adaptation, sensitivity and exposure to the occurrence of the phenomenon of urban heat islands. Besides that, measures to mitigate the effects associated with heat islands in urban planning were identified. The central regions are critical for exposure and the outskirts, for adaptive capacity and sensitivity, both considered priorities for the implementation of mitigation measures. In addition, strategies such as implementation and conservation of green spaces, preservation of water bodies, urban design change, as well as use of materials with high reflectance are also listed and partially foreseen in the Municipal Strategic Master Plan to mitigate the effects of urban heat island.

  8. Air Quality Deterioration of Urban Areas Caused by Wildfires in a Natural Reservoir Forest of Mexico

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Noel Carbajal

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available Many regions of the world suffer loss of vegetation and reduced air quality due to wildfires. Studies on aerosol emissions by wildfires often discuss the negative effects of atmospheric contaminants from a regional or mesoscale perspective. The occurrence of wildfires reveals that a high percentage takes place close to large urban areas. Very high concentration of pollutants and PM10 particulate matter reach urban zones and millions of inhabitants. These events of high pollutant concentrations are seasonally recurrent. There are many large urban areas in the world that often undergo severe air deterioration due to wildfires smoke. We document the extreme impact of wildfire that occurs in the Protected Area of Flora and Fauna La Primavera located in neighborhood of Guadalajara, a large urban zone in Mexico. The simultaneous emissions of aerosols by 60 wildfires were simulated and compared with observed data. The plume generated by the wildfires reached large areas of the central part of Mexico. The principal characteristics of smog emissions (CO, NO2, and PM10 over the urban area were acceptably reproduced. Observed and modeled CO, PM10, and NO2 data indicated that aerosol plumes generated by the wildfires increased notably the concentrations over the metropolitan zone of Guadalajara.

  9. How Integration Matters: An Alternative Vision for Urban Education in an Era of the Market

    Science.gov (United States)

    Johnston, Joseph B.

    2016-01-01

    The widespread assumption in the United States today is that traditional urban public schools are failing. Market-based solutions, particularly charter schools, are seen as the way to improve urban education. How then can we understand a large urban district where educational actors have furthered a locally popular alternative vision? This article…

  10. Suicide risk in relation to level of urbanicity - a population-based linkage study

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Qin, Ping

    2005-01-01

    from various Danish longitudinal registers. Data were analysed with conditional logistic regression. RESULTS: This study confirms that people living in more urbanized areas are at a higher risk of suicide than their counterparts in less urbanized areas. However, this excess risk is largely eliminated...... when adjusted for personal marital, income, and ethnic differences; it is even reversed when further adjusted for psychiatric status. Moreover, the impact of urbanicity on suicide risk differs significantly by sex and across age. Urban living reduces suicide risk significantly among men, especially......BACKGROUND: The extent to which the high suicide rate in urban areas is influenced by exposures to risk factors for suicide other than urbanicity remains unknown. This population-based study aims to investigate suicide risk in relation to the level of urbanicity in the context of other factors...

  11. An Assessment of the Relationship between Urban Air Quality and Environmental Urban Factors in Urban Regeneration Areas

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yakup Egercioglu

    2016-06-01

    Full Text Available Urban air pollution has been increasing due to ever increasing population, rapid urbanization, industrialization, energy usage, traffic density. The purpose of the study is to examine the relation between urban air quality and urban environmental factors in urban regeneration areas. Two common air polluters (SO2 and PM10 are considered in the study. The data are collected for Cigli district, including the level of air pollutants, the local natural gas service lines and planning decisions for the years between 2007 and 2011. According to the examinations, urban environmental factors and planning decisions affect the urban air quality in urban regeneration areas.

  12. What is Urban? A study of census and satellite-derived urban classes in the United States (1990-2010) with comparisons to India and Mexico

    Science.gov (United States)

    Balk, D.; Leyk, S.; Jones, B.; Clark, A.; Montgomery, M.

    2017-12-01

    Geographers and demographers have contributed much to understanding urban population and urban place. Yet, we nevertheless remain ill-prepared to fully understand past urban processes and our urban future, and importantly, connect that knowledge to pressing concerns such as climate and environmental change. This is largely due to well-known data limitations and inherent inconsistencies in the urban definition across countries and over time and spatial scales, and because urban models and definitions arise out of disciplinary silos. This paper provides a new framework for urban inquiry in that it combines urban definitions used by the U.S. Census Bureau from 1990-2010 with newly available satellite-based (mostly Landsat) data on built-up area from the Global Human Settlement Layer (GHSL). We identify areas of agreement and disagreement, as well as the population distribution underlying various GHSL derived built-up land thresholds. Our analysis allows for a systematic means of discerning peri-urban areas from other types of urban development, as well as examines differences in these patterns at the national and Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA)-level. While we find overwhelming areas of agreement - about 70% of the census-designated urban population can be characterized as living on land that is at least 50% built-up - we also learn much of the significant heterogeneity in levels and patterns of growth between different MSAs. We further compare the US results with those for India and Mexico. This research unlocks the potential of such alternative measures for creating globally and temporally consistent proxies of urban land and may guide further research on consistent modeling of spatial demographic urban change, highly urgent for future work to distinguish between fine-scale levels of urban development and to forecast urban expansion.

  13. Urban economies and occupation space: can they get "there" from "here"?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Muneepeerakul, Rachata; Lobo, José; Shutters, Shade T; Goméz-Liévano, Andrés; Qubbaj, Murad R

    2013-01-01

    Much of the socioeconomic life in the United States occurs in its urban areas. While an urban economy is defined to a large extent by its network of occupational specializations, an examination of this important network is absent from the considerable body of work on the determinants of urban economic performance. Here we develop a structure-based analysis addressing how the network of interdependencies among occupational specializations affects the ease with which urban economies can transform themselves. While most occupational specializations exhibit positive relationships between one another, many exhibit negative ones, and the balance between the two partially explains the productivity of an urban economy. The current set of occupational specializations of an urban economy and its location in the occupation space constrain its future development paths. Important tradeoffs exist between different alternatives for altering an occupational specialization pattern, both at a single occupation and an entire occupational portfolio levels.

  14. Developing the desert:the pace and process of urban growth in Dubai

    OpenAIRE

    Nassar, Ahmed K.; Blackburn, George Alan; Whyatt, Duncan

    2014-01-01

    It is generally acknowledged that Dubai is a rapidly developing urban area which has grown to support a large human population within a hyperarid environment. However, no publicly accessible information exists concerning the rate or form of the urbanization process in Dubai. Therefore, this investigation used a time series of remotely sensed data to quantify land cover change in Dubai emirate between 1972 and 2011. A hybrid classification method accurately discriminated urban and other land c...

  15. An evaluation of naturally occurring levels of polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons in a small city and the impact on clean-up criteria and risk assessment - a case study

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Cramer, C.A.; Lund, K.D. [Geraghty & Miller, Inc., Novi, MI (United States)

    1995-12-31

    Geraghty & Miller, Inc. conducted an investigation of potential manufactured gas plant (MGP) impacts at a site in a small city in the midwestern United States. Published literature pertaining to polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) levels in surface soils in urban environments has focused mainly on large historically urban areas. As a result, it has been difficult to correlate PAH levels encountered in surface soils during evaluations of MGP sites to typical urban background levels. An investigation completed by Geraghty & Miller of an MGP site in a city with a population of approximately 40 000 has shown that background levels of PAHs can range from non-detectable levels to as high as 44 milligrams/kilogram (mg/kg). The detailed surface-soil evaluation was necessary because a portion of the former MGP property is currently a residential apartment complex and is used as a playground for an elementary school. The regulatory agency required characterization of surface soils for MGP-indicator parameters such as PAHs, metals, cyanide, and volatile organics such as benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylenes (BTEX). Although the levels of total PAHs ranged as high as 31.5 mg/kg, Geraghty & Miller`s experience with similar sites suggested that the detected levels were likely indicative of urban background conditions. Many of the PAHs in urban soils are from recent activities not old industries. Before soil remediation current pollution sources should be checked.

  16. Temperature response to future urbanization and climate change

    Science.gov (United States)

    Argüeso, Daniel; Evans, Jason P.; Fita, Lluís; Bormann, Kathryn J.

    2014-04-01

    This study examines the impact of future urban expansion on local near-surface temperature for Sydney (Australia) using a future climate scenario (A2). The Weather Research and Forecasting model was used to simulate the present (1990-2009) and future (2040-2059) climates of the region at 2-km spatial resolution. The standard land use of the model was replaced with a more accurate dataset that covers the Sydney area. The future simulation incorporates the projected changes in the urban area of Sydney to account for the expected urban expansion. A comparison between areas with projected land use changes and their surroundings was conducted to evaluate how urbanization and global warming will act together and to ascertain their combined effect on the local climate. The analysis of the temperature changes revealed that future urbanization will strongly affect minimum temperature, whereas little impact was detected for maximum temperature. The minimum temperature changes will be noticeable throughout the year. However, during winter and spring these differences will be particularly large and the increases could be double the increase due to global warming alone at 2050. Results indicated that the changes were mostly due to increased heat capacity of urban structures and reduced evaporation in the city environment.

