WorldWideScience

Sample records for relations urban problems

  1. Urban Environmental Problems

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Situma, F.D.P.

    1999-01-01

    The rapid urbanization and resultant heavy concentration of population in urban centres have led to many urban areas failing to provide the necessary infrastructure and amenities as the demands placed on them have overwhelmed their financial and institutional capacities. In many urban areas, the capacity for resource mobilization and delivery of social services has either broken down completely or tethers on breaking point. Although in 1986 the GoK launched a new strategy for the balanced development of rural and urban areas aimed at avoiding excessive concentration of population in urban areas, the fruits of this strategy are yet to be realized. As a result, developments in urban areas have been unsustainable and environmentally unsound. The general quality of the environment has deteriorated so much so that urgent policy intervention is required. Appropriate environmental management measures and practices are needed to address the current trend of spiralling environmental problems in the context of the existing legal and institutional frameworks and makes some proposals for reform to address these problems in order to make urban areas environmentally

  2. CLASSIFICATION OF TRAFFIC RELATED SHORT TEXTS TO ANALYSE ROAD PROBLEMS IN URBAN AREAS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    A. M. M. Saldana-Perez

    2017-09-01

    Full Text Available The Volunteer Geographic Information (VGI can be used to understand the urban dynamics. In the classification of traffic related short texts to analyze road problems in urban areas, a VGI data analysis is done over a social media’s publications, in order to classify traffic events at big cities that modify the movement of vehicles and people through the roads, such as car accidents, traffic and closures. The classification of traffic events described in short texts is done by applying a supervised machine learning algorithm. In the approach users are considered as sensors which describe their surroundings and provide their geographic position at the social network. The posts are treated by a text mining process and classified into five groups. Finally, the classified events are grouped in a data corpus and geo-visualized in the study area, to detect the places with more vehicular problems.

  3. Classification of Traffic Related Short Texts to Analyse Road Problems in Urban Areas

    Science.gov (United States)

    Saldana-Perez, A. M. M.; Moreno-Ibarra, M.; Tores-Ruiz, M.

    2017-09-01

    The Volunteer Geographic Information (VGI) can be used to understand the urban dynamics. In the classification of traffic related short texts to analyze road problems in urban areas, a VGI data analysis is done over a social media's publications, in order to classify traffic events at big cities that modify the movement of vehicles and people through the roads, such as car accidents, traffic and closures. The classification of traffic events described in short texts is done by applying a supervised machine learning algorithm. In the approach users are considered as sensors which describe their surroundings and provide their geographic position at the social network. The posts are treated by a text mining process and classified into five groups. Finally, the classified events are grouped in a data corpus and geo-visualized in the study area, to detect the places with more vehicular problems.

  4. Urban-Rural Problems. Contemporary Social Problems Series.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Taylor, Lee

    Various social problems are created by migration of low-income rural people into urban areas. These people are classified "low income" because their material level-of-living is often less than that found in urban areas. The dominant national values for material well-being are based upon urban middle class standards, thus creating a social problem…

  5. Population in urban development and the practical problems of urban planning policy in Africa

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Joseph Uyanga

    2013-07-01

    Full Text Available The paper analyses the pattern of recent growth in African towns, examines the population component in this growth process and discusses the attendant urban planning problems. The contention in the study is that there are problems of definition. policy enunciation, and organisational co-ordination in the conceptualization. planning. orchestration and implementation of urban development and service systems. The magnitude of African urban developmental problems, and its multi-faceted nature demands that the latest in scientific knowledge and technological innovations should be integrated and incorporated into the urban planning and implementation processes.

  6. Sediment problems in urban areas

    Science.gov (United States)

    Guy, Harold P.

    1970-01-01

    A recognition of and solution to sediment problems in urban areas is necessary if society is to have an acceptable living environment. Soil erosion and sediment deposition in urban areas are as much an environmental blight as badly paved and littered streets, dilapidated buildings, billboard clutter, inept land use, and air, water, and noise pollution. In addition, sediment has many direct and indirect effects on streams that may be either part of or very remote from the urban environment. Sediment, for example, is widely recognized as a pollutant of streams and other water bodies.

  7. Urban Planning Problems of Agglomerations

    Science.gov (United States)

    Olenkov, V. D.; Tazeev, N. T.

    2017-11-01

    The article explores the state of the air basin of the Chelyabinsk agglomeration and gives the examples of solutions for the pollution problems from the point of view of city planning. The main features and structure of the modern urban agglomerations are considered, the methods for determining their boundaries are studied and the main problems are identified. The study of the boundaries and territorial structure of the Chelyabinsk urban agglomeration is conducted, and a general description of the territory is given. The data on the change in the volume of pollutant emissions into the atmosphere and the index of atmospheric pollution for the period 2003-2015 are given basing on the annual comprehensive reports regarding the state of the environment. The review of the world experience of city-planning actions on the decision of ecological problems is carried out. The most suitable ways for the ecological problems solving in the Chelyabinsk agglomeration are considered. The authors give recommendations for the ecological situation improving in the territory of the Chelyabinsk agglomeration.

  8. Basic formation and realization problems of urban policy

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Skiba Alisa Anatol’evna

    2014-04-01

    Full Text Available The article focuses on the problems that arise in the process of urban development of areas planning, their solutions (improvement and transformation of settlement system, in which case we should base on the new geopolitical situation in the country, the development and modernization of transport and communication infrastructure, where it is necessary to consider both the internal needs of the state and external ones in order to think about possible ways of problem solutions in major cities, as well as the main directions of urban development reforms. The main objectives of the urban development policy are the development of social and economic level of small towns, activities for the conservation of historical, cultural and natural heritage of Russia, the use of modern theories of urban planning, the development of research in this area (both abstract and applied, conducting statistical base of urban development activities. The authors describe the schemes of entry into long-term ownership of land under the current system of urban regulation and the system based on zoning, which acts in real estate market conditions. Among other things, the article offers an idea of the method of socio-controlled planning, which supposes the development plans of the city's buildings and areas, different urban systems (based on the analysis of the existing problems and the needs that must be met.

  9. 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.

  10. Associations between poor health and school-related behavior problems at the child and family levels: a cross-sectional study of migrant children and adolescents in southwest urban China.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Jing-Jing; Li, Ning-Xiu; Liu, Chao-Jie

    2010-06-01

    Due to urbanization in China, the numbers of migrant children and adolescents in urban environments have increased. Previous studies have indicated that children and adolescents are more likely to suffer from health problems and poor school achievement. The present study identified associations between poor health and school-related behavior problems (ie, learning attitudes and learning disabilities [LL], antisocial behavior and risk behavior [AR], and social adaptation and role function [SR]) at the child and family levels. A cross-sectional design was used. Seven hundred and eighty-one participants were recruited in inclusive settings. Correlational analysis was conducted to assess the associations between demographic variables and the primary study variables. Logistic regression analysis was used to determine which study factors were the strongest predictors of general health problems. School-aged migrants who had poorer health tended to be more likely to suffer from school-related behavior problems. Poor health was also found to hinder scholastic achievement in migrant children and adolescents through a higher prevalence of school-related behavior problems, including negative learning attitudes and learning disabilities, antisocial behavior and risk behavior, and social maladjustment. Health risk factors included inappropriate parental education methods, fewer classmates, and less social support. Health and individual risk factors should be explored further to determine their causal role in migrant children and adolescents with school-related behavior problems. These results have implications for future school health education for these students.

  11. Problem-solving performance and reproductive success of great tits in urban and forest habitats.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Preiszner, Bálint; Papp, Sándor; Pipoly, Ivett; Seress, Gábor; Vincze, Ernő; Liker, András; Bókony, Veronika

    2017-01-01

    Success in problem solving, a form of innovativeness, can help animals exploit their environments, and recent research suggests that it may correlate with reproductive success. Innovativeness has been proposed to be especially beneficial in urbanized habitats, as suggested by superior problem-solving performance of urban individuals in some species. If there is stronger selection for innovativeness in cities than in natural habitats, we expect problem-solving performance to have a greater positive effect on fitness in more urbanized habitats. We tested this idea in great tits (Parus major) breeding at two urban sites and two forests by measuring their problem-solving performance in an obstacle-removal task and a food-acquisition task. Urban pairs were significantly faster problem-solvers in both tasks. Solving speed in the obstacle-removal task was positively correlated with hatching success and the number of fledglings, whereas performance in the food-acquisition task did not correlate with reproductive success. These relationships did not differ between urban and forest habitats. Neophobia, sensitivity to human disturbance, and risk taking in the presence of a predator did not explain the relationships of problem-solving performance either with habitat type or with reproductive success. Our results suggest that the benefit of innovativeness in terms of reproductive success is similar in urban and natural habitats, implying that problem-solving skills may be enhanced in urban populations by some other benefits (e.g. increased survival) or reduced costs (e.g. more opportunities to gain practice with challenging tasks).

  12. Assessment of the environment-related problems and prospects of ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    The study attempted to assess the environment-related problems and prospects of vegetable production in peri – urban areas of Lagos state, Nigeria. A total of one hundred and twenty (120) farmers were interviewed. Data collected were analyzed using frequency, percentages and Pearson Product Moment Correlation ...

  13. Perceived personal safety in relation to urban woodland vegetation – A review

    OpenAIRE

    Jansson, Märit; Fors, Hanna; Lindgren, Therese; Wiström, Björn

    2013-01-01

    Urban woodland vegetation provides people with many aesthetic, ecological and psychological benefits, but can also generate problems concerning people’s perception of safety. This paper reviews existing knowledge about perceived personal safety in relation to vegetation, particularly woodland vegetation, in urban green spaces such as parks and residential areas. Individual and social factors, but also vegetation character, maintenance and design, proved to be important for perceived personal ...

  14. Multiperiod Hierarchical Location Problem of Transit Hub in Urban Agglomeration Area

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ting-ting Li

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available With the rapid urbanization in developing countries, urban agglomeration area (UAA forms. Also, transportation demand in UAA grows rapidly and presents hierarchical feature. Therefore, it is imperative to develop models for transit hubs to guide the development of UAA and better meet the time-varying and hierarchical transportation demand. In this paper, the multiperiod hierarchical location problem of transit hub in urban agglomeration area (THUAA is studied. A hierarchical service network of THUAA with a multiflow, nested, and noncoherent structure is described. Then a multiperiod hierarchical mathematical programming model is proposed, aiming at minimizing the total demand weighted travel time. Moreover, an improved adaptive clonal selection algorithm is presented to solve the model. Both the model and algorithm are verified by the application to a real-life problem of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Region in China. The results of different scenarios in the case show that urban population migration has a great impact on the THUAA location scheme. Sustained and appropriate urban population migration helps to reduce travel time for urban residents.

  15. The less healthy urban population: income-related health inequality in China

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-01-01

    Background Health inequality has been recognized as a problem all over the world. In China, the poor usually have less access to healthcare than the better-off, despite having higher levels of need. Since the proportion of the Chinese population living in urban areas increased tremendously with the urbanization movements, attention has been paid to the association between urban/rural residence and population health. It is important to understand the variation in health across income groups, and in particular to take into account the effects of urban/rural residence on the degree of income-related health inequalities. Methods This paper empirically assesses the magnitude of rural/urban disparities in income-related adult health status, i.e., self-assessed health (SAH) and physical activity limitation, using Concentration Indices. It then uses decomposition methods to unravel the causes of inequalities and their variations across urban and rural populations. Data from the China Health and Nutrition Survey (CHNS) 2006 are used. Results The study finds that the poor are less likely to report their health status as “excellent or good” and are more likely to have physical activity limitation. Such inequality is more pronounced for the urban population than for the rural population. Results from the decomposition analysis suggest that, for the urban population, 76.47 per cent to 79.07 per cent of inequalities are driven by non-demographic/socioeconomic-related factors, among which income, job status and educational level are the most important factors. For the rural population, 48.19 per cent to 77.78 per cent of inequalities are driven by non-demographic factors. Income and educational attainment appear to have a prominent influence on inequality. Conclusion The findings suggest that policy targeting the poor, especially the urban poor, is needed in order to reduce health inequality. PMID:22989200

  16. The less healthy urban population: income-related health inequality in China.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yang, Wei; Kanavos, Panos

    2012-09-18

    Health inequality has been recognized as a problem all over the world. In China, the poor usually have less access to healthcare than the better-off, despite having higher levels of need. Since the proportion of the Chinese population living in urban areas increased tremendously with the urbanization movements, attention has been paid to the association between urban/rural residence and population health. It is important to understand the variation in health across income groups, and in particular to take into account the effects of urban/rural residence on the degree of income-related health inequalities. This paper empirically assesses the magnitude of rural/urban disparities in income-related adult health status, i.e., self-assessed health (SAH) and physical activity limitation, using Concentration Indices. It then uses decomposition methods to unravel the causes of inequalities and their variations across urban and rural populations. Data from the China Health and Nutrition Survey (CHNS) 2006 are used. The study finds that the poor are less likely to report their health status as "excellent or good" and are more likely to have physical activity limitation. Such inequality is more pronounced for the urban population than for the rural population. Results from the decomposition analysis suggest that, for the urban population, 76.47 per cent to 79.07 per cent of inequalities are driven by non-demographic/socioeconomic-related factors, among which income, job status and educational level are the most important factors. For the rural population, 48.19 per cent to 77.78 per cent of inequalities are driven by non-demographic factors. Income and educational attainment appear to have a prominent influence on inequality. The findings suggest that policy targeting the poor, especially the urban poor, is needed in order to reduce health inequality.

  17. The less healthy urban population: income-related health inequality in China

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yang Wei

    2012-09-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Health inequality has been recognized as a problem all over the world. In China, the poor usually have less access to healthcare than the better-off, despite having higher levels of need. Since the proportion of the Chinese population living in urban areas increased tremendously with the urbanization movements, attention has been paid to the association between urban/rural residence and population health. It is important to understand the variation in health across income groups, and in particular to take into account the effects of urban/rural residence on the degree of income-related health inequalities. Methods This paper empirically assesses the magnitude of rural/urban disparities in income-related adult health status, i.e., self-assessed health (SAH and physical activity limitation, using Concentration Indices. It then uses decomposition methods to unravel the causes of inequalities and their variations across urban and rural populations. Data from the China Health and Nutrition Survey (CHNS 2006 are used. Results The study finds that the poor are less likely to report their health status as “excellent or good” and are more likely to have physical activity limitation. Such inequality is more pronounced for the urban population than for the rural population. Results from the decomposition analysis suggest that, for the urban population, 76.47 per cent to 79.07 per cent of inequalities are driven by non-demographic/socioeconomic-related factors, among which income, job status and educational level are the most important factors. For the rural population, 48.19 per cent to 77.78 per cent of inequalities are driven by non-demographic factors. Income and educational attainment appear to have a prominent influence on inequality. Conclusion The findings suggest that policy targeting the poor, especially the urban poor, is needed in order to reduce health inequality.

  18. The Formation of the Urban Environment in the West Siberian Oil and Gas Region: Problems and Challenges

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bauer, N. V.; Speranskaya, N. I.; Shabatura, L. N.; Iatsevich, O. E.

    2016-10-01

    The article deals with the problems faced by the person in relation to the culture of creating a sustainable urban environment. The urban environment is seen as space of human existence, influencing its spiritual and physical health. All the experts involved in the urban environment, think about the culture of its formation, unfortunately, only from a departmental point of view. Differently organized human environment inevitably affects behavior, emotional state of a man, his perception and understanding of space. The cultural heritage of society fits in the space of an artificial environment created by a man, and determines the behavior of people.For the solution of problems of formation of the urban environment, it is necessary to apply a set of interrelated technical, social, environmental, aesthetic and other measures. In this capacity, landscape design as a set of methods has to build a sustainable urban environment to ensure harmonious living.Current trends, methods, and techniques of landscape design are to create sustainable environment for a person - creative, spiritual, comfortable, attractive, safe, harmonious.

  19. Problem Solution Project: Transforming Curriculum and Empowering Urban Students and Teachers

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jarrett, Olga S.; Stenhouse, Vera

    2011-01-01

    This article presents findings of 6 years of implementing a Problem Solution Project, an assignment influenced by service learning, problem-based learning, critical theory, and critical pedagogy whereby teachers help children tackle real problems. Projects of 135 teachers in an urban certification/master's program were summarized by cohort year…

  20. THE PROBLEM OF URBAN LAND MASS VALUATION OBJECTIVENESS AND WAYS OF SOLVING IT

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    DRAPIKOVSKYI O. I.

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available Raising of problem. Implementation of prudent investment, urban planning and fiscal policy is possible only if there is knowledge of the real value of land in the entire city, which is obtained by the mass appraisal of urban land. The implementation of this important social function puts strict requirements for urban land mass valuation results objectiveness and comparability, stated in the international sectoral standards and regulations. Purpose. The aim of the article is to determine the basic requirements to urban land mass valuation results objectiveness maintenance and to analyse the compliance of the normative monetary valuation with these requirements. Conclusion. The problem of urban land mass valuation objectiveness can be considered through the prism of the ontological, epistemological and logical aspects, compliance with which allows the anticipation of the expected improvement of this valuation methodological apparatus efficiency.

  1. Marginalization and health service coverage among indigenous, rural, and urban populations: a public health problem in Mexico.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Roldán, José; Álvarez, Marsela; Carrasco, María; Guarneros, Noé; Ledesma, José; Cuchillo-Hilario, Mario; Chávez, Adolfo

    2017-12-01

      Marginalization is a significant issue in Mexico, involving a lack of access to health services with differential impacts on Indigenous, rural and urban populations. The objective of this study was to understand Mexico’s public health problem across three population areas, Indigenous, rural and urban, in relation to degree of marginalization and health service coverage.   The sampling universe of the study consisted of 107 458 geographic locations in the country. The study was retrospective, comparative and confirmatory. The study applied analysis of variance, parametric and non-parametric, correlation and correspondence analyses.   Significant differences were identified between the Indigenous, rural and urban populations with respect to their level of marginalization and access to health services. The most affected area was Indigenous, followed by rural areas. The sector that was least affected was urban.   Although health coverage is highly concentrated in urban areas in Mexico, shortages are mostly concentrated in rural areas where Indigenous groups represent the extreme end of marginalization and access to medical coverage. Inadequate access to health services in the Indigenous and rural populations throws the gravity of the public health problem into relief.

  2. Urban diffusion problems

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hanna, S.R.

    1976-01-01

    It is hoped that urban diffusion models of air pollutants can eventually confidently be used to make major decisions, such as in planning the layout of a new industrial park, determining the effects of a new highway on air quality, or estimating the results of a new automobile emissions exhaust system. The urban diffusion model itself should be able to account for point, line, and area sources, and the local aerodynamic effects of street canyons and building wakes. Removal or transformations due to dry or wet deposition and chemical reactions are often important. It would be best if the model included meteorological parameters such as wind speed and temperature as dependent variables, since these parameters vary significantly when air passes from rural surfaces over urban surfaces

  3. Urban elders and casino gambling: Are they at risk of a gambling problem?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zaranek, Rochelle R; Lichtenberg, Peter A

    2008-01-01

    This study examined gambling among older adults and explored the critical predictors of problem gambling behaviors. Relatively unknown and understudied is the extent, or prevalence, of problem gambling behaviors among urban elders and the factors associated with problem gambling. The sample consisted of 1410 randomly selected participants, aged 60 and older, who reside in the City of Detroit. Mental health, health, demographics, social activities, senior optimism, social support network, and frequency of casino visits were examined in order to predict problem gambling behaviors among elders. The survey implemented the Lie/Bet Questionnaire for Screening Probable pathological Gamblers. The results showed that the prevalence of problem gambling behaviors was 10.4% overall, and 18% of persons reporting any casino visitation. Predictors accounted for 16% of problem gambling behaviors. The findings from this study confirmed that gambling has the potential to become a serious health problem among elders. Copyright © 2007 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  4. Area Deprivation Affects Behavioral Problems of Young Adolescents in Mixed Urban and Rural Areas : The TRAILS Study

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Reijneveld, S.A.; Veenstra, R.; De Winter, A.F.; Verhulst, F.C.; Ormel, J.; de Meer, G.

    2010-01-01

    Purpose: Behavioral problems occur more frequently among adolescents in deprived areas, but most evidence concerns urbanized areas. Our aim was to assess the impact of area deprivation and urbanization on the occurrence and development of behavioral problems among adolescents in a mixed urban and

  5. [Problems resulting from the absorption of small towns into urban areas in major Third World cities].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mckee, D L

    1985-01-01

    The tendency toward hypertrophy of large metropolitan areas in the Third World has been a subject of concern to economists and other social scientists for some time. Inability to absorb vast waves of migrants into the organized labor force or to provide adequate infrastructure and services are serious problems in many growing cities of Asia, Africa, and Latin America. A different phenomenon created by perpetual urban expansion has been relatively neglected: the problems caused when preexisting urban areas are absorbed into the metropolis. The tendency of squatter settlements to constrict normal urban growth and expansion and to impede rational provision of services has been recognized, but the absorption of small cities does not necessarily produce identical problems. Small cities absorbed into a metropolis lose their identity in the successive waves of suburban proliferation. Los Angeles in the US may be considered the prototype of the phenomenon in which multiple preexisting urban zones are absorbed into the same metropolis without formation of any visible center of gravity. In some cases, small cities may be completely engulfed by the encroaching metropolis, if transit routes or availability of land makes them interesting to developers. The livelihood of residents may be threatened if they are no longer able to cultivate gardens or raise small animals. Local services may deteriorate. The youngest and most able residents are likely to abandon such places for the greater opportunities of the city, leaving the aged and less qualified to fend for themselves. Jobs may disappear and traditional commercial relations may be destroyed without being replaced. The future wellbeing of residents depends on their ability to maneuver in the new metropolitan environment, but many will be unable to adjust for lack of training, the weight of immovable property, or diverse personal considerations. Planning could help to reduce the problems that occasional survival of some small

  6. Problems of spatial planning and urban development: social-philosophical aspect

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mezentsev Sergey Dmitrievich

    2014-07-01

    Full Text Available The article examines social and philosophical problems of spatial planning and urban development from the 1920's until the present. From the historical point of view there are three phases: the 1920s, 1930-1980s, 1990-2010s. In the 1920s two approaches were used in the development of the country: technical and economic and personalistics. The first meant not only the development of power engineering but also of the economy in the whole country. The second lies in stimulation of active creative work, disclosure of worker’s personal potential. On the one hand, it was turned to economic and technical modernization on the basis of the State Plan of the Electrification of Russia; on the other, it was relied on "diligent farmer". In the 1930-1980s the technical and economic approach was dominating. In the 1990-2010s the market approach was widely extended. According to the latter, the development of the national economy should be executed depending on the law of demand and supply. In Russia the realization of the market economy based on demand and supply was reduced to development of exclusively highly profitable business. In the article the author uses the methods of historical knowledge, analysis and comparison and provides suggestions on solving problems of spatial planning and urban development. Special emphasis is placed on the Soviet experience of the 1920s, when the market relations have not been completely destroyed.

  7. The Role of Stakeholders Related to the Management of Ecological Function of Urban Green Open Space. Case Study: City of Depok, Indonesia

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mangopa Malik, Andy Anton

    2017-12-01

    Urban green open space is one of the assets that provide substantial benefits to the urban community. One important function of urban green open space is a function of ecology. This study will provide initial explanation on the various studies related to the ecological function of urban green open space. The study of urban space management approach related to ecological function will explain the extent of the role of stakeholders in the urban areas that will further strengthen the importance of the existence of green open space, especially in city of Depok. With so many problems related to the supply and use of green open space in the city of Depok. This approach was originally applied by the private sector and many applications made a great contribution, so it began to be used by the government in managing public assets there. This study will use descriptive method, at the beginning of the study will explain the existence of the reality of urban green open space as part of the urban space by viewing it from theoretical overview of space, function and role of the various problems that occur in it. The results of this study indicate there are six problems in the management of green open spaces in city of Depok. Using the stages in asset management will provide space for participation of existing stakeholders in the management of green open spaces in city of Depok.

  8. Relational aggression and adverse psychosocial and physical health symptoms among urban adolescents.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Williams, Jessica Roberts; Fredland, Nina; Han, Hae-Ra; Campbell, Jacquelyn C; Kub, Joan E

    2009-01-01

    The purpose of this study was to examine relational aggression and its relationship with adverse psychosocial and physical health symptoms among urban, African American youth. Quantitative, cross-sectional survey design. The sample consisted of 185 predominantly African American (95.1%) seventh-grade students (mean age: 13.0; female: 58%) attending 4 urban middle schools. The Children's Social Behavior Scale and Social Experience Questionnaire were used to measure relational aggression and relational victimization. The Pediatric Symptom Checklist was used to assess psychosocial difficulties, including internalizing behaviors, externalizing behaviors, and attention problems. Physical health symptoms were measured with questions about colds/flu, headaches, and stomach aches. 2-way multivariate analysis of variance revealed significant differences in externalizing behavior, with perpetrators reporting higher levels than nonperpetrators. Victims reported more internalizing behavior than nonvictims; however, this was only significant for males. For females, significant negative effects on health outcomes were found, resulting from the interaction of perpetration and victimization. Findings suggest that relational aggression is a common occurrence among urban, minority adolescents and may result in adverse health outcomes. These results provide several avenues for future research and implications for healthcare practice. Intervention strategies are needed to prevent relational aggression and continual or subsequent adverse health symptoms.

  9. Location of Urban Logistic Terminals as Hub Location Problem

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jasmina Pašagić Škrinjar

    2012-09-01

    Full Text Available In this paper the problems of locating urban logistic terminals are studied as hub location problems that due to a large number of potential nodes in big cities belong to hard non-polynomial problems, the so-called NP-problems. The hub location problems have found wide application in physical planning of transport and telecommunication systems, especially systems of fast delivery, networks of logistic and distribution centres and cargo traffic terminals of the big cities, etc. The paper defines single and multiple allocations and studies the numerical examples. The capacitated single allocation hub location problems have been studied, with the provision of a mathematical model of selecting the location for the hubs on the network. The paper also presents the differences in the possibilities of implementing the exact and heuristic methods to solve the actual location problems of big dimensions i.e. hub problems of the big cities.

  10. Mental Health, School Problems, and Social Networks: Modeling Urban Adolescent Substance Use

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mason, Michael J.

    2010-01-01

    This study tested a mediation model of the relationship with school problems, social network quality, and substance use with a primary care sample of 301 urban adolescents. It was theorized that social network quality (level of risk or protection in network) would mediate the effects of school problems, accounting for internalizing problems and…

  11. Students' Preconceptions about Urban Environmental Problems and Solid Waste.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Membiela, Pedro; And Others

    1993-01-01

    Examined students' preconceptions about environmental problems in cities, particularly that of urban disposable waste. They found that students' ideas were dominated by what they perceived, without regard to existing interactions, and that students were unaware of the fundamental role of reuse and recycling in the solution of the disposal of solid…

  12. Addressing the minimum fleet problem in on-demand urban mobility.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vazifeh, M M; Santi, P; Resta, G; Strogatz, S H; Ratti, C

    2018-05-01

    Information and communication technologies have opened the way to new solutions for urban mobility that provide better ways to match individuals with on-demand vehicles. However, a fundamental unsolved problem is how best to size and operate a fleet of vehicles, given a certain demand for personal mobility. Previous studies 1-5 either do not provide a scalable solution or require changes in human attitudes towards mobility. Here we provide a network-based solution to the following 'minimum fleet problem', given a collection of trips (specified by origin, destination and start time), of how to determine the minimum number of vehicles needed to serve all the trips without incurring any delay to the passengers. By introducing the notion of a 'vehicle-sharing network', we present an optimal computationally efficient solution to the problem, as well as a nearly optimal solution amenable to real-time implementation. We test both solutions on a dataset of 150 million taxi trips taken in the city of New York over one year 6 . The real-time implementation of the method with near-optimal service levels allows a 30 per cent reduction in fleet size compared to current taxi operation. Although constraints on driver availability and the existence of abnormal trip demands may lead to a relatively larger optimal value for the fleet size than that predicted here, the fleet size remains robust for a wide range of variations in historical trip demand. These predicted reductions in fleet size follow directly from a reorganization of taxi dispatching that could be implemented with a simple urban app; they do not assume ride sharing 7-9 , nor require changes to regulations, business models, or human attitudes towards mobility to become effective. Our results could become even more relevant in the years ahead as fleets of networked, self-driving cars become commonplace 10-14 .

  13. An Overview of Problems and Solutions for Urban Freight Transport in Brazilian Cities

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Leise K. Oliveira

    2018-04-01

    Full Text Available Urban freight transport is a challenge for Brazilian cities due to the lack of adequate planning for freight flow movement. Public managers also show negligence and a lack of awareness when dealing with urban logistics. Decision-support data on urban freight transport are still scarce, despite being of fundamental value to economic development. With this in mind, this paper presents problems and solutions regarding urban freight transport in Brazilian cities. Data were obtained through a survey conducted in nine cities and analysed by means of descriptive statistics and the successive intervals method. Additionally, a cluster analysis was performed to identify patterns regarding the typical characteristics of each city in order to compare and generalise the perception of retailers regarding problems and solutions at the national level. The results indicate divergent opinions among retailers from different cities, even from cities with similar socioeconomic profiles and urban dynamics. The municipalities which demonstrated the most similarities were (i Betim and Niteroi, in the Southeast of Brazil; (ii Palmas and Quixada, in the North and Northeast, respectively; and (iii Palmas and Caruaru, also in the North and Northeast. The results reinforce the importance of studying the local context and involving stakeholders in the process of planning urban logistics solutions.

  14. The delivery dispatching problem with time windows for urban consolidation centers

    OpenAIRE

    van Heeswijk, W.J.A.; Mes, Martijn R.K.; Schutten, Johannes M.J.

    2015-01-01

    This paper addresses the dispatch decision problem faced by an urban consolidation center. The center receives orders according to a stochastic arrival process, and dispatches them for the last-mile distribution in batches. The operator of the center aims to fi nd the cost-minimizing consolidation policy, depending on the orders at hand, pre-announced orders, and stochastic arrivals. We present this problem as a variant of the Delivery Dispatching Problem that includes dispatch windows, and m...

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

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

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

    2015-01-15

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

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

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

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

    2015-01-01

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

  17. Impact of Witnessing Violence on Growth Curves for Problem Behaviors among Early Adolescents in Urban and Rural Settings

    Science.gov (United States)

    Farrell, Albert D.; Sullivan, Terri N.

    2004-01-01

    Two studies used latent growth-curve analysis to examine the relation between witnessing violence and changes in problem behaviors (drug use, aggression, and delinquency) and attitudes during early adolescence. In Study 1, six waves of data covering 6th to 8th grades were collected from 731 students in urban schools serving mostly African-American…

  18. Environment Degradation Cause by Urbanization in Pakistan: A Review

    OpenAIRE

    Muhammad Qasim; Malik Muhammad Anees; Muhammad Usman Ghani; Jahanzaib Malik; Moeen Khalid; Aroj Bashir

    2014-01-01

    Urbanization is the physical growth of urban areas. Urbanization is serious worldwide problems. Urbanization and environmental problems are the recent developmental issues in Pakistan. The study was used Secondary data and information was collected from various publications such as books, journals, magazines, published and unpublished dissertations, newspapers, and internet as well as institutions related to urbanization and Environment.These harms are very composite and their connections are...

  19. 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...

  20. 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...

  1. The delivery dispatching problem with time windows for urban consolidation centers

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    van Heeswijk, W.J.A.; Mes, Martijn R.K.; Schutten, Johannes M.J.

    2015-01-01

    This paper addresses the dispatch decision problem faced by an urban consolidation center. The center receives orders according to a stochastic arrival process, and dispatches them for the last-mile distribution in batches. The operator of the center aims to fi nd the cost-minimizing consolidation

  2. The study of urban systems by indicators. State of the art and implementation problems

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Del Ciello, R.; Napoleoni, S.

    2001-01-01

    The purpose of this work is to define the state of the art about the problem of the indicators and their capability in reading and foreseeing the urban complexity. Therefore, the theoretical elaborations and the suggestions developed in the report try to convert the different contributions in the Italian and international literature in a frame-work, focusing on those arguments which assume a key role in the study of the urban areas: (a) the problematic definition of the administrative, physics and functional boarders of the cities; (b) the selection of the indicators that describe the urban areas; (c) the description and quality of life and of environment quality in the cities; (d) the sustainability in urban areas [it

  3. Urban forests and green spaces of Tbilisi and ecological problems of the city

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    T.K. Patarkalashvili

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available The increase in urbanization is the most dramatic factor in today's world and it did not passed round Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia, too. Since the sixties of the 20th century the population of the city nearly doubled and today is about 1.3–1.4 million. Many problems that may not have been so evident in the past, became obvious and dramatic today. These problems concern urban forests and green spaces of the city because they shrank considerably and as the result, deteriorated ecological situation. Today, their role in improvement of city climate is little. In the Soviet period the main polluters of the air considered factories and plants, but today, after breaking of the Soviet Union and closing or destruction of all factories and plants, the increasing number of light vehicles, especially outdated once, manufactured before 1999(67% are the main source of pollution(80%. The article highlights the historical development of Tbilisi urban forests and green spaces and outlines some challenges and prospects of ecological condition of the city.

  4. The association between self-reported diet quality and health-related quality of life in rural and urban Australian adolescents.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bolton, Kristy A; Jacka, Felice; Allender, Steven; Kremer, Peter; Gibbs, Lisa; Waters, Elizabeth; de Silva, Andrea

    2016-10-01

    This study examines the relationship between diet quality and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in rural and urban Australian adolescents, and gender differences. Cross-sectional. Secondary schools. 722 rural and 422 urban students from 19 secondary schools. Self-report dietary-related behaviours, demographic information, HRQoL (AQoL-6D) were collected. Healthy and unhealthy diet quality scores were calculated; multiple linear regression investigated associations between diet quality and HRQoL. Compared to urban students, rural students had higher HRQoL, higher healthy diet score, lower unhealthy diet score, consumed less soft drink and less frequently, less takeaway and a higher proportion consumed breakfast (P health problems. Such interventions should consider gender and locality. © 2016 National Rural Health Alliance Inc.

  5. Evaluation of sleep related breathing problems and sleep disturbances among health related employees at Fayoum University Hospitals

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Radwa Ahmed Elhefny

    2016-07-01

    Conclusion: Our findings indicate that the daytime somnolence is common among health care workers followed by nocturnal sleep problems. Urbanization and large scale of industrialization can explain the incidence of sleep problems among rural living.

  6. Modification of Heat-Related Mortality in an Elderly Urban Population by Vegetation (Urban Green) and Proximity to Water (Urban Blue): Evidence from Lisbon, Portugal.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Burkart, Katrin; Meier, Fred; Schneider, Alexandra; Breitner, Susanne; Canário, Paulo; Alcoforado, Maria João; Scherer, Dieter; Endlicher, Wilfried

    2016-07-01

    Urban populations are highly vulnerable to the adverse effects of heat, with heat-related mortality showing intra-urban variations that are likely due to differences in urban characteristics and socioeconomic status. We investigated the influence of urban green and urban blue, that is, urban vegetation and water bodies, on heat-related excess mortality in the elderly > 65 years old in Lisbon, Portugal, between 1998 and 2008. We used remotely sensed data and geographic information to determine the amount of urban vegetation and the distance to bodies of water (the Atlantic Ocean and the Tagus Estuary). Poisson generalized additive models were fitted, allowing for the interaction between equivalent temperature [universal thermal climate index (UTCI)] and quartiles of urban greenness [classified using the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI)] and proximity to water (≤ 4 km vs. > 4 km), while adjusting for potential confounders. The association between mortality and a 1°C increase in UTCI above the 99th percentile (24.8°C) was stronger for areas in the lowest NDVI quartile (14.7% higher; 95% CI: 1.9, 17.5%) than for areas in the highest quartile (3.0%; 95% CI: 2.0, 4.0%). In areas > 4 km from water, a 1°C increase in UTCI above the 99th percentile was associated with a 7.1% increase in mortality (95% CI: 6.2, 8.1%), whereas in areas ≤ 4 km from water, the estimated increase in mortality was only 2.1% (95% CI: 1.2, 3.0%). Urban green and blue appeared to have a mitigating effect on heat-related mortality in the elderly population in Lisbon. Increasing the amount of vegetation may be a good strategy to counteract the adverse effects of heat in urban areas. Our findings also suggest potential benefits of urban blue that may be present several kilometers from a body of water. Burkart K, Meier F, Schneider A, Breitner S, Canário P, Alcoforado MJ, Scherer D, Endlicher W. 2016. Modification of heat-related mortality in an elderly urban population by

  7. Problem-Solving Methods for the Prospective Development of Urban Power Distribution Network

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    A. P. Karpenko

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available This article succeeds the former A. P. K nko’ and A. I. Kuzmina’ ubl t on titled "A mathematical model of urban distribution electro-network considering its future development" (electronic scientific and technical magazine "Science and education" No. 5, 2014.The article offers a model of urban power distribution network as a set of transformer and distribution substations and cable lines. All elements of the network and new consumers are determined owing to vectors of parameters consistent with them.A problem of the urban power distribution network design, taking into account a prospective development of the city, is presented as a problem of discrete programming. It is in deciding on the optimal option to connect new consumers to the power supply network, on the number and sites to build new substations, and on the option to include them in the power supply network.Two methods, namely a reduction method for a set the nested tasks of global minimization and a decomposition method are offered to solve the problem.In reduction method the problem of prospective development of power supply network breaks into three subtasks of smaller dimension: a subtask to define the number and sites of new transformer and distribution substations, a subtask to define the option to connect new consumers to the power supply network, and a subtask to include new substations in the power supply network. The vector of the varied parameters is broken into three subvectors consistent with the subtasks. Each subtask is solved using an area of admissible vector values of the varied parameters at the fixed components of the subvectors obtained when solving the higher subtasks.In decomposition method the task is presented as a set of three, similar to reduction method, reductions of subtasks and a problem of coordination. The problem of coordination specifies a sequence of the subtasks solution, defines the moment of calculation termination. Coordination is realized by

  8. SLC summer 2010 university - The ocean in the climate-energy problem, urban policies. Proceedings

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2010-09-01

    This document brings together the available presentations given at the summer 2010 university of the SLC (save the climate) organization on the topics of the ocean in the climate-energy problem, and of the urban policies. Nine presentations (slides) are compiled in this document and deal with: 1 - Biofuels made from micro-algae: stakes and challenges (Olivier Bernard, Comore - INRIA /CNRS/UPMC); 2 - The energy of waves (Alain Clement, Ecole Centrale de Nantes); 3 - The sea, new source of renewable energies? (J.J. Herou, EDF CIH); 4 - Oceans acidification: the other CO 2 problem (James Orr, Pierre Simon Laplace Institute - IPSL, Laboratory of climate and environmental Sciences - LSCE, CEA-CNRS-UVSQ); 5 - Oceans and carbon cycle (Laurent Bopp, IPSL/LSCE); 6 - Renewable marine energies (Yann-Herve De Roeck, France Energies Marines); 7 - Energy renovation of buildings (Jean-Claude Terrier, Mesac Europe); 8 - Modevur research project - Modeling of urban development, sketch of a development typology of chinese cities (Clement-Noel Douady); 9 - Urban areas in the fight against climate change: stakes, knowledge and controversies (Francois Menard, PUCA)

  9. Health Problems of the Under-Five Children in an Urban Slum in ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Objective: To determine the health problems common among under-five children in a typical urban slum in Nigeria and assess the treatment patterns commonly offered to these children. Methods: A community-based, cross-sectional survey was conducted in May-July 2010. A cluster sampling technique was used to select ...

  10. Environmental Health in Relation to Urban Planning and Human Physical Activity

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Oliver, L.H.L.; Siti Nur Afiqah Mohamed Musthafa; Dasimah Omar

    2015-01-01

    The world is changing everyday in a fast pace that makes majority of the urbanized areas becoming more congested and polluted by the development. The planning of the urban world has brought about a great impact towards the environment and health. With the large number of human population, urban areas will have various kinds of activities that contributed to the higher rate of pollutants compared to areas with less development. In a car oriented urban development pattern, majority of the population will choose automobiles as their transportation modes rather than walking or cycling. Due to that, the air emission in urban areas will increase rapidly, and reduce the physical activity. Air pollutants contribute to various health problems, especially respiratory infection. Besides, lacking of physical activities also increase the health risk. However, there is limited study on the relationship between urban land use setting and health in developing country. Thus, a study had been carried out to establish the relationship between urban setting and human health. It involved air quality data collection, observation on land use setting, and questionnaire survey on human health and the lifestyle. Findings from the relationship analysis had been discussed with suitable recommendation and conclusion. (author)

  11. Using mHealth technologies to improve the identification of behavioral health problems in urban primary care settings.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Staeheli, Martha; Aseltine, Robert H; Schilling, Elizabeth; Anderson, Daren; Gould, Bruce

    2017-01-01

    Behavioral health disorders remain under recognized and under diagnosed among urban primary care patients. Screening patients for such problems is widely recommended, yet is challenging to do in a brief primary care encounter, particularly for this socially and medically complex patient population. In 2013, intervention patients at an urban Connecticut primary clinic were screened for post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, and risky drinking (n = 146) using an electronic tablet-based screening tool. Screening data were compared to electronic health record data from control patients (n = 129) to assess differences in the prevalence of behavioral health problems, rates of follow-up care, and the rate of newly identified cases in the intervention group. Results from logistic regressions indicated that both groups had similar rates of disorder at baseline. Patients in the intervention group were five times more likely to be identified with depression (p Post-traumatic stress disorder was virtually unrecognized among controls but was observed in 23% of the intervention group (p behavioral health problems identified in the intervention group were new cases. Follow-up rates were significantly higher in the intervention group relative to controls, but were low overall. This tablet-based electronic screening tool identified significantly higher rates of behavioral health disorders than have been previously reported for this patient population. Electronic risk screening using patient-reported outcome measures offers an efficient approach to improving the identification of behavioral health problems and improving rates of follow-up care.

  12. Racial discrimination, post traumatic stress, and gambling problems among urban Aboriginal adults in Canada.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Currie, Cheryl L; Wild, T Cameron; Schopflocher, Donald P; Laing, Lory; Veugelers, Paul; Parlee, Brenda

    2013-09-01

    Little is known about risk factors for problem gambling (PG) within the rapidly growing urban Aboriginal population in North America. Racial discrimination may be an important risk factor for PG given documented associations between racism and other forms of addictive behaviour. This study examined associations between racial discrimination and problem gambling among urban Aboriginal adults, and the extent to which this link was mediated by post traumatic stress. Data were collected via in-person surveys with a community-based sample of Aboriginal adults living in a mid-sized city in western Canada (N = 381) in 2010. Results indicate more than 80 % of respondents experienced discrimination due to Aboriginal race in the past year, with the majority reporting high levels of racism in that time period. Past year racial discrimination was a risk factor for 12-month problem gambling, gambling to escape, and post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms in bootstrapped regression models adjusted for confounders and other forms of social trauma. Elevated PTSD symptoms among those experiencing high levels of racism partially explained the association between racism and the use of gambling to escape in statistical models. These findings are the first to suggest racial discrimination may be an important social determinant of problem gambling for Aboriginal peoples. Gambling may be a coping response that some Aboriginal adults use to escape the negative emotions associated with racist experiences. Results support the development of policies to reduce racism directed at Aboriginal peoples in urban areas, and enhanced services to help Aboriginal peoples cope with racist events.

  13. Focused Group Discussion of urban ASHA workers regarding their workrelated issues

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mansi M Brahmbhatt

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available Background: Urban ASHA workers bridge the gap between the Urban Health system and urban poor to provide accessible, affordable, accountable, reliable & effective primary health care.  Amis & Objectives: To identify work related problems faced by urban ASHA workers and to seek suggestions for their work-related issues. Settings and Design: FGD of Urban ASHA workers posted at Urban Health Centres of Ahmedabad. Methods and Material: Random sampling was used to select two UHCs and 8 Urban ASHA workers from both the UHCs for conducting FGDs. Statistical analysis used: interview transcribing. Results: Service gave them satisfaction, Salary did not!!! Some of the other important issues related to their work include transportation, cooperation from community, environmental issues & extended working hours. Conclusions: The problems identified and suggestions received needs to be taken seriously, addressed promptly and timely to improve service delivery.

  14. The nexus between urbanization and PM2.5 related mortality in China.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Miaomiao; Huang, Yining; Jin, Zhou; Ma, Zongwei; Liu, Xingyu; Zhang, Bing; Liu, Yang; Yu, Yang; Wang, Jinnan; Bi, Jun; Kinney, Patrick L

    2017-08-01

    The launch of China's new national urbanization plan, coupled with increasing concerns about air pollution, calls for better understandings of the nexus between urbanization and the air pollution-related health. Based on refined estimates of PM 2.5 related mortality in China, we developed an Urbanization-Excess Deaths Elasticity (U-EDE) indicator to measure the marginal PM 2.5 related mortality caused by urbanization. We then applied statistical models to estimate U-EDE and examined the modification effects of income on U-EDE. Urbanization in China between 2004 and 2012 led to increased PM 2.5 related mortality. A 1% increase in urbanization was associated with a 0.32%, 0.14%, and 0.50% increase in PM 2.5 related mortality of lung cancer, stroke, and ischemic heart disease. U-EDEs were modified by income with an inverted U curve, i.e., lower marginal impacts at the lowest and highest income levels. In addition, we projected the future U-EDE trend of China as a whole and found that China had experienced the peak of U-EDE and entered the second half of the inverted U-shaped curve. In the near future, national average U-EDE in China will decline along with the improvement of income level if no dramatic changes happen. However, the decreased U-EDE only implies that marginal PM 2.5 -related mortality brought by urbanization would decrease in China. Total health damage of urbanization will keep going up in the predictable future because the U-EDE is always positive. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  15. LIVED EXPERIENCES OF HEALTH PROBLEMS OF ELDERLY RESIDING IN URBAN AREAS, KATHMANDU: PILOT STUDY

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bista Archana, Joshi Sarala

    2015-10-01

    Full Text Available Introduction: Globally, number of old age population is increasing with advancement of biomedical technology. Old age is the time associated with biological, psychological and social changes which situate elderly to acquire different health related problems. Objectives: To find out lived experiences of elderly regarding their health problems residing in homes of Kathmandu city. Methods: Qualitative hermeneutic phenomenology approach was adopted. Researcher selected purposively four elderly residing in an urban area of Kathmandu Valley as the study participants. In-depth interview was conducted by using in-depth interview guideline, as well as medical records, field notes and observation clues were recorded. Interview was conducted in Nepali Language and was audio taped. The recording was transcribed by the researcher herself, and the data were analyzed thematically. Finally, different sources of data were triangulated. Results: The four main themes identified were physical health problems, impaired functional abilities, psychological and social problems. Experienced physical health problems were joint pain, hearing and vision deficit, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, diabetes, gastritis and fall injury. Impaired Functional abilities in performing activities of daily living was commonly experienced problems. Loneliness and decreased recent memory power were the psychological problems. Being neglected by family members, financial constraints for treatment and improper care during illness were the discerned social problems. Conclusion: Elderly are suffering from different physical health problems, impaired functional abilities, as well as various psycho-social problems. Thus, health promotional activities need to be promoted for decreasing morbidity of elderly. Family members need to be focused in the care of elderly through national policy.

  16. the urban jungle

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    One of the most significant problems facing urban communities today is the ... attempts to address such an ethic. THE URBAN ... (a) picture building; (b) problem solving; and (c) action taking. ... need to develop critical thinking and problem-solving skills. The urban ... environment is regarded as important by the school, and ...

  17. Urbanization Level and Vulnerability to Heat-Related Mortality in Jiangsu Province, China.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Kai; Zhou, Lian; Chen, Xiaodong; Ma, Zongwei; Liu, Yang; Huang, Lei; Bi, Jun; Kinney, Patrick L

    2016-12-01

    Although adverse effects of high temperature on mortality have been studied extensively in urban areas, little is known of the heat-mortality associations outside of cities. We investigated whether heat-mortality associations differed between urban and nonurban areas and how urbanicity affected the vulnerability to heat-related mortality. We first analyzed heat-related mortality risk in each of 102 counties in Jiangsu Province, China, during 2009-2013 using a distributed-lag nonlinear model. The county-specific estimates were then pooled for more urban (percentage of urban population ≥ 57.11%) and less urban (percentage of urban population risk comparing the 99th vs. 75th percentiles of temperature was 1.43 [95% posterior intervals (PI): 1.36, 1.50] in less urban counties and 1.26 (95% PI: 1.23, 1.30) in more urban counties. The heat effects on cardiorespiratory mortality followed a similar pattern. Higher education level and prevalence of air conditioning were significantly associated with counties having lower risks, whereas percentage of elderly people was significantly associated with increased risks. Our findings reveal that nonurban areas have significant heat-related mortality risks in Jiangsu, China. These results suggest the need for enhanced adaptation planning in Chinese nonurban areas under a changing climate. Citation: Chen K, Zhou L, Chen X, Ma Z, Liu Y, Huang L, Bi J, Kinney PL. 2016. Urbanization level and vulnerability to heat-related mortality in Jiangsu Province, China. Environ Health Perspect 124:1863-1869; http://dx.doi.org/10.1289/EHP204.

  18. 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

  19. Multiple Depots Vehicle Routing Problem in the Context of Total Urban Traffic Equilibrium

    OpenAIRE

    Chen, Dongxu; Yang, Zhongzhen

    2017-01-01

    A multidepot VRP is solved in the context of total urban traffic equilibrium. Under the total traffic equilibrium, the multidepot VRP is changed to GDAP (the problem of Grouping Customers + Estimating OD Traffic + Assigning traffic) and bilevel programming is used to model the problem, where the upper model determines the customers that each truck visits and adds the trucks’ trips to the initial OD (Origin/Destination) trips, and the lower model assigns the OD trips to road network. Feedback ...

  20. Pressure-Point Strategy: Leverages for Urban Systemic Transformation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Katleen De Flander

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Sustainability can be understood as a specific kind of problem framing that emphasizes the interconnectedness of different problems and scales and calls for new forms of problem handling that are much more process-oriented, reflexive and iterative in nature. Closely related with the notion of reflexive governance, we propose such an alternative strategy for societal problem handling and change management in the urban context. The strategy starts from stress states in the urban system(s and uses their initial momentum to encourage systemic change through intraventions—rather than interventions—at selected pressure points. This paper highlights the potential to evolve what has often been an intuitive practice, led by community or elected leaders with unique wisdom about functions and pressure points in their urban system, into a more accessible strategy for shaping socio-ecological transformation in urban practice.

  1. An Improved Distribution Policy with a Maintenance Aspect for an Urban Logistic Problem

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nadia Ndhaief

    2017-07-01

    Full Text Available In this paper, we present an improved distribution plan supporting an urban distribution center (UDC to solve the last mile problem of urban freight. This is motivated by the need of UDCs to satisfy daily demand in time under a high service level in allocated urban areas. Moreover, these demands could not be satisfied in individual cases because the delivery rate can be less than daily demand and/or affected by random failure or maintenance actions of vehicles. The scope of our work is to focus on a UDC, which needs to satisfy demands in a finite horizon. To that end, we consider a distribution policy on two sequential plans, a distribution plan correlated to a maintenance plan using a subcontracting strategy with several potential urban distribution centers (UDCs and performing preventive maintenance to ensure deliveries for their allocated urban area. The choice of subcontractor will depend on distance, environmental and availability criteria. In doing so, we define a mathematical model for searching the best distribution and maintenance plans using a subcontracting strategy. Moreover, we consider delay for the next periods with an expensive penalty. Finally, we present a numerical example illustrating the benefits of our approach.

  2. Urbanization and traffic related exposures as risk factors for Schizophrenia

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Pedersen, Carsten Bøcker; Mortensen, Preben Bo

    2006-01-01

    : The geographical distance from place of residence to nearest major road had a significant effect. The highest risk was found in children living 500-1000 metres from nearest major road (RR=1.30 (95% Confidence Interval: 1.17-1.44). However, when we accounted for the degree of urbanization, the geographical distance...... 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......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...

  3. Common mental health problems in historically disadvantaged urban and rural communities in South Africa: prevalence and risk factors

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Havenaar, Juhan; Geerlings, Mirjan; Vivian, Lauraine; Collinson, Marh; Robertson, Brian

    2007-01-01

    This paper reports on an epidemiological study of common mental health and substance abuse problems in a historically disadvantaged urban and rural community in South Africa. In the rural Limpopo Province of South Africa, and in a peri-urban township near Cape Town, self-report instruments were

  4. Dispossessing Urbanization: Urban Marxism in the Face of the Problem of Primitive Accumulation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Piotr Juskowiak

    2015-04-01

    Full Text Available The article is a complex attempt to present the achievements of the broadly understood urban Marxism in the field of reinterpretation of the classic concept from the cards of Capital – “primitive accumulation”. Drawing on theories of such scholars as David Harvey (“accumulation by dispossession” or Saskia Sassen (“expulsions”, the author points to the possible ways to operationalize the concept of “dispossessing urbanization”. Inspired by the theorizations of autonomist Marxists (Antonio Negri, Sandro Mezzadra, Massimo De Angelis, he proposes to see it as a relatively new and increasingly important dispostif that allows not only to improve traditional methods of enclosures and construct entirely new ones, but also to instrumentalize urban cultures which seems unlikely for the historical versions of primitive accumulation. This theoretical inspiration leads him also to highlight another gap in the accumulation by dispossession theory, namely the lack of sufficient reflection on the production of subjectivity processes which seem constitutive for the broad set of dispossessing practices.

  5. NUMERICAL ANALYSIS OF AN INVERSE PROBLEM ORIGINATED IN PHENOMENON OF POLLUTION AIR URBAN

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Aníbal Coronel

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available This paper presents the calibration study of a two - dimensional mathematical model for the problem of urban air pollution. It is mainly assumed that air pollution is afected by wind convection, diffusion and chemical reactions of pollutants. Consequently, a convection-diffusion-reaction equation is obtained as a direct problem. In the inverse problem, the determination of the diffusion is analyzed, assuming that one has an observation of the pollutants in a nite time. To solve it numerically the nite volume method is used, the least squares function is considered as cost function and the gradient is calculated with the sensitivity method.

  6. Common mental health problems in historically disadvantaged urban and rural communities in South Africa: prevalence and risk factors

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Havenaar, J.M.; Geerlings, M.I.; Vivian, L.; Collinson, M.; Robertson, B.

    2008-01-01

    This paper reports on an epidemiological study of common mental health and substance abuse problems in a historically disadvantaged urban and rural community in South Africa. In the rural Limpopo Province of South Africa, and in a peri-urban township near Cape Town, self-report instruments were used

  7. Common mental health problems in historically disadvantaged urban and rural communities in South Africa : prevalence and risk factors

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Havenaar, Juhan M.; Geerlings, Mirjan I.; Vivian, Lauraine; Collinson, Marh; Robertson, Brian

    This paper reports on an epidemiological study of common mental health and substance abuse problems in a historically disadvantaged urban and rural community in South Africa. In the rural Limpopo Province of South Africa, and in a peri-urban township near Cape Town, self-report instruments were used

  8. Prevalence of Mental Health Problems and Associated Risk Factors among Rural-to-Urban Migrant Children in Guangzhou, China.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Jun; Liu, Ke; Zheng, Jing; Liu, Jiali; You, Liming

    2017-11-14

    Rural-to-urban migration, which has achieved a huge scale during China's economic reform, is a potential risk factor for the mental health of migrant children. To test this hypothesis, this study assessed the mental health status of rural-to-urban migrant children. Guided by Andersen's behavioral model, the study explored the risk factors associated with mental health. The study recruited 1182 fifth/sixth-grade children from four private and four public primary schools in Guangzhou in 2014 in a descriptive cross-sectional design. Mental health status was measured by the strengths and difficulties questionnaire. Predisposing characteristics including demographics (e.g., age, gender), social structure (e.g., education, occupation) and health beliefs (health attitude) were recorded. Enabling characteristics including family and community resources and the need for health services were analyzed to explore the risk factors. The results indicate that more rural-to-urban migrant children were classified in the abnormal (21.0%) or borderline (18.8%) categories based on the total difficulties scores, the proportions of which were much higher than those of local children (9.8% abnormal, 13.8% borderline). Factors associated with a greater likelihood of mental health problems included single-parent families, seeking health information actively, family income cannot meet basic needs and poor perceived health status. Compared with the local children, the rural-to-urban migrant children had relatively poor mental health, hence monitoring and supporting mental health for rural-urban migrant children is critical.

