40 CFR 81.170 - Miles City Intrastate Air Quality Control Region.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 18 2014-07-01 2014-07-01 false Miles City Intrastate Air Quality Control Region. 81.170 Section 81.170 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (CONTINUED... Quality Control Regions § 81.170 Miles City Intrastate Air Quality Control Region. The Miles City...

40 CFR 81.170 - Miles City Intrastate Air Quality Control Region.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 18 2013-07-01 2013-07-01 false Miles City Intrastate Air Quality Control Region. 81.170 Section 81.170 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (CONTINUED... Quality Control Regions § 81.170 Miles City Intrastate Air Quality Control Region. The Miles City...

40 CFR 81.170 - Miles City Intrastate Air Quality Control Region.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 17 2011-07-01 2011-07-01 false Miles City Intrastate Air Quality Control Region. 81.170 Section 81.170 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (CONTINUED... Quality Control Regions § 81.170 Miles City Intrastate Air Quality Control Region. The Miles City...

40 CFR 81.170 - Miles City Intrastate Air Quality Control Region.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 17 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Miles City Intrastate Air Quality Control Region. 81.170 Section 81.170 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (CONTINUED... Quality Control Regions § 81.170 Miles City Intrastate Air Quality Control Region. The Miles City...

The Pursuit of Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Certification for Campus Housing at Public Universities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Konvalinka, April Hicks

2014-01-01

This dissertation identifies the reasons why institutions of higher education pursue Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification for new construction of campus housing. The research was guided by three questions: 1. Why did the institution choose to pursue LEED certification for campus housing? 2. What considerations should…

Measuring Polycentricity of Mega-City Regions in China Based on the Intercity Migration Flows

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mu, Xiaoyan; Yeh, Anthony G. O.

2016-06-01

This paper uses the intercity migration flows to examine relations between Chinese cities, identify the important mega-city regions and measure each region's polycentricity from an interaction perspective. Data set contains the long-term residential migration trajectories of three million Sina weibo users across 345 cities. Cities with close connectivity deployed around one or several mega cities are identified as mega-city regions. Features of the mega-city regions are characterized by the strength of migration flows, density of connections, and regional migration patterns. The results show that the disparities exist in different mega-city regions; most mega-city regions are lack of polycentricity.

Regional cities in Australia's changing urban system.

PubMed

Beer, A

1995-01-01

"There is evidence that Australia's urban system is changing. Since the mid-1970s there has been growth in the number and total population of regional cities. It is argued that this growth is a product of restructuring and the de-regulation of the Australian economy. Regional cities have become more prominent in the national economy as centres for manufacturing, as a consequence of the growth of tourism and recreation industries, through the decline in some areas of smaller urban settlements and as a result of new mining developments." excerpt

Walkable new urban LEED_Neighborhood-Development (LEED-ND) community design and children's physical activity: selection, environmental, or catalyst effects?

PubMed

Stevens, Robert B; Brown, Barbara B

2011-12-20

Interest is growing in physical activity-friendly community designs, but few tests exist of communities explicitly designed to be walkable. We test whether students living in a new urbanist community that is also a pilot LEED_ND (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design-Neighborhood Development) community have greater accelerometer-measured moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) across particular time periods compared to students from other communities. We test various time/place periods to see if the data best conform to one of three explanations for MVPA. Environmental effects suggest that MVPA occurs when individuals are exposed to activity-friendly settings; selection effects suggest that walkable community residents prefer MVPA, which leads to both their choice of a walkable community and their high levels of MVPA; catalyst effects occur when walking to school creates more MVPA, beyond the school commute, on schooldays but not weekends. Fifth graders (n = 187) were sampled from two schools representing three communities: (1) a walkable community, Daybreak, designed with new urbanist and LEED-ND pilot design standards; (2) a mixed community (where students lived in a less walkable community but attended the walkable school so that part of the route to school was walkable), and (3) a less walkable community. Selection threats were addressed through controlling for parental preferences for their child to walk to school as well as comparing in-school MVPA for the walkable and mixed groups. Minutes of MVPA were tested with 3 × 2 (Community by Gender) analyses of covariance (ANCOVAs). Community walkability related to more MVPA during the half hour before and after school and, among boys only, more MVPA after school. Boys were more active than girls, except during the half hour after school. Students from the mixed and walkable communities--who attended the same school--had similar in-school MVPA levels, and community groups did not differ in weekend

Project LEEDS: Leadership Education To Empower Disabled Students. Final Report.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Aune, Betty; And Others

This final report describes the activities of Project LEEDS (Leadership Education to Empower Disabled Students), a federally supported project designed to create student/staff teams from colleges and universities to encourage undergraduate/graduate students with disabilities to become leaders, through development of self-identity and identity with…

Lifelong Learning in German Learning Cities/Regions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Reghenzani-Kearns, Denise; Kearns, Peter

2012-01-01

This paper traces the policies and lessons learned from two consecutive German national programs aimed at developing learning cities/regions. Known as Learning Regions Promotion of Networks, this first program transitioned into the current program, Learning on Place. A case study chosen is from the Tolzer region where a network has self-sustained…

Re-evaluation of a LEED Platinum Building: Occupant experiences of health and comfort.

PubMed

Dorsey, Julie; Hedge, Alan

2017-01-01

There is a need to better understand the perceived experiences of workers in green buildings as the literature to this point has been mixed. To re-evaluate occupant experiences within a LEED platinum building and investigate current experiences in general. An online post occupancy evaluation (POE) survey of 62 occupants of LEED Platinum building on a US college campus is reported. The online survey addressed indoor environmental quality in relation to health, productivity and satisfaction. Of the respondents, 38.7% had participated in a prior POE of this building in 2011 and results were compared for this subgroup, as well as for overall results. There was a significant increase in satisfaction with office workstations and air freshness as compared to 3 years earlier. However, there was also a significant increase in reported frequency of all physical symptoms. When looking just at the current POE results, control over features of the workstation had a significant relationship with most outcomes of interest. While improvements have been noted, issues continue to exist that have implications for health, productivity and satisfaction. The results of this study have implications for the ergonomic design of workstations and indoor environmental quality within LEED buildings.

40 CFR 81.102 - Metropolitan Quad Cities Interstate Air Quality Control Region.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 17 2011-07-01 2011-07-01 false Metropolitan Quad Cities Interstate... Designation of Air Quality Control Regions § 81.102 Metropolitan Quad Cities Interstate Air Quality Control Region. The Metropolitan Quad Cities Interstate Air Quality Control Region (Illinois-Iowa) consists of...

40 CFR 81.102 - Metropolitan Quad Cities Interstate Air Quality Control Region.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 17 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Metropolitan Quad Cities Interstate... Designation of Air Quality Control Regions § 81.102 Metropolitan Quad Cities Interstate Air Quality Control Region. The Metropolitan Quad Cities Interstate Air Quality Control Region (Illinois-Iowa) consists of...

40 CFR 81.25 - Metropolitan Kansas City Interstate Air Quality Control Region.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 17 2011-07-01 2011-07-01 false Metropolitan Kansas City Interstate... Designation of Air Quality Control Regions § 81.25 Metropolitan Kansas City Interstate Air Quality Control Region. The Metropolitan Kansas City Interstate Air Quality Control Region (Missouri-Kansas) consists of...

40 CFR 81.25 - Metropolitan Kansas City Interstate Air Quality Control Region.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 17 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Metropolitan Kansas City Interstate... Designation of Air Quality Control Regions § 81.25 Metropolitan Kansas City Interstate Air Quality Control Region. The Metropolitan Kansas City Interstate Air Quality Control Region (Missouri-Kansas) consists of...

An analytical quality framework for learning cities and regions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Preisinger-Kleine, Randolph

2013-09-01

There is broad agreement that innovation, knowledge and learning have become the main source of wealth, employment and economic development of cities, regions and nations. Over the past two decades, the number of European cities and regions which label themselves as "learning city" or "learning region" has constantly grown. However, there are also pitfalls and constraints which not only hinder them in unlocking their full potential, but also significantly narrow their effects and their wider impact on society. Most prominently, learning cities and regions manifest serious difficulties in rendering transparent the surplus value they generate, which is vital for attracting investment into lifelong learning. While evaluation and quality management are still perceived as being a bureaucratic necessity rather than a lesson one could learn from or an investment in the future, it is also true that without evaluation and quality assurance local networks do not have the means to examine their strengths and weaknesses. In order to design strategies to maximise the strengths and effectively address the weaknesses it is necessary to understand the factors that contribute to success and those that pose challenges. This article proposes an analytical quality framework which is generic and can be used to promote a culture of quality in learning cities and regions. The proposed framework builds on the findings and results of the R3L+ project, part-funded by the European Commission under the Grundtvig (adult education) strand of the Lifelong Learning programme 2007-2013.

40 CFR 81.86 - Metropolitan Sioux City Interstate Air Quality Control Region.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 17 2011-07-01 2011-07-01 false Metropolitan Sioux City Interstate Air... Air Quality Control Regions § 81.86 Metropolitan Sioux City Interstate Air Quality Control Region. The Metropolitan Sioux City Interstate Air Quality Control Region (Iowa-Nebraska-South Dakota) consists of the...

40 CFR 81.86 - Metropolitan Sioux City Interstate Air Quality Control Region.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 17 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Metropolitan Sioux City Interstate Air... Air Quality Control Regions § 81.86 Metropolitan Sioux City Interstate Air Quality Control Region. The Metropolitan Sioux City Interstate Air Quality Control Region (Iowa-Nebraska-South Dakota) consists of the...

Cross ranking of cities and regions: population versus income

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cerqueti, Roy; Ausloos, Marcel

2015-07-01

This paper explores the relationship between the inner economical structure of communities and their population distribution through a rank-rank analysis of official data, along statistical physics ideas within two techniques. The data is taken on Italian cities. The analysis is performed both at a global (national) and at a more local (regional) level in order to distinguish ‘macro’ and ‘micro’ aspects. First, the rank-size rule is found not to be a standard power law, as in many other studies, but a doubly decreasing power law. Next, the Kendall τ and the Spearman ρ rank correlation coefficients which measure pair concordance and the correlation between fluctuations in two rankings, respectively,—as a correlation function does in thermodynamics, are calculated for finding rank correlation (if any) between demography and wealth. Results show non only global disparities for the whole (country) set, but also (regional) disparities, when comparing the number of cities in regions, the number of inhabitants in cities and that in regions, as well as when comparing the aggregated tax income of the cities and that of regions. Different outliers are pointed out and justified. Interestingly, two classes of cities in the country and two classes of regions in the country are found. ‘Common sense’ social, political, and economic considerations sustain the findings. More importantly, the methods show that they allow to distinguish communities, very clearly, when specific criteria are numerically sound. A specific modeling for the findings is presented, i.e. for the doubly decreasing power law and the two phase system, based on statistics theory, e.g. urn filling. The model ideas can be expected to hold when similar rank relationship features are observed in fields. It is emphasized that the analysis makes more sense than one through a Pearson Π value-value correlation analysis

40 CFR 81.214 - Black Hills-Rapid City Intrastate Air Quality Control Region.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 17 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Black Hills-Rapid City Intrastate Air... Air Quality Control Regions § 81.214 Black Hills-Rapid City Intrastate Air Quality Control Region. The Rapid City Intrastate Air Quality Control Region (South Dakota) has been renamed the Black Hills-Rapid...

40 CFR 81.214 - Black Hills-Rapid City Intrastate Air Quality Control Region.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 17 2011-07-01 2011-07-01 false Black Hills-Rapid City Intrastate Air... Air Quality Control Regions § 81.214 Black Hills-Rapid City Intrastate Air Quality Control Region. The Rapid City Intrastate Air Quality Control Region (South Dakota) has been renamed the Black Hills-Rapid...

Assessing urban forest effects and values: the greater Kansas City region

Treesearch

David J. Nowak; Allison R. Bodine; Robert E. III Hoehn; Daniel E. Crane; Alexis Ellis; Theodore A. Endreny; Yang Yang; Tom Jacobs; Kassie Shelton

2013-01-01

An analysis of trees in the greater Kansas City region of Missouri and Kansas reveals that this area has about 249,450,000 trees with tree and shrub canopy that covers 28.3 percent of the region. The most common tree species are American elm, northern hackberry, Osage-orange, honeylocust, and eastern redcedar. Trees in the greater Kansas City region currently store...

Closeup view of leeds and northrup strip chart recorders used ...

Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

Close-up view of leeds and northrup strip chart recorders used to indicate power usage on certain portions of the system. Note model board builders plaque which reads Kellogg Switchboard and Supply Company- Chicago, USA at left center of photograph. - Thirtieth Street Station, Load Dispatch Center, Thirtieth & Market Streets, Railroad Station, Amtrak (formerly Pennsylvania Railroad Station), Philadelphia, Philadelphia County, PA

LEED and AES characterization of the GaAs(110)-ZnSe interface

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Tu, D.-W.; Kahn, A.