  17. Analysing urban planning implications from an electric vehicles scenario for urban structure-, transport- and energy-systems

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Rid, Wolfgang [Stuttgart Univ. (Germany). Lehrstuhl Stadtplanung und Entwerfen; Fachhochschule Erfurt (Germany). Fachgebiet Stadt- und Regionaloekonomie; Pesch, Franz; Wewer, Max; Sperle, Tilman [Stuttgart Univ. (Germany). Lehrstuhl Stadtplanung und Entwerfen

    2013-06-01

    Depending on scenarios of actual electric vehicles on the road, ''electric mobility'' will heavily affect urban planning and infrastructure. We analyze these effects by developing an ''urban typology for electro-mobility''. By doing so, we seek to demonstrate that both requirements from electric vehicle scenarios (infrastructure, on-site provision of renewable energy etc.) and potential benefits (noise-reduction, NOx-reduction, modal-split etc.) are dependent on the urban context. The typology was developed according to preliminary studies' results recommending to use the GFZ (Gross Floor Area) and residential density to describe different types of urban structure, but additionally makes use of the proportion of public space and number of resident families (per ha net residential area) to extract five different ''urban types for electro-mobility''. Electro-mobility will have a significant climate effect only if 'green' electric power production is able to provide the additional amount of renewable energy needed. On-site power plants must be further developed to reduce externalities from large scale power plants providing C02-free energy (e.g. externalities from offshore wind energy plants). The potential to produce renewable energy from on-site power plants is dependent on the type of the urban context: Advanced ''plus-energy-concepts'' for example, today, are restricted to building scales of low-density residential zones, whereas in inner city zones, buildings have to provide energy for far more people per floorspace or for cooling purposes, as well. On-site renewable energy plants should be placed in urban settings, where they can work most efficiently and where they can be best integrated into the urban context given, hence, electro-mobility needs to be viewed from an urban perspective. Many other projects, so far, have investigated technical solutions to improve

  18. Urban bioclimatology.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mayer, H

    1993-11-15

    This article deals with the part of urban climatology which is of particular relevance to human beings. Presented first is a summary of all human biometerologically effective complexes, as well as other factors which are relevant to urban planning and which depend on atmospheric conditions in urban structures in a direct or indirect manner. Later, methods for human biometerologically significant assessment of thermal and air pollution components of the urban climate are discussed in detail, because these components can be strongly influenced by urban planning. The application of these methods is illustrated by some results of appropriate investigations in urban areas.

  19. 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

  20. Long-term effects of adolescent marijuana use prevention on adult mental health services utilization: the midwestern prevention project.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Riggs, Nathaniel R; Pentz, Mary Ann

    2009-01-01

    Evaluated were effects of a drug abuse(1) prevention program, previously shown to prevent marijuana use in adolescence, on adulthood mental health service use. Analyses were conducted on 961 6th (41%) and 7th (59%) grade participants randomly assigned to intervention or control groups at baseline in 1984. These participants were followed-up through 2003 representing 15 waves of data collection. Eighty-five percent of participants were Caucasian and 56% were female. The hypothesis was that direct program effects on early adulthood mental health service use would be mediated by program effects on high school marijuana use trajectories. Structural equation models, imputing for missing data, demonstrated that MPP (Midwestern Prevention Project) program effects on mental health were mediated by the marijuana use growth curve intercept. Findings support the role of early adolescent drug use prevention programs in impacting later mental health problems. The study's limitations are noted.

  1. The Effects of the Urban Built Environment on Mental Health: A Cohort Study in a Large Northern Italian City.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Melis, Giulia; Gelormino, Elena; Marra, Giulia; Ferracin, Elisa; Costa, Giuseppe

    2015-11-20

    Mental health (MH) has a relevant burden on the health of populations. Common MH disorders (anxiety and non-psychotic depression) are well associated to socioeconomic individual and neighborhood characteristics, but little is known about the influence of urban structure. We analyzed among a Turin (Northwest Italy) urban population the association at area level of different urban structure characteristics (density, accessibility by public transport, accessibility to services, green and public spaces) and consumption of antidepressants. Estimates were adjusted by individual socio-demographic variables (education, housing tenure, employment) and contextual social environment (SE) variables (social and physical disorder, crime rates). Data was extracted from the Turin Longitudinal Study (TLS)-a census-based cohort study following up prospectively the mortality and morbidity of the population. As expected, individual characteristics show the strongest association with antidepressant drug consumption, while among built environment (BE) indicators accessibility by public transport and urban density only are associated to MH, being slightly protective factors. Results from this study, in agreement with previous literature, suggest that BE has a stronger effect on MH for people who spend more time in the neighborhood. Therefore, this research suggests that good accessibility to public transport, as well as a dense urban structure (versus sprawl), could contribute to reduced risk of depression, especially for women and elderly, by increasing opportunities to move around and have an active social life.

  2. The Effects of the Urban Built Environment on Mental Health: A Cohort Study in a Large Northern Italian City

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Giulia Melis

    2015-11-01

    Full Text Available Mental health (MH has a relevant burden on the health of populations. Common MH disorders (anxiety and non-psychotic depression are well associated to socioeconomic individual and neighborhood characteristics, but little is known about the influence of urban structure. We analyzed among a Turin (Northwest Italy urban population the association at area level of different urban structure characteristics (density, accessibility by public transport, accessibility to services, green and public spaces and consumption of antidepressants. Estimates were adjusted by individual socio-demographic variables (education, housing tenure, employment and contextual social environment (SE variables (social and physical disorder, crime rates. Data was extracted from the Turin Longitudinal Study (TLS—a census-based cohort study following up prospectively the mortality and morbidity of the population. As expected, individual characteristics show the strongest association with antidepressant drug consumption, while among built environment (BE indicators accessibility by public transport and urban density only are associated to MH, being slightly protective factors. Results from this study, in agreement with previous literature, suggest that BE has a stronger effect on MH for people who spend more time in the neighborhood. Therefore, this research suggests that good accessibility to public transport, as well as a dense urban structure (versus sprawl, could contribute to reduced risk of depression, especially for women and elderly, by increasing opportunities to move around and have an active social life.

  3. Reclamation of nuclear contaminated urban areas

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Roed, J.; Andersson, Kasper; Sandalls, J.

    1991-01-01

    From a knowledge of the distribution and levels of gamma-ray emitting radionuclides on urban surfaces, the dose rate at various locations in an urban complex can be calculated. The information produced provides a quantitative guide of where decontamination would be of greatest benefit in terms of dose reduction. The efficiency and cost of practicable reclamation and decontamination procedures has been considered and, combined with dose rate calculations before and after treatment, a strategy for reclamation of various urban contamination scenarios has been developed. The study has shown that decontamination of green areas and streets is relatively highly cost-effective in terms of dose reduction and would rank highly in a list of priorities. Roofs are shown to make a significant contribution to dose rate but decontamination of roofs is difficult and not highly cost-effective. Decontamination of walls would rank lowly in a list of priorities, since they represent large areas carrying very little contamination. (3 refs., 4 tabs.)

  4. The Urban School and the Delinquent.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kvaraceus, William C.

    As both American and European studies suggest, large-city schools are increasingly responsible for the rising rate of delinquency and social maladjustment among youth. Too often urban schools encourage pupils to renounce their individual differences and submit to external controls and group pressures. Many pupils feel frustrated and agressive and…

  5. Urban Land Use Efficiency and Coordination in China

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Xiaodong Yang

    2017-03-01

    Full Text Available Due to the focused pursuit of economic growth in the process of the large-scale urban development of China, the phenomena of low land use efficiency and discordance of land use induce unwanted economic, social, and environmental costs. This paper presents a comprehensive study of urban land use efficiency and of the degree of land use coordination of 33 cities in China, using theoretical analysis, data envelopment analysis, principal component analysis, the coordination coefficient method, and four-quadrant analysis. The findings of this study suggest a gradually increasing proportion of land use efficiency from eastern to central and western regions of China, coinciding with China’s pattern of socioeconomic development. No correlation was found between high levels of urban land use efficiency and the degree of land use coordination; however, a significant correlation was found between low land use efficiency and low degrees of land use coordination. Rational land use planning and policy design can effectively improve both urban land use efficiency and coordination.

  6. Utilising green and bluespace to mitigate urban heat island intensity.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gunawardena, K R; Wells, M J; Kershaw, T

    2017-04-15

    It has long been recognised that cities exhibit their own microclimate and are typically warmer than the surrounding rural areas. This 'mesoscale' influence is known as the urban heat island (UHI) effect and results largely from modification of surface properties leading to greater absorption of solar radiation, reduced convective cooling and lower water evaporation rates. Cities typically contain less vegetation and bodies of water than rural areas, and existing green and bluespace is often under threat from increasing population densities. This paper presents a meta-analysis of the key ways in which green and bluespace affect both urban canopy- and boundary-layer temperatures, examined from the perspectives of city-planning, urban climatology and climate science. The analysis suggests that the evapotranspiration-based cooling influence of both green and bluespace is primarily relevant for urban canopy-layer conditions, and that tree-dominated greenspace offers the greatest heat stress relief when it is most needed. However, the magnitude and transport of cooling experienced depends on size, spread, and geometry of greenspaces, with some solitary large parks found to offer minimal boundary-layer cooling. Contribution to cooling at the scale of the urban boundary-layer climate is attributed mainly to greenspace increasing surface roughness and thereby improving convection efficiency rather than evaporation. Although bluespace cooling and transport during the day can be substantial, nocturnal warming is highlighted as likely when conditions are most oppressive. However, when both features are employed together they can offer many synergistic ecosystem benefits including cooling. The ways in which green and bluespace infrastructure is applied in future urban growth strategies, particularly in countries expected to experience rapid urbanisation, warrants greater consideration in urban planning policy to mitigate the adverse effects of the UHI and enhance climate

  7. The prevalence of two 'commonly' encountered synthetic target fibres within a large urban environment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Palmer, R; Burnett, E; Luff, N; Wagner, C; Stinga, G; Carney, C; Sheridan, K

    2015-03-01

    A target fibre study was carried out to assess the random prevalence of two ostensibly commonly encountered synthetic fibre types; black acrylic and blue polyester. The study was performed in an environment which maximised the number of random contacts between textile garments in the population and specific surfaces, namely; seating relating to buses, public houses and cinemas found within a large urban conurbation. Surface debris tapings were collected from samples of bus seats (30), pub seats (54) and cinema seats (53). Using low power stereomicroscopy, a total of 114 and 68 fibres, superficially similar to the respective black acrylic and blue polyester target fibres, were recovered from these tapings. The full range of comparative microscopical and instrumental analysis used in operational forensic laboratories was performed on the recovered fibres. No matches were found with either of the target fibres. These findings are in accordance with similar studies which show that the probability of an 'adventitious' match with a particular fibre type/colour combination is extremely low. In addition, the findings demonstrate that the current techniques and instrumentation employed by operational forensic laboratories are fit for purpose. Importantly, the findings demonstrate that databases and surveys (e.g. fibre population studies) which do not consider the analytical/comparison processes, must not be used in isolation when evaluating fibre evidence at source level. Copyright © 2015 Forensic Science Society. Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

  8. Urban Agriculture, Commons and Urban Policies: Scaling up Local Innovation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    François Mancebo

    2016-04-01

    Full Text Available May urban agriculture be the cornerstone that helps reconfigure more sustainable cities and if so, under which conditions? And if so, what type of urban agriculture? Such are the two issues underlying this article. Why not counteracting urban sprawl by fostering what could be called “rural sprawl”, by introducing nature and rural characteristics such as farming within the city, in its interstitial areas and wastelands? In this perspective, urban agriculture becomes a common good, bringing people together and reshaping the whole urban fabric that would eventually propose a radical remaking of the urban. Urban agriculture lends particularly well to long-lasting urban policies, especially those turning environmental “bads”—such as brownfields and wastelands—into environmental “goods” and urban amenities. Urban agriculture in interstitial abandoned urban areas may be one of cities’ main seedbeds of creative innovation. It is all about the right to decide and the power to create, renewing and deepening what Henri Lefebvre called The Right to the City.