  9. Ecological sustainability and urban form

    OpenAIRE

    Ivan Muñiz; Anna Galindo

    2001-01-01

    One controversial idea present in the debate on urban sustainability is that urban sprawl is an ecological stressing problem. We have tested this popular assumption by measuring the ecological footprint of commuting and housing of the 163 municipalities of the Barcelona Metropolitan Region and by relating the estimated values with residential density and accessibility, the fundamental determinant of residential density according to the Monocentric City Model.

  10. Traction-related problems after hip arthroscopy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lund, Bent; Grønbech Nielsen, Torsten; Lind, Martin

    2017-01-01

    Abstract Traction-related problems are poorly described in the existing literature. The purpose of this prospective study was to describe traction-related problems and how patients perceive these problems. The study was a descriptive cohort study and data were collected from questionnaires and patient files. The questionnaire included questions on patients’ perceptions of traction-related problems in the groin area, at the knee and ankle and how patients had coped with these problems. A total of 100 consecutive patients undergoing hip arthroscopy filled out the questionnaire. Primary findings of this study were that 74% of patients reported some sort of traction-related problems after hip arthroscopy. About 32% of the patients had problems in the groin area and 49% of the patients complained of symptoms in the knee joint. A total of 37% of the patients had experienced problems from the traction boot in the ankle area. The complications were found to be temporary and disappeared after 2–4 weeks. Five patients still had complaints after 3 months. All five patients had a pre-existing knee injury prior to undergoing hip arthroscopy. Traction-related problems after hip arthroscopy are a challenge and our study showed that 74% of the patients reported traction-related problems. This is significantly higher than previously reported. The present study found a high rate of complaints from the knee and ankle joints that have not previously been reported. The presented data suggest the need for more pre-surgery patient information about possible traction-related problems. PMID:28630721

  11. Park system concept for environmental sustainabilityin urban spatial development

    Science.gov (United States)

    Uniaty, Q.

    2018-01-01

    Urban Park System is an integrated concept between nature system and urban life. The problems caused by urban population activity resulted in the need to increase the balance between two systems. Establishment of urban park system is a response to the need for resilience of urban space structures. As an ideal requirement it needs to be built integration between the ecological, social, economic, aesthetic aspects of urban landscape architecture. The methodology was developed based on an approach to issues affecting the conditions due to urban issues and its relation to the development efforts of urban park system; Observation of Jakarta problem was obtained based on published studies and data, literature, characteristic and potential analyzes, local physical, from limited field observations. Both are simple methods aimed to describe the nature of a condition as well as form characteristics of problems in controlling the development of region, to examine the causes and symptoms. This method try to assess an object study compared between the conditions before and after. The benefits of urban park system development will not only improve the urban environment, but the value of urban pride, identity and control urban growth in line with efforts to improve the balance between conservation and development. Integrated urban park system will enhance the multifunctional role, connectivity, habitability, durability, identity and investment.

  12. 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...

  13. Behavioral Problems and Reading Difficulties among Language Minority and Monolingual Urban Elementary School Students

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pierce, Margaret E.; Wechsler-Zimring, Adrianna; Noam, Gil; Wolf, Maryanne; Katzir, Tami

    2013-01-01

    This study examined the potentially compounding effect of language minority (LM) status on problem behaviors among urban second and third grade-level poor readers. Univariate analyses showed that a disproportionate percentage of both LM and English monolingual (L1) poor readers already displayed clinically significant levels of anxiety, social…

  14. Rapid urbanization of red foxes in Estonia: distribution, behaviour, attacks on domestic animals, and health-risks related to zoonotic diseases.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Liivi Plumer

    Full Text Available Urban areas are becoming increasingly important for wildlife as diminishing natural habitats no longer represent a suitable environment for many species. Red foxes (Vulpes vulpes are nowadays common in many cities worldwide, and in recent years they have colonized urban areas in Estonia. We used a public web-based questionnaire approach to evaluate the distribution and behaviour of Estonian urban foxes, to detect related problems and to assess health risks to humans and domestic animals. In total, 1205 responses were collected throughout the country. Foxes have colonized the majority of Estonian towns (33 out of 47 in a relatively short period of time, and have already established breeding dens in several towns. Despite their recent arrival, the behaviour of Estonian urban foxes is similar to that reported in longer-established urban fox populations: they are mostly active during night-time, often visit city centres and some also have dens in such locations. Certain characteristics of urban foxes serve as a basis for conflict with humans: foxes have entered houses and attacked domestic animals, killing cats and poultry. About 8% of reported foxes exhibited symptoms of sarcoptic mange, a disease that also infects domestic animals, especially dogs. The proportion of mange-infected foxes was higher in large urban areas. In addition to mange, a substantial fraction of red foxes in Estonia are known to be infected with the life-threatening tapeworm Echinococcus multilocularis, the causative agent of alveolar echinococcosis. Therefore, urban foxes may represent a source of serious infectious disease for pets and humans.

  15. Rapid urbanization of red foxes in Estonia: distribution, behaviour, attacks on domestic animals, and health-risks related to zoonotic diseases.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Plumer, Liivi; Davison, John; Saarma, Urmas

    2014-01-01

    Urban areas are becoming increasingly important for wildlife as diminishing natural habitats no longer represent a suitable environment for many species. Red foxes (Vulpes vulpes) are nowadays common in many cities worldwide, and in recent years they have colonized urban areas in Estonia. We used a public web-based questionnaire approach to evaluate the distribution and behaviour of Estonian urban foxes, to detect related problems and to assess health risks to humans and domestic animals. In total, 1205 responses were collected throughout the country. Foxes have colonized the majority of Estonian towns (33 out of 47) in a relatively short period of time, and have already established breeding dens in several towns. Despite their recent arrival, the behaviour of Estonian urban foxes is similar to that reported in longer-established urban fox populations: they are mostly active during night-time, often visit city centres and some also have dens in such locations. Certain characteristics of urban foxes serve as a basis for conflict with humans: foxes have entered houses and attacked domestic animals, killing cats and poultry. About 8% of reported foxes exhibited symptoms of sarcoptic mange, a disease that also infects domestic animals, especially dogs. The proportion of mange-infected foxes was higher in large urban areas. In addition to mange, a substantial fraction of red foxes in Estonia are known to be infected with the life-threatening tapeworm Echinococcus multilocularis, the causative agent of alveolar echinococcosis. Therefore, urban foxes may represent a source of serious infectious disease for pets and humans.

  16. The Challenge of Urban and Regional Development in the Future

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tedjo Suminto

    2004-01-01

    Full Text Available The task of development is part of the overall national task carried out along governance. This task has been entrusted to the government as a gradual long-term task, planning, and sustainable. Implied in it, the intention to achieve a better state. Contained within the dimension of time setting goals, achieving goals, and overall utilization of benefits for citizens throughout the country. Enshrined also be aware that there will be found a variety of difficulties, limitations, and problems that must be solved. The problems of urban development in Indonesia can be viewed from two approaches, namely macro and micro approaches. A macro approach urban problems are reviewed in the context of the region (national scale. While the approach is seen as a micro city neighborhoods. This problem is closely related to the natural growth of the city population and population migration. Based on research on urban and regional development, it can be concluded: 1 the problem of urbanization of rural and small towns to large cities should be addressed; 2 urban spatial arrangements should be improved to do with increasingly limited land for development and urban development; 3 the provision of facilities and infrastructure of the city, city management, and financing of urban development, integration between government, society, and the private sector should be increased; 4 study of urban models that can accommodate all the problems of the city should be developed continuously.

  17. Industrial and urban wastes in relation to Cadmium pollution

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Varavipour, M.; Akhondi, M.

    2002-01-01

    Disposal of urban, agricultural and industrial wastes is becoming a major problem in recent times. Ocean dumping, land fill applications and incineration are being considered as unsuitable. so application to agricultural lands is being increasingly used for this purpose. Application of wastes to soils can be beneficial in providing plant nutrients and organic matter. But, it also leads to harmful effects like introduction of heavy metals, toxic organics, danger of ground water pollution, etc. Cadmium buildup in soil and absorption into plants and then entering into food chain due to these wastes is of concern because of its higher mobility than most other heavy metals. Although discontinuation of sewage sludge disposal on crop land would stop further soil contamination, potential danger from metal accumulation by crops grown after termination of the practice is still a concern. Trace metals are relatively immobile in soil. Therefore, depending on biological and chemical equilibria established following terminal sludge application, sludge-borne Cd might change in plant availability with time

  18. A Cross-Curricular, Problem-Based Project to Promote Understanding of Poverty in Urban Communities

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gardner, Daniel S.; Tuchman, Ellen; Hawkins, Robert

    2010-01-01

    This article describes the use of problem-based learning to teach students about the scope and consequences of urban poverty through an innovative cross-curricular project. We illustrate the process, goals, and tasks of the Community Assessment Project, which incorporates community-level assessment, collection and analysis of public data, and…

  19. Using mHealth technologies to improve the identification of behavioral health problems in urban primary care settings

    OpenAIRE

    Staeheli, Martha; Aseltine, Robert H; Schilling, Elizabeth; Anderson, Daren; Gould, Bruce

    2017-01-01

    Introduction: Behavioral health disorders remain under recognized and under diagnosed among urban primary care patients. Screening patients for such problems is widely recommended, yet is challenging to do in a brief primary care encounter, particularly for this socially and medically complex patient population. Methods: In 2013, intervention patients at an urban Connecticut primary clinic were screened for post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, and risky drinking (n?=?146) using an elec...

  20. Multiple Depots Vehicle Routing Problem in the Context of Total Urban Traffic Equilibrium

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dongxu Chen

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available A multidepot VRP is solved in the context of total urban traffic equilibrium. Under the total traffic equilibrium, the multidepot VRP is changed to GDAP (the problem of Grouping Customers + Estimating OD Traffic + Assigning traffic and bilevel programming is used to model the problem, where the upper model determines the customers that each truck visits and adds the trucks’ trips to the initial OD (Origin/Destination trips, and the lower model assigns the OD trips to road network. Feedback between upper model and lower model is iterated through OD trips; thus total traffic equilibrium can be simulated.

  1. Mental health status and related characteristics of Chinese male rural-urban migrant workers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yang, Tingzhong; Xu, Xiaochao; Li, Mu; Rockett, Ian R H; Zhu, Waner; Ellison-Barnes, Alejandra

    2012-06-01

    To explore mental health status and related characteristics in a sample of Chinese male rural-urban migrants. Subjects were 1,595 male rural-urban migrant workers selected though a multi-stage sample survey conducted in two cities (Hangzhou and Guangzhou). Data were collected by means of a self-administered questionnaire. Both life and work stressors were examined. Stress and mental health status were measured by the Chinese Perceived Stress Scale (CPSS) and the Chinese Health Questionnaire (CHQ), respectively. Unconditional logistic regression analysis was performed to identify factors associated with probable mental disorders. There are approximately 120 million rural-urban migrants in China. The prevalence of probable mental disorders in the sample population was 24.4% (95% CI: 23.3-25.5%), which was higher than among urban residents (20.2%, 95% CI: 18.8-21.7%). Logistic regression analysis revealed that five characteristics were positively associated with risk for probable mental disorders: originating in the South (OR = 2.00; 95% CI = 1.02, 4.00), higher life stress (OR = 7.63; 95% CI = 5.88, 10.00), staying in the city for 5-9 months each year (OR = 2.56; 95% CI = 1.67, 3.85), higher work stress (OR = 2.56; 95% CI = 1.96, 3.33), and separation from wife (OR = 2.43; 95% CI = 1.61, 3.57). Employment in machinery and transportation (OR = 0.54; 95% CI = 0.36, 0.81) and higher self-worth (OR = 0.42; 95% CI = 0.28, 0.62) were negatively associated. Findings support an urgent need to develop specific policies and programs to address mental health problems among Chinese rural-urban migrants.

  2. Environmental planning and management of urban natural landscapes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    A.R. Sadeghi

    2016-07-01

    Full Text Available Advantages of urbanization such as access to clean water, health, and overall easier life in cities, as well as the disadvantages or its negative effects on environment cannot be ignored. Today, there are numerous environmental problems due to the reduction in ecologically valuable places within urban areas. Bringing nature to the cities appears to be essential to enhance urban environment and to reduce environmental problems in urban communities. In fact, issues resulting from the idea of "sustainability" as a policy-making goal require an integrated environmental policy-making approach. The innovations of new environmental policy-making require policy-making mechanisms that can deal with interdependent characteristics of environmental problems. To this end, new structures have emerged known as Environmental Planning and Management and Strategic Environmental planning and management. This analytical – descriptive article aims to re-examine the origins and concepts related to environmental planning using a field and desk study. With the introduction of urban natural landscape, Environmental planning considers such spaces within the city. In this regard, Khoshk River, Shiraz, Iran, as an urban natural landscape, was analyzed. Environmental planning-based polices were proposed to improve quality of the place under discussion.

  3. MULTI-VEHICLE COVERING TOUR PROBLEM: BUILDING ROUTES FOR URBAN PATROLLING

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Washington Alves de Oliveira

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available ABSTRACT In this paper we study a particular aspect of the urban community policing: routine patrol route planning. We seek routes that guarantee visibility, as this has a sizable impact on the community perceived safety, allowing quick emergency responses and providing surveillance of selected sites (e.g., hospitals, schools. The planning is restricted to the availability of vehicles and strives to achieve balanced routes. We study an adaptation of the model for the multi-vehicle covering tour problem, in which a set of locations must be visited, whereas another subset must be close enough to the planned routes. It constitutes an NP-complete integer programming problem. Suboptimal solutions are obtained with several heuristics, some adapted from the literature and others developed by us. We solve some adapted instances from TSPLIB and an instance with real data, the former being compared with results from literature, and latter being compared with empirical data.

  4. ANALYSIS OF THE INTRA-CITY VARIATION OF URBAN HEAT ISLAND AND ITS RELATION TO LAND SURFACE/COVER PARAMETERS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    D. Gerçek

    2016-06-01

    Full Text Available Along with urbanization, sealing of vegetated land and evaporation surfaces by impermeable materials, lead to changes in urban climate. This phenomenon is observed as temperatures several degrees higher in densely urbanized areas compared to the rural land at the urban fringe particularly at nights, so-called Urban Heat Island. Urban Heat Island (UHI effect is related with urban form, pattern and building materials so far as it is associated with meteorological conditions, air pollution, excess heat from cooling. UHI effect has negative influences on human health, as well as other environmental problems such as higher energy demand, air pollution, and water shortage. Urban Heat Island (UHI effect has long been studied by observations of air temperature from thermometers. However, with the advent and proliferation of remote sensing technology, synoptic coverage and better representations of spatial variation of surface temperature became possible. This has opened new avenues for the observation capabilities and research of UHIs. In this study, "UHI effect and its relation to factors that cause it" is explored for İzmit city which has been subject to excess urbanization and industrialization during the past decades. Spatial distribution and variation of UHI effect in İzmit is analysed using Landsat 8 and ASTER day & night images of 2015 summer. Surface temperature data derived from thermal bands of the images were analysed for UHI effect. Higher temperatures were classified into 4 grades of UHIs and mapped both for day and night. Inadequate urban form, pattern, density, high buildings and paved surfaces at the expanse of soil ground and vegetation cover are the main factors that cause microclimates giving rise to spatial variations in temperatures across cities. These factors quantified as land surface/cover parameters for the study include vegetation index (NDVI, imperviousness (NDISI, albedo, solar insolation, Sky View Factor (SVF, building

  5. Analysis of the Intra-City Variation of Urban Heat Island and its Relation to Land Surface/cover Parameters

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gerçek, D.; Güven, İ. T.; Oktay, İ. Ç.

    2016-06-01

    Along with urbanization, sealing of vegetated land and evaporation surfaces by impermeable materials, lead to changes in urban climate. This phenomenon is observed as temperatures several degrees higher in densely urbanized areas compared to the rural land at the urban fringe particularly at nights, so-called Urban Heat Island. Urban Heat Island (UHI) effect is related with urban form, pattern and building materials so far as it is associated with meteorological conditions, air pollution, excess heat from cooling. UHI effect has negative influences on human health, as well as other environmental problems such as higher energy demand, air pollution, and water shortage. Urban Heat Island (UHI) effect has long been studied by observations of air temperature from thermometers. However, with the advent and proliferation of remote sensing technology, synoptic coverage and better representations of spatial variation of surface temperature became possible. This has opened new avenues for the observation capabilities and research of UHIs. In this study, "UHI effect and its relation to factors that cause it" is explored for İzmit city which has been subject to excess urbanization and industrialization during the past decades. Spatial distribution and variation of UHI effect in İzmit is analysed using Landsat 8 and ASTER day & night images of 2015 summer. Surface temperature data derived from thermal bands of the images were analysed for UHI effect. Higher temperatures were classified into 4 grades of UHIs and mapped both for day and night. Inadequate urban form, pattern, density, high buildings and paved surfaces at the expanse of soil ground and vegetation cover are the main factors that cause microclimates giving rise to spatial variations in temperatures across cities. These factors quantified as land surface/cover parameters for the study include vegetation index (NDVI), imperviousness (NDISI), albedo, solar insolation, Sky View Factor (SVF), building envelope

  6. The Interaction Between Landscape Architecture and Urban Development. Do we Have a Common Goal?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Vaiva Deveikienė

    2015-05-01

    Full Text Available The article analyses the problem of the relationship and interaction between urban design and landscape architecture. This refers to the period of the modern city from the late nineteenth century to the present day. There are presented and discussed urbanization processes and examples of solutions with emphasis on problems arising from the relationship between a city and nature as well as those related to urban landscape and sustainability of urban landscaping in the twentieth century.

  7. Suicide risk in relation to level of urbanicity - a population-based linkage study

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Qin, Ping

    2005-01-01

    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...

  8. Urbanization in Kenya: Urbanization Trends and Prospects; Rural Development and Urban Growth. An International Urbanization Survey Report to the Ford Foundation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Laurenti, Luigi; Gerhart, John

    Two articles on the urbanization of Kenya are presented in this survey. The first one, "Urbanization Trends and Prospects," by Luigi Laurenti, states that urbanization has only recently been recognized as a problem of some importance in Kenya, and this recognition is far from comprehensive. Consequently, public policy--and especially…

  9. Urban-Related Environmental Variables and Their Relation with Patterns in Biological Community Structure in the Fountain Creek Basin, Colorado, 2003-2005

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zuellig, Robert E.; Bruce, James F.; Evans, Erin E.; Stogner, Sr., Robert W.

    2007-01-01

    In 2003, the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with Colorado Springs City Engineering, began a study to evaluate the influence of urbanization on stream ecosystems. To accomplish this task, invertebrate, fish, stream discharge, habitat, water-chemistry, and land-use data were collected from 13 sites in the Fountain Creek basin from 2003 to 2005. The Hydrologic Index Tool was used to calculate hydrologic indices known to be related to urbanization. Response of stream hydrology to urbanization was evident among hydrologic variables that described stormflow. These indices included one measurement of high-flow magnitude, two measurements of high-flow frequency, and one measurement of stream flashiness. Habitat and selected nonstormflow water chemistry were characterized at each site. Land-use data were converted to estimates of impervious surface cover and used as the measure of urbanization annually. Correlation analysis (Spearman?s rho) was used to identify a suite of nonredundant streamflow, habitat, and water-chemistry variables that were strongly associated (rho > 0.6) with impervious surface cover but not strongly related to elevation (rho analysis (BIO-ENV, PRIMER ver 6.1, Plymouth, UK) was used to create subsets of eight urban-related environmental variables that described patterns in biological community structure. The strongest and most parsimonious subset of variables describing patterns in invertebrate community structure included high flood pulse count, lower bank capacity, and nutrients. Several other combinations of environmental variables resulted in competing subsets, but these subsets always included the three variables found in the most parsimonious list. This study found that patterns in invertebrate community structure from 2003 to 2005 in the Fountain Creek basin were associated with a variety of environmental characteristics influenced by urbanization. These patterns were explained by a combination of hydrologic, habitat, and water

  10. Capacity Development for Sustainable Urban Transportation in Developing Countries

    OpenAIRE

    Senbil, Metin; Fujiwara, Akimasa; Zhang, Junyi

    2008-01-01

    To make urban transport sustainable, effective and efficient, first and foremost, there is a need for capacity development-capacity is defined as the ability to deal with problems in efficient and effective ways-in developing countries. Apart from many important capacity related problems such as lack of adequate infrastructure, older vehicle population, etc., policy makers in developing countries have to consider changing individual behavior to realize sustainable urban transportation policie...

  11. Parental encouragement of initiative-taking and adjustment in Chinese children from rural, urban, and urbanized families.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Xinyin; Li, Dan

    2012-12-01

    Due to the requirements of the competitive, market-oriented urban society, parents in urban and urbanized families are more likely than parents in rural families to encourage initiative-taking in child rearing in China. The socialization experiences of children from different types of families may be related to their adjustment. This study examined parental socialization attitudes, social and school adjustment, and their relations in Chinese children from rural, urban, and urbanized families. Participants were elementary school students (N = 1,033; M age = 11 years) and their parents in China. Data were obtained from parental reports, peer evaluations, teacher ratings, and school records. A multivariate analysis of variance revealed that parents in urban and urbanized families had higher scores than parents in rural families on encouragement of initiative-taking. Urban children, particularly girls, were more sociable, obtained higher social status, and had fewer school problems than their rural counterparts. Children from urbanized families were different from rural children and similar to urban children in social and school adjustment. Moreover, multigroup invariance tests showed that parental encouragement of initiative-taking was associated more strongly with children's sociable-assertive behavior and social standing in the urban and urbanized groups than in the rural group. The results indicate that particular socialization attitudes may vary in their adaptive value in child development as a function of specific social and cultural requirements in changing societies. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved.

  12. SOCIAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL PROBLEMS AND INSTITUTIONAL ASPECTS OF URBAN MANAGEMENT IN PALMAS (TO

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gustavo Muller Gonçalves Moura

    2012-07-01

    Full Text Available This work aims to meet the urban environmental management in Palmas and establish consistency with the socio-environmental problems and needs and their efficiency in monitoring and controlling the environment. Palmas, the newest planned city in Brazil is facing conflicts that urban planning could not prevent the peripheral expansion and separation of social classes determined the absence or little coverage of basic infrastructure services like water supply, sewerage, collection and disposal of garbage and the deficiency in the management and maintenance of green areas. From this backdrop, we carried out analysis on the institutions and the environmental reality of the city and proposed a model for the municipal environment, based on the Statute of the city, and also suggestions to formulate public policies and proposals for immediate action, aimed at improve the quality of life of Palmas.

  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. The urban public space betterment and land use sustainability Under the human behavior

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhao, Xiaofan; Ji, Yanning

    2018-02-01

    This paper analyzes the differences between Chinese and western public life and environmental behavior habits. Identify specific needs for Chinese urban public Spaces. At the same time, the paper analyzes the problems related to urban construction in China, including micro-land use, transportation and urban pattern. The solution of Chinese urban public space layout is proposed and the prospects of sustainable urban public space. Urban betterment are prospected in the future.

  15. Traction-related problems after hip arthroscopy

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Frandsen, Lone; Lund, Bent; Grønbech Nielsen, Torsten

    2017-01-01

    . The questionnaire included questions on patients' perceptions of traction-related problems in the groin area, at the knee and ankle and how patients had coped with these problems. A total of 100 consecutive patients undergoing hip arthroscopy filled out the questionnaire. Primary findings of this study were that 74......% of patients reported some sort of traction-related problems after hip arthroscopy. About 32% of the patients had problems in the groin area and 49% of the patients complained of symptoms in the knee joint. A total of 37% of the patients had experienced problems from the traction boot in the ankle area....... The complications were found to be temporary and disappeared after 2-4 weeks. Five patients still had complaints after 3 months. All five patients had a pre-existing knee injury prior to undergoing hip arthroscopy. Traction-related problems after hip arthroscopy are a challenge and our study showed that 74...

  16. Evaluation of the Problem Behavior Frequency Scale-Teacher Report Form for Assessing Behavior in a Sample of Urban Adolescents.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Farrell, Albert D; Goncy, Elizabeth A; Sullivan, Terri N; Thompson, Erin L

    2018-02-01

    This study evaluated the structure and validity of the Problem Behavior Frequency Scale-Teacher Report Form (PBFS-TR) for assessing students' frequency of specific forms of aggression and victimization, and positive behavior. Analyses were conducted on two waves of data from 727 students from two urban middle schools (Sample 1) who were rated by their teachers on the PBFS-TR and the Social Skills Improvement System (SSIS), and on data collected from 1,740 students from three urban middle schools (Sample 2) for whom data on both the teacher and student report version of the PBFS were obtained. Confirmatory factor analyses supported first-order factors representing 3 forms of aggression (physical, verbal, and relational), 3 forms of victimization (physical, verbal and relational), and 2 forms of positive behavior (prosocial behavior and effective nonviolent behavior), and higher-order factors representing aggression, victimization, and positive behavior. Strong measurement invariance was established over gender, grade, intervention condition, and time. Support for convergent validity was found based on correlations between corresponding scales on the PBFS-TR and teacher ratings on the SSIS in Sample 1. Significant correlations were also found between teacher ratings on the PBFS-TR and student ratings of their behavior on the Problem Behavior Frequency Scale-Adolescent Report (PBFS-AR) and a measure of nonviolent behavioral intentions in Sample 2. Overall the findings provided support for the PBFS-TR and suggested that teachers can provide useful data on students' aggressive and prosocial behavior and victimization experiences within the school setting. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

  17. Violência urbana: um problema social Urban violence: a social problem

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Álvaro de Aquino e Silva Gullo

    1998-05-01

    Full Text Available O presente artigo reúne um conjunto de reflexões sobre diversos aspectos em que se manifesta a violência social. Essas reflexões, apresentadas em momentos diferentes, como aulas, debates e num congresso, foram agrupadas sob o título de Violência Urbana porque concorrem para a compreensão da violência cotidiana enquanto problema da sociedade urbana. Dos cursos regulares, registro a concepção inicial, tomada da antropologia social, que leva à caracterização da violência na sociedade rural para fundamentar a gênese do problema na sociedade contemporânea de classes sociais, focalizado na perspectiva da marginalidade estrutural. Dos debates sucitados por acontecimentos traumáticos envolvendo o aparato policial, resultou uma discussão sobre as causas da violência inerente ao desempenho da função institucional atribuída às polícias militar e civil. Da participação em congresso sobre o novo Código de Trânsito Brasileiro, resultou a parte final deste artigo que discute o papel e, particularmente, o significado dos símbolos sociais divulgados pelos meios de comunicação de massa, como fatores responsáveis pela crescente violência no trânsito.This article contains some reflections on how social violence expresses itself. These reflections, presented in former moments as lectures, public debates and at a congress, have been gathered under the title of Urban Violence because they all try to comprehend everyday violence as a problem of urban society. Based on the lectures I have formulated the first part of this article, which deals with a conception taken from social anthropology: the characterization of violence in rural society under the perspective of structural marginality, in order to explain the genesis of this problem in the actual social class society. The debates, that took place because of traumatic happenings related to the police apparatus, have brought about a discussion of the causes of violence inherent to the

  18. Taking power, politics, and policy problems seriously: the limits of knowledge translation for urban health research.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Murphy, Kelly; Fafard, Patrick

    2012-08-01

    Knowledge translation (KT) is a growing movement in clinical and health services research, aimed to help make research more relevant and to move research into practice and policy. This paper examines the conventional model of policy change presented in KT and assesses its applicability for increasing the impact of urban health research on urban health policy. In general, KT conceptualizes research utilization in terms of the technical implementation of scientific findings, on the part of individual decision-makers who can be "targeted" for a KT intervention, in a context that is absent of political interests. However, complex urban health problems and interventions infrequently resemble this single decision, single decision-maker model posited by KT. In order to clarify the conditions under which urban health research is more likely or not to have an influence on public policy development, we propose to supplement the conventional model with three concepts drawn from the social science: policy stages, policy networks, and a discourse analysis approach for theorizing power in policy-making.

  19. 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...

  20. Mercury Exposure and Health Problems in Urban Artisanal Gold Mining (UAGM in Makassar, South Sulawesi, Indonesia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hasriwiani Habo Abbas

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available Urban artisanal gold mining (UAGM in Makassar, South Sulawesi, Indonesia, has been run by a number of urban gold workers with gold jewelry manufacture as its core activity. The wastes generated from goldsmiths’ activities were further processed by the gold smelters to recover fine gold particles. Smelting gold doré, amalgamation, and burning out the amalgam were the mercury-based gold process usually applied in their work. While working the gold workers are, therefore, potentially exposed to a source of mercury pollution that may cause health problems because of working without proper protection. The aims of this research are to characterize the process of urban artisanal gold mining with the potential mercury exposures during the process, and to assess the health of the gold workers. The results showed that the gold workers had a low educational background, but a relatively high income. The total mercury concentration of gold workers was higher than the control group. They were exposed to intoxicatingly high levels of mercury with the average total mercury concentrations of 6.6 and 10.8 µg/g in the hair of indirect and direct exposed workers, respectively. The health assessment showed that 85% of the gold workers suffered neurological symptoms, such as tremors, and 44%–56% of them experienced restricted fields of vision, slow reflexes, sensory disturbances, unbalanced rigidity, and ataxia. The results also showed that the working years have reasonable correlation with the sum of the positive findings in the 10 neurological symptoms.

  1. Access to environmental reward mediates the relation between posttraumatic stress symptoms and alcohol problems and craving.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Acuff, Samuel F; Luciano, Matthew T; Soltis, Kathryn E; Joyner, Keanan J; McDevitt-Murphy, Meghan; Murphy, James G

    2018-04-01

    Symptoms of posttraumatic stress (PTS) show significant comorbidity with alcohol use, but little is known about the mechanisms that might account for this comorbidity. Deficits in reward functioning have long been implicated in alcohol misuse and more recently in PTS reactions, but no study has examined whether reward deprivation may serve as a transdiagnostic risk factor for comorbid PTS-alcohol misuse. The current cross-sectional study sought to test the behavioral economic hypothesis that reward deprivation would be related to both PTS symptoms and alcohol problems, and would mediate the relation between PTS symptoms and alcohol problems in college students. We recruited a diverse sample of urban college students (N = 203, M age = 21.5 years, SD = 5.5; 79.5% female; 56.8% White, 28.1% Black, .9% Asian, 9.8% Multiracial) who endorsed both alcohol use and PTS symptoms. Reward deprivation (lack of access to, and ability to, experience reward) was related to alcohol problems, and a lack of access to reward was related to PTS symptoms. Furthermore, reward access mediated the relation between PTS symptoms and alcohol problems and craving, after controlling for alcohol use, age, gender, and race. These data provide preliminary support for behavioral economic models of alcohol comorbidity and suggest that treatments for combined PTS and alcohol misuse should attempt to reduce barriers to accessing natural rewards. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

  2. Capacity issues in local communities for integral urban regeneration

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mrđenović Tatjana

    2013-01-01

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

  3. Urban Stormwater Infiltration Perspectives

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Geldof, Govert; Jacobsen, Per; Fujita, Shoichi

    1994-01-01

    In urban areas there are many problems with water management: combined sewer overflows, peak flows, man-induced droughts, consolidation of the soil, damage from frost penetration, etc. It is preferable to look at all these problems in relation to each other, according the concept of integrated...... water management. This paper focuses on the possibilities for urban stormwater infiltration. The results of three studies are presented. The first study concerns the flooding of the Shirako River in Tokyo. It is shown that with the help of stormwater infiltration the floods can be reduced remarkably....... The second study concerns combined sewer overflows and the discharge from treatment plants for catchments in Denmark and the Netherlands. When looking at the total yearly discharge from the combined sewer and the treatment plant, it is shown that infiltration is more effective than detention. The third study...

  4. The anatomy of urban social networks and its implications in the searchability problem

    Science.gov (United States)

    Herrera-Yagüe, C.; Schneider, C. M.; Couronné, T.; Smoreda, Z.; Benito, R. M.; Zufiria, P. J.; González, M. C.

    2015-01-01

    The appearance of large geolocated communication datasets has recently increased our understanding of how social networks relate to their physical space. However, many recurrently reported properties, such as the spatial clustering of network communities, have not yet been systematically tested at different scales. In this work we analyze the social network structure of over 25 million phone users from three countries at three different scales: country, provinces and cities. We consistently find that this last urban scenario presents significant differences to common knowledge about social networks. First, the emergence of a giant component in the network seems to be controlled by whether or not the network spans over the entire urban border, almost independently of the population or geographic extension of the city. Second, urban communities are much less geographically clustered than expected. These two findings shed new light on the widely-studied searchability in self-organized networks. By exhaustive simulation of decentralized search strategies we conclude that urban networks are searchable not through geographical proximity as their country-wide counterparts, but through an homophily-driven community structure. PMID:26035529

  5. 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.

  6. Urban foraging and the relational ecologies of belonging

    Science.gov (United States)

    Melissa R. Poe; Joyce LeCompte; Rebecca McLain; Patrick T. Hurley

    2014-01-01

    Through a discussion of urban foraging in Seattle, Washington, USA, we examine how people’s plant and mushroom harvesting practices in cities are linked to relationships with species, spaces, and ecologies. Bringing a relational approach to political ecology, we discuss the ways that these particular nature–society relationships are formed, legitimated, and mobilized...

  7. Changes in urban-related precipitation in the summer over three city clusters in China

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhao, Deming; Wu, Jian

    2017-09-01

    The impacts of urban surface expansion on the summer precipitations over three city clusters [Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei (BTH), the Yangtze River Delta (YRD), and the Pearl River Delta (PRD)] in eastern China under different monsoonal circulation backgrounds were explored using the nested fifth-generation Penn State/NCAR Mesoscale Model version 3.7 (MM5 V3.7), including the urban-related thermal and dynamical parameters. Ten-year integrations were performed using satellite image data from 2000 and 2010 to represent the urban surface distributions and expansions in China. Changes in the precipitation revealed obvious subregional characteristics, which could be explained by the influences of the vertical wind velocity and moisture flux. With urban-related warming, vertical wind motion generally intensified over urban surface-expanded areas. Meanwhile, the increase in impervious surface areas induced rapid rainwater runoff into drains, and the Bowen ratio increased over urban areas, which further contributed to changes in the local moisture fluxes in these regions. The intensities of the changes in precipitation were inconsistent over the three city clusters, although the changes in vertical motion and local evaporation were similar, which indicates that the changes in precipitation cannot be solely explained by the changes in the local evaporation-related moisture flux. The changes in precipitation were also influenced by the changes in the East Asian summer monsoon (EASM) circulation and the corresponding moisture flux, which are expressed in marked subregional characteristics. Therefore, the influence of urban-related precipitation over the three city clusters in China, for which changes in moisture flux from both the impacted local evaporation and EASM circulation should be considered, varied based on the precipitation changes of only a single city.

  8. Tourists’ Attitude towards Urban Tourism: Problems and Perspectives of Dhaka City as Tourists’ Destination

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Shamsu Uddin

    2014-12-01

    Full Text Available Like several other sectors, tourism industry in Bangladesh since long past remains unexplored. Bangladesh faces deficit balances of payments every fiscal year. Tourism industry can play a vital role to remedy the deficit. Urban tourism has been a phenomenal growth since 1990 across the globe. Unfortunately Bangladesh is yet to figure prominently in the tourism map. Some of its neighboring countries are earning considerable amount of foreign exchange from tourism industry. The present study could reveal the problems and the prospects of urban (Dhaka City tourism industry measuring the field opinion done by the researcher. This research was a conclusive research. Here participant observations, case study, interview and survey techniques are followed to collect primary data. It can therefore be said that the tourism industry offers greater scope for the development in the areas of economy, society, culture and religion.

  9. Sustainable urban environmental quality

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tošković Dobrivoje

    2004-01-01

    Full Text Available MEANING as the essential element of urban quality. The role of the three main factors for the urban quality achievement: PLANNING, DEVELOPMENT and PEOPLE. Next to that, it is important to assume the identity of the local CONTEXT as the essential base for designing and shaping of form development. The problems of the quality achievements in the situation of the permanent changes. In such an environment - the RENEWAL of the towns become the basic strategic orientation requiring - evaluation of the development policy instruments. On the road of changes there are PROBLEMS of a strategic nature which should be, firstly, defined and, then, solved before entering in the process of structuring and arrangement. One of these problems is NEW versus OLD. Transition to a new policy of urbanism relying, first of all, on the private investors and international funds of the local authorities - call for a NEW STRATEGY in urbanism, in the context of the sustainability of environment. The sustainability of quality and the categories of the influencing factors. The sustainability of quality as a twofold process of urban design. The quality of environment as an aesthetic phenomenon. The urban situation and environmental quality: feasibility of changes and effects; the environmental capacity as an indicator and quality determinant. The urban quality and international experience. The evaluation of our urban situation. INSTEAD OF CONCLUSION: A general review on the visions and urban quality policy and planning. Toward an evaluation of urban environmental quality: negative and positive indicators; sustainable communities environmental ruling and urban quality planning.

  10. [Basic theory and research method of urban forest ecology].

    Science.gov (United States)

    He, Xingyuan; Jin, Yingshan; Zhu, Wenquan; Xu, Wenduo; Chen, Wei

    2002-12-01

    With the development of world economy and the increment of urban population, the urban environment problem hinders the urban sustainable development. Now, more and more people realized the importance of urban forests in improving the quality of urban ecology. Therefore, a new subject, urban forest ecology, and correlative new concept frame in the field formed. The theoretic foundation of urban forest ecology derived from the mutual combination of theory relating to forest ecology, landscape ecology, landscape architecture ecology and anthrop-ecology. People survey the development of city from the view of ecosystem, and regard the environment, a colony of human, animals and plants, as main factors of the system. The paper introduces systematically the urban forest ecology as follows: 1) the basic concept of urban forest ecology; 2) the meaning of urban forest ecology; 3) the basic principle and theoretic base of urban forest ecology; 4) the research method of urban forest ecology; 5) the developmental expectation of urban forest ecology.

  11. Government, market and community in urban solid waste management; problems and potentials in the transition to sustainable development?

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Post, J.; Baud, I.S.A.; Baud, I.S.A.; Furedy, C.; Post, J.

    2004-01-01

    -Post, Johan and Isa Baud (2004) Government, market and community in urban solid waste management; problems and potentials in the transition to sustainable development? in: Baud, Isa., Johan. Post and Christine Furedy (2004) Solid Waste Management and Rec

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

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jean Bernard Racine

    2004-12-01

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

  13. Past successes and future challenges: Improving the urban environment

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Gade, M.

    1994-12-31

    The author discusses issues related to the Chicago urban environment from her perspective in the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency. Understanding of the ozone air pollution problem in the Chicago area has undergone significant changes in the past three years, and there is still more to be understood about the complex factors which contribute to ozone pollution over urban areas such as Chicago. Ability to address these problems to present clean air standards is not in hand at present. The author asserts that information, and the ability of governmental agencies to ingest and respond to that information in a timely manner is a key to improvement of the environment in urban areas in reasonable time spans. In addition cost and price information on environmental control and protection needs to be more clearly presented to the people so they can understand the difficult choices which must be made in addressing these environmental problems.

  14. Past successes and future challenges: Improving the urban environment

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gade, M.

    1994-01-01

    The author discusses issues related to the Chicago urban environment from her perspective in the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency. Understanding of the ozone air pollution problem in the Chicago area has undergone significant changes in the past three years, and there is still more to be understood about the complex factors which contribute to ozone pollution over urban areas such as Chicago. Ability to address these problems to present clean air standards is not in hand at present. The author asserts that information, and the ability of governmental agencies to ingest and respond to that information in a timely manner is a key to improvement of the environment in urban areas in reasonable time spans. In addition cost and price information on environmental control and protection needs to be more clearly presented to the people so they can understand the difficult choices which must be made in addressing these environmental problems

  15. A temperature and vegetation adjusted NTL urban index for urban area mapping and analysis

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Xiya; Li, Peijun

    2018-01-01

    Accurate and timely information regarding the extent and spatial distribution of urban areas on regional and global scales is crucially important for both scientific and policy-making communities. Stable nighttime light (NTL) data from the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) Operational Linescan System (OLS) provides a unique proxy of human settlement and activity, which has been used in the mapping and analysis of urban areas and urbanization dynamics. However, blooming and saturation effects of DMSP/OLS NTL data are two unresolved problems in regional urban area mapping and analysis. This study proposed a new urban index termed the Temperature and Vegetation Adjusted NTL Urban Index (TVANUI). It is intended to reduce blooming and saturation effects and to enhance urban features by combining DMSP/OLS NTL data with Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and land surface temperature (LST) data from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer onboard the Terra satellite. The proposed index was evaluated in two study areas by comparison with established urban indices. The results demonstrated the proposed TVANUI was effective in enhancing the variation of DMSP/OLS light in urban areas and in reducing blooming and saturation effects, showing better performance than three established urban indices. The TVANUI also significantly outperformed the established urban indices in urban area mapping using both the global-fixed threshold and the local-optimal threshold methods. Thus, the proposed TVANUI provides a useful variable for urban area mapping and analysis on regional scale, as well as for urbanization dynamics using time-series DMSP/OLS and related satellite data.

  16. Ecotypic differentiation between urban and rural populations of the grasshopper Chorthippus brunneus relative to climate and habitat fragmentation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    San Martin Y Gomez, Gilles; Van Dyck, Hans

    2012-05-01

    Urbanization alters environmental conditions in multiple ways and offers an ecological or evolutionary challenge for organisms to cope with. Urban areas typically have a warmer climate and strongly fragmented herbaceous vegetation; the urban landscape matrix is often assumed to be hostile for many organisms. Here, we addressed the issue of evolutionary differentiation between urban and rural populations of an ectotherm insect, the grasshopper Chorthippus brunneus. We compared mobility-related morphology and climate-related life history traits measured on the first generation offspring of grasshoppers from urban and rural populations reared in a common garden laboratory experiment. We predicted (1) the urban phenotype to be more mobile (i.e., lower mass allocation to the abdomen, longer relative femur and wing lengths) than the rural phenotype; (2) the urban phenotype to be more warm adapted (e.g., higher female body mass); and (3) further evidence of local adaptation in the form of significant interaction effects between landscape of origin and breeding temperature. Both males and females of urban origin had significantly longer relative femur and wing lengths and lower mass allocation to the abdomen (i.e., higher investment in thorax and flight muscles) relative to individuals of rural origin. The results were overall significant but small (2-4%). Body mass and larval growth rate were much higher (+10%) in females of urban origin. For the life history traits, we did not find evidence for significant interaction effects between the landscape of origin and the two breeding temperatures. Our results point to ecotypic differentiation with urbanization for mobility-related morphology and climate-related life history traits. We argue that the warmer urban environment has an indirect effect through longer growth season rather than direct effects on the development.

  17. Urban sores. On the interaction between segregation, urban decay and deprived neighbourhoods

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Andersen, Hans Skifter

    Most European countries have experienced special problems that have emerged in certain more or less well-defined parts of cities called de-prived or depressed urban neighbourhoods. These problems were initially found in the oldest urban areas with the lowest quality housing. Since the beginning...... of the 1980s, however, in Europe they have also emerged in newer social housing estates outside city centres. These neighbourhoods display visible physical and social problems that can disfigure the perhaps otherwise attractive urban landscape. They could in severe cases even be termed sores on the face...... of the city. They are often perceived by the public as places that are not inhabited or frequented by decent people – they are seen as ‘places of exclusion’. The purpose of this book is to contribute to a deeper understanding of why such neighbourhoods come to exist and the impacts they have on cities. Urban...

  18. Long-term urban carbon dioxide observations reveal spatial and temporal dynamics related to urban characteristics and growth.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mitchell, Logan E; Lin, John C; Bowling, David R; Pataki, Diane E; Strong, Courtenay; Schauer, Andrew J; Bares, Ryan; Bush, Susan E; Stephens, Britton B; Mendoza, Daniel; Mallia, Derek; Holland, Lacey; Gurney, Kevin R; Ehleringer, James R

    2018-03-20

    Cities are concentrated areas of CO 2 emissions and have become the foci of policies for mitigation actions. However, atmospheric measurement networks suitable for evaluating urban emissions over time are scarce. Here we present a unique long-term (decadal) record of CO 2 mole fractions from five sites across Utah's metropolitan Salt Lake Valley. We examine "excess" CO 2 above background conditions resulting from local emissions and meteorological conditions. We ascribe CO 2 trends to changes in emissions, since we did not find long-term trends in atmospheric mixing proxies. Three contrasting CO 2 trends emerged across urban types: negative trends at a residential-industrial site, positive trends at a site surrounded by rapid suburban growth, and relatively constant CO 2 over time at multiple sites in the established, residential, and commercial urban core. Analysis of population within the atmospheric footprints of the different sites reveals approximately equal increases in population influencing the observed CO 2 , implying a nonlinear relationship with CO 2 emissions: Population growth in rural areas that experienced suburban development was associated with increasing emissions while population growth in the developed urban core was associated with stable emissions. Four state-of-the-art global-scale emission inventories also have a nonlinear relationship with population density across the city; however, in contrast to our observations, they all have nearly constant emissions over time. Our results indicate that decadal scale changes in urban CO 2 emissions are detectable through monitoring networks and constitute a valuable approach to evaluate emission inventories and studies of urban carbon cycles.

  19. Long-term urban carbon dioxide observations reveal spatial and temporal dynamics related to urban characteristics and growth

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mitchell, Logan E.; Lin, John C.; Bowling, David R.; Pataki, Diane E.; Strong, Courtenay; Schauer, Andrew J.; Bares, Ryan; Bush, Susan E.; Stephens, Britton B.; Mendoza, Daniel; Mallia, Derek; Holland, Lacey; Gurney, Kevin R.; Ehleringer, James R.

    2018-03-01

    Cities are concentrated areas of CO2 emissions and have become the foci of policies for mitigation actions. However, atmospheric measurement networks suitable for evaluating urban emissions over time are scarce. Here we present a unique long-term (decadal) record of CO2 mole fractions from five sites across Utah’s metropolitan Salt Lake Valley. We examine “excess” CO2 above background conditions resulting from local emissions and meteorological conditions. We ascribe CO2 trends to changes in emissions, since we did not find long-term trends in atmospheric mixing proxies. Three contrasting CO2 trends emerged across urban types: negative trends at a residential-industrial site, positive trends at a site surrounded by rapid suburban growth, and relatively constant CO2 over time at multiple sites in the established, residential, and commercial urban core. Analysis of population within the atmospheric footprints of the different sites reveals approximately equal increases in population influencing the observed CO2, implying a nonlinear relationship with CO2 emissions: Population growth in rural areas that experienced suburban development was associated with increasing emissions while population growth in the developed urban core was associated with stable emissions. Four state-of-the-art global-scale emission inventories also have a nonlinear relationship with population density across the city; however, in contrast to our observations, they all have nearly constant emissions over time. Our results indicate that decadal scale changes in urban CO2 emissions are detectable through monitoring networks and constitute a valuable approach to evaluate emission inventories and studies of urban carbon cycles.

  20. A Comprehensive Quantitative Evaluation of New Sustainable Urbanization Level in 20 Chinese Urban Agglomerations

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Cong Xu

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available On 16 March 2014, the State Council of China launched its first urbanization planning initiative dubbed “National New Urbanization Planning (2014–2020” (NNUP. NNUP put forward 20 urban agglomerations and a sustainable development approach aiming to transform traditional Chinese urbanization to sustainable new urbanization. This study quantitatively evaluates the level of sustainability of the present new urbanization process in 20 Chinese urban agglomerations and provides some positive suggestions for the achievement of sustainable new urbanization. A three-level index system which is based on six fundamental elements in a city and a Full Permutation Polygon Synthetic Indicator evaluation method are adopted. The results show that China is undergoing a new urbanization process with a low level of sustainability and there are many problems remaining from traditional urbanization processes. There exists a polarized phenomenon in the urbanization of 20 urban agglomerations. Based on their own development patterns, the 20 urban agglomerations can be divided into seven categories. Every category has its own development characteristics. The analyses also show that waste of water resources, abuse of land resources, and air pollution are three big problems that are closely linked to traditional Chinese urbanization processes. To achieve sustainable new urbanization in China, four relevant suggestions and comments have been provided.

  1. Music Taste Groups and Problem Behavior.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mulder, Juul; Bogt, Tom Ter; Raaijmakers, Quinten; Vollebergh, Wilma

    2007-04-01

    Internalizing and externalizing problems differ by musical tastes. A high school-based sample of 4159 adolescents, representative of Dutch youth aged 12 to 16, reported on their personal and social characteristics, music preferences and social-psychological functioning, measured with the Youth Self-Report (YSR). Cluster analysis on their music preferences revealed six taste groups: Middle-of-the-road (MOR) listeners, Urban fans, Exclusive Rock fans, Rock-Pop fans, Elitists, and Omnivores. A seventh group of musically Low-Involved youth was added. Multivariate analyses revealed that when gender, age, parenting, school, and peer variables were controlled, Omnivores and fans within the Exclusive Rock groups showed relatively high scores on internalizing YSR measures, and social, thought and attention problems. Omnivores, Exclusive Rock, Rock-Pop and Urban fans reported more externalizing problem behavior. Belonging to the MOR group that highly appreciates the most popular, chart-based pop music appears to buffer problem behavior. Music taste group membership uniquely explains variance in both internalizing and externalizing problem behavior.

  2. Gender and rural-urban differences in reported health status by older people in Bangladesh.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kabir, Zarina Nahar; Tishelman, Carol; Agüero-Torres, Hedda; Chowdhury, A M R; Winblad, Bengt; Höjer, Bengt

    2003-01-01

    The study aims to (i) describe regional variation and gender differences in health status of older people (60 years and older) in Bangladesh, indicated by self-reported health problems and functional ability; (ii) explore influence of socio-economic factors on health status of older people. In a cross-sectional study in rural and urban Bangladesh, 696 older persons were asked about their health problems and ability to manage activities of daily living (ADL). More than 95% of older people reported health problems. Approximately 80% of elderly women in both the regions reported having four or more health problems compared with 42% and 63% elderly men in the urban and rural regions, respectively. More women (urban: 55%; rural: 36%) than men (urban: 32%; rural: 22%) also reported difficulties with ADL. Irrespective of age, sex and area of residence, those reporting greater number of health problems were more likely to report difficulty with at least one ADL task. Reporting pattern of specific health problems varied between urban and rural regions. Socio-economic indicators were found to have little influence on reporting of health problems, particularly in the rural region. Observed regional difference may be related to the influence of social and environmental factors, and level of awareness concerning certain health conditions.

  3. Socioeconomic differences in public acceptability and car use adaptation towards urban road pricing

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Gehlert, Tina; Kramer, Christiane; Nielsen, Otto Anker

    2011-01-01

    Urban road pricing is regarded as an effective instrument to reduce traffic congestion and environmental-related problems in metropolitan areas. Whereas the overall impact of urban road pricing on car use adaptation and public acceptability is known, there are only inconsistent results concerning...

  4. The Role of Stigma in Parental Help-Seeking for Perceived Child Behavior Problems in Urban, Low-Income African American Parents.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dempster, Robert; Davis, Deborah Winders; Faye Jones, V; Keating, Adam; Wildman, Beth

    2015-12-01

    Significant numbers of children have diagnosable mental health problems, but only a small proportion of them receive appropriate services. Stigma has been associated with help-seeking for adult mental health problems and for Caucasian parents. The current study aims to understand factors, including stigma, associated with African American parents' help-seeking behavior related to perceived child behavior problems. Participants were a community sample of African American parents and/or legal guardians of children ages 3-8 years recruited from an urban primary care setting (N = 101). Variables included child behavior, stigma (self, friends/family, and public), object of stigma (parent or child), obstacles for engagement, intention to attend parenting classes, and demographics. Self-stigma was the strongest predictor of help-seeking among African American parents. The impact of self-stigma on parents' ratings of the likelihood of attending parenting classes increased when parents considered a situation in which their child's behavior was concerning to them. Findings support the need to consider parent stigma in the design of care models to ensure that children receive needed preventative and treatment services for behavioral/mental health problems in African American families.

  5. Urban violence is the biggest cause of fatal work-related accidents in Brazil.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cordeiro, Ricardo; Luz, Verônica Gronau; Hennington, Élida Azevedo; Martins, Ana Cláudia Alves; Tófoli, Luís Fernando

    2017-12-11

    To quantify the occurrence of deaths directly associated with urban violence among fatal work-related accidents. Verbal autopsies were performed with the relatives and coworkers of residents of Campinas, state of São Paulo, Brazil, who died from external causes in 2015. We have also analyzed police reports and reports of the Legal Medical Institute related to these deaths. We have identified 82 fatal work-related accidents in Campinas in 2015, of which 25 were murders, 35 were traffic accidents not directly related to work activities, and three were suicides at work. The proportional mortality rate for homicides, traffic accidents, and suicides among fatal work-related accidents was estimated at 30.5%, 42.7%, and 3.7%, respectively. Urban violence accounted for three-fourths of the fatal work-related accidents recorded in the period studied.

  6. Examples of landscape indicators for assessing environmental conditions and problems in urban and suburban areas

    Science.gov (United States)

    Martin-Duque, J. F.; Godfrey, A.; Diez, A.; Cleaves, E.; Pedraza, J.; Sanz, M.A.; Carrasco, R.M.; Bodoque, J.; Brebbia, C.A.; Martin-Duque, J.F.; Wadhwa, L.C.

    2002-01-01

    Geo-indicators can help to assess environmental conditions in city urban and suburban areas. Those indicators should be meaningful for understanding environmental changes. From examples of Spanish and American cities, geo-indicators for assessing environmental conditions and changes in urban and suburban areas are proposed. The paper explore two types of geo-indicators. The first type presents general information that can be used to indicate the presence of a broad array of geologic conditions, either favouring or limiting various kinds of uses of the land. The second type of geo-indicator is the one most commonly used, and as a group most easily understood; these are site and problem specific and they are generally used after a problem is identified. Among them, watershed processes, seismicity and physiographic diversity are explained in more detail. A second dimension that is considered when discussing geo-indicators is the issue of scale. Broad scale investigations, covering extensive areas are only efficient at cataloguing general conditions common to much of the area or some outstanding feature within the area. This type of information is best used for policy type decisions. Detailed scale investigations can provide information about local conditions, but are not efficient at cataloguing vast areas. Information gathered at the detailed level is necessary for project design and construction.

  7. 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

    The relation of urbanization to stream habitat and geomorphic characteristics was examined collectively and individually for nine metropolitan areas of the United States?Portland, Oregon; Salt Lake City, Utah; Denver, Colorado; Dallas?Forth Worth, Texas; Milwaukee?Green Bay, Wisconsin; Birmingham, Alabama; Atlanta, Georgia; Raleigh, North Carolina; and Boston, Massachusetts. The study was part of a larger study conducted by the U.S. Geological Survey from 1999 to 2004 to examine the effects of urbanization on the physical, chemical, and biological components of stream ecosystems. The objectives of the current study were to determine how stream habitat and geomorphic characteristics relate to different aspects of urbanization across a variety of diverse environmental settings and spatial scales. A space-for-time rural-to-urban land-cover gradient approach was used. Reach-scale habitat data and geomorphic characteristic data were collected once during low flow and included indicators of potential habitat degradation such as measures of channel geometry and hydraulics, streambed substrate, low-flow reach volume (an estimate of base-flow conditions), habitat complexity, and riparian/bank conditions. Hydrologic metrics included in the analyses were those expected to be altered by increases in impervious surfaces, such as high-flow frequency and duration, flashiness, and low-flow duration. Other natural and human features, such as reach-scale channel engineering, geologic setting, and slope, were quantified to identify their possible confounding influences on habitat relations with watershed-scale urbanization indicators. Habitat and geomorphic characteristics were compared to several watershed-scale indicators of urbanization, natural landscape characteristics, and hydrologic metrics by use of correlation analyses and stepwise linear regression. Habitat and geomorphic characteristics were related to percentages of impervious surfaces only in some metropolitan areas and

  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. 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...