1984-01-01

In this paper, a study is conducted of the composition and structure of epitaxial ZnSe films grown by congruent evaporation on GaAs(110) at a rate of 2 A/min. It is found that the films grown on 300 C GaAs are nearly stoichiometric and form an abrupt interface with the substrate. Films grown at higher temperature (T greater than 350-400 C) are Se rich. The crystallinity of films grown at 300 C is good and their surface atomic geometry is identical to that of a ZnSe crystal. The GaAs-ZnSe interface geometry seems to be dominated by the Se-substrate bonds. The adsorption of Se, during the formation of very thin ZnSe films (2-3 A), produces a (1 x 2) LEED pattern and modifications of the LEED I-V profiles, which probably indicate a change in the substrate atomic relaxation.

The First Robotics Rocket City Regional Competition

NASA Image and Video Library

2018-03-16

The First Robotics Rocket City Regional Competition was held at the Von Braun Civic Center in Huntsville, Alabama on March 16, 2018. High school robotics teams from throughout the U.S., as well as a team from Brazil, competed.

From Provider to Enabler of Care? Reconfiguring Local Authority Support for Older People and Carers in Leeds, 2008 to 2013

PubMed Central

Yeandle, Sue

2016-01-01

Abstract This article explores developments in the support available to older people and carers (i.e., caregivers) in the city of Leeds, United Kingdom, and examines provision changes during a period characterized by unprecedented resource constraint and new developments in national-local governance. Using documentary evidence, official statistics, and findings from recent studies led by the author, the effects of these changes on service planning and delivery and the approach taken by local actors to mitigate their impact are highlighted. The statistical data show a marked decline in some types of services for older people during a 5-year period during which the city council took steps to mobilize citizens and develop new services and system improvements. The analysis focuses on theories of social quality as a framework for analysis of the complex picture of change related to service provision. It concludes that although citizen involvement and consultations exerted a positive influence in delivering support to some older people and carers, research over a longer timescale is needed to show if these changes are adequate to protect older people and carers from the effects of ongoing budgetary constraints. PMID:27019540

Labour and Hospitals in Urban Yorkshire: Middlesbrough, Leeds and Sheffield, 1919–1938

PubMed Central

Doyle, Barry

2010-01-01

In the debates over the politics of National Health Service foundation, there has been little investigation of the attitudes of the inter-war labour movement to a state-run hospital system. In particular, there has been limited assessment of views outside parliament in provincial Labour parties and trade unions. Drawing on a case study of Middlesbrough, Leeds and Sheffield, this article examines the politics of hospital provision prior to the National Health Service (NHS). It focuses on the involvement of the labour movement in hospital provision within localities and on the extent to which the dominant form of labour politics—labourist or socialist—shaped hospital policy. It suggests that, in the heavy industrial towns of Middlesbrough and Sheffield, close involvement with voluntary hospitals through workers contributory schemes dampened the enthusiasm for a state system. However, such a policy was heavily promoted by socialists in more economically diverse Leeds.

Supplementary report on the ground-water supplies of the Atlantic City region

USGS Publications Warehouse

Barksdale, Henry C.; Sundstrom, Raymond W.; Brunstein, Maurice S.

1936-01-01

At present more potable water is taken from the Atlantic City 800-foot sand than from any other source of supply for the region. This sand is the sole source for some of the smaller communities on the barrier beaches. The original static head of the water in it at Atlantic City was between 20 and 25 feet above sea level. The head has been lowered more than 50 feet over much of the region,  and in parts of Atlantic City it has been lowered considerably more than 100 feet. A consideration of the principles governing the relation between salt water and fresh water in water-bearing sands indicates that the 800-foot sand probably contained salt water at a distance of 5 or 10 miles out from Atlantic City before any water was pumped from it. The evidence collected in this investigation indicates that the cone of depression created by the pumping from this sand in the Atlantic City region has probably extended inland to the intake area of the sand, the nearest part of which is probably about 40 miles from Atlantic City. If this is so, the conclusion is almost inescapable that it has also extended oceanward for a distance considerably greater than the 5 or 10 miles to the original zone of contact between the fresh and salt waters, and that salt water is probably being drawn toward the Atlantic City region through this sand. The time of its arrival will depend primarily upon the rate of pumping in the region and upon how much of the fresh water that originally lay between the region and the zone of contact must be removed before the salt water can reach the region. It may arrive in the near future if it advances in the form of a narrow tongue. On the other hand, if it advances along a broader front; so that more of the intervening fresh water must be pumped out of the formation, its arrival may be delayed for some time.

40 CFR 81.58 - Columbus (Georgia)-Phenix City (Alabama) Interstate Air Quality Control Region.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 17 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Columbus (Georgia)-Phenix City... PLANNING PURPOSES Designation of Air Quality Control Regions § 81.58 Columbus (Georgia)-Phenix City (Alabama) Interstate Air Quality Control Region. The Columbus (Georgia)-Phenix City (Alabama) Interstate...

40 CFR 81.58 - Columbus (Georgia)-Phenix City (Alabama) Interstate Air Quality Control Region.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 17 2011-07-01 2011-07-01 false Columbus (Georgia)-Phenix City... PLANNING PURPOSES Designation of Air Quality Control Regions § 81.58 Columbus (Georgia)-Phenix City (Alabama) Interstate Air Quality Control Region. The Columbus (Georgia)-Phenix City (Alabama) Interstate...

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

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Svirejeva-Hopkins, Anastasia

2010-05-01

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

The First Robotics Rocket City Regional Competition

NASA Image and Video Library

2018-03-16

The First Robotics Rocket City Regional Competition was held at the Von Braun Civic Center in Huntsville, Alabama on March 16, 2018. High school robotics teams from throughout the U.S., as well as a team from Brazil, competed. Costumed students were the normal at this event and lent it much color.

Cities and regions in Britain through hierarchical percolation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Arcaute, Elsa; Molinero, Carlos; Hatna, Erez; Murcio, Roberto; Vargas-Ruiz, Camilo; Masucci, A. Paolo; Batty, Michael

2016-04-01

Urban systems present hierarchical structures at many different scales. These are observed as administrative regional delimitations which are the outcome of complex geographical, political and historical processes which leave almost indelible footprints on infrastructure such as the street network. In this work, we uncover a set of hierarchies in Britain at different scales using percolation theory on the street network and on its intersections which are the primary points of interaction and urban agglomeration. At the larger scales, the observed hierarchical structures can be interpreted as regional fractures of Britain, observed in various forms, from natural boundaries, such as National Parks, to regional divisions based on social class and wealth such as the well-known North-South divide. At smaller scales, cities are generated through recursive percolations on each of the emerging regional clusters. We examine the evolution of the morphology of the system as a whole, by measuring the fractal dimension of the clusters at each distance threshold in the percolation. We observe that this reaches a maximum plateau at a specific distance. The clusters defined at this distance threshold are in excellent correspondence with the boundaries of cities recovered from satellite images, and from previous methods using population density.

A versatile substrate design for LEED and AES studies in uhv.

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Holloway, P. H.; Hudson, J. B.

1972-01-01

A substrate design is described that incorporates a single crystal disk into an electrically isolated, electron bombardment heated mount. Electron and photon leakage from the bombarding filament are prevented, and LEED and AES may be used at elevated temperatures. A cold finger, thermally coupled to the mount, decreases the time lost between cleaning the crystal and cooling it to the desired observation temperature. The cold finger also allows observation at temperatures below ambient.

Life-cycle thinking and the LEED rating system: global perspective on building energy use and environmental impacts.

PubMed

Al-Ghamdi, Sami G; Bilec, Melissa M

2015-04-07

This research investigates the relationship between energy use, geographic location, life cycle environmental impacts, and Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED). The researchers studied worldwide variations in building energy use and associated life cycle impacts in relation to the LEED rating systems. A Building Information Modeling (BIM) of a reference 43,000 ft(2) office building was developed and situated in 400 locations worldwide while making relevant changes to the energy model to meet reference codes, such as ASHRAE 90.1. Then life cycle environmental and human health impacts from the buildings' energy consumption were calculated. The results revealed considerable variations between sites in the U.S. and international locations (ranging from 394 ton CO2 equiv to 911 ton CO2 equiv, respectively). The variations indicate that location specific results, when paired with life cycle assessment, can be an effective means to achieve a better understanding of possible adverse environmental impacts as a result of building energy consumption in the context of green building rating systems. Looking at these factors in combination and using a systems approach may allow rating systems like LEED to continue to drive market transformation toward sustainable development, while taking into consideration both energy sources and building efficiency.

Integrating Building Information Modeling and Green Building Certification: The BIM-LEED Application Model Development

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wu, Wei

2010-01-01

Building information modeling (BIM) and green building are currently two major trends in the architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) industry. This research recognizes the market demand for better solutions to achieve green building certification such as LEED in the United States. It proposes a new strategy based on the integration of BIM…

The association between the geography of fast food outlets and childhood obesity rates in Leeds, UK.

PubMed

Fraser, Lorna K; Edwards, Kimberley L

2010-11-01

To analyse the association between childhood overweight and obesity and the density and proximity of fast food outlets in relation to the child's residential postcode. This was an observational study using individual level height/weight data and geographic information systems methodology. Leeds in West Yorkshire, UK. This area consists of 476 lower super-output areas. Children aged 3-14 years who lived within the Leeds metropolitan boundaries (n=33,594). The number of fast food outlets per area and the distance to the nearest fast food outlet from the child's home address. The weight status of the child: overweight, obese or neither. 27.1% of the children were overweight or obese with 12.6% classified as obese. There is a significant positive correlation (p<0.001) between density of fast food outlets and higher deprivation. A higher density of fast food outlets was significantly associated (p=0.02) with the child being obese (or overweight/obese) in the generalised estimating equation model which also included sex, age and deprivation. No significant association between distance to the nearest fast food outlet and overweight or obese status was found. There is a positive relationship between the density of fast food outlets per area and the obesity status of children in Leeds. There is also a significant association between fast food outlet density and areas of higher deprivation. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Structural Analysis of MoS2 and other 2D layered materials using LEEM/LEED-I(V) and STM

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Grady, Maxwell; Dai, Zhongwei; Jin, Wencan; Dadap, Jerry; Osgood, Richard; Sadowski, Jerzy; Pohl, Karsten

Layered two-dimensional materials, such as molybdenum disulfide, MoS2, are of interest for the development of many types of novel electronic devices. To fully understand the interfaces between these new materials, the atomic reconstructions at their surfaces must be understood. Low Energy Electron Microscopy and Diffraction, LEEM/ μLEED, present a unique method for rapid material characterization in real space and reciprocal space with high resolution. Here we present a study of the surface structure of 2H-MoS2 using μLEED intensity-voltage analysis. To aid this analysis, software is under development to automate the procedure of extracting I(V) curves from LEEM and LEED data. When matched with computational modeling, this data provides information with angstrom level resolution concerning the three dimensional atomic positions. We demonstrate that the surface structure of bulk MoS2 is distinct from the bulk crystal structure and exhibits a smaller surface relaxation at 320K compared to previous results at 95K. Furthermore, suspended monolayer samples exhibit large interlayer relaxations compared to the bulk surface termination. Further techniques for refining layer thickness determination are under development.

Design and Construction Process of Two LEED Certified University Buildings: A Collective Case Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rich, Kim

2011-01-01

This study was conducted at the early stages of integrating LEED into the design process in which a clearer understanding of what sustainable and ecological design was about became evident through the duration of designing and building of two academic buildings on a university campus. In this case study, due to utilizing a grounded theory…

City, region, and in between: New York City's water supply and the insights of regional history.

PubMed

Soll, David

2012-01-01

Urban historians have greatly expanded their geographical purview in recent years, incorporating suburbs and hinterlands into their analysis of social and environmental change. Urban environmental historians and suburban historians have played a critical role in the regionalization of urban history over the last decade. This case study of the development of New York City’s water supply reveals the benefits of taking a regional approach to urban history. From the New York Public Library to Central Park’s Great Lawn to neighborhood parks, the New York City landscape bears the traces of the continuous development of the city’s water network. Expansion of the water system in rural hinterlands enabled municipal officials to put urban reservoirs to new uses, creating some of the city’s most beloved public spaces. The rehabilitation of urban infrastructure underscores the intimate linkages between rural development and the urban built environment.

Measuring the globalization of cities from the new regionalism perspective.

PubMed

Ergüzel, Oylum Şehvez; Tunahan, Hakan; Esen, Sinan

2016-01-01

The study aims to analyze the export performance of countries and of cities within them to identify synchronized or unsynchronized movement between them. In the empirical part of the study, the measurements used to analyze the export performance of the countries included in the literature are applied to establish the export performance of a single city-Sakarya, Turkey. These measurements include the Herfindahl-Hirchman product and market concentration indices, the Lawrence index, the trade complementarity index, and the Grubel-Lloyd intra-industry index, as well as additional indicators with local or regional contexts. The limited number of studies analyzing the export competitiveness of a single city with relevant formats in the literature reveal the significance of the study.

LEED STUDY OF Ag(111)-(√ 7×√ 7)R19.1^o-4Ar

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Caragiu, Mellita; Diehl, Renee D.; Leatherman, Gerry S.