  9. Atmospheric carbon exchange associated with vegetation and soils in urban and suburban land uses

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Rowntree, R.A. [Northeastern Forest Experiment Station, Berkeley, CA (United States)

    1993-12-31

    In studies of the global C cycle prior to the 1980s, urban ecosystems were largely ignored, in part because them were inadequate measures of phytomass and soil carbon for the various land uses associated with cities. In the last decade, progress has been made in gathering urban vegetation data and recently, estimates of urban land use carbon storage and fluxes have been attempted. Demographic trends in many countries suggest that urban areas are growing. Thus it is important to discover the appropriate concepts and methods for understanding greenhouse gas fluxes from urban-related vegetation and soils.

  10. Thinking Together Urban Conservation With Urban Modernization In The Process Of Urban Transformation: The Possibilities Of "Historic Urban Landscape" Concept

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    İclal Dinçer

    2013-06-01

    Full Text Available Today, the big cities that are centers of innovation and creativity offer employment and training opportunities for people on the one hand, and are faced to face to uncontrolled urbanization on the other. One of the main problems of these cities is socio-cultural and spatial harmony between urban heritage and new developments. It should be recognized that it is difficult to preserve both the tangible and intangible heritage and sustainable development together with providing the quality of urban life. This article will discuss the "historic urban landscape" concept that is one of the approaches in the long term evolution of conservation and reconstruction of cities. In this evolution process, concepts of urban conservation, environmenta protection, urban archaeology, cultural landscape and the value o cultural heritage for society are the important milestones. Within this approach "historic urban landscape", decision-making processes needs to evolve towards the partnerships of state, market and civil society actors through negotiation and cooperation between them. In the article three examples from Istanbul are examined.

  11. Knowledge and practices on maternal health care among mothers: A Cross sectional study from rural areas of mid-western development region Nepal

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kapil Gyawali

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available Background: Safe motherhood is a priority program in Nepal, aiming to restrain maternal deaths. Meanwhile, knowledge, practices, accessibility, and service quality are considered keys to improve service utilization. This study was conducted to identify knowledge and practices of maternal health care among mothers having < 1-year-old child in the Mid-western Development Region, Nepal. Materials and Methods: A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted during January-April 2011 in rural, Mid-western Development Region, Nepal. Three Village Development Committees (VDC from Bardiya (plain and two VDCs from each of the Salyan and Pyuthan (hill and Jumla (mountain districts were selected randomly. Hence, there were 81 clusters (1VDC = 9 clusters and 7-8 participants were selected randomly from each cluster. Data were collected by interview using structured questionnaire and Focus Group Discussion Guideline (18 FGDs, analyzed by SPSS (16.0. CD recorded qualitative data were transcribed and narrated. Percent mean and standard deviation were calculated. Results: Three quarters of the participants had correct knowledge regarding minimum numbers of antenatal visits to be done by a pregnant woman (WHO guideline. Nearly two-fifth participants knew schedule of antenatal care (ANC visits. Almost 60% had done ≥ 4 ANC visits during last pregnancy. Majority visited Sub Health Post/Health Post/Primary Health Care Centre for ANC Checkup. About 90% had taken Iron and folic acid tablets. About 57% were home deliveries (last childbirth, 40% deliveries were assisted by relatives/husband, and only 32% did postnatal health checkup. Conclusions: There were gaps in the knowledge and practices for health care during pregnancy, childbirth and in the postpartum period. A high rate of home deliveries with the low postnatal service utilization was prevalent. Intensive awareness progam and behavioral change interventions, regular pregnancy monitoring may promote the

  12. Affective Urbanism

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Samson, Kristine

    Urban design and architecture are increasingly used as material and affective strategies for setting the scene, for manipulation and the production of urban life: The orchestration of atmospheres, the framing and staging of urban actions, the programming for contemplation, involvement, play......, experience and consumption are all strategic design tools applied by planners and architects. Whereas urban design in former modernist planning served merely functional or political means, urban design has increasingly become an aesthetical mediator of ideologies embedded in the urban field of life forces....... Under these circumstances affective aesthetics operate strategically within the urban field of interests, capital flows and desires of the social. This ‘affective urbanism’ (Anderson & Holden 2008) is linked to a society influenced by new kinds of information flows, where culture is mediated and enacted...

  13. Sensitivity of local air quality to the interplay between small- and large-scale circulations: a large-eddy simulation study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wolf-Grosse, Tobias; Esau, Igor; Reuder, Joachim

    2017-06-01

    Street-level urban air pollution is a challenging concern for modern urban societies. Pollution dispersion models assume that the concentrations decrease monotonically with raising wind speed. This convenient assumption breaks down when applied to flows with local recirculations such as those found in topographically complex coastal areas. This study looks at a practically important and sufficiently common case of air pollution in a coastal valley city. Here, the observed concentrations are determined by the interaction between large-scale topographically forced and local-scale breeze-like recirculations. Analysis of a long observational dataset in Bergen, Norway, revealed that the most extreme cases of recurring wintertime air pollution episodes were accompanied by increased large-scale wind speeds above the valley. Contrary to the theoretical assumption and intuitive expectations, the maximum NO2 concentrations were not found for the lowest 10 m ERA-Interim wind speeds but in situations with wind speeds of 3 m s-1. To explain this phenomenon, we investigated empirical relationships between the large-scale forcing and the local wind and air quality parameters. We conducted 16 large-eddy simulation (LES) experiments with the Parallelised Large-Eddy Simulation Model (PALM) for atmospheric and oceanic flows. The LES accounted for the realistic relief and coastal configuration as well as for the large-scale forcing and local surface condition heterogeneity in Bergen. They revealed that emerging local breeze-like circulations strongly enhance the urban ventilation and dispersion of the air pollutants in situations with weak large-scale winds. Slightly stronger large-scale winds, however, can counteract these local recirculations, leading to enhanced surface air stagnation. Furthermore, this study looks at the concrete impact of the relative configuration of warmer water bodies in the city and the major transport corridor. We found that a relatively small local water

  14. Sensitivity of local air quality to the interplay between small- and large-scale circulations: a large-eddy simulation study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    T. Wolf-Grosse

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available Street-level urban air pollution is a challenging concern for modern urban societies. Pollution dispersion models assume that the concentrations decrease monotonically with raising wind speed. This convenient assumption breaks down when applied to flows with local recirculations such as those found in topographically complex coastal areas. This study looks at a practically important and sufficiently common case of air pollution in a coastal valley city. Here, the observed concentrations are determined by the interaction between large-scale topographically forced and local-scale breeze-like recirculations. Analysis of a long observational dataset in Bergen, Norway, revealed that the most extreme cases of recurring wintertime air pollution episodes were accompanied by increased large-scale wind speeds above the valley. Contrary to the theoretical assumption and intuitive expectations, the maximum NO2 concentrations were not found for the lowest 10 m ERA-Interim wind speeds but in situations with wind speeds of 3 m s−1. To explain this phenomenon, we investigated empirical relationships between the large-scale forcing and the local wind and air quality parameters. We conducted 16 large-eddy simulation (LES experiments with the Parallelised Large-Eddy Simulation Model (PALM for atmospheric and oceanic flows. The LES accounted for the realistic relief and coastal configuration as well as for the large-scale forcing and local surface condition heterogeneity in Bergen. They revealed that emerging local breeze-like circulations strongly enhance the urban ventilation and dispersion of the air pollutants in situations with weak large-scale winds. Slightly stronger large-scale winds, however, can counteract these local recirculations, leading to enhanced surface air stagnation. Furthermore, this study looks at the concrete impact of the relative configuration of warmer water bodies in the city and the major transport corridor. We found that a

  15. Urban architecture in urban renewal

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Holmgren, Steen; Svensson, Ole

    2001-01-01

    and without obvious architectural value. These issues raise pertinent questions: what urban architectural problems and qualities exist in the complex, inner suburbs? What differences exist between professionals' and residents' perceptions and assessments of urban architecture? How can a shared language...

  16. Cyanotoxin mixtures and taste-and-odor compounds in cyanobacterial blooms from the midwestern united states

    Science.gov (United States)

    Graham, J.L.; Loftin, K.A.; Meyer, M.T.; Ziegler, A.C.

    2010-01-01

    The mixtures of toxins and taste-and-odor compounds present during cyanobacterial blooms are not well characterized and of particular concern when evaluating potential human health risks. Cyanobacterial blooms were sampled in twenty-three Midwestern United States lakes and analyzed for community composition, thirteen cyanotoxins by liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry and immunoassay, and two taste-and-odor compounds by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry. Aphanizomenon, Cylindrospermopsis and/or Microcystis were dominant in most (96%) blooms, but community composition was not strongly correlated with toxin and taste-and-odor occurrence. Microcystins occurred in all blooms. Total microcystin concentrations measured by liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry and immunoassay were linearly related (rs = 0.76, p cyanotoxins occurred in 48% of blooms and 95% had multiple microcystin variants. Toxins and taste-and-odor compounds frequently co-occurred (91% of blooms), indicating odor may serve as a warning that cyanotoxins likely are present. However, toxins occurred more frequently than taste-and-odor compounds, so odor alone does not provide sufficient warning to ensure human-health protection. ?? This article not subject to U.S. Copyright. Published 2010 by the American Chemical Society.