  10. Travel-related health problems in Japanese travelers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mizuno, Yasutaka; Kudo, Koichiro

    2009-09-01

    Although the number of Japanese individuals traveling abroad has increased steadily, reaching approximately 17.3 million in 2007, the incidence of various travel-related health problems in Japan remains unknown. The travel-related health problems of Japanese travelers returning to Japan from abroad are analyzed by assessing the records. Data were collected retrospectively on returning travelers who visited the authors' travel clinic during the period from January 2005 through to December 2006 with any health problem acquired overseas. A total of 345 patients were included in this study (200 male, 145 female; average age, 34+/-12.3 years). Reasons for travel included leisure (45.8%); business (39.1%); visiting friends and relatives or accompanying other travelers (8.7%); volunteering (3.8%); and long stays in order to study or live (2.6%). The most visited destination was Asia (n=260), followed by Africa (n=105). The most commonly reported health problems were gastro-intestinal infections (39.1%), followed by respiratory tract infections (16.2%), animal bites (8.1%), and skin problems (5.8%). Together, malaria and dengue accounted for 10% of diagnoses in 125 febrile patients (36.2%). Although the profile of travel-related health problems in Japanese travelers is similar to that of Western travelers, the characteristics of travel were quite different. Therefore Japanese travel advice should be tailored to suit the Japanese traveler.

  11. Effects of exposure to community violence and family violence on school functioning problems among urban youth: The potential mediating role of posttraumatic stress symptoms

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tia eMcGill

    2014-02-01

    Full Text Available Adolescents who are exposed to violence during childhood are at an increased risk for developing posttraumatic stress (PTS symptoms. The literature suggests that violence exposure might also have negative effects on school functioning, and that PTS might serve as a potential mediator in this association. The purpose of the current study was to replicate and extend prior research by examining PTS symptoms as a mediator of the relationship between two types of violence exposure and school functioning problems among adolescent youth from an urban setting. Participants included a sample of 121 junior high and high school students (M= 15 years; range= 13-16 years; 60 males, 61 females within high-crime neighborhoods. Consistent with our hypotheses, community violence and family violence were associated with PTS symptoms and school functioning problems. Our data suggest that community and family violence were indirectly related to school functioning problems through PTS symptoms. Findings from this study demonstrate that PTS symptoms potentially mediate the relationship between violence exposure and school functioning problems across two settings (community and home. Future research should further examine protective factors that can prevent youth violence exposure as well as negative outcomes related to violence.

  12. Pressures on the Urban University Today.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hester, James M.

    In virtually all phases of our national life we are accepting new viewpoints that are reflected in student attitudes. Students are flocking to urban universities and demanding curricula that are related to peace, social justice, and domestic and world problems. A growing number of skeptical, moderate students are joining the hard-core destructive…

  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. Study About Urban Mobility in the Brazilian Context

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nelson Avella Netto

    2017-10-01

    Full Text Available Urban mobility is usually understood as something segmented and restricted to subjects related to traffic engineering and pricing policy, recently linked to environmental problems too. The goal of this article was to reach a systemic vision and understand how urban mobility relates also to social, cultural, historical, economical and healthy aspects. A methodology was used including bibliographic research, interviews with specialists and a cross-sectional analysis of these interviews, in order to analyze the context of urban mobility and present tendencies and paths for a more sustainable approach. The result was that the crisis observed nowadays, caused by the unbridled urban developmentism based on the car-based consumerist culture, and evidenced not only by the critical immobility observed on the cities but also by the protests of society, placing urban mobility on the heart of the discussions. Tendencies and sustainable paths were indicated so that urban mobility is a variable that contributes to the well-being of people, equating opportunities and wealth as well as preserving the planet’s ecosystem. The conclusion is that the scenario presents good perspectives to promote a wide discussion regarding the improvement of the quality of urban mobility, and consistent changes are possible according to the change in people´s awareness.

  15. Computational Design of Urban Layouts

    KAUST Repository

    Wonka, Peter

    2015-10-07

    A fundamental challenge in computational design is to compute layouts by arranging a set of shapes. In this talk I will present recent urban modeling projects with applications in computer graphics, urban planning, and architecture. The talk will look at different scales of urban modeling (streets, floorplans, parcels). A common challenge in all these modeling problems are functional and aesthetic constraints that should be respected. The talk also highlights interesting links to geometry processing problems, such as field design and quad meshing.

  16. Urban-rural disparities in child nutrition-related health outcomes in China: The role of hukou policy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Hong; Rizzo, John A; Fang, Hai

    2015-11-23

    Hukou is the household registration system in China that determines eligibility for various welfare benefits, such as health care, education, housing, and employment. The hukou system may lead to nutritional and health disparities in China. We aim at examining the role of the hukou system in affecting urban-rural disparities in child nutrition, and disentangling the institutional effect of hukou from the effect of urban/rural residence on child nutrition-related health outcomes. This study uses data from the China Health and Nutrition Survey 1993-2009 with a sample of 9616 children under the age of 18. We compute height-for-age z-score and weight-for-age z-score for children. We use both descriptive statistics and multiple regression techniques to study the levels and significance of the association between child nutrition-related health outcomes and hukou type. Children with urban hukou have 0.25 (P system exacerbates urban-rural disparities in child nutrition-related health outcomes independent of the well-known disparity stemming from urban-rural residence. Fortunately, however, child health disparities due to hukou have been declining since 2000.

  17. Contaminants in stream sediments from seven United States metropolitan areas: part I: distribution in relation to urbanization

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nowell, Lisa H.; Moran, Patrick W.; Gilliom, Robert J.; Calhoun, Daniel L.; Ingersoll, Christopher G.; Kemble, Nile E.; Kuivila, Kathryn; Phillips, Patrick J.

    2013-01-01

    Organic contaminants and trace elements were measured in bed sediments collected from streams in seven metropolitan study areas across the United States to assess concentrations in relation to urbanization. Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, polychlorinated biphenyls, organochlorine pesticides, the pyrethroid insecticide bifenthrin, and several trace elements were significantly related to urbanization across study areas. Most contaminants (except bifenthrin, chromium, nickel) were significantly related to the total organic carbon (TOC) content of the sediments. Regression models explained 45–80 % of the variability in individual contaminant concentrations using degree of urbanization, sediment-TOC, and study-area indicator variables (which represent the combined influence of unknown factors, such as chemical use or release, that are not captured by available explanatory variables). The significance of one or more study-area indicator variables in all models indicates marked differences in contaminant levels among some study areas, even after accounting for the nationally modeled effects of urbanization and sediment-TOC. Mean probable effect concentration quotients (PECQs) were significantly related to urbanization. Trace elements were the major contributors to mean PECQs at undeveloped sites, whereas organic contaminants, especially bifenthrin, were the major contributors at highly urban sites. Pyrethroids, where detected, accounted for the largest share of the mean PECQ. Part 2 of this series (Kemble et al. 2012) evaluates sediment toxicity to amphipods and midge in relation to sediment chemistry.

  18. Relative risk of visceral leishmaniasis in Brazil: a spatial analysis in urban area.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Valdelaine Etelvina Miranda de Araújo

    2013-11-01

    Full Text Available BACKGROUND: Visceral leishmaniasis (VL is a vector-borne disease whose factors involved in transmission are poorly understood, especially in more urban and densely populated counties. In Brazil, the VL urbanization is a challenge for the control program. The goals were to identify the greater risk areas for human VL and the risk factors involved in transmission. METHODOLOGY: This is an ecological study on the relative risk of human VL. Spatial units of analysis were the coverage areas of the Basic Health Units (146 small-areas of Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais State, Brazil. Human VL cases, from 2007 to 2009 (n = 412, were obtained in the Brazilian Reportable Disease Information System. Bayesian approach was used to model the relative risk of VL including potential risk factors involved in transmission (canine infection, socioeconomic and environmental features and to identify the small-areas of greater risk to human VL. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: The relative risk of VL was shown to be correlated with income, education, and the number of infected dogs per inhabitants. The estimates of relative risk of VL were higher than 1.0 in 54% of the areas (79/146. The spatial modeling highlighted 14 areas with the highest relative risk of VL and 12 of them are concentrated in the northern region of the city. CONCLUSIONS: The spatial analysis used in this study is useful for the identification of small-areas according to risk of human VL and presents operational applicability in control and surveillance program in an urban environment with an unequal spatial distribution of the disease. Thus the frequent monitoring of relative risk of human VL in small-areas is important to direct and prioritize the actions of the control program in urban environment, especially in big cities.

  19. 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.

  20. From Problems to Potentials—The Urban Energy Transition of Gruž, Dubrovnik

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Andy van den Dobbelsteen

    2018-04-01

    Full Text Available In the challenge for a sustainable society, carbon-neutrality is a critical objective for all cities in the coming decades. In the EU City-zen project, academic partners collaborate to develop an urban energy transition methodology, which supports cities in making the energy transition to sustainable lifestyles and carbon neutrality. As part of the project, so-called Roadshows are organised in cities that wish to take the first step toward zero-energy living. Each Roadshow is methodologically composed to allow sustainability experts from across Europe to co-create designs, strategies and timelines with local stakeholders in order to reach this vital goal. Following a precursory investigative student workshop (the SWAT Studio, Dubrovnik was the third city to host the Roadshow in November 2016. During these events the characteristics of Dubrovnik, and the district of Gruž in particular, were systematically analysed, leading to useful insights into the current problems and potentials of the city. In close collaboration with local stakeholders, the team proposed a series of interventions, validated by the calculation of carbon emission, to help make Gruž, and in its wake the whole city of Dubrovnik, net zero energy and zero carbon. The vision presented to the inhabitants and its key city decision makers encompassed a path towards an attainable sustainable future. The strategies and solutions proposed for the Dubrovnik district of Gruž were able to reduce the current carbon sequestration compensation of 1200 hectares of forestland to only 67 hectares, an area achievable by urban reforestation projects. This paper presents the City-zen methodology of urban energy transition and that of the City-zen Roadshow, the analysis of the city of Dubrovnik, proposed interventions and the carbon impact, as calculated by means of the carbon accounting method discussed in the paper.

  1. Adoption of HIV-related services among urban US hospitals: 1988 and 1991.

    Science.gov (United States)

    LeBlanc, A J; Hurley, R E

    1995-09-01

    Recent reports document that US hospitals vary considerably, notably by ownership, in the number of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) patients they treat. Still, little is known about other types of hospital response to human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and AIDS and the relative strength of ownership as a determining factor. With annual survey data from the American Hospital Association the authors examine the formal adoption of HIV-related services among urban US hospitals at the turn of the decade. Descriptive analyses of 2 years of data (1988 and 1991) are presented. A multivariate logistic regression analysis, conducted on the 1991 data, tests for unique ownership effects on the likelihood that hospitals are heavy investors in HIV-related care. Patterns of service adoption for 1991 strongly resemble those for 1988. Nearly three fourths of urban US hospitals offer general inpatient AIDS care, and over half provide HIV testing. Few urban hospitals offer outpatient services; even fewer operate AIDS units. A substantial minority report no formal adoption of HIV-related services. For-profit hospitals stand out as least likely to formally adopt these HIV-related services. Those adopting a comprehensive set of HIV-related services typically are public or secular, not-for-profit in ownership, large, affiliated with a medical school, and high volume users of Medicaid funding. The logistic regression analysis suggests that public ownership is a key determinant of greater service investment, even after controlling for other explanatory factors. This study appears to mirror a familiar pattern of hospital response to undercompensated care in the United States.

  2. METHODOLOGICAL PROBLEMS OF LAND USE PLANNING LOCALLY IN TERMS OF NEW LAND RELATIONS AND DECENTRALIZATION OF POWER

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    N. Kapinos

    2017-05-01

    Full Text Available Summary Fundamental changes of land relations that have been established for the period of land reform in the independent Ukraine and the new socio-economic and environmental problems identified new character and content of the land. During the land reform in Ukraine to land management encountered new challenges that focus on the implementation of land policy and land relations fundamental change. Accordingly, to land management faces new challenges. Today for events to decentralize power facilities, new land - the territory united local communities should determine for whom the prospect of organizing the use and protection of land and other natural resources. However, the current land law the answer to this problem does not. Instead, normalization is an attempt to issues related to improving the quality of drafting documentation spatial planning (urban planning documents establish procedures for integrated development plans of local communities, the introduction of rules regulating local area to establish procedures for planning, construction and other use areas and about objects, improving public hearings to address public interests and relieve tension in the planning and construction of the territories. However, planning documentation does not solve the problems of perspective development of the organization use and protection of land and other natural resources. There is a need to distinguish between objects of regional urban planning and land management. This is because the urban planning regulations covering mainly two categories of land (settlements, industry, transport, communications and other purposes, not including agricultural land, which houses objects of capital construction. However, they make up for Ukraine just 4.2% of the total area. For the remaining seven categories of land (agricultural land, forest and water resources, conservation, recreation, recreational purposes land use planning and their protection should be based on

  3. Problems of breast cancer survivors living in an urban area of Nepal

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Abja Sapkota

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available Objective: The main objective of this study was to identify the problems of Nepalese breast cancer survivors living in an urban area who had completed their treatment for at least 6 months. Methods: A cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted to assess the problems of breast cancer survivors who were registered at the Nepal Cancer Support Group. Fifty-one women who were diagnosed with breast cancer (Stage 0 to III and were currently disease-free were enrolled in the study. They were interviewed using structured interview schedule using the Breast Cancer Prevention Trial Symptom Scale. Statistical analysis was carried out with SPSS (version 16. Results: The mean age of the women at the time of enrollment was 47.3 years. The most common modality of treatment they received was the combination of surgery, chemotherapy, and radiotherapy (84%. Top five symptoms experienced by the survivors on the basis of frequency and severity were tiredness (61%, lack of energy (57%, forgetfulness (57%, lack of interest in sex (52%, general body aches (49%, and feeling of worrisome and anxiousness about future (49%. Women with age <45 years at diagnosis had higher mean rank score in psychological (24.7 and social problems (23.9 in comparison to women aged ≥45 years. There was a significant relationship between severe psychological (34.9 vs. 19.6; P = 0.001 and social problems (29.1 vs. 21.2; P = 0.03, with the time since primary treatment completion of <1 year. Conclusions: Nepalese breast cancer survivors were found to have multiple physical, psychological, and social problems and might require special attention during follow-up visits.

  4. Computer Use and Vision.Related Problems Among University ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Related Problems Among University Students In Ajman, United Arab Emirate. ... of 500 Students studying in Gulf Medical University, Ajman and Ajman University of ... prevalence of vision related problems was noted among university students.

  5. 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.

  6. Hypersomnolence and Sleep-related Complaints in Metropolitan, Urban, and Rural Georgia

    Science.gov (United States)

    Decker, Michael J.; Lin, Jin-Mann S.; Tabassum, Humyra

    2009-01-01

    Persistent daytime hypersomnolence is associated with significant morbidity and mortality, but its prevalence in the population has been poorly documented. This study sought to characterize the prevalence of persistent daytime hypersomnolence, difficulties initiating and maintaining sleep, unrefreshing sleep, snoring, and the presence of physician-diagnosed sleep disorders in metropolitan, urban, and rural US Georgia populations. Between September 2004 and July 2005, a total of 6,530 randomly selected well and unwell adults, identified by screening interviews of 10,837 households (contacted by random digit dialing), completed a detailed phone interview. Sixteen percent reported persistent problems staying awake during the day; 26% reported persistent problems falling asleep at night; 31% experienced problems sleeping through the night; 34% were bothered by unrefreshing sleep; and 33% reported that they snored. In spite of the high occurrence of reported persistent sleep problems, only 10% of the survey participants reported having been diagnosed with a sleep disorder. These study findings highlight the need for increased public and clinician awareness with respect to proactively indentifying signs and symptoms of sleep disorders, a better understanding of their adverse impact upon morbidity and mortality, and their negative impact upon socioeconomic and academic potential. PMID:19066308

  7. Dispersion Models to Forecast Traffic-related Emissions in Urban Areas

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Davide Scannapieco

    2011-11-01

    Full Text Available Down the centuries, a direct link had been developed between increase in mobility and increase in wealth. On the other hand, air emission of greenhouse gases (GHG due to vehicles equipped with internal combustion engines can be regarded as a negative pressure over the environment. In the coming decades, road transport is likely to remain a significant contributor to air pollution in cities. Many urban trips cover distances of less than 6 km. Since the effectiveness of catalytic converters in the initial minutes of engine operation is small, the average emission per distance driven is very high in urban areas. Also, poorly maintained vehicles that lack exhaust aftertreatment systems are responsible for a major part of pollutant emissions. Therefore in urban areas, where higher concentrations of vehicles can be easily found, air pollution represents a critical issue, being it related with both environment and human health protection: in truth, research in recent decades consistently indicates the adverse effects of outdoor air pollution on human health, and the evidence points to air pollution stemming from transport as an important contributor to these effects. Several institutions (EEA, USEPA, etc. focused their interest in dispersion models because of their potential effectiveness to forecast atmospheric pollution. Furthermore, air micropollutants such as Polycyclic Aromatic Compounds (PAH and Metallic Trace Elements (MTE are traffic-related and although very low concentrations their dispersion is a serious issue. However, dispersion models are usefully implemented to better manage this estimation problem. Nonetheless, policy makers and land managers have to deal with model selection, taking into account that several dispersion models are available, each one of them focused on specific goals (e.g., wind transport of pollutants, land morphology implementation, evaluation of micropollutants transport, etc.; a further aspect to be considered is

  8. A Selected List of Urban, Environmental and Social Problem Gaming/Simulations. Revised Edition.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Steinwachs, Barbara

    This revised list includes games/simulations for all age levels, though often most applicable at the secondary through adult levels. In her reviews of available products, the author limited her listings to those games/simulations which are useful for educational purposes and which focus directly on social concerns relative to urban and…

  9. Influence of Urbanization Factors on Surface Urban Heat Island Intensity: A Comparison of Countries at Different Developmental Phases

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yaoping Cui

    2016-07-01

    Full Text Available Urbanization is a global problem with demographic trends. The urban heat island plays a dominant role in local climate systems. Despite existing efforts to understand the impacts of multiple urbanization factors on the urban heat island globally, very little is known about the attribution of urban heat island magnitude to urbanization in different locations or developmental phases. In this study, based on global land surface temperature data, urban spatial domain data, gross domestic product (GDP, and population data, we analyzed the influence of multiple urbanization factors on global surface urban heat island intensity (SUHII. We also tentatively compared the abovementioned factors between different regions across the globe, especially between China and the USA, the largest countries that are experiencing or have experienced rapid urbanization in recent decades. The results showed that global SUHII had remarkable spatial heterogeneity due to the geographical and socioeconomic variation between cities. There was a significant correlation between SUHII and population as well as GDP in global cities. Moreover, this study suggested that the impacts of population on SUHII might be stronger in the early stages of urbanization, and the GDP factor would become a critical factor at a certain development level. The urban area also had non-ignorable impacts on SUHII, while the correlation between SUHII and urban shape was relatively weak. All these may imply that the best approach to slow down SUHII is to find other solutions, e.g., optimize the spatial configuration of urban internal landscapes, when the urbanization reaches a high level.

  10. Rural-urban disparity in oral health-related quality of life.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gaber, Amal; Galarneau, Chantal; Feine, Jocelyne S; Emami, Elham

    2018-04-01

    The objective of this population-based cross-sectional study was to estimate rural-urban disparity in the oral health-related quality of life (OHRQoL) of the Quebec adult population. A 2-stage sampling design was used to collect data from the 1788 parents/caregivers of schoolchildren living in the 8 regions of the province of Quebec in Canada. Andersen's behavioural model for health services utilization was used as a conceptual framework. Place of residency was defined according to the Statistics Canada Census Metropolitan Area and Census Agglomeration Influenced Zone classification. The outcome of interest was OHRQoL measured using the Oral Health Impact Profile (OHIP)-14 validated questionnaire. Data weighting was applied, and the prevalence, extent and severity of negative oral health impacts were calculated. Statistical analyses included descriptive statistics, bivariate analyses and binary logistic regression. The prevalence of poor oral health-related quality life (OHRQoL) was statistically higher in rural areas than in urban zones (P = .02). Rural residents reported a significantly higher prevalence of negative daily-life impacts in pain, psychological discomfort and social disability OHIP domains (P < .05). Additionally, the rural population showed a greater number of negative oral health impacts (P = .03). There was no significant rural-urban difference in the severity of poor oral health. Logistic regression indicated that the prevalence of poor OHRQoL was significantly related to place of residency (OR = 1.6; 95% CI = 1.1-2.5; P = .022), perceived oral health (OR = 9.4; 95% CI = 5.7-15.5; P < .001), dental treatment needs factors (perceived need for dental treatment, pain, dental care seeking) (OR = 8.7; 95% CI = 4.8-15.6; P < .001) and education (OR = 2.7; 95% CI = 1.8-3.9; P < .001). The results of this study suggest a potential difference in OHRQoL of Quebec rural and urban populations, and a need to develop strategies to promote oral health outcomes

  11. Drug-related problems in patients with osteoporosis

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ilić Darko

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available Background/Aim. Drug-related problems are especially frequent among patients suffering from non-communicable diseases, like osteoporosis, leading to suboptimal treatment response. The aim of this study was to identify drug-related problems in patients with osteoporosis. Methods. This cross-sectional prospective study was conducted in January 2014 on outpatients with osteoporosis from three health facilities in Belgrade, Serbia. The patients included in the study were older than 50 years, and they were offered an anonymous questionnaire with open-ended questions. Results. There were 355 study participants, 329 (92.7% females and 26 (7.3% males. The patients who experienced at least one osteoporotic fracture (n = 208 were significantly less adherent to the therapy, less engaged in sports and regular physical activities, and more prone to nutrition with inadequate intake of calcium and vitamin D than patients without fractures (n = 147. Conclusion. The effectiveness of osteoporosis treatment is decreased by several drug-related problems encountered by both physicians and patients. However, the majority of the drug-related problems could be greatly influenced by appropriate educational programs. [Projekat Ministarstva nauke Republike Srbije, br. 175007

  12. Relational and Overt Aggression in Urban India: Associations with Peer Relations and Best Friends' Aggression

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bowker, Julie C.; Ostrov, Jamie M.; Raja, Radhi

    2012-01-01

    This study explored the associations between relational and overt aggression and social status, and tested whether the peer correlates of aggression vary as a function of best friends' aggression during early adolescence in urban India. One hundred and ninety-four young adolescents from primarily middle-to-upper-class families in Surat, India…

  13. 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.

  14. Drug-related problems identified in medication reviews by Australian pharmacists

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Stafford, Andrew C; Tenni, Peter C; Peterson, Gregory M

    2009-01-01

    OBJECTIVE: In Australia, accredited pharmacists perform medication reviews for patients to identify and resolve drug-related problems. We analysed the drug-related problems identified in reviews for both home-dwelling and residential care-facility patients. The objective of this study was to exam......OBJECTIVE: In Australia, accredited pharmacists perform medication reviews for patients to identify and resolve drug-related problems. We analysed the drug-related problems identified in reviews for both home-dwelling and residential care-facility patients. The objective of this study....... These reviews had been self-selected by pharmacists and submitted as part of the reaccreditation process to the primary body responsible for accrediting Australian pharmacists to perform medication reviews. The drug-related problems identified in each review were classified by type and drugs involved. MAIN...... OUTCOME MEASURE: The number and nature of drug-related problems identified in pharmacist-conducted medication reviews. RESULTS: There were 1,038 drug-related problems identified in 234 medication reviews (mean 4.6 (+/-2.2) problems per review). The number of problems was higher (4.9 +/- 2.0 vs. 3.9 +/- 2...

  15. Dysmenorrhoea in different settings: Are the rural and urban adolescent girls perceiving and managing the dysmenorrhoea problem differently?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Avasarala Atchuta

    2008-01-01

    Full Text Available Context: It is well-known that every health problem, not only presents itself with different epidemiological profiles in different population settings, but is also perceived and managed differently. Having knowledge of these variations in its presentations and perceptions in different population settings, for example, in urban and rural settings, will be useful for its successful management. Aim: To study differences in epidemiological profiles, perceptions, socio economic losses, and quality-of-life losses and management of dysmenorrhoea in different settings for effective management. Design and Setting: A comparative cross-sectional study among adolescent school girls (101 girls in urban areas and 79 girls in rural areas in the district of Karimnagar. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional survey using a pretested questionnaire was conducted among 180 adolescent girls in urban and rural settings. Statistical Analyses Used: Proportions and X 2 test. Results: The prevalence of dysmenorrhoea is 54% (53% in girls in urban areas and 56% in girls in rural areas (X 2 df = 0.1, P = 0.05. Sickness absenteeism (28-48%, socio economic losses, and perceived quality of life losses are more prevalent among girls in urban areas than in girls in rural areas. Girls in rural areas resort to physical labor and other natural methods to obtain relief while the girls in urban areas are mainly depending on medications. Conclusions: Dysmenorrhoea can also be managed effectively by natural methods without resorting to medicines, provided one is psychologically prepared to face it without anxiety.

  16. Urban development, and emerging relations of informal property and land based authority in Accra

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Stacey, Paul Austin

    2018-01-01

    Rural–urban migration leads to ever increasing numbers of Africans living in informal settlements. In Accra's largest informal settlement, Old Fadama, residents by definition have no statutory rights to the land and their building activities undermine formal state law and state-recognized customary......, building and development in the settlement that involve a variety of local, national and global actors. Their actions show the contemporaneous making and unmaking of different relations of property and land-based control and authority in the densely populated urban site. Important features of urban...

  17. Microbial abundance on the eggs of a passerine bird and related fitness consequences between urban and rural habitats.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee, Sang-Im; Lee, Hyunna; Jablonski, Piotr G; Choe, Jae Chun; Husby, Magne

    2017-01-01

    Urban environments present novel and challenging habitats to wildlife. In addition to well-known difference in abiotic factors between rural and urban environments, the biotic environment, including microbial fauna, may also differ significantly. In this study, we aimed to compare the change in microbial abundance on eggshells during incubation between urban and rural populations of a passerine bird, the Eurasian Magpie (Pica pica), and examine the consequences of any differences in microbial abundances in terms of hatching success and nestling survival. Using real-time PCR, we quantified the abundances of total bacteria, Escherichia coli/Shigella spp., surfactin-producing Bacillus spp. and Candida albicans on the eggshells of magpies. We found that urban magpie eggs harboured greater abundances of E. coli/Shigella spp. and C. albicans before incubation than rural magpie eggs. During incubation, there was an increase in the total bacterial load, but a decrease in C. albicans on urban eggs relative to rural eggs. Rural eggs showed a greater increase in E. coli/Shigella spp. relative to their urban counterpart. Hatching success of the brood was generally lower in urban than rural population. Nestling survival was differentially related with the eggshell microbial abundance between urban and rural populations, which was speculated to be the result of the difference in the strength of the interaction among the microbes. This is the first demonstration that avian clutches in urban and rural populations differ in eggshell microbial abundance, which can be further related to the difference in hatching success and nestling survival in these two types of environments. We suggest that future studies on the eggshell microbes should investigate the interaction among the microbes, because the incubation and/or environmental factors such as urbanization or climate condition can influence the dynamic interactions among the microbes on the eggshells which can further determine the

  18. Effects of Exposure to Community Violence and Family Violence on School Functioning Problems among Urban Youth: The Potential Mediating Role of Posttraumatic Stress Symptoms

    Science.gov (United States)

    McGill, Tia M.; Self-Brown, Shannon R.; Lai, Betty S.; Cowart-Osborne, Melissa; Tiwari, Ashwini; LeBlanc, Monique; Kelley, Mary Lou

    2014-01-01

    Adolescents who are exposed to violence during childhood are at an increased risk for developing posttraumatic stress (PTS) symptoms. The literature suggests that violence exposure might also have negative effects on school functioning, and that PTS might serve as a potential mediator in this association. The purpose of the current study was to replicate and extend prior research by examining PTS symptoms as a mediator of the relationship between two types of violence exposure and school functioning problems among adolescent youth from an urban setting. Participants included a sample of 121 junior high and high school students (M = 15 years; range = 13–16 years; 60 males, 61 females) within high-crime neighborhoods. Consistent with our hypotheses, community violence and family violence were associated with PTS symptoms and school functioning problems. Our data suggest that community and family violence were indirectly related to school functioning problems through PTS symptoms. Findings from this study demonstrate that PTS symptoms potentially mediate the relationship between violence exposure and school functioning problems across two settings (community and home). Future research should further examine protective factors that can prevent youth violence exposure as well as negative outcomes related to violence. PMID:24570897

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

    OpenAIRE

    Hu, Zongyi; Tang, Liwei

    2013-01-01

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

  20. Rural-urban migration in Nigeria: consequences on housing, health-care and employment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Johnnie, P B

    1988-01-01

    This article explores the results of an on-going longitudinal study in selected high-density areas of Port Harcourt metropolis involving 240 respondents from 4 groups. When respondents in the 1st cohort (watchnights, laborers, and messengers) were asked what motivated them to move from rural areas to the city, 94% said to get better jobs and increase their earnings. 98% of the clerks migrated to Port Harcourt for better jobs and to find employment. All 40 school leavers confirmed that they had moved to the city to find jobs. In spite of the various statutory provisions and policy statements relating to housing in Nigeria there still exists an acute and noticeable shortage both in rural and urban housing. There not only exists a dearth of residential accommodation in these urban centers, but there is also a seemingly atrocious disparity in housing conditions between a large majority of poor urban dwellers and a negligible number of urban residents who are reasonably wealthy. With the growing number of persons migrating from the rural areas to the urban centers, there are also likely to be problems of overcrowding which would exacerbate the problems of communicable diseases and pollution. In terms of the allocation of medical personnel, equipment, and drugs, there is a disproportionately skewed distribution in favor of urban dwellers. 1 important cause of urban employment problems is the phenomenal growth in urbanization and the inability of these urban centers to be able to utilize or absorb the urban labor that was created through the process of urbanization. The other problem is the extremely slow pace of industrialization as compared to urbanization . A serious malady responsible for urban unemployment is the staggering rate at which young school leavers migrate to the city. Nigeria as a nation state has assumed the most dangerous dimensions of capitalism by deliberately erecting inequality and poverty in society. 1 way by which the state, controlled by the

  1. PM2006: a highly scalable urban planning management information system--Case study: Suzhou Urban Planning Bureau

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jing, Changfeng; Liang, Song; Ruan, Yong; Huang, Jie

    2008-10-01

    During the urbanization process, when facing complex requirements of city development, ever-growing urban data, rapid development of planning business and increasing planning complexity, a scalable, extensible urban planning management information system is needed urgently. PM2006 is such a system that can deal with these problems. In response to the status and problems in urban planning, the scalability and extensibility of PM2006 are introduced which can be seen as business-oriented workflow extensibility, scalability of DLL-based architecture, flexibility on platforms of GIS and database, scalability of data updating and maintenance and so on. It is verified that PM2006 system has good extensibility and scalability which can meet the requirements of all levels of administrative divisions and can adapt to ever-growing changes in urban planning business. At the end of this paper, the application of PM2006 in Urban Planning Bureau of Suzhou city is described.

  2. Environmental consequences of rapid urbanization in zhejiang province, East china.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yang, Xuchao; Yue, Wenze; Xu, Honghui; Wu, Jingsheng; He, Yue

    2014-07-11

    Since reforms carried out in the late 1970s, China has experienced unprecedented rates of urban growth. Remote sensing data and surface observational data are used to investigate the urbanization process and related environmental consequences, focusing on extreme heat events and air pollution, in Zhejiang Province (ZJP, East China). Examination of satellite-measured nighttime light data indicates rapid urbanization in ZJP during the past decade, initially forming three urban clusters. With rapid urban sprawl, a significant Urban Heat Island (UHI) effect has emerged. During extreme heat events in summer, the UHI effect significantly exacerbates nocturnal heat stress in highly urbanized areas. Taking a long-term view, urbanization also causes additional hot days and hot degree days in urban areas. Urbanization also imposes a heavy burden on local and regional air quality in ZJP. Degraded visibility and an increase in haze days are observed at most meteorological stations, especially in the three urban clusters. The results show that urbanization has led to serious environmental problems in ZJP, not only on the city scale, but also on the regional scale. Maintaining a balance between the continuing process of urbanization and environmental sustainability is a major issue facing the local government.

  3. Transportation barriers to accessing health care for urban children.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yang, Serena; Zarr, Robert L; Kass-Hout, Taha A; Kourosh, Atoosa; Kelly, Nancy R

    2006-11-01

    The Texas Children's Hospital Residents' Primary Care Group Clinic provides primary care to urban low-income children. The objective of this cross-sectional study was to investigate the impact of transportation problems on a family's ability to keep an appointment. One hundred eighty-three caregivers of children with an appointment were interviewed. Caregivers who kept their appointment were compared with those who did not with respect to demographic and transportation-related characteristics. Logistic regression modeling predicted caregivers with the following characteristics were more likely not to keep an appointment: not using a car to the last kept appointment, not keeping an appointment in the past due to transportation problems, having more than two people in the household, and not keeping an appointment in the past due to reasons other than transportation problems. Future research should focus on developing interventions to help low-income urban families overcome non-financial access barriers, including transportation problems.

  4. 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.

  5. Maritime Tactile Education for Urban Secondary Education Students

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sulzer, Arthur Henry, IV

    2012-01-01

    Urban high-school students' low average level of academic achievement is a national problem. A lack of academic progress is a factor that contributes to students failing to graduate. In response to these urban high school student problems, a growing number of urban charter high schools have opened as an alternative to the traditional public high…

  6. The Role of Human in Relation between Urban Life & Philosophy

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Qodratullah Qorbani

    2015-06-01

    Full Text Available Historical documents show that urban life and urbanization is the first manifestation of complete form of human life, and it seems that most of human thoughts, like philosophies, were shaped in the cities and urbanizations. It means that the urban life is a society which has many social factors like: social classes and groups, economy, political power, organizations, family, cultures and geographical and environmental circumstances, that they cause to form many thoughts like human philosophies, then we see that most of past philosophers were in the cities in where urbanization was formed and thinkers could think by using of elements which are grown in such urbanizations. So, the being of urban life is necessary for making philosophical thoughts, because there are such social factors of urban living, can effect human's thinking and shape his/her worldview. But we can see the role of humankinds as a free existent who has divine position, intellect and freedom, then, he/she can manage, control and change the impacts of urban factors on philosophical thought. It means that effects of urbanizations and cultures as clear manifestation of urban life on philosophies is possible only by using of human‘s will and thinking as the central factor of the urban life and philosophy, while he/she can control and change these impacts. In fact, although human is under the impact of social and urban factors, he/she is not determined absolutely, but has freedom and intellect to control and change them. So, there is no place for absolute determinism due to social forces of urban life, but it seems there is a kind of intermediate state between absolute determinism and libertarianism. In this paper, it is tries to analysis the role of social and urban factors as the most important elements of the urban life on philosophy and philosophical thinking, and to argue that how human can manage this process.

  7. DETERMINATION OF OBJECTIVES FOR URBAN FREIGHT POLICY

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Daniel Kaszubowski

    2014-12-01

    Full Text Available Background: Decisions regarding strategic planning of urban freight transport very often are based on superficial assumptions inadequately reflecting the actual character of encountered challenges. The trend may be observed to adapt isolated solutions without supporting measures and verification of expected outcomes. Selected urban freight solutions have a significant potential to alleviate transport related problems, but they require unorthodox approach beyond standard traffic planning and road management. City's current planning experience must be taken into account to plan an optimized sequence of actions. Method: Due to complexity of the problem and specific decision making factors the analytic network process ANP was selected to determine relevant objective of the urban freight policy. Gdynia was selected as the subject for modeling with a review of the current freight planning practice as a first step. Then, classification of policy objective and their prerequisites were identified supported with descriptive feasibility assessment. This allowed for a development of the ANP decision-making model. Results: Considered objectives for urban freight policy were identified were optimization, reduction and transfer. After verifying relevant decision factors optimization was selected as the most feasible option for Gdynia. Other alternatives were rated around four times lower with a slight prevalence of reduction over transfer. Such ranking reflects current planning practice and availability of transferable experiences. Despite the indicative results, it must be stressed that urban freight planning should be based on the long term methodical approach not to exclude any emerging possibilities. 

  8. [The use of census data to estimate levels of urbanization].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Darwin, M; Tukiran

    1991-01-01

    Problems concerning changes in the definition of urbanization for demographic analysis are examined. "This article attempts to examine the problem by clarifying the definition of the concept and indicators of urban and urbanization and by making a longitudinal analysis of urbanization using the Indonesian 1920-1990 Census data." (SUMMARY IN ENG) excerpt

  9. Quantifying the linear and nonlinear relations between the urban form fragmentation and the carbon emission distribution

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zuo, S.; Dai, S.; Ren, Y.; Yu, Z.

    2017-12-01

    Scientifically revealing the spatial heterogeneity and the relationship between the fragmentation of urban landscape and the direct carbon emissions are of great significance to land management and urban planning. In fact, the linear and nonlinear effects among the various factors resulted in the carbon emission spatial map. However, there is lack of the studies on the direct and indirect relations between the carbon emission and the city functional spatial form changes, which could not be reflected by the land use change. The linear strength and direction of the single factor could be calculated through the correlation and Geographically Weighted Regression (GWR) analysis, the nonlinear power of one factor and the interaction power of each two factors could be quantified by the Geodetector analysis. Therefore, we compared the landscape fragmentation metrics of the urban land cover and functional district patches to characterize the landscape form and then revealed the relations between the landscape fragmentation level and the direct the carbon emissions based on the three methods. The results showed that fragmentation decreased and the fragmented patches clustered at the coarser resolution. The direct CO2 emission density and the population density increased when the fragmentation level aggregated. The correlation analysis indicated the weak linear relation between them. The spatial variation of GWR output indicated the fragmentation indicator (MESH) had the positive influence on the carbon emission located in the relatively high emission region, and the negative effects regions accounted for the small part of the area. The Geodetector which explores the nonlinear relation identified the DIVISION and MESH as the most powerful direct factor for the land cover patches, NP and PD for the functional district patches, and the interactions between fragmentation indicator (MESH) and urban sprawl metrics (PUA and DIS) had the greatly increased explanation powers on the

  10. Third-world development: urbanizing for the future.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mcilwaine, C

    1997-01-01

    This article reviews some issues reflected in the 1996 UN Habitat II agenda and recent research on urbanization. The themes of the 1996 Habitat conference were urban development, urban poverty, and governance, civil society, and social capital. It is expected that over 50% of total world population will live in cities in the year 2000. Cities are viewed both as engines of economic growth and centers of severe economic, environmental, and social problems. There is some disagreement about whether cities are rational economic structures or what the World Bank's urban agenda is and its relationship with macroeconomic policy. Discussions of global urban issues are criticized for their neglect of issues of equity and poverty, cultural diversity, and identity and representation. Habitat II also stressed urban sustainability. There is growing recognition that urban management involves more than the "Brown Agenda" of environmental and physical aspects of urban growth. Recent studies identify how politics and power affect people's access to basic urban services. Urban economic activity can also contribute to environmental problems. Urban growth affects the provision of health services. Although there is not a consensus on the role of cities in expanding economic and social development and the best management practices, there is sufficient evidence to indicate that urban processes are varied throughout the developing world. The links between urban and rural areas differentiate cities and expose the need to understand the role of intermediate urban areas surrounding and between larger cities. Poverty has become increasingly urbanized, but the extent of poverty is unknown. Habitat II was an unprecedented effort to engage nongovernment groups, local government staff, trade unions, and the private sector and to emphasize community participation. Networks of trust and reciprocity are key to solving poverty, inequality, and disempowerment problems.

  11. Health-related fitness of urban children in Suriname : an ethnic variety

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Walhain, Fenna; Declerck, Marlies; de Vries, J; Veeger, H.E.J.; Ledebt, A.

    Objective: The aim of our study was to investigate the health-related fitness (HRF) of 11-year-old children living in an urban area in Suriname, taking into account the difference between the five main ethnicities from Suriname. Design and Method: Cross-sectionally, performance on the HRF

  12. Common mental health problems in rural-to-urban migrant workers in Shenzhen, China: prevalence and risk factors.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhong, B L; Liu, T B; Chan, S S M; Jin, D; Hu, C Y; Dai, J; Chiu, H F K

    2018-06-01

    Rural-to-urban migrant workers are a large marginalised population in urban China. Prevalence estimates of common mental health problems (CMHPs) in previous studies varied widely and very few studies have investigated migration-related factors of CMHPs in migrant workers. The objective of this study was to determine the prevalence and risk factors of CMHPs among Chinese migrant workers. A random sample of 3031 migrant workers of ten manufacturing factories in Shenzhen, China, completed a standardised questionnaire containing socio-demographic and migration-related variables and the Chinese 12-item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12). A GHQ-12 score of three or higher was used to denote the presence of CMHPs. The prevalence of CMHPs was 34.4% in Chinese migrant workers. In multiple logistic regression, risk factors for CMHPs included being 16-25 years old (odd ratio [OR] 1.65, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.28, 2.12), being 26-35 years old (OR 1.36, 95% CI: 1.05, 1.75), low monthly income (OR 1.42, 95% CI 1.04, 1.92), poor living condition (OR: 1.76, 95% CI: 1.22, 2.54), physical illness in the past 2 weeks (OR 1.72, 95% CI 1.43, 2.05), having worked in many cities (OR 1.34, 95% CI 1.03, 1.74), infrequently visiting hometown (OR 1.56, 95% CI 1.22, 1.99), poor Mandarin proficiency (OR 1.51, 95%CI 1.13, 2.01), a low level of perceived benefits of migration (OR 1.33, 95% CI 1.14, 1.55) and working more than 8 h/day (OR 1.39, 95% CI 1.14, 1.70). CMHPs are very prevalent among Chinese migrant workers. Given the large number of Chinese migrant workers, there is an urgent need to address the mental health burden of China's migrant worker population.

  13. Urbane Projekter

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Andersen, Anne Juel

    2013-01-01

    of Chapter 1 ’problem and research questions’, Chapter 2 ’place, discourse and planning as a theoretical framework’ and Chapter 3 ’research design’. Part 2 ’urban practice locally, nationally and globally’ consisting of Chapter 4 ’background and context, urban trans- formations in Aalborg from 1950 to 2013...... of Chapter 9 with the same name. The analysis results and thus the conclusions are at 3 levels of knowledge: Historically specific development in terms of urban planning practices respectively in Aalborg and natio- nally/internationally The tools here have been a focus on different rationales or urban...... projects as a strategic tool in urban policy, development of place perceptions, the use of narratives in the planning processes, the functions of representations as discursive devised imagined realities, power structures and planning approaches - knowledge that can be used in the future practice of other...

  14. EARTH RESOURCE PROBLEMS AND RELATED ENVIRONMENTAL CONSIDERATIONS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Orlitová Erika

    1997-10-01

    Full Text Available The paper discusses some of the problems of geology and earth resources management in relation to environmental problems of the technosphere. It deals also with some aspects of environmental monitoring of areas where surveying or mining operations are planned or in progress.

  15. Rural-urban variation in injury-related hospitalisation, health outcomes and treatment cost in New South Wales.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mitchell, Rebecca J; Lower, Tony

    2018-04-19

    To compare differences in injury characteristics, health outcomes and treatment costs between urban and rural residents who were hospitalised following an injury. A retrospective examination of injury-linked hospitalisation and mortality data in New South Wales from 1 January 2010 to 30 June 2014. Urban (496 325) and rural (213 139) residents who were hospitalised following an injury. Demographic and injury characteristics, injury severity, hospital length of stay, 28-day hospital readmission, 90-day mortality and treatment cost. Rural residents had an increased likelihood of being hospitalised for injuries from motorcycles, vehicles, animate causes, venomous animals or plants and assault compared to urban residents. Rural residents were less likely to be readmitted to hospital within 28 days and had a lower length of stay and age-adjusted length of stay than urban residents. Injury-related hospitalisations for urban and rural residents cost $4.4 billion and $1.7 billion, respectively. Annually, acute injury treatment ($1.1 billion), rehabilitation ($130 million) and subacute non-acute patient care ($57 million) cost $1.3 billion ($990 million for urban and $384 million for rural residents) in New South Wales. Fall-related injuries and transport incidents were the costliest injury mechanisms for both urban and rural residents. Injuries contribute substantially to hospitalised morbidity and its cost. The development and implementation of injury prevention strategies targeting the most common injuries for urban and rural residents will go some way towards reducing hospitalised injury and its cost. © 2018 National Rural Health Alliance Ltd.

  16. Remote sensing based approach for monitoring urban growth in Mexico city, Mexico: A case study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Obade, Vincent

    The world is experiencing a rapid rate of urban expansion, largely contributed by the population growth. Other factors supporting urban growth include the improved efficiency in the transportation sector and increasing dependence on cars as a means of transport. The problems attributed to the urban growth include: depletion of energy resources, water and air pollution; loss of landscapes and wildlife, loss of agricultural land, inadequate social security and lack of employment or underemployment. Aerial photography is one of the popular techniques for analyzing, planning and minimizing urbanization related problems. However, with the advances in space technology, satellite remote sensing is increasingly being utilized in the analysis and planning of the urban environment. This article outlines the strengths and limitations of potential remote sensing techniques for monitoring urban growth. The selected methods include: Principal component analysis, Maximum likelihood classification and "decision tree". The results indicate that the "classification tree" approach is the most promising for monitoring urban change, given the improved accuracy and smooth transition between the various land cover classes

  17. 2009 urban mobility report.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2009-07-01

    Congestion is a problem in Americas 439 urban areas, and it has gotten worse in regions of all : sizes. In 2007, congestion caused urban Americans to travel 4.2 billion hours more and to : purchase an extra 2.8 billion gallons of fuel for a conges...

  18. Urbanization and human rights

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Mihr, A.

    Urban governance on the basis of human rights can help to set up problem solving mechanisms to guarantee social peace, economic growth and political participation.If states both integrate more in international or regional human rights regime and give more autonomy to urban governments and local

  19. Creating prototypes for cooling urban water bodies

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Cortesoao, Joao; Klok, E.J.; Lenzholzer, Sanda; Jacobs, C.M.J.; Kluck, J.

    2017-01-01

    Abstract When addressing urban heat problems, climate- conscious urban design has been assuming that urban water bodies such as canals, ditches or ponds cool down their surroundings. Recent research shows that this is not necessarily the case and that urban water bodies may actually have a warming e

  20. Solving local problems through local involvement? Experiences from Danish Urban Regeneration

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Jensen, Jesper Ole

    -down approaches or massive public subsidies, the public regeneration schemes from the last decade have increasingly emphasized the need for involving local actors in the urban regeneration e.g. through partnerships, network building, involvement and participation of local actors and institutions, and financially...... agenda, and what can be learned from the development so far. Although ‘local involvement’ is a commonly used term in various urban regeneration programs, it can have many different meanings and implications. Therefore, the paper will discuss local involvement in the urban regeneration based on four...

  1. Urban roughness mapping validation techniques and some first results

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Bottema, M; Mestayer, PG

    1998-01-01

    Because of measuring problems related to evaluation of urban roughness parameters, a new approach using a roughness mapping tool has been tested: evaluation of roughness length z(o) and zero displacement z(d) from cadastral databases. Special attention needs to be given to the validation of the

  2. Comparison Between the Risky Agents Correspond to Fall in Elderly People of Urban and Rural Regions of Zabol

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sakine Sheikh

    2013-10-01

    Full Text Available Objectives: the main aim of this study was the comparisons between the risky agents correspond to fall in elderly people of urban and rural regions of Zabol. Methods & Materials: The current study was a Cross sectional survey during 2010-2011 on a sample that contains 173 elderly without Cognitive impairment that are residents of Zabol and aged more than 60 years. The materials for data gathering were Questionnaires. The data was analyzed by employing version 16 of SPSS software, Central and dispersion indices, t-test, ANOVA, and Sig. (2-tailed test at the significance level of. Results: Among the internal agents, diabetes, lung problems, hearing problems, heart problems, surgery history, and high blood pleasure were significantly more in elderly adults of urban regions relative to rural ones (P<0.05. Among the external agents, the amount of physical exercises for the elderly adults of urban regions was significantly more relative to rural ones (P=0.020. The urban and rural elderly adults were in same situation after fall. Conclusion: The results show that Diabetes, lung problems, Hearing problems, and Surgery history, were the main reasons of fall for the elderly adults of urban regions. The physical activity of urban elderly adults is more than that in rural ones The main places in which the fall occurred were the yard, and then the room. The main time of fall was also the morning. Therefor these confirm that the physical activity is not enough to improve the health degree and it require more care. Control of comorbidities and Attention to environment risk factors are necessary.

  3. Environmental issues of the Ljubljana urban region

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Metka Špes

    2004-12-01

    Full Text Available The main environmental problems of Ljubljana urban region which are obstacle of sustain-able development are presented in the paper, especially the main sources of air pollution and water manegment. Actual quality of life in urban environment is seen also in noise pollu-tion, quality and accessibility of green areas and in traffic. On the end the article discusses the attitudes of Ljubljana residents to environmental problems and quality of life in urban region.

  4. Urban energy consumption and related carbon emission estimation: a study at the sector scale

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lu, Weiwei; Chen, Chen; Su, Meirong; Chen, Bin; Cai, Yanpeng; Xing, Tao

    2013-12-01

    With rapid economic development and energy consumption growth, China has become the largest energy consumer in the world. Impelled by extensive international concern, there is an urgent need to analyze the characteristics of energy consumption and related carbon emission, with the objective of saving energy, reducing carbon emission, and lessening environmental impact. Focusing on urban ecosystems, the biggest energy consumer, a method for estimating energy consumption and related carbon emission was established at the urban sector scale in this paper. Based on data for 1996-2010, the proposed method was applied to Beijing in a case study to analyze the consumption of different energy resources (i.e., coal, oil, gas, and electricity) and related carbon emission in different sectors (i.e., agriculture, industry, construction, transportation, household, and service sectors). The results showed that coal and oil contributed most to energy consumption and carbon emission among different energy resources during the study period, while the industrial sector consumed the most energy and emitted the most carbon among different sectors. Suggestions were put forward for energy conservation and emission reduction in Beijing. The analysis of energy consumption and related carbon emission at the sector scale is helpful for practical energy saving and emission reduction in urban ecosystems.

  5. Urban form and energy use for transport. A Nordic experience

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Naess, P

    1995-02-10

    The main research problem addressed in this thesis is the possible influence of several urban form variables on the amount of transportation, on the modal split between different means of transport, and on energy use for transportation. This problem is elucidated through five empirical investigations covering different geographic levels in a Nordic context, from individual employees and households to commuting regions. A main feature of the study is the combination of socioeconomic and urban form variables in empirical investigations, employing techniques of multivariate analysis. The investigations of residential areas and job sites have been based on travel surveys, while the investigations where the units of analysis are towns or regions have been based on fuel sales. The socioeconomic data have been collected from official statistics and from questionnaires. It is found that urban form variables exert important influences on transportation energy use. Urban density affects energy use for transportation. A central location of residences as well as workplaces is favourable with respect to energy conservation on an intra-urban scale, but not in a wider geographical context, where decentralization into several dense, relatively self-contained local communities distributed over the region is the most energy-saving pattern of regional development. Urban form characteristics favourable for minimizing transport energy requirements also seem favourable for energy conservation in buildings. 160 refs., 39 figs., 46 tabs.

  6. Environmental Consequences of Rapid Urbanization in Zhejiang Province, East China

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Xuchao Yang

    2014-07-01

    Full Text Available Since reforms carried out in the late 1970s, China has experienced unprecedented rates of urban growth. Remote sensing data and surface observational data are used to investigate the urbanization process and related environmental consequences, focusing on extreme heat events and air pollution, in Zhejiang Province (ZJP, East China. Examination of satellite-measured nighttime light data indicates rapid urbanization in ZJP during the past decade, initially forming three urban clusters. With rapid urban sprawl, a significant Urban Heat Island (UHI effect has emerged. During extreme heat events in summer, the UHI effect significantly exacerbates nocturnal heat stress in highly urbanized areas. Taking a long-term view, urbanization also causes additional hot days and hot degree days in urban areas. Urbanization also imposes a heavy burden on local and regional air quality in ZJP. Degraded visibility and an increase in haze days are observed at most meteorological stations, especially in the three urban clusters. The results show that urbanization has led to serious environmental problems in ZJP, not only on the city scale, but also on the regional scale. Maintaining a balance between the continuing process of urbanization and environmental sustainability is a major issue facing the local government.

  7. Depression and Related Problems in University Students

    Science.gov (United States)

    Field, Tiffany; Diego, Miguel; Pelaez, Martha; Deeds, Osvelia; Delgado, Jeannette

    2012-01-01

    Method: Depression and related problems were studied in a sample of 283 university students. Results: The students with high depression scores also had high scores on anxiety, intrusive thoughts, controlling intrusive thoughts and sleep disturbances scales. A stepwise regression suggested that those problems contributed to a significant proportion…

  8. Goals and everyday problem solving: examining the link between age-related goals and problem-solving strategy use.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hoppmann, Christiane A; Coats, Abby Heckman; Blanchard-Fields, Fredda

    2008-07-01

    Qualitative interviews on family and financial problems from 332 adolescents, young, middle-aged, and older adults, demonstrated that developmentally relevant goals predicted problem-solving strategy use over and above problem domain. Four focal goals concerned autonomy, generativity, maintaining good relationships with others, and changing another person. We examined both self- and other-focused problem-solving strategies. Autonomy goals were associated with self-focused instrumental problem solving and generative goals were related to other-focused instrumental problem solving in family and financial problems. Goals of changing another person were related to other-focused instrumental problem solving in the family domain only. The match between goals and strategies, an indicator of problem-solving adaptiveness, showed that young individuals displayed the greatest match between autonomy goals and self-focused problem solving, whereas older adults showed a greater match between generative goals and other-focused problem solving. Findings speak to the importance of considering goals in investigations of age-related differences in everyday problem solving.

  9. The Burnside problem and related topics

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Adian, Sergei I

    2011-01-01

    This paper gives a survey of results related to the famous Burnside problem on periodic groups. A negative solution of this problem was first published in joint papers of P.S. Novikov and the author in 1968. The theory of transformations of words in free periodic groups that was created in these papers and its various modifications give a very productive approach to the investigation of hard problems in group theory. In 1950 the Burnside problem gave rise to another problem on finite periodic groups, formulated by Magnus and called by him the restricted Burnside problem. Here it is called the Burnside-Magnus problem. In the Burnside problem the question of local finiteness of periodic groups of a given exponent was posed, but the Burnside-Magnus problem is the question of the existence of a maximal finite periodic group R(m,n) of a fixed period n with a given number m of generators. These problems complement each other. The publication in a joint paper by the author and Razborov in 1987 of the first effective proof of the well-known result of Kostrikin on the existence of a maximal group R(m,n) for any prime n, together with an indication of primitive recursive upper bounds for the orders of these groups, stimulated investigations of the Burnside-Magnus problem as well. Very soon other effective proofs appeared, and then Zel'manov extended Kostrikin's result to the case when n is any power of a prime number. These results are discussed in the last section of this paper. Bibliography: 105 titles.

  10. Peer Victimization among Urban, Predominantly African American Youth: Coping with Relational Aggression between Friends

    Science.gov (United States)

    Waasdorp, Tracy Evian; Bagdi, Aparna; Bradshaw, Catherine P.

    2010-01-01

    Although there is a growing body of research documenting the deleterious effect of experiencing relational aggression, few studies have explored how children cope with relational aggression, especially when it occurs between close friends. Moreover, relational aggression is understudied among urban African American children. Using data from a…

  11. 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.

  12. Application of wind tunnel tests to the development of solutions to problems related to immissions which affect urban climates

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kuttler, W.