2000-03-01

Recent LEED studies of the adsorption geometries of Xe and Kr on metal surfaces have indicated that, contrary to expectations, the low-coordination adsorption sites are generally preferred, even on relatively corrugated surfaces such as Cu(1\\overline 1 0). This study extends the range of this phenomenon to include Ar. On Ag(111), Ar can form a commensurate structure, Ag(111)-(√ 7×√ 7)R19.1^o-4Ar, if the step sites are first blocked by preadsorbing another species such as CO. A dynamical LEED analysis of this structure at 33K indicates that the structure includes one atom per unit cell on a top site and the remaining three on bridge sites. This structure is clearly preferred over ones in which hollow sites are occupied, providing evidence that the preference of noble gases atoms for low-coordination sites on metals extends to Ar.

Evaluation of the Work-Place Cooperative Project in Geography Degrees at the University of Leeds.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hogg, James

1998-01-01

Describes the context and objective of a Work-Place Cooperative Project (WPCP) established in the School of Geography at the University of Leeds in 1995. The project presents students with business, commerce, industry, and environmental research issues that have geographical dimensions. Includes a number of examples from the WPCP. (MJP)

Leveraging for Big Results: The Leeds Family's Entrepreneurial Approach to Increasing High School Graduation Rates. Principles for Effective Education Grantmaking. Case Study No. 11

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Carroll, Kathleen

2015-01-01

It was a blustery, chilly January morning in 2009. Washington, D.C., was teeming with visitors, who had gathered in throngs on the Mall the day before to celebrate the inauguration of Barack Obama as the 44th president of the United States. Dan Leeds, of the philanthropic Leeds family, had invited two dozen high-ranking officers from foundations…

The First Robotics Rocket City Regional Competition

NASA Image and Video Library

2018-03-16

Johnny Stephenson, director of NASA Marshall Space Flight Center's Office of Strategic Analysis & Communications, addresses the crowd during the March 16 award ceremony following the first day of competition at the FIRST Robotics Rocket City Regional at the Von Braun Center in Huntsville. Ed Sparks, of the Morgan County Mech Tech team, received the award for Volunteer of the Year at the March 16 award ceremony. Mech Tech, comprised of students from five high schools in Morgan County, Alabama, also won the Industrial Design Award. The team was one of three regional finalists that will advance to the FIRST national championships April 18-21 in Houston. The other two regional finalists were Burning Magnetos of Fort Dorchester High School in North Charleston, South Carolina, and OGRE of Opelika High School in Opelika, Alabama. Mech Tech and Golden Hurricane from Columbia High School in Huntsville, were "house" teams sponsored by Marshall.

An empirical study of estimating vehicle emissions under cordon and distance based road user charging in Leeds, UK.

PubMed

Namdeo, Anil; Mitchell, Gordon

2008-01-01

This paper presents the impact of road user charging (RUC) on vehicle emissions through application of traffic assignment and pollutant emission models. It presents results of an analysis of five RUC schemes on vehicle emissions in Leeds, UK for 2005. The schemes were: a 3 pound sterling inner ring road cordon charge; a double cordon with a 2 pound sterling inner ring road and a 1 pound sterling outer ring road charge; and distance charges of 2, 10 and 20 p/km levied for travel within the outer cordon. Schemes were compared to a no charge option and results presented here. Emissions are significantly reduced within the inner cordon, whilst beyond the cordon, localised increases and decreases occur. The double cordon exhibits a similar but less marked pattern. Distance charging reduces city-wide emissions by 10% under a 2 p/km charge, 42-49% under a 10 p/km charge and 52-59% under a 20 p/km charge. The higher distance charges reduce emissions within the charge zone, and are also associated with elevated emissions outside the zone, but to a lesser extent than that observed for cordon charging.

Surface and electronic structure of Bi-Ca-Sr-Cu-O superconductors studied by LEED, UPS and XPS

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shen, Z.-X.; Lindberg, P. A. P.; Wells, B. O.; Lindau, I.; Spicer, W. E.; Mitzi, D. B.; Eom, C. B.; Kapitulnik, A.; Geballe, T. H.; Soukiassian, P.

1989-02-01

Single crystal and polycrystalline samples of Bi2CaSr2Cu2O8 have been studied by various surface sensitive techniques, including low energy electron diffraction (LEED), ultraviolet photoemission spectroscopy (UPS) and x-ray photoemission spectroscopy (XPS). The surface structure of the single crystals was characterized by LEED to be consistent with that of the bulk structure. Our data suggest that Bi2CaSr2Cu2O8 single crystals are very stable in the ultrahigh vacuu. No change of XPS spectra with temperature was observed. We have also studied the electronic structure of Bi2Sr2CuO6, which has a lower superconducting transition temperature Tc. Comparing the electronic structure of the two Bi-Ca-Sr-Cu-O superconductors, an important difference in the density of states near EF was observed which seems to be related to the difference in Tc.

Local Variations in the Chemistry of Precipitation in the Vicinity of Leeds

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lambert, David Robert

Available from UMI in association with The British Library. Requires signed TDF. This research was instigated by the first Report of the United Kingdom Review Group on Acid Rain, which highlighted the need for investigations into the precipitation chemistry associated with urban areas. Ten bulk and two wet-only rain-water samplers were built within the Department of Fuel and Energy, and located in an area stretching from Bramham in the Vale of York, through Leeds, to Thruscross in the Pennines, approximately 30 km. to the north west. The two wet-only samplers were located at an urban (University) and rural (Haverah Park) site, and additional SO_2 monitoring was conducted at these locations. Weekly precipitation sampling and subsequent analysis was carried out for the period 31st March, 1986 to 30th March, 1987. Both of the sampling devices showed good sampling efficiencies, although a few problems were encountered with the wet-only samplers. Results have shown the presence of a peak in volume weighted hydrogen ion concentration associated with the city outskirts. This is a result of high concentrations of neutralising ions within the city, the calcium concentrations are more than twice as high at the University than at Thruscross. This trend is also seen in the contribution of non-marine ions to the total deposition, which generally decreases with distance towards Thruscross. The greatest deposition of hydrogen ion occurs at Thruscross, located in the area most susceptible to 'acid rain'. The total amounts of ions deposited in the north west of the investigation area are generally greater due to the larger precipitation volumes found in the Pennines. Chloride was found to contribute significantly to acidity, in addition to nitrate and sulphate derived from emissions of NO_{rm x} and SO_2. The chloride contribution showed large seasonal variations, the reason for which is unclear. The comparison between bulk and wet-only samplers shows that for most ions significant

AVIRIS data calibration information: Wasatch Mountains and Park City region, Utah

USGS Publications Warehouse

Rockwell, Barnaby W.; Clark, Roger N.; Livo, K. Eric; McDougal, Robert R.; Kokaly, Raymond F.

2002-01-01

This report contains information regarding the reflectance calibration of spectroscopic imagery acquired over the Wasatch Mountains and Park City region, Utah, by the Airborne Visible/Infrared Imaging Spectrometer (AVIRIS) sensor on August 5, 1998. This information was used by the USGS Spectroscopy Laboratory to calibrate the Park City AVIRIS imagery to unitless reflectance prior to spectral analysis.  The Utah AVIRIS data were analyzed as a part of the USEPA-USGS Utah Abandoned Mine Lands Imaging Spectroscopy Project.

77 FR 40318 - Availability of Addendum to Documentation Supporting the Proposal of the Leeds Metal Site to the...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-07-09

... trichloroethylene (TCE) attributable to waste piles and contaminated soil at the Leeds Metal facility resulting in a... Environmental protection, Air pollution control, Chemicals, Hazardous substances, Hazardous waste, Intergovernmental relations, Natural resources, Oil pollution, Penalties, Reporting and recordkeeping requirements...

Aerodynamic Parameters of a UK City Derived from Morphological Data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Millward-Hopkins, J. T.; Tomlin, A. S.; Ma, L.; Ingham, D. B.; Pourkashanian, M.

2013-03-01

Detailed three-dimensional building data and a morphometric model are used to estimate the aerodynamic roughness length z 0 and displacement height d over a major UK city (Leeds). Firstly, using an adaptive grid, the city is divided into neighbourhood regions that are each of a relatively consistent geometry throughout. Secondly, for each neighbourhood, a number of geometric parameters are calculated. Finally, these are used as input into a morphometric model that considers the influence of height variability to predict aerodynamic roughness length and displacement height. Predictions are compared with estimations made using standard tables of aerodynamic parameters. The comparison suggests that the accuracy of plan-area-density based tables is likely to be limited, and that height-based tables of aerodynamic parameters may be more accurate for UK cities. The displacement heights in the standard tables are shown to be lower than the current predictions. The importance of geometric details in determining z 0 and d is then explored. Height variability is observed to greatly increase the predicted values. However, building footprint shape only has a significant influence upon the predictions when height variability is not considered. Finally, we develop simple relations to quantify the influence of height variation upon predicted z 0 and d via the standard deviation of building heights. The difference in these predictions compared to the more complex approach highlights the importance of considering the specific shape of the building-height distributions. Collectively, these results suggest that to accurately predict aerodynamic parameters of real urban areas, height variability must be considered in detail, but it may be acceptable to make simple assumptions about building layout and footprint shape.

[Frequency of allergic rhinitis in selected regions of Poland. City vs countryside analysis].

PubMed

Tomaszewska, Aneta; Raciborski, Filip; Samel-Kowalik, Piotr; Samoliński, Bolesław

2007-01-01

Study of frequency of allergic rhinitis in selected regions of Poland in cities and countryside. 8913 respondents, from Warszawa, Katowice, Lublin and Zamojszczyzna (countryside), answered a questionnaire based on ECRHS II and ISAAC. The respondents were drawn from PESEL ID numbers. They were divided into three groups: 6-7 years, 13-14 and 20-44 years, both sexes. 21-23% adults living in the city and 12% living in the countryside confirmed some type of sensitization, including allergic catarrh. In children the same symptoms are more frequent and reported in 23-27% of those living in city and 17% of those living in the countryside. Sneezing, running or obstructed nose not related to cold, fever or flu were reported by 22% of the adults living in Zamojszczyzna and 33-42% of those living in the cities. The symptoms are reported in 20% children living in the countryside and 29-39% of those living in the cities. All of results are statistical significant. Study of frequency of allergic rhinitis in selected regions of Poland shows that results are similar with analysis on the world. Connection between urban development and occurrence of allergic rhinitis was confirmed. Allergic rhinitis is more frequently in group of people living in cities than people living on countryside. Probably allergic rhinitis is not integrally examined in adults group.

AES and LEED study of the zinc blende SiC(100) surface

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Dayan, M.

1985-01-01

Auger and LEED measurements have been carried out on the (100) surface of zinc blende SiC. Two different phases of the clean surface, in addition to two kinds of oxygen-covered surfaces, have been obtained, identified, and discussed. In the oxygen-covered surface, the oxygen is bonded to the Si. The carbon-rich phase is reconstructed (2 x 1), similar to the (100) clean surfaces of Si, Ge, and diamond. The Si-topped surface is reconstructed. A model of alternating Si dimers is suggested for this surface.

Structure Determination of Au on Pt(111) Surface: LEED, STM and DFT Study

PubMed Central

Krupski, Katarzyna; Moors, Marco; Jóźwik, Paweł; Kobiela, Tomasz; Krupski, Aleksander

2015-01-01

Low-energy electron diffraction (LEED), scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) and density functional theory (DFT) calculations have been used to investigate the atomic and electronic structure of gold deposited (between 0.8 and 1.0 monolayer) on the Pt(111) face in ultrahigh vacuum at room temperature. The analysis of LEED and STM measurements indicates two-dimensional growth of the first Au monolayer. Change of the measured surface lattice constant equal to 2.80 Å after Au adsorption was not observed. Based on DFT, the distance between the nearest atoms in the case of bare Pt(111) and Au/Pt(111) surface is equal to 2.83 Å, which gives 1% difference in comparison with STM values. The first and second interlayer spacing of the clean Pt(111) surface are expanded by +0.87% and contracted by −0.43%, respectively. The adsorption energy of the Au atom on the Pt(111) surface is dependent on the adsorption position, and there is a preference for a hollow fcc site. For the Au/Pt(111) surface, the top interlayer spacing is expanded by +2.16% with respect to the ideal bulk value. Changes in the electronic properties of the Au/Pt(111) system below the Fermi level connected to the interaction of Au atoms with Pt(111) surface are observed.

Building Child Friendly Cities in the MENA region

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nour, Osman El Hassan M.

2013-09-01

The notion of Child Friendly Cities (CFCs) was first developed during the Second United Nations Conference on Human Settlements (HABITAT II), held in Istanbul in 1996. The concept is based on four general principles of the United Nations Convention on the rights of the child: (1) fair treatment of every child, regardless of ethnicity, gender, religion, socioeconomic background etc.; (2) top priority of the best interests of the child; (3) the child's right to a better life and development; and (4) respect of children's views. In a CFC, children are encouraged to take part in the decision making processes that affect their lives. Instead of starting yet another programme for children, the development of a CFC mobilises and connects existing agencies and actors. Giving examples of some cities in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, this paper demonstrates that building CFCs has induced the development of mechanisms and structures which have enabled cities to address children's issues in a systematic manner. These mechanisms and structures include: a municipal child-friendly legal framework, local development councils and NGO networks and local municipal development offices. The author argues that in building CFCs, the role of municipal authorities is indispensable in responding to the needs of children and young people within the municipalities' mandates.