  17. Renewed Urban Waterfront: Spatial Conditions of a Contemporary Urban Space Typology

    OpenAIRE

    Beate Niemann; Fabian Pramel

    2017-01-01

    The formerly industrially or militarily used Urban Waterfront is a potential area for urban development. Extensive interventions in the urban space come along with the development of these previously inaccessible areas in the city. The development of the Urban Waterfront in the European City is not subject to any recognizable urban paradigm. In this study, the development of the Urban Waterfront as a new urban space typology is analyzed by case studies of Urban Waterfront developments in Euro...

  18. Monitoring travel times in an urban network using video, GPS and Bluetooth

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Jie, L.; Van Zuylen, H.J.; Chunhua, L.; Shoufeng, L.

    2011-01-01

    The travel time is an important measure for the quality of traffic. This paper discusses a few methods to measure or estimate the travel time in urban road networks. First of all, it is important to know that urban travel times display a large variation, so that the measurement of a single (average)

  19. Linking snake behavior to nest predation in a Midwestern bird community.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Weatherhead, Patrick J; Carfagno, Gerardo L F; Sperry, Jinelle H; Brawn, Jeffrey D; Robinson, Scott K

    2010-01-01

    Nest predators can adversely affect the viability of songbird populations, and their impact is exacerbated in fragmented habitats. Despite substantial research on this predator-prey interaction, however, almost all of the focus has been on the birds rather than their nest predators, thereby limiting our understanding of the factors that bring predators and nests into contact. We used radiotelemetry to document the activity of two snake species (rat snakes, Elaphe obsoleta; racers, Coluber constrictor) known to prey on nests in Midwestern bird communities and simultaneously monitored 300 songbird nests and tested the hypothesis that predation risk should increase for nests when snakes were more active and in edge habitat preferred by both snake species. Predation risk increased when rat snakes were more active, for all nests combined and for two of the six bird species for which we had sufficient nests to allow separate analyses. This result is consistent with rat snakes being more important nest predators than racers. We found no evidence, however, that nests closer to forest edges were at greater risk. These results are generally consistent with the one previous study that investigated rat snakes and nest predation simultaneously. The seemingly paradoxical failure to find higher predation risk in the snakes' preferred habitat (i.e., edge) might be explained by the snakes using edges at least in part for non-foraging activities. We propose that higher nest predation in fragmented habitats (at least that attributable to snakes) results indirectly from edges promoting larger snake populations, rather than from edges directly increasing the risk of nest predation by snakes. If so, the notion of edges per se functioning as ecological "traps" merits further study.

  20. Environmental challenges threatening the growth of urban agriculture in the United States.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wortman, Sam E; Lovell, Sarah Taylor

    2013-09-01

    Urban agriculture, though often difficult to define, is an emerging sector of local food economies in the United States. Although urban and agricultural landscapes are often integrated in countries around the world, the establishment of mid- to large-scale food production in the U.S. urban ecosystem is a relatively new development. Many of the urban agricultural projects in the United States have emerged from social movements and nonprofit organizations focused on urban renewal, education, job training, community development, and sustainability initiatives. Although these social initiatives have traction, critical knowledge gaps exist regarding the science of food production in urban ecosystems. Developing a science-based approach to urban agriculture is essential to the economic and environmental sustainability of the movement. This paper reviews abiotic environmental factors influencing urban cropping systems, including soil contamination and remediation; atmospheric pollutants and altered climatic conditions; and water management, sources, and safety. This review paper seeks to characterize the limited state of the science on urban agricultural systems and identify future research questions most relevant to urban farmers, land-use planners, and environmental consultants. Copyright © by the American Society of Agronomy, Crop Science Society of America, and Soil Science Society of America, Inc.

  1. Teen Birth Rates for Urban and Rural Areas in the United States, 2007-2015.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hamilton, Brady E; Rossen, Lauren M; Branum, Amy M

    2016-11-01

    Data from the National Vital Statistics System •Birth rates for teenagers aged 15-19 declined in urban and rural counties from 2007 through 2015, with the largest declines in large urban counties and the smallest declines in rural counties. •From 2007 through 2015, the teen birth rate was lowest in large urban counties and highest in rural counties. •Declines in teen birth rates in all urban counties between 2007 and 2015 were largest in Arizona, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Minnesota, and Colorado, with 17 states experiencing a decline of 50% or more. •Declines in teen birth rates in all rural counties between 2007 and 2015 were largest (50% or more) in Colorado and Connecticut. •In 2015, teen birth rates were highest in rural counties and lowest in large urban counties for non-Hispanic white, non-Hispanic black, and Hispanic females. Teen birth rates have demonstrated an unprecedented decline in the United States since 2007 (1). Declines occurred in all states and among all major racial and Hispanic-origin groups, yet disparities by both geography and demographic characteristics persist (2,3). Although teen birth rates and related declines have been described by state, patterns by urban-rural location have not yet been examined. This report describes trends in teen birth rates in urban (metropolitan) and rural (nonmetropolitan) areas in the United States overall and by state from 2007 through 2015 and by race and Hispanic origin for 2015. All material appearing in this report is in the public domain and may be reproduced or copied without permission; citation as to source, however, is appreciated.

  2. Towards an urban planners’ perspective on Smart City

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rocco Papa

    2013-04-01

    Full Text Available The concept of “Smart City”, providing a solution for making cities more efficient and sustainable, has been quite popular in recent years, encouraging reflections, ideas, researches and projects for a “smart” urban development. A smart city is generally meant as a city capable of joining “competitiveness” and “sustainability”, by integrating different dimensions of development and addressing infrastructural investments able to support economic growth as well as the quality of life of communities, a more careful management of natural resources, a greater transparency and participation to decision-making processes. Based on those assumptions, this contribution tackle the controversial subject of Smart City, starting from the review of the scientific Italian and international literature that, from the Eighties to the Nineties, has been largely focused on ICTs and their impacts on urban development. Then, the focus shifts on the large debate on smart cities that has been developing from the beginning of 2000s and on the numerous institutional initiatives up to now implemented by the European Union for building up the Smart City. Finally, the article highlights how, despite these efforts, a shared definition of the term is still missing and current approaches to the issue are still very heterogeneous; it emphasizes, on the opposite, the key-role that urban planning, grounding on a holistic approach to cities’ development, should play in coordinating and integrating urban policies addressed to building up a Smart City.

  3. Urban Renewal as an Urban Hegemony Project

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gönül İÇLİ

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available There is an organic relationship between capitalism and urban space. Thisrelationship is a dynamic one which reproduces and renovates itself constantlyaccording to the conjuncture of each period and which evolves / changes inparallel with the necessities and rationalities of capital accumulation in historicalprocess. Therefore, neither reproduction of capitalist urban space with the regimeof capital accumulation nor the process of restructuring following a crisis in theregime of capital accumulation with spatial organization of capitalism can becompared independently. Today, in the concrete phase that capitalism hasreached, urban space has become one of the most important parts of direct capitalaccumulation under the hegemony of financial capital. In this context, urbantransformation projects and various strategies ofthe process becomes significantwith the instrumentalization of space by capital rationality. However, this processcarries the internal paradoxes of capitalism into the urban space at the same time,and cities, competing as candidates to be financial centres where the capital hasintensified and centralized, also transforms into spaces of violent socialpolarization. At this point, especially the reformation of squatter settlements has astrategic importance in the process of urban transformation and there are attemptsto attach the urban poor, who are the addressee of the process, under a widerurban hegemony project with the strategy of urban renovation.

  4. Urban Growth in a Fragmented Landscape: Estimating the Relationship between Landscape Pattern and Urban Land Use Change in Germany, 2000-2006

    Science.gov (United States)

    Keller, R.

    2013-12-01

    One of the highest priorities in the conservation and management of biodiversity, natural resources and other vital ecosystem services is the assessment of the mechanisms that drive urban land use change. Using key landscape indicators, this study addresses why urban land increased 6 percent overall in Germany from 2000-2006. Building on regional science and economic geography research, I develop a model of landscape change that integrates remotely sensed and other geospatial data, and socioeconomic data in a spatial autoregressive model to explain the variance in urban land use change observed in German kreise (counties) over the past decade. The results reveal three key landscape mechanisms that drive urban land use change across Germany, aligning with those observed in US studies: (1) the level of fragmentation, (2) the share of designated protected areas, and (3) the share of prime soil. First, as fragmentation of once continuous habitats in the landscape increases, extensive urban growth follows. Second, designated protected areas have the perverse effect of hastening urbanization in surrounding areas. Third, greater shares of prime, productive soil experienced less urban land take over the 6 year period, an effect that is stronger in the former East Germany, where the agricultural sector remains large. The results suggest that policy makers concentrate their conservation efforts on preexisting fragmented land with high shares of protected areas in Germany to effectively stem urban land take. Given that comparative studies of land use change are vital for the scientific community to grasp the wider global process of urbanization and coincident ecological impacts, the methodology employed here is easily exportable to land cover and land use research programs in other fields and geographic areas. Key words: Urban land use change, Ecosystem services, Landscape fragmentation, Remote sensing, Spatial regression models, GermanyOLS and Spatial Autoregressive Model

  5. Environmental Response of Small Urban Parks in Context of Dhaka City

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tabassum, S.

    2018-01-01

    Urban green spaces are essential element of urban life which, due to their structure and multi functionality, can play an exemplary role in the vitality and quality of urban life. Urban Parks are not only used as active recreational and leisure areas for its citizens but also an important catalyst for community development and enhancement. These spaces in the city act like its lungs and play a critical role in supporting the ecological and environmental system. In the dense urban areas, even Small Parks (less than one acre in size) can also contribute a lot to improve environmental quality of city life. In a populated city where it is difficult to incorporate large Public Parks, these small green area can complement large Public Park system. Accordingly the study is concerned to evaluate the environmental performances of Small Parks on the built environments of urban Dhaka. The analysis identifies that Small Parks has strong environmental impact, the intensity of which depends on the type and quality of its vegetation, its design parameters, connectivity and of course on surrounding urban morphology. And it is confirmed that park with more canopy tree is suitable for our environment and therefore a good combination of vegetation (wide canopy trees at periphery, medium canopy trees beside internal walkway and small canopy tree, shrub and grass cover elsewhere) are recommended for better environmental performance of Small Parks. The research will be an approach to find the ways and means to restore the Small Parks of Dhaka city to ensure the livability of the city and enhance the quality of city image.