    1991-01-01

    In the last two decades urban climatology has developed to a pragmatically oriented field of research. Synthetic-functional maps of the climate and derived maps for town planning have widely been accepted by municipal or communal management. However, there is a disadvantage of the generalized urban-climatic maps because they only show the actual climatic state for stable sunny weather conditions. When future planning is done with due regard to forecasts on possible changes of the climatic or air-hygienic conditions, it is necessary to carry out model calculations and/or wind tunnel experiments. Because of the complexity of urban building structures, it is still difficult to acquire necessary information by numeric models. In most cases wind tunnel measurements will have to be carried out. After having illustrated the methods of wind tunnel experiments, the following paper shows results from measurements carried out for a street canyon with dense traffic in Duesseldorf's northern quarter Moersenbroich. This investigation intended to show how the field of immissions - mainly caused by traffic - changes after the construction of a six-storey office building on a remaining free space. It proved that the planned building wouldn't really lead to a deterioration of the field of the immissive situation. On the contrary, in most cases we could measure a reduced amount of pollution compared to the former building structure with a free spot. Only in few cases, the new building led to increased values in proportion to the given threshold values. (orig.) [de

  13. Urbanization: the pipelines ROW (Right-of-Way) future

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Ribeiro, Gilberto; Malzone, Vivian de Araujo Oliveira [TRANSPETRO - PETROBRAS Transporte S.A., Rio de Janeiro, RJ (Brazil)

    2009-07-01

    The accelerated process of urbanization that is shifting the aspects of Brazilian cities - most clearly in South East and South region states - is inherently involved with decayed levels of quality of life and little or any concern at all with the sustainability of such urban expansion. Besides the social difficulties generated from this non-planned growth - mainly in the cities' outskirts - there are many questions related to urbanization that should be reconsidered such as water, soil and air pollution; lack of water resources; floods, insufficient public transport and traffic problems; urban infra-structure and lodging privations and inadequate soil installment. This paper aims at showing how this disordered urban growth plays an important role on PETROBRAS' pipeline right of way located at the great cities urban areas, more specifically the Urban Right Of Way that cross the metropolitan region of the city of Sao Paulo. Also, it is an objective to express how such urbanization propitiate the execution of basic infra-structure in a way of integrating habitation, sanitation, environment and geotechnical sectors with the purposes of PETROBRAS of maintaining as priority the integrity of the pipelines located on the ROW as well as the integrity of these ROW themselves. (author)

  14. Relation Decomposing between Urbanization and Consumption of Water-Energy Sources

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Y.; Xiao, W.; Wang, Y.; Zhao, Y.; Wang, J., , Dr; Jiang, D.; Wang, H.

    2017-12-01

    Abstract: Water resources and energy, important subsystems of city, are the basic guarantee for the normal operation of city, which play an important role to brace the urbanization. The interdependence between them are increasing along with the rapid development of China's economy. The relationship between urbanization and consumption of energy and water have become the focal point of the scholars, but the research have more attention to the impact of urbanization on two subsystems separately, and do not reveal the effects of urbanization on the water-energy nexus. Thus, there is little consideration upon the different characteristics of China's several regions in water and energy consumption in urbanization. In this paper, the STIRPAT model is built to reveal the relationship between urbanization and the consumption of water and energy. Also, the influence of urbanization on different main body of water and energy consumption are discussed. The different regional main factors of water and energy in the process of urbanization are identified through water and energy panel data of China's thirty provinces. Finally, through the regression analysis of total water consumption data of agriculture, industry, service industry with total energy consumption data, the relationship of water and energy in the process of urban development are analyzed.

  15. Real time urbanism

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ana Ruiz Varona

    2012-12-01

    Full Text Available Nowadays, given the technological revolution of the society of information, the administrative management of the cities faces a new problem not as related to the projection of the urban space as to the capacity of controlling and measuring the process of direct and centralized production of the cities by part of some non-homogeneous social multitudes, in a hyper-accelerated time towards instantaneity. Against libertarian apologies of the new “participative urbanisms”, the article puts forward a discourse that shows the lost associated to the new problem of temporal instantaneity. In this regard we claim new process of mediation that allow administrations and urbanist monitoring the production of the city. To that end, a previous and necessary step will be the redefinition of the role of a new real time urbanist.

  16. Food Desertification: Situating Choice and Class Relations within an Urban Political Economy of Declining Food Access

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Melanie Bedore

    2014-05-01

    Full Text Available While food deserts create whole sets of tangible consequences for people living within them, the problem has yet to be the subject of much normative, in-depth evaluation as an urban political economy of food access. This paper provides a critical analysis of a specific food desert and its responses, drawing on a case study of the low-income, spatially segregated North End of the small city of Kingston, Ontario, Canada. The main thrust of the paper is that the food desert remains a useful yet underexplored phenomenon through which to reveal the complexities and tensions surrounding the treatment of “choice” in a classed society. Understood as an urban political economy of declining food access, the food desert phenomenon reveals capital’s complex role in the promotion or violation of dignity through the urban geographies of acquiring food for oneself, family, or household. Through the data presented here, the article also argues for a collective pause among critical scholars to radicalize, rather than reject, the role of consumer choice in a more just food system, and for further normative engagement with urban landscapes of retail consolidation.

  17. Monitoring Urbanization-Related Land Cover Change on the U.S. Great Plains and Impacts on Remotely Sensed Vegetation Dynamics

    Science.gov (United States)

    Krehbiel, C. P.; Jackson, T.; Henebry, G. M.

    2014-12-01

    Earth is currently in an era of rapid urban growth with >50% of global population living in urban areas. Urbanization occurs alongside urban population growth, as cities expand to meet the demands of increasing population. Consequently, there is a need for remote sensing research to detect, monitor, and measure urbanization and its impacts on the biosphere. Here we used MODIS and Landsat data products to (1) detect urbanization-related land cover changes, (2) investigate urbanization-related impacts on land surface phenology (LSP) across rural to urban gradients and (3) explore fractional vegetation and impervious surface area regionally across the US Great Plains and within 14 cities in this region. We used the NLCD Percent Impervious Surface Area (%ISA) and Land Cover Type (LCT) products from 2001, 2006, and 2011 for 30m classification of the peri-urban environment. We investigated the impacts of urbanization-related land cover change on urban LSP at 30m resolution using the NDVI product from Web Enabled Landsat Data (http://weld.cr.usgs.gov) with accumulated growing degree-days calculated from first-order weather stations. We fitted convex quadratic LSP models to a decade (2003-2012) of observations to yield these phenometrics: modeled peak NDVI, time (thermal and calendar) to modeled peak, duration of season (DOS), and model fit. We compared our results to NDVI from MODIS NBAR (500m) and we explored the utility of 4 μm radiance (MODIS band 23) at 1 km resolution to characterize fractional vegetation dynamics in and around urbanized areas. Across all 14 cities we found increases in urbanized area (>25 %ISA) exceeding 10% from 2001-2011. Using LSP phenometrics, we were able to detect changes from cropland to suburban LCTs. In general we found negative relationships between DOS and distance from city center. We found a distinct seasonal cycle of MIR radiance over cropland LCTs due to the spectral contrast between bare soils and green vegetation.

  18. On the move: migration, urbanization and development in Papua New Guinea.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Walsh, A C

    1987-03-01

    "Migration and urbanization data from Papua New Guinea's first truly national census in 1980 are considered against a backdrop of spatial and social inequalities. Source and destination factors affecting migration flows and destinations are found to relate to population density, availability of rural wages, ease of access, destination wage-earning opportunities, historical linkages and present day developments. Short-distance migration differs from longer-distance migration; many migrants are short-term, and possibly circular, migrants. Migration and urbanization are considered part of the same process of developmental change." A section is included on earlier censuses and surveys, data reliability, and related problems.

  19. Urbanization, urban climate and influence of vegetation

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Feyisa, Gudina Legese

    and consequent problems. Through these papers, the project contributes to: 1) the science of remote sensing and Geographic Information System (GIS) by introducing methods that improve LULC classification accuracies, and an improved method of spatial thermal climate analyses, 2) better understanding of urban......, contributes to the research gaps by considering examples from two cities in Ethiopia, namely Addis Ababa and Adama. The major sources of data used in this study were remotely sensed multi-temporal digital imagery from Landsat TM and ETM+ sensors, ground surveying of LULC, measurements of air temperature...... and humidity, and questionnaire surveying. Remote sensing and GIS techniques were applied to analyze urbanization-induced dynamics of LULC and associated urban warming in five-year intervals between 1985 and 2010. LULC dynamics were analyzed applying post-classification change analysis using the Landsat...

  20. Urban development control based on transportation carrying capacity

    Science.gov (United States)

    Miharja, M.; Sjafruddin, A. H.

    2017-06-01

    Severe transportation problems in Indonesian urban areas are stimulated by one fundamental factor, namely lack of awareness on transportation carrying capacity in these areas development control. Urban land use development towards more physical coverage is typically not related with the capability of transportation system to accommodate additional trips volume. Lack of clear connection between development permit with its implication on the transportation side has led to a phenomenon of exceeding transport demand over supply capacity. This paper discusses the concept of urban land use development control which will be related with transport carrying capacity. The discussion would cover both supply and demand sides of transportation. From supply side, the analysis regarding the capacity of transport system would take both existing as well as potential road network capacity could be developed. From demand side, the analysis would be through the control of a maximum floor area and public transport provision. Allowed maximum floor area for development would be at the level of generating traffic at reasonable volume. Ultimately, the objective of this paper is to introduce model to incorporate transport carrying capacity in Indonesian urban land use development control.

  1. 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.

  2. Study on sociological approach to resolve maintenance related social problems

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Aoki, Takayuki

    2007-01-01

    This study proposes a sociological approach to resolve maintenance related social problems. As a result of consideration, the followings were found. (1) In general, solutions to some kinds of questions can be deduced from basic laws using some theories or methodologies in the field of the natural science or engineering. The approach to resolve maintenance related social problems is similar to the approach in the natural science or engineering. (2) The points of view based on fundamental human rights, market principles and community principles, and so on, are very important in resolving maintenance related social problems and can be placed as theories or tools for resolution. (3) If such theories or tools for resolving maintenance related social problems as described above are systematically prepared, it is estimated that it becomes very much easier to resolve maintenance related social problems. (author)

  3. Urban Politics: Selected Readings Related to Planning. Exchange Bibliography No. 177.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Heikoff, Joseph M.

    This bibliography lists books and articles dealing with the structures and processes of local politics in the U.S., especially as they relate to urban planning. The primary intent is to help planners gain the political knowledge and awareness they need to effectively perform their role in the community political process. All publications are…

  4. Urban Knowledge Arena

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Karel Schmeidler

    2008-01-01

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

  5. Relative Effects of Problem-Solving and Concept Mapping ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Relative Effects of Problem-Solving and Concept Mapping Instructional ... mapping strategies are also discussed and their significance and importance to students. ... development of problem solving skills before the end of SSCE Programmebr ...

  6. Developing green infrastructure design guidelines for urban climate adaptation

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Klemm, Wiebke; Lenzholzer, Sanda; Brink, van den Adri

    2017-01-01

    In the context of global warming and increasing urban climate problems, urban green spaces and elements have been recognized as a strategy for urban climate adaptation. Yet, despite increasing scientific evidence of the positive impacts that urban green infrastructure (UGI) is having on the urban

  7. Perceptions of rural addictions and related HIV.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Leukefeld, C G; Godlaski, T

    1997-01-01

    Rural addictions and related HIV behaviors, including drug use and sexual behaviors, have received limited attention in United States rural areas when compared with urban areas. However, prevalence rates are similar for alcohol and tobacco in rural and urban United States areas. The perception of policymakers and others is generally that drug use and HIV are urban problems, and resources are more likely to be directed to urban areas than rural areas. A major trend for the future is the continued expectation of limited resources for rural areas.

  8. 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...

  9. Hydrogen fluoride damage to vegetation from peri-urban brick kilns in Asia: A growing but unrecognised problem?

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ahmad, Muhammad Nauman; Berg, Leon J.L. van den; Shah, Hamid Ullah; Masood, Tariq; Büker, Patrick; Emberson, Lisa; Ashmore, Mike

    2012-01-01

    The rapid urbanisation of many cities in south and south-east Asia has increased the demand for bricks, which are typically supplied from brick kilns in peri-urban areas. We report visible foliar damage to mango, apricot and plum trees in the vicinity of traditional Bull’s Trench brick kilns in Peshawar, Pakistan. Visible injury symptoms, hydrogen fluoride concentrations in air, and foliar fluoride concentrations were all greater in the vicinity of brick kilns than at more distant sites, indicating that fluoride emissions from brick kilns were the main cause of damage. Interviews with local farmers established the significant impact of this damage on their livelihoods. Since poorly regulated brick kilns are often found close to important peri-urban agricultural areas, we suggest that this may be a growing but unrecognised environmental problem in regions of Asia where emission control in brick kilns has not been improved. - Highlights: ► Demand for bricks is increasing in many parts of Asia. ► Fluoride emissions from brick kilns may pose a threat to peri-urban agriculture. ► We found extensive injury to fruit orchards close to brick kilns in Peshawar. ► Local farmers suffered large economic losses but did not identify brick kilns as a cause of this. ► The extent of crop damage from brick kilns with poor emission control in the region may not be fully recognised. - Hydrogen fluoride emissions from brick kilns may cause extensive but unrecognised damage to peri-urban crops in Asia.

  10. Urban rivers and multifunctional landscapes: case study – Dona Eugênia River

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ianic Bigate Lourenço

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available It is often observed in the current cities the development of an urbanization model and proposals of intervention on rivers that ignore their environmental, cultural and social values, enhancing one of the main problems of the present days in Brazilian cities: the urban flooding. This work intends to contribute to the sustainable management of cities, presenting landscape solutions, aimed at urban and environmental improvement of water bodies, from the systemic recognition of physical, historical, social and environmental relations, leading to the design of multifunctional solutions, which is an essential practice to face the lack of free spaces that a city of consolidated urbanization usually offers. Considering this complexity, this study was structured in an interdisciplinary basis, mainly between landscaping and engineering. This approach allowed the evaluation of the impacts caused by urbanization and, subsequently, the assessment of the proposed landscape solutions, with indications that are able to represent the hydraulic and hydrological systemic behavior of the study watershed. The work is centered on the Dona Eugênia river in Mesquita, RJ, in theregion of Baixada Fluminense, where the problem of flooding is common.

  11. Problems related to fossil fuels utilization

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rota, R.

    1999-01-01

    Fossil fuels still present the main energy source in the world since about 90% of the energy produced comes from combustion. This paper, based on the lectures given at the conference of Energy and Environment hold at the Accademia dei Lincei in 1998, presents a short review of some of the problems related to the utilization of fossil fuels, such as their availability in the medium period, the effect of pollutant dispersion in the atmosphere as well as the available technologies to deal with such problems [it

  12. Drug-related problems and pharmacy interventions in community practice

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Westerlund, Tommy; Almarsdóttir, Anna Birna; Melander, Arne

    1999-01-01

    Objectives. (1) To document types and number of drug-related problems identified by community pharmacy personnel in Sweden; (2) to determine relationships among the types and number of problems identified and the gender, age and number of prescribed drugs in patients; and (3) to document the inte......Objectives. (1) To document types and number of drug-related problems identified by community pharmacy personnel in Sweden; (2) to determine relationships among the types and number of problems identified and the gender, age and number of prescribed drugs in patients; and (3) to document...... the interventions made by pharmacy personnel with patients and prescribers. Method. Random samples of pharmacists, prescriptionists and pharmacy technicians were drawn nationwide in Sweden; 144 (63 per cent) of the employees fulfilling the inclusion criteria agreed to take part. The participants documented drug......-related problems, interventions and patient variables on a data collection form, and tallied the number of patients they served on another form. Setting. One hundred and sixteen community pharmacies and 12 outpatient hospital pharmacies. Key findings. One problem or more was identified among 2.5 per cent...

  13. Assessment of computer-related health problems among post-graduate nursing students.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Khan, Shaheen Akhtar; Sharma, Veena

    2013-01-01

    The study was conducted to assess computer-related health problems among post-graduate nursing students and to develop a Self Instructional Module for prevention of computer-related health problems in a selected university situated in Delhi. A descriptive survey with co-relational design was adopted. A total of 97 samples were selected from different faculties of Jamia Hamdard by multi stage sampling with systematic random sampling technique. Among post-graduate students, majority of sample subjects had average compliance with computer-related ergonomics principles. As regards computer related health problems, majority of post graduate students had moderate computer-related health problems, Self Instructional Module developed for prevention of computer-related health problems was found to be acceptable by the post-graduate students.

  14. Rap Therapy? An Innovative Approach to Groupwork with Urban Adolescents.

    Science.gov (United States)

    DeCarlo, Alonzo

    2001-01-01

    Describes a study in which young, urban African American adolescents with behavior problems participated in weekly group sessions that used rap music to promote the development of appropriate social skills related to morality, identity, judgement, decision making, anger management, impulse control, and crime and punishment. Overall, student…

  15. Childhood trauma and childhood urbanicity in relation to psychotic disorder

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Frissen, Aleida; Lieverse, Ritsaert; Drukker, Marjan; van Winkel, Ruud; Delespaul, Philippe; Bruggeman, Richard; Cahn, Wiepke; de Haan, Lieuwe; Kahn, René; Meije, Carin; Myin-Germeys, Inez; van Os, Jim; Wiersma, Durk

    2015-01-01

    Urban upbringing and childhood trauma are both associated with psychotic disorders. However, the association between childhood urbanicity and childhood trauma in psychosis is poorly understood. The urban environment could occasion a background of social adversity against which any effect of

  16. Childhood trauma and childhood urbanicity in relation to psychotic disorder

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Frissen, Aleida; Lieverse, Ritsaert; Drukker, Marjan; van Winkel, Ruud; Delespaul, Philippe; Cahn, W

    2015-01-01

    BACKGROUND: Urban upbringing and childhood trauma are both associated with psychotic disorders. However, the association between childhood urbanicity and childhood trauma in psychosis is poorly understood. The urban environment could occasion a background of social adversity against which any effect

  17. On the Relationships between (Relatively) Advanced Mathematical Knowledge and (Relatively) Advanced Problem-Solving Behaviours

    Science.gov (United States)

    Koichu, Boris

    2010-01-01

    This article discusses an issue of inserting mathematical knowledge within the problem-solving processes. Relatively advanced mathematical knowledge is defined in terms of "three mathematical worlds"; relatively advanced problem-solving behaviours are defined in terms of taxonomies of "proof schemes" and "heuristic behaviours". The relationships…

  18. The problem of spatial fit in social-ecological systems: detecting mismatches between ecological connectivity and land management in an urban region

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Arvid Bergsten

    2014-12-01

    Full Text Available The problem of institutional fit in social-ecological systems has been empirically documented and conceptually discussed for decades, yet there is a shortage of approaches to systematically and quantitatively examine the level of fit. We address this gap, focusing on spatial fit in an urban and peri-urban regional landscape. Such landscapes typically exhibit significant fragmentation of remnant habitats, which can limit critical species dispersal. This may have detrimental effects on species persistence and ecosystem functioning if land use is planned without consideration of the spatial patterns of fragmentation. Managing habitat fragmentation is particularly challenging when the scale of fragmentation reaches beyond the control of single managers, thereby requiring different actors to coordinate their activities to address the problem at the appropriate scale. We present a research approach that maps patterns of collaborations between actors who manage different parts of a landscape, and then relates these patterns to structures of ecological connectivity. We applied our approach to evaluate the fit between a collaborative wetland management network comprising all 26 municipalities in the Stockholm County in Sweden and an ecologically defined network of dispersed but ecologically interconnected wetlands. Many wetlands in this landscape are either intersected by the boundary between two or more municipalities, or are located close to such boundaries, which implies a degree of ecological interconnectedness and a need for intermunicipal coordination related to wetland management across boundaries. We first estimated the level of ecological connectivity between wetlands in neighboring municipalities, and then used this estimate to elaborate the level of social-ecological fit vis-à-vis intermunicipal collaboration. We found that the level of fit was generally weak. Also, we identified critical misalignments of ecological connectivity and

  19. Alcohol-Related Problems And High Risk Sexual Behaviour In ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    There was a significant association between alcohol-related problems and risky sexual behavior. Alcohol-related problems are fairly common in people already infected with HIV/AIDS and are associated with high-risk sexual behavior. Thus, screening and treatment should be part of an effective HIV intervention program.

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

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ageev Ilya

    2016-01-01

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

  1. Resource management as a key factor for sustainable urban planning.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Agudelo-Vera, Claudia M; Mels, Adriaan R; Keesman, Karel J; Rijnaarts, Huub H M

    2011-10-01

    Due to fast urbanization and increasing living standards, the environmental sustainability of our global society becomes more and more questionable. In this historical review we investigate the role of resources management (RM) and urban planning (UP) and propose ways for integration in sustainable development (SD). RM follows the principle of circular causation, and we reflect on to what extent RM has been an element for urban planning. Since the existence of the first settlements, a close relationship between RM, urbanization and technological development has been present. RM followed the demand for urban resources like water, energy, and food. In history, RM has been fostered by innovation and technology developments and has driven population growth and urbanization. Recent massive resource demand, especially in relation to energy and material flows, has altered natural ecosystems and has resulted in environmental degradation. UP has developed separately in response to different questions. UP followed the demand for improved living conditions, often associated to safety, good manufacturing and trading conditions and appropriate sanitation and waste management. In history UP has been a developing research area, especially since the industrial era and the related strong urbanization at the end of the 18th century. UP responded to new emerging problems in urban areas and became increasingly complex. Nowadays, UP has to address many objectives that are often conflicting, including, the urban sustainability. Our current urban un-sustainability is rooted in massive resource consumption and waste production beyond natural limits, and the absence of flows from waste to resources. Therefore, sustainable urban development requires integration of RM into UP. We propose new ways to this integration. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  2. Urbanization and Access Inequality to Collective Consumption Goods & Services related to Sanitation & Solid Waste in the cities of Sao Paulo State, Brazil

    Science.gov (United States)

    Roig, C. D. A.; Feitosa, F. D. F.; Monteiro, A. M. V.

    2016-12-01

    Cities are mainly a product of collective consumption and there is a pressing need to expand and deepen the discussion about the quality of access to collective goods and services in the urban world: the availability of electricity and potable water and its interrelation with the lack of solid waste management and wastewater treatment leading to pollution of water sources.This study attempts to measure urban stratification through access conditions to collective goods in the metropolitan regions of Sao Paulo State (SPS) by contributing with a research method that incorporates collective consumption as a core component of the population-environment relationship. The use of spatial analysis allows the examination of the structure and distribution of accessibility to sanitation services and basic urban infrastructure.The water stress situation in SPS is dramatic. The average water loss within these distribution systems is 34,3% and a 39% average sewage treatment rate of all wastewater generated. The SPS also imports 60,6% of electricity from other states that use mostly hydroelectric power which imposes greater pressure on the country's water resources. The energy and water crisis has harmed a number of essential rights related mostly to resource access and service continuity as suburban residents of poor municipalities are the ones most affected by disruptions.SPS is the most populous state of Brazil and this region of study is responsible for 75% of total State population with 83% of State GDP. There has been a major increase in water use conflicts such as power generation, urban water supply (including the Rio de Janeiro water demand) and the dilution of urban sewage and solid waste disposal. These collective consumption access problems demonstrate the urgent need for better integrated metropolitan management of natural resources and the urban commons.

  3. 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.

  4. The Modern Management of Urban Planning and the Controlling Planning

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    1991-01-01

    <正> Since 1980s,with the further reform of political and economic systems,the urban construc-tion in our country has undergone great changes,greater than ever.Such changes pose a series ofnew problems to urban planning:How should planning be suitable for the development of moderncities?How should planning management coordinate with urban planning?How to carry out ur-ban planning under new situations? etc.The answers to these problems lie in one point:urbanplanning and plann ing management must be restructured.Only when the former is well com-bined with the latter can the above problems be solved satisfactorily.This article provides someviews in this respect.

  5. Urban violence is the biggest cause of fatal work-related accidents in Brazil

    OpenAIRE

    Cordeiro, Ricardo; Luz, Verônica Gronau; Hennington, Élida Azevedo; Martins, Ana Cláudia Alves; Tófoli, Luís Fernando

    2017-01-01

    ABSTRACT OBJECTIVE To quantify the occurrence of deaths directly associated with urban violence among fatal work-related accidents. METHODS Verbal autopsies were performed with the relatives and coworkers of residents of Campinas, state of São Paulo, Brazil, who died from external causes in 2015. We have also analyzed police reports and reports of the Legal Medical Institute related to these deaths. RESULTS We have identified 82 fatal work-related accidents in Campinas in 2015, of which 25...

  6. Nintendo related injuries and other problems: review.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jalink, Maarten B; Heineman, Erik; Pierie, Jean-Pierre E N; ten Cate Hoedemaker, Henk O

    2014-12-16

    To identify all reported cases of injury and other problems caused by using a Nintendo video gaming system. Review. Search of PubMed and Embase in June 2014 for reports on injuries and other problems caused by using a Nintendo gaming system. Most of the 38 articles identified were case reports or case series. Injuries and problems ranged from neurological and psychological to surgical. Traditional controllers with buttons were associated with tendinitis of the extensor of the thumb. The joystick on the Nintendo 64 controller was linked to palmar ulceration. The motion sensitive Wii remote was associated with musculoskeletal problems and various traumas. Most problems are mild and prevalence is low. The described injuries were related to the way the games are controlled, which varies according to the video game console. © Jalink et al 2014.

  7. Judging a brook by its cover: The relation between ecological condition of a stream and urban land cover in new England

    Science.gov (United States)

    Coles, J.F.; Cuffney, T.F.; McMahon, G.; Rosiu, C.J.

    2010-01-01

    The US Geological Survey conducted an urban land-use study in the New England Coastal Basins (NECB) area during 2001 to determine how urbanization relates to changes in the ecological condition of streams. Thirty sites were selected that differed in their level of watershed development (low to high). An urban intensity value was calculated for each site from 24 landscape variables. Together, these 30 values reppresented a gradient of urban intensity. Among various biological, chemical, and physical factors surveyed at each site, benthic invertebrate assemblages were sampled from stream riffles and also from multiple habitats along the length of the sampling reach. We use some of the NECB data to derive a four-variable urbanintensity index (NECB-UII), where each variable represents a distinct component of urbanization: increasing human presence, expanding infrastructure, landscape development, and riparian vegetation loss. Using the NECB-UII as a characterization of urbanization, we describe how landscape fragmentation occurs with urbanization and how changes in the invertebrate assemblages, represented by metrics of ecological condition, are related to urbanization. Metrics with a strong linear response included EPT taxa richness, percentage richness of non-insect taxa, and pollution-tolerance values. Additionally, we describe how these relations can help in estimating the expected condition of a stream for its level of urbanization, thereby establishing a baseline for evaluating possible affects from specific point-source stressors.

  8. Sustainability of urban systems and most important problems related to environmental geological components; Sostenibilita` dei sistemi urbani e principali problematiche geologico-territoriali: L`analisi di dati di caso

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Zarlenga, Francesco; Basili, Mauro; Del Ciello, Roberto [ENEA, Centro Ricerche Casaccia, Rome (Italy). Dipt. Ambiente

    1997-10-01

    The most important aspects of environmental geology, related to the urban syatems are analysed in this paper; the term urban system is here preferred to urban environment, since the second one refers to a part of a complex system, that comprises social, economic, etc. environments. All the possible environmental impacts have been described to evaluate how the urban system is affected by the environmental geological components. They are subdivided into urban impacts on the environment and environmental impacts on the cities. The environmental changes induced by: quarries, natural surfaces waterproofing, drained marshes, subways for transportation networks, bridges and gully-holes, topography changes, natural hollows filling up and ground piles, loss of the natural conditions for river beds, loss of soils, falls in piezometry and connected subsistence phenomena, are classified into the firdt type of impacts, also defined as anthropic risks. The pollution of soils, surface waters (marine and fluvial), groundwater and the impact of watse management and their restorage were also dealth with. The geological risks have also been analyzed as pressure factors from the environmenton the cities. They are generally interrelated and in some cases added up. The main instruments to help monitor and manage the environment are also described. They are monitoring networks that constitute a part of the Informative Environmental Systems. A great relevance is given to the indicators and indexes of the environmental quality, either for the measurement of the quality of life that for the measurement of environmental sustainability of cities. The scientific use of such indicators and indexes is presently a subject of debate world-wide. The authors consider is correct to delineate concise indexes, obtained from state indicators for the quality of life. They are represented by the umber of days/per year in which a service was suspended, or the environment didn`t present the characteristics

  9. Bicyclists' Uptake of Traffic-Related Air Pollution: Effects of the Urban Transportation System

    Science.gov (United States)

    2014-10-27

    While bicyclists and other active travelers obtain health benefits from increased physical activity, they also risk uptake of traffic-related air pollution. But pollution uptake by urban bicyclists is not well understood due to a lack of direct measu...

  10. Addressing South Africa’s urban challenges

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jayne M. Rogerson

    2014-07-01

    Full Text Available South Africa is among the most urbanized countries in Africa and has an urban population that is growing rapidly. The country’s urban challenges sometimes are considered as distinctive and separate to those of rest of Africa because of the apartheid legacy of a fragmented and racially splintered urban landscape. Nevertheless, 20 years after democratic transition the issues that confront its cities increasingly exhibit a set of sustainability challenges that typify those problems of many other fast-growing African urban areas. This introduction locates the collection of articles as a contribution to the expanding corpus of scholarship on urban South Africa.

  11. Theoretical Approaches in the Context of Spatial Planning Decisions and the Relation with Urban Sustainability

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kumlu, Kadriye Burcu Yavuz; Tüdeş, Şule

    2017-10-01

    The sustainability agenda has maintained its importance since the days, when the production system took its capitalist form, as well as the population in the urban areas started to rise. Increasing number of both goods and the people have caused the degradation of the certain systems, which generate the urban areas. These systems could mainly be classified as social, environmental, physical and economical systems. Today, urban areas still have difficulty to protect those systems, due to the significant demand of the population. Therefore, studies related with the sustainable issues are significant in the sense of continuity of the urban systems. Therefore, in this paper, those studies in the context of the effects of physical decisions taken in the spatial planning process on urban sustainability, will be examined. The components of the physical decisions are limited to land use, density and design. Land use decisions will be examined in the context of mixed land use. On the other hand, decisions related with density will be analyzed in the sense of population density and floor area ratio (FAR). Besides, design decisions will be examined, by linking them with neighborhood design criteria. Additionally, the term of urban sustainability will only be limited to its social and environmental contexts in this study. Briefly stated, studies in the sustainable literature concerned with the effects of land use, density and design decisions taken in the spatial planning process on the social and environmental sustainability will be examined in this paper. After the compilation and the analyze of those studies, a theoretical approach will be proposed to determine social and environmental sustainability in the context of land use, density and design decisions, taken in the spatial planning process.

  12. 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.

  13. The problem of non-discrimination in labor relations

    OpenAIRE

    Вишновецька, Світлана Василівна; Національний авіаційний університет; Пінчук, Ольга Борисівна; Національний авіаційний університет

    2015-01-01

    The problem of discrimination on the grounds of gender and age in the field of labor relations are investigated in the article. International and Ukrainian legal regulation of non-discrimination as a guarantee of the right to work was analyzed; solutions to the problem are proposed in the article. The different points of view on the concept of discrimination in labor relations were studied by the authors. It was founded that discrimination by age and gender are the most extended forms of disc...

  14. Implications of groundwater quality to corrosion problem and urban ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Bheema

    Surface and groundwater chemistry being an important factor in urban ... a network of pipes, conduits, metallic rods, reinforced concrete footings and other ... the WNW running fault belts (Wukro, Mekelle, Chelekot and Felega Mariam) and Rift.

  15. Age-related differences in strategic monitoring during arithmetic problem solving.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Geurten, Marie; Lemaire, Patrick

    2017-10-01

    We examined the role of metacognitive monitoring in strategic behavior during arithmetic problem solving, a process that is expected to shed light on age-related differences in strategy selection. Young and older adults accomplished better strategy-judgment, better strategy-selection, and strategy-execution tasks. Data showed that participants made better strategy judgments when problems were problems with homogeneous unit digits (i.e., problems with both unit digits smaller or larger than 5; 31×62) relative to problems with heterogeneous unit digits (i.e., problems with one unit digit smaller or larger than 5; 31×67) and when the better strategy was cued on rounding-up problems (e.g., 68×23) compared to rounding-down problems (e.g., 36×53). Results also indicated higher rates of better strategy judgment in young than in older adults. These aging effects differed across problem types. Older adults made more accurate judgments on rounding-up problems than on rounding-down problems when the cued strategy was rounding-up, while young adults did not show such problem-related differences. Moreover, strategy selection correlated with strategy judgment, and even more so in older adults than in young adults. To discuss the implications of these findings, we propose a theoretical framework of how strategy judgments occur in young and older adults and discuss how this framework enables to understand relationships between metacognitive monitoring and strategic behaviors when participants solve arithmetic problems. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  16. SOME EMPIRICAL RELATIONS BETWEEN TRAVEL SPEED, TRAFFIC VOLUME AND TRAFFIC COMPOSITION IN URBAN ARTERIALS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Eleni I. VLAHOGIANNI, Ph.D.

    2007-01-01

    Full Text Available The effects of traffic mix (the percentage of cars, trucks, buses and so on are of particular interest in the speed-volume relationship in urban signalized arterials under various geometric and control characteristics. The paper presents some empirical observations on the relation between travel speed, traffic volume and traffic composition in urban signalized arterials. A methodology based on emerging self-organizing structures of neural networks to identify regions in the speed-volume relationship with respect to traffic composition and Bayesian networks to evaluate the effect of different types of motorized vehicles on prevailing traffic conditions is proposed. Results based on data from a large urban network indicate that the variability in traffic conditions can be described by eight regions in speed-volume relationship with respect to traffic composition. Further evaluation of the effect of motorized vehicles in each region separately indicates that the effect of traffic composition decreases with the onset of congestion. Moreover, taxis and motorcycles are the primary affecting parameter of the form of the speed-volume relationship in urban arterials.

  17. Environmental Urbanization Assessment Using GIS and Multicriteria Decision Analysis: A Case Study for Denizli (Turkey Municipal Area

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Erdal Akyol

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available In recent years, life quality of the urban areas is a growing interest of civil engineering. Environmental quality is essential to display the position of sustainable development and asserts the corresponding countermeasures to the protection of environment. Urban environmental quality involves multidisciplinary parameters and difficulties to be analyzed. The problem is not only complex but also involves many uncertainties, and decision-making on these issues is a challenging problem which contains many parameters and alternatives inherently. Multicriteria decision analysis (MCDA is a very prepotent technique to solve that sort of problems, and it guides the users confidence by synthesizing that information. Environmental concerns frequently contain spatial information. Spatial multicriteria decision analysis (SMCDA that includes Geographic Information System (GIS is efficient to tackle that type of problems. This study has employed some geographic and urbanization parameters to assess the environmental urbanization quality used by those methods. The study area has been described in five categories: very favorable, favorable, moderate, unfavorable, and very unfavorable. The results are momentous to see the current situation, and they could help to mitigate the related concerns. The study proves that the SMCDA descriptions match the environmental quality perception in the city.

  18. Structuring institutional analysis for urban ecosystems: A key to sustainable urban forest management

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sarah K. Mincey; Miranda Hutten; Burnell C. Fischer; Tom P. Evans; Susan I. Stewart; Jessica M. Vogt

    2013-01-01

    A decline in urban forest structure and function in the United States jeopardizes the current focus on developing sustainable cities. A number of social dilemmas—for example, free-rider problems—restrict the sustainable production of ecosystem services and the stock of urban trees from which they flow. However, institutions, or the rules, norms, and strategies that...

  19. Sleep-related problems in common medical conditions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Parish, James M

    2009-02-01

    Common medical problems are often associated with abnormalities of sleep. Patients with chronic medical disorders often have fewer hours of sleep and less restorative sleep compared to healthy individuals, and this poor sleep may worsen the subjective symptoms of the disorder. Individuals with lung disease often have disturbed sleep related to oxygen desaturations, coughing, or dyspnea. Both obstructive lung disease and restrictive lung diseases are associated with poor quality sleep. Awakenings from sleep are common in untreated or undertreated asthma, and cause sleep disruption. Gastroesophageal reflux is a major cause of disrupted sleep due to awakenings from heartburn, dyspepsia, acid brash, coughing, or choking. Patients with chronic renal disease commonly have sleep complaints often due to insomnia, insufficient sleep, sleep apnea, or restless legs syndrome. Complaints related to sleep are very common in patients with fibromyalgia and other causes of chronic pain. Sleep disruption increases the sensation of pain and decreases quality of life. Patients with infectious diseases, including acute viral illnesses, HIV-related disease, and Lyme disease, may have significant problems with insomnia and hypersomnolence. Women with menopause have from insomnia, sleep-disordered breathing, restless legs syndrome, or fibromyalgia. Patients with cancer or receiving cancer therapy are often bothered by insomnia or other sleep disturbances that affect quality of life and daytime energy. The objective of this article is to review frequently encountered medical conditions and examine their impact on sleep, and to review frequent sleep-related problems associated with these common medical conditions.

  20. Urban sustainable development from public participation in urban management

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    L. Karimifard

    2016-04-01

    Full Text Available Urban management in any context has a different economic, social and political structure, which is in harmony with the existing models of organization. In spite of these differences, in order to reach a sustainable urban development, several different conferences should be referred to. In the “Brundtland Commission 1987” about urban sustainable development these definitions have been given: “preservation and promotion of the quality level of city life. This consists of ecology, culture, politics, economies, and social participation. However, this development should in no case weigh on and create any problems for the future generations”. In all the definitions of urban management and urban sustainable development and in any political context citizens’ participation in decision making and insistence on social justice are mentioned. The aim of this article is a descriptive, analytic, and comparative study of different models of popular participation in different developed countries. Each of these countries has different social and political structure. However they all have the same aim which is the citizens’ empowerment. To reach the ideal urban management model it is necessary to have a clear image of the place and participation of citizens in order to create a socially, economically and politically sustainable developed society.

  1. Decomposing the causes of socioeconomic-related health inequality among urban and rural populations in China: a new decomposition approach.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cai, Jiaoli; Coyte, Peter C; Zhao, Hongzhong

    2017-07-18

    In recent decades, China has experienced tremendous economic growth and also witnessed growing socioeconomic-related health inequality. The study aims to explore the potential causes of socioeconomic-related health inequality in urban and rural areas of China over the past two decades. This study used six waves of the China Health and Nutrition Survey (CHNS) from 1991 to 2006. The recentered influence function (RIF) regression decomposition method was employed to decompose socioeconomic-related health inequality in China. Health status was derived from self-rated health (SRH) scores. The analyses were conducted on urban and rural samples separately. We found that the average level of health status declined from 1989 to 2006 for both urban and rural populations. Average health scores were greater for the rural population compared with those for the urban population. We also found that there exists pro-rich health inequality in China. While income and secondary education were the main factors to reduce health inequality, older people, unhealthy lifestyles and a poor home environment increased inequality. Health insurance had the opposite effects on health inequality for urban and rural populations, resulting in lower inequality for urban populations and higher inequality for their rural counterparts. These findings suggest that an effective way to reduce socioeconomic-related health inequality is not only to increase income and improve access to health care services, but also to focus on improvements in the lifestyles and the home environment. Specifically, for rural populations, it is particularly important to improve the design of health insurance and implement a more comprehensive insurance package that can effectively target the rural poor. Moreover, it is necessary to comprehensively promote the flush toilets and tap water in rural areas. For urban populations, in addition to promoting universal secondary education, healthy lifestyles should be promoted

  2. Studies of osteoporosis in urban residents of Sao Paulo, Brazil, using isotope related techniques

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Borelli, A.

    1998-01-01

    Osteoporosis is presently a major problem scientific as well as economic all over the world. For this reason this disease has been studied quite intensely involving not only researchers but also densitometer makers and medicine manufacturers. Many etiologies have been described relating factors which could interfere either in bone formation or bone reabsorption or both. As bone loss along the life is a normal event it is quite understandable that the amount of remaining bone will depend on the amount gained during bone formation. For this reason it is quite important to know the peak of bone mass and the factors that would interfere in the amount of bone formed. It is also very important to define for a certain population its peak of bone mass which would be a valuable guide for future plans of osteoporosis prevention. This project is aimed at defining the peak of bone mass in an urban population which was chosen randomly taken into account the fact that there is a great miscegenation in S.Paulo

  3. Some human-related problems in radiation protection

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yoshizawa, Yasuo

    1980-01-01

    Radiation protection includes both human and source-related problems. The human problems have not only medical but also social aspects, such as labor management. Special attention should be paid to the fact that the subject of radiation protection is not a human being as living thing but as member of society. ICRP recommended that conditions of work can be divided into two classed, working condition A and B, according to annual exposure. This application is of great value to radiation protection practice. Nevertheless the legal regulations do not adopt it yet. The present condition of the medical surveillance of radiation workers is not appropriate from the scientific standpoint. This is the difficult problem which is caused by the delay of the legal application of ICRP recommendation. Compensation for occupational radiation hazards should be overlooked. This problem have been investigated by an authorized committee, but a number of unsolved problems still remain. (author)

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

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wilson, Thomas C.

    1984-01-01

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

  5. Urban Poverty in Asia

    OpenAIRE

    Asian Development Bank (ADB); Asian Development Bank (ADB); Asian Development Bank (ADB); Asian Development Bank (ADB)

    2014-01-01

    This report provides an overview of important urban poverty questions. What defines urban poverty and how is urban poverty being measured? What other factors beyond consumption poverty need to be tackled? Who are the urban poor? What relations exist between urban poverty and city size? What linkages exist between urbanization, income, and urban poverty? What policy responses to urban poverty are implemented in selected Asian countries? The report served as a background study for the Internati...

  6. The burden of high blood pressure and related risk factors in urban ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Objective: To provide the current burden of high blood pressure and related risk factors in urban setting in Cameroon. Methods:We used the WHO STEPS approach for Surveillance of non-communicable diseases and their risk factors to collect data from 2,559 adults aged 15-99 years, residing at Cite des Palmiers in Douala ...

  7. Urban atmospheric contamination

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Baldasano Jose, M.

    1997-01-01

    The problems of contamination are not only limited to this century, pale pathology evidences of the effects of the contamination of the air exist in interiors in the health of the old ones; the article mention the elements that configure the problem of the atmospheric contamination, atmospheric pollutants and emission sources, orography condition and effects induced by the urbanization process

  8. Health status and air pollution related socioeconomic concerns in urban China

    OpenAIRE

    Jiao, Kaishan; Xu, Mengjia; Liu, Meng

    2018-01-01

    Background China is experiencing environmental issues and related health effects due to its industrialization and urbanization. The health effects associated with air pollution are not just a matter of epidemiology and environmental science research, but also an important social science issue. Literature about the relationship of socioeconomic factors with the environment and health factors is inadequate. The relationship between air pollution exposure and health effects in China was investig...

  9. Age, pattern of menopause, climacteric symptoms and associated problems among urban population of Hyderabad, pakistan

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Qazi, R.A.

    2006-01-01

    To analyze the physiology of menopause in the context of the age at menopause, its pattern, climacteric symptoms and associated problems of an urban cohort. In total, 800 women of age 45-59 years, who had reached a natural menopause were interviewed. The data were collected by simple random sampling method. A pre-tested questionnaire was administered to collect the data. Physical examination including height, weight and blood pressure check was also carried out at the same time. Data were statistically analyzed through software program SPSS 10.0. The mean age at menopause of subjects was 47.16 years. Duration of climacteric ranged from 2 - 36 months in majority of cases. The marked climacteric symptoms were low backache (75%), headache (70.25%), tiredness (67.75%), limb pain (59.25%), sleep disturbance (53.75%), lack of concentration (49.5%), hot flushes (55.5%) and night sweats (45%). Other associated problems were hypertension (31.5%), ischaemic heart disease (22.25%), diabetes mellitus (15.75%), postmenopausal bleeding (10.5%) and vaginitis (4.2%), respectively. (author)

  10. Urban transportation: Perspectives on mobility and choice

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sincoff, M. Z. (Editor); Dajani, J. S. (Editor); Arnold, G. R.; Bird, J. W.; Brooks, C. M. (Editor); Cobb, W. E.; Cross, J. E.; Darby, L. F.; Erb, N. H.; Ficht, J. C.

    1974-01-01

    A study of urban transportation systems are presented characterized by intensive scrutiny of many ideas, philosophies, and academic perspectives. This report is intended to communicate some dimensions of the urban transportation problem to the general public.

  11. Shift work-related health problems in

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    S. Khavaji

    2010-04-01

    Full Text Available Background and aimsShift work is a major feature of working life that affects diverse aspects of human life. The main purposes of this study were to investigate shift work-related health problems and their risk factors among workers of "12-hour shift" schedule.MethodsThis cross-sectional study was carried out at 8 petrochemical industries in Asalooyeh area. Study population consisted of 1203 workers including 549 shift worker (46% and 654 day worker (54%. Data on personal details, shift schedule and adverse effects of shift work werecollected by anonymous questionnaire. Statistical analyses were performed using SPSS, version 11.5. The level of significance was set at 5%.ResultsAlthough, the results showed that health problems among shift workers was more prevalent than day workers, but the differences were just significant in gastrointestinal and musculoskeletal disorders (p<0.05. Multiple linear regressions indicated that in addition to shift working, other variants such as long work hours, type of employment, second job, number of children and job title were associated with health problems.ConclusionPrevalence rates of gastrointestinal and musculoskeletal problems among shift workers were significantly higher than that of day workers. Although, working in shift system was the main significant factor associated with the reported problems, but other demographic andwork variables were also found to have association.

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

    Science.gov (United States)

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

    2014-01-01

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

  13. Anxiety and health problems related to air travel.

    Science.gov (United States)

    McIntosh, I B; Swanson, V; Power, K G; Raeside, F; Dempster, C

    1998-12-01

    A significant proportion of air travelers experience situational anxiety and physical health problems. Take-off and landing are assumed to be stressful, but anxiety related to other aspects of the air travel process, anxiety coping strategies, and in-flight health problems have not previously been investigated. We aimed to investigate frequency of perceived anxiety at procedural stages of air travel, individual strategies used to reduce such anxiety, and frequency of health problems on short-haul and long-haul flights. A questionnaire measuring the occurrence and frequency of the above was administered to two samples of intending travelers during a 3 month period to: (a) 138 travel agency clients, and (b) 100 individuals attending a hospital travel clinic. Of the 238 respondents, two thirds were women. Take-off and landing were a perceived source of anxiety for about 40% of respondents, flight delays for over 50%, and customs and baggage reclaim for a third of individuals. Most frequent anxiety-reduction methods included alcohol and cigarette use, and distraction or relaxation techniques. Physical health problems related to air travel were common, and there was a strong relationship between such problems and frequency of anxiety. Travel agency clients reported more anxiety but not more physical health symptoms overall than travel clinic clients. Women reported greater air-travel anxiety, and more somatic symptoms than men. Significant numbers of air travelers report perceived anxiety related to aspects of travel, and this is associated with health problems during flights. Airlines and travel companies could institute specific measures, including improved information and communication, to reassure clients and thereby diminish anxiety during stages of air-travel. Medical practitioners and travel agencies should also be aware of the potential stresses of air travel and the need for additional information and advice.

  14. Exercises in Urban Reconnaissance

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lorenzo Tripodi

    2016-03-01

    Full Text Available Exercises in Urban Reconnaissance is a toolbox to examine and disentangle urban complexities. Not the city, not the urban territory, not the urbanization process but the irreducible condition produced by the dialectical relation and the semantic stratification resulting from these factors.

  15. [Transitions in context: findings related to rural-to-urban migration and chronic non-communicable diseases in Peru].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Miranda, J Jaime; Wells, Jonathan C K; Smeeth, Liam

    2012-01-01

    In order to better understand the emergence of chronic non-communicable diseases in low- and middle-income countries this article seeks to present, in context, different transitional processes which societies and populations are currently undergoing. Relevant factors for specific contexts such as Peru are described, including internal migration, urbanization and profiles of adversity in early life, all of them linked to chronic non-communicable diseases, including obesity and overweight. The capacity-load model, which considers chronic disease risk in adulthood as a function of two generic traits, metabolic capacity and metabolic load, is described. The contribution of rural-to-urban migration to this problem is also presented. Finally, these topics are framed within pending challenges for public health in Peru.

  16. Where Will Urban High School Teachers for the 21st Century Come From?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Follo, Eric; Hoerr, Bill; Vorheis-Sargent, Ann

    2002-01-01

    Describes urban teacher supply problem in Oakland County, Michigan. Reviews literature on urban teacher supply problem nationally. Describes Michigan's alternative teacher-certification program and Oakland University's partnership with the Pontiac School District to prepare teachers for teaching in urban schools. (Contains 50 references.) (PKP)

  17. 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.

  18. 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

  19. Urban Sustainability Versus Green-Washing—Fallacy and Reality of Urban Regeneration in Downtown Seoul

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Thorsten Schuetze

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available This paper examines the planning paradigm shift related to the contested “urban renaissance” mega-project in Downtown Seoul (Korea. Similar to other global cities, over the last few decades, different mega-projects have been successfully implemented in Seoul. These projects have been considered engines for urban renewals and transformation. This paper builds on the analysis of the failure and re-framing planning strategy for the Green Corridor (GC mega-project, part of the “Urban Renaissance Master Plan for Downtown Seoul”. The GC case reveals various critical insights for urban sustainability: (i the current mega-projects’ sustainability fallacy, related to top-down, technocratic densification, and greening practices; and (ii the untapped potential of Asian traditional and irregular small scale urban patterns, and their related socio-cultural value in addressing the renaissance of the long term urban sustainability. In particular, the discussed research findings point out that urban renaissance enabling sustainability principles requires integrated, small scale, incremental, and adaptive (stepwise urban planning and design processes that go well beyond general strategies following the so-called “green growth” paradigm.

  20. The relationships between problem characteristics, achievement-related behaviors, and academic achievement in problem-based learning

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    N. Sockalingam (Nachamma); J.I. Rotgans (Jerome); H.G. Schmidt (Henk)

    2011-01-01

    textabstractThis study investigated the influence of five problem characteristics on students' achievement-related classroom behaviors and academic achievement. Data from 5,949 polytechnic students in PBL curricula across 170 courses were analyzed by means of path analysis. The five problem

  1. Understanding complex urban systems integrating multidisciplinary data in urban models

    CERN Document Server

    Gebetsroither-Geringer, Ernst; Atun, Funda; Werner, Liss

    2016-01-01

    This book is devoted to the modeling and understanding of complex urban systems. This second volume of Understanding Complex Urban Systems focuses on the challenges of the modeling tools, concerning, e.g., the quality and quantity of data and the selection of an appropriate modeling approach. It is meant to support urban decision-makers—including municipal politicians, spatial planners, and citizen groups—in choosing an appropriate modeling approach for their particular modeling requirements. The contributors to this volume are from different disciplines, but all share the same goal: optimizing the representation of complex urban systems. They present and discuss a variety of approaches for dealing with data-availability problems and finding appropriate modeling approaches—and not only in terms of computer modeling. The selection of articles featured in this volume reflect a broad variety of new and established modeling approaches such as: - An argument for using Big Data methods in conjunction with Age...

  2. Health and health-related indicators in slum, rural, and urban communities: a comparative analysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mberu, Blessing U; Haregu, Tilahun Nigatu; Kyobutungi, Catherine; Ezeh, Alex C

    2016-01-01

    It is generally assumed that urban slum residents have worse health status when compared with other urban populations, but better health status than their rural counterparts. This belief/assumption is often because of their physical proximity and assumed better access to health care services in urban areas. However, a few recent studies have cast doubt on this belief. Whether slum dwellers are better off, similar to, or worse off as compared with rural and other urban populations remain poorly understood as indicators for slum dwellers are generally hidden in urban averages. The aim of this study was to compare health and health-related indicators among slum, rural, and other urban populations in four countries where specific efforts have been made to generate health indicators specific to slum populations. We conducted a comparative analysis of health indicators among slums, non-slums, and all urban and rural populations as well as national averages in Bangladesh, Kenya, Egypt, and India. We triangulated data from demographic and health surveys, urban health surveys, and special cross-sectional slum surveys in these countries to assess differences in health indicators across the residential domains. We focused the comparisons on child health, maternal health, reproductive health, access to health services, and HIV/AIDS indicators. Within each country, we compared indicators for slums with non-slum, city/urban averages, rural, and national indicators. Between-country differences were also highlighted. In all the countries, except India, slum children had much poorer health outcomes than children in all other residential domains, including those in rural areas. Childhood illnesses and malnutrition were higher among children living in slum communities compared to those living elsewhere. Although treatment seeking was better among slum children as compared with those in rural areas, this did not translate to better mortality outcomes. They bear a disproportionately

  3. The environmental problems in urban communities and the protection of the environment in Korea.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kim, I K

    1994-07-01

    Korea's urban environmental problems, specifically air and water pollution, government environmental policies, and the role of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in protecting the environment are described and discussed. Korea's rapid industrialization and urbanization between 1961 and 1985 led to an increased volume of waste and air pollution. Automobiles increased in number from 29,234 in 1961 to 1,113,430 in 1985. In the same period, the number of factories with at least five employees rose from 15,204 to 44,037. The volume of chemical materials and agricultural chemicals dramatically increased. Household wastes in urban areas increased from 26,831 tons per day in 1978 to 61,072 tons per day in 1985. Industrial waste rose from 13,130 to 33,349 tons per day in 1985. Respiratory diseases are precipitated by exposure to sulphur dioxide, which is produced during cooking and heating with coal briquets; to nitrogen dioxide from automobile exhaust; and to carbon monoxide from coal briquets. Indoor air pollution from particles such as radon, asbestos, cigarette smoke, fungus, and bacteria also impacts on health. Tolerance limits have been reached or surpassed in many cities, particularly in Seoul. Air pollution is worse during the winter. The poor are particularly affected because of the continued use of coal briquets for heating. Industry contributes to water pollution. The volume of industrial waste water quadrupled between 1980 and 1990. In Seoul, however, population size directly contributes to 64.3% of water pollution, and the remaining 35.2% is from factories. Although livestock contributes to only 0.5% of water pollution, livestock drainage contributes to 36.3% of chemical materials in polluted water. Biological oxygen demand has also exceeded tolerance limits. Water reservoirs contain toxic chemicals such as lead, copper, mercury, arsenic, phenol, phosphorus, and nitrogen, which take a longer time to affect health. The Anti-Pollution Law of 1963 and the

  4. Implications of groundwater quality to corrosion problem and urban ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Bheema

    extremely low. Surface water and groundwater system is one of the most important influencing factors in foundation engineering and urban development and is required for design of structures. Hence monitoring and conserving this important resource is essential. (Chatterjee et al., 2010). Understanding the hydrogeology of ...

  5. Multicriteria Spatial Decision Support Systems for Future Urban Energy Retrofitting Scenarios

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Patrizia Lombardi

    2017-07-01

    Full Text Available Nowadays, there is an increasing concern about sustainable urban energy development taking into account national priorities of each city. Many cities have started to define future strategies and plans to reduce energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. Urban energy scenarios involve the consideration of a wide range of conflicting criteria, both socio-economic and environmental ones. Moreover, decision-makers (DMs require proper tools that can support their choices in a context of multiple stakeholders and a long-term perspective. In this context, Multicriteria Spatial Decision Support Systems (MC-SDSS are often used in order to define and analyze urban scenarios since they support the comparison of different solutions, based on a combination of multiple factors. The main problem, in relation to urban energy retrofitting scenarios, is the lack of appropriate knowledge and evaluation criteria. The latter are crucial for delivering and assessing urban energy scenarios through a MC-SDSS tool. The main goal of this paper is to analyze and test two different methods for the definition and ranking of the evaluation criteria. More specifically, the paper presents an on-going research study related to the development of a MC-SDSS tool able to identify and evaluate alternative energy urban scenarios in a long-term period perspective. This study refers to two Smart City and Communities research projects, namely: DIMMER (District Information Modeling and Management for Energy Reduction and EEB (Zero Energy Buildings in Smart Urban Districts.

  6. Sustainable urban development and geophysics

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Lanbo; Chan, L. S.