Healthy Cities in a global and regional context.

PubMed

Lawrence, Roderick J; Fudge, Colin

2009-11-01

Since the beginning of the WHO European Healthy Cities Network in 1987, the global and regional contexts for the promotion of health and well-being have changed in many ways. First, in 2000, the United Nations Millennium Goals explicitly and implicitly addressed health promotion and prevention at the global and regional levels. Second, the concern for sustainable development at the Rio Conference in 1992 was confirmed at the World Summit in Johannesburg in 2002. During the same period, in many regions including Europe, the redefinition of the roles and responsibilities of national, regional and local governments, reductions in budgets of public administrations, the privatization of community and health services, the instability of world trade, the financial system and employment, migration flows, relatively high levels of unemployment (especially among youth and young adults) have occurred in many countries in tandem with negative impacts on specific policies and programmes that are meant to promote health. Since 1990, the European Commission has been explicitly concerned about the promotion of health, environment and social policies by defining strategic agendas for the urban environment, sustainable development and governance. However, empirical studies during the 1990s show that urban areas have relatively high levels of tuberculosis, respiratory and cardiovascular diseases, cancer, adult obesity, malnutrition, tobacco smoking, poor mental health, alcohol consumption and drug abuse, sexually transmitted diseases (including AIDS), crime, homicide, violence and accidental injury and death. In addition, there is evidence that urban populations in many industrialized countries are confronted with acute new health problems stemming from exposure to persistent organic pollutants, toxic substances in building structures, radioactive waste and increasing rates of food poisoning. These threats to public health indicate an urgent need for new strategic policies and

Lisbon Emoji and Emoticon Database (LEED): Norms for emoji and emoticons in seven evaluative dimensions.

PubMed

Rodrigues, David; Prada, Marília; Gaspar, Rui; Garrido, Margarida V; Lopes, Diniz

2018-02-01

The use of emoticons and emoji is increasingly popular across a variety of new platforms of online communication. They have also become popular as stimulus materials in scientific research. However, the assumption that emoji/emoticon users' interpretations always correspond to the developers'/researchers' intended meanings might be misleading. This article presents subjective norms of emoji and emoticons provided by everyday users. The Lisbon Emoji and Emoticon Database (LEED) comprises 238 stimuli: 85 emoticons and 153 emoji (collected from iOS, Android, Facebook, and Emojipedia). The sample included 505 Portuguese participants recruited online. Each participant evaluated a random subset of 20 stimuli for seven dimensions: aesthetic appeal, familiarity, visual complexity, concreteness, valence, arousal, and meaningfulness. Participants were additionally asked to attribute a meaning to each stimulus. The norms obtained include quantitative descriptive results (means, standard deviations, and confidence intervals) and a meaning analysis for each stimulus. We also examined the correlations between the dimensions and tested for differences between emoticons and emoji, as well as between the two major operating systems-Android and iOS. The LEED constitutes a readily available normative database (available at www.osf.io/nua4x ) with potential applications to different research domains.

The Team From Brazil at the First Robotics Rocket City Regional

NASA Image and Video Library

2018-03-16

The First Robotics Rocket City Regional Competition was held at the Von Braun Civic Center in Huntsville, Alabama on March 16, 2018. High school robotics teams from throughout the U.S., as well as a team from Brazil, competed. Pictured is the Brazilian team prior to competition

The Team From Brazil at the First Robotics Rocket City Regional

NASA Image and Video Library

2018-03-16

The First Robotics Rocket City Regional Competition was held at the Von Braun Civic Center in Huntsville, Alabama on March 16, 2018. High school robotics teams from throughout the U.S., as well as a team from Brazil, competed. The Brazilian team sings their national anthem.

[Hygienic assessment of living conditions and morbidity of the population in the port cities of the Sakhalin region].

PubMed

Alikbayeva, L A; Kim, A V; Iakubova, Sh; Ok, Im En; Darizhapov, B B

The aim of this study was to perform a comprehensive hygienic assessment of environmental conditions in the port cities of the Sakhalin region to identify priority risk factors affecting on population health and management decisions for the optimization of living conditions. As a result of the assessment of risk and damages for public health from the effects of air pollution on the dose-response, effects were found to excess of impact on the target organs by 10 times. The main ecotoxicant was determined to be manganese oxide, which is associated with a priority manganese content in soil samples ofport cities. The positive dynamics of the gain in the accumulation of soil heavy metals according to the total index indicates to the existence of problems for soil contamination. Analysis of demographic variables shows that the population of the Sakhalin region in general and the port cities in particular relates to a regressive type. The main causes of the population decline are mortality and migration outflow of able-bodied population in other regions of Russia. However, in the port cities there is an increase in the number of work places, contributing to an increase in the labor force. The primary and general morbidity of the population ofport cities is characterized by higher levels compared with the average for the Sakhalin Region and the Far Eastern Federal District. Among all the classes of diseases as priority ones there are marked “neoplasm”, “diseases of the nervous system”, “respiratory diseases”, “diseases of the skin and subcutaneous tissue”. Port cities occupy the top ranking places on the incidence of malignant tumors among the cities of the Sakhalin region.

Access to destinations : annual accessibility measure for the Twin Cities Metropolitan Region.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2012-11-01

This report summarizes previous phases of the Access to Destinations project and applies the techniques developed : over the course of the project to conduct an evaluation of accessibility in the Twin Cities metropolitan region for : 2010. It describ...

19. REGIONAL MAP, SALINAS RIVER PROJECT, CAMP SAN LUIS OBISPO, ...

Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

19. REGIONAL MAP, SALINAS RIVER PROJECT, CAMP SAN LUIS OBISPO, IN CENTRAL PORTION OF SAN LUIS OBISPO, CALIFORNIA. Leeds Hill Barnard & Jewett - Consulting Engineers, February 1942. - Salinas River Project, Cuesta Tunnel, Southeast of U.S. 101, San Luis Obispo, San Luis Obispo County, CA

Identifying the impacts of climate on the regional transport of haze pollution and inter-cities correspondence within the Yangtze River Delta.

PubMed

Xiao, Hang; Huang, Zhongwen; Zhang, Jingjing; Zhang, Huiling; Chen, Jinsheng; Zhang, Han; Tong, Lei

2017-09-01

Regional haze pollution has become an important environmental issue in the Yangtze River Delta (YRD) region. Regional transport and inter-influence of PM 2.5 among cities occurs frequently as a result of the subtropical monsoon climate. Backward trajectory statistics indicated that a north wind prevailed from October to March, while a southeast wind predominated from May to September. The temporal relationships of carbon and nitrogen isotopes among cities were dependent on the prevailing wind direction. Regional PM 2.5 pollution was confirmed in the YRD region by means of significant correlations and similar cyclical characteristics of PM 2.5 among Lin'an, Ningbo, Nanjing and Shanghai. Granger causality tests of the time series of PM 2.5 values indicate that the regional transport of haze pollutants is governed by prevailing wind direction, as the PM 2.5 concentrations from upwind area cities generally influence that of the downwind cities. Furthermore, stronger correlation coefficients were identified according to monsoon pathways. To clarify the impacts of the monsoon climate, a vector autoregressive (VAR) model was introduced. Variance decomposition in the VAR model also indicated that the upwind area cities contributed significantly to PM 2.5 in the downwind area cities. Finally, we attempted to predict daily PM 2.5 concentrations in each city based on the VAR model using data from all cities and obtained fairly reasonable predictions. These indicate that statistical methods of the Granger causality test and VAR model have the potential to evaluate inter-influence and the relative contribution of PM 2.5 among cities, and to predict PM 2.5 concentrations as well. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Structure of the orthorhombic Al13Co4(100) surface using LEED, STM, and ab initio studies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shin, Heekeun; Pussi, K.; Gaudry, É.; Ledieu, J.; Fournée, V.; Alarcón Villaseca, S.; Dubois, J.-M.; Grin, Yu.; Gille, P.; Moritz, W.; Diehl, R. D.

2011-08-01

In a combined scanning tunneling microscopy (STM), low-energy electron diffraction (LEED), and density functional theory (DFT) study of the surface of Al13Co4(100), all techniques have found that after annealing to 1165 K, the surface structure is consistent with a dense Al-rich plane with surface Co atom depletion. Various structure models were considered, and in the LEED study, the best agreement was found with a model that consists of Al-rich terminating planes with no Co atoms, and otherwise a structure similar to the bulk puckered layers. This structure was also found to be stable in the DFT study. The best-fit structural parameters are presented for the two domains of this structure, which contain bipentagons that can be related to the pentagonal bipyramidal structures in the bulk, plus additional glue atoms between them. These domains are not strictly related to each other by symmetry, as they have different surface relaxations. The STM study found significant differences in the surfaces of samples grown by different methods and is able to explain a different interpretation made in an earlier study.

Single-layer ZnS supported on Au(111): A combined XPS, LEED, STM and DFT study

DOE PAGES

Deng, Xingyi; Sorescu, Dan C.; Lee, Junseok

2016-12-31

Single-layer of ZnS, consisting of one atomic layer of ZnS(111) plane, has been grown on Au(111) and characterized using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), low energy electron diffraction (LEED) and scanning tunneling microscopy (STM). While the LEED measurement indicates a coincidence structure of ZnS-(3×3)/Au(111)-(4×4), high resolution STM images reveal hexagonal unit cells of 6.7×6.7 Å 2 and 11.6×11.6 Å 2, corresponding to √3 and 3 times the unit cell of the ideal zincblende ZnS-(1×1), respectively, depending on the tunneling conditions. Calculations based on density functional theory (DFT) indicate a significantly reconstructed non-planar structure of ZnS single-layer on Au(111) with 2/3 ofmore » the S anions being located nearly in the plane of the Zn cations and the rest 1/3 of the S anions protruding above the Zn plane. In conclusion, the calculated STM image shows similar characteristics to those of the experimental STM image. Additionally, the DFT calculations reveal the different bonding nature of the S anions in ZnS single-layer supported on Au(111).« less

The Validity and Test-Retest Reliability of the Leeds Multiple Sclerosis Quality of Life Scale in Turkish Patients

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Akbiyik, Derya Iren; Sumbuloglu, Vildan; Guney, Zafer; Armutlu, Kadriye; Korkmaz, Nilufer; Keser, Ilke; Yuksel, Muazzez Merve; Karabudak, Rana

2009-01-01

The aim of the study was to translate and test the reliability and validity of the Leeds Multiple Sclerosis Quality of Life Scale (LMSQoL) in Turkish patients with multiple sclerosis (MS). Demographic data of MS patients who had a registration in and followed up by a university hospital were recorded. The LMSQoL and Turkish Quality of Life…

Approaches to the Management of Large Classes. Lancaster-Leeds Language Learning in Large Classes Research Project. Report, No. 11.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Coleman, Hywel

Various approaches to the management of large classes identified in the literature are categorized, with information drawn especially from earlier findings of the Lancaster-Leeds Language Learning in Large Classes Research Project. The discussion makes use of sources appearing during the last 150 years, but emphasizes the period since 1960. Three…

City encounter and desert encounter: two sources of American regional planning thought

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Guttenberg, A.Z.

1978-10-01

Referring to the American experience, the historian, Richard Hofstadter wrote, The US was born in the country and has moved to the city, but this is only part of the story. At the turn of the century while some Americans were moving to the city others were moving to the arid West. As different as they were in many respects, the city encounter and the desert encounter were alike in that both resulted in planned attempts to establish rural institutions and values in inhospitable environments. In the urban East the basis for regional planning was the neighborhood concept. In themore » arid West it was the cooperative colony and the scientific family farm. This article is a study of the similarity-in-diversity which characterized American planning in its original phase. 60 references.« less

Mapping Regional Impervious Surface Distribution from Night Time Light: The Variability across Global Cities

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lin, M.; Yang, Z.; Park, H.; Qian, S.; Chen, J.; Fan, P.

2017-12-01

Impervious surface area (ISA) has become an important indicator for studying urban environments, but mapping ISA at the regional or global scale is still challenging due to the complexity of impervious surface features. The Defense Meteorological Satellite Program's Operational Linescan System (DMSP-OLS) nighttime light data is (NTL) and Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) are the major remote sensing data source for regional ISA mapping. A single regression relationship between fractional ISA and NTL or various index derived based on NTL and MODIS vegetation index (NDVI) data was established in many previous studies for regional ISA mapping. However, due to the varying geographical, climatic, and socio-economic characteristics of different cities, the same regression relationship may vary significantly across different cities in the same region in terms of both fitting performance (i.e. R2) and the rate of change (Slope). In this study, we examined the regression relationship between fractional ISA and Vegetation Adjusted Nighttime light Urban Index (VANUI) for 120 randomly selected cities around the world with a multilevel regression model. We found that indeed there is substantial variability of both the R2 (0.68±0.29) and slopes (0.64±0.40) among individual regressions, which suggests that multilevel/hierarchical models are needed for accuracy improvement of future regional ISA mapping .Further analysis also let us find the this substantial variability are affected by climate conditions, socio-economic status, and urban spatial structures. However, all these effects are nonlinear rather than linear, thus could not modeled explicitly in multilevel linear regression models.