  6. Urban economies and occupation space: can they get "there" from "here"?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rachata Muneepeerakul

    Full Text Available Much of the socioeconomic life in the United States occurs in its urban areas. While an urban economy is defined to a large extent by its network of occupational specializations, an examination of this important network is absent from the considerable body of work on the determinants of urban economic performance. Here we develop a structure-based analysis addressing how the network of interdependencies among occupational specializations affects the ease with which urban economies can transform themselves. While most occupational specializations exhibit positive relationships between one another, many exhibit negative ones, and the balance between the two partially explains the productivity of an urban economy. The current set of occupational specializations of an urban economy and its location in the occupation space constrain its future development paths. Important tradeoffs exist between different alternatives for altering an occupational specialization pattern, both at a single occupation and an entire occupational portfolio levels.

  7. Morcegos cavernícolas da região do Distrito Federal, centro-oeste do Brasil (Mammalia, Chiroptera Cave bats from the Distrito Federal area in Mid-Western Brazil (Mammalia, Chiroptera

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Angelika Bredt

    1999-01-01

    Full Text Available Between 1989 and 1995, twenty caves in the Distrito Federal area in mid-western Brazil were assessed for bat species richness, frequency, spatial distribution, behavior, reproduction and inter-specific cohabitation. The general state of conservation of the caves was also assessed. Of the 20 caves studied, 12 were less than 100 m long, five between 100 m and 300 m, and three were longerthan 300 m. Twenty-two species of six different families were observed: 16 species belonged to Phyllostomidae, two to Vespertilionidae and Mormoopidae and one to Furipteridae and Emballonuridae. In this study, 17 species were characterized as Distrito Federal cave dwellers. The most prevalent were Desmodus rotundus, Glossophaga soricina and Carollia perspicillata. The least prevalent were Lonchorhina aurita, Pteronotus gymnonotus and Phylloderma stenops. Since some Anoura caudifer, Platyrrhinus lineatus, Myotis nigricans, Micronycteris minuta, and Eptesicus brasiliensis individuals were captured only while going into the caves early in the night, they were not considered cave dwellers. Even though, they probably use the caves as a daytime roosting place. Surprisingly, Lonchophylla dekeyseri, considered to be the only endemic bat species in the Cerrado ecosystem, was observed in three of the surveyed caves. Further biological studies are necessary to determine the biology of L. dekeyseri and the necessity of its conservation. The bat colonies observed were usually of a small size. Few colonies of D. rotundus and Anoura geoffroyi contained more than 300 individuals of both sexes. Only a inale group of L. aurita was observed in the Distrito Federal area. Twelve of the surveyed caves were hard to access and therefore well protected. Four of the caves received some public visitation, two were located near limestone mines, one was located near an urban area. and one had both public visitation and deforestation near its entrance. In this latter cave, no bats were observed

  8. Preserving urban objects of historicaland architectural heritage

    OpenAIRE

    Bal'zannikova Ekaterina Mikhailovna

    2014-01-01

    Large cities of central Russia were built under the influence of the factors that played an important role in protecting their population; natural resources and opportunities for trading were also essential. The industrial development and construction of large industrial facilities were significant for the formation of urban environment. As a result architectural monuments of great historical value that have a significant influence on the formation of the modern city image were preserved.Nowa...

  9. Urban agriculture and urban poverty alleviation: South African debates

    OpenAIRE

    Rogerson, Christian M.

    1998-01-01

    Growing international attention has focussed on the potential role of urban agriculture in poverty alleviation. The aim in this paper is to analyse the existing challenge of urban poverty in South Africa and examine the potential role of urban agriculture as a component of a pro-poor urban development strategy.

  10. A Second Year Evaluation of the ESEA Title III Urban Leadership Program.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Frerichs, Allen H.

    The Urban Leadership Program, funded under Title III of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, was carried out among sixth graders at the Albert Einstein School in Chicago, Illinois. The primary purpose of the program was to develop skills and competence to prepare participants for survival and success in a large urban environment. A…

  11. Visions of sustainable urban energy systems. Proceedings

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Pietzsch, Ursula [HFT Stuttgart (Germany). zafh.net - Centre of Applied Research - Sustainable Energy Technology; Mikosch, Milena [Steinbeis-Zentrum, Stuttgart (Germany). Europaeischer Technologietransfer; Liesner, Lisa (eds.)

    2010-09-15

    Within the polycity final conference from 15th to 17th September, 2010, in Stuttgart (Federal Republic of Germany) the following lectures were held: (1) Visions of sustainable urban energy system (Ursula Eicker); (2) Words of welcome (Tanja Goenner); (3) Zero-energy Europe - We are on our way (Jean-Marie Bemtgen); (4) Polycity - Energy networks in sustainable cities An introduction (Ursula Pietzsch); (5) Energy efficient city - Successful examples in the European concerto initiative (Brigitte Bach); (6) Sustainable building and urban concepts in the Catalonian polycity project contributions to the polycity final conference 2010 (Nuria Pedrals); (7) Energy efficient buildings and renewable supply within the German polycity project (Ursula Eicker); (8) Energy efficient buildings and cities in the US (Thomas Spiegehalter); (9) Energy efficient communities - First results from an IEA collaboration project (Reinhard Jank); (10) The European energy performance of buildings directive (EPBD) - Lessons learned (Eduardo Maldonado); (11) Passive house standard in Europe - State-of-the-art and challenges (Wolfgang Feist); (12) High efficiency non-residential buildings: Concepts, implementations and experiences from the UK (Levin Lomas); (13) This is how we can save our world (Franz Alt); (14) Green buildings and renewable heating and cooling concepts in China (Yanjun Dai); (15) Sustainable urban energy solutions for Asia (Brahmanand Mohanty); (16) Description of ''Parc de l'Alba'' polygeneration system: A large-scale trigeneration system with district heating within the Spanish polycity project (Francesc Figueras Bellot); (17) Improved building automation and control systems with hardware-in-the loop solutions (Martin Becker); (18) The Italian polycity project area: Arquata (Luigi Fazari); (19) Photovoltaic system integration: In rehabilitated urban structures: Experiences and performance results from the Italian polycity project in Turin (Franco

  12. Influence of urban pattern on inundation flow in floodplains of lowland rivers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bruwier, M; Mustafa, A; Aliaga, D G; Archambeau, P; Erpicum, S; Nishida, G; Zhang, X; Pirotton, M; Teller, J; Dewals, B

    2018-05-01

    The objective of this paper is to investigate the respective influence of various urban pattern characteristics on inundation flow. A set of 2000 synthetic urban patterns were generated using an urban procedural model providing locations and shapes of streets and buildings over a square domain of 1×1km 2 . Steady two-dimensional hydraulic computations were performed over the 2000 urban patterns with identical hydraulic boundary conditions. To run such a large amount of simulations, the computational efficiency of the hydraulic model was improved by using an anisotropic porosity model. This model computes on relatively coarse computational cells, but preserves information from the detailed topographic data through porosity parameters. Relationships between urban characteristics and the computed inundation water depths have been based on multiple linear regressions. Finally, a simple mechanistic model based on two district-scale porosity parameters, combining several urban characteristics, is shown to capture satisfactorily the influence of urban characteristics on inundation water depths. The findings of this study give guidelines for more flood-resilient urban planning. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  13. Water ecological carrying capacity of urban lakes in the context of rapid urbanization: A case study of East Lake in Wuhan

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ding, Lei; Chen, Kun-lun; Cheng, Sheng-gao; Wang, Xu

    With the excessive development of social economy, water scarcity and water environment deterioration become a common phenomenon in metropolis. As a crucial component of urban water environment system, urban lake is mainly influenced by social economic system and tourism system. In this paper, a framework for quantitatively evaluating development sustainability of urban lake was established by a multi-objective model that represented water ecological carrying capacity (WECC). And nine key indicators including population, irrigation area, tourist quantity, the average number of hotel daily reception, TP, TN, CODMn, BOD5 were chosen from urban social-economy system and natural resilience aspects, with their index weight was determined by using the Structure Entropy Weight method. Then, we took Wuhan East Lake, the largest urban lake in China as a case study, and selected five time sections including 2002, 2004, 2007, 2009 and 2012 to synthetically evaluate and comparatively analyze the dynamic change of WECC. The results showed that: firstly, the water ecological carrying capacity values of the East Lake in five time sections were 1.17, 1.07, 1.64, 1.53 and 2.01 respectively, which all exceeded 1 and increased fluctuation. The rapid growth of population and GDP lead to sharply increasing demand for water quantity. However, a large amount of the domestic sewage and industrial waste led by economic development increases pressure on ecological environment of urban lakes. Secondly, the carrying capacity of the East Lake for tourist activities was still low. The value in 2012 was only 0.22, keeping at a slowly increasing phase, which indicates that the East Lake has large opportunity and space for developing the water resource carrying capacity and could make further efforts to attract tourists. Moreover, the WECC of the East Lake was mainly affected by rapid social and economic development and water environment damage caused by organic pollutants. From the view of urban

  14. Horse keeping in peri-urban areas

    OpenAIRE

    Elgåker, Hanna

    2011-01-01

    The number of horses in Sweden has increased from 70 000 to almost 300 000 in 30 years. Today these horses are to a large extent kept for the purpose of hobby and leisure and create a substantial land use but link a diverse and a large amount of activities in peri-urban areas in Sweden. The sector contributes with new economic, social and physical possibilities, but also with conflicts between various stakeholders and interests. The overall aim of this work was to contribute to increased unde...