    2007-09-01

    investigated [2]. The first objective of urban geophysics is to study systematically the geophysical fields in cities, searching for principles and processes governing the intensity and patterns of variation of the geophysical properties, as well as the potential consequences on the biosphere. Secondly, geophysics has already been found to be a useful tool for subsurface detection and investigation, hazard mitigation, and assessment of environmental contamination. Geophysicists have documented numerous cases of successful applications of geophysical techniques to solve problems related to hazard mitigation, safeguarding of lifeline infrastructure and urban gateways (air- and sea-ports, railway and highway terminals), archaeological and heritage surveys, homeland security, urban noise control, water supplies, sanitation and solid waste management etc. In contrast to conventional geophysical exploration, the undertaking of geophysical surveys in an urban setting faces many new challenges and difficulties. First of all, the ambient cultural noise in cities caused by traffic, electromagnetic radiation and electrical currents often produce undesirably strong interference with geophysical measurements. Secondly, subsurface surveys in an urban area are often targeted at the uppermost several metres of the ground, which are the most heterogeneous layers with many man-made objects. Thirdly, unlike conventional geophysical exploration which requires resolution in the order of metres, many urban geophysical surveys demand a resolution and precision in the order of centimetres or even millimetres. Finally restricted site access and limited time for conducting geophysical surveys, regulatory constraints, requirements for traffic management and special logistical arrangements impose additional difficulties. All of these factors point to the need for developing innovative research methods and geophysical instruments suitable for use in urban settings. This special issue on 'Sustainable urban

  7. Urban Surfaces in a New Era

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Støvring, Jan Luxhøj

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

  8. Estimating changes in urban land and urban population using refined areal interpolation techniques

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zoraghein, Hamidreza; Leyk, Stefan

    2018-05-01

    The analysis of changes in urban land and population is important because the majority of future population growth will take place in urban areas. U.S. Census historically classifies urban land using population density and various land-use criteria. This study analyzes the reliability of census-defined urban lands for delineating the spatial distribution of urban population and estimating its changes over time. To overcome the problem of incompatible enumeration units between censuses, regular areal interpolation methods including Areal Weighting (AW) and Target Density Weighting (TDW), with and without spatial refinement, are implemented. The goal in this study is to estimate urban population in Massachusetts in 1990 and 2000 (source zones), within tract boundaries of the 2010 census (target zones), respectively, to create a consistent time series of comparable urban population estimates from 1990 to 2010. Spatial refinement is done using ancillary variables such as census-defined urban areas, the National Land Cover Database (NLCD) and the Global Human Settlement Layer (GHSL) as well as different combinations of them. The study results suggest that census-defined urban areas alone are not necessarily the most meaningful delineation of urban land. Instead, it appears that alternative combinations of the above-mentioned ancillary variables can better depict the spatial distribution of urban land, and thus make it possible to reduce the estimation error in transferring the urban population from source zones to target zones when running spatially-refined temporal areal interpolation.

  9. Retrofitting the Low Impact Development Practices into Developed Urban areas Including Barriers and Potential Solution

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shafique, Muhammad; Kim, Reeho

    2017-06-01

    Low impact development (LID)/green infrastructure (GI) practices have been identified as the sustainable practices of managing the stormwater in urban areas. Due to the increasing population, most of the cities are more developing which results in the change of natural area into impervious areas (roads, buildings etc.). Moreover, urbanization and climate change are causing many water-related problems and making over cities unsafe and insecure. Under these circumstances, there is a need to introduce new stormwater management practices into developed cities to reduce the adverse impacts of urbanization. For this purpose, retrofitting low impact development practices demands more attention to reduce these water-related problems and trying to make our cities sustainable. In developed areas, there is a little space is available for the retrofitting of LID practices for the stormwater management. Therefore, the selection of an appropriate place to retrofitting LID practices needs more concern. This paper describes the successfully applied retrofitting LID practices around the globe. It also includes the process of applying retrofitting LID practices at the suitable place with the suitable combination. Optimal places for the retrofitting of different LID practices are also mentioned. This paper also highlights the barriers and potential solutions of retrofitting LID practices in urban areas.

  10. Retrofitting the Low Impact Development Practices into Developed Urban areas Including Barriers and Potential Solution

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Shafique Muhammad

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available Low impact development (LID/green infrastructure (GI practices have been identified as the sustainable practices of managing the stormwater in urban areas. Due to the increasing population, most of the cities are more developing which results in the change of natural area into impervious areas (roads, buildings etc.. Moreover, urbanization and climate change are causing many water-related problems and making over cities unsafe and insecure. Under these circumstances, there is a need to introduce new stormwater management practices into developed cities to reduce the adverse impacts of urbanization. For this purpose, retrofitting low impact development practices demands more attention to reduce these water-related problems and trying to make our cities sustainable. In developed areas, there is a little space is available for the retrofitting of LID practices for the stormwater management. Therefore, the selection of an appropriate place to retrofitting LID practices needs more concern. This paper describes the successfully applied retrofitting LID practices around the globe. It also includes the process of applying retrofitting LID practices at the suitable place with the suitable combination. Optimal places for the retrofitting of different LID practices are also mentioned. This paper also highlights the barriers and potential solutions of retrofitting LID practices in urban areas.

  11. Dispossessing Urbanization: Urban Marxism in the Face of the Problem of Primitive Accumulation

    OpenAIRE

    Piotr Juskowiak

    2015-01-01

    The article is a complex attempt to present the achievements of the broadly understood urban Marxism in the field of reinterpretation of the classic concept from the cards of Capital – “primitive accumulation”. Drawing on theories of such scholars as David Harvey (“accumulation by dispossession”) or Saskia Sassen (“expulsions”), the author points to the possible ways to operationalize the concept of “dispossessing urbanization”. Inspired by the theorizations of autonomist Marxists (Antonio Ne...

  12. Actors and processes behind urban fringe development: Mechanism to guide urban land management. Study on Dhaka, Bangladesh

    OpenAIRE

    Masum, Fahria

    2009-01-01

    This thesis has attempted to analyze and resolve urban fringe problems in Dhaka by incorporating different roles and interests of actors in land development processes. The research has revealed that these different actors have different interests, norms and ideologies which are playing an active role in guiding or regulating urban land development process. This situation is deploying existing rules and regulations in form of politics and affecting urban fringe management negatively. The resea...

  13. Secondary Teachers’ Mathematics-related Beliefs and Knowledge about Mathematical Problem-solving

    Science.gov (United States)

    E Siswono, T. Y.; Kohar, A. W.; Hartono, S.

    2017-02-01

    This study investigates secondary teachers’ belief about the three mathematics-related beliefs, i.e. nature of mathematics, teaching mathematics, learning mathematics, and knowledge about mathematical problem solving. Data were gathered through a set of task-based semi-structured interviews of three selected teachers with different philosophical views of teaching mathematics, i.e. instrumental, platonist, and problem solving. Those teachers were selected from an interview using a belief-related task from purposively selected teachers in Surabaya and Sidoarjo. While the interviews about knowledge examine teachers’ problem solving content and pedagogical knowledge, the interviews about beliefs examine their views on several cases extracted from each of such mathematics-related beliefs. Analysis included the categorization and comparison on each of beliefs and knowledge as well as their interaction. Results indicate that all the teachers did not show a high consistency in responding views of their mathematics-related beliefs, while they showed weaknesses primarily on problem solving content knowledge. Findings also point out that teachers’ beliefs have a strong relationship with teachers’ knowledge about problem solving. In particular, the instrumental teacher’s beliefs were consistent with his insufficient knowledge about problem-solving, while both platonist and problem-solving teacher’s beliefs were consistent with their sufficient knowledge of either content or pedagogical problem solving.

  14. Qualitative relation between heavy metal concentration in soil and agricultural products: a Chinese peri-urban case study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kikuchi, Ryunosuke; Ferreira, Carla Sofia; Dinis Ferreira, Antonio

    2017-04-01

    A peri-urban area refers to a transition or interaction zone, where urban and rural activities are juxtaposed, and landscape features are subject to rapid modifications, mainly due to human activities. It is reported that peri-urban areas which might include valuable protected areas (e.g. forested hills, preserved woodlands, prime agricultural lands, etc.) can provide essential life support services for urban residents. A peri-urban area is not only a zone experiencing the immediate impacts of land demands from urban growth and pollution, but it is also a wider market-related zone of influence, recognized for the supply of agricultural and natural resource products. It is reported that China's environmental crisis is one of the most pressing challenges to emerge from the country's rapid industrialization; therefore a field study was carried out to investigate the qualitative relation of soil property with vegetable agricultural products in the Chinese peri-urban area located in Luoyang city (34°37'N and 112°27'E). Soil, water and plant (e.g. squash, Cucurbita maxima) samples were taken over the study site, and heavy metal concentrations were analyzed. All the soil samples showed Cd concentrations exceeded the permissible level established by Chinese guidelines for soil quality (0.3 mg/kg). The contents of Zn, Pb and Cu also surpassed the Chinese guideline levels (Zn = 250 mg/kg, Pb = 50 mg/kg and Cu = 100 mg/kg) in several soil samples. Although the sampled plants contained some degree of all the heavy metals, only the Al concentration was high in the Cucurbita maxima samples (317 mg/kg), which is a specie of cultivated squash. Considering the world market and the global trade of agricultural products, it can be said that the food risk associated with farm products containing Al is not local but global. It is concluded that an environmental contamination of the peri-urban areas may lead to the threat to food security.

  15. An assessment of management practices of wood and wood-related wastes in the urban environment

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NONE

    1996-02-01

    The US Environmental Protection Agency estimates that yard waste{sup 1} accounts for approximately 16% of the municipal solid waste (MSW) stream (US EPA, 1994). Until recently, specific data and related information on this component of the (MSW) stream has been limited. The purposes of this study, phase two of the three-phase assessment of urban wood waste issues, are to assess and describe current alternatives to landfills for urban wood waste management; provide guidance on the management of urban wood waste to organizations that produce or manage wood waste; and clarify state regulatory and policy positions affecting these organizations. For this study, urban wood waste is defined as solid waste generated by tree and landscape maintenance services (public and private). Urban wood waste includes the following materials: unchipped mixed wood, unchipped logs, and unchipped tops and brush; clearing and grubbing waste; fall leaves and grass clippings; and chips and whole stumps. Construction and demolition debris and consumer-generated yard waste are not included in this study. Generators of urban wood waste include various organizations; municipal, county, and commercial tree care divisions; nurseries, orchards, and golf courses; municipal park and recreation departments; and electric and telephone utility power line maintenance, excavator and land clearance, and landscape organizations. (1) US EPA defines yard waste as ''yard trimmings'' which includes ''grass, leaves and tree brush trimmings from residential, institutional, and commercial sources.''

  16. Acculturation Stress and Drinking Problems Among Urban Heavy Drinking Latinos in the Northeast

    OpenAIRE

    Lee, Christina S.; Colby, Suzanne M.; Rohsenow, Damaris J.; López, Steven R.; Hernández, Lynn; Caetano, Raul

    2013-01-01

    This study investigates the relationship between level of acculturation and acculturation stress, and the extent to which each predicts problems related to drinking. Hispanics who met criteria for hazardous drinking completed measures of acculturation, acculturation stress, and drinking problems. Sequential multiple regression was used to determine whether levels of self-reported acculturation stress predicted concurrent alcohol problems after controlling for the predictive value of accultura...

  17. Predictors of intimate partner problem-related suicides among suicide decedents in Kentucky

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ashley L. Comiford

    2016-07-01

    Full Text Available BACKGROUND: Suicide is the 10th leading cause of death in the United States. Furthermore, intimate partner problems are amid the top precipitating circumstances among suicide decedents. The aim of this study was to determine circumstantial associations of intimate partner problem-related suicides in suicide decedents in Kentucky. METHODS: All suicides that were reported to the Kentucky Violent Death Reporting System between 2005 and 2012 were eligible for this study. Multiple logistic regression was used to explore predictors (precipitating health-related problems, life stressors, and criminal/legal issues of intimate partner problem-related suicides. RESULTS: Of the 4,754 suicides, included in this study, approximately 17% had intimate partner problems prior to suicide. In the adjusted analysis, mental health issues, alcohol problems, history of suicides attempts, suicides precipitated by another crime, and other legal problems increased the odds of having an intimate partner-related suicide. However, having physical health problems, prior to the suicide, decreased the odds of intimate partner-related suicide. CONCLUSIONS: These results provide insight for the development of suicide interventions for individuals with intimate partner problems by targeting risk factors that are prevalent among this population. Moreover, these results may help marriage/relationship and/or family/divorce court representatives identify individuals with intimate partner problems more at risk for suicide and alleviate the influence these suicide risk factors have on individuals experiencing Intimate partner problems.

  18. Assessment of two loss methods for estimation of surface runoff in Zaafrania urban catchment, North-East of Algeria

    OpenAIRE

    Dahdouh Yacina; Ouerdachi Lahbassi

    2018-01-01

    Surface runoff is a major problem in urban catchments; its generation is always related to the amount of effective rainfall dropped over the surface, however in urban catchments the process is considerably altered by the emergence of impervious areas. In this study the Soil Consevation Service – curve number (SCS-CN) and the Green–Ampt loss methods were used in rainfall-runoff modelling in the Zaafrania urban catchment which is located in Annaba city in the north east of Algeria. The two loss...

  19. Planning and Implementation of Urban Regeneration

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Aunsborg, Christian; Sørensen, Michael Tophøj

    2008-01-01

    new statutory tools to handle the spatial transformation of urban regeneration areas. The paper examines the subsequent development of Danish planning legislation with the purpose of determining whether the present 'statutory toolbox' can be considered sufficient compared to the problems...... the regeneration challenge became an issue in the professional debate. The urban, economic and spatial problematics rising from structural development trends of society were subject to a committee work from 1999 through 2001. The work resulted in a number of recommendations comprising i.a. suggestions concerning...... and challenges emerging in practice. To evaluate the adequacy of the toolbox the paper draws on case studies on urban regeneration projects in three major Danish cities. The conclusion is that the legislative developments during the last five years must be considered very relevant to problem solving in practice...

  20. Family physicians' attitude and interest toward participation in urban family physician program and related factors

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Masoumeh Sadeghi

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available Introduction: Every family physician has a key role in achieving the goals of the family physician program (FPP. Low satisfaction of physicians in certain areas of Iran and their low maintenance level in the program is quite challenging. The aims of the present study were; (1 to assess the attitude of rural/rural-urban family physicians about FPP and (2 to investigate their interest toward participation in urban FPP and (3 to explore the influencing factors. Methods: This cross-sectional study was performed on 137 family physicians who were working in rural/rural-urban FPP in Mashhad University of Medical Sciences (Iran. A self-designed valid and reliable questionnaire including demographic data and thirty questions on the participants' attitudes toward the FPP in Likert scale were used. Data were analyzed by multiple logistic regression models using SPSS software. Results: 49.3% of physicians were interested in continuing their cooperation in the urban-FPP. The mean total attitude score was 62.18 out of 100. The highest agreement and positive attitude of physicians were related to achievements of the program goals dimension. Multiple analyses showed that gender (odds ratio [OR] =5.5; male vs. female and employment status (OR = 16.7 and 10.9 for permanent employment and by contract compared to legal obligation, respectively were significantly associated with physicians' willingness toward participation in the urban-FPP. Conclusion: About half of the studied physicians were interested toward participation in the urban-FPP; Male physicians more than females and permanent employees more than others were willing and interested to participate in the urban-FPP.

  1. The Social and Ecological Problems of Urbanized Areas in Mongolia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Peter D. Gunin

    2006-12-01

    Full Text Available This paper presents the results of studies on the formation of urbanized territories and metropolitan areas in Mongolia, and the in fl uences of the industrial complex on the pollution level in urban landscapes, as well as on population health. The capital city, Ulaanbaatar, is one of the most highly polluted cities in the Central Asian region. The data on spatial distribution and the contents of toxic elements in the soils, snow cover, plants and human hair are given, according to the main ecological zones of the city. The statistical data on the dynamics of birthrate, rates of sickness and death of the population by the main groups of diseases are analyzed in accordance with the classi fi cation of the World Health Organization.

  2. Subclinical depression in Urban Indian adolescents: Prevalence, felt needs, and correlates

    OpenAIRE

    Singhal, Meghna; Manjula, M.; Vijay Sagar, K. John

    2016-01-01

    Background: Subclinical depression in adolescents constitutes a risk factor for future clinical depression and hence warrants examination. However, there is a paucity of research that documents subclinical depression among adolescents in India. Objectives: (a) To investigate the prevalence of subclinical depression in urban school-going adolescents; (b) to investigate the problems and felt needs of these adolescents; (c) to examine depression-related variables; and (d) to examine the relation...

  3. Associations between butane hash oil use and cannabis-related problems.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Meier, Madeline H

    2017-10-01

    High-potency cannabis concentrates are increasingly popular in the United States, and there is concern that use of high-potency cannabis might increase risk for cannabis-related problems. However, little is known about the potential negative consequences of concentrate use. This study reports on associations between past-year use of a high-potency cannabis concentrate, known as butane hash oil (BHO), and cannabis-related problems. A sample of 821 college students were recruited to complete a survey about their health and behavior. Participants who had used cannabis in the past year (33%, n=273) completed questions about their cannabis use, including their use of BHO and cannabis-related problems in eight domains: physical dependence, impaired control, academic-occupational problems, social-interpersonal problems, self-care problems, self-perception, risk behavior, and blackouts. Approximately 44% (n=121) of past-year cannabis users had used BHO in the past year. More frequent BHO use was associated with higher levels of physical dependence (RR=1.8, pcannabis-related academic/occupational problems (RR=1.5, p=0.004), poor self-care (RR=1.3, p=0.002), and cannabis-related risk behavior (RR=1.2, p=0.001). After accounting for sociodemographic factors, age of onset of cannabis use, sensation seeking, overall frequency of cannabis use, and frequency of other substance use, BHO use was still associated with higher levels of physical dependence (RR=1.2, p=0.014). BHO use is associated with greater physiological dependence on cannabis, even after accounting for potential confounders. Longitudinal research is needed to determine if cannabis users with higher levels of physiological dependence seek out BHO and/or if BHO use increases risk for physiological dependence. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  4. Urban Modality

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jorge Gil

    2016-02-01

    integrated multimodal network model combines the various mobility infrastructure networks and the buildings’ land use to create a detailed description of the region, using open spatial data and open source Geographic Information Systems (GIS technologies. The network model’s spatial analysis covers local urban form indicators, such as street layout, network density and land use mix, as well as regional indicators of multimodal accessibility and network configuration (its structure, to give a holistic profile of urban areas across modes and scales of travel. The analysis results go through exploratory data mining and classification procedures to identify urban form typologies of urban areas. It is shown that there is a relation between this ‘urban modality’ of urban areas and the travel patterns of their residents, measured as a set of sustainable mobility indicators related to mode share and distance travelled. For this reason, ‘urban modality’ offers the possibility for ex-ante evaluation of sustainable mobility potential of planned urban areas. Furthermore, when combined with the socio-economic profile of the resident population, ‘urban modality’ defines a context for the ex-post evaluation of sustainable mobility performance of existing urban areas. The evaluation of suburban areas together with the more central historical urban areas gives invariably a high score in sustainable travel to the central areas, and rates the suburban areas negatively. On the other hand, the evaluation of sustainable mobility performance in the context of suburban areas of the same type allows the finer distinction of underperformers that have scope for improvement, and overachievers that provide examples of (relative success. This contextual evaluation can become a decision support instrument for “hard” and “soft” planning measures involving sustainable mobility targets. Applying this method to the set of VINEX neighbourhoods of the Randstad leads to the conclusion

  5. Forging Instrumental Programs for an Urban Society.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hanshumaker, James

    1989-01-01

    Reports concerns about the state of music in an urban society, reviewing educational, social, and cultural changes that should impel teachers to re-examine their programs. Offers several possible solutions to the problems that urbanization has imposed on school music programs. (LS)

  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. Migration from rural to urban habitat in Tropical Africa (1970-2000).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ankerl, G G

    1982-01-01

    Problems associated with rural-urban migration in Tropical Africa are examined, with particular reference to the experience of Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Tanzania, and Zaire. The problems examined include overurbanization, maldistribution of population, poor urban living conditions, population density, and traditional methods of construction.

  8. Reshaping Spaces and Relations: Urban Gardening in a Time of Crisis

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Elisabetta Cangelosi

    2015-07-01

    Full Text Available This article studies urban gardening as a form of social resilience. It analyses its role and impact on society in a context of social and financial crisis through the lens of the debate about the commons on the basis of three case studies conducted in Brussels in 2013. The study connects the specificities of the current social and economic context with the new wave of urban gardening from a people-centred perspective. Both the motivations and the outcomes of this form of activism are analysed and led to the conclusion that being involved in urban gardening represents not only a way to cope with economic and social threats but also a tool to rebuild and reshape social bonds. The paper aims to contribute to the current debate about the commons, intended as a form of resilience and a tool of social change rather than a simple alternative economic model. It aims to do so through the analysis of urban gardening practices, which are more commonly studied from the perspective of urban agriculture, food production, access to land and urbanism.

  9. Mental Health Problems of Iranian Female Adolescents and Its Association with Pubertal Development: A Nationwide Study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Aria Sotoudeh

    2012-03-01

    Full Text Available Mental health problems including emotional and behavioral problems during puberty may be under influence of different risk factors including cultures, living in urban or rural areas and ethnic factors which may vary between different countries. The main aim of this study is to investigate the profile of emotional and behavioral problems and the role of factors such as age, stage of puberty, ethnicity, rurality and living in urban area, as risk factors in Iranian girls. As a part of a large national study we evaluated the emotional and behavioral problems in different stages of puberty in a community sample of Iranian adolescent girls from public schools that were selected by clustered random sampling method. In all subjects, demographic characteristics, and pubertal stages were measured. Emotional and behavioral problems were evaluated using Strength and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ. The associations of age, pubertal development indices, socioeconomic and demographic factors with the behavioral problems were assessed. A total number of 4576 students enrolled the study and responded to the questions. The mean age of participants was 13.83 2.19 years. The mean total score of difficulties in participants was 14.34 5.81. According to these results 813 (17.8% adolescents had total problem scores higher than Goodmans cutoff points and the most frequent problem domain was conduct problems (20.5%. According to the results the most related variable with the total difficulty score of SDQ were ethnicity, residency in urban areas and development of menstrual cycle respectively. The results of this study showed that the most correlated factors with mental health problems in Iranian girls during puberty are ethnicity, urbanity and development of menstrual cycle.

  10. Analyzing the causes of urban waterlogging and sponge city technology in China

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ning, Yun-Fang; Dong, Wen-Yi; Lin, Lu-Sheng; Zhang, Qian

    2017-03-01

    With the rapid development of social economy in China, increased urban population, and rapid urbanization cause serious problems, for example, a heavy rain in the city inevitably leads to waterlogging, which poses a great threat to the livelihood and property security. Disaster due to urban flood is a key problem that restricts the development of urban ecology in China. The reason is the sharp increase of impermeable surface ratio in urban areas, leading to a decrease in rainfall infiltration and increase in surface runoff. To effectively solve the urban waterlogging, China proposed the construction of sponge city. This paper analyzes and summarizes the reasons for the formation of urban waterlogging, and introduces the concept of the sponge city technology to prevent waterlogging.

  11. Urban policies and citizenship. Some mechanisms for the production of urban space in the city of Sao Paulo

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Roberto Rocco

    1997-01-01

    Full Text Available The article deals with the historical reasons for the present conditions in the city of Sao Paolo, attempts at managing the place, preparation of the master plan, problems with establishment of particular mechanisms for creating urban space and reasons for success or failure of particular endeavours. An important aspect in solving physical problems of future development is prevention of social and physical segregation. Urban policies are presented with three types of measures. In conclusion, two examples of policy implementation are shown.

  12. Prevalence and correlates of fear of falling among elderly population in urban area of Karnataka, India.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mane, Abhay B; Sanjana, T; Patil, Prabhakar R; Sriniwas, T

    2014-07-01

    Falls are a major public health problem in the elderly population. Fear of falling (FOF) among elderly persons can compromise quality of life by limiting mobility, diminished sense of well-being and reduced social interactions. India is undergoing a demographic transitional phase with urban elderly population of 6.72% in 2001. The major challenge would be on the prevention of falls among them. Hence there is a need to highlight the problems related to fall faced by the elderly in India. To study the prevalence of FOF and its correlates among the elderly population in urban area. 250 elderly subjects above 60 years were randomly selected from urban area and interviewed for FOF using Short Fall Efficacy Scale-I (FES-I), history of falls and risk factors. The prevalence of FOF among the elderly was 33.2%. The significant correlates of FOF were educational status, family type, associated health problems, history of fall in past 6 months, worried of fall again among fallers, fearfulness of fall again among fallers, restriction of daily activities and depression among them. The insignificant correlates were gender and socio-economic status. FOF is a health problem among the elderly living in urban India needs urgent attention. It represents a significant threat to socialization, independence and morbidity or mortality. Knowledge of correlates of FOF may be useful in developing multidimensional strategies to reduce it among elderly.

  13. Reading and Comprehension Levels in a Sample of Urban, Low-Income Persons

    Science.gov (United States)

    Delgado, Cheryl; Weitzel, Marilyn

    2013-01-01

    Objective: Because health literacy is related to healthcare outcomes, this study looked at reading and comprehension levels in a sample of urban, low-income persons. Design: This was a descriptive exploration of reading comprehension levels, controlled for medical problems that could impact on vision and therefore ability to read. Setting: Ninety…

  14. Gentrification and urban children's well-being: tipping the scales from problems to promise.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Formoso, Diana; N Weber, Rachel; S Atkins, Marc

    2010-12-01

    Gentrification changes the neighborhood and family contexts in which children are socialized-for better and worse-yet little is known about its consequences for youth. This review, drawn from research in urban planning, sociology, and psychology, maps out mechanisms by which gentrification may impact children. We discuss indicators of gentrification and link neighborhood factors, including institutional resources and collective socialization, to family processes more proximally related to child development. Finally, we discuss implications for intervention and public policy recommendations that are intended to tip the scales toward better outcomes for low-income youth in gentrifying areas.

  15. Health and health-related indicators in slum, rural, and urban communities: a comparative analysis

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mberu, Blessing U.; Haregu, Tilahun Nigatu; Kyobutungi, Catherine; Ezeh, Alex C.

    2016-01-01

    Background It is generally assumed that urban slum residents have worse health status when compared with other urban populations, but better health status than their rural counterparts. This belief/assumption is often because of their physical proximity and assumed better access to health care services in urban areas. However, a few recent studies have cast doubt on this belief. Whether slum dwellers are better off, similar to, or worse off as compared with rural and other urban populations remain poorly understood as indicators for slum dwellers are generally hidden in urban averages. Objective The aim of this study was to compare health and health-related indicators among slum, rural, and other urban populations in four countries where specific efforts have been made to generate health indicators specific to slum populations. Design We conducted a comparative analysis of health indicators among slums, non-slums, and all urban and rural populations as well as national averages in Bangladesh, Kenya, Egypt, and India. We triangulated data from demographic and health surveys, urban health surveys, and special cross-sectional slum surveys in these countries to assess differences in health indicators across the residential domains. We focused the comparisons on child health, maternal health, reproductive health, access to health services, and HIV/AIDS indicators. Within each country, we compared indicators for slums with non-slum, city/urban averages, rural, and national indicators. Between-country differences were also highlighted. Results In all the countries, except India, slum children had much poorer health outcomes than children in all other residential domains, including those in rural areas. Childhood illnesses and malnutrition were higher among children living in slum communities compared to those living elsewhere. Although treatment seeking was better among slum children as compared with those in rural areas, this did not translate to better mortality

  16. Health and health-related indicators in slum, rural, and urban communities: a comparative analysis

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Blessing U. Mberu

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available Background: It is generally assumed that urban slum residents have worse health status when compared with other urban populations, but better health status than their rural counterparts. This belief/assumption is often because of their physical proximity and assumed better access to health care services in urban areas. However, a few recent studies have cast doubt on this belief. Whether slum dwellers are better off, similar to, or worse off as compared with rural and other urban populations remain poorly understood as indicators for slum dwellers are generally hidden in urban averages. Objective: The aim of this study was to compare health and health-related indicators among slum, rural, and other urban populations in four countries where specific efforts have been made to generate health indicators specific to slum populations. Design: We conducted a comparative analysis of health indicators among slums, non-slums, and all urban and rural populations as well as national averages in Bangladesh, Kenya, Egypt, and India. We triangulated data from demographic and health surveys, urban health surveys, and special cross-sectional slum surveys in these countries to assess differences in health indicators across the residential domains. We focused the comparisons on child health, maternal health, reproductive health, access to health services, and HIV/AIDS indicators. Within each country, we compared indicators for slums with non-slum, city/urban averages, rural, and national indicators. Between-country differences were also highlighted. Results: In all the countries, except India, slum children had much poorer health outcomes than children in all other residential domains, including those in rural areas. Childhood illnesses and malnutrition were higher among children living in slum communities compared to those living elsewhere. Although treatment seeking was better among slum children as compared with those in rural areas, this did not translate to

  17. SYSTEMATIC PRINCIPLES AND METHODS OF SYMBOLIC APPROACHES IN URBAN DESIGN

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    BULAKH I. V

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available Formulation of the problem. The low level of expression and personalization of mass architecture of the second half of the twentieth century connected with the spread of industrial technology and even to a greater extent with mechanistic traditionally functional relation to the average person as, abstract consumer architecture. The condition out of the critical situation is focusing on matters aesthetic, artistic understanding and harmonious image creation environment. The problem of increasing architectural and artistic level of architectural and urban planning solutions to overcome the monotony of planning and development, creating aesthetically expressive urban environment does not lose relevance over the past decades. Understanding and acceptance of enigma and dynamic development of cities encourage architects to find new design techniques that are able to provide in the future a reasonable possibility of forming artistic and aesthetic image of the modern city. Purpose. Define and systematize the principles of symbolization architectural and planning images; propose methods symbolism in the architectural planning of image of the urban environment. Conclusion based on analysis of the enhanced concept symbolizing the image of Architecture and Planning, the place, role and symbolization trends at all levels of the urban environment - planning, three-dimensional and improvement of urban areas; first identified the main stages and levels of symbolization (analohyzatsyya, schematization and alehoryzatsiya, their features and characteristics, formulated the basic principles of symbolization architectural and planning of image, namely the principles of communication between figurative analogies, transformation of subsequent circuits, switching allegorical groupings and metamorfizm ultimate goal – symbol birth .

  18. Energy problem and harmony in international relations

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ogata, Akira

    1975-01-01

    Energy problems and harmony in international relation are closely related with world politics. Oil is destined to remain as the primary energy source for the time being. The situation of oil has different implications to the U.S. and U.S.S.R., oil producing countries, and consumer countries. The hasty attitude in the past to attain energy sufficiency must be avoided by all means. Congenial harmony is to be established in international relation to meet world energy requirement. This also applies to the case of nuclear power in future. (Mori, K.)

  19. Feasibility and Preliminary Outcomes of a School-Based Mindfulness Intervention for Urban Youth

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mendelson, Tamar; Greenberg, Mark T.; Dariotis, Jacinda K.; Gould, Laura Feagans; Rhoades, Brittany L.; Leaf, Philip J.

    2010-01-01

    Youth in underserved, urban communities are at risk for a range of negative outcomes related to stress, including social-emotional difficulties, behavior problems, and poor academic performance. Mindfulness-based approaches may improve adjustment among chronically stressed and disadvantaged youth by enhancing self-regulatory capacities. This paper…

  20. Urban ecosystem modeling and global change: Potential for rational urban management and emissions mitigation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chen, Shaoqing; Chen, Bin; Fath, Brian D.

    2014-01-01

    Urbanization is a strong and extensive driver that causes environmental pollution and climate change from local to global scale. Modeling cities as ecosystems has been initiated by a wide range of scientists as a key to addressing challenging problems concomitant with urbanization. In this paper, ‘urban ecosystem modeling (UEM)’ is defined in an inter-disciplinary context to acquire a broad perception of urban ecological properties and their interactions with global change. Furthermore, state-of-the-art models of urban ecosystems are reviewed, categorized as top-down models (including materials/energy-oriented models and structure-oriented models), bottom-up models (including land use-oriented models and infrastructure-oriented models), or hybrid models thereof. Based on the review of UEM studies, a future framework for explicit UEM is proposed based the integration of UEM approaches of different scales, guiding more rational urban management and efficient emissions mitigation. - Highlights: • Urban ecosystems modeling (UEM) is defined in an interdisciplinary context. • State-of-the-art models for UEM are critically reviewed and compared. • An integrated framework for explicit UEM is proposed under global change. - State-of-the-art models of urban ecosystem modeling (UEM) are reviewed for rational urban management and emissions mitigation

  1. Estimating Rates of Psychosocial Problems in Urban and Poor Children with Sickle Cell Anemia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Barbarin, Oscar A.; And Others

    1994-01-01

    Examined adjustment problems for children and adolescents with sickle cell anemia (SCA). Parents provided information on social, emotional, academic, and family adjustment of 327 children with SCA. Over 25% of children had emotional adjustment problems in form of internalizing symptoms (anxiety and depression); at least 20% had problems related to…

  2. Traffic-related air pollution and allergic disease: an update in the context of global urbanization.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Carlsten, Christopher; Rider, Christopher F

    2017-04-01

    The review aims to give an update on the literature around traffic-related air pollution (TRAP) and allergic disease in the context of global urbanization, as the most populous countries in the world face severe TRAP exposure challenges. As research continues to show that gene-environment interactions and epigenetics contribute to the TRAP-allergy link, evidence around the links to climate change grows. Greenspace may provide a buffer to adverse effects of traffic on health, overall, but pose risks in terms of allergic disease. The link between traffic-related pollution and allergy continues to strengthen, in terms of supportive observational findings and mechanistic studies. Levels of TRAP across the world, particularly in Asia, continue to dramatically exceed acceptable levels, suggesting that the related adverse health consequences will accelerate. This could be counterbalanced by primary emission control and urban planning. Attention to combined effects of TRAP and allergen exposure is critical to avoiding misleading inferences drawn though examination only of isolated factors.

  3. Relations between urban bird and plant communities and human well-being and connection to nature.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Luck, Gary W; Davidson, Penny; Boxall, Dianne; Smallbone, Lisa

    2011-08-01

    By 2050, 70% of the world's population will live in urban areas. In many cases urbanization reduces the richness and abundance of native species. Living in highly modified environments with fewer opportunities to interact directly with a diversity of native species may adversely affect residents' personal well-being and emotional connection to nature. We assessed the personal well-being, neighborhood well-being (a measure of a person's satisfaction with their neighborhood), and level of connection to nature of over 1000 residents in 36 residential neighborhoods in southeastern Australia. We modeled these response variables as a function of natural features of each neighborhood (e.g., species richness and abundance of birds, density of plants, and amount of vegetation cover) and demographic characteristics of surveyed residents. Vegetation cover had the strongest positive relations with personal well-being, whereas residents' level of connection to nature was weakly related to variation in species richness and abundance of birds and density of plants. Demographic characteristics such as age and level of activity explained the greatest proportion of variance in well-being and connection to nature. Nevertheless, when controlling for variation in demographic characteristics (examples were provided above), neighborhood well-being was positively related to a range of natural features, including species richness and abundance of birds, and vegetation cover. Demographic characteristics and how well-being was quantified strongly influenced our results, and we suggest demography and metrics of well-being must be considered when attempting to determine relations between the urban environment and human well-being. © 2011 Society for Conservation Biology.

  4. Sustainable Urban Regeneration Based on Energy Balance

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sacha Silvester

    2012-07-01

    Full Text Available In this paper, results are reported of a technology assessment of the use and integration of decentralized energy systems and storage devices in an urban renewal area. First the general context of a different approach based on 'rethinking' and the incorporation of ongoing integration of coming economical and environmental interests on infrastructure, in relation to the sustainable urban development and regeneration from the perspective of the tripod people, technology and design is elaborated. However, this is at different scales, starting mainly from the perspective of the urban dynamics. This approach includes a renewed look at the ‘urban metabolism’ and the role of environmental technology, urban ecology and environment behavior focus. Second, the potential benefits of strategic and balanced introduction and use of decentralized devices and electric vehicles (EVs, and attached generation based on renewables are investigated in more detail in the case study of the ‘Merwe-Vierhaven’ area (MW4 in the Rotterdam city port in the Netherlands. In order to optimize the energy balance of this urban renewal area, it is found to be impossible to do this by tuning the energy consumption. It is more effective to change the energy mix and related infrastructures. However, the problem in existing urban areas is that often these areas are restricted to a few energy sources due to lack of available space for integration. Besides this, energy consumption in most cases is relatively concentrated in (existing urban areas. This limits the potential of sustainable urban regeneration based on decentralized systems, because there is no balanced choice regarding the energy mix based on renewables and system optimization. Possible solutions to obtain a balanced energy profile can come from either the choice to not provide all energy locally, or by adding different types of storage devices to the systems. The use of energy balance based on renewables as a

  5. Gambling behaviors and psychopathology related to Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) in problem and non-problem adult gamblers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fatseas, Melina; Alexandre, Jean-Marc; Vénisse, Jean-Luc; Romo, Lucia; Valleur, Marc; Magalon, David; Chéreau-Boudet, Isabelle; Luquiens, Amandine; Guilleux, Alice; Groupe Jeu; Challet-Bouju, Gaëlle; Grall-Bronnec, Marie

    2016-05-30

    Previous studies showed that Pathological Gambling and Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) often co-occur. The aim of this study was to examine whether ADHD is associated with specific severity patterns in terms of gambling behavior, psychopathology and personality traits. 599 problem and non-problem-gamblers were recruited in addiction clinics and gambling places in France. Subjects were assessed with the Wender-Utah Rating Scale-Child, the Adult ADHD Self-Report Scale, the Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview, the Temperament and Character Inventory, the South Oaks Gambling Screen and questionnaires assessing gambling related cognitive distortions and gambling habits. 20.7% (n=124) of gamblers were screened positive for lifetime or current ADHD. Results from the multivariate analysis showed that ADHD was associated with a higher severity of gambling-related problems and with more psychiatric comorbidity. Among problem gamblers, subjects with history of ADHD were also at higher risk for unemployment, psychiatric comorbidity and specific dysfunctional personality traits. This study supports the link between gambling related problems and ADHD in a large sample of problem and non-problem gamblers, including problem-gamblers not seeking treatment. This points out the necessity to consider this disorder in the prevention and in the treatment of pathological gambling. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

  6. Towards smart mobility in urban spaces: Bus tracking and information application

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yue, Wong Seng; Chye, Koh Keng; Hoy, Cheong Wan

    2017-10-01

    Smart city can be defined as an urban space with complete and advanced infrastructure, intelligent networks and platforms, with millions of sensors among which people themselves and their mobile devices. Urban mobility is one of the global smart city project which offers traffic management in real-time, management of passenger transport means, tracking applications and logistics, car sharing services, car park management and more smart mobility services. Due to the frustrated waiting time for the arrival of buses and the difficulty of accessing shuttle bus-related information in a one-stop centre, bus tracking and information application (BTA) is one the proposed solutions to solve the traffic problems in urban spaces. This paper is aimed to design and develop a bus tracking and information application in a selected city in Selangor state, Malaysia. Next, this application also provides an alternative to design public transport tracking and information application for the urban places in Malaysia. Furthermore, the application also provides a smart solution for the management of public infrastructures and urban facilities in Malaysia in future.

  7. A technical review of urban land use - transportation models as tools for evaluating vehicle travel reduction strategies

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Southworth, F.

    1995-07-01

    The continued growth of highway traffic in the United States has led to unwanted urban traffic congestion as well as to noticeable urban air quality problems. These problems include emissions covered by the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments (CAAA) and 1991 Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act (ISTEA), as well as carbon dioxide and related {open_quotes}greenhouse gas{close_quotes} emissions. Urban travel also creates a major demand for imported oil. Therefore, for economic as well as environmental reasons, transportation planning agencies at both the state and metropolitan area level are focussing a good deal of attention on urban travel reduction policies. Much discussed policy instruments include those that encourage fewer trip starts, shorter trip distances, shifts to higher-occupancy vehicles or to nonvehicular modes, and shifts in the timing of trips from the more to the less congested periods of the day or week. Some analysts have concluded that in order to bring about sustainable reductions in urban traffic volumes, significant changes will be necessary in the way our households and businesses engage in daily travel. Such changes are likely to involve changes in the ways we organize and use traffic-generating and-attracting land within our urban areas. The purpose of this review is to evaluate the ability of current analytic methods and models to support both the evaluation and possibly the design of such vehicle travel reduction strategies, including those strategies involving the reorganization and use of urban land. The review is organized into three sections. Section 1 describes the nature of the problem we are trying to model, Section 2 reviews the state of the art in operational urban land use-transportation simulation models, and Section 3 provides a critical assessment of such models as useful urban transportation planning tools. A number of areas are identified where further model development or testing is required.

  8. Renewal strategies and neighborhood participation on urban blight

    OpenAIRE

    Ali Hosseini; Ahmad Pourahmad; Ali Taeeb; Milad Amini; Sara Behvandi

    2017-01-01

    Urban blight had its own rational and hierarchical function in the past. Nowadays it is featured with structural and functional shortage. Therefore, it has lost the capacity to meet the residents’ needs. Along with intensification of urban blight problems in cities, and downtowns in particular, which affects different aspects of urban life, many urban planners have shown special attention to such districts. Laleh-Zar neighborhood is an example of these neighborhoods, which on the one hand due...

  9. UrbanTransformation

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Laursen, Lea Louise Holst

    Due to the economical and political changes marked by globalization, neo-liberalism and, post-industrialism a changed spatial configuration is emerging in which an increased division is taking place, into on the one hand, economical and demographical growing urban areas, where the urban fabric...... is being concentrated, and on the other, into declining urban areas that experience a dilution of the urban fabric and a de-concentration of people and capital. This gives an uneven spatial geography where some places are becoming nodal points in the global society and others are left behind. But the urban...... situation of concentration and de-concentration is also closely connected where there is a dynamic relation between the two. Decline might in some cases even be seen as an aspect of growth, where the growth of some places influence the decline in others. With this approach the urban fabric can, therefore...

  10. Inadvertent weather modification urban areas - lessons for global climate change

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Changnon, S A [Illinois State Water Survey, Champaign, IL (USA)

    1992-05-01

    Large metropolitan areas in North America, home to 65% of the USA's population, have created major changes in their climates over the past 150 years. The rate and amount of the urban climate change approximate those being predicted globally using climate models. Knowledge of urban weather and climate modification holds lessons for the global climate change issue. First, adjustments to urban climate changes can provide guidance for adjusting to global change. A second lesson relates to the difficulty but underscores the necessity of providing scientifically credible proof of change within the noise of natural climatic variability. The evolution of understanding about how urban conditions influence weather reveals several unexpected outcomes, particularly relating to precipitation changes. These suggest that similar future surprises can be expected in a changed global climate, a third lesson. In-depth studies of how urban climate changes affected the hydrologic cycle, the regional economy, and human activities were difficult because of data problems, lack of impact methodology, and necessity for multidisciplinary investigations. Similar impact studies for global climate change will require diverse scientific talents and funding commitments adequate to measure the complexity of impacts and human adjustments. Understanding the processes whereby urban areas and other human activities have altered the atmosphere and changed clouds and precipitation regionally appears highly relevant to the global climate-change issue. Scientific and governmental policy development needs to recognize an old axiom that became evident in the studies of inadvertent urban and regional climate change and their behavioural implications: Think globally but act locally. Global climate change is an international issue, and the atmosphere must be treated globally. But the impacts and the will to act and adjust will occur regionally.

  11. Inadvertent weather modification urban areas - lessons for global climate change

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Changnon, S.A.

    1992-01-01

    Large metropolitan areas in North America, home to 65% of the USA's population, have created major changes in their climates over the past 150 years. The rate and amount of the urban climate change approximate those being predicted globally using climate models. Knowledge of urban weather and climate modification holds lessons for the global climate change issue. First, adjustments to urban climate changes can provide guidance for adjusting to global change. A second lesson relates to the difficulty but underscores the necessity of providing scientifically credible proof of change within the noise of natural climatic variability. The evolution of understanding about how urban conditions influence weather reveals several unexpected outcomes, particularly relating to precipitation changes. These suggest that similar future surprises can be expected in a changed global climate, a third lesson. In-depth studies of how urban climate changes affected the hydrologic cycle, the regional economy, and human activities were difficult because of data problems, lack of impact methodology, and necessity for multidisciplinary investigations. Similar impact studies for global climate change will require diverse scientific talents and funding commitments adequate to measure the complexity of impacts and human adjustments. Understanding the processes whereby urban areas and other human activities have altered the atmosphere and changed clouds and precipitation regionally appears highly relevant to the global climate-change issue. Scientific and governmental policy development needs to recognize an old axiom that became evident in the studies of inadvertent urban and regional climate change and their behavioural implications: Think globally but act locally. Global climate change is an international issue, and the atmosphere must be treated globally. But the impacts and the will to act and adjust will occur regionally

  12. Air pollution removal and temperature reduction by Gainesville's urban forest

    Science.gov (United States)

    Francisco Escobedo; Jennifer A. Seitz; Wayne Zipperer

    2009-01-01

    Poor air quality is a common problem in many urban areas. It can lead to human health problems and reduced visibility, and it can impair the health of plants and wildlife. The urban forest can help improve air quality by removing pollutants and by reducing air temperature through shading and transpiration. Trees also emit volatile...

  13. Urbanization, housing and environment: Megacities of Africa

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Olusola Oladapo Makinde

    2012-12-01

    Full Text Available This paper takes a look at urbanization, housing and environment in Africa megacities; it enumerates the problems caused by the continued influx of migrant into cities, and state the government, private and public organization effort in solving these challenges. It found out that with proper management, the chilling prospect of a serious deterioration in quality of life could be averted. The report noted that continuing migration from rural to urban areas will expand the number of megacities, and it concedes that megacities are often plagued by environmental deterioration, inadequate housing, traffic congestion, social alienation slums, crime and homelessness. Etc. The paper, observed that megacities are important to a country's economic development, and also provide residents with a satisfying quality of life, if properly managed. The report looked for ways of solving the problems to a significant degree and observed that nearly in all cases, the gaps between demand and supply are management related, and recommends ways of improving the quality of citizen life by provision of adequate and quality housing, reduction in land costs, healthy environment, clean water and sanitation services, security within the city, employment opportunity, bolstering urban farming, and improving public transportation and make sure that the megacities are beneficial to the environment as well as to the national economy. The paper admits that the solutions are far from easy. It is difficult to predict what will happen if there are shortfalls in the financing of megacity growth and management.

  14. Urban transport energy consumption: Belgrade case study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jovanović Miomir M.

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available More than half of the global population now lives in towns and cities. At the same time, transport has become the highest single energy-consuming human activity. Hence, one of the major topics today is the reduction of urban transport demand and of energy consumption in cities. In this article we focused on the whole package of instruments that can reduce energy consumption and transport demand in Belgrade, a city that is currently at a major crossroad. Belgrade can prevent a dramatic increase in energy consumption and CO2 emissions (and mitigate the negative local environmental effects of traffic congestion, traffic accidents and air pollution, only if it: 1 implements a more decisive strategy to limit private vehicles use while its level of car passenger km (PKT is still relatively low; 2 does not try to solve its transport problems only by trying to build urban road infrastructure (bridges and ring roads; and 3 if it continues to provide priority movement for buses (a dominant form of public transport, while 4 at the same time developing urban rail systems (metro or LRT with exclusive tracks, immune to the traffic congestion on urban streets. [Projekat Ministarstva nauke Republike Srbije, br. 37010

  15. Symbolic Interactionism, Mass Panics and Urban Legends

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ivan Kovačević

    2016-02-01

    Full Text Available The constructionist approach to social problems has developed a thesis about mass panics and urban legends as "unconstructed social problems". This thesis, advanced by the American sociologist Joel Best, and his analysis of the urban legend of Halloween sadism, have provided the model for studying three mass panics and two urban legends. The three panics in question are the mass exodus from Kraljevo because of a prophesy that the town would be destroyed in an earthquake, the mass fear of body parts thieves in three villages in Srem, and the panic over the appearance of a cannibal sect in the town of Šabac. The two urban legends involve the rich old emigrant whose acquaintance a child from a poor family made while dialling phone numbers at random, and the thieving postman who set up his own business in Russia with the stolen pension money he had been supposed to deliver.

  16. Urban Transport and Communication

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Irandu, E.M.

    1999-01-01

    The population according to the 1989 census was 21,448,774 inhabitants. This figure shows that on average the total population has been increasing by more than 40% every decade since 1948. As a result the widening gap between fertility and mortality, the population is growing at an accelerated rate. The current official population growth rate figure of 3.4% per annum puts the country among the world's most rapidly growing nations. It is projected that by the year 2010, the population will be about 37.4 million. At present the urban centres with a population size of 2,000 people and above constitute about 18.1% of the total population (Kenya, 1994). Rapid economic growth has led to the development of a number of urban centres as centres of commerce, industry and tourism. Consequently, this has led to rural urban drift. This drift to urban areas causes a number of problems which if unresolved will limit the ability of the urban centres to support their population The rapid increase in urban population causes a shortage of facilities to meet the increasing demand in services such as public transport, water supply, sewage and housing (Ramatullah, 1997: 161-168). Urban Transport acts as catalyst to both urban and national development, by facilitating the movements associated with urban and national Development. They provide a means by which goods and services are made available to industry and consumers, creating opportunity for social and economic interaction and employment. Without urban transport, access to health, education and employment would not be possible. Indeed urban transport is what gives life to urban development

  17. KARAKTER FISIK DAN SOSIAL REALESTAT DALAM TINJAUAN GERAKAN NEW URBANISM

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Timoticin Kwanda

    2001-01-01

    Full Text Available Rapid urbanization will be critical to urban environments. The immediate and most critical urban environment problems facing several big cities, such as Jakarta and Surabaya, what are referred to as the "brown" problems, among them: lack of safe water, pollution from vehicles and industrial facilities, and congestion. To cope with these urban environmental problems, New Urbanism through the Traditional Neighborhood Development (TND believes that it will cure the problems by pedestrian oriented planning, encouraging people to drive less, mixed land uses, higher density, then traffice congestion is reduced,and mitigate air pollution. Moreover, the other physical and social characters are mixed housing types, front porches, more park that will encourage more interaction, then restore a sense of community. Based on this concept, this paper discusses the physical and social characters of real estates in Jakarta and Surabaya. The results show that real estate developments in these suburban areas is one of the causes of urban environment problems. Abstract in Bahasa Indonesia : Cepatnya urbanisasi akan menyebabkan lingkungan perkotaan yang kritis. Masalah lingkungan kritis yang dihadapi oleh kota-kota besar seperti Jakarta dan Surabaya adalah apa yang disebut dengan masalah "warna coklat" yaitu kurangnya air yang sehat, polusi udara yang berasal dari kendaraan bermotor dan industri, serta kemacetan lalu lintas. Untuk menyelesaikan masalah lingkungan ini, gerakan New Urbanism melalui konsep Traditional Neighborhood Development (TND percaya bahwa masalah lingkungan ini dapat diatasi dengan perencanaan permukiman yang berorientasi pada pejalan kaki, multi fungsi, kepadatan tinggi, sehingga mengurangi kendaraan bermotor dan berakibat pada berkurangnya kemacetan lalu lintas dan polusi udara. Karakter fisik dan sosial lainnya adalah multi tipe rumah, taman publik yang lebih banyak dan rumah berteras depan yang akan mendorong interaksi sosial dalam lingkungan

  18. Acculturation stress and drinking problems among urban heavy drinking Latinos in the Northeast.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee, Christina S; Colby, Suzanne M; Rohsenow, Damaris J; López, Steven R; Hernández, Lynn; Caetano, Raul

    2013-01-01

    This study investigates the relationship between the level of acculturation and acculturation stress and the extent to which each predicts problems related to drinking. Hispanics who met criteria for hazardous drinking completed measures of acculturation, acculturation stress, and drinking problems. Sequential multiple regression was used to determine whether the levels of self-reported acculturation stress predicted concurrent alcohol problems after controlling for the predictive value of the acculturation level. Acculturation stress accounted for a significant variance in drinking problems, while adjusting for acculturation, income, and education. Choosing to drink in response to acculturation stress should be an intervention target with Hispanic heavy drinkers.

  19. How can urban mobilities design imaginaries articulate ‘matters of concern’?

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Lanng, Ditte Bendix; Wind, Simon; Nielsen, Hannah Dræby

    Some urban design proposals are primarily imaginaries. They may present solutions to set urban problems, but their main agency is to experiment with reimagining the urban. This is urban design as ‘critical’ and ‘speculative’ design meant to probe our assumptions (Dunne and Raby 2013). The paper...

  20. An Integrated Approach to Evaluate Urban Adaptive Capacity to Climate Change

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Qiangsheng Hu

    2018-04-01

    Full Text Available Climate change and accelerated urbanization have posed severe challenges to urban development, resulting in a growing series of climate and environmental problems that have a significant impact on industrial production and urban life. In a developing country such as China, more than 57% of the population lives in urban areas. It is vital for these cities to adapt to climate-induced risks. A better understanding of how to improve adaptive capacity could enhance the ability to achieve a desirable state when the city experiences stress. This paper used an integrated approach for evaluating the urban adaptive capacity to climate change. It developed the evaluation index system of urban adaptive capacity (UAC based on the driver–pressure–state–impact–response model (DPSIR, and adopted grey relational analysis (GRA and the entropy method to analyze the level of UAC in Changsha, the capital city of Hunan Province, from 2006 to 2015. The results revealed that the UAC of Changsha showed a significant increase from 2006 to 2015. Among the five first-grade indicators, the response dimension had the greatest influence on the improvement of UAC. The study may provide suggestions for adaptive capacity building and sustainable development in other urban areas.

  1. Lifetime Paid Work and Mental Health Problems among Poor Urban 9-to-13-Year-Old Children in Brazil

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Isabel A. Bordin

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available Objective. To verify if emotional/behavioral problems are associated with lifetime paid work in poor urban children, when taking into account other potential correlates. Methods. Cross-sectional study focused on 9-to-13-year-old children (n=212. In a probabilistic sample of clusters of eligible households (women 15–49 years and son/daughter <18 years, one mother-child pair was randomly selected per household (n=813; response rate = 82.4%. CBCL/6-18 identified child emotional/behavioral problems. Potential correlates include child gender and age, socioeconomic status/SES, maternal education, parental working status, and family social isolation, among others. Multivariate analysis examined the relationship between emotional/behavioral problems and lifetime paid work in the presence of significant correlates. Findings. All work activities were non-harmful (e.g., selling fruits, helping parents at their small business, and baby sitting. Children with lower SES and socially isolated were more involved in paid work than less disadvantaged peers. Children ever exposed to paid work were four times more likely to present anxiety/depression symptoms at a clinical level compared to non-exposed children. Multivariate modeling identified three independent correlates: child pure internalizing problems, social isolation, and low SES. Conclusion. There is an association between lifetime exposure to exclusively non-harmful paid work activities and pure internalizing problems even when considering SES variability and family social isolation.

  2. Press problem related to nuclear energy news reporting

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Arai, Mitsuo

    2008-01-01

    Since the event of Niigataken Chuetsu-oki Earthquake in 2007 and the subsequent press reports on damage of nuclear power station after it, a stance of media is being questioned. In order to clear this problem, basic organizational structure of the press related to nuclear energy news was analyzed. Local news department, social news department, science news department and economical news department involve in nuclear energy news the accordance with their own situations and concerns. This structure makes problem of nuclear energy news reporting complicated. Changing this system is required but very difficult. It is concluded that the press problem around nuclear energy news is strange. (author)

  3. The relation of eating problems and amenorrhea in ballet dancers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brooks-Gunn, J; Warren, M P; Hamilton, L H

    1987-02-01

    Exercise-induced amenorrhea has received considerable attention in the medical literature. The combination of exercise and low body weight is thought to exert synergistic effects in the pathogenesis of amenorrhea, while the role of dieting and eating problems, another possible causative mechanism, has not been examined. A sample of 55 adult dancers in national and regional classical ballet companies was studied; their mean age was 24.7 yr. Fifty-six percent of the dancers had delayed menarche (age 14 or later) and 19% of the sample were currently amenorrheic (5 months or longer). One-third of the dancers reported having had an eating problem (self-reported anorexia nervosa or bulimia). Amenorrhea and reported eating problems were significantly related: 50% of amenorrheics reported anorexia nervosa while 13% of the normals did. In addition, prolonged amenorrhea was significantly related to dieting (as measured by EAT-26 scales, a measure of dieting behavior). As expected, leanness and absolute weight also were related to prolonged amenorrhea. Amenorrhea in this sample of adult dancers was not related to current activity level or age at which training began. Thus, eating problems may be one factor in the pathogenesis of prolonged amenorrhea in certain athletic groups.