Benefits of explicit urban parameterization in regional climate modeling to study climate and city interactions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Daniel, M.; Lemonsu, Aude; Déqué, M.; Somot, S.; Alias, A.; Masson, V.

2018-06-01

Most climate models do not explicitly model urban areas and at best describe them as rock covers. Nonetheless, the very high resolutions reached now by the regional climate models may justify and require a more realistic parameterization of surface exchanges between urban canopy and atmosphere. To quantify the potential impact of urbanization on the regional climate, and evaluate the benefits of a detailed urban canopy model compared with a simpler approach, a sensitivity study was carried out over France at a 12-km horizontal resolution with the ALADIN-Climate regional model for 1980-2009 time period. Different descriptions of land use and urban modeling were compared, corresponding to an explicit modeling of cities with the urban canopy model TEB, a conventional and simpler approach representing urban areas as rocks, and a vegetated experiment for which cities are replaced by natural covers. A general evaluation of ALADIN-Climate was first done, that showed an overestimation of the incoming solar radiation but satisfying results in terms of precipitation and near-surface temperatures. The sensitivity analysis then highlighted that urban areas had a significant impact on modeled near-surface temperature. A further analysis on a few large French cities indicated that over the 30 years of simulation they all induced a warming effect both at daytime and nighttime with values up to + 1.5 °C for the city of Paris. The urban model also led to a regional warming extending beyond the urban areas boundaries. Finally, the comparison to temperature observations available for Paris area highlighted that the detailed urban canopy model improved the modeling of the urban heat island compared with a simpler approach.

Reducing Test Anxiety among 12th Grade Students: Iraqi Kurdistan Region/Soran City as an Example

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Faqe, Chiayee Khorshid; Moheddin, Kurdistan Rafiq; Kakamad, Karwan Kakabra

2016-01-01

This study aims at reducing test anxiety among twelfth grade students at Soran city high schools. Throughout the study both quantitative and qualitative methods used to collect data. The participants were 450 twelfth grade students in five schools at Soran City-Kurdistan region of Iraq. Non-random purposive sampling because the students needed…

Surface atomic structure characterization of SnSe and black phosphorus using selected area uLEED-IV via LEEM

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dai, Zhongwei; Grady, Maxwell; Yu, Jiexiang; Zang, Jiadong; Pohl, Karsten; Jin, Wencan; Kim, Young Duck; Hone, James; Dadap, Jerry; Osgood, Richard; Sadowski, Jerzy; Vishwanath, Suresh; Xing, Huili

Selected area diffraction intensity-voltage (μLEED-IV) analysis via low energy electron microscopy (LEEM) has the combined functionality of atomic surface structure determination and μm area selectivity, making it ideal for structural investigations of 2-D materials. SnSe thin films have been predicted and observed to be topological crystalline insulators. Previous studies suggested that SnSe has a preferred Se-terminated surface configuration. Using μLEED-IV, we determined that SnSe has, on the contrary, a stable Sn termination. This surface is stabilized through an oscillatory interlayer relaxation, which agrees with previous DFT predictions. Black phosphorus (BP) has an intrinsic layer-dependent bandgap ranging from 0.3 eV to 2 eV. Previous STM and DFT studies suggested BP surfaces have a buckling of 0.02 Å to 0.06 Å. We experimentally determined that the surface buckling of BP to be near 0.2 Å. We further propose, using DFT calculations, that this large surface buckling is induced by the presence of surface defects. The influence of this surface buckling on the electronic structures of BP is under investigation.

From Tragedy to Triumph: Rebuilding Greensburg, Kansas To Be a 100% Renewable Energy City; Preprint

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Pless, S.; Billman, L.; Wallach, D.

On May 4, 2007, Greensburg, Kansas, was hit by a 1.7-mile wide tornado with 200 mph-plus wind speeds. This tornado destroyed or severely damaged 90% of Greensburg?s structures. We discuss the progress made in rebuilding Greensburg, with a focus on the built environment and on meeting Greensburg?s goal of 100% renewable energy, 100% of the time. We also discuss key disaster recovery efforts that enabled Greensburg to reach this goal. Key strategies included a Sustainable Comprehensive Master Plan, an ordinance resolving that city-owned buildings achieve LEED Platinum and 42% energy savings, a strong focus on rebuilding 'right' with an integratedmore » design process, attracting significant and sustained technical experts and national media attention, and linking renewable and energy efficiency technologies to business development. After three years, more than half the homes that have been rebuilt are rated at an average of 40% energy savings. All significant commercial buildings, including the school, hospital, banks, courthouse, and retail buildings, have been rebuilt to LEED Gold and Platinum standards and exceed 40% savings, with many exceeding 50% savings. Greensburg recently constructed a 12.5-MW community wind farm to provide all the remaining energy needed for its energy-efficient buildings and homes.« less

Prevalence of human papillomavirus infection in women in some cities and regions of Bulgaria.

PubMed

Kovachev, Stefan; Slavov, Victor; Slavova, Kremena

2013-09-01

This aim of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of human papillomavirus (HPV) infections among women (aged 15-55 years) in four of the biggest cities and regions in Bulgaria (viz., Sofia, Plovdiv, Varna, and Burgas), as well as in two other smaller cities (viz., Pleven and Vidin). Furthermore, study aimed to identify the prevalence of the 12 high-risk HPV (HR-HPV) genotypes in 2012, and to predict the benefits of a future national vaccination campaign for 12-year-old girls in Bulgaria. This HPV genotypes prevalence study covered 2,331,341 women from these cities and regions, representing 61.7% of the female population of Bulgaria. DNA-sorb-AM nucleic acid extraction kit was used to analyze the HPV status in cervical samples collected during a 4-year period (2008-2011) from 1,120 women aged 15-55 years (divided into four age groups) who had visited 47 gynecological clinics across the study sites. HR-HPV infections were confirmed in 435 (38.8%) of the women examined. The remaining 685 (61.2%) women were found to be HR-HPV negative. The most common genotype in all 435 infected women was HPV16, which was found in 200 women (46%), followed by HPV56 in 86 women (19.8%), HPV31 in 53 women (12.2%), and HPV33 in 50 women (11.5%). This is the first study to have established the prevalence of HR-HPV infections in the larger Bulgarian regions and cities (including the capital), and to have drawn attention to the unusually high proportion of the different HR-HPV genotypes. Copyright © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Asthma prevalence in children living in north Mexico City and a comparison with other Latin American cities and world regions.

PubMed

Del-Rio-Navarro, Blanca; Del Rio-Chivardi, Jaime Mariano; Berber, Arturo; Sienra-Monge, Juan Jose Luis; Rosas-Vargas, Miguel Angel; Baeza-Bacab, Manuel

2006-01-01

Reports of previous studies done without following the international guidelines in different cities of Mexico showed a decrease in asthma prevalence. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence and severity of asthma symptoms in children and teenagers living in north Mexico City and compare them with those of other Latin American cities and world regions. The cross-sectional survey followed the protocol of the International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood IIIb phase survey. The study population included children 6-7 years old and teenagers 13-14 years old from randomly selected primary and secondary schools. There were 1629 boys and 1582 girls in the group of 6- to 7-year-old children and 2039 boys and 1860 girls in the 13- to 14-year-old group. "Wheezing or whistling in the chest at any time in the past" was present in 19.2% (95% confidence interval [CI], 17.9, 20.6) of the children and in 17.0% (95% CI, 15.8, 18.1) of the teenagers; "wheezing or whistling in the chest in the last 12 months" was reported in 6.8% (95% CI, 5.9, 7.6) of the children and 9.9% (95% CI, 9.0, 10.8) of the teenagers; "asthma ever" was claimed in 4.5% (95% CI, 3.8, 5.2) of the children and 8.0% (95% CI, 7.1, 8.8) of the teenagers. These prevalences were low compared with other ISAAC Latin American surveys and intermediate in comparison with worldwide regional prevalences reported by ISAAC surveys. The prevalence of asthma is low in Mexico City in comparison with other surveyed locations, but the number of patients with asthma makes it an important issue for Mexican public health programs.

Projecting Heat-Related Mortality Impacts Under a Changing Climate in the New York City Region

PubMed Central

Knowlton, Kim; Lynn, Barry; Goldberg, Richard A.; Rosenzweig, Cynthia; Hogrefe, Christian; Rosenthal, Joyce Klein; Kinney, Patrick L.

2007-01-01

Objectives. We sought to project future impacts of climate change on summer heat-related premature deaths in the New York City metropolitan region. Methods. Current and future climates were simulated over the northeastern United States with a global-to-regional climate modeling system. Summer heat-related premature deaths in the 1990s and 2050s were estimated by using a range of scenarios and approaches to modeling acclimatization (e.g., increased use of air conditioning, gradual physiological adaptation). Results. Projected regional increases in heat-related premature mortality by the 2050s ranged from 47% to 95%, with a mean 70% increase compared with the 1990s. Acclimatization effects reduced regional increases in summer heat-related premature mortality by about 25%. Local impacts varied considerably across the region, with urban counties showing greater numbers of deaths and smaller percentage increases than less-urbanized counties. Conclusions. Although considerable uncertainty exists in climate forecasts and future health vulnerability, the range of projections we developed suggests that by midcentury, acclimatization may not completely mitigate the effects of climate change in the New York City metropolitan region, which would result in an overall net increase in heat-related premature mortality. PMID:17901433

Culture and self: are there within-culture differences in self between metropolitan areas and regional cities?

PubMed

Kashima, Yoshihisa; Kokubo, Teruyoshi; Kashima, Emiko S; Boxall, Dianne; Yamaguchi, Susumu; Macrae, Kristina

2004-07-01

Although differences in self-conception across cultures have been well researched, regional differences within a culture have escaped attention. The present study examined individual, relational, and collective selves, which capture people's conceptions of themselves in relation to their goals, significant others, and in groups, comparing Australians and Japanese participants living in regional cities and metropolitan areas. Culture, gender, and urbanism were found to be related to individual, relational, and collective selves, respectively. Australians emphasized individual self more than Japanese, women stressed relational self more than men, and residents in regional cities regarded collective self as more important than their counterparts in metropolitan areas. These findings provide support for the tripartite division of the self and suggest a need to construct a culture theory that links self and societal processes.

Geochemical Analyses of Rock, Sediment, and Water from the Region In and Around the Tuba City Landfill, Tuba City, Arizona

USGS Publications Warehouse

Johnson, Raymond H.; Wirt, Laurie

2009-01-01

The Tuba City Landfill (TCL) started as an unregulated waste disposal site in the 1940s and was administratively closed in 1997. Since the TCL closure, radionuclides have been detected in the shallow ground water. In 2006, the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) contracted with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) to better understand the source of radionuclides in the ground water at the TCL compared to the surrounding region. This report summarizes those data and presents interpretations that focus on the geochemistry in the rocks and water from the Tuba City region. The TCL is sited on Navajo Sandstone above the contact with the Kayenta Formation. These formations are not rich in uranium but generally are below average crustal abundance values for uranium. Uranium ores in the area were mined nearby in the Chinle Formation and processed at the Rare Metals mill (RMM). Regional samples of rock, sediment, leachates, and water were collected in and around the TCL site and analyzed for major and minor elements, 18O, 2H, 3H, 13C, 14C,34S, 87Sr, and 234U/238U, as appropriate. Results of whole rock and sediment samples, along with leachates, suggest the Chinle Formation is a major source of uranium and other trace elements in the area. Regional water samples indicate that some of the wells within the TCL site have geochemical signatures that are different from the regional springs and surface water. The geochemistry from these TCL wells is most similar to leachates from the Chinle Formation rocks and sediments. Isotope samples do not uniquely identify TCL-derived waters, but they do provide a useful indicator for shallow compared to deep ground-water flow paths and general rock/water interaction times. Information in this report provides a comparison between the geochemistry within the TCL and in the region as a whole.

Climate Change and a Global City: An Assessment of the Metropolitan East Coast Region

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rosenzweig, Cynthia; Solecki, William

1999-01-01

The objective of the research is to derive an assessment of the potential climate change impacts on a global city - in this case the 31 county region that comprises the New York City metropolitan area. This study comprises one of the regional components that contribute to the ongoing U.S. National Assessment: The Potential Consequences of Climate Variability and Change and is an application of state-of-the-art climate change science to a set of linked sectoral assessment analyses for the Metro East Coast (MEC) region. We illustrate how three interacting elements of global cities react and respond to climate variability and change with a broad conceptual model. These elements include: people (e.g., socio- demographic conditions), place (e.g., physical systems), and pulse (e.g., decision-making and economic activities). The model assumes that a comprehensive assessment of potential climate change can be derived from examining the impacts within each of these elements and at their intersections. Thus, the assessment attempts to determine the within-element and the inter-element effects. Five interacting sector studies representing the three intersecting elements are evaluated. They include the Coastal Zone, Infrastructure, Water Supply, Public Health, and Institutional Decision-making. Each study assesses potential climate change impacts on the sector and on the intersecting elements, through the analysis of the following parts: 1. Current conditions of sector in the region; 2. Lessons and evidence derived from past climate variability; 3. Scenario predictions affecting sector; potential impacts of scenario predictions; 4. Knowledge/information gaps and critical issues including identification of additional research questions, effectiveness of modeling efforts, equity of impacts, potential non-local interactions, and policy recommendations; and 5. Identification of coping strategies - i.e., resilience building, mitigation strategies, new technologies, education that

In the spotlight. Interview with Kenneth Lee, Health Economist, University of Leeds, U.K.. Interview by Johannes Stoelwinder.