  15. From Ephemeral Planning to Permanent Urbanism: An Urban Planning Theory of Mega-Events

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Eva Kassens-Noor

    2016-03-01

    Full Text Available Mega-events like the Olympic Games are powerful forces that shape cities. In the wake of mega-events, a variety of positive and negative legacies have remained in host cities. In order to bring some theoretical clarity to debates about legacy creation, I introduce the concepts of the mega-event utopia, dystopia and heterotopia. A mega-event utopia is ideal and imaginary urbanism embracing abstract concepts about economies, socio-political systems, spaces, and societies in the host during events. The mega-event utopia (in contrast to other utopian visions other stakeholders may hold is dictated by the desires of the mega-event owners irrespective of the realities in the event host. In short, a mega-event utopia is the perfect event host from the owner’s perspective. Mega-event utopias are suggested as a theoretical model for the systematic transformation of their host cities. As large-scale events progress as ever more powerful transformers into this century, mega-event dystopias have emerged as negatives of these idealistic utopias. As hybrid post-event landscapes, mega-event heterotopias manifest the temporary mega-event utopia as legacy imprints into the long-term realities in hosting cities. Using the Olympic utopia as an example of a mega-event utopia, I theorize utopian visions around four urban traits: economy, image, infrastructure and society. Through the concept of the mega-event legacy utopia, I also provide some insight toward the operationalization of the four urban traits for a city’s economic development, local place marketing, urban development, and public participation.

  16. Decades of urban growth and development on the Asian megadeltas

    Science.gov (United States)

    Small, Christopher; Sousa, Daniel; Yetman, Gregory; Elvidge, Christopher; MacManus, Kytt

    2018-06-01

    The current and ongoing expansion of urban areas worldwide represents the largest mass migration in human history. It is well known that the world's coastal zones are associated with large and growing concentrations of population, urban development and economic activity. Among coastal environments, deltas have long been recognized for both benefits and hazards. This is particularly true on the Asian megadeltas, where the majority of the world's deltaic populations reside. Current trends in urban migration, combined with demographic momentum suggest that the already large populations on the Asian megadeltas will continue to grow. In this study, we combine recently released gridded population density (circa 2010) with a newly developed night light change product (1992 to 2012) and a digital elevation model to quantify the spatial distribution of population and development on the nine Asian megadeltas. Bivariate distributions of population as functions of elevation and coastal proximity quantify potential exposure of deltaic populations to flood and coastal hazards. Comparison of these distributions for the Asian megadeltas show very different patterns of habitation with peak population elevations ranging from 2 to 11 m above sea level over a wide range of coastal proximities. Over all nine megadeltas, over 174 million people reside below a peak population elevation of 7 m. Changes in the spatial extent of anthropogenic night light from 1992 to 2012 show widely varying extents and changes of lighted urban development. All of the deltas except the Indus show the greatest increases in night light brightness occurring at elevations <10 m. At global and continental scales, growth of settlements of all sizes takes the form of evolving spatial networks of development. Spatial networks of lighted urban development in Asia show power law scaling properties consistent with other continents, but much higher rates of growth. The three largest networks of development in China all

  17. Urbanization effect on trends in sunshine duration in China

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Y. Wang

    2017-07-01

    Full Text Available There is an ongoing debate on whether the observed decadal variations in surface solar radiation, known as dimming and brightening periods, are a large-scale or solely local phenomenon. We investigated this issue using long-term sunshine duration records from China, which experienced a rapid increase in urbanization during the past decades. Over the period 1960–2013, 172 pairs of urban and nearby rural stations were analyzed. Urban and rural sunshine duration trends show similar spatial patterns during a dimming phase (1960–1989 and a subsequent period during which trends were leveling off (1990–2013. This indicates that rather than local effects, the trends in sunshine duration are on more of a national or regional scale in China. Nevertheless, in the dimming phase, the declining rate of sunshine duration in rural areas is around two-thirds of that in urban areas. The ratio of rural to urban dimming generally increases from a minimum of 0.39 to a maximum of 0.87 with increasing indices of urbanization calculated based on the year 2013. It reaches a maximum when the urbanization level exceeds 50 %, the urban population exceeds 20 million, or the population density becomes higher than 250 person km−2. After the transition into the leveling-off period, sunshine duration trends are no longer significantly affected by urbanization. Meanwhile, the number of laws and regulations related to air pollution and investment in pollution treatment have been increasing in China.

  18. Landscape and Ambience on the Urban Fringe

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Goddard, Joseph

    2009-01-01

    This article stems from ongoing research on the creation of penurbia since 1945 which examines the development of hybrid city-country landscapes around large urban areas that mesh stylized countryside with functional links to the cities. Simply put, penurbia looks like country but often thinks li...

  19. Local Governance, Urban Poverty and Service Delivery in Namibia

    OpenAIRE

    Fjeldstad, Odd-Helge; Geisler, Gisela; Nangulah, Selma; Nygaard, Knut; Pomuti, Akiser; Shifotoka, Albertina; Van Rooy, Gert

    2005-01-01

    The urbanisation of poverty is one of the most dramatic developments on the African continent, yielding contrasting images of affluent residential and business districts and utter misery in sprawling shantytowns or slums. Namibia has one of Africa’s highest urban growth rates, taking thousands of women, men and children to towns in search of a better life. The large majority of these end up in poverty-stricken informal settlements in urban areas. The current service delivery approach of the g...

  20. Spatial correlation analysis of urban traffic state under a perspective of community detection

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yang, Yanfang; Cao, Jiandong; Qin, Yong; Jia, Limin; Dong, Honghui; Zhang, Aomuhan

    2018-05-01

    Understanding the spatial correlation of urban traffic state is essential for identifying the evolution patterns of urban traffic state. However, the distribution of traffic state always has characteristics of large spatial span and heterogeneity. This paper adapts the concept of community detection to the correlation network of urban traffic state and proposes a new perspective to identify the spatial correlation patterns of traffic state. In the proposed urban traffic network, the nodes represent road segments, and an edge between a pair of nodes is added depending on the result of significance test for the corresponding correlation of traffic state. Further, the process of community detection in the urban traffic network (named GWPA-K-means) is applied to analyze the spatial dependency of traffic state. The proposed method extends the traditional K-means algorithm in two steps: (i) redefines the initial cluster centers by two properties of nodes (the GWPA value and the minimum shortest path length); (ii) utilizes the weight signal propagation process to transfer the topological information of the urban traffic network into a node similarity matrix. Finally, numerical experiments are conducted on a simple network and a real urban road network in Beijing. The results show that GWPA-K-means algorithm is valid in spatial correlation analysis of traffic state. The network science and community structure analysis perform well in describing the spatial heterogeneity of traffic state on a large spatial scale.

  1. Urban logistics profile – Yogyakarta city, Indonesia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Maria Sri Asih Anna

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available In recent years, more rural areas are becoming urban areas accompanied by escalation of logistics activities. Unlike passenger transport, the planning, policy and control of freight transport in developing countries have not been integrated into a reliable and efficient logistics system. Therefore, generating city logistics profile is necessary in order to support the planning of urban logistics system. This study aims to establish a logistics profile of Yogyakarta city, Indonesia, by dividing urban zones into several homogeneous groups, judging from several aspects, including city area features, product characteristics and agents/delivery profile. Logistics profile variables were calculated based on administrative boundaries, resulting in 45 areas to be investigated. Profiles were matched in groups of homogeneous stores (A, large commercial stores (C and residential areas with local trade (D,with one overlapping profile, i.e. profile A and profile D, in some locations in the middle of the city.

  2. Impacts of urbanization and agricultural development on observed changes in surface air temperature over mainland China from 1961 to 2006

    Science.gov (United States)

    Han, Songjun; Tang, Qiuhong; Xu, Di; Yang, Zhiyong

    2018-03-01

    A large proportion of meteorological stations in mainland China are located in or near either urban or agricultural lands that were established throughout the period of rapid urbanization and agricultural development (1961-2006). The extent of the impacts of urbanization and agricultural development on observed air temperature changes across different climate regions remains elusive. This study evaluates the surface air temperature trends observed by 598 meteorological stations in relation to the urbanization and agricultural development over the arid northwest, semi-arid intermediate, and humid southeast regions of mainland China based on linear regressions of temperature trends on the fractions of urban and cultivated land within a 3-km radius of the stations. In all three regions, the stations surrounded by large urban land tend to experience rapid warming, especially at minimum temperature. This dependence is particularly significant in the southeast region, which experiences the most intense urbanization. In the northwest and intermediate regions, stations surrounded by large cultivated land encounter less warming during the main growing season, especially at the maximum temperature changes. These findings suggest that the observed surface warming has been affected by urbanization and agricultural development represented by urban and cultivated land fractions around stations in with land cover changes in their proximity and should thus be considered when analyzing regional temperature changes in mainland China.

  3. Unsustaineble pseudo-urban consequences of legal and urban terminology

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ćerimović Velimir Lj.

    2011-01-01

    Full Text Available City planning is a complex task and through this work we face the space and natural resources that expose the exploitation (that are to be exploited and prone to unsustainable change. Often without environmental responsibility and the imperative of creating certain measures we make superstructure no matter how much the environment may be disrupted, and whether such relationships create a better society, better network of urban settlements and a better man. At that may also affect our knowledge which is often due to a variety of doctrines and legislative regulations that are applied in the planning and management space. From this it can be seen that modern architecture did not contribute to the creation of better cities. Also, urban planning is mainly restricted to the regulation and it neglected the creative action, regional-planning is lost in theoretical research, while the consideration of the whole problem is abandoned. In addition to this, in today’s transitional terms and the domineering (dominant urban crisis unsustainable combination and identification of the “2D” and the “3D” terminology is recognizable, which is only indicators that in the field of urban planning some transitional trends are prevailing. This unsustainable state of affairs in the transitional planning of urban areas can be applied in the most suitable way to pseudo-urbanization, sub-urbanization, unbalanced eco-reciprocity, non-standard construction of the urban tissue, discontinuity inherited and newly constructed urban substance. In this regard, consequently expressed negative environmental legacy of reproduction and the increased effect of the negative consequences of greenhouse gases from the threatening climate change, only shows that urban planners are not sinless and, they more or less (unconsciously complicit and participate in the contamination of urban and environment. In the end, it definitely guides us to the need to leave or transformation of the

  4. Ensuring Sustainable Development through Urban Planning in Pakistan

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mohammad Qasim

    2013-04-01

    Full Text Available Urban planning includes land use management and environmental change. It makes arrangement for community facilities and services. Since, sustainable development has been included as a vital end product of all planning goals it also provides for balanced use of land, housing and transportation and better quality of life. Present urban planning in Pakistan is not ensuring sustainable development in Pakistan. This is tested through the case study of master planning in Rawalpindi and its implementation through housing schemes in Rawalpindi, Pakistan. Large portions of provisions of master plans are not implemented. This paper explains how the urban planning will be made enabled to ensure sustainable development in Pakistan. Six numbers of housing schemes and two squatter settlements have been surveyed through questionnaires, secondary data, the opinions of the experts from related fields and site observations. Amenities and social services at far distance, very less green area, Less quantity and bad quality of water, absence of comprehensive solid waste management and sewage disposal system and nontreatment of solid waste, effluent and sewage, prevalent unhygienic conditions and air and water pollution are the existing factors effecting the sustainability. There is a need to revisit the urban planning and a comprehensive Urban and Environment Planning Law at national level and at provincial level is recommended to enable the urban planning to ensure the sustainable development in Pakistan

  5. Ensuring sustainable development through urban planing in pakistan

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Qasim, M.; Zaidi, S.S.U.