  4. [Puebla: the contradictions of growth and urban planning in the nineties].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Perez Mendoza, S; Rojas Bonilla, J L; Vazquez Lopez, J

    1991-12-01

    A series of questions and observations are presented relating to urban problems resulting from demographic growth and economic development in the city of Puebla, Mexico. Although the date used are primarily for the city of Puebla, the metropolitan conurbation in its totality should be the true focus of study. The major problems in the city of Puebla result from the inability of market forces to satisfy growing needs for employment, housing, and transport, and from limitations on the ability of the municipal administration to provide and improve the public services demanded by the population. If the metropolitan area is not viewed as a whole, there is a great risk that uncontrolled growth will continue while problems in the conurbation will be underestimated. Puebla's most rapid period of growth occurred in the 1960s, when significant development took place in manufacturing. An inventory of proposed solutions to problems of urban development and social welfare in Puebla was conducted using data from the Development Plan of the state of Puebla for 1987-93 and reports of the state government and of municipal government programs for 1987-1990 and 1990-1993. The various plans mention 281 separate proposals, 218 actions, and 16 strategies. Severe financial limitations and technical and conceptual shortcomings however will probably prevent many from being implemented. Among the persisting problems in Puebla that have been recognized but are likely to worsen are the 38% deficit of drinking water and 30% loss through leakage and waste; the lack of water treatment and inadequate capacity of the sewage system and the failure to operate 7 existing water treatment plants because of the high cost; the lack of solid waste disposal facilities and existence of only 1 landfill that receives only 32% of the 1450 tons of solid waste produced daily; the lack of paved roads and failure to maintain existing roads, and poor planning and inadequacy of public transportation routes. The

  5. Computing Pathways for Urban Decarbonization.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cremades, R.; Sommer, P.

    2016-12-01

    Urban areas emit roughly three quarters of global carbon emissions. Cities are crucial elements for a decarbonized society. Urban expansion and related transportation needs lead to increased energy use, and to carbon-intensive lock-ins that create barriers for climate change mitigation globally. The authors present the Integrated Urban Complexity (IUC) model, based on self-organizing Cellular Automata (CA), and use it to produce a new kind of spatially explicit Transformation Pathways for Urban Decarbonization (TPUD). IUC is based on statistical evidence relating the energy needed for transportation with the spatial distribution of population, specifically IUC incorporates variables from complexity science related to urban form, like the slope of the rank-size rule or spatial entropy, which brings IUC a step beyond existing models. The CA starts its evolution with real-world urban land use and population distribution data from the Global Human Settlement Layer. Thus, the IUC model runs over existing urban settlements, transforming the spatial distribution of population so the energy consumption for transportation is minimized. The statistical evidence that governs the evolution of the CA departs from the database of the International Association of Public Transport. A selected case is presented using Stuttgart (Germany) as an example. The results show how IUC varies urban density in those places where it improves the performance of crucial parameters related to urban form, producing a TPUD that shows where the spatial distribution of population should be modified with a degree of detail of 250 meters of cell size. The TPUD shows how the urban complex system evolves over time to minimize energy consumption for transportation. The resulting dynamics or urban decarbonization show decreased energy per capita, although total energy increases for increasing population. The results provide innovative insights: by checking current urban planning against a TPUD, urban

  6. Problem solving of student with visual impairment related to mathematical literacy problem

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pratama, A. R.; Saputro, D. R. S.; Riyadi

    2018-04-01

    The student with visual impairment, total blind category depends on the sense of touch and hearing in obtaining information. In fact, the two senses can receive information less than 20%. Thus, students with visual impairment of the total blind categories in the learning process must have difficulty, including learning mathematics. This study aims to describe the problem-solving process of the student with visual impairment, total blind category on mathematical literacy issues based on Polya phase. This research using test method similar problems mathematical literacy in PISA and in-depth interviews. The subject of this study was a student with visual impairment, total blind category. Based on the result of the research, problem-solving related to mathematical literacy based on Polya phase is quite good. In the phase of understanding the problem, the student read about twice by brushing the text and assisted with information through hearing three times. The student with visual impairment in problem-solving based on the Polya phase, devising a plan by summoning knowledge and experience gained previously. At the phase of carrying out the plan, students with visual impairment implement the plan in accordance with pre-made. In the looking back phase, students with visual impairment need to check the answers three times but have not been able to find a way.

  7. The Industrial and Logistics Port Complex of Açu and its impacts on the drainage system and the urban structure of the Northern- Fluminense Region

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Larissa Carneiro Rangel

    2014-02-01

    Full Text Available The construction of the Industrial and Logistics Port Complex of Açu will result in an accelerated process of urbanization directly related to population growth. When it no longer supports agricultural and livestock activities to meet the port activities, the region will have its urban, hydrological and economic dynamics changed. Given the fragility of the Quaternary Coastal, geomorphology of the region, these areas have occupation problems, and are subject to constant flooding. Therefore, it is necessary to make geomorphology studies of the area study so that development is can be planned, avoiding future environmental and territorial and urban problems.

  8. Development of an Interdisciplinary Workshop in Urban Transportation. Final Substantive Report.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Foa, Joseph V.

    This project has developed an interdisciplinary graduate workshop in transportation engineering to acquaint students with problems of urban transportation and the role of various disciplines in dealing with these problems. It provides an opportunity for students from the fields of engineering, urban and regional planning, and economics to interact…

  9. The association between socioeconomic status and health-related quality of life among Polish postmenopausal women from urban and rural communities.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kaczmarek, M; Pacholska-Bogalska, J; Kwaśniewski, W; Kotarski, J; Halerz-Nowakowska, B; Goździcka-Józefiak, A

    2017-01-01

    In recent years, more scholarly attention has been paid to a growing range of geographic characteristics as antecedents of inequalities in women's health and well-being. The purpose of this study was to evaluate differences in health-related quality of life between rural and urban Polish postmenopausal women. Using a data set from a reproductive health preventive screening of 660 postmenopausal women aged 48-60 years, inhabitants of Wielkopolska and Lublin provinces, the association of place of residence, socioeconomic status and lifestyle factors with health-related quality of life (the SF-36 instrument) was evaluated using ANCOVA models and multiple logistic regression analysis with backward elimination steps. A consistent rural-to-urban gradient was found in all indices of physical health functioning and well-being but not in vitality, social functioning, emotional role and mental health scales with women in large cities being likely to enjoy the highest and those in villages the lowest quality of life. The rural-urban disparities in health-related quality of life were mediated by women's socioeconomic status. The likelihood of worse physical and mental functioning and well-being was 2-3 times greater for the low socioeconomic status rural women than their counterparts from more affluent urban areas. The educational attainment and employment status were the most powerful independent risk factors for health-related quality of life in both rural and urban women. Better understanding of the role of socioeconomic status that acts as a mediator in the association between area of residence and health-related quality of life may be useful in developing public health policies on health inequalities among women at midlife. Copyright © 2016. Published by Elsevier GmbH.

  10. Fire risk in the road landscape patterns of the state of Paraná, Brazil - planning grants for the wildland-urban interface

    Science.gov (United States)

    Daniela Biondi; Antonio Carlos Batista; Angeline Martini

    2013-01-01

    Urban growth worldwide has generated great concern in the planning of the different environments belonging to the wildland-urban interface. One of the problems that arise is the landscape treatment given to roads, which must not only comply with aesthetic and ecological principles, but also be functional, adding functions relating to forest fire prevention and control...

  11. Investment Constraints in Urban Regeneration: Property Developers and Local Authorities Perspective

    OpenAIRE

    Mohamed Nurulanis Ahmad; Baharum Zarita Ahmad; Senawi Asma; Salleh Nor Aini

    2016-01-01

    Urban decay is a phenomenon created due to the expansion of urban population, the restructuring of industrial, social composition as well as the deterioration of urban areas. Consequently this will increase issues of crime, mass unemployment, low quality in urban services, social problems etc. Thus urban regeneration is a tool used to overcome all these issues in order to create quality of urban living, diversify and vibrant cities. However, the involvement of investment in urban regeneration...

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

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hsueh-Sheng Chang

    2015-09-01

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

  13. Assessment of Urban Ecosystem Health Based on Entropy Weight Extension Decision Model in Urban Agglomeration

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Qian Yang

    2016-08-01

    Full Text Available Urban ecosystem health evaluation can assist in sustainable ecological management at a regional level. This study examined urban agglomeration ecosystem health in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River with entropy weight and extension theories. The model overcomes information omissions and subjectivity problems in the evaluation process of urban ecosystem health. Results showed that human capital and education, economic development level as well as urban infrastructure have a significant effect on the health states of urban agglomerations. The health status of the urban agglomeration’s ecosystem was not optimistic in 2013. The majority of the cities were unhealthy or verging on unhealthy, accounting for 64.52% of the total number of cities in the urban agglomeration. The regional differences of the 31 cities’ ecosystem health are significant. The cause originated from an imbalance in economic development and the policy guidance of city development. It is necessary to speed up the integration process to promote coordinated regional development. The present study will aid us in understanding and advancing the health situation of the urban ecosystem in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River and will provide an efficient urban ecosystem health evaluation method that can be used in other areas.

  14. Urban warming in Tokyo area and counterplan to improve future environment

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Saitoh, T.S.; Hoshi, H.

    1993-01-01

    The rapid progress in industrialization and concentration of economic and social functions in urban areas has stimulated a consistent increase in population and energy consumption. The sudden urbanization in modern cities has caused environmental problems including alternation of the local climate. This is a phenomenon peculiar to the urban areas, and is characterized by a consistent rise in the temperature of the urban atmosphere, an increase in air pollutants, a decrease in relative humidity, and so on. The phenomenon characterized by a noticeable temperature rise in the urban atmosphere has been called the urban heat island and analyzed by both observational and numerical approaches. The numerical model can be classified into two ways: the mechanical model and energy balance model. Since Howard reported on the urban heat island in London, there have been a number of observational studies and numerical studies based on the two-dimensional modeling. Recently, three-dimensional studies have been reported simultaneously with great the advancement of the supercomputer. The present paper reports the results of the field observation by automobiles in the Tokyo metropolitan area and also the results of the three-dimensional simulation for urban warming in Tokyo at present and in the future around 2030. Further, the authors also present the results of a simulation for the effect of tree planting and vegetation

  15. Sleep Patterns, Sleep Disturbances, and Associated Factors Among Chinese Urban Kindergarten Children.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Zhijun; Wang, Guanghai; Geng, Li; Luo, Junna; Li, Ningxiu; Owens, Judith

    2016-01-01

    This study aimed to characterize sleep patterns and disturbances among Chinese urban kindergarten children and examine potentially associated factors. Caregivers of 513 children (47.96% male) aged 3-6 years (mean age = 4.46, SD = 0.9) completed the Children's Sleep Habits Questionnaire (CSHQ) and the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ). Almost 80% (78.8%) of the children scored above the original CSHQ cutoff point for global sleep disturbance. Regression analysis indicated that child's age, and the presence of emotional problems, hyperactivity and peer problems, cosleeping, and interparental inconsistency of attitudes toward child rearing accounted for significant variance in the CSHQ total score (R(2) = 22%). These findings indicate that there is an apparently high prevalence of sleep disturbances in Chinese urban kindergarten children; and sleep disturbances are associated with both child-related and parenting practice variables.

  16. INTEGRATION OF MULTICRITERIA ANALYSIS INTO DECISION SUPPORT CONCEPT FOR URBAN ROAD INFRASTRUCTURE MANAGEMENT

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Niksa Jajac

    2010-12-01

    Full Text Available Urban road infrastructure management deals with complex decision making process. There are several reasons for a complexity such as: multi-disciplinarity, lots of participants, huge quantity of information, limited budget, conflict goals and criteria. These facts indicate that decision making processes in urban road infrastructure management belong to ill-defined problems. In order to cope with such complexity and to help managers during decision making processes this research proposes an application of multicriteria methods. Therefore, a generic concept of decision support for urban road infrastructure management based on multicriteria analysis is proposed. Three multicriteria methods: AHP, SAW and PROMETHHE, in a combination with 0-1 programming are used. The main advantage of an application of multicriteria analysis is that all stakeholders could be objectively included into decision process. Therefore, setting up of criteria weights involves opinions from all stakeholders’ groups (stakeholders are divided into three characteristic groups. Evaluation of criteria importance (weights is based on three sets of opinions processed by Analytic Hierarchic Processing (AHP method. Three sets of criteria are then processed by Simple Additive Weighting (SAW method resulting in a final set of criteria weights. By using SAW method, relative importance of opinions of all three stakeholders’ groups is introduced. Collected data are then processed by PROMETHEE multicriteria methods. Proposed decision support concept is validated on the problem of improvement of one part of an urban road infrastructure system for a large urban area of town of Split. The concept is efficiently applied on several problems regarding parking garages: location selection, sub-project ranking, definition of an investment strategy.

  17. Groundwater contamination in relation with the increasing urbanization rate in Africa. Case of Cotonou and Porto Novo (Benin).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Odeloui, Diane; Celle-Jeanton, Hélène; Huneau, Frédéric; Boukari, Moussa; Alassane, Abdelkarim; Garel, Emilie; Lavastre, Véronique; Bertrand, Guillaume

    2016-04-01

    More than one billion people in the world still have no access to sufficient resources in drinking water (United Nation, 2014). In particular, large cities in Africa have to face several problems: 1) population growth associated with the strongest urbanization rate increase (5% per year) of the world leading to a dramatic increase in good-quality water needs, 2) low levels of solid waste management and sanitation services, 3) insufficient or disconnected water supply services, 4) low knowledge of water resources availabilities. The situation in Benin is a relevant illustration of the problems that Africa has to face to. As many other coastal urban areas in Africa (Showers, 2002; Re et al., 2011), Cotonou and Porto Novo cities have seen a rapid increase of their population as these towns constitute a corridor of transit for the imports and the exports in the nearby countries. Hence, they are very attractive for job hunters, and constitute the administrative centers for the whole country. This rapid population growth amplifies the problem of water supply and may generate serious impacts on groundwater resources: depletion due to overexploitation, salinization due to seawater intrusion and pollution linked to human activities. In order to insure a safe water supply in the context of increasing urbanization and population in the coastal area of Cotonou and Porto Novo, the identification of the main sources of pollution is essential for the implementation of long-term water management procedures. Based on two field campaigns carried out in January-2012 (dry season) and August-2012 (rainy season), hydrochemical analysis have been realized on groundwater sampled from boreholes drilled in the CTA (Continental Terminal Aquifer) and wells dug in the QCA (Quaternary Coastal Aquifer) in order to investigate the origin of salinization and the present time extension of the nitrate contamination. Historical data have also been collected from previous studies in order to

  18. Influence of urbanization on the original vegetation cover in urban river basin: case study in Campinas/SP, Brazil

    Science.gov (United States)

    Leite Silva, Alessandra; Márcia Longo, Regina

    2017-04-01

    ABSTRACT: In most Brazilian municipalities, urban development was not based on adequate planning; one of the consequences was the reduction of the original vegetation, limiting the forest formations to scarce and isolated fragments. In Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil, the vegetation fragmentation was mainly related to the expeditions and to the cycles of sugar cane and coffee. In this way, the present study aims to identify, quantify and evaluate the remaining arboreal vegetation spatial distribution in the Anhumas River Basin - Campinas/SP, Brazil. This study was developed with the aid of GIS software and field visits in order to construct a diagnosis of these areas and subsidize future actions required and to discuss the influence of urbanization on the original vegetation cover. The area was initially occupied by the Atlantic Forest (semi-deciduous forest) and drains one of the oldest urban occupation areas in the municipality; according to researchers, based on the water and geomorphological conditions of the basin, it can be subdivided into high, medium and low course. With a total area of 156,514 km2, only 16.74% are classified as green areas; where just 1.07% and 6.17% of total area represents forests and reforestation areas, respectively. The remaining green areas consists of: wetlands close to water bodies, but with no presence of trees and shrubs (area of 0.12% of the basin); urban green space, including parks and squares (2.19%); and natural field, constituted by natural non-arboreous vegetation (7.18%). In a scenario like this, a characteristic situation is the forest fragmentation; this process results in native vegetation remnants, isolated and more susceptible to external interference, coming from, for example, the proximity to agricultural areas or others land uses. The ecological knowledge of the remnants and their correct management can not only make it possible to diagnose current problems and to estimate future influences, but also to point out the

  19. Ethnic Differences in Relations between Family Process and Child Internalizing Problems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vendlinski, Matthew; Silk, Jennifer S.; Shaw, Daniel S.; Lane, Tonya J.

    2006-01-01

    Background: Family process variables have been linked to child problem behavior, but recent research suggests that child ethnicity may moderate relations between family process and child outcomes. The current study examined how ethnicity moderates relations between parent conflict, parent-child relationship quality, and internalizing problems.…

  20. Distributed models coupling soakaways, urban drainage and groundwater

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Roldin, Maria Kerstin

    in receiving waters, urban flooding etc. WSUD structures are generally small, decentralized systems intended to manage stormwater near the source. Many of these alternative techniques are based on infiltration which can affect both the urban sewer system and urban groundwater levels if widely implemented......Alternative methods for stormwater management in urban areas, also called Water Sensitive Urban Design (WSUD) methods, have become increasingly important for the mitigation of urban stormwater management problems such as high runoff volumes, combined sewage overflows, poor water quality......, and how these can be modeled in an integrated environment with distributed urban drainage and groundwater flow models. The thesis: 1. Identifies appropriate models of soakaways for use in an integrated and distributed urban water and groundwater modeling system 2. Develops a modeling concept that is able...

  1. 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.

  2. 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.

  3. Urban Renewal and Associated Problems in Lagos, 1924 – 1990 ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    ... traffic congestion, increase in traffic noise, air pollution, flooding, and decadent infrastructure among others. Urban/municipal infrastructure which involves specifying, designing, constructing, and maintaining several services has never had it so good in Lagos. The coordination of these infrastructure networks and services, ...

  4. Cannabis-Related Problems and Social Anxiety: The Mediational Role of Post-Event Processing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ecker, Anthony H; Buckner, Julia D

    2018-01-02

    Cannabis is the most commonly used illicit drug in the US, and is associated with a range of psychological, social, and physical health-related problems. Individuals who endorse elevated levels of social anxiety are especially at risk for experiencing cannabis-related problems, including cannabis use disorder, despite not using cannabis more often than those with more normative social anxiety. Identification of mechanisms that underlie the relationship between social anxiety and cannabis-related problems may inform treatment and prevention efforts. Post-event processing (PEP, i.e., cognitively reviewing past social interactions/performances) is a social anxiety-related phenomenon that may be one such mechanism. The current study sought to test PEP as a mediator of the relationship between social anxiety and cannabis-related problems, adjusting for cannabis use frequency. Cannabis-using (past 3-month) undergraduate students recruited in 2015 (N = 244; 76.2% female; 74.2% Non-Hispanic Caucasian) completed an online survey of cannabis use, cannabis-related problems, social anxiety, and PEP. Bootstrap estimate of the indirect effect of social anxiety through PEP was significant, suggesting PEP is a mediator of the social anxiety-cannabis-related problems relationship. Conclusions/Importance: Treatment and prevention efforts may benefit from targeting PEP among individuals with elevated social anxiety and cannabis-related problems.

  5. Cleanly: trashducation urban system

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Reif, Inbal; Alt, Florian; Ramos, Juan David Hincapie

    Half the world's population is expected to live in urban areas by 2020. The high human density and changes in peoples' consumption habits result in an ever-increasing amount of trash that must be handled by governing bodies. Problems created by inefficient or dysfunctional cleaning services are e......, which not only motivates our research but also provides useful information on reasons and possible solutions for trash problems....

  6. Status of NASA Satellite, Field Observations, and Numerical Modeling Addressing the Impact of Urbanization on Short and Long Term Precipitation Variability

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shepherd, J. Marshall; Manyin, Michael; Burian, Steve; Garza, Carlos

    2004-01-01

    Howard (1833a) made the first documented observation of a temperature difference between an urban area and its rural environment. Manley (1958) termed this contrast the "urban heat island (UHI)". The UHI has now become a widely acknowledged, observed, and researched phenomenon because of its broad implications. It is estimated that by the year 2025, 60% of the world's population will live in cities (UNFP, 1999). In the United States, the current urban growth rate is approximately 12.5%, with 80% currently living in urban areas. As cities continue to grow, urban sprawl creates unique problems related to land use, transportation, agriculture, housing, pollution, and development for policymakers. Urban expansion and its associated urban heat islands also have measurable impacts on weather and climate processes.

  7. A Knowledge Base for Automatic Feature Recognition from Point Clouds in an Urban Scene

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Xu-Feng Xing

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available LiDAR technology can provide very detailed and highly accurate geospatial information on an urban scene for the creation of Virtual Geographic Environments (VGEs for different applications. However, automatic 3D modeling and feature recognition from LiDAR point clouds are very complex tasks. This becomes even more complex when the data is incomplete (occlusion problem or uncertain. In this paper, we propose to build a knowledge base comprising of ontology and semantic rules aiming at automatic feature recognition from point clouds in support of 3D modeling. First, several modules for ontology are defined from different perspectives to describe an urban scene. For instance, the spatial relations module allows the formalized representation of possible topological relations extracted from point clouds. Then, a knowledge base is proposed that contains different concepts, their properties and their relations, together with constraints and semantic rules. Then, instances and their specific relations form an urban scene and are added to the knowledge base as facts. Based on the knowledge and semantic rules, a reasoning process is carried out to extract semantic features of the objects and their components in the urban scene. Finally, several experiments are presented to show the validity of our approach to recognize different semantic features of buildings from LiDAR point clouds.

  8. Regional adaptation strategies to climate change: Guidelines for urban planning in Serbia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Maruna Marija

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available The problems of climate change significantly alter the character of urban planning. While changes in the planning process are aimed at mechanisms for urgent action in the transformed circumstances in the sense of a deeper understanding of the causes of phenomena and prediction of future changes, modification of specific measures suppose to be related to the regulatory framework for new and existing construction that will lead to reduction in carbon dioxide emissions and the development of resistance to settlements' extreme impacts. The focus has shifted to land-use planning and the development and application of building regulations. It is considered that planning at the local level is an appropriate instrument for solving the problem of climate impacts in the community. In general, urban planning is an instrument of implementation of national strategies for mitigation and adaptation at the local level. Successful implementation of the strategy is based on a developed vertical and horizontal institutional and procedural coordination. In the circumstances of specific context of post-socialist urban restructuring, which is characterized by a lack of developed institutions and appropriate procedures, it is difficult to expect the entire application of prescribed procedures and harmonization of vertical and horizontal spatial development policies. Accordingly, it is recommended that policies be aimed at short-term improvements that are based on existing climate risk management and short-term projections of climate impacts. Among the main recommendations of the regional climate change adaptation strategies related to policy-makers in the field of urban development is to establish new and efficient use of existing legislation in the field of environment and planning. It is believed that most countries in the region have adequate legislation and efforts should be directed towards more effective implementation of existing planning and building

  9. Urban performances

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Samson, Kristine

    2012-01-01

    Through three different urban performances, the paper investigates how, when and under which circumstances urban space is transformed and distorted from its every day use and power relations. Distortion is an annual street festival in Copenhagen with the objective to distort the functional city...... creates an intensive space for the empowerment and liberation of the body. Occupy Wall street and its action in the autumn 2001 is the ultimate example of how urban political performances intensifies and transform every day spaces. Through examples of how OWS tactically appropriates and transforms urban...... space, I seek to show how representational space, for instance the public square, is transformed and distorted by heterogeneous and unforeseen modes of operating. Despite differing in their goal and outset, I wish to unfold an alternative to urban transformation practices in planning and architecture...

  10. Special relativity. An introduction with 200 problems and solutions

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tsamparlis, Michael

    2010-01-01

    This textbook develops Special Relativity in a systematic way assuming no prior knowledge of Relativity; however the student is assumed to be familiar with the basics of the standard vector calculus. The approach is structural in the sense that it develops Special Relativity in Minkowski space following the same steps with the development of Newtonian Physics in Euclidian space. A second characteristic of the book is that it discusses the mathematics of the theory independently of the physical principles, so that the reader will appreciate its role in the development of the physical theory. The book is intended to be used both as a text-book for a teaching course in Special Relativity but also as a reference book for the future. In that respect it is linked to an online repository with more than 500 problems, carefully classified according to subject area and solved in detail, providing an independent problem book on Special Relativity. (orig.)

  11. Special relativity. An introduction with 200 problems and solutions

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Tsamparlis, Michael [Athens Univ., Zografos (Greece). Dept. of Astrophysics, Astronomy and Mechanics

    2010-07-01

    This textbook develops Special Relativity in a systematic way assuming no prior knowledge of Relativity; however the student is assumed to be familiar with the basics of the standard vector calculus. The approach is structural in the sense that it develops Special Relativity in Minkowski space following the same steps with the development of Newtonian Physics in Euclidian space. A second characteristic of the book is that it discusses the mathematics of the theory independently of the physical principles, so that the reader will appreciate its role in the development of the physical theory. The book is intended to be used both as a text-book for a teaching course in Special Relativity but also as a reference book for the future. In that respect it is linked to an online repository with more than 500 problems, carefully classified according to subject area and solved in detail, providing an independent problem book on Special Relativity. (orig.)

  12. Special Relativity An Introduction with 200 Problems and Solutions

    CERN Document Server

    Tsamparlis, Michael

    2010-01-01

    This textbook develops Special Relativity in a systematic way assuming no prior knowledge of Relativity; however the student is assumed to be familiar with the basics of the standard vector calculus. The approach is structural in the sense that it develops Special Relativity in Minkowski space following the same steps with the development of Newtonian Physics in Euclidian space. A second characteristic of the book is that it discusses the mathematics of the theory independently of the physical principles, so that the reader will appreciate its role in the development of the physical theory. The book is intended to be used both as a text-book for a teaching course in Special Relativity but also as a reference book for the future. In that respect it is linked to an online repository with more than 500 problems, carefully classified according to subject area and solved in detail, providing an independent problem book on Special Relativity.

  13. Effects of income and urban form on urban NO2: global evidence from satellites.

    Science.gov (United States)

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

    2011-06-01

    Urban air pollution is among the top 15 causes of death and disease worldwide, and a problem of growing importance with a majority of the global population living in cities. A important question for sustainable development is to what extent urban design can improve or degrade the environment and public health. We investigate relationships between satellite-derived estimates of nitrogen dioxide concentration (NO(2), a key component of urban air pollution) and urban form for 83 cities globally. We find a parsimonious yet powerful relationship (model R(2) = 0.63), using as predictors population, income, urban contiguity, and meteorology. Cities with highly contiguous built-up areas have, on average, lower urban NO(2) concentrations (a one standard deviation increase in contiguity is associated with a 24% decrease in average NO(2) concentration). More-populous cities tend to have worse air quality, but the increase in NO(2) associated with a population increase of 10% may be offset by a moderate increase (4%) in urban contiguity. Urban circularity ("compactness") is not a statistically significant predictor of NO(2) concentration. Although many factors contribute to urban air pollution, our findings suggest that antileapfrogging policies may improve air quality. We find that urban NO(2) levels vary nonlinearly with income (Gross Domestic Product), following an "environmental Kuznets curve"; we estimate that if high-income countries followed urban pollution-per-income trends observed for low-income countries, NO(2) concentrations in high-income cities would be ∼10× larger than observed levels.

  14. A selfsimilar behavior of the urban structure in the spatially inhomogeneous model

    Science.gov (United States)

    Echkina, E. Y.; Inovenkov, O. I.; Kostomarov, D. P.

    2006-03-01

    At present there is a strong tendency to use new methods for the description of the regional and spatial economy. In increasing frequency we consider that any economic activity is spatially dependent. The problem of the evolution of internal urban formation can be described with the exact supposition. So that is why we use partial derivative equations set with the appropriate boundary and initial conditions for the solving the problem of the urban evolution. Here we describe the model of urban population's density modification taking into account a modification of the housing quality. A program has been created which realizes difference method of mixed problem solution for population's density. For the wide class of coefficients it has been shown that the problem's solution “quickly forgets” the parts of the initial conditions and comes out to the intermediate asymptotic form, which nature depends only on the problem's operator. Actually it means that the urban structure does not depend on external circumstances and is formed by the internal structure of the model.

  15. Some problems of solar-terrestrial energy relations

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kovalevskij, I.V.

    1982-01-01

    Energy aspects of relations of phenomena occurring on the Sun, in the interplanetary space, magnetosphere, ionosphere and on the Earth's surface are discussed. Particular attention is given to the energy radiated by the Sun (flares, coronal holes). The problems are considered of the energy transfer and transformation in high-velocity and flare flows of solar wind. Estimates are performed: of densities of various types of energy of the interplanetary space at the Earth's orbit level; energy fluxes incident on the magnetosphere; energy accumulated inside the magnetosphere; a series of energy parameters of magnetic storms. It is pointed out that nowadays one of the main problems of the magnetosphere physics is studying ways of the interplanatary space energy transfer into the magnetosphere. In this connection some problems are investigated: plasma penetration through the dayside magnetopause, solar wind plasma entry into the magnetotail, the electric field effect on transition region plasma penetration into the distant magnetotail

  16. Losing Ground? Part 1: The Dimensions of Urban Sprawl. Know Your Environment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, PA.

    This bulletin provides information on the issues surrounding urban sprawl. It is designed to offer information on the dimensions of sprawl and related policy debates. Some of the major debates include whether or not sprawl is a problem that even needs to be addressed. A summary of the major points of debated topics is included. (Contains 20…

  17. An Urban Food Store Intervention Positively Affects Food-Related Psychosocial Variables and Food Behaviors

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gittelsohn, Joel; Song, Hee-Jung; Suratkar, Sonali; Kumar, Mohan B.; Henry, Elizabeth G.; Sharma, Sangita; Mattingly, Megan; Anliker, Jean A.

    2010-01-01

    Obesity and other diet-related chronic diseases are more prevalent in low-income urban areas, which commonly have limited access to healthy foods. The authors implemented an intervention trial in nine food stores, including two supermarkets and seven corner stores, in a low-income, predominantly African American area of Baltimore City, with a…

  18. The political economy of urban homicide: assessing the relative impact of gender inequality on sex-specific victimization.

    Science.gov (United States)

    DeWees, Mari A; Parker, Karen F

    2003-02-01

    This research examines the ways in which the changing political economy of urban areas has contributed differently to the homicide victimization rates of females and males across US cities. Recent research, while relatively limited, has presented disparate results regarding the effect of gender inequality on urban sex-specific victimization. Our work further explores this relationship by taking into account relative gender disparities in income, education, labor market opportunities, and politics in an examination of sex-specific homicide victimization in 1990. Key to this current investigation is the evaluation of feminist and lifestyle arguments that suggest that structural gender inequality has a unique effect on female victimization. Overall, our findings reveal gender inequality to be a significant predictor of both male and female urban homicide. While these findings suggest mixed support for theoretical arguments regarding gender inequality, further analyses reveal significant differences in specific types of gender inequality on victimization patterns across genders. These additional results highlight the need for greater attention toward both methodological and theoretical issues when examining the interconnections between gender, political economy, and violence in research.

  19. Urban structures and substructures

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mierzejewska Lidia

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available In urban geography, a traditional but always important research problem has been the spatial-functional structure of towns and changes that occur in this field. Two approaches can be distinguished here: the sociological and the geographical. The former follows in the steps of the so-called Chicago school, i.e. Park, Burgess and Hoyt, and the other of Ullman and Harris. It seems, however, that those two approaches do not exhaust the range of spatial-structural studies which may be conducted in modern towns since there are areas within them endowed with specific properties that can be called their substructures. This paper will present the general characteristics of such substructures and identify factors responsible for their appearance and development. It will also propose an empirical research pattern. The term ‘substructures’ is taken to denote relatively autonomous, highly uniform wholes standing out in the spatial-functional structure of a town, distinguished on the basis of spatial relations generated by people. While structural elements of towns in the approach of the Chicago school or that of Harris and Ullman can be identified with structural regions, urban substructures show a similarity to functional regions in their organisation, structure and operation. Thus, towns with identified substructures have a polycentric spatial- functional structure, favourable in terms of both the level of service of their inhabitants and their sustainable development.

  20. Urban Space as the Commons - New Modes for Urban Space Management

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ondrejicka, Vladimir; Finka, Maros; Husar, Milan; Jamecny, Lubomir

    2017-12-01

    The significant growing of urban population, globalization of social-ecological systems, fuzzification of spatial structures, the diversity of actors in spatial development, their power and interest in using the resources including space, especially in high-density urban areas. Spatial development is connected with a high concentration of economic activities and population in urban systems. In many cases very rapid processes of urbanization and suburbanization approach natural spatial/territorial limits, such as carrying capacity of land, transport and infrastructural systems, absorption capacities of recipients and others [1]. Growing shortage of space and problems in their accessibility (physical, functional, etc.) leads to growing tension and conflicts among the actors/users of urban spaces and represent the initial phase of space deprivations processes. There is a parallel with “tragedy of commons” as defined by Hardin [2] and was reinterpreted by many other academics and researchers. Urban space can be clearly interpreted as the commons or commons good for their community of users and relevant actors, so innovative governance modes overlapping defined “tragedy of commons” representing a possible approach for a new concept of urban public spaces management. This paper presents a possible new approach to the management of urban spaces reflecting the current challenges in spatial development based on the theory of commons and innovative governance modes. The new approach is built on innovations in institutional regimes, the algorithm of decision-making and economic expression and interpretation of quality of the space. The theory of the commons as the base source for this approach has been broadly proved in practice and Elinor Ostrom as the author of this theory [3-5] was awarded by Nobel Prize in 2009.

  1. Urban development and employment in Abidjan.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Joshi, H; Lubell, H; Mouly, J

    1975-04-01

    The city of Abidjan in the Ivory Coast has grown physically, economically, and demographically at rates exceeding all reasonable expectation. Yet, as in many other development nations, the employment generated by Abidjan's rapid economic expansion has failed to keep pace with the increase in working population it has attracted. Consequently, economic success has been accompanied by a variety of social strains. Some of these have been discussed in earlier issues of the "International Labour Review" by Louis Roussel. This discussion expands on Roussel's earlier treatment by focusing more specifically on several facets of the urban employment problem created by the rapid growth of Abidjan. Attention is directed to labor supply and employment, factors affecting migration, foreign Africans in the Ivory Coast labor force; the urban informal sector; urban infrastructure and development; social problems of population pressure; employment policy options (current government policies and other policy options); and general issues and policy alternatives (motivations for rural urban migration, smaller urban centers as alternative growth poles, and distributing the gains from development). Several essential features of the employment problem stem from the rural urban distribution of the workforce. The rural labor force, including temporary seasonal workers from the savannah countries to the north, remains more or less in balance with increasing rural employment opportunities, since the migration of Ivory Coast nationals to the cities is balanced by the inflow of foreign workers. In contrast, the influx of migrants into urban areas has led to a more rapid increase in the urban labor force than in urban employment, with a consequent rise in unemployment. In 1970 the Abidjan rate of open unemployment was probably around 20%. At this time, most people's idea of a desirable job is one in the formal sector of the urban economy. If there is to be any hope of an eventual balance between

  2. Review of xenon-133 production and related problems

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Barrachina, M.; Ropero, M.

    1980-01-01

    A literature survey is given on the production methods of fission xenon-133 and related problems, such as purification, metrological and dosimetric aspects, preparation of isotopic solutions, recycling, etc. 127 references are included. (Author) 127 refs

  3. Statistics and Corporate Environmental Management: Relations and Problems

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Madsen, Henning; Ulhøi, John Parm

    1997-01-01

    Statistical methods have long been used to analyse the macroeconomic consequences of environmentally damaging activities, political actions to control, prevent, or reduce these damages, and environmental problems in the natural environment. Up to now, however, they have had a limited and not very...... specific use in corporate environmental management systems. This paper will address some of the special problems related to the use of statistical techniques in corporate environmental management systems. One important aspect of this is the interaction of internal decisions and activities with conditions...

  4. Urban agriculture: Growing food in our cities | IDRC - International ...

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

    2012-01-25

    Jan 25, 2012 ... Only since the mid-1990s, however, has the concept of urban agriculture ... IDRC program officer and urban agriculture specialist Luc Mougeot traces ... more research and policy aimed at solving specific problems rather than ...

  5. State Confessional Relations: Problem of the Subject Structure

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alexandra A. Dorskaya

    2014-06-01

    Full Text Available In the article various existing definitions of the concept "state and confessional relations" are analyzed, also author's definition is offered. Three levels of the state and confessional relations are revealed: conceptual, legislative and administrative-managerial. In the article it is shown that in Russia a tradition of only two subjects of the state and confessional relations – government bodies and the religious organizations allocation exists. It is revealed that at the present stage many researchers are dissatisfied with such situation. Scientific sources of the problem of the state and church relations within the psychological school of the law, which are addressed to the personality and experiences in the legal sphere are studied and revealed. Special attention is paid to scientific heritage of the M.A. Reysner, who was one of the first to begin study of this problem. In the article the question of the school of three subjects of the state and confessional relations allocation formation, what adds the faithful or faithless personality in addition to two traditional subjects is analyzed. The state and confessional relations are considered in the context of the human rights development. The question of new type of the believer possessing high education level and knowledge formation is considered. In the article it is shown that at the present stage relations of any regulation between the state and religious organizations is based on the basis of international legal standards, domestic legislation and norms of canon law.

  6. Drug related problems with Antiparkinsonian agents: consumer Internet reports versus published data.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schröder, Sabrina; Zöllner, York Francis; Schaefer, Marion

    2007-10-01

    There is currently a lack of detailed information concerning drug related problems in the outpatient treatment of Parkinson's disease. Problems associated with drug treatment communicated anonymously in Parkinson's disease online forums were therefore retrospectively searched and documented for 1 year. Based on postings concerning 12 drugs for the treatment of Parkinson's disease, a total of 238 drug related problems were identified and categorised using the Problem Intervention Documentation (PI-Doc). Of these, 153 were adverse drug reactions. Adverse drug reactions associated with the skin were relatively common, but central effects such as cognitive or psychiatric changes, effects on the sleep/waking system and other problems like headache and dizziness accounted for the highest percentage of adverse events. A comparison with data from scientific literature revealed a number of differences. This means that an analysis of online forums detected a number of drug related problems that were otherwise largely invisible. These were mainly associated with the qualitative aspects of treatment such as medication handling, dosage and individual problems concerning adverse events. In addition, the described method of identifying and classifying drug related problems in Internet forums may also be seen as a contribution to the international discussion about consumer reports and pharmacovigilance. The information about adverse drug reactions given by Internet users can be seen as a valuable adjunct to clinical trial data and as being very timely with regard to the event itself. Online forums may be considered as a suitable source of observational information to complement data from randomised clinical trials.

  7. Violence in Rural, Suburban, and Urban Schools in Pennsylvania.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Flynn, Kalen; McDonald, Catherine C; D'Alonzo, Bernadette A; Tam, Vicky; Wiebe, Douglas J

    2018-01-01

    School violence is a public health issue with direct and collateral consequences that has academic and social impacts for youth. School violence is often considered a uniquely urban problem, yet more research is needed to understand how violence in rural and suburban schools may be similar or different from urban counterparts. Using school violence data from a state with urban, suburban, and rural counties, we explored the landscape of school violence in Pennsylvania (PA) through mapping, descriptive statistics, and factor analysis. Results show school violence is not solely an urban problem. Schools in all county types and across grade levels deal with violence to varying degrees, and the majority of schools across county types experience low levels of violence. Types of violence experienced by PA schools loaded onto three factors, suggesting that targeted interventions may be better suited to addressing school violence.

  8. Analytic Approach to Resolving Parking Problems in Downtown Zagreb

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Adolf Malić

    2005-01-01

    Full Text Available Parking issue is one of the major problems in Zagreb, andin relation to that Zagreb does not differ from other similar orbigger European cities. The problem the city is facing is beingpresented in the paper. It is complex and can be solved gradually,using operative and planning measures, by applying influentialparameters assessments based on which the appropriateparking-garage spaces assessment would be selected. Besides,all the knowledge learned from experiences of similar Europeancities should be used in resolving stationary traffic problem.Introduction of fast public urban transport would providepassengers with improved services (particularly in relation tothe travelling time introducing modern traffic system thatwould reduce the travelling time to below 30 minutes for the farthestrelations. Further improvement in reducing parking problemsin downtown as well as Zagreb broader area would not bepossible without t,nplementing th.s approach.

  9. The Role of Open Space in Urban Neighbourhoods for Health-Related Lifestyle

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lestan, Katarina Ana; Eržen, Ivan; Golobič, Mojca

    2014-01-01

    The research reported in this paper addresses the relationship between quality of open space and health related lifestyle in urban residential areas. The research was performed in the residential developments in Ljubljana, Slovenia, dating from the time of political and economic changes in the early nineties. Compared to the older neighborhoods, these are typically single-use residential areas, with small open spaces and poor landscape design. The research is concerned with the quality of life in these areas, especially from the perspective of the vulnerable users, like the elderly and children. Both depend on easily accessible green areas in close proximity to their homes. The hypothesis is that the poor open space quality affects their health-related behavior and their perceived health status. The research has three methodological phases: (1) a comparison between urban residential areas by criteria describing their physical characteristics; (2) behavior observation and mapping and (3) a resident opinion survey. The results confirm differences between open spaces of the selected residential areas as well as their relation with outdoor activities: a lack of outdoor programs correlates with poor variety of outdoor activities, limited to transition type, less time spent outdoors and lower satisfaction with their home environment. The survey also disclosed a strong influence of a set of socio-economic variables such as education and economic status on physical activity and self-perceived health status of people. The results therefore confirm the hypothesis especially for less affluent and educated; i.e., vulnerable groups. PMID:25003173

  10. The Role of Open Space in Urban Neighbourhoods for Health-Related Lifestyle

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Katarina Ana Lestan

    2014-06-01

    Full Text Available The research reported in this paper addresses the relationship between quality of open space and health related lifestyle in urban residential areas. The research was performed in the residential developments in Ljubljana, Slovenia, dating from the time of political and economic changes in the early nineties. Compared to the older neighborhoods, these are typically single-use residential areas, with small open spaces and poor landscape design. The research is concerned with the quality of life in these areas, especially from the perspective of the vulnerable users, like the elderly and children. Both depend on easily accessible green areas in close proximity to their homes. The hypothesis is that the poor open space quality affects their health-related behavior and their perceived health status. The research has three methodological phases: (1 a comparison between urban residential areas by criteria describing their physical characteristics; (2 behavior observation and mapping and (3 a resident opinion survey. The results confirm differences between open spaces of the selected residential areas as well as their relation with outdoor activities: a lack of outdoor programs correlates with poor variety of outdoor activities, limited to transition type, less time spent outdoors and lower satisfaction with their home environment. The survey also disclosed a strong influence of a set of socio-economic variables such as education and economic status on physical activity and self-perceived health status of people. The results therefore confirm the hypothesis especially for less affluent and educated; i.e., vulnerable groups.

  11. Employers’ View on Problems Related to Workforce Skills and Qualification

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Klimplová Lenka

    2012-12-01

    Full Text Available The aim of this exploratory study is to reveal employers’ views on problems related to workforce human capital (skills and qualification. Where do employers themselves view the core of difficulties with ensuring adequately skilled workforce? Do they assign them to technological and organizational changes (a functional concept of job-specific human capital obsolescence, or do they see these problems as a result of other circumstances, such as macro-structural conditions or institutional settings? To answer these questions selected employers in mechanical engineering and information technology sectors in the Czech Republic were interviewed. The results show that the employers see the problems: 1 on the side of workforce – insufficient abilities and skills, exaggerated demands and low motivation; 2 as inadequate capacities and capabilities of the organization itself; 3 at macro-level as institutional shortcomings in the initial educational system and social benefits system. The problems related to workforce skills and qualification cannot be, thus, interpreted only in the functionalist view as job-specific human capital obsolescence, but the formulation of the problems is significantly affected by the institutional framework.

  12. Socioeconomic impact of urban redevelopment in inner city of Ningbo

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    BACHOUR Bachir; DONG Wei

    2006-01-01

    Since market-oriented economy reform, China has experienced significant changes in urban landscapes and the internal structure of cities. Housing marketization provides an opportunity for households to choose their residences. Hwever, not all households benefit equally from residential relocation. Residential relocation in urban China has relatively strong association with the household's position within the spectrum from state redistribution to market reward than with life cycles and consequent adjustment of housing demand, which are the primary reasons for residential mobility in a mature market. In this research we focused on social aspects, mainly relating to the impact of urban redevelopment in inner city of Ningbo and the resultant potential housing problem. This research is based on a questionnaire survey that was conducted in three neighborhoods redeveloped at different time periods in the past fifteen years. The findings suggest that new strategy of redevelopment of the integrated environment of the old city while still improving the living condition for its residents can be heard due to the efforts of many people at various positions. Yet, many things need to be done to change people's ideas: information and education through newspapers,academic discussions through academic journals, conferences, and reports to decision makers.

  13. Exposure to alcohol advertisements and teenage alcohol-related problems.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Grenard, Jerry L; Dent, Clyde W; Stacy, Alan W

    2013-02-01

    This study used prospective data to test the hypothesis that exposure to alcohol advertising contributes to an increase in underage drinking and that an increase in underage drinking then leads to problems associated with drinking alcohol. A total of 3890 students were surveyed once per year across 4 years from the 7th through the 10th grades. Assessments included several measures of exposure to alcohol advertising, alcohol use, problems related to alcohol use, and a range of covariates, such as age, drinking by peers, drinking by close adults, playing sports, general TV watching, acculturation, parents' jobs, and parents' education. Structural equation modeling of alcohol consumption showed that exposure to alcohol ads and/or liking of those ads in seventh grade were predictive of the latent growth factors for alcohol use (past 30 days and past 6 months) after controlling for covariates. In addition, there was a significant total effect for boys and a significant mediated effect for girls of exposure to alcohol ads and liking of those ads in 7th grade through latent growth factors for alcohol use on alcohol-related problems in 10th grade. Younger adolescents appear to be susceptible to the persuasive messages contained in alcohol commercials broadcast on TV, which sometimes results in a positive affective reaction to the ads. Alcohol ad exposure and the affective reaction to those ads influence some youth to drink more and experience drinking-related problems later in adolescence.

  14. Exposure to Alcohol Advertisements and Teenage Alcohol-Related Problems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dent, Clyde W.; Stacy, Alan W.

    2013-01-01

    OBJECTIVE: This study used prospective data to test the hypothesis that exposure to alcohol advertising contributes to an increase in underage drinking and that an increase in underage drinking then leads to problems associated with drinking alcohol. METHODS: A total of 3890 students were surveyed once per year across 4 years from the 7th through the 10th grades. Assessments included several measures of exposure to alcohol advertising, alcohol use, problems related to alcohol use, and a range of covariates, such as age, drinking by peers, drinking by close adults, playing sports, general TV watching, acculturation, parents’ jobs, and parents’ education. RESULTS: Structural equation modeling of alcohol consumption showed that exposure to alcohol ads and/or liking of those ads in seventh grade were predictive of the latent growth factors for alcohol use (past 30 days and past 6 months) after controlling for covariates. In addition, there was a significant total effect for boys and a significant mediated effect for girls of exposure to alcohol ads and liking of those ads in 7th grade through latent growth factors for alcohol use on alcohol-related problems in 10th grade. CONCLUSIONS: Younger adolescents appear to be susceptible to the persuasive messages contained in alcohol commercials broadcast on TV, which sometimes results in a positive affective reaction to the ads. Alcohol ad exposure and the affective reaction to those ads influence some youth to drink more and experience drinking-related problems later in adolescence. PMID:23359585

  15. Urban Boundary Extraction and Urban Sprawl Measurement Using High-Resolution Remote Sensing Images: a Case Study of China's Provincial

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, H.; Ning, X.; Zhang, H.; Liu, Y.; Yu, F.

    2018-04-01

    Urban boundary is an important indicator for urban sprawl analysis. However, methods of urban boundary extraction were inconsistent, and construction land or urban impervious surfaces was usually used to represent urban areas with coarse-resolution images, resulting in lower precision and incomparable urban boundary products. To solve above problems, a semi-automatic method of urban boundary extraction was proposed by using high-resolution image and geographic information data. Urban landscape and form characteristics, geographical knowledge were combined to generate a series of standardized rules for urban boundary extraction. Urban boundaries of China's 31 provincial capitals in year 2000, 2005, 2010 and 2015 were extracted with above-mentioned method. Compared with other two open urban boundary products, accuracy of urban boundary in this study was the highest. Urban boundary, together with other thematic data, were integrated to measure and analyse urban sprawl. Results showed that China's provincial capitals had undergone a rapid urbanization from year 2000 to 2015, with the area change from 6520 square kilometres to 12398 square kilometres. Urban area of provincial capital had a remarkable region difference and a high degree of concentration. Urban land became more intensive in general. Urban sprawl rate showed inharmonious with population growth rate. About sixty percent of the new urban areas came from cultivated land. The paper provided a consistent method of urban boundary extraction and urban sprawl measurement using high-resolution remote sensing images. The result of urban sprawl of China's provincial capital provided valuable urbanization information for government and public.

  16. Introducing Urban Cultural Heritage Management into Urban Planning Management

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    2008-01-01

    properties existing in human settlements such as historic cities, districts, town, villages, relics, buildings and structures, as well as landscapes, which could demonstrate the history of an area and the people who live there from generation to generation. Regarding that the spatial layout and the land-use arrangement of these urban cultural heritages are included in urban plan-ning management, the management of these urban cultural heritages should also be a part of urban planning management. Therefore, based on the comparison of the concepts, urban cultural heritage management could be regarded as a kind of integrated management that combines cultural heritage management and urban planning management. 2. Relationship between two kinds of managementAs the contents of urban cultural heritage expanding, especially being more rela-tive to the historic buildings in cities, the object of urban cultural heritage manage-ment has been increased, among which the overlapped part with that of urban planning management is becoming bigger and big-ger, resulting in the even closer relationship between the two kinds of management.

  17. Housing consumption and urbanization

    OpenAIRE

    Lozano-Gracia, Nancy; Young, Cheryl

    2014-01-01

    Rapid urbanization in Sub-Saharan Africa places immense pressure on urban services to meet the needs of the burgeoning urban population. Although several country- or city-level reports offer insight into the housing challenges of specific places, little is known about regional patterns affecting housing markets. This lack of clear knowledge on the relative importance of the factors influen...

  18. Substance-related health problems during rave parties in The Netherlands (1997-2008.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jan Krul

    Full Text Available The objective of this study was to describe a 12-year (1997-2008 observation of substance-related incidents occurring at rave parties in the Netherlands, including length of visits to first-aid stations, substances used, and severity of the incidents. During rave parties, specifically trained medical and paramedical personnel staffed first aid stations. Visitors were diagnosed and treated, and their data were recorded using standardized methods. During the 12-year period with 249 rave parties involving about 3,800,000 visitors, 27,897 people visited a first aid station, of whom 10,100 reported having a substance-related problem. The mean age of these people was 22.3+/-5.4 years; 52.4% of them were male. Most (66.7% substance-related problems were associated with ecstasy or alcohol use or both. Among 10,100 substance-related cases, 515 required professional medical care, and 16 of these cases were life threatening. People with a substance-related problem stayed 20 min at the first aid station, which was significantly longer than the 5 min that those without a substance-related health problem stayed. These unique data from the Netherlands identify a variety of acute health problems related to the use of alcohol, amphetamines, cannabis, cocaine, ecstasy, and GHB. Although most problems were minor, people using GHB more often required professional medical care those using the other substances. We recommended adherence to harm and risk reduction policy, and the use of first aid stations with specially trained staff for both minor and serious incidents.

  19. Alcohol Use and Related Behaviors among Late-Adolescent Urban Youths: Peer and Parent Influences

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schwinn, Traci M.; Schinke, Steven P.

    2014-01-01

    Peer and parent influences on alcohol use and related risky behaviors were examined in a sample of late-adolescent (M = 17.3 years; SD = 1.11 years) urban youths. Participants (N = 400) completed an online measure assessing peer influences of alcohol use and alcohol offers and also parental influences of rules against alcohol use and perceived…

  20. Preparing students for higher education and careers in agriculture and related fields: An ethnography of an urban charter school

    Science.gov (United States)

    Henry, Kesha Atasha

    This study explored the preparation of students for higher education and careers in agriculturally-related fields at an urban charter high school. The data were collected through interviews, observations, and field notes. The data were analyzed by qualitative methodology with phenomenology as the theoretical framework. Findings indicated that administrators thought it was important to incorporate agricultural science courses into urban school curricula. They stated that agricultural science courses gave urban students a different way of looking at science and helped to enhance the science and technology focus of the school. Further, agricultural science courses helped to break urban students' stereotypes about agriculture and helped to bring in more state funding for educational programs. However they thought that it was more challenging to teach agricultural science in urban versus rural schools and they focused more on Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) related careers. The students had mixed views about higher education and careers in agriculture. This was based on their limited knowledge and stereotypes about agricultural majors and career options. The students highlighted several key reasons why they chose to enroll in agricultural science courses. This included the benefits of dual science credits and the ability to earn an associate degree upon successful completion of their program. Students also loved science and appreciated the science intensive nature of the agricultural courses. Additionally, they thought that the agricultural science courses were better than the other optional courses. The results also showed that electronic media such as radio and TV had a negative impact on students' perceptions about higher education and careers in agriculturally-related fields. Conclusions and recommendations are presented.

  1. Students’ Relational Thinking of Impulsive and Reflective in Solving Mathematical Problem

    Science.gov (United States)

    Satriawan, M. A.; Budiarto, M. T.; Siswono, T. Y. E.

    2018-01-01

    This is a descriptive research which qualitatively investigates students’ relational thinking of impulsive and reflective cognitive style in solving mathematical problem. The method used in this research are test and interview. The data analyzed by reducing, presenting and concluding the data. The results of research show that the students’ reflective cognitive style can possibly help to find out important elements in understanding a problem. Reading more than one is useful to identify what is being questioned and write the information which is known, building relation in every element and connecting information with arithmetic operation, connecting between what is being questioned with known information, making equation model to find out the value by using substitution, and building a connection on re-checking, re-reading, and re-counting. The impulsive students’ cognitive style supports important elements in understanding problems, building a connection in every element, connecting information with arithmetic operation, building a relation about a problem comprehensively by connecting between what is being questioned with known information, finding out the unknown value by using arithmetic operation without making any equation model. The result of re-checking problem solving, impulsive student was only reading at glance without re-counting the result of problem solving.

  2. Students’ Relational Understanding in Quadrilateral Problem Solving Based on Adversity Quotient

    Science.gov (United States)

    Safitri, A. N.; Juniati, D.; Masriyah

    2018-01-01

    The type of research is qualitative approach which aims to describe how students’ relational understanding of solving mathematic problem that was seen from Adversity Quotient aspect. Research subjects were three 7th grade students of Junior High School. They were taken by category of Adversity Quotient (AQ) such quitter, camper, and climber. Data collected based on problem solving and interview. The research result showed that (1) at the stage of understanding the problem, the subjects were able to state and write down what is known and asked, and able to mention the concepts associated with the quadrilateral problem. (2) The three subjects devise a plan by linking concepts relating to quadrilateral problems. (3) The three subjects were able to solve the problem. (4) The three subjects were able to look back the answers. The three subjects were able to understand the problem, devise a plan, carry out the plan and look back. However, the quitter and camper subjects have not been able to give a reason for the steps they have taken.

  3. Transformation of nitrogen and distribution of nitrogen-related bacteria in a polluted urban stream.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jiao, Y; Jin, W B; Zhao, Q L; Zhang, G D; Yan, Y; Wan, J

    2009-01-01

    Most researchers focused on either nitrogen species or microbial community for polluted urban stream while ignoring the interaction between them and its effect on nitrogen transformation, which restricted the rational selection of an effective and feasible remediation technology. Taking Buji stream in Shenzhen (China) as target stream, the distribution of nitrogen-related bacteria was investigated by most probable number (MPN) besides analysis of nitrogen species etc. The nitrogen-related bacteria in sediment were 10(2) times richer than those in water. Owing to their faster growth, the MPN of ammonifying bacteria and denitrifying bacteria were 10(5) and 10(2) times higher than those of nitrifying bacteria, respectively. The ammonifying bacteria numbers were significantly related to BOD5 in water, while nitrifying bacteria in sediment correlated well with nitrate in water. Thus, nitrification occurred mainly in sediment surface and was limited by low proportion of nitrifying bacteria. The denitrifying bacteria in sediment had good relationship with BOD5 and nitrite and nitrate in water. Low DO and rich organic compounds were beneficial to denitrification but unfavourable to nitrification. Denitrification was restricted by low nitrite and nitrate concentration. These results could be served as a reference for implementing the remediation scheme of nitrogen polluted urban stream.