PubMed

Lee, K

1984-01-01

Ken Lee appointed to the staff of the Nuffield Centre, University of Leeds, as Lecturer in Health Economics in 1970. He is now Senior Lecturer and Director of the Master's Programme in Health Service Studies. His main teaching interests are in health planning and health economics, and he has carried out research and written extensively on approaches to health economics, health planning and management, care of the elderly, primary health care, health financing, and emergency health services.

Exploring child prostitution in a major city in the West African region.

PubMed

Hounmenou, Charles

2016-09-01

The study explored the characteristics of child prostitution in a major city in the West African region. A convenience sample of children in prostitution, specifically girls below age 18 (n=243), were recruited on 83 prostitution sites identified in Ouagadougou, the capital city of Burkina Faso. A survey instrument, consisting of 71 closed-ended question items, was used to explore various variables including profile of children in prostitution, factors of vulnerability to prostitution; prostitution practices, compensations and related issues in child prostitution. The findings show that most children in prostitution in the city were from Burkina Faso (63%) and Nigeria (30%), two countries that do not share borders. Most native respondents practiced prostitution for survival and to support their families. In contrast, all the respondents from Nigeria practiced prostitution as victims of international sex trafficking. An important finding was that 77% of the children in prostitution surveyed were educated. Among the respondents, there were similarities in the major life events that contributed to their situation of prostitution. These life events include early separation with parents, sexual abuse, foster care, and forced marriage. Implications for policy, practice and research are discussed. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Evaluating the Environmental Performance of Urban Parks in Mediterranean Cities: An Example from the Barcelona Metropolitan Region

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Parés-Franzi, Marc; Saurí-Pujol, David; Domene, Elena

2006-11-01

In a context of increasing urban sprawl and water scarcity common to other Mediterranean cities, this article focuses on the urban parks in the Region of Barcelona (Catalonia, Spain) to examine how these parks are distributed in this region and to assess whether their design and management follow criteria adapted to Mediterranean environmental conditions, especially in what concerns water use. In order to evaluate the environmental performance of these parks, we selected four factors possibly influencing the adoption of park management practices at the local scale: urban density, population size of the municipality, municipal income per capita, and political orientation of the city council. After determining the location and area of urban parks in the region, we correlated these four explanatory factors with several management tasks extracted from two different samples of parks (one of 315 parks and another of 125 parks) and a survey of 86 city councils. Results show that, in general, urban parks were more frequent in large, dense, and left/green municipalities but that environmentally sound practices were more common in small and low-density municipalities. We conclude that changes in certain practices (especially the substitution of high water demanding species) could improve significantly the environmental performance of public spaces in large urban areas with Mediterranean climates. Our observations may be pertinent for other cities interested in the provision of environmental public goods such as parks that necessitate water for irrigation.

Evolution of the Inca City region of Mars during southern spring.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Thomas, Nicolas; Hansen, Candice; Bridges, Nathan; McEwen, Alfred; Herkenhoff, Ken; Russell, Patrick

MOC and THEMIS observations of the southern seasonal polar cap of Mars have provided evidence of the existence of venting from the sub-surface during early southern spring. Kieffer [JGR, 112, E08005, 2007] has presented a general model of the venting process. He emphasized, however, that regional variability of jet/geyser formation remains poorly understood. In this work we choose to investigate one specific region, namely the "Inca City" region of the seasonal polar cap (295.8E, 81.4S), using a time series of observations acquired by the High Resolution Imaging Sciences Experiment (HiRISE) onboard Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. The Inca City area shows a wide variety of different phenomena. For example, many dark fans appear on the surface within 5 weeks of the time when sunlight first reaches this southern latitude. Most fans appear to be consistent with the concept of geyser formation with subsequent airfall of dark material (as described by Kieffer). We can, however, identify some fan structures within this region which appear to suggest near-surface flow. We also find that the directions of many observed fans follow the local topography. We suggest mechanisms by which this might occur. We also investigate the surface structures in this specific region and study their evolution through southern spring. We find, for example, that so-called "spiders" can be aligned in rows (possibly in response to local topography). We also observe variability in the structure of spiders which may indicate changes in local topography or in the local substrate over short length scales. On relatively steep slopes, fans can be observed although there is no obvious spider formation. At the end of spring, sloped surfaces becomes homogeneous in colour and brightness as the fan material coats the entire downslope surface. In early spring we also observe rocks with dark rings surrounding them which might be thought to indicate activity/venting. However, most of these do not evolve over

[Features of sexual development of adolescent boys in cities of Caspian region of the Republic of Kazakhstan].

PubMed

Kurmangaliev, O M; Gumarova, Zh Zh; Zasorin, B V

2014-01-01

The complex estimation of parameters of the sexual development of adolescent boys aged 14-16 years had been done in cities of Aktay and Atyrau, in Caspian region of Western Kazakhstan. Adolescent boys in cities of Caspian region of the Republic of Kazakhstan were found to have tendency to the delayed puberty according to Tanner score. Retarded sexual development is manifested by the some retardation in growth of genitals and escutcheon, in comparison with their peers from control group. The absence of differences in general physical development, as evidenced by anthropometry data, does not exclude the specific (elective) character of the impact of urbanogenic factors on growing male body, which is typical impact of hard metals salts.

Proceedings of the International Workshop on Computational Electronics Held at Leeds University (United Kingdom) on August 11-13 1993

DTIC Science & Technology

1993-08-01

Drury , Sponsored by UK SERC and MIA-COM (USA). Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of research or private study, or criticism or review, as...field effect 128 transistors R Drury , R E Miles and C M Snowden, University of Leeds Poster Session II Determination of diffusion coefficients and...V V V y V V V Device simulation by means of a direct solution of the coupled Poisson/Boltzmann Transport enuations Conor J. Donnelly and Colin Lyden

Economic Impact of the Metropolitan Community Colleges on the Kansas City Region. Final Report.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Manning, Sherry

This study assesses the economic impact of the Metropolitan Community Colleges (MCC) on the four-county region of metropolitan Kansas City, Missouri. The total economic impact is composed of a network of interactive cash flows between the colleges, business, government, and individuals, and may be derived by adding three distinct components:…

Leaching of biocides from building facades: Upscaling of a local two-region leaching model to the city scale

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Coutu, S.; Rota, C.; Rossi, L.; Barry, D. A.

2011-12-01

Facades are protected by paints that contain biocides as protection against degradation. These biocides are leached by rainfall (albeit at low concentrations). At the city scale, however, the surface area of building facades is significant, and leached biocides are a potential environmental risk to receiving waters. A city-scale biocide-leaching model was developed based on two main steps. In the first step, laboratory experiments on a single facade were used to calibrate and validate a 1D, two-region phenomenological model of biocide leaching. The same data set was analyzed independently by another research group who found empirically that biocide leachate breakthrough curves were well represented by a sum of two exponentials. Interestingly, the two-region model was found analytically to reproduce this functional form as a special case. The second step in the method is site-specific, and involves upscaling the validated single facade model to a particular city. In this step, (i) GIS-based estimates of facade heights and areas are deduced using the city's cadastral data, (ii) facade flow is estimated using local meteorological data (rainfall, wind direction) and (iii) paint application rates are modeled as a stochastic process based on manufacturers' recommendations. The methodology was applied to Lausanne, Switzerland, a city of about 200,000 inhabitants. Approximately 30% of the annually applied mass of biocides was estimated to be released to the environment.

A combined STM and SPA-LEED study of the “explosive” nucleation and collective diffusion in Pb/Si(111)

DOE PAGES

Hattab, H.; Hupalo, M.; Hershberger, M. T.; ...

2015-08-20

A novel type of very fast nucleation was recently found in Pb/Si(111) with 4- to 7-layer high islands becoming crystalline in an “explosive” way, when the Pb deposited amount in the wetting layer is compressed to θ c ~ 1.22 ML, well above the metallic Pb(111) density. This “explosive” nucleation is very different from classical nucleation when island growth is more gradual and islands grow in size by single adatom aggregation [8]. In order to identify the key parameters that control the nucleation we used scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) and spot profile analysis low energy electron diffraction (SPA-LEED). It wasmore » found that the number and duration of steps in iterative deposition used to approach θc and the flux rate have dramatic effects on the crystallization process. Larger depositions over shorter times induce greater spatial coverage fluctuations, so local areas can reach the critical coverage θ c easier. This can trigger the collective motion of the wetting layer from far away to build the Pb islands “explosively”. Here, the SPA-LEED experiments show that even low flux experiments in iterative deposition experiments can trigger transfer of material to the superstable 7-layer islands, as seen from the stronger satellite rings close to the (00) spot.« less

Validation study of the Leeds Dyspepsia Questionnaire in a multi-ethnic Asian population.

PubMed

Mahadeva, Sanjiv; Chan, Wah-Kheong; Mohazmi, Mohammed; Sujarita, Ramanujam; Goh, Khean-Lee

2011-11-01

Outcome measures for clinical trials in dyspepsia require an assessment of symptom response. There is a lack of validated instruments assessing dyspepsia symptoms in the Asian region. We aimed to translate and validate the Leeds Dyspepsia Questionnaire (LDQ) in a multi-ethnic Asian population. A Malay and culturally adapted English version of the LDQ were developed according to established protocols. Psychometric evaluation was performed by assessing the validity, internal consistency, test-retest reliability and responsiveness of the instruments in both primary and secondary care patients. Between April and September 2010, both Malay (n=166) and Malaysian English (n=154) versions were assessed in primary and secondary care patients. Both language versions were found to be reliable (internal consistency was 0.80 and 0.74 (Cronbach's α) for Malay and English, respectively; spearman's correlation coefficient for test-retest reliability was 0.98 for both versions), valid (area under receiver operating curve for accuracy of diagnosing dyspepsia was 0.71 and 0.77 for Malay and English versions, respectively), discriminative (median LDQ score discriminated between primary and secondary care patients in Malay (11.0 vs 20.0, P<0.0001) and English (10.0 vs 14.0, P=0.001), and responsive (median LDQ score reduced after treatment in Malay (17.0 to 14.0, P=0.08) and English (18.0 to 11.0, P=0.008) to dyspepsia. The Malaysian versions of the LDQ are valid, reliable and responsive instruments for assessing symptoms in a multi-ethnic Asian population with dyspepsia. © 2011 Journal of Gastroenterology and Hepatology Foundation and Blackwell Publishing Asia Pty Ltd.

Layered phenomena in the mesopause region

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Plane, J. M. C.; Bailey, S. M.; Baumgarten, G.; Rapp, M.

2015-05-01

This special issue of the Journal of Atmospheric and Solar-Terrestrial Physics comprises a collection of papers which were mostly presented at the 11th Layered Phenomena in the Mesopause Region (LPMR) Workshop, held at the University of Leeds between 29th July 2013 and 1st August 2013. The topics covered at the workshop included atmospheric dynamics, mesospheric ice clouds, meteoric metal layers, meteoric smoke particles, and airglow layers. There was also a session on the potential of planned sub-orbital spacecraft for making measurements in the mesosphere and lower thermosphere (MLT).

High HPV vaccination uptake rates for adolescent girls after regional governmental funding in Shiki City, Japan.

PubMed

Hayashi, Y; Shimizu, Y; Netsu, S; Hanley, S; Konno, R

2012-08-10

In Japan, the bivalent HPV vaccine was approved in October, 2009 and became available as a non-routine vaccine from December, 2009. While routine vaccinations are free, the cost and responsibility for non-routine vaccinations are left to the individual. In exceptional circumstances regional governments fund non-routine vaccinations. This was the case in Shiki City, Saitama Prefecture, where a high uptake rate for individual (non-school based) HPV vaccination was obtained. On January 20, 2010, the mayor of Shiki City announced to the media his decision to vaccinate adolescent girls in Shiki City against HPV. A project team for HPV vaccination was set up in the city's Health Promotion Center. To gain mutual consent for HPV vaccination, senior health professionals, city officials, the head of the board of education, school principals and health-care teachers met several times. The cohort to be vaccinated was 1254 girls aged 12-15 years. Individual notifications were mailed to each girl on April 23, 2010, along with information about the HPV vaccine. As of April 10th, 2011, the uptake rate for girls aged 15 years old was 90.7% for the 1st dose. The vaccine registry is managed by the health care system of the city. The success of the HPV vaccination program and high uptake rates in Shiki City is a good model for the nationwide HPV vaccination program that started in February, 2011. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Cardiovascular drugs consumption--comparison between two Croatian regions, City of Zagreb and Lika-Senj County.