    2013-01-01

    Urban planning includes land use management and environmental change. It makes arrangement for community facilities and services. Since, sustainable development has been included as a vital end product of all planning goals it also provides for balanced use of land, housing and transportation and better quality of life. Present urban planning in Pakistan is not ensuring sustainable development in Pakistan. This is tested through the case study of master planning in Rawalpindi and its implementation through housing schemes in Rawalpindi, Pakistan. Large portions of provisions of master plans are not implemented. This paper explains how the urban planning will be made enabled to ensure sustainable development in Pakistan. Six numbers of housing schemes and two squatter settlements have been surveyed through questionnaires, secondary data, the opinions of the experts from related fields and site observations. Amenities and social services at far distance, very less green area, Less quantity and bad quality of water, absence of comprehensive solid waste management and sewage disposal system and non- treatment of solid waste, effluent and sewage, prevalent unhygienic conditions and air and water pollution are the existing factors effecting the sustainability. There is a need to revisit the urban planning and a comprehensive Urban and Environment Planning Law at national level and at provincial level is recommended to enable the urban planning to ensure the sustainable development in Pakistan. (author)

  6. Urbanization and Sub-urbanization Processes Over Time and Space

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Obudho, R.A.

    1999-01-01

    Until recently, it was thought that Kenya would be an overwhelmingly rural country and that urbanization would not be a problem, because it was associated with modernization and industrialization. Both Government of Kenya (GoK) and international donor agencies fostered rural developmental and agricultural-based strategies without paying attention to rapid rates of urbanization. Today, the high rate of urbanization in Kenya has been added to the long list of potentially devastating development problems that must be addressed. The fundamental problem is that, the urban population is growing very fast while the economic growth and development transformations necessary to support it enhance the quality of urban life are not occurring as rapidly. The new planning strategy for Kenya is to move beyond isolated projects, that emphasize shelter and residential infrastructure towards integrated urban-wide effort that promote urban productivity and reduce constraints on efficiency

  7. Sustainable Urban Biophilia: The Case of Greenskins for Urban Density

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Grant Revell

    2014-08-01

    Full Text Available Green infrastructure ameliorates the urban heat island effect, contributes positively to liveability and enables sustainability in higher density urban environments. Greenskins (living architectures are a more specific form of green infrastructure, including green walls and green roofs, for dense urban areas. These offer a new approach for sustainable urban biophilia and some forms can be built using the ecological design principles of constructed wetlands. The paper compares findings from two urban centres in warm Mediterranean climates. In general from Adelaide, South Australia and more specifically from university collaborative projects on particular technical and social parameters necessary to sustain Greenskins in dense urban conditions in Fremantle, Western Australia. Results from trials of a prototype greywater Greenskin using vertical constructed wetland cells are reported. Through an experimental investigation of designing living green walls in urban Fremantle, this paper challenges the conventional “triple-bottom-line” approach to sustainable dense urban systems by addressing the greater aesthetic needs of sustainability and its thinking. Here landscape aesthetics looks to the collaborative fields of urban design, environmental engineering and landscape architecture to design new urban biophilic experiences and restorative landscapes for regenerative cultural pleasure, ecological responsibility, environmental stewardship and intellectual gain.

  8. Energy in the urban environment: the role of energy use and energy efficiency in buildings; Final

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Levine, Mark D.; Meier, Alan K.

    1999-01-01

    A century ago, the world had many cities of which the greatest were magnificent centers of culture and commerce. However, even in the most industrialized countries at the time, only a tiny fraction of the people lived in these cities. Most people lived in rural areas, in small towns, in villages, and on farms. Visits to a great city were, for most of the population, uncommon events often of great fascination. The world has changed dramatically in the intervening years. Now most of the industrial world lives in urban areas in close proximity to large cities. Industry is often located in these vast urban areas. As the urbanized zones grow in extent, they begin to approach one another, as on the East Coast of the United States. The phenomenon of urbanization has moved to developing countries as well. There has been a flood of migrants who have left impoverished rural areas to seek economic opportunities in urban areas throughout the developing world. This movement from the countryside to cities has changed the entire landscape and economies of developing nations. Importantly, the growth of cities places very great demands on infrastructure. Transportation systems are needed to assure that a concentrated population can receive food from the countryside without fail. They are needed to assure personal and work-related travel. Water supplies must be created, water must be purified and maintained pure, and this water must be made available to a large population. Medical services - and a host of other vital services - must be provided to the population. Energy is a vital underpinning of all these activities, and must be supplied to the city in large quantities. Energy is, in many ways, the enabler of all the other services on which the maintenance of urban life depends. In this paper, we will discuss the evolution of energy use in residential and commercial buildings. This topic goes beyond urban energy use, as buildings exist in both urban and non-urban areas. The topic

  9. Urbanity and Urbanization: An Interdisciplinary Review Combining Cultural and Physical Approaches

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Christoph Schneider

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available This review paper focuses on research schemes regarding urbanity and urbanization, and brings together both cultural and physical approaches. First, we review the cultural and social construction of urbanity (as related to urbanization in Germany. In the early 20th century, urbanity was mainly the result of identity derived from a historical perspective in cities. This has changed profoundly in recent decades as urbanity stems more and more from various urban lifestyles and the staging of societal experiences, as summarized in the German term, “Erlebnisgesellschaft” (thrill-seeking society. The discussion is extended by an assessment of the recent state of the art regarding physical urban research. The focus lies on different fields of research; we address topics such as biodiversity, urban climate, air pollution, and resilience, as well as their impact on urban planning and governance. In conclusion, in order to tackle recent developments and future challenges regarding social and environmental issues, an integrative approach urges novel cross- and inter-disciplinary research efforts in urban studies, including urban-rural linkages. A newly constituted assessment of urbanization and city quarter development is proposed; the assessment focuses on the conjoint analysis of mobility, “Energiewende” (energy transition, cultural drivers, demographic development, and environmental issues.

  10. Alternative fuel options for urban bus application in the Netherlands: a comparative study

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Bleuanus, W.A.J.; Hartikka, T.S.; Lange, R. de; Ligterink, N.E.; Breunesse, R.T.; Baert, R.S.G.

    2008-01-01

    Today, a large number of urban areas in the Netherlands face significant local air quality problems. One source of this local pollution is road traffic and, in urban areas, public transport by city bus. For this reason, there is a lot of interest in different opportunities to lower the harmful

  11. Relationships between Changes in Urban Characteristics and Air Quality in East Asia from 2000 to 2010.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Larkin, Andrew; van Donkelaar, Aaron; Geddes, Jeffrey A; Martin, Randall V; Hystad, Perry

    2016-09-06

    Characteristics of urban areas, such as density and compactness, are associated with local air pollution concentrations. The potential for altering air pollution through changing urban characteristics, however, is less certain, especially for expanding cities within the developing world. We examined changes in urban characteristics from 2000 to 2010 for 830 cities in East Asia to evaluate associations with changes in nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and fine particulate matter (PM2.5) air pollution. Urban areas were stratified by population size into small (100 000-250 000), medium, (250 000-1 000 000), and large (>1 000 000). Multivariate regression models including urban baseline characteristics, meteorological variables, and change in urban characteristics explained 37%, 49%, and 54% of the change in NO2 and 29%, 34%, and 37% of the change in PM2.5 for small, medium and large cities, respectively. Change in lights at night strongly predicted change in NO2 and PM2.5, while urban area expansion was strongly associated with NO2 but not PM2.5. Important differences between changes in urban characteristics and pollutant levels were observed by city size, especially NO2. Overall, changes in urban characteristics had a greater impact on NO2 and PM2.5 change than baseline characteristics, suggesting urban design and land use policies can have substantial impacts on local air pollution levels.

  12. Beyond passive consumption : Dis/ordering water supply and sanitation at Hanoi’s urban edge

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Schramm, S.; Wright-Contreras, Lucía

    2017-01-01

    In Hanoi people access, expand and create water and sanitation infrastructures in multiple ways that include, but are not restricted to, external provision of networked services. Urban master planning and the construction of large technological networks aim at integrating the urban region based on

  13. Geospatial Data Management Platform for Urban Groundwater

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gaitanaru, D.; Priceputu, A.; Gogu, C. R.