  4. Reducing HIV-related risk and mental health problems through a client-centred psychosocial intervention for vulnerable adolescents in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jani, Nrupa; Vu, Lung; Kay, Lynnette; Habtamu, Kassahun; Kalibala, Samuel

    2016-01-01

    Ethiopia is experiencing an increasingly urban HIV epidemic, alongside a rise in urban adolescent migration. Adolescent migrants are often confronted by unique social challenges, including living in a difficult environment, abuse and mental health problems. These issues can increase adolescents' vulnerability to HIV and compromise their capacity to protect themselves and others from HIV. We piloted and assessed the effects of a targeted psychosocial intervention to reduce mental health problems and improve HIV-related outcomes among migrant adolescents in Addis Ababa. A pre- and post-comparison design was used in a cohort of 576 female and 154 male migrant adolescents aged 15 to 18 years in Addis Ababa receiving services from two service delivery organizations, Biruh Tesfa and Retrak. We implemented a three-month client-centred, counsellor-delivered psychosocial intervention, based on findings from formative research among the same target population, to address participants' increased vulnerability to HIV. The intervention package comprised individual, group and creative arts therapy counselling sessions. Key outcome indicators included anxiety, depression, aggressive behaviour, attention problems, social problems, knowledge of HIV, safer sex practices and use of sexual health services. Longitudinal data analysis (McNemar test and random effects regression) was used to assess changes over time in key indicators by gender. For females, aggressive behaviour decreased by 60% (adjusted odds ratio (AOR): 0.4 (0.25 to 0.65)) and any mental health problem decreased by 50% (AOR: 0.5 (0.36 to 0.81)) from baseline to end line. In addition, knowledge of HIV increased by 60% (AOR: 1.6 (1.08 to 2.47)), knowledge of a place to test for HIV increased by 70% (AOR: 1.7 (1.12 to 2.51)) and HIV testing increased by 80% (AOR: 1.8 (1.13 to 2.97)). For males, HIV knowledge increased by 110% (AOR: 2.1 (1.1 to 3.94)), knowledge of a place to test for HIV increased by 290% (AOR: 3.9 (1

  5. Association between urban green space and self-reported lifestyle-related disorders in Oslo, Norway.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Camilla, Ihlebæk; Geir, Aamodt; Renata, Aradi; Bjørgulf, Claussen; Halvorsen, Thorén Kine

    2017-10-01

    The need for studies from more countries on the relationship between urban green space and health has been emphasized. The aim of this study was to investigate the association between two types of measurement of urban green space and self-reported lifestyle-related disorders in Oslo, Norway. Self-reported measures on mental disorders, asthma, type 2 diabetes and musculoskeletal pain of 8638 participants in the Oslo Health Study (HUBRO) were linked to two types of green space variables: the vegetation cover greenness derived from satellite data, which shows the city's vegetation cover regardless of property boundaries, and the land use greenness derived from municipal plans showing information about publicly accessible vegetation-covered areas. Associations between greenness and health measures were analysed by logistic regression models controlling for possible individual and contextual confounders. Increasing vegetation cover greenness was associated with fewer self-reported mental disorders for both men and women after controlling for possible confounders. The proportion of women who reported high levels of musculoskeletal pain increased with increasing degrees of both of the greenness measurements, but no significant association was observed for men. No association was found for asthma and diabetes type 2 for either men or women. Although there was a positive association between vegetation cover greenness and self-reported mental disorders, the main findings showed mixed results. The lack of clear associations between urban green space and lifestyle-related health disorders in Oslo might have been influenced by a large proportion of the inhabitants having easy access to green areas.

  6. Vision-related problems among the workers engaged in jewellery manufacturing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Salve, Urmi Ravindra

    2015-01-01

    American Optometric Association defines Computer Vision Syndrome (CVS) as "complex of eye and vision problems related to near work which are experienced during or related to computer use." This happens when visual demand of the tasks exceeds the visual ability of the users. Even though problems were initially attributed to computer-related activities subsequently similar problems are also reported while carrying any near point task. Jewellery manufacturing activities involves precision designs, setting the tiny metals and stones which requires high visual attention and mental concentration and are often near point task. It is therefore expected that the workers engaged in jewellery manufacturing may also experience symptoms like CVS. Keeping the above in mind, this study was taken up (1) To identify the prevalence of symptoms like CVS among the workers of the jewellery manufacturing and compare the same with the workers working at computer workstation and (2) To ascertain whether such symptoms have any permanent vision-related problems. Case control study. The study was carried out in Zaveri Bazaar region and at an IT-enabled organization in Mumbai. The study involved the identification of symptoms of CVS using a questionnaire of Eye Strain Journal, opthalmological check-ups and measurement of Spontaneous Eye Blink rate. The data obtained from the jewellery manufacturing was compared with the data of the subjects engaged in computer work and with the data available in the literature. A comparative inferential statistics was used. Results showed that visual demands of the task carried out in jewellery manufacturing were much higher than that of carried out in computer-related work.

  7. Studies of urban climates and air pollution in Switzerland

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wanner, H.; Hertig, J.

    1984-01-01

    In addition to an assessment of the factors that are responsible for urban climate change, this paper describes climatological studies and peculiarities of some Swiss cities. Although these cities are small, urban air pollution presents a real problem for urban planning. This is a result of the narow street canyons, the high traffic concentration and the complex topography, which favors air stagnation during anticyclonic weather conditions

  8. Premenstrual syndrome and dysmenorrhea: urban-rural and multiethnic differences in perception, impacts, and treatment seeking.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wong, Li Ping

    2011-10-01

    Attitudes toward menarche and menstruation are largely influenced by sociological, cultural, and family environmental factors. Recognizing the influential effects that these factors might have on shaping adolescents' attitudes is crucial in designing a more effective means of transmitting health information. This study aimed to gather an in-depth understanding of perceptions, impacts, and treatment seeking on menstruation-related issues from an ethnically mixed group of rural and urban girls. In total, 27 focus group discussions (172 participants) were conducted between November 2008 and April 2009. Participants were adolescent girls aged 13-19 years, recruited from 7 public secondary schools in the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur and 4 public secondary schools from the rural districts of Kelantan, in Malaysia. Many participants revealed that they were not given or had not received detailed information about the mechanism or physiology of menstruation prior to its onset. Thus, many described the onset of menarche as shocking, an event for which they were unprepared, and which has had a tremendous impact on their emotions. More positive acceptance of menarche was reported in the urban than with the rural groups. Despite the high prevalence of premenstrual syndrome and dysmenorrhea, participants across urban-rural and ethnic groups perceived the problems as completely normal, hence they relied on self-care methods and did not want to seek professional treatment. More rural girls compared to urban girls were embarrassed to talk to their mothers or consult their physicians regarding menstruation-related problems. Menstruation-related education would have a positive impact in improving adolescent girls' knowledge and in nurturing a positive attitude toward menstruation-related matters at home, at school, and in the community. Copyright © 2011 North American Society for Pediatric and Adolescent Gynecology. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  9. Rapid urbanization and the need for sustainable transportation policies in Jakarta

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rukmana, D.

    2018-03-01

    Not only is Jakarta the largest metropolitan area in Southeast Asia, it is the also one of the most dynamic, though beset with most of the urban problems experienced in twenty-first century Southeast Asia. Batavia, colonial capital of the Netherland Indies in the first half of the 20th century was a small urban area of approximately 150,000 residents. In the second half, Batavia became Jakarta, the 28 million megacity capital of independent Indonesia. Among many urban problems, one major problem plagued Jakarta in the last two decades is traffic congestions. This paper discusses the extent to which rapid urbanization in Jakarta has contributed to the need for sustainable transportation policies in Jakarta. The development of MRT could be viable solutions to alleviate the acute traffic jams in Jakarta. Jakarta will need to implement other innovative sustainable transportation policies including promoting active live through more walking and bicycling, carpool matching services, shuttle services, telecommuting and downzoning in downtown areas.

  10. Bidirectional Associations between Peer Relations and Attention Problems from 9 to 16 Years.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ji, Linqin; Pan, Bin; Zhang, Wenxin; Zhang, Liang; Chen, Liang; Deater-Deckard, Kirby

    2018-05-12

    We examined the bidirectional relations between peer relations and attention problems from middle childhood through adolescence. Using data from the Longitudinal Study of Chinese Children and Adolescents (LSCCA, N = 2157, 51.9% male), three key aspects of peer relations (acceptance, rejection, and victimization) were assessed annually from 9 to 16 years of age. Attention problems were assessed at 9 and 15 years. Latent growth modeling indicated that greater attention problems at age 9 were linked with a lower intercept for peer acceptance, and higher intercepts for rejection and victimization. Also, prior lower acceptance and greater rejection and victimization, along with a higher increase over time in rejection and lower decrease over time in victimization, predicted attention problems at age 15. Cross-lagged analysis showed that attention problems were associated with less subsequent peer acceptance and greater subsequent rejection and victimization. Only peer rejection (but neither victimization nor acceptance) predicted more subsequent attention problems. Findings point to bidirectional associations between attention problems and peer relations in the developmental transition across adolescence. Evidence for differential bidirectionality of attention problems with the multiple peer experience (group versus dyadic; good versus bad) emerged, and future replications are needed.

  11. Energy efficiency in urban management: Russian and world experience

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pryadko, Igor

    2017-10-01

    The article discusses the role of energetics in creating a comfortable and safe environment of modern megacities, and the problem is considered in the socio-economic aspect. The object is the energy security of the city, and the subject is the influence of urban society on the formation of energy security. In particular, the problems are raised: ecological problems of urban energy supply, the condition of surface layer of the atmosphere near electric power lines. The author assesses the actions, implemented by the urban authorities in Mytischi, in the southwestern areas of New Moscow. The author assesses these sample areas on the basis of Ch. Landry’s concept of self-training, designated for municipal authorities and urban communities, and offers several successfully implemented self-study cases and in the light of modern methods of ensuring energy security. The forecasts of creation of energy-safe space, made by modern sociologist-urbanist Leo Hollis, are taken into account. The author also considers some of the economic aspects of biosphere safety. In particular, he insists that biosphere safety, convenience, and comfort have developed into competitive advantages in the housing market.

  12. Human Performance on the Traveling Salesman and Related Problems: A Review

    Science.gov (United States)

    MacGregor, James N.; Chu, Yun

    2011-01-01

    The article provides a review of recent research on human performance on the traveling salesman problem (TSP) and related combinatorial optimization problems. We discuss what combinatorial optimization problems are, why they are important, and why they may be of interest to cognitive scientists. We next describe the main characteristics of human…

  13. The Impact of Legislative Factor in the Identity of Modern Residential Urban in Iraq

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kadhim Faris Dhumad

    2017-02-01

    Full Text Available The Urban Residential has developed and changed in different periods of time with successive and gradual shifts, as it cast a shadow over the characterization of modern urbanism in Iraq. The semi-total absence of the governing legislation of urbanization as well as the weakness of the State's role of supervisory in addition to neglecting urban heritage contributed in offering a strange environment in relation to its traditional identity. That was increased by the pressure of the using urban environment as a result of the increasing of population as well as the growth of people’s needs. The research aims to provide an objective view for a mechanism of the application of urban legislation to monitor the implementation of the business relating to the urban structure in general and specifically the urban residential areas in order to preserve the traditional identity of the modern Iraqi city. For the purpose of treating the problem of research and to achieve its goals, the research supposes that the legislative system is based on a pyramid arrangement in its vocabulary, which is flexible in its application, and are drawn from objective reality, it can produce urban residential with local identity. The elements of the practical influential process of the legislative factor identified by the planning legislation, laws, regulations, controls and limitations, supervision and oversight. And then draw theoretical indicators which affect the urban environment, namely: proportionately, essence and appearance, construction and the sky line, the scale and size, bearings, cover-up, opening-up and containment through the study of a number of legislative irregularities in neighborhoods and residential areas that produced these indicators. For applying and testing these indicators practically, two selective neighborhoods in Al Rabeea'a District in Baghdad has been chosen and with a précised field survey the search findings are: the poverty of Urban elements

  14. The Reading Problem in Urban Schools: Who Has It and What Has Been Done About It?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Van Strat, Georgena

    Identification of ingredients of successful urban reading programs in order to effect an increase in reading achievement in urban schools is the purpose of this paper. An historical-sociological framework is established. Pertinent literature which seeks to explain the causes of reading failure in urban schools is reviewed. Among the topics…

  15. Crew Scheduling Considering both Crew Duty Time Difference and Cost on Urban Rail System

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Wenliang Zhou

    2016-11-01

    Full Text Available Urban rail crew scheduling problem is to allocate train services to crews based on a given train timetable while satisfying all the operational and contractual requirements. In this paper, we present a new mathematical programming model with the aim of minimizing both the related costs of crew duty and the variance of duty time spreads. In addition to iincorporating the commonly encountered crew scheduling constraints, it also takes into consideration the constraint of arranging crews having a meal in the specific meal period of one day rather than after a minimum continual service time. The proposed model is solved by an ant colony algorithm which is built based on the construction of ant travel network and the design of ant travel path choosing strategy. The performances of the model and the algorithm are evaluated by conducting case study on Changsha urban rail. The results indicate that the proposed method can obtain a satisfactory crew schedule for urban rails with a relatively small computational time.

  16. Association between chronic conditions and health-related quality of life: differences by level of urbanization in Peru.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Taype-Rondan, Alvaro; Abbs, Elizabeth Sarah; Lazo-Porras, Maria; Checkley, William; Gilman, Robert H; Smeeth, Liam; Miranda, J Jaime; Bernabe-Ortiz, Antonio

    2017-12-01

    To evaluate the role of urbanization as an effect modifier for the association between specific chronic conditions and number of conditions with health-related quality of life (QOL). We analyzed cross-sectional data from the CRONICAS Cohort Study conducted in Lima (highly urbanized), Tumbes (semi-urban), as well as rural and urban sites in Puno. Exposures of interest were chronic bronchitis, depressive mood, hypertension, type 2 diabetes, and a composite variable aggregating the number of chronic conditions (the four exposures plus heart disease and stroke). QOL outcomes were assessed with EuroQol's EQ-5D visual analogue scale (EQ-VAS). We fitted linear regressions with robust variance to evaluate the associations of interest. Study site was assessed as a potential effect modifier using the likelihood-ratio (LR) test. We evaluated data on 2433 subjects: 51.3% were female, mean age was 57.2 years. Study site was found to be an effect modifier only for the association between depressive mood and EQ-VAS score (LR test p < 0.001). Compared to those without depressive mood, participants with depressive mood scored -13.7 points on the EQ-VAS in Lima, -7.9 in urban Puno, -11.0 in semi-urban Tumbes, and -2.7 in rural Puno. Study site was not found to be an effect modifier for the association between the number of chronic conditions and EQ-VAS (LR test p = 0.64). The impact of depressive mood on EQ-VAS was larger in urban than in rural sites, while site was not an effect modifier for the remaining associations.

  17. Longitudinal patterns in flathead catfish relative abundance and length at age within a large river: Effects of an urban gradient

    Science.gov (United States)

    Paukert, C.P.; Makinster, A.S.

    2009-01-01

    We investigated the spatial variation of flathead catfish (Pylodictis olivaris) relative abundance and growth in the 274 km long Kansas River to determine if population dynamics of catfish are related to urbanization. Electrofishing was conducted at 462 random sites throughout the river in summer, 2005-2006 to collect fish. Relative abundance of age 1 fish (???200mm), subadult (>200-400mm) and adult fish (>400 mm) ranged from 0.34 to 14.67 fish h-1, mean length at age 1 was 165 (range: 128-195) mm total length (TL) and mean length at age 3 was 376 mm TL (range: 293-419mm TL). The proportion of land use within 200 m of the river edge was between 0 and 0.54 urban. River reaches with high relative abundance of age 1 flathead catfish had high relative abundance of subadult and adult catfish. River reaches with fast flathead catfish growth to age 1 had fast growth to age 3. High urban land use and riprap in the riparian area were evident in river reaches near the heavily populated Kansas City and Topeka, Kansas, USA. Reaches with increased number of log jams and islands had decreased riparian agriculture. Areas of low urbanization had faster flathead catfish growth (r = 0.67, p = 0.005). Relative abundance of flathead catfish was higher in more agricultural areas (r = -0.57, p = 0.02). Changes in land use in riverine environments may alter population dynamics of a fish species within a river. Spatial differences in population dynamics need to be considered when evaluating riverine fish populations. Published in 2008 by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  18. Prevalence of work-related health problems among providers of car ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Prevalence of work-related health problems among providers of car battery ... the use of personal protective devices and safety measures should be promoted. Keywords: Prevalence, work-related, battery chargers, occupational health, Nigeria ...

  19. Urbanization-related changes in European aspen (Populus tremula L.): Leaf traits and litter decomposition

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Nikula, Suvi; Vapaavuori, Elina; Manninen, Sirkku

    2010-01-01

    We investigated foliar and litter responses of European aspen (Populus tremula L.) to urbanization, including factors such as increased temperature, moisture stress and nitrogen (N) deposition. Leaf samples were collected in 2006-2008 from three urban and three rural forest stands in the Helsinki Metropolitan Area, southern Finland, and reciprocal litter transplantations were established between urban and rural sites. Urban leaves exhibited a higher amount of epicuticular waxes and N concentration, and a lower C:N ratio than rural ones, but there was no difference in specific leaf area. Urban litter had a slightly higher N concentration, lower concentrations of lignin and total phenolics, and was more palatable to a macrofaunal decomposer. Moreover, litter decay was faster at the urban site and for urban litter. Urbanization thus resulted in foliar acclimatization in terms of increased amount of epicuticular waxes, as well as in accelerated decomposition of the N-richer leaf litter. - Urbanization can modify leaf traits of aspen and accelerate litter decomposition through changes in litter traits as well as in environmental conditions at the decomposition site.

  20. The study of urban metabolism and its applications to urban planning and design

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kennedy, C.; Pincetl, S.; Bunje, P.

    2011-01-01

    Following formative work in the 1970s, disappearance in the 1980s, and reemergence in the 1990s, a chronological review shows that the past decade has witnessed increasing interest in the study of urban metabolism. The review finds that there are two related, non-conflicting, schools of urban metabolism: one following Odum describes metabolism in terms of energy equivalents; while the second more broadly expresses a city's flows of water, materials and nutrients in terms of mass fluxes. Four example applications of urban metabolism studies are discussed: urban sustainability indicators; inputs to urban greenhouse gas emissions calculation; mathematical models of urban metabolism for policy analysis; and as a basis for sustainable urban design. Future directions include fuller integration of social, health and economic indicators into the urban metabolism framework, while tackling the great sustainability challenge of reconstructing cities. - This paper presents a chronological review of urban metabolism studies and highlights four areas of application.

  1. Urban media geographies : Interfacing ubiquitous computing with the physicality of urban space

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Psyllidis, A.; Biloria, N.M.

    2013-01-01

    This paper aims at establishing an associative relation between the proliferating digital technologies, the physical context of the urban fabric, its inhabitants and the multiplicity of their activities as an emergent phenomenon of contemporary urbanity. It introduces a methodological framework for

  2. Changes in Body Mass Index and Stoma Related Problems in the Elderly

    Science.gov (United States)

    Skeps, Raymond; McMullen, Carmit K.; Wendel, Christopher S.; Bulkley, Joanna; Grant, Marcia; Mohler, Jane; Hornbrook, Mark C.; Krouse, Robert S.; Herrinton, Lisa J.

    2012-01-01

    Objectives Weight gain can cause retraction of an intestinal stoma, possibly resulting in difficulty with wafer and pouch fit, daily care challenges, and discomfort. This cross-sectional study examined the association between body mass index (BMI) and ostomy-related problems among long-term (>5 years post-diagnosis) colorectal cancer (CRC) survivors. Materials and Methods CRC survivors from three Kaiser Permanente Regions completed a mailed survey. The response rate for those with an ostomy was 53% (283/529). Questions included stoma-related problems and time to conduct daily ostomy care. Poisson regression evaluated associations between report of problems and change in BMI. Our analysis sample included 235 survivors. Results Sample was 76% ≥65 years of age. Since their surgeries, BMI remained stable in 44% (ST), decreased in 20% (DE), and increased in 35% (IN) of survivors. Compared to ST, male IN (RR 2.15 [1.09–4.25]) and female DE (RR 5.06 [1.26–25.0]) were more likely to spend more than 30 minutes per day on stoma care. IN (vs. ST) were more likely to report interference with clothing (RR 1.51 [1.06–2.17]) and other stoma-related problems (RR 2.32 [1.30–4.14]). Survivors who were obese at time of survey were more likely to report interference with clothing (RR 1.88 [1.38–2.56]) and other stoma-related problems (RR 1.68 [1.07–2.65]). Conclusion A change in BMI is associated with ostomy-related problems among long-term CRC survivors. Equipment and care practices may need to be adapted for changes in abdominal shape. Health care providers should caution that a significant increase or decrease in BMI may cause ostomy-related problems. PMID:24071496

  3. Monitoring of urban growth and its related environmental impacts: Niamey case study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Perotti, Luigi; Tankari Dan-Badjo, Abdourahamane; De Luca, Domenico Antonio; Antonella Dino, Giovanna; Lasagna, Manuela; Spadafora, Francesco; Yadji, Guero; Konaté, Moussa

    2016-04-01

    The present contribution is about a preliminary study of the evolution of Niamey city (Niger) during last decades. Such research is part of an UNICOO project (funded by the University of Turin) and connected to the Edulink Cooperation Project (R.U.S.S.A.D.E.), a multidisciplinary project between Italy, Niger, Burkina Faso and Tchad funded on ACP- EU cooperation program in Higher Education. Recent advances in remote sensing, both in satellite hardware technology (i.e. image availability) and image processing algorithm development, provide opportunities for collection and analysis of multitemporal information on urban form and size that can be useful for policy and planning. In spite of these developments, there are also limitations to remote sensing and its application in practice. Some opportunities for, and limitations on, monitoring urban growth using remote sensing data are shown in the present contribution; moreover examples of environmental impacts of urban growth, as monitored with remote sensing, are provided. Niamey is the capital of Niger and is the first city in the country in size and economic importance. Its population increased gradually, from about 3,000 units in 1930 to about 30,000 in 1960, rising to 250,000 in 1980 and, according to estimates, to 800,000 units in 2000. Its patterns of population distribution, livelihoods, and its dominant role within the national economy of Niger make it a good representative case study for West Africa. This case study will consider the recent historical context of continued urban growth and will assess potential future impacts of settlement patterns. The rapid growth of Niamey in the last decades brought relative prosperity but it certainly affected patterns of land use within the city and the emerging urban system. After a preliminary sketch of the georesources in the city (qualitative and quantitative characterization of the surface water and groundwater, and of aggregates), an analyses of the urban growth and

  4. An Approach to assess the Urban Management Performance of Municipalities in Sri Lanka

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gayani Ranasinghe

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available Urbanization tends bring out a number of problems, such as inadequate housing and urban services, increase land prices and construction costs, propagation of slums, pollution and deterioration of the urban environment. Currently, spatial development activities focusing on major cities of Sri Lanka are demanding urban infrastructure and services where municipalities are facing challenges on provision of the infrastructure and proper urban management too. This study seeks to identify the relevant criteria, indicators and a method for assessing the urban management performance of municipalities in Sri Lanka since specific measurement criteria and related indicators are not yet identified to evaluate urban management by the central government or local government levels. Based on Literature review, five criteria and 25 indicators were selected considering their applicability for the context of Sri Lanka. The Full Permutation Polygon Synthetic Indicator Method (FPPSI was applied to synthesize indicators and the Synthetic indicator has been used to show the performance of each criterion in terms of urban service delivery. Colombo Municipal Council (CMC, Sri Jayawardenapura Kotte Municipal Council (SJKMC and Moratuwa Municipal Council (MMC have been selected as the case studies for this research. Although selected cases are within Colombo Metropolitan Region, none of the municipalities were achieved the “High” or “Very High” level of synthetic indicator (SR>= 0.50 that shows the standard of municipal service delivery of Sri Lanka as a whole. This research lays the platform to evaluate the functional performance of Municipal Councils to guide the future scenario and to make decisions at the grass root level for managing the urbanization related issues in the country. Also this research helps the government to know the current trends of development impact and to take necessary policy level decisions to guide the economic growth in a correct

  5. Implications of rainfall for agricultural and urban development of Eldoret, Kenya

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    E. Ofori- Sarpong

    2013-07-01

    Full Text Available This paper examines the role of rainfall in the urban development of Kenya. The rainfall characteristics have been analysed and their influence on agricultural and urban development assessed. It is noted that since Eldoret is one of the rapidly expanding towns in Kenya located in highly potential agricultural region, variability of rainfall and drought can seriously affect urban development as farmers in the hinterland will abandon their farms and migrate to the town thus creating food shortage. Secondly, in times of drought, the water supply problems in the town will be exacerbated as it depends on surface water source. The tempo of rural-urban migration will be speeded up and this will create more socio-economic problems.

  6. [The comparison of the indoor environmental factors associated with asthma and related allergies among school-child between urban and suburban areas in Beijing].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lü, Hai-bo; Deng, Fu-rong; Sun, Ji-dong; Wu, Shao-wei; Sun, Xiu-ming; Wang, Xin; Zhao, Yan-hua; Guo, Xin-biao

    2010-07-01

    To study the indoor environmental factors associated with the prevalence of asthma and related allergies among school children. A cluster sampling method was used and the ISAAC questionnaire was conducted. A total of 4612 elementary students under Grade Five of 7 schools were enrolled in the survey for the impact of indoor environmental factors on the prevalence of asthma and related allergies in several urban and suburban schools of Beijing. A total of 4060 sample were finally analyzed including 1992 urban and 2068 suburban. The prevalence of wheeze, allergic rhinoconjunctivitis and atopic eczema in the past 12 months was 3.1% (61/1992), 5.3% (106/1992), 1.1% (22/1992) among urban children while 1.3% (27/2068), 3.1% (65/2068), 1.0% (22/2068) among suburban children respectively. The prevalence of wheeze and allergic rhinoconjunctivitis of the past 12 months in urban were both significantly higher than that in suburban (χ(2) = 14.77, 11.93, P children (5.3% (105/1992), 29.4% (586/1992)) were significantly (χ(2) = 39.03, 147.22, P interior decoration had different influence on the prevalence of asthma and related allergies among school children in the two areas. The significant impact of passive smoking on having asthma ever among suburban children was observed (OR = 2.70, 95%CI = 1.17 - 6.23) while no significant result in urban (OR = 1.06, 95%CI = 0.71 - 1.58); the percentage of interior decoration was 84.0% (1673/1992) among urban children and 80.0% (1655/2068) among suburban children, there was significant impact of interior decoration on the prevalence of having eczema ever among urban children (OR = 1.57, 95%CI = 1.17 - 2.10) but no significant results were found in suburban sample (OR = 1.06, 95%CI = 0.76 - 1.48). The prevalence of asthma and related allergies among school children is much higher in urban areas than that in suburban areas and the indoor environmental factors such as passive smoking and interior decoration may differently explain the

  7. Examining The Evolution Of The Khuzestan Urban Population Using The Urban Primacy Indexes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mokhtar Karami

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available Examining the status of a city in the surrounding metropolitan area network not only helpful for Specialists to understand the ups and downs of city life and surrounding it but also can set the groundwork for hierarchical relationships settlements and planners for discipline the urban network is studied. Research to study the evolution of the urban population in Khuzestan province was conducted during the statistical period 1957-2012. The method is a descriptive and analytical study. To collect the data in addition the study of literature the Facts Sheet the statistical yearbooks and census of population and housing censuses in all courses has been used. Then to enter data and analysis it the Excel and Minitab software was used. Models used in this study are Ginsberg index Urban Primacy Index Two City Index Four City Index Mehtas Four City Index Moomav and Alwosabi. The results show that is balance between the parameters of the Urban Primacy Indexes in Khuzestan province since 1957 to 1977. The process of balancing continue and is destroy until the beginning of the Imposed war and the depletion of the population of cities and in 1987 the Urban Primacy Index reached its highest level and due to the problems of the war in Ahvaz it earns the highest the Urban Primacy Index. Since 1987 the Urban Primacy Index reduced and their balancing process continues until 2012 that this balancing process due to natural population growth since after 1997.

  8. A real-time control framework for urban water reservoirs operation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Galelli, S.; Goedbloed, A.; Schwanenberg, D.

    2012-04-01

    Drinking water demand in urban areas is growing parallel to the worldwide urban population, and it is acquiring an increasing part of the total water consumption. Since the delivery of sufficient water volumes in urban areas represents a difficult logistic and economical problem, different metropolitan areas are evaluating the opportunity of constructing relatively small reservoirs within urban areas. Singapore, for example, is developing the so-called 'Four National Taps Strategies', which detects the maximization of water yields from local, urban catchments as one of the most important water sources. However, the peculiar location of these reservoirs can provide a certain advantage from the logistical point of view, but it can pose serious difficulties in their daily management. Urban catchments are indeed characterized by large impervious areas: this results in a change of the hydrological cycle, with decreased infiltration and groundwater recharge, and increased patterns of surface and river discharges, with higher peak flows, volumes and concentration time. Moreover, the high concentrations of nutrients and sediments characterizing urban discharges can cause further water quality problems. In this critical hydrological context, the effective operation of urban water reservoirs must rely on real-time control techniques, which can exploit hydro-meteorological information available in real-time from hydrological and nowcasting models. This work proposes a novel framework for the real-time control of combined water quality and quantity objectives in urban reservoirs. The core of this framework is a non-linear Model Predictive Control (MPC) scheme, which employs the current state of the system, the future discharges furnished by a predictive model and a further model describing the internal dynamics of the controlled sub-system to determine an optimal control sequence over a finite prediction horizon. The main advantage of this scheme stands in its reduced

  9. The Urban Exploitation Platform - An instrument for the global provision of indicators related to sustainable cities and communities

    Science.gov (United States)

    Esch, Thomas; Asamer, Hubert; Hirner, Andreas; Marconcini, Mattia; Metz, Annekatrin; Uereyen, Soner; Zeidler, Julian; Boettcher, Martin; Permana, Hans; Boissier, Enguerran; Mathot, Emmanuel; Soukop, Tomas; Balhar, Jakub; Svaton, Vaclav; Kuchar, Stepan

    2017-04-01

    The Sentinel fleet will provide a so-far unique coverage with Earth Observation (EO) data and therewith new opportunities for the implementation of methodologies to generate innovative geo-information products and services supporting the SDG targets. It is here where the TEP Urban project is supposed to initiate a step change by providing an open and participatory platform that allows any interested user to easily exploit large-volume EO data pools, in particular those of the European Sentinel and the US Landsat missions, and derive thematic geo-information, metrics and indicators related to the status and development of the built environment. Key component of TEP Urban initiative is the implementation of a web-based platform (https://urban-tep.eo.esa.int) employing distributed high-level computing infrastructures and providing key functionalities for i) high-performance access to satellite imagery and other data sources such as statistics or topographic data, ii) state-of-the-art pre-processing, analysis, and visualization techniques, iii) customized development and dissemination of algorithms, products and services, and iv) networking and communication. This contribution introduces the main facts about the TEP Urban platform, including a description of the general objectives, the platform systems design and functionalities, and the available portfolio of products and services that can directly serve the global provision of indicators for SDG targets, in particular related to SDG 11.

  10. Permasalahan Airtanah pada Daerah Urban

    OpenAIRE

    Triadi Putranto, Thomas; Indra Kusuma, Kristi

    2009-01-01

    Groundwater is one of water resources that can be exploitated to supply human being basic need becauseof its quality and quantity. Groundwater overexploitation can give negative impact to environmentalequilibrium. Human activities such as groundwater overexploitation, civilization problems, coastreclamation and industrial area developments can give groundwater problems in urban area. Groundwaterproblems that can be happened such as surface flooding, sea water intrusion, land subsidence andgro...

  11. 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

  12. Inventories and reduction scenarios of urban waste-related greenhouse gas emissions for management potential.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yang, Dewei; Xu, Lingxing; Gao, Xueli; Guo, Qinghai; Huang, Ning

    2018-06-01

    Waste-related greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions have been recognized as one of the prominent contributors to global warming. Current urban waste regulations, however, face increasing challenges from stakeholders' trade-offs and hierarchic management. A combined method, i.e., life cycle inventories and scenario analysis, was employed to investigate waste-related GHG emissions during 1995-2015 and to project future scenarios of waste-driven carbon emissions by 2050 in a pilot low carbon city, Xiamen, China. The process-based carbon analysis of waste generation (prevention and separation), transportation (collection and transfer) and disposal (treatment and recycling) shows that the main contributors of carbon emissions are associated with waste disposal processes, solid waste, the municipal sector and Xiamen Mainland. Significant spatial differences of waste-related CO 2e emissions were observed between Xiamen Island and Xiamen Mainland using the carbon intensity and density indexes. An uptrend of waste-related CO 2e emissions from 2015 to 2050 is identified in the business as usual, waste disposal optimization, waste reduction and the integrated scenario, with mean annual growth rates of 8.86%, 8.42%, 6.90% and 6.61%, respectively. The scenario and sensitivity analysis imply that effective waste-related carbon reduction requires trade-offs among alternative strategies, actions and stakeholders in a feasible plan, and emphasize a priority of waste prevention and collection in Xiamen. Our results could benefit to the future modeling of urban multiple wastes and life-cycle carbon control in similar cities within and beyond China. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  13. Playing-Related Health Problems Among Instrumental Music Students at a University in Malaysia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lonsdale, Karen; Boon, Ong Kuan

    2016-09-01

    Musicians from a wide range of backgrounds experience playing-related health problems including musculoskeletal disorders, hearing loss, and performance anxiety. Few studies have focused specifically on the health concerns of musicians in Malaysia. This study aimed to investigate playing-related health problems among student musicians at a university in Malaysia as well as their knowledge and awareness of playing-related health problems. Instrumental music students enrolled in undergraduate and post-graduate university music courses (n=98) participated in a self-report online survey which addressed aspects such as educational background, playing experience, knowledge and awareness of musicians' health issues, history of physical problems, lifestyle factors, and prevention and management strategies. Of the total participants, 28.9% reported that they were currently experiencing playing-related pain in a body part, and 46.4% had experienced playing-related pain at some time. More than half (56.7%) felt that they have not received enough information or advice on playing-related health during their current studies. Musicians who experienced playing-related pain, tension, and discomfort reported the main problem sites to be the fingers and hands, arms, neck, and shoulders. The study results demonstrate that Malaysian university music students are affected by similar types of playing-related physical problems as their counterparts around the world. A greater awareness and knowledge of injury prevention and management strategies is needed so that these music students can sustain healthy playing careers.

  14. Building Maintenance in Old Buildings Conservation Approach: An Overview of Related Problems

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Brit Kayan

    2006-12-01

    Full Text Available Building maintenance in conservation of old buildings is one of the approaches applied within the built environment of Malaysia. For instance, it is realised that these old buildings contribute an important significance to our nation's priceless heritage and unique historical development. However, most of these buildings' maintenance is influenced by related problems that affect the overall building conservation approach. Therefore, these old buildings face problems which greatly affect their overall condition and performance: building structure; building appearance and aesthetic; building materials and building character. In most critical situations, there is a greater possibility that we could lose the cultural significance and heritage values of these old buildings through ignoring the related problems. This paper tries to identify the related problems, reveal the findings and discuss suitable approaches to conserving these old buildings.

  15. Workshop Report On Sustainable Urban Development

    Science.gov (United States)

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

    2010-01-01

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

  16. The Fertility Problem Inventory: measuring perceived infertility-related stress.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Newton, C R; Sherrard, W; Glavac, I

    1999-07-01

    To develop a reliable, valid instrument to evaluate perceived infertility-related stress. Prospective study. University-affiliated teaching hospital. Consecutively referred patients (1,153 women and 1,149 men) seen for infertility treatment. None. Participants' infertility-related stress was assessed by written questionnaire using the Fertility Problem Inventory. Current levels of anxiety, depression, and marital satisfaction also were determined. Women described greater global stress than men and higher specific stress in terms of social concerns, sexual concerns, and need for parenthood. Both men and women facing male infertility reported higher global stress and more social and sexual concerns than men and women experiencing female infertility. Social, sexual, and relationship concerns related to infertility were more effective predictors of depression and marital dissatisfaction than expressed needs for parenthood or attitudes toward child-free living. The Fertility Problem Inventory provides a reliable measure of perceived infertility-related stress and specific information on five separate domains of patient concern. Patterns of infertility-related stress differed depending on gender, fertility history, and infertility diagnosis. Among patients receiving treatment, social, sexual, and relationship concerns appear central to current distress. Counseling interventions that target these domains appear likely to offer maximal therapeutic benefit.

  17. Relations and areas of interaction between landowners in a peri-urban area

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Richardt, Ann-Sofie

    2016-01-01

    While land management can be a subject of conflict in places where the composition of landowners is socially and culturally diverse, it also holds the potential of bringing landowners together across social groups. This chapter uses the case of a peri-urban area near Copenhagen, Denmark, to examine...... the relations landowners have through their use and management of land within and across social groups. To elaborate the analysis and discussion of social groups, social coherence and fragmentation, this chapter introduces the concepts of homophily and self-categorisation. Interviews with 40 landowners from two...... parishes addressed four types of land-based relations: (1) exchange of help and services; (2) debate of farming/management; (3) shared interests and (4) friendship. While the pattern of relations overall supported the idea that people interact more with their own social group, the analysis also showed...

  18. Prevalence of drug-related problems in self-medication in Danish community pharmacies

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bente Frøkjær

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available Background: Drug-related problems are known to be a major problem associated with pharmacotherapy. A broad range of studies, mainly in the area of prescription-only medicines, supports this fact. Only a few studies have evaluated drug-related problems with over-the-counter medicine and the role of community pharmacies in this. Purpose: To quantify drug-related problems in self-medication (use of over-the-counter medicine identified by community pharmacies in Denmark and to document the interventions by pharmacy staff in relation to the identified drug-related problems. Method: A descriptive study mapping drug-related problems in self-medication registered at the counter at a selected number of Danish community pharmacies. Results: Data for 3,868 consecutive customers with requests for over-the-counter (OTC medicines were registered at 39 community pharmacies. The pharmacies registered a total number of 4,324 OTC medicines requests, illustrating that a customer requested 1.1 OTC medicines on average. Drug-related problems (DRPs were identified for 813 customers, equivalent to DRPs for 21.0 % of all customers, presenting symptoms or requesting OTC medicines, and for 20 % of all over-the-counter medicines requests. 1,239 DRPs were registered, corresponding to an average of 1.5 DRPs per customer requesting OTC medicines. Community pharmacies estimated that they solved or partly solved 76.2 % of the detected DRPs; 73 % were solved without involving a general practitioner. Conclusions: DRPs were identified for 21.0 % of the pharmacy customers presenting a symptom or asking for an OTC medicine. The community pharmacy counselled the customers with DRPs more thoroughly than other customers by giving 2.4 pieces of professional advice, compared to an average of 2.1 to customers in general. It is not possible to determine the magnitude of the safety risk involved. Based on the most frequent categories of DRPs, there were risks of insufficient effect

  19. Prevalence of drug-related problems in self-medication in Danish community pharmacies

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Charlotte Rossing

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available Background: Drug-related problems are known to be a major problem associated with pharmacotherapy. A broad range of studies, mainly in the area of prescription-only medicines, supports this fact. Only a few studies have evaluated drug-related problems with over-the-counter medicine and the role of community pharmacies in this.Purpose: To quantify drug-related problems in self-medication (use of over-the-counter medicine identified by community pharmacies in Denmark and to document the interventions by pharmacy staff in relation to the identified drug-related problems.Method: A descriptive study mapping drug-related problems in self-medication registered at the counter at a selected number of Danish community pharmacies.Results: Data for 3,868 consecutive customers with requests for over-the-counter (OTC medicines were registered at 39 community pharmacies. The pharmacies registered a total number of 4,324 OTC medicines requests, illustrating that a customer requested 1.1 OTC medicines on average. Drug-related problems (DRPs were identified for 813 customers, equivalent to DRPs for 21.0 % of all customers, presenting symptoms or requesting OTC medicines, and for 20 % of all over-the-counter medicines requests. 1,239 DRPs were registered, corresponding to an average of 1.5 DRPs per customer requesting OTC medicines.Community pharmacies estimated that they solved or partly solved 76.2 % of the detected DRPs; 73 % were solved without involving a general practitioner.Conclusions: DRPs were identified for 21.0 % of the pharmacy customers presenting a symptom or asking for an OTC medicine. The community pharmacy counselled the customers with DRPs more thoroughly than other customers by giving 2.4 pieces of professional advice, compared to an average of 2.1 to customers in general. It is not possible to determine the magnitude of the safety risk involved. Based on the most frequent categories of DRPs, there were risks of insufficient effect, unintended

  20. Report card on low level ozone in urban areas

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Onischak, M.

    1994-12-31

    It has been four years since the Clean Air Act was amended in November of 1990. Much work has been done in this time, and the country is beginning to see real air quality benefits. Although these changes have not completely licked the urban ozone problem yet, they have made a lot of progress. All of the urban areas which have been required to reduce their ozone levels have done a good job of lowering their emissions. While the urban areas have not all been able to meet every federal deadline, the areas have all been able to achieve the control milestones before the mandatory Clean Air Act sanctions have taken effect. Some areas are even ready to declare their ozone problems solved.

  1. Report card on low level ozone in urban areas

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Onischak, M.

    1994-01-01

    It has been four years since the Clean Air Act was amended in November of 1990. Much work has been done in this time, and the country is beginning to see real air quality benefits. Although these changes have not completely licked the urban ozone problem yet, they have made a lot of progress. All of the urban areas which have been required to reduce their ozone levels have done a good job of lowering their emissions. While the urban areas have not all been able to meet every federal deadline, the areas have all been able to achieve the control milestones before the mandatory Clean Air Act sanctions have taken effect. Some areas are even ready to declare their ozone problems solved

  2. CHANGE TRENDS IN THE USE OF PASSENGER CARS ON URBAN TRIPS: CAR-POOLING IN GDYNIA

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Katarzyna HEBEL

    2017-09-01

    Full Text Available The wide accessibility of European citizens to cars results in problems caused by their excessive use as a means of urban transport. Given this situation, it is necessary to find new solutions for the more efficient use of passenger cars in cities. This problem affects almost all European cities, including those in Poland. The paper analyses the level of motorization and modal split in Polish cities with county status, while selected European cities serve as a background to determine the scale of the problem. In the search of solutions in relation to Poland, an analysis of different documents outlining the directions of urban mobility was conducted. One of these documents concerned the promotion of car-pooling, the history of which dates back to the Second World War and the 1950s. Initially introduced in the USA, its increasing development in European cities has been witnessed in recent years. Research on the evaluation of real car-pooling in Polish cities was conducted in Gdynia by the authors of this study. The results of marketing research presented in the article have determined the degree to which participants in urban mobility are inclined to take part in car-pooling schemes in Polish cities.

  3. Informational Urbanism

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Wolfgang G. Stock

    2015-10-01

    Full Text Available Contemporary and future cities are often labeled as "smart cities," "ubiquitous cities," "knowledge cities" and "creative cities." Informational urbanism includes all aspects of information and knowledge with regard to urban regions. "Informational city" is an umbrella term uniting the divergent trends of information-related city research. Informational urbanism is an interdisciplinary endeavor incorporating on the one side computer science and information science and on the other side urbanism, architecture, (city economics, and (city sociology. In our research project on informational cities, we visited more than 40 metropolises and smaller towns all over the world. In this paper, we sketch the theoretical background on a journey from Max Weber to the Internet of Things, introduce our research methods, and describe main results on characteristics of informational cities as prototypical cities of the emerging knowledge society.

  4. A critical review of integrated urban water modelling – Urban drainage and beyond

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Bach, Peter M.; Rauch, Wolfgang; Mikkelsen, Peter Steen

    2014-01-01

    considerations (e.g. data issues, model structure, computational and integration-related aspects), common methodology for model development (through a systems approach), calibration/optimisation and uncertainty are discussed, placing importance on pragmatism and parsimony. Integrated urban water models should......Modelling interactions in urban drainage, water supply and broader integrated urban water systems has been conceptually and logistically challenging as evidenced in a diverse body of literature, found to be confusing and intimidating to new researchers. This review consolidates thirty years...... of research (initially driven by interest in urban drainage modelling) and critically reflects upon integrated modelling in the scope of urban water systems. We propose a typology to classify integrated urban water system models at one of four ‘degrees of integration’ (followed by its exemplification). Key...

  5. An allometric scaling relation based on logistic growth of cities

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Yanguang

    2014-08-01

    The relationships between urban area and population size have been empirically demonstrated to follow the scaling law of allometric growth. This allometric scaling is based on exponential growth of city size and can be termed "exponential allometry", which is associated with the concepts of fractals. However, both city population and urban area comply with the course of logistic growth rather than exponential growth. In this paper, I will present a new allometric scaling based on logistic growth to solve the abovementioned problem. The logistic growth is a process of replacement dynamics. Defining a pair of replacement quotients as new measurements, which are functions of urban area and population, we can derive an allometric scaling relation from the logistic processes of urban growth, which can be termed "logistic allometry". The exponential allometric relation between urban area and population is the approximate expression of the logistic allometric equation when the city size is not large enough. The proper range of the allometric scaling exponent value is reconsidered through the logistic process. Then, a medium-sized city of Henan Province, China, is employed as an example to validate the new allometric relation. The logistic allometry is helpful for further understanding the fractal property and self-organized process of urban evolution in the right perspective.

  6. : 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...

  7. An Applied Mereology of the City: Unifying Science and Philosophy for Urban Planning.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Epting, Shane

    2016-10-01

    Based on their research showing that growing cities follow basic principles, two theoretical physicists, Luis Bettencourt and Geoffrey West, call for researchers and professionals to contribute to a grand theory of urban sustainability. In their research, they develop a 'science of the city' to help urban planners address problems that arise from population increases. Although they provide valuable insights for understanding urban sustainability issues, they do not give planners a manageable way to approach such problems. I argue that developing an applied mereology to understand the concept of 'city identity' gives planners a theoretical device for addressing urban affairs, including ethical concerns. In turn, I devise a model of city identity to show how a 'philosophy of the city' contributes to a grand theory of urban sustainability.

  8. 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

  9. Prevalence of behavioural problems of Khorramabad pre-school children

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    faride Malekshahi

    2008-10-01

    problems. Anxiety, withdrawal and social isolation, too much irrelevant peevishing and crying were higher in urban children, and behavioural problems such as, urinary incontinence, night fear, teeth gnashing, hitting the head against the wall, sleep disorders were higher in rural children. Some of the children behavioural problems such as urinary incontinence, stammering, onychophagia and … had a significant relation with sex, as well as between age, job, educational level of the parents, birth rank, and some behavioural problems a significant relation was observed. Conclusion: These findings showed that most of the pre-school children somehow suffer from behavioural problems, they need more attention and support in the area of mental health which require an accurate and comprehensive planning. So study of children mental health level in the stations of measurement and mental health services in the schools, and education to teachers and parents in order to prevent behavioural disorders, and ontime diagnosis and treatment are necessary.

  10. Processing of Words Related to the Demands of a Previously Solved Problem

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kowalczyk Marek

    2014-06-01

    Full Text Available Earlier research by the author brought about findings suggesting that people in a special way process words related to demands of a problem they previously solved, even when they do not consciously notice this relationship. The findings concerned interference in the task in which the words appeared, a shift in affective responses to them that depended on sex of the participants, and impaired memory of the words. The aim of this study was to replicate these effects and to find out whether they are related to working memory (WM span of the participants, taken as a measure of the individual’s ability to control attention. Participants in the experimental group solved a divergent problem, then performed an ostensibly unrelated speeded affective classification task concerning each of a series of nouns, and then performed an unexpected cued recall task for the nouns. Afterwards, a task measuring WM span was administered. In the control group there was no problem-solving phase. Response latencies for words immediately following problem-related words in the classification task were longer in the experimental than in the control group, but there was no relationship between this effect and WM span. Solving the problem, in interaction with sex of the participants and, independently, with their WM span, influenced affective responses to problem-related words. Recall of these words, however, was not impaired in the experimental group.

  11. An allometric scaling relation based on logistic growth of cities

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chen, Yanguang

    2014-01-01

    Highlights: • An allometric scaling based on logistic process can be used to model urban growth. • The traditional allometry is based on exponential growth instead of logistic growth. • The exponential allometry represents a local scaling of urban growth. • The logistic allometry represents a global scaling of urban growth. • The exponential allometry is an approximation relation of the logistic allometry. - Abstract: The relationships between urban area and population size have been empirically demonstrated to follow the scaling law of allometric growth. This allometric scaling is based on exponential growth of city size and can be termed “exponential allometry”, which is associated with the concepts of fractals. However, both city population and urban area comply with the course of logistic growth rather than exponential growth. In this paper, I will present a new allometric scaling based on logistic growth to solve the above mentioned problem. The logistic growth is a process of replacement dynamics. Defining a pair of replacement quotients as new measurements, which are functions of urban area and population, we can derive an allometric scaling relation from the logistic processes of urban growth, which can be termed “logistic allometry”. The exponential allometric relation between urban area and population is the approximate expression of the logistic allometric equation when the city size is not large enough. The proper range of the allometric scaling exponent value is reconsidered through the logistic process. Then, a medium-sized city of Henan Province, China, is employed as an example to validate the new allometric relation. The logistic allometry is helpful for further understanding the fractal property and self-organized process of urban evolution in the right perspective

  12. Research on Relationship Among Internet-Addiction, Personality Traits and Mental Health of Urban Left-Behind Children

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ge, Ying; Se, Jun; Zhang, Jingfu

    2015-01-01

    Aim: In this research, we attempted at exploring the relationships among urban left-behind children’s internet-addiction, personality traits and mental health. Methods: In the form of three relevant questionnaires (Adolescent Pathological Internet Use Scale, Eysenck Personality Questionnaire, Children’s Edition in Chinese and Mental Health Test), 796 urban left-behind children in China were investigated, concerning internet-addiction, personality traits and mental health. Results: (1) The internet-addiction rate of urban left-behind children in China reached10.8%—a relatively high figure, with the rate among males higher than that among females. In terms of internet-addition salience, the figure of urban left-behind children was obviously higher than that of non-left-behind children. (2) In China, the personality deviation rate of the overall left-behind children was 15.36%; while the personality deviation rate of the internet-addicted urban left-behind children was 38.88%, a figure prominently higher than that of the non-addicted urban left-behind children group, with the rate among females higher than that among males. (3) The mental health problem rate of the overall urban left-behind children in China was 8.43%; while the rate of the internet-addicted urban left-behind children was 27.77%, a figure significantly higher than that of the non-addicted urban left-behind children. (4) There were significant relationships among internet-addiction, personality traits and mental health. The total score of internet-addiction and its related dimensions can serve as indicators of personality neuroticism, psychoticism and the total scores of mental health. PMID:25946911

  13. Perceptions of impact: Invasive alien plants in the urban environment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Potgieter, Luke J; Gaertner, Mirijam; O'Farrell, Patrick J; Richardson, David M

    2018-06-08

    Many alien plant species are introduced to urban areas to create, augment or restore ecosystem services (ES). However, many of these species spread beyond original plantings, sometimes causing negative effects on existing ES or creating novel ecosystem disservices (EDS). An understanding of the perceptions of urban residents regarding invasive alien plants (IAPs) and the ES and EDS they provide is needed for the effective prioritisation of IAP management efforts in cities. Using the city of Cape Town, South Africa as a case study, we conducted questionnaire-based surveys (online and face-to-face) to determine the perceptions of urban residents regarding IAPs and their capacity to provide ES and EDS. Most urban residents perceive IAPs negatively (i.e. agreeing that they create EDS), but many recognise their importance in providing ES. Although most residents are not opposed to the management of IAPs, such actions are not perceived as a high priority relative to other environmental problems. Socio-demographic variables such as age, education, environmental awareness, and ethnicity shape urban residents' perceptions of IAPs. Older, more educated respondents were more likely to perceive IAPs negatively, while respondents with greater environmental awareness were aware of the benefits provided by IAPs. This study highlights the need to integrate public perceptions into the planning and management of IAPs and emphasises the importance of including ES assessments into the decision-making process, particularly in urban areas. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  14. Urban-hazard risk analysis: mapping of heat-related risks in the elderly in major Italian cities.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Morabito, Marco; Crisci, Alfonso; Gioli, Beniamino; Gualtieri, Giovanni; Toscano, Piero; Di Stefano, Valentina; Orlandini, Simone; Gensini, Gian Franco

    2015-01-01

    Short-term impacts of high temperatures on the elderly are well known. Even though Italy has the highest proportion of elderly citizens in Europe, there is a lack of information on spatial heat-related elderly risks. Development of high-resolution, heat-related urban risk maps regarding the elderly population (≥ 65). A long time-series (2001-2013) of remote sensing MODIS data, averaged over the summer period for eleven major Italian cities, were downscaled to obtain high spatial resolution (100 m) daytime and night-time land surface temperatures (LST). LST was estimated pixel-wise by applying two statistical model approaches: 1) the Linear Regression Model (LRM); 2) the Generalized Additive Model (GAM). Total and elderly population density data were extracted from the Joint Research Centre population grid (100 m) from the 2001 census (Eurostat source), and processed together using "Crichton's Risk Triangle" hazard-risk methodology for obtaining a Heat-related Elderly Risk Index (HERI). The GAM procedure allowed for improved daytime and night-time LST estimations compared to the LRM approach. High-resolution maps of daytime and night-time HERI levels were developed for inland and coastal cities. Urban areas with the hazardous HERI level (very high risk) were not necessarily characterized by the highest temperatures. The hazardous HERI level was generally localized to encompass the city-centre in inland cities and the inner area in coastal cities. The two most dangerous HERI levels were greater in the coastal rather than inland cities. This study shows the great potential of combining geospatial technologies and spatial demographic characteristics within a simple and flexible framework in order to provide high-resolution urban mapping of daytime and night-time HERI. In this way, potential areas for intervention are immediately identified with up-to-street level details. This information could support public health operators and facilitate coordination for heat-related

  15. Urban-hazard risk analysis: mapping of heat-related risks in the elderly in major Italian cities.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Marco Morabito

    Full Text Available Short-term impacts of high temperatures on the elderly are well known. Even though Italy has the highest proportion of elderly citizens in Europe, there is a lack of information on spatial heat-related elderly risks.Development of high-resolution, heat-related urban risk maps regarding the elderly population (≥ 65.A long time-series (2001-2013 of remote sensing MODIS data, averaged over the summer period for eleven major Italian cities, were downscaled to obtain high spatial resolution (100 m daytime and night-time land surface temperatures (LST. LST was estimated pixel-wise by applying two statistical model approaches: 1 the Linear Regression Model (LRM; 2 the Generalized Additive Model (GAM. Total and elderly population density data were extracted from the Joint Research Centre population grid (100 m from the 2001 census (Eurostat source, and processed together using "Crichton's Risk Triangle" hazard-risk methodology for obtaining a Heat-related Elderly Risk Index (HERI.The GAM procedure allowed for improved daytime and night-time LST estimations compared to the LRM approach. High-resolution maps of daytime and night-time HERI levels were developed for inland and coastal cities. Urban areas with the hazardous HERI level (very high risk were not necessarily characterized by the highest temperatures. The hazardous HERI level was generally localized to encompass the city-centre in inland cities and the inner area in coastal cities. The two most dangerous HERI levels were greater in the coastal rather than inland cities.This study shows the great potential of combining geospatial technologies and spatial demographic characteristics within a simple and flexible framework in order to provide high-resolution urban mapping of daytime and night-time HERI. In this way, potential areas for intervention are immediately identified with up-to-street level details. This information could support public health operators and facilitate coordination for heat-related

  16. The problematization of urban sprawl in the United States

    OpenAIRE

    Chang, John

    2006-01-01

    This paper examines the controversy over urban sprawl in the United States. Because there is abundant descriptive literature about urban sprawl as well as numerous prescriptive “strategies” and “toolkits” to “tame” and “fight” sprawl, this paper instead examines urban sprawl as a social construction and specifically focuses on its non-problematization, the phenomenon of social groups which do not or refuse to acknowledge sprawl as a legitimate problem.