PubMed

Jurković, Drazen; Stimac, Danijela; Bajramović, Dubravko; Tiljak, Hrvoje; Stevanović, Ranko

2014-06-01

The aim of this paper is to determine the differences in the outpatient consumption of cardiovascular drugs between Croatian regions: the City of Zagreb and Lika-Senj County. The data on the number of packages and the purchase price for each drug have been obtained from all pharmacies in Lika-Senj County and all pharmacies in the City of Zagreb. Defined daily doses/1000 inhabitants/day (DDD/1000/day) was calculated for every drug in accordance with its code name and Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical/Defined Daily Dose (ATC/DDD) index of the World Health Organization (WHO) for 2007. For drug combinations without defined daily doses, equivalent doses (ED) were used. The quality of drug prescribing within the group of cardiovascular drugs was assessed using the Drug Utilization (DU90%) method and the adherence of the DU90% segment to the guidelines for prescribing individual drug groups. The statistical significance of differences in results between the City of Zagreb and Lika-Senj County was tested using the chi-square test at the level of statistical significance p < 0.05. The comparison of the share of the five most often prescribed drug groups in Lika-Senj County has shown statistically significant differences when compared to the City of Zagreb (chi2 = 28.93, df = 4, p < 0.001). The total outpatient consumption of cardiovascular drugs in the City of Zagreb and Lika-Senj County differs significantly. The consumption, quality of prescribing drugs and cost/DDD in the City of Zagreb is higher than in Lika-Senj County; in the City of Zagreb, newer and more expensive drugs are prescribed to a higher extent.

A study of persons aged 65 and over in the Leeds Metropolitan District.

PubMed Central

McDonnell, H; Long, A F; Harrison, B J; Oldman, C

1979-01-01

A study of the elderly living in the community and in institutional care in the Leeds Metropolitan District is outlined. Four populations of persons aged 65 and over were examined: those living in their own homes; in sheltered housing; in social services aged persons' hostels (Part III accommodation); and in hospitals. Findings on one key concept--coping ability--are discussed. Those living in their own homes were most able to cope. Many living in institutions were well able to cope in the community according to the criteria of mobility and functional ability. The relationship between age, morbidity, and coping ability were examined. Women were more likely to report the presence of a long-term illness than men. Housebound respondents in the community were twice as likely to be suffering from non-traumatic locomotor disorders, eyesight disorders, and cerebrovascular disease than respondents in the community sample taken as a whole. PMID:509000

City leadership for health and sustainable development: the World Health Organization European Healthy Cities Network.

PubMed

Tsouros, Agis

2009-11-01

This paper provides an overview of European Healthy Cities Network (EHCN) organized by the WHO Regional Office Europe. The focus is on the third of five phases covering the period 1998-2002. Fifty-six cities were members of the WHO-EHCN and over 1000 European cities were members of national networks. Association with WHO has given municipalities legitimacy to move into a domain often associated with health service. Equity and community participation are core values. City mayors provide political leadership. Intersectoral cooperation underpins a Healthy Cities approach. The WHO Regional Office for Europe supports WHO-EHCN, providing guidance and technical leadership. Cities' processes and structures are prerequisits for improvements in health and are central to the evaluation of Phase III of the WHO-EHCN.

Understanding urban water performance at the city-region scale using an urban water metabolism evaluation framework.

PubMed

Renouf, Marguerite A; Kenway, Steven J; Lam, Ka Leung; Weber, Tony; Roux, Estelle; Serrao-Neumann, Silvia; Choy, Darryl Low; Morgan, Edward A

2018-06-15

Water sensitive interventions are being promoted to reduce the adverse impacts of urban development on natural water cycles. However it is currently difficult to know the best strategy for their implementation because current and desired urban water performance is not well quantified. This is particularly at the city-region scale, which is important for strategic urban planning. This work aimed to fill this gap by quantifying the water performance of urban systems within city-regions using 'urban water metabolism' evaluation, to inform decisions about water sensitive interventions. To do this we adapted an existing evaluation framework with new methods. In particular, we used land use data for defining system boundaries, and for estimating natural hydrological flows. The criteria for gauging the water performance were water efficiency (in terms of water extracted externally) and hydrological performance (how much natural hydrological flows have changed relative to a nominated pre-urbanised state). We compared these performance criteria for urban systems within three Australian city-regions (South East Queensland, Melbourne and Perth metropolitan areas), under current conditions, and after implementation of example water sensitive interventions (demand management, rainwater/stormwater harvesting, wastewater recycling and increasing perviousness). The respective water efficiencies were found to be 79, 90 and 133 kL/capita/yr. In relation to hydrological performance, stormwater runoff relative to pre-urbanised flows was of most note, estimated to be 2-, 6- and 3- fold, respectively. The estimated performance benefits from water sensitive interventions suggested different priorities for each region, and that combined implementation of a range of interventions may be necessary to make substantive gains in performance. We concluded that the framework is suited to initial screening of the type and scale of water sensitive interventions needed to achieve desired water

Assessment of inter-city transport of particulate matter in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chang, Xing; Wang, Shuxiao; Zhao, Bin; Cai, Siyi; Hao, Jiming

2018-04-01

The regional transport of particulate matter with diameter less than 2.5 µm (PM2.5) plays an important role in the air pollution of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei (BTH) region in China. However, previous studies on regional transport of PM2.5 mainly aim at province level, which is insufficient for the development of an optimal joint PM2.5 control strategy. In this study, we calculate PM2.5 inflows and outflows through the administrative boundaries of three major cities in the BTH region, i.e., Beijing, Tianjin and Shijiazhuang, using the WRF (Weather Research and Forecasting model)-CMAQ (Community Multiscale Air Quality) modeling system. The monthly average inflow fluxes indicate the major directions of PM2.5 transport. For Beijing, the PM2.5 inflow fluxes from Zhangjiakou (in the northwest) and Baoding (in the southwest) constitute 57 % of the total in winter, and Langfang (in the southeast) and Baoding constitute 73 % in summer. Based on the net PM2.5 fluxes and their vertical distributions, we find there are three major transport pathways in the BTH region: the northwest-southeast pathway in winter (at all levels below 1000 m), the northwest-southeast pathway in summer (at all levels below 1000 m), and the southwest-northeast pathway in both winter and in summer (mainly at 300-1000 m). In winter, even if surface wind speeds are low, the transport at above 300 m can still be strong. Among the three pathways, the southwest-northeast happens along with PM2.5 concentrations 30 and 55 % higher than the monthly average in winter and summer, respectively. Analysis of two heavy pollution episodes in January and July in Beijing show a much (8-16 times) stronger transport than the monthly average, emphasizing the joint air pollution control of the cities located on the transport pathways, especially during heavy pollution episodes.

Virtual Cities--A Regional Discovery Project.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stanfel, Julie

1993-01-01

Describes the "Virtual Cities" project, a virtual reality satellite teleconference with students age 12 to 17 from Canada, Italy, and the United States held during the International Council for Educational Media 1992 conference. A visual database overlaid with instructional gaming strategies provided students with the opportunity to…

Assessment of the intensity and spatial variability of urban heat islands over the Indian cities for Regional Climate Analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sultana, S.; Satyanarayana, A. N. V.

2016-12-01

The Urban heat island (UHI) in general developed over cities, due to the drastic changes in land use and land cover (LULC), has profound impact on the atmospheric circulation patterns due to the changes in the energy transport mechanism which in turn affect the regional climate. In this study, an attempt has been made to quantify the intensity of UHI, and to identify the pockets of UHI over cities during last decade over fast developing cosmopolitan Indian cities such as New Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata. For this purpose, Landsat TM and ETM+ images during winter period, in about 5 year intervals from 2002 to 2013, has been selected to retrieve the brightness temperatures and land use/cover, from which Land Surface Temperature (LST) has been estimated using Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI). Normalized Difference Build-up Index (NDBI) and Normalized Difference Bareness Index (NDBaI) are estimated to extract build-up areas and bare land from the satellite images to identify the UHI pockets over the study area. For this purpose image processing and GIS tools were employed. Results reveal a significant increase in the intensity of UHI and increase in its area of influence over all the three cities. An increase of 2 to 2.5 oC of UHI intensity over the study regions has been noticed. The range of increase in UHI intensity is found to be more over New Delhi compared to Mumbai and Kolkata which is more or less same. The number of hotspot pockets of UHI has also been increased as seen from the spatial distribution of LST, NDVI and NDBI. This result signifies the impact of rapid urbanization and infrastructural developments has a direct consequence in modulating the regional climate over the Indian cities.

Dy uniform film morphologies on graphene studied with SPA-LEED and STM

DOE PAGES

McDougall, D.; Hattab, H.; Hershberger, M. T.; ...

2016-07-01

The use of graphene for microelectronics and spintronic applications requires strategies for metals to wet graphene and to grow layer-by-layer. This is especially important when metals will be used as electrical contacts or as spin filters. Extensive work in the literature so far has shown that this is very challenging, since practically all metals grow 3D, with multi-height islands forming easily. Reasons for the 3D morphology are the much weaker metal carbon bond when compared to the metal cohesive energy and the role of Coulomb repulsion of the poorly screened charges at the metal graphene interface. We employed the complementarymore » techniques of SPA-LEED and STM to study the growth of Dy on graphene. It was found that under kinetic limitations it is possible to fully cover graphene with a bilayer Dy film, by growing well below room temperature in stepwise deposition experiments. Lastly, the Dy film, however, is amorphous but ways to crystallize it within the 2D morphology are possible, since long range order improves at higher growth temperature.« less

Self-organisation of adsorbed nitrogen on (100) and (410) copper faces: a SPA-LEED study

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sotto, M.; Croset, B.

2000-08-01

The self-organisation of nitrogen nanostructures at different coverages on a (100) copper surface is studied by spot profile analysing low energy electron diffraction (SPA-LEED). The existence of two surface states with a domain of coverage leading to coexistence of the two states as already observed by scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) [Leibsle and Robinson, Phys. Rev. B 47 (1993) 15 865; Leibsle et al., Surf. Sci. 317 (1994) 309; Leibsle, Surf. Sci. 440 (1999) L835] and low energy electron diffraction (LEED) [Sotto et al., Surf. Sci. 371 (1997) 36] is confirmed. In the first state, the surface is organised in square shape islands separated by bare copper <100> rows. This work shows that the surface periodicity depends on the preparation of the nitrogen overlayer. When nitrogen coverage is obtained by adsorption with a sample temperature near 320°C, the periodicity does not vary with coverage and is found to be equal to 55±2 Å. At coverages below 0.75±0.05 and if the nitrogen is deposited at room temperature followed by an anneal at 320°C, during long periods of time, the periodicity evolves to large values (˜97±3 Å). During thermal desorption, the long range order with decreasing coverage is maintained but the surface periodicity also evolves continuously to large values (˜100 Å). However, a surface periodicity of 55±2 Å seems to be a characteristic length of this system. The second surface state corresponds to large c(2×2)N domains separated by <110> trenches [Leibsle and Robinson, Phys. Rev. B 47 (1993) 15 865; Leibsle et al., Surf. Sci. 317 (1994) 309; Leibsle, Surf. Sci. 440 (1999) L835]. Nitrogen adsorption on a (410) stepped face induces a reconstruction into a (810) face with double step height. The complex behaviour of this film growth is discussed in the light of existing theories about the driving force leading to nanostructuration.

Dynamic Network Model for Smart City Data-Loss Resilience Case Study: City-to-City Network for Crime Analytics

PubMed Central

Kotevska, Olivera; Kusne, A. Gilad; Samarov, Daniel V.; Lbath, Ahmed; Battou, Abdella

2017-01-01

Today’s cities generate tremendous amounts of data, thanks to a boom in affordable smart devices and sensors. The resulting big data creates opportunities to develop diverse sets of context-aware services and systems, ensuring smart city services are optimized to the dynamic city environment. Critical resources in these smart cities will be more rapidly deployed to regions in need, and those regions predicted to have an imminent or prospective need. For example, crime data analytics may be used to optimize the distribution of police, medical, and emergency services. However, as smart city services become dependent on data, they also become susceptible to disruptions in data streams, such as data loss due to signal quality reduction or due to power loss during data collection. This paper presents a dynamic network model for improving service resilience to data loss. The network model identifies statistically significant shared temporal trends across multivariate spatiotemporal data streams and utilizes these trends to improve data prediction performance in the case of data loss. Dynamics also allow the system to respond to changes in the data streams such as the loss or addition of new information flows. The network model is demonstrated by city-based crime rates reported in Montgomery County, MD, USA. A resilient network is developed utilizing shared temporal trends between cities to provide improved crime rate prediction and robustness to data loss, compared with the use of single city-based auto-regression. A maximum improvement in performance of 7.8% for Silver Spring is found and an average improvement of 5.6% among cities with high crime rates. The model also correctly identifies all the optimal network connections, according to prediction error minimization. City-to-city distance is designated as a predictor of shared temporal trends in crime and weather is shown to be a strong predictor of crime in Montgomery County. PMID:29250476

Dynamic Network Model for Smart City Data-Loss Resilience Case Study: City-to-City Network for Crime Analytics.