    2012-04-01

    Due to the large amount of civil work projects and research studies, large quantities of geo-data are produced for the urban environments. These data are usually redundant as well as they are spread in different institutions or private companies. Time consuming operations like data processing and information harmonisation represents the main reason to systematically avoid the re-use of data. The urban groundwater data shows the same complex situation. The underground structures (subway lines, deep foundations, underground parkings, and others), the urban facility networks (sewer systems, water supply networks, heating conduits, etc), the drainage systems, the surface water works and many others modify continuously. As consequence, their influence on groundwater changes systematically. However, these activities provide a large quantity of data, aquifers modelling and then behaviour prediction can be done using monitored quantitative and qualitative parameters. Due to the rapid evolution of technology in the past few years, transferring large amounts of information through internet has now become a feasible solution for sharing geoscience data. Furthermore, standard platform-independent means to do this have been developed (specific mark-up languages like: GML, GeoSciML, WaterML, GWML, CityML). They allow easily large geospatial databases updating and sharing through internet, even between different companies or between research centres that do not necessarily use the same database structures. For Bucharest City (Romania) an integrated platform for groundwater geospatial data management is developed under the framework of a national research project - "Sedimentary media modeling platform for groundwater management in urban areas" (SIMPA) financed by the National Authority for Scientific Research of Romania. The platform architecture is based on three components: a geospatial database, a desktop application (a complex set of hydrogeological and geological analysis

  14. Interaction between turbulent flow and sea breeze front over urban-like coast in large-eddy simulation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jiang, Ping; Wen, Zhiping; Sha, Weiming; Chen, Guixing

    2017-05-01

    Turbulent flow and its interaction with a sea breeze front (SBF) over an urban-like coast with a regular block array were investigated using a building-resolving computational fluid dynamics model. It was found that during daytime with an offshore ambient flow, streaky turbulent structures tended to grow within the convective boundary layer (CBL) over a warm urban surface ahead of the SBF. The structures were organized as streamwise streaks at an interval of a few hundred meters, which initiated at the rooftop level with strong wind shear and strengthens in the CBL with moderate buoyancy. The streaks then interacted with the onshore-propagating SBF as it made landfall. The SBF, which was initially characterized as a shallow and quasi-linear feature over the sea, developed three-dimensional structures with intensified updrafts at an elevated frontal head after landfall. Frontal updrafts were locally enhanced at intersections where the streaks merged with the SBF, which greatly increased turbulent fluxes at the front. The frontal line was irregular because of merging, tilting, and transformation effects of vorticity associated with streaky structures. Inland penetration of the SBF was slowed by the frictional effect of urban-like surfaces and turbulent flow on land. The overall SBF intensity weakened after the interaction with turbulent flow. These findings aid understanding of local weather over coastal cities during typical sea breeze conditions.

  15. Trends in Urbanization and Implications for Peri-Urban Livelihoods in Accra, Ghana

    Science.gov (United States)

    Adom, Cynthia

    Urbanization is a common occurrence in both developed and developing worlds. Similar to occurrences in other developing world cities, Accra's urbanization is marked by fast, unplanned and uneven growth into mostly peripheral lands (Grant and Yankson 2002; Yeboah 2001; Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) 2002). Such trends in urbanization in places where data on the urbanization process is seriously inadequate and infrequent, (Rakodi 1997a; Ohadika 1991; Fasona and Omojola 2004) pose a major challenge to urban planning and management (Henderson 2002), and affect the livelihood base of several peri-urban households. Properly monitoring the urbanization process in the developing world and understanding its effects on people's lives depends on the availability of useful and up-to- date data (Weber and Puissant 2003; Mundia and Aniya 2006) that could be obtained using new and robust analytical techniques (Yang 2003). In addition, in the urban environment, differences in rates of urbanization, income, employment status, and gender dynamics across neighborhoods suggest that the impacts of increasing urbanization on peri-urban livelihoods are likely to vary across peoples and places. Against this backdrop, this dissertation uses Accra as a case study to, first, measures the nature and extent of urban expansion using a non-conventional technique, and then analyzes neighborhood - and gender-differentiated impacts of increasing urbanization on household livelihoods in peri-urban Accra. Study findings reveal: 1) major conversion of vegetated land to urban lands uses and support the effectiveness of the Self-Organizing Map and Landsat data to map complex and hazy urban tropical environments; 2) that the impacts of urbanization on peri-urban livelihoods are structured along the lines of neighborhood-level urbanization; changes brought by a higher rate of urbanization are more beneficial than harmful to household livelihoods; 3) that positive livelihood outcomes in high

  16. Urban Hydrology and Water Quality Modeling - Resolution Modeling Comparison for Water Quantity and Quality

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fry, T. J.; Maxwell, R. M.

    2014-12-01

    Urbanization presents challenging water resource problems for communities worldwide. The hydromodifications associated with urbanization results in increased runoff rates and volumes and increased peak flows. These hydrologic changes can lead to increased erosion and stream destabilization, decreased evapotranspiration, decreased ground water recharge, increases in pollutant loading, and localized anthropogenic climate change or Urban Heat Islands. Stormwater represents a complex and dynamic component of the urban water cycle that requires careful mitigation. With the implementation of Phase II rules under the CWA, stormwater management is shifting from a drainage-efficiency focus to a natural systems focus. The natural system focus, referred to as Low Impact Development (LID), or Green Infrastructure, uses best management practices (BMPs) to reduce the impacts caused by urbanization hydromodification. Large-scale patterns of stormwater runoff from urban environments are complex and it is unclear what the large-scale impacts of green infrastructure are on the water cycle. High resolution physically based hydrologic models can be used to more accurately simulate the urban hydrologic cycle. These types of models tend to be more dynamic and allow for greater flexibility in evaluating and accounting for various hydrologic processes in the urban environment that may be lost with lower resolution conceptual models. We propose to evaluate the effectiveness of high resolution models to accurately represent and determine the urban hydrologic cycle with the overall goal of being able to accurately assess the impacts of LID BMPs in urban environments. We propose to complete a rigorous model intercomparison between ParFlow and FLO-2D. Both of these models can be scaled to higher resolutions, allow for rainfall to be spatially and temporally input, and solve the shallow water equations. Each model is different in the way it accounts for infiltration, initial abstraction losses

  17. Urban Heat Islands (UHI) and the influence of city parks within the urban environment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Garcia, W.; Shandas, V.; Voelkel, J.; Espinoza, D.

    2016-12-01

    Urban Heat Islands (UHI) and the influence of city parks within the urban environment.As cities grow outward and their populations increase the Urban Heat Island (UHI) phenomena becomes an ever more important topic to reducing environmental stressors. When UHI combines with human sensitivities such as pre-existing health conditions, and other vulnerabilities, finding an effective way to cool our cities is a matter of life and death. One way to cool an area is to introduce vegetation; which is abundant is in city parks. This study measures the cooling effect and temperature gradient of city parks; characterizing the relationship between the cooling effects within parks and surrounding neighborhoods. Past studies of the UHI are largely based on satellite images and, more recently, car traverses across that describe the ambient temperatures. The present project aims to understand the effects of parks on the UHI by asking two research questions: (1) how do the physical characteristics and designs of city parks impact the variation in ambient temperatures? And (2) what effect does the park have on cooling the surrounding neighborhoods? We address these questions by using a bicycle mounted with a temperature probe, and a series of geospatial analytics. The bicycle collects temperature data every one second, and the traverse intervals are an hour long to prevent normal fluctuations of daily temperature. Preliminary analysis shows that there is a temperature gradient within the parks (Figure 1). Further, the average temperature of the urban park could cool the surrounding area by upwards of 2°C, depending on the physical characteristics of then park and neighborhood. Our results suggest that the role of smaller parks and their design can reduce heat stress particularly among the vulnerable populations. These results can help urban planners make informed decisions when developing future city infrastructure.

  18. Urban-Rural Differences in Aerobic Physical Activity, Muscle Strengthening Exercise, and Screen-Time Sedentary Behavior.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Robertson, Michael C; Song, Jaejoon; Taylor, Wendell C; Durand, Casey P; Basen-Engquist, Karen M

    2018-02-16

    Compared to their urban counterparts, US residents in rural settings face an increased risk of premature mortality and health problems that have been linked to insufficient physical activity (PA) levels. There is limited literature regarding urban-rural differences in adherence to national guidelines for all 3 PA-related behaviors. We investigated urban-rural differences in aerobic PA, leisure-time muscle strengthening PA, and leisure screen-time sedentary behavior in a combined data set of the 2011-2014 waves (N = 14,188) of the nationally representative National Cancer Institute's Health Information National Trends Survey. We found no evidence of a difference between large urban and rural residents' aerobic PA levels. The typical number of weekly bouts of leisure-time muscle strengthening PA was 25% lower for rural residents (incidence rate ratio [IRR] = 0.751, P rural residents to engage in 6.6% less daily leisure screen-time sedentary behavior than their large urban counterparts (IRR = 0.934, P = .031). Taken together with previous literature, these results suggest that rural residents may engage in comparable levels of total PA, but less leisure-time PA, than their urban counterparts. © 2018 National Rural Health Association.

  19. Urban small wind turbine applications for reducing GHC emissions

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tullis, S.

    2009-01-01

    'Full text:' There are advantages to power generation at or near the points of consumption and this is still true for low carbon sustainable power sources, including wind. Consequently, there is interest in wind power generation in cities and suburbs. The potential now exists for realistic power small-scale generation in building mounted turbines. This presentation provides the benefits and obstacles to their use, as well as details of such turbines and the design and operations requirements for them. The main issues associated with locating turbines in cities and suburbs are: the highly turbulent, unsteady wind in the urban/suburban environment produces lower power outputs; vibration is a large concern on mounting turbines on buildings, and safety (turbine failure or even just ice shedding) with pedestrians below. Past and current thinking has just been straightforward in that it is not worth it, and the previous attempts at simply mounting small-scale turbines on rooftops has done more harm than good to the reputation of the small wind, and wind in general, industries. Recently there has been a reconsideration of urban small wind led by reputable companies such as Quiet Revolution (UK), Turby (NL) and Cleanfield (Canada) combined with academic research. A common feature of all of these companies is the use of vertical axis turbines (VAWTs) to help deal with the highly turbulent, unsteady urban winds. Large-scale VAWTs enjoyed a brief flurry of interest in the 1970s and 80s with large amounts of research done at Sandia and NRC in Canada. Vibration and fatigue in the large-scale turbines were among the issues that led to their decline. These, particularly vibration, remain issues for small-scale turbines, but there are some mitigating strategies available. These are now leading to the development of reputable, practical and reliable turbines that can become part of the urban/suburban environment. (author)

  20. EVALUATION OF URBANIZATION INFLUENCES ON URBAN ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Osondu

    2012-07-27

    Jul 27, 2012 ... direction greatly affects dispersion of pollutants in the city and distribution of heat which affect human comfort. ... The urbanization is evidenced by the reducing urban land surface reflectivity and the ..... Government Print Press.