  17. A study about the prevalence and the related factors of metabolic syndrome and fatty liver comparing the urban area to tbe industrial area

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Jeong, Hyo Eun; Cho, Pyong Kon [Dept. of of Radiological Science, Catholic University of Daegu. Daegu (Korea, Republic of)

    2016-09-15

    As the tertiary industry is being developed, many problems are introduced in an industrial area in Korea. This study aims to investigate the residents' health conditions, such as the prevalence of metabolic syndrome and fatty liver diagnosed by ultrasonography, comparing the urban with the industrial areas. The subjects were 378 adults in the urban area and 376 adults in the industrial area. Subject variables accounted for were gender, age, drinking habits, smoking habits, physical activities, waist circumferences and BMI. In blood tests, fasting blood glucose, triglyceride, HDL, blood pressures, total cholesterol, AST, ALT and GGT were examined. Also, the presence and absence of fatty liver, diagnosed using ultrasonography, was investigated. As a result, the prevalence of metabolic syndrome were 43.7% in the urban area and 51.6% in the industrial area, hence it was significantly higher in the industrial area than in the urban area. Fasting blood glucose, triglyceride and waist circumference in the distribution of the individual components were 47.4, 53.7, and 16.1% in the urban area and 54.5, 61.5, and 22.9% in the industrial area respectively, so it was substantially higher in the industrial area than in the urban area. On the other hand, HDL, diastolic blood pressure, and fatty liver were 25.7, 43.4, and 44.7% in the urban area and 21.3, 19.9, and 36.7% in the industrial area respectively and thus it was much higher in the urban area than in the industrial area. In conclusion, this study shows that there were significant differences between the residents' health condition, comparing the urban area to the industrial area. Therefore, the precaution and aggressive management of metabolic syndrome may be necessary, in accordance with the characteristics of the industrial zone.

  18. A study about the prevalence and the related factors of metabolic syndrome and fatty liver comparing the urban area to tbe industrial area

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Jeong, Hyo Eun; Cho, Pyong Kon

    2016-01-01

    As the tertiary industry is being developed, many problems are introduced in an industrial area in Korea. This study aims to investigate the residents' health conditions, such as the prevalence of metabolic syndrome and fatty liver diagnosed by ultrasonography, comparing the urban with the industrial areas. The subjects were 378 adults in the urban area and 376 adults in the industrial area. Subject variables accounted for were gender, age, drinking habits, smoking habits, physical activities, waist circumferences and BMI. In blood tests, fasting blood glucose, triglyceride, HDL, blood pressures, total cholesterol, AST, ALT and GGT were examined. Also, the presence and absence of fatty liver, diagnosed using ultrasonography, was investigated. As a result, the prevalence of metabolic syndrome were 43.7% in the urban area and 51.6% in the industrial area, hence it was significantly higher in the industrial area than in the urban area. Fasting blood glucose, triglyceride and waist circumference in the distribution of the individual components were 47.4, 53.7, and 16.1% in the urban area and 54.5, 61.5, and 22.9% in the industrial area respectively, so it was substantially higher in the industrial area than in the urban area. On the other hand, HDL, diastolic blood pressure, and fatty liver were 25.7, 43.4, and 44.7% in the urban area and 21.3, 19.9, and 36.7% in the industrial area respectively and thus it was much higher in the urban area than in the industrial area. In conclusion, this study shows that there were significant differences between the residents' health condition, comparing the urban area to the industrial area. Therefore, the precaution and aggressive management of metabolic syndrome may be necessary, in accordance with the characteristics of the industrial zone

  19. Water in urban planning, Salt Creek Basin, Illinois water management as related to alternative land-use practices

    Science.gov (United States)

    Spieker, Andrew Maute

    1970-01-01

    Water management can be an integral part of urban comprehensive planning in a large metropolitan area. Water both imposes constraints on land use and offers opportunities for coordinated land and water management. Salt Creek basin in Cook and Du Page Counties of the Chicago metropolitan area is typical of rapidly developing suburban areas and has been selected to illustrate some of these constraints and opportunities and to suggest the effects of alternative solutions. The present study concentrates on the related problems of ground-water recharge, water quality, management of flood plains, and flood-control measures. Salt Creek basin has a drainage area of 150 square miles. It is in flat to. gently rolling terrain, underlain by glacial drift as much as 200 feet thick which covers a dolomite aquifer. In 1964, the population of the basin was about 400,000, and 40 percent of the land was in urban development. The population is expected to number 550,000 to 650,000 by 1990, and most of the land will be taken by urban development. Salt Creek is a sluggish stream, typical of small drainage channels in the headwaters area of northeastern Illinois. Low flows of 15 to 25 cubic feet per second in the lower part of the basin consist largely of sewage effluent. Nearly all the public water supplies in the basin depend on ground water. Of the total pumpage of 27.5 million gallons per day, 17.5 million gallons per day is pumped from the deep (Cambrian-Ordovician) aquifers and 10 million gallons per day is pumped from the shallow (Silurian dolomite and glacial drift) aquifers. The potential yield of the shallow aquifers, particularly glacial drift in the northern part of the basin, far exceeds present use. The largest concentration of pumpage from the shallow ,aquifers is in the Hinsdale-La Grange area. Salt Creek serves as an important source of recharge to these supplies, particularly just east of Hinsdale. The entire reach of Salt Creek south and east of Elmhurst can be

  20. Examining the influence of urban definition when assessing relative safety of drinking-water in Nigeria.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Christenson, Elizabeth; Bain, Robert; Wright, Jim; Aondoakaa, Stephen; Hossain, Rifat; Bartram, Jamie

    2014-08-15

    Reducing inequalities is a priority from a human rights perspective and in water and public health initiatives. There are periodic calls for differential national and global standards for rural and urban areas, often justified by the suggestion that, for a given water source type, safety is worse in urban areas. For instance, initially proposed post-2015 water targets included classifying urban but not rural protected dug wells as unimproved. The objectives of this study were to: (i) examine the influence of urban extent definition on water safety in Nigeria, (ii) compare the frequency of thermotolerant coliform (TTC) contamination and prevalence of sanitary risks between rural and urban water sources of a given type and (iii) investigate differences in exposure to contaminated drinking-water in rural and urban areas. We use spatially referenced data from a Nigerian national randomized sample survey of five improved water source types to assess the extent of any disparities in urban-rural safety. We combined the survey data on TTC and sanitary risk with map layers depicting urban versus rural areas according to eight urban definitions. When examining water safety separately for each improved source type, we found no significant urban-rural differences in TTC contamination and sanitary risk for groundwater sources (boreholes and protected dug wells) and inconclusive findings for piped water and stored water. However, when improved and unimproved source types were combined, TTC contamination was 1.6 to 2.3 times more likely in rural compared to urban water sources depending on the urban definition. Our results suggest that different targets for urban and rural water safety are not justified and that rural dwellers are more exposed to unsafe water than urban dwellers. Additionally, urban-rural analyses should assess multiple definitions or indicators of urban to assess robustness of findings and to characterize a gradient that disaggregates the urban-rural dichotomy

  1. Persistent Monitoring of Urban Infrasound Phenomenology. Report 1: Modeling an Urban Environment for Acoustical Analyses using the 3-D Finite-Difference Time-Domain Program PSTOP3D

    Science.gov (United States)

    2015-08-01

    ER D C TR -1 5- 5 Remote Assessment of Critical Infrastructure Persistent Monitoring of Urban Infrasound Phenomenology Report 1...ERDC TR-15-5 August 2015 Persistent Monitoring of Urban Infrasound Phenomenology Report 1: Modeling an Urban Environment for Acoustical Analyses...Figure 5.1. Main spreadsheet containing problem setup. ..................................................................... 74 Figure 5.2. Definition

  2. [Infestation status Aedes albopictus and related mosquito-borne infectious disease risk in central urban area in Shanghai].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gao, Q; Xiong, C L; Zhou, Y B; Cao, H; Jiang, Q W

    2016-05-01

    To evaluate Aedes albopictus infestation status in the central urban area of Shanghai, and analyze the related epidemic risk of mosquito-borne infectious disease. Consecutive mosquito surveillance was conducted in the green lands and residential areas in the central urban area of Shanghai during 2012-2014, the Aedes albopictus density and its seasonal fluctuation were observed; the sequence of Aedes albopictus in Shanghai was aligned with that in other epidemic area abroad, and the susceptibility of Aedes albopictus to mosquito-borne virus and endemic risk were analyzed. No Aedes aegypti was found in the central urban area of Shanghai. As predominant species in both the residential area and the green lands, the proportion of Aedes albopictus in the residential area was significantly higher than that in the green lands(78.53% vs. 19.99%, χ(2) =15 525.168, PAedes albopictus in Shanghai and Aedes albopictus in Africa was quite far. No Aedes aegypti was found in Shanghai and its surrounding areas, while Aedes albopictus infestation in the central urban area of Shanghai was serious. Strict measures should be taken to reduce the Aedes albopictus density for the effective control Zika virus spread.

  3. Urban Runoff: Getting to the Nonpoint

    OpenAIRE

    Pendall, Rolf

    1994-01-01

    Mandates for water-quality improvement have forced regulators and planners to confront the problem of urban runoff, still an important source of water pollution. This ar­ticle discusses those mandates and how to meet them, and provides examples of ongoing nonpoint water pollution control programs in the San Francisco Bay Area. These examples suggest that cleanup of urban runoff may require more comprehensive regional planning to encourage a de­velopment pattern conducive to pollution control.

  4. City logistics initiatives aimed at improving sustainability by changing the context of urban area

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tadić Snežana R.

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available City logistics is a field that attracts increasing attention of professionals and scientific community and international organizations. Research on problems of urban areas' logistics gives different results and practical solutions. City logistics flows are characterized by partiality, spatial dispersion of generators, diversity in terms of the logistics chains structure, frequency of a large number of smaller shipments, dynamism, stochasticity etc. Problems and the complexity of logistics in urban areas as well as significant decline in the quality of life in modern cities have caused the development of initiatives and concepts of city logistics which should allow the sustainable development of urban areas. The first part of this paper presents the problems of city logistics and impact of logistics activities on urban areas in terms of economic, environmental and social sustainability. The second part presents city logistics initiatives that involve the change of urban area context, in order to improve its sustainability.

  5. Generalizable open source urban water portfolio simulation framework demonstrated using a multi-objective risk-based planning benchmark problem.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Trindade, B. C.; Reed, P. M.

    2017-12-01

    The growing access and reduced cost for computing power in recent years has promoted rapid development and application of multi-objective water supply portfolio planning. As this trend continues there is a pressing need for flexible risk-based simulation frameworks and improved algorithm benchmarking for emerging classes of water supply planning and management problems. This work contributes the Water Utilities Management and Planning (WUMP) model: a generalizable and open source simulation framework designed to capture how water utilities can minimize operational and financial risks by regionally coordinating planning and management choices, i.e. making more efficient and coordinated use of restrictions, water transfers and financial hedging combined with possible construction of new infrastructure. We introduce the WUMP simulation framework as part of a new multi-objective benchmark problem for planning and management of regionally integrated water utility companies. In this problem, a group of fictitious water utilities seek to balance the use of the mentioned reliability driven actions (e.g., restrictions, water transfers and infrastructure pathways) and their inherent financial risks. Several traits of this problem make it ideal for a benchmark problem, namely the presence of (1) strong non-linearities and discontinuities in the Pareto front caused by the step-wise nature of the decision making formulation and by the abrupt addition of storage through infrastructure construction, (2) noise due to the stochastic nature of the streamflows and water demands, and (3) non-separability resulting from the cooperative formulation of the problem, in which decisions made by stakeholder may substantially impact others. Both the open source WUMP simulation framework and its demonstration in a challenging benchmarking example hold value for promoting broader advances in urban water supply portfolio planning for regions confronting change.

  6. Factors of urban sprawl in Bulgaria

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Slaev Aleksandar D.

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available Urban sprawl has become a topical urban issue first in North America and later in Western Europe. It turned into a major challenge to urban sustainability. However, sprawl in Western Europe has displayed many specific features different than that in North America and these features are related to the concrete circumstances in the two continents. The social, economic and urban situation in the new European democracies is also quite different and this inevitably has its impact on the forms of sprawl. One of the main characteristics of sprawl is that it is considered to be market-led. More precisely, a major factor is the lack of balance between market trends and planning policy that allows for the market players to determine the use of their plots in suburban locations with little reference to the public interests and issues of sustainability. As the countries in Eastern and South-eastern Europe have already made certain progress on their way to market society, the problems of sprawl were faced in these countries too. The goal of the paper is to apply widely accepted definitions of sprawl to the processes in the suburbs of Sofia and, thus, to assess whether these are processes of sprawl. It also aims to study the specific traditions and residential preferences of Sofia’s population in order to identify specific characteristics and aspects of the Bulgarian model. The findings of the paper confirm that Bulgaria’s capital Sofia is experiencing processes of urban sprawl, particularly in its southern suburban areas - in the foot of Vitosha Mountain. Next, these processes display strong regional characteristics. So far sprawl in Bulgaria is less intensive than that in Western Europe but also than that in the post-socialist countries in Central Europe and in Baltic states. Eventually, the urban forms of Bulgarian sprawl tend to be denser and with mix of single-family and multi-family residential types and mix of land uses.

  7. Dissemination of regional rainfall analysis in design and analysis of urban drainage at un-gauged locations

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Arnbjerg-Nielsen, K.; Harremoes, Poul; Mikkelsen, Peter Steen

    2002-01-01

    regional variation of extreme rainfalls throughout the country. This has implications for design and analysis of all practical problems related to urban drainage, since the rainfall data so far recommended as input to engineering analyses underestimates the problems. Consequently, the Danish Water......A research program in Denmark on statistical modelling of rainfall has resulted in a model for regional distribution of rainfall extremes. The results show that extreme rainfalls critical to the hydraulic function of urban drainage systems and the pollution discharge are subject to a significant...... Pollution Control Committee has issued a statement recommending a new engineering practice. The dissemination of the research results proved to be difficult due to lack of understanding of the concepts of the new paradigm by practitioners. The traditional means of communication was supplemented by user...

  8. Modernizing potential of urban multiculturalism: Beyond regionalism

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Milošević Božo V.

    2002-01-01

    Full Text Available The main intention of the. author is to strengthen critical sociological approach to positivistic attempts that still exist in out society and that have been trying, out of the sociological discourse, to impose themselves as 'the last novelty' which, allegedly, should help a professional adaptation of sociological profession in social (actually, political practice. That is the reason why the modernization potential is explained as theoretical-hypothetical basis for understanding of contemporary needs for regionalization (as one of the aspects of developmental problems of contemporary societies, and, at the same time, as a knowledge need for critical reconsideration of regionalism (as etatistic mediation in distribution of power of political elites. Sociological approach to the problems of regionalization is a part of sociological research of social development. That is why this problem is one of numerous factors that influence the possibility of a concrete society to reproduce itself. Due to this reason, problems of regionalization cannot be (sociologically explained outside of theoretical perspective of modernization. It means that the problems of regionalization cannot be reduced to (legal and political problem of regionalism, as a problem of state and its territorial and political organization (in the inter-space of local communities and its center, but it calls for broader sociological problematization (because it reflects the characteristics of the modernization of concrete society. In this respect, real problems of legal and political regionalism are situated in less visible structural-historical and social-cultural feature of development of modern societies and their correspondent states; namely beyond regionalism. Since sociological approach to regionalization tries to find out real social-cultural links and relations that make some concrete territorial community specific within a global society, it is necessary in sociological research

  9. Landfill gas from solid urban waste - an opportunity evaluation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gramatikov, Plamen; Kovachev, Vassil; Gramatikova, Marija

    2004-01-01

    The problems (technical, economic, social etc.) which have to be solved by municipal waste treatment, especially in Central/East European towns, are discussed in this work. Percentages of products and calorific values of the main solid organic wastes are estimated. Different urban waste utilisation methods - Landfills Anaerobic digestion, Incineration, Refuse-derived fuels, Pyrolysis and Gasification are comment in this paper. These methods are compared using the town of Blagoevgrad (Bulgaria) as an example. It is round that a well established landfill gas production technology offers simplicity of collection (such as is practised in most of low and moderately developed countries like Bulgaria), relatively simple operation and maintenance, improvement of the environmental protection and of the energy production (based on the local disposal and renewable energy sources) and is more feasible for the East European urban concentrations. (Author)

  10. Pharmacist intervention in drug-related problems for patients with ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Trop J Pharm Res, October 2016; 15(10): 2275. Tropical Journal of ... medication errors in irrational drug use, while patient adherence ..... Drug-related problems identified from geriatric medication safety ... Ann. Pharmacother. 2005; 39:1423-.

  11. Child feeding practices in families of working and nonworking mothers of Indonesian middle class urban families: what are the problems?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Roshita, Airin; Schubert, Elizabeth; Whittaker, Maxine

    2013-01-01

    This study aims to explore the feeding practices in families of working and nonworking mothers with children (aged 12-36 months) of different nutritional status and types of domestic caregiver in Indonesian urban middle class families. It was designed as a qualitative multiple case study. Mothers and caregivers from 26 families were interviewed in depth, and caregivers were categorized as family and domestic-paid caregivers. The result suggested that offering formula milk to young children was a common practice, and there was a high recognition and familiarity toward a range of formula milk brands. Mothers reported challenges in encouraging their children to eat, and in some cases they appeared to lack knowledge on overcoming their child's feeding problem. The findings suggested the need to address the child feeding problems experienced by mothers in order to overcome the double burden of child nutrition in Indonesia.

  12. 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....

  13. Equity, sustainability and governance in urban settings.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rice, Marilyn; Hancock, Trevor

    2016-03-01

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

  14. Anxiety Sensitivity and Sleep-Related Problems in Anxious Youth

    Science.gov (United States)

    Weiner, Courtney L.; Elkins, Meredith; Pincus, Donna; Comer, Jonathan

    2015-01-01

    Anxiety disorders constitute the most common mental health disturbance experienced by youth. Sleep-related problems (SRPs) are highly prevalent among anxious youth and encompass a variety of problems including nighttime fears, insomnia, and refusal to sleep alone. Given that chronic sleep disturbance is associated with a range of behavioral and physical problems in youth and predicts future psychopathology, it is important to elucidate the nature of SRPs in anxious youth. The present study investigated the relationship between sleep problems and anxiety sensitivity in a sample of 101 anxious youth, ages 6–17. Heightened anxiety sensitivity significantly predicted prolonged sleep onset latency across the sample, even after accounting for severity of anxiety, depression, and age. Results support previous research indicating that SRPs are common among anxious youth and suggest that anxiety sensitivity may play a particularly important role in sleep onset latency. PMID:25863826

  15. Terrorism-related trauma in Africa, an increasing problem.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Alfa-Wali, Maryam; Sritharan, Kaji; Mehes, Mira; Abdullah, Fizan; Rasheed, Shahnawaz

    2015-06-01

    Global terrorist activities have increased significantly over the past decade. The impact of terrorism-related trauma on the health of individuals in low- and middle-income countries is under-reported. Trauma management in African countries in particular is uncoordinated, with little or no infrastructure to cater for emergency surgical needs. This article highlights the need for education, training and research to mitigate the problems related to terrorism and surgical public health. Copyright © 2014 Ministry of Health, Saudi Arabia. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  16. Statistics and Corporate Environmental Management: Relations and Problems

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Madsen, Henning; Ulhøi, John Parm

    1997-01-01

    Statistical methods have long been used to analyse the macroeconomic consequences of environmentally damaging activities, political actions to control, prevent, or reduce these damages, and environmental problems in the natural environment. Up to now, however, they have had a limited and not very...... in the external environment. The nature and extent of the practical use of quantitative techniques in corporate environmental management systems is discussed on the basis of a number of company surveys in four European countries.......Statistical methods have long been used to analyse the macroeconomic consequences of environmentally damaging activities, political actions to control, prevent, or reduce these damages, and environmental problems in the natural environment. Up to now, however, they have had a limited and not very...... specific use in corporate environmental management systems. This paper will address some of the special problems related to the use of statistical techniques in corporate environmental management systems. One important aspect of this is the interaction of internal decisions and activities with conditions...

  17. The Functions and Problems of the Urban University: A Comparative Perspective.

    Science.gov (United States)

    City Univ. of New York, NY. Graduate School. Center for European Studies.

    Issues concerning the urban university in Great Britain, France, Sweden, Japan, and West Germany are considered in the five selected conference papers that make up this document. In "Analysis in Politics: The Regionalization of Swedish Higher Education," Rune Premfors discusses how Swedish regionalization of higher education used…

  18. Examining the influence of urban definition when assessing relative safety of drinking-water in Nigeria

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Christenson, Elizabeth; Bain, Robert [The Water Institute at UNC, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, NC (United States); Wright, Jim [Geography and Environment, University of Southampton, Southampton (United Kingdom); Aondoakaa, Stephen [Geography and Environmental Management, University of Abuja, Abuja (Nigeria); School of Geography, University of Nottingham, Nottingham (United Kingdom); Hossain, Rifat [World Health Organization, Geneva (Switzerland); Bartram, Jamie, E-mail: jbartram@unc.edu [The Water Institute at UNC, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, NC (United States)

    2014-08-15

    Reducing inequalities is a priority from a human rights perspective and in water and public health initiatives. There are periodic calls for differential national and global standards for rural and urban areas, often justified by the suggestion that, for a given water source type, safety is worse in urban areas. For instance, initially proposed post-2015 water targets included classifying urban but not rural protected dug wells as unimproved. The objectives of this study were to: (i) examine the influence of urban extent definition on water safety in Nigeria, (ii) compare the frequency of thermotolerant coliform (TTC) contamination and prevalence of sanitary risks between rural and urban water sources of a given type and (iii) investigate differences in exposure to contaminated drinking-water in rural and urban areas. We use spatially referenced data from a Nigerian national randomized sample survey of five improved water source types to assess the extent of any disparities in urban–rural safety. We combined the survey data on TTC and sanitary risk with map layers depicting urban versus rural areas according to eight urban definitions. When examining water safety separately for each improved source type, we found no significant urban–rural differences in TTC contamination and sanitary risk for groundwater sources (boreholes and protected dug wells) and inconclusive findings for piped water and stored water. However, when improved and unimproved source types were combined, TTC contamination was 1.6 to 2.3 times more likely in rural compared to urban water sources depending on the urban definition. Our results suggest that different targets for urban and rural water safety are not justified and that rural dwellers are more exposed to unsafe water than urban dwellers. Additionally, urban–rural analyses should assess multiple definitions or indicators of urban to assess robustness of findings and to characterize a gradient that disaggregates the urban

  19. Examining the influence of urban definition when assessing relative safety of drinking-water in Nigeria

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Christenson, Elizabeth; Bain, Robert; Wright, Jim; Aondoakaa, Stephen; Hossain, Rifat; Bartram, Jamie

    2014-01-01

    Reducing inequalities is a priority from a human rights perspective and in water and public health initiatives. There are periodic calls for differential national and global standards for rural and urban areas, often justified by the suggestion that, for a given water source type, safety is worse in urban areas. For instance, initially proposed post-2015 water targets included classifying urban but not rural protected dug wells as unimproved. The objectives of this study were to: (i) examine the influence of urban extent definition on water safety in Nigeria, (ii) compare the frequency of thermotolerant coliform (TTC) contamination and prevalence of sanitary risks between rural and urban water sources of a given type and (iii) investigate differences in exposure to contaminated drinking-water in rural and urban areas. We use spatially referenced data from a Nigerian national randomized sample survey of five improved water source types to assess the extent of any disparities in urban–rural safety. We combined the survey data on TTC and sanitary risk with map layers depicting urban versus rural areas according to eight urban definitions. When examining water safety separately for each improved source type, we found no significant urban–rural differences in TTC contamination and sanitary risk for groundwater sources (boreholes and protected dug wells) and inconclusive findings for piped water and stored water. However, when improved and unimproved source types were combined, TTC contamination was 1.6 to 2.3 times more likely in rural compared to urban water sources depending on the urban definition. Our results suggest that different targets for urban and rural water safety are not justified and that rural dwellers are more exposed to unsafe water than urban dwellers. Additionally, urban–rural analyses should assess multiple definitions or indicators of urban to assess robustness of findings and to characterize a gradient that disaggregates the urban

  20. Green infrastructure and urban sustainability

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hagishima, Aya

    2018-02-01

    Temperature increase in urban areas due to the urban heat island as well as the global climate change inevitably raises the peak load supply for space cooling as well as the risk of heat-related illness in hot climate. This paper provides the comprehensive review of the thermal mitigation effect of urban vegetation based on the field observations.

  1. The challenges of urban management in Uganda

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Buyinza Mukadasi

    2013-07-01

    The challenges that the urban areas face include the problem of two populations (the night and day time; high generation of garbage; poor revenue base; a growing informal sector; growing squatter settlements; deterioratingwater quality; and the limited institutional capacity to provide the required urban services. Financial resource mobilisation has been inadequate due to high costs oft= administration, low institutional capacity for enforcement, and a general public apathy to tax payment.

  2. 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...

  3. Thematic report on urban energy planning

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Meijers, Evert; Romein, Arie; Stead, Dominic

    The report reviews relations between urban structure (spatial structure + institutional structure) and four core themes of urban energy: • Urban planning and energy use in buildings (mainly residential buildings) • Industrial energy use and urban form • Spatial Planning, Urban Form and Transport...... Energy Consumption • Urban energy generation The reports ends with a summary of potential measure and policies of spatial planning in each of the four themes. However, we highlight also that it is crucial to consider the wider perspective and include considerations of potential rebound effects on direct...

  4. The Correlation of Geo-Ecological Environment and Mountain Urban planning

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yang, Chun; Zeng, Wei

    2018-01-01

    As a special area with the complex geological structure, mountain city is more prone to geological disasters. Due to air pollution, ground subsidence, serious water pollution, earthquakes and floods geo-ecological environment problems have become increasingly serious, mountain urban planning is facing more severe challenges. Therefore, this article bases on the correlation research of geo-ecological environment and mountain urban planning, and re-examins mountain urban planning from the perspective of geo-ecological, coordinates the relationship between the human and nature by geo-ecological thinking, raises the questions which urban planning need to pay attention. And advocates creating an integrated system of geo-ecological and mountain urban planning, analysis the status and dynamics of present mountain urban planning.

  5. Urban distribution centers : a means to reducing freight vehicle miles traveled.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-02-01

    The present study examines the model of freight consolidation platforms, and urban distribution centers (UDCs) in particular, as a means to solve the last mile problem of urban freight while reducing vehicle miles traveled and associated environmenta...

  6. Urbanization and stream ecology: Diverse mechanisms of change

    Science.gov (United States)

    Roy, Allison; Capps, Krista A.; El-Sabaawi, Rana W.; Jones, Krista L.; Parr, Thomas B.; Ramirez, Alonso; Smith, Robert F.; Walsh, Christopher J.; Wenger, Seth J.

    2016-01-01

    The field of urban stream ecology has evolved rapidly in the last 3 decades, and it now includes natural scientists from numerous disciplines working with social scientists, landscape planners and designers, and land and water managers to address complex, socioecological problems that have manifested in urban landscapes. Over the last decade, stream ecologists have met 3 times at the Symposium on Urbanization and Stream Ecology (SUSE) to discuss current research, identify knowledge gaps, and promote future research collaborations. The papers in this special series on urbanization and stream ecology include both primary research studies and conceptual synthesis papers spurred from discussions at SUSE in May 2014. The themes of the meeting are reflected in the papers in this series emphasizing global differences in mechanisms and responses of stream ecosystems to urbanization and management solutions in diverse urban streams. Our hope is that this series will encourage continued interdisciplinary and collaborative research to increase the global understanding of urban stream ecology toward stream protection and restoration in urban landscapes.

  7. The manifestation of depression in the context of urban poverty: a factor analysis of the Children's Depression Inventory in low-income urban youth.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Taylor, Jeremy J; Grant, Kathryn E; Amrhein, Kelly; Carter, Jocelyn Smith; Farahmand, Farahnaz; Harrison, Aubrey; Thomas, Kina J; Carleton, Russell A; Lugo-Hernandez, Eduardo; Katz, Brian N

    2014-12-01

    The current study used confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) to compare the fit of 2 factor structures for the Children's Depression Inventory (CDI) in an urban community sample of low-income youth. Results suggest that the 6-factor model developed by Craighead and colleagues (1998) was a strong fit to the pattern of symptoms reported by low-income urban youth and was a superior fit with these data than the original 5-factor model of the CDI (Kovacs, 1992). Additionally, results indicated that all 6 factors from the Craighead model contributed to the measurement of depression, including School Problems and Externalizing Problems especially for older adolescents. This pattern of findings may reflect distinct contextual influences of urban poverty on the manifestation and measurement of depression in youth. (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved.

  8. Discussion on the Project Financing Problems in the Process of Urban Infrastructure Construction%对城市基础设施建设过程中的项目融资问题探讨

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    柴任澎

    2014-01-01

    在城市规划发展的过程中，基础设施建设起到了关键性的作用，城市基础设施建设的规模逐渐加大，融资问题也引起了广泛关注，本文将以此为中心，结合自身工作经验，对城市基础设施建设过程中项目的融资问题进行探讨。%In the process of urban planning and development, infrastructure construction plays a key role. With the gradual y increasing of urban infrastructure construction scale, the fin-ancing problem causes widely public concern. Surrounding th-is central task and combining with own work experience, this article discusses the project financing problems in the process of urban infrastructure construction.

  9. Sanitation challenges of the poor in urban and rural settings: Case studies of Bengaluru City and rural North Karnataka

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Seshaiah, Manasi; Nagesh, Latha; Ramesh, Hemalatha

    2017-01-01

    Bengaluru city faces severe challenges in providing sanitation infrastructure for the urban poor. Similarly, we have villages in North Karnataka that encounter problems of toilet access and related challenges. This paper addresses concerns both in city and rural contexts. We surveyed 400 respondents

  10. Distinguishing spatiotemporal variability of sediment sources in small urbanized catchment as a response to urban expansion

    Science.gov (United States)

    Belyaev, Vladimir; Feoktistov, Artem; Huygens, Dries; Shamshurina, Eugenia; Golosov, Valentin

    2014-05-01

    Understanding hydrological response and geomorphic behavior of small catchments in urban environments, especially those experiencing urban expansion, represents serious and important problem which has not yet been given an adequate research attention. Urbanization exerts profound and diverse impacts on catchment characteristics, particularly by increasing surface runoff coefficients, peak flow discharges and rates of flash flood waves propagation as a result of widespread appearance of buildings and paved surfaces with practically zero infiltration capacities. Another essential influence of urbanization on small catchment hydrological regimes is associated with significant changes of natural topography (from relatively minor modifications such as grading of steeper slopes to complete transformations including total filling of gullies and small valleys, transfer of small streams from surface into underground pipes or collectors, etc.) combined with creation of systems of concrete-protected surface drainages and underground storm flow sewages. Such activities can result in substantial changes of runoff- and sediment-contributing areas for the remaining gullies and small valleys in comparison to the pre-urbanization conditions, causing dramatic increase of fluvial activity in some of those and much lower flow discharges in others. In addition, gullies and small valleys in urban settlements often become sites of dumping for both dry and liquid domestic and industrial wastes, thus being major pathways for dissolved and particle-bound pollutant transfer into perennial streams and rivers. All the problems listed require detailed hydrological and geomorphic investigations in order to provide sound basis for developing appropriate measures aimed to control and decrease urban erosion, sediment redistribution, pollution of water bodies, damage to constructions and communications. Recent advances in sediment tracing and fingerprinting techniques provide promising opportunities

  11. Resilient Urban Infrastructures - Basics of Smart Sustainable Cities

    Science.gov (United States)

    Timashev, S. A.

    2017-11-01

    In this paper the notion of urban infrastructure resilience is formulated being expressed verbally and strictly in conditional probability terms. It is further used to formulate several most important features of a smart city. This multidisciplinary and multifaceted approach is used to explain the concept of quantitative resilience in urban design, operation, managing urban risk and mitigating of the consequences of a natural or industrial disaster. The extremely urgent problem is formulated on how to connect the physical and spatial (core) resiliencies with the functional, organizational, economic and social resiliencies.

  12. Freight distribution problems in congested urban areas : fast and effective solution procedures to time-dependent vehicle routing problems

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-01-01

    Congestion is a common phenomenon in all medium to large cities of the world. Reliability of freight movement in urban areas is an important : issue to manufacturing or service companies whose operation is based in just-in-time approaches. These comp...

  13. Impact of energy consumption on urban warming and air pollution in Tokyo metropolitan area

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Saitoh, T.S.; Hoshi, H.

    1995-01-01

    The rapid progress of industrialization and urbanization due to economic growth and concentration of social function in the urban areas in Japan have had an adverse effect on the urban environment. In most cities, it has become evident that the increase in energy consumption is causing environmental problems, including a temperature rise in the urban atmosphere (urban heat island) and air pollution. This paper reports the results of field observations and three dimensional simulations of the urban heat island using a three-dimensional modelling vorticity-velocity vector potential formation, in the Tokyo metropolitan area. According to the simulation for urban warming in the study area for the year 2031, the maximum temperature of a summer evening (18:00) would exceed 43 degrees celsius, indicating that Tokyo would no longer be comfortable for its inhabitants. It is concluded that in the near future, the problem of the urban heat island will become a more important issue than that of global warming because the rate of urban warming is greater. For this reason, the urban heat island could be fatal to humans unless resolved in the near future. (author). 1 tab., 11 figs., 18 refs

  14. Dietary Health Behaviors of Women Living in High Rise Dwellings: A Case Study of an Urban Community in Malaysia

    OpenAIRE

    Karupaiah, Tilakavati; Swee, Winnie Chee Siew; Liew, Siew Ying; Ng, Boon Koon; Chinna, Karuthan

    2012-01-01

    Diet-related non-communicable disease (DR-NCD) occurrence is a serious problem amongst Malaysian women and urbanization is probably a challenge to their achieving the nutritional environment conducive to healthy eating. This case study aimed to determine diet quality of an urban community using women respondents from high rise dwellings in Kuala Lumpur. The sample consisted of 135 households and a healthy eating index (HEI) scale was used to evaluate the women?s diet quality. A total of 128 w...

  15. Interfacial modulation of urban affect

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Samson, Kristine

    Urban culture can increasingly be understood as interface culture (Munster) in which urban design, cultural institutions and architecture increasingly operate as affective interfaces distributing and mediating human perception, consumption and social encounters. As noted by Amin and Thrift (2002......, Massey 2006), they also exclude in depth social and human interaction. Through analysis of three examples of urban affective interfaces (The High Line in New York, Superkilen in Copenhagen and Stålsat By, Frederiksværk, the paper examines how affective urban interfaces modulate and mediate urban...... environments as bodily and sensorial experiences. It asks what is mediated through the interface – whether the. It also asks, what is excluded when urban environments become affective interfaces in the global networked city. Whereas urban interface collect and distribute the bodily and sensible in relational...

  16. The concept of a walkable city as an alternative form of urban mobility

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Katarzyna TUROŃ

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available The article is dedicated to the concept of the walkable city as an alternative form of urban mobility. In the work, the authors present basic principles connected with the notion of walkability in the context of sustainable development and sustainable transport. The authors also discuss pro-pedestrian solutions implemented in the Polish cities of Łódź, Rybnik, Szczecin, Gdynia, Wrocław and Katowice, including examples of good practice regarding walkability and the “Walk Score” indicator. The article also introduces typical problems related to pedestrians’ movement around the city. The advantages of implementing the walkability concept and the factors related to making cities more “pedestrianfriendly” are mentioned as well. Overall, the aim of this work is to introduced the concept of walkability as an alternative form of smart mobility in the context of urban logistics.

  17. A Hybrid Genetic Algorithm for Multi-Trip Green Capacitated Arc Routing Problem in the Scope of Urban Services

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Erfan Babaee Tirkolaee

    2018-04-01

    Full Text Available Greenhouse gases (GHG are the main reason for the global warming during the past decades. On the other hand, establishing a well-structured transportation system will yield to create least cost-pollution. This paper addresses a novel model for the multi-trip Green Capacitated Arc Routing Problem (G-CARP with the aim of minimizing total cost including the cost of generation and emission of greenhouse gases, the cost of vehicle usage and routing cost. The cost of generation and emission of greenhouse gases is based on the calculation of the amount of carbon dioxide emitted from vehicles, which depends on such factors as the vehicle speed, weather conditions, load on the vehicle and traveled distance. The main applications of this problem are in municipalities for urban waste collection, road surface marking and so forth. Due to NP-hardness of the problem, a Hybrid Genetic Algorithm (HGA is developed, wherein a heuristic and simulated annealing algorithm are applied to generate initial solutions and a Genetic Algorithm (GA is then used to generate the best possible solution. The obtained numerical results indicate that the proposed algorithm could present desirable performance within a suitable computational run time. Finally, a sensitivity analysis is implemented on the maximum available time of the vehicles in order to determine the optimal policy.

  18. FUTURE WATER MANAGEMENT PROBLEMS IN ASIAN MEGACITIES

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dieter Prinz

    2015-10-01

    Full Text Available Today, about half of the world population lives in urban areas and in the coming 20 years, urbanization is expected to increase steadily, especially in the Developing World. Based on UN data and projections, about 4 out of the 5 billion world urban population will live in developing countries by 2030. Large cities in the Developing World face the problem of unplanned growth, coupled with the financial and operational inability to offer the public services needed to sustain a decent life in urban environments. Water is one of those essential commodities which is often short in supply and/or of low quality. Additionally, flood poses a threat to urban dwellers during rainy season. The water management challenges in tropical urban areas today and in the decades to come can be characterized by (1 fighting physical shortcomings in water resources, (2 coping with contamination of groundwater, rivers, lakes, and reservoirs by domestic, agricultural or industrial waste and waste water, (3 mitigating environmental impacts of water extraction (such as loss of wetlands, subsidence and seawater intrusion , (4 preventing / mastering flood situations and (5 overcoming administrative and financial strains and operational incapacities. Solutions to the problems of urban water in 20 years time are to be found in supply side and demand side measures. The first group includes (1 optimal use of surface water and groundwater resources, (2 pollution protection, (3 watershed management and (4 more water storage. The second group includes (1 educational training, (2 technological innovation, (3 water conservation and (4 water pricing.

  19. 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.

  20. URBAN SPRAWL AND SUSTAINABLE CITY DEVELOPMENT IN NIGERIA

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rosemary Nnaemeka-Okeke

    2016-04-01

    Full Text Available Urban environmental problems are of different dimensions and are mostly due to geologic, climatic and cultural factors. However, the cultural factors seems to be more pronounced in the Nigerian context because most of the identified urban environmental issues are so much associated with the way of life of the people, either as reactions to urbanization or their spatial heritage. Their effects are far reaching on efforts to attain sustainable development in the country. Since no section of the country’s urban environment is immune to environmental effects, there is urgent need to seek workable solutions by the application of planning, economic, legal, institutional and educational tools as have been suggested here.

  1. Are Electronic Conferences a Solution in Search of an Urban Problem?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Klecka, Cari; Clift, Renee; Cheng, Yu-Ming

    2005-01-01

    This article briefly reviews initiatives that have attempted to create communities of educators using Web-based, electronic conferencing. The authors critically analyze the advocacy for electronic communication as a medium for bringing educators together across time and distance with an emphasis on what is known about urban schools, access to…

  2. Urban Farm Business Plan Handbook

    Science.gov (United States)

    The Urban Farm Business Plan Handbook (this document) provides guidance for developing a business plan for the startup and operation of an urban farm. It focuses on food and non-food related cultivated agriculture.

  3. Several dominants risk factors related to obesity in urban childbearing age women in Indonesia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kencana Sari

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available AbstrakLatar belakang: Prevalensi kegemukan pada perempuan semakin meningkat terutama di daerahperkotaan yang dapat menyebabkan meningkatnya risiko penyakit kronis. Penelitian ini bertujuan untukmenganalisis beberapa faktor risiko dominan terhadap obesitas pada wanita usia subur usia yang tinggaldi daerah perkotaan di wilayah perkotaan di Indonesia.Metode: Naskah ini memakai sebagian data Riset Kesehatan Dasar (Riskesdas 2007 data. Subjek terdiridari 76408 wanita di usia subur (15-49 years tinggal di daerah perkotaan yang dengan status gizi normaldan gemuk yang berasal dari 258366 rumah tangga. Data Riskesdas tentang faktor-faktor sosio-demografidan lainnya dikumpulkan dengan kuesioner. Status gizi diukur dengan menggunakan indeks massa tubuh(IMT yang dikategorikan menjadi normal, (18,5–24,9 dan gemuk (27 atau lebih. Analisis menggunakanregresi Cox dengan waktu yang tetap.Hasil: Pada analisis ini terdapat 18,8% (14357 wanita obese dan 81.2% (62052 normal. Wanita berusia 25-49 tahun memiliki 3,5 kali lipat risiko lebih besar menjadi obese [risiko relatif suaian (RRa = 3,49; P= 0,000],dan yang bercerai atau menikah berisiko 2,5 kali lipat lebih tinggi terhadap obesitas (masing-masing RRa =2,58; P = 0,000 dan RRa = 2.62; P = 0,000. Wanita tidak bekerja berisiko lebih tinggi untuk menjadi obese(RRa = 1,06; p = 0,000. Selanjutnya, mengkonsumsi protein berlebih, dan sering makan makanan berlemakmemiliki risiko lebih tinggi terhadap obesitas, (RRa = 1,09; P = 0,000 dan RRa = 1,17; P = 0,000.Kesimpulan: Wanita berusia 25-49 tahun, bercerai atau menikah, pengangguran, mengkonsumsi proteinberlebih, dan sering mengkonsumsi makanan berlemak mempunyai risiko obesitas lebih tinggi. (HealthScience Journal of Indonesia 2015;6:63-8Kata kunci: obesitas, perkotaan, wanita usia subur AbstractBackground: The prevalence of women suffered from obesity is elevating, mostly in urban areas. Thiscould lead problems especially for chronic diseases. This study aimed to

  4. ANALYTICAL ESTIMATION OF MINIMUM AND MAXIMUM TIME EXPENDITURES OF PASSENGERS AT AN URBAN ROUTE STOP

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gorbachov, P.

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available This scientific paper deals with the problem related to the definition of average time spent by passengers while waiting for transport vehicles at urban stops as well as the results of analytical modeling of this value at traffic schedule unknown to the passengers and of two options of the vehicle traffic management on the given route.

  5. Global assessment of rural-urban interface in Portugal related to land cover changes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tonini, Marj; Parente, Joana; Pereira, Mário G.

    2018-06-01

    The rural-urban interface (RUI), known as the area where structures and other human developments meet or intermingle with wildland and rural area, is at present a central focus of wildfire policy and its mapping is crucial for wildfire management. In the Mediterranean Basin, humans cause the vast majority of fires and fire risk is particularly high in the proximity of infrastructure and of rural/wildland areas. RUI's extension changes under the pressure of environmental and anthropogenic factors, such as urban growth, fragmentation of rural areas, deforestation and, more in general, land use/land cover change (LULCC). As with other Mediterranean countries, Portugal has experienced significant LULCC in the last decades in response to migration, rural abandonment, ageing of population and trends associated with the high socioeconomic development. In the present study, we analyzed the LULCC occurring in this country in the 1990-2012 period with the main objective of investigating how these changes affected RUI's evolution. Moreover, we performed a qualitative and quantitative characterization of burnt areas within the RUI in relation to the observed changes. Obtained results disclose important LULCC and reveal their spatial distribution, which is far from uniform within the territory. A significant increase in artificial surfaces was registered near the main metropolitan communities of the northwest, littoral-central and southern regions, whilst the abandonment of agricultural land near the inland urban areas led to an increase in uncultivated semi-natural and forest areas. Within agricultural areas, heterogeneous patches suffered the greatest changes and were the main contributors to the increase in urban areas; moreover, this land cover class, together with forests, was highly affected by wildfires in terms of burnt area. Finally, from this analysis and during the investigated period, it appears that RUI increased in Portugal by more than two-thirds, while the total

  6. Global assessment of rural–urban interface in Portugal related to land cover changes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    M. Tonini

    2018-06-01

    Full Text Available The rural–urban interface (RUI, known as the area where structures and other human developments meet or intermingle with wildland and rural area, is at present a central focus of wildfire policy and its mapping is crucial for wildfire management. In the Mediterranean Basin, humans cause the vast majority of fires and fire risk is particularly high in the proximity of infrastructure and of rural/wildland areas. RUI's extension changes under the pressure of environmental and anthropogenic factors, such as urban growth, fragmentation of rural areas, deforestation and, more in general, land use/land cover change (LULCC. As with other Mediterranean countries, Portugal has experienced significant LULCC in the last decades in response to migration, rural abandonment, ageing of population and trends associated with the high socioeconomic development. In the present study, we analyzed the LULCC occurring in this country in the 1990–2012 period with the main objective of investigating how these changes affected RUI's evolution. Moreover, we performed a qualitative and quantitative characterization of burnt areas within the RUI in relation to the observed changes. Obtained results disclose important LULCC and reveal their spatial distribution, which is far from uniform within the territory. A significant increase in artificial surfaces was registered near the main metropolitan communities of the northwest, littoral-central and southern regions, whilst the abandonment of agricultural land near the inland urban areas led to an increase in uncultivated semi-natural and forest areas. Within agricultural areas, heterogeneous patches suffered the greatest changes and were the main contributors to the increase in urban areas; moreover, this land cover class, together with forests, was highly affected by wildfires in terms of burnt area. Finally, from this analysis and during the investigated period, it appears that RUI increased in Portugal by more than two

  7. Science and technology related global problems: An international survey of science educators

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bybee, Rodger W.; Mau, Teri

    This survey evaluated one aspect of the Science-Technology-Society theme, namely, the teaching of global problems related to science and technology. The survey was conducted during spring 1984. Two hundred sixty-two science educators representing 41 countries completed the survey. Response was 80%. Findings included a ranking of twelve global problems (the top six were: World Hunger and Food Resources, Population Growth, Air Quality and Atmosphere, Water Resources, War Technology, and Human Health and Disease). Science educators generally indicated the following: the science and technology related global problems would be worse by the year 2000; they were slightly or moderately knowledgeable about the problems; print, audio-visual media, and personal experiences were their primary sources of information; it is important to study global problems in schools; emphasis on global problems should increase with age/grade level; an integrated approach should be used to teach about global problems; courses including global problems should be required of all students; most countries are in the early stages of developing programs including global problems; there is a clear trend toward S-T-S; there is public support for including global problems; and, the most significant limitations to implementation of the S-T-S theme (in order of significance) are political, personnel, social, psychological, economic, pedagogical, and physical. Implications for research and development in science education are discussed.

  8. City Planning Evolution - Urban Development Directions in the Transition Period

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mircea Grigorovschi

    2010-03-01

    Full Text Available Urban evolution post 1989 has a series of specific characteristics mainly on a spatial-territorial plane. Determination of the main developing factors and urban evolution directions (dimensions, rhythm, expansion level, centrifugal and axial character, concentric, centripetal, functional evolution, tendencies and social implications, etc. represents a necessity and obligation for action from professionals in urban and landscaping fields. This necessity even arises from the perspective of the need for realizing strategies, planning, documentation and urban studies, which must intervene correctively in the evolution of areas with structural problems and to guide urban evolution towards the main goal namely the growth in residential quality of life in human settlements.

  9. Social Inequalities and Gender Differences in the Experience of Alcohol-Related Problems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Grittner, Ulrike; Kuntsche, Sandra; Graham, Kathryn; Bloomfield, Kim

    2012-01-01

    Aims: To examine the influence of country-level characteristics and individual socio-economic status (SES) on individual alcohol-related consequences. Methods: Data from 42,655 men and women collected by cross-sectional surveys in 25 countries of the Gender, Alcohol and Culture: An International Study study were used. The individual SES was measured by the highest attained educational level. Alcohol-related consequences were defined as the self-report of at least one internal or one external consequence in the last year. The relationship between individuals’ education and alcohol-related consequences was examined by meta-analysis. In a second step, the individual level data and country data were combined in multilevel models. As country-level indicators, we used the purchasing power parity of the gross national income (GNI), the Gini coefficient and the Gender Gap Index. Results: Lower educated men and women were more likely to report consequences than higher educated men and women even after controlling for drinking patterns. For men, this relation was significant for both internal and external problems. For women, it was only significant for external problems. The GNI was significantly associated with reporting external consequences for men such that in lower income countries men were more likely to report social problems. Conclusion: The fact that problems accrue more quickly for lower educated persons even if they drink in the same manner can be linked to the social or environmental dimension surrounding problems. That is, those of fewer resources are less protected from the experience of a problem or the impact of a stressful life event. PMID:22542707

  10. Social inequalities and gender differences in the experience of alcohol-related problems.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Grittner, Ulrike; Kuntsche, Sandra; Graham, Kathryn; Bloomfield, Kim

    2012-01-01

    To examine the influence of country-level characteristics and individual socio-economic status (SES) on individual alcohol-related consequences. Data from 42,655 men and women collected by cross-sectional surveys in 25 countries of the Gender, Alcohol and Culture: An International Study study were used. The individual SES was measured by the highest attained educational level. Alcohol-related consequences were defined as the self-report of at least one internal or one external consequence in the last year. The relationship between individuals' education and alcohol-related consequences was examined by meta-analysis. In a second step, the individual level data and country data were combined in multilevel models. As country-level indicators, we used the purchasing power parity of the gross national income (GNI), the Gini coefficient and the Gender Gap Index. Lower educated men and women were more likely to report consequences than higher educated men and women even after controlling for drinking patterns. For men, this relation was significant for both internal and external problems. For women, it was only significant for external problems. The GNI was significantly associated with reporting external consequences for men such that in lower income countries men were more likely to report social problems. The fact that problems accrue more quickly for lower educated persons even if they drink in the same manner can be linked to the social or environmental dimension surrounding problems. That is, those of fewer resources are less protected from the experience of a problem or the impact of a stressful life event.

  11. Hybrid Evolutionary Metaheuristics for Concurrent Multi-Objective Design of Urban Road and Public Transit Networks

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Miandoabchi, Elnaz; Farahani, Reza Zanjirani; Dullaert, Wout; Szeto, W. Y.

    This paper addresses a bi-modal multi-objective discrete urban road network design problem with automobile and bus flow interaction. The problem considers the concurrent urban road and bus network design in which the authorities play a major role in designing bus network topology. The road network

  12. The Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) Approach for Assessment of Urban Renewal Proposals

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee, Grace K. L.; Chan, Edwin H. W.

    2008-01-01

    The problem of urban decay in Hong Kong is getting worse recently; therefore, the importance of urban renewal in improving the physical environment conditions and the living standards of the citizens is widely recognized in the territory. However, it is not an easy task for the Hong Kong Government to prepare welcome urban renewal proposals…

  13. Smart urban design to reduce transportation impact in city centers

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fezzai, Soufiane; Mazouz, Said; Ahriz, Atef

    2018-05-01

    Air pollution is one of the most serious problems facing human being; urban wastes are in first range of energy consumption and emission of greenhouse gasses. Transportation or car traffic is one of the most consumer sectors of fuel, and most pollutant. Reducing energy consumption in transportation and the emission of pollutant gasses becomes an important objective for urban designers; many solutions may be proposed to help solving this problem in future designs, but it depend on other factors in existing urban space especially in city centers characterized with high occupation density. In this paper we investigate traffic rate in the city center of the case study, looking for the causes of the high traffic using gate count method and estimating fuel consumption. We try to propose some design solutions to reduce distances so fuel consumption and emission of pollutant gasses. We use space syntax techniques to evaluate urban configuration and verify the proposed solutions.

  14. Structured prediction for urban scene semantic segmentation with geographic contex

    OpenAIRE

    Volpi Michele; Ferrari Vittorio

    2015-01-01

    In this work we address the problem of semantic segmentation of urban remote sensing images into land cover maps. We propose to tackle this task by learning the geographic context of classes and use it to favor or discourage certain spatial configuration of label assignments. For this reason, we learn from training data two spatial priors enforcing different key aspects of the geographical space: local co-occurrence and relative location of land cover classes. We propose to embed these geogra...

  15. Urban atmospheres.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gandy, Matthew

    2017-07-01

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

  16. Urban Space Explorer: A Visual Analytics System for Urban Planning.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Karduni, Alireza; Cho, Isaac; Wessel, Ginette; Ribarsky, William; Sauda, Eric; Dou, Wenwen

    2017-01-01

    Understanding people's behavior is fundamental to many planning professions (including transportation, community development, economic development, and urban design) that rely on data about frequently traveled routes, places, and social and cultural practices. Based on the results of a practitioner survey, the authors designed Urban Space Explorer, a visual analytics system that utilizes mobile social media to enable interactive exploration of public-space-related activity along spatial, temporal, and semantic dimensions.

  17. Introducing Urban Food Forestry: A Multifunctional Strategy for Enhancing Urban Sustainability

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nicholas, K. A.; Clark, K.

    2012-12-01

    We propose combining elements of urban agriculture and urban forestry into what we call "urban food forestry" (UFF), the practice of growing perennial woody food-producing species ("food trees") in cities. We used four approaches at different scales to gauge the potential of UFF to enhance urban sustainability, in the context of trends including increasing urbanization, resource demands, and climate change. First, we analyzed 37 current international initiatives based around urban food trees, finding that core activities included planting, mapping, and harvesting food trees, but that only about a quarter of initiatives engaged in more than one of these activities necessary to fully utilize the food potential of urban trees. Second, we analyzed 30 urban forestry master plans, finding that only 13% included human food security among their objectives. Third, we used Burlington, Vermont as a case study to quantify the potential caloric output of publicly accessible open space if planted with Malus domestica (the common apple) under 9 different scenarios. We found that the entire caloric deficit of the very low food security population could be met on as few as 29 hectares (representing 16% of total open space), and that 98% of the daily recommended minimum intake of fruit for the entire city's population could be met under the most ambitious planting scenario. Finally, we developed a decision-making tool for selecting potential food trees appropriate for temperate urban environments, the Climate-Food-Species Matrix. We identified a total of 70 species, 30 of which we deemed "highly suitable" for urban food forestry based on their cold hardiness, drought tolerance, and edibility. We conclude that urban food forestry provides multiple pathways for building urban sustainability through local food production, and that our framework can be used to increase the coordination between and effectiveness of a growing number of related initiatives.

  18. Urban air pollution in Latin America and the Caribbean

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Romieu, I.; Weitzenfeld, H.; Finkelman, J.

    1991-01-01

    Urban air pollution has become an increasing problem in Latin America and the Caribbean. One reason is the rapid expansion in the size of the urban population. This phenomenon is associated with an increase in the number of vehicles and in energy utilization which, in addition to industrial processes often concentrated in the cities, are the primary sources of air pollution i n Latin American cities. The air quality standards established in such countries are frequently exceeded although control programs have been implemented. The urban areas more affected by anthropogenic pollutant emissions are Sao Paulo, Brazil; Santiago, Chile; and Mexico City. In Latin America, the population of cities with high priority air pollution problems include approximately 81 million people or 26.5 percent of the total urban population of Latin America, corresponding to 30 million children (<15 years), 47 million adults (15-59 years) and 4 million elderly people (≥60 years) who are exposed to air pollutant levels that exceed World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines for adequate health protection

  19. On a covariant 2+2 formulation of the initial value problem in general relativity

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Smallwood, J.

    1980-03-01

    The initial value problems in general relativity are considered from a geometrical standpoint with especial reference to the development of a covariant 2+2 formalism in which space-time is foliated by space-like 2-surfaces under the headings; the Cauchy problem in general relativity, the covariant 3+1 formulation of the Cauchy problem, characteristic and mixed initial value problems, on locally imbedding a family of null hypersurfaces, the 2+2 formalism, the 2+2 formulation of the Cauchy problem, the 2+2 formulation of the characteristic and mixed initial value problems, and a covariant Lagrangian 2+2 formulation. (U.K.)

  20. The Urban Food-Water Nexus: Modeling Water Footprints of Urban Agriculture using CityCrop

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tooke, T. R.; Lathuilliere, M. J.; Coops, N. C.; Johnson, M. S.

    2014-12-01

    Urban agriculture provides a potential contribution towards more sustainable food production and mitigating some of the human impacts that accompany volatility in regional and global food supply. When considering the capacity of urban landscapes to produce food products, the impact of urban water demand required for food production in cities is often neglected. Urban agricultural studies also tend to be undertaken at broad spatial scales, overlooking the heterogeneity of urban form that exerts an extreme influence on the urban energy balance. As a result, urban planning and management practitioners require, but often do not have, spatially explicit and detailed information to support informed urban agricultural policy, especially as it relates to potential conflicts with sustainability goals targeting water-use. In this research we introduce a new model, CityCrop, a hybrid evapotranspiration-plant growth model that incorporates detailed digital representations of the urban surface and biophysical impacts of the built environment and urban trees to account for the daily variations in net surface radiation. The model enables very fine-scale (sub-meter) estimates of water footprints of potential urban agricultural production. Results of the model are demonstrated for an area in the City of Vancouver, Canada and compared to aspatial model estimates, demonstrating the unique considerations and sensitivities for current and future water footprints of urban agriculture and the implications for urban water planning and policy.

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