PubMed

Kotevska, Olivera; Kusne, A Gilad; Samarov, Daniel V; Lbath, Ahmed; Battou, Abdella

2017-01-01

Today's cities generate tremendous amounts of data, thanks to a boom in affordable smart devices and sensors. The resulting big data creates opportunities to develop diverse sets of context-aware services and systems, ensuring smart city services are optimized to the dynamic city environment. Critical resources in these smart cities will be more rapidly deployed to regions in need, and those regions predicted to have an imminent or prospective need. For example, crime data analytics may be used to optimize the distribution of police, medical, and emergency services. However, as smart city services become dependent on data, they also become susceptible to disruptions in data streams, such as data loss due to signal quality reduction or due to power loss during data collection. This paper presents a dynamic network model for improving service resilience to data loss. The network model identifies statistically significant shared temporal trends across multivariate spatiotemporal data streams and utilizes these trends to improve data prediction performance in the case of data loss. Dynamics also allow the system to respond to changes in the data streams such as the loss or addition of new information flows. The network model is demonstrated by city-based crime rates reported in Montgomery County, MD, USA. A resilient network is developed utilizing shared temporal trends between cities to provide improved crime rate prediction and robustness to data loss, compared with the use of single city-based auto-regression. A maximum improvement in performance of 7.8% for Silver Spring is found and an average improvement of 5.6% among cities with high crime rates. The model also correctly identifies all the optimal network connections, according to prediction error minimization. City-to-city distance is designated as a predictor of shared temporal trends in crime and weather is shown to be a strong predictor of crime in Montgomery County.

Impact of life expectancy, literacy rate, opened unemployment rate and gross domestic regional income per capita on poverty in the districts/city in Central Sulawesi Province

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tombolotutu, A. D.; Djirimu, M. A.; Lutfi, M.; Anggadini, F.

2018-05-01

Research was conducted in several districts/city in Central Sulawesi Province in order to determine the effect of life expectancy, literacy rate, opened unemployment rate, and gross domestic regional income per capita on poverty at the districts/city in the province. The analysis used is Panel Data Regression. The results show that first, life expectancy and gross domestic regional income have a negative and significant impact on the poverty level in the districts/city in the Province. Second, the opened unemployment rate has a positive and significant effect on the poverty level in the districts/city in the province. Third, literacy rates show a positive effect and insignificant effect on the poverty level in the districts/city in the Province of Central Sulawesi. Fourth, these four variables simultaneously affect the poverty in the districts/city in Central Sulawesi

[Mortality among able-bodied population in industrial cities in accordance with specific enterprise forming a company city].

PubMed

Tikhonova, G I; Gorchakova, T Iu; Churanova, A N

2013-01-01

The article covers comparative analysis of mortality causes and levels among male able-bodied population in small and medium industrial cities of Murmansk region in accordance with specific enterprise forming a company city. Findings are that, if compared to Murmansk having no enterprise forming a company, other industrial cities in the region, situated in the same climate area, demonstrated higher levels of mortality among the male able-bodied population with the death causes associated etiologically to occupational hazards on the enterprises forming a company city.

Establishing daily quality control (QC) in screen-film mammography using leeds tor (max) phantom at the breast imaging unit of USTH-Benavides Cancer Institute

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Acaba, K. J. C.; Cinco, L. D.; Melchor, J. N.

2016-03-01

Daily QC tests performed on screen film mammography (SFM) equipment are essential to ensure that both SFM unit and film processor are working in a consistent manner. The Breast Imaging Unit of USTH-Benavides Cancer Institute has been conducting QC following the test protocols in the IAEA Human Health Series No.2 manual. However, the availability of Leeds breast phantom (CRP E13039) in the facility made the task easier. Instead of carrying out separate tests on AEC constancy and light sensitometry, only one exposure of the phantom is done to accomplish the two tests. It was observed that measurements made on mAs output and optical densities (ODs) using the Leeds TOR (MAX) phantom are comparable with that obtained from the usual conduct of tests, taking into account the attenuation characteristic of the phantom. Image quality parameters such as low contrast and high contrast details were also evaluated from the phantom image. The authors recognize the usefulness of the phantom in determining technical factors that will help improve detection of smallest pathological details on breast images. The phantom is also convenient for daily QC monitoring and economical since less number of films is expended.

Opportunity Knocks: Closing the Gaps between Leaders and the Public on Math, Science, & Technology Education--A Qualitative Research Report on the Kansas City Region

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kadlec, Alison; Friedman, Will

2010-01-01

The Kansas City region is in many ways representative of the larger national economy. As with many cities of its size, the largest area of employment, other than in government, is in the healthcare sector. While biomedical research is a major growth area across the nation, Kansas City is also the national leader in the animal healthcare industry,…

[Healthy Cities projects].

PubMed

Takano, Takehito

2002-05-01

This is a review article on "Healthy Cities". The Healthy Cities programme has been developed by the World Health Organization (WHO) to tackle urban health and environmental issues in a broad way. It is a kind of comprehensive policy package to carry out individual projects and activities effectively and efficiently. Its key aspects include healthy public policy, vision sharing, high political commitment, establishment of structural organization, strategic health planning, intersectoral collaboration, community participation, setting approach, development of supportive environment for health, formation of city health profile, national and international networking, participatory research, periodic monitoring and evaluation, and mechanisms for sustainability of projects. The present paper covered the Healthy Cities concept and approaches, rapid urbanization in the world, developments of WHO Healthy Cities, Healthy Cities developments in the Western Pacific Region, the health promotion viewpoint, and roles of research.

Doing more with less (data): complexities of resource flow analysis in the Gauteng City-Region

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Culwick, Christina; Götz, Graeme; Butcher, Siân; Harber, Jesse; Maree, Gillian; Mushongera, Darlington

2017-12-01

Urban metabolism is a growing field of study into resource flows through cities, and how these could be managed more sustainably. There are two main schools of thought on urban metabolism—metabolic flow analysis (MFA) and urban political ecology (UPE). The two schools remain siloed despite common foundations. This paper reflects on recent research by the Gauteng City-Region Observatory (GCRO) into urban sustainability transitions in South Africa’s Gauteng City-Region, a large and sprawling urban formation that faces a host of sustainability challenges including water deficits, erratic electricity supply, stretched infrastructure networks and increasingly carbon-intensive settlement patterns. Three GCRO research projects are reviewed. Each project began with the assumption that data collection on the region’s metabolism could enable an MFA or MFA-like analysis to highlight where possible resource efficiency and sustainability gains might be achieved. However, in each case we confronted severe data-limitations, and ended up asking UPE-style questions on the reasons for and implications of the chronic paucity of urban metabolism data. We have been led to conclude that urban metabolism research will require much more than just assembling and modelling flows data, although these efforts should not be abandoned. A synthesis of MFA and UPE is needed, which simultaneously builds a deeper understanding of resource flows and the systems that govern these flows. We support the emerging approach in political-industrial ecology literature which values both material data on and socio-political insight into urban metabolism, and emphasises the importance of multi-disciplinary and multi-dimensional analysis to inform decision-making in urban sustainability transitions.

Green city Banda Aceh: city planning approach and environmental aspects

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Arif, A. A.

2017-02-01

Banda Aceh as the capital of Aceh Province is the region with the tsunami disaster that occurred on December 26, 2004 the most severe of which over 60% of the city area were destroyed mainly coastal region and settlements. One product plan for rehabilitation and reconstruction of Banda Aceh is made of Banda Aceh as Green City. To realize the Green City Banda Aceh, urban development process should be conducted in a planned and integrated way with attention to spatial and environmental aspects to ensure an efficient urban management and to create a healthy, beautiful and comfortable environment. There is a weakness of the process in urban planning and development that occurred at present where cities tend to minimize the development of green open space and land conversion into a commercial district, residential areas, industrial areas, transport networks and infrastructure and facilities for other cities. Another tendency that occurs is urban environment only developed economically but not ecologically, whereas ecological balance is as important as the development of the economic value of urban areas. Such conditions have caused unbalance of urban ecosystems including increased air temperature, air pollution, declining water table, flooding, salt water intrusion and increased content of heavy metals in the soil. From an ecological perspective, unfavorable microclimate, high-temperature increase due to the lack of trees as a sieve / filter against heavy rain, can cause flooding. These conditions result in inconvienient, arid and less beautiful urban areas. The author identifies the elements contained in the Green City Banda Aceh and how the efforts and approaches must be made toward Green City Banda Aceh.

77 FR 50508 - Change in Bank Control Notices; Formations of, Acquisitions by, and Mergers of Bank Holding...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-08-21

..., Cando, North Dakota; Timothy Dodd and Bradley Fey, both of Bismarck, North Dakota; Jeffrey Topp, Grace City, North Dakota; Janet Topp, Grace City, North Dakota; and Roger Kenner, Leeds, North Dakota; as a... (Jacqueline G. King, Community Affairs Officer) 90 Hennepin Avenue, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55480-0291: 1. MVC...

The structure of N2 adsorbed on the rumpled NaCl(100) surface—A combined LEED and DFT-D study

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vogt, Jochen

2012-11-01

The structure of N2 physisorbed on the NaCl(100) single crystal surface is investigated by means of quantitative low-energy electron diffraction (LEED) in combination with dispersion corrected density functional theory (DFT-D). In the temperature range between 20 K and 45 K, a p(1 × 1) structure is observed in the LEED experiment. According to the structure analysis based on the measured diffraction spot intensity profiles, the N2 molecules are adsorbed over the topmost Na+ ions. The experimental distance of the lower nitrogen to the Na+ ion underneath is (2.55 ± 0.07) Å; the corresponding DFT-D value is 2.65 Å. The axes of the molecules are tilted (26 ± 3)° with respect to the surface normal, while in the zero Kelvin optimum structure from DFT-D, the molecules have a perpendicular orientation. The experimental monolayer heat of adsorption, deduced from a Fowler-Guggenheim kinetic model of adsorption is -(13.6 ± 1.6) kJ mol-1, including a lateral molecule-molecule interaction energy of -(2.0 ± 0.4) kJ mol-1. The zero Kelvin adsorption energy from DFT-D, including zero point energy correction, is -15.6 kJ mol-1; the molecule-molecule interaction is -2.4 kJ mol-1. While the rumpling of the NaCl(100) surface is unchanged upon adsorption of nitrogen, the best-fit root mean square thermal displacements of the ions in the topmost substrate layer are significantly reduced.

CO Adsorption on Reconstructed Ir(100) Surfaces from UHV to mbar Pressure: A LEED, TPD, and PM-IRAS Study

PubMed Central

2016-01-01

Clean and stable surface modifications of an iridium (100) single crystal, i.e., the (1 × 1) phase, the (5 × 1) reconstruction, and the oxygen-terminated (2 × 1)-O surface, were prepared and characterized by low energy electron diffraction (LEED), temperature-programmed desorption (TPD), infrared reflection absorption spectroscopy (IRAS) and polarization modulation IRAS (PM-IRAS). The adsorption of CO in UHV and at elevated (mbar) pressure/temperature was followed both ex situ and in situ on all three surface modifications, with a focus on mbar pressures of CO. The Ir(1 × 1) surface exhibited c(4 × 2)/c(2 × 2) and c(6 × 2) CO structures under low pressure conditions, and remained stable up to 100 mbar and 700 K. For the (2 × 1)-O reconstruction CO adsorption induced a structural change from (2 × 1)-O to (1 × 1), as confirmed by LEED, TPD, and IR. For Ir (2 × 1)-O TPD indicated that CO reacted with surface oxygen forming CO2. The (5 × 1) reconstruction featured a reversible and dynamic behavior upon CO adsorption, with a local lifting of the reconstruction to (1 × 1). After CO desorption, the (5 × 1) structure was restored. All three reconstructions exhibited CO adsorption with on-top geometry, as evidenced by IR. With increasing CO exposure the resonances shifted to higher wavenumber, due to adsorbate–adsorbate and adsorbate–substrate interactions. The largest wavenumber shift (from 2057 to 2100 cm–1) was observed for Ir(5 × 1) upon CO dosing from 1 L to 100 mbar. PMID:27257467

City-specific vehicle emission control strategies to achieve stringent emission reduction targets in China's Yangtze River Delta region.

PubMed

Zhang, Shaojun; Wu, Ye; Zhao, Bin; Wu, Xiaomeng; Shu, Jiawei; Hao, Jiming

2017-01-01

The Yangtze River Delta (YRD) region is one of the most prosperous and densely populated regions in China and is facing tremendous pressure to mitigate vehicle emissions and improve air quality. Our assessment has revealed that mitigating vehicle emissions of NOx would be more difficult than reducing the emissions of other major vehicular pollutants (e.g., CO, HC and PM 2.5 ) in the YRD region. Even in Shanghai, where the emission control implemented are more stringent than in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, we observed little to no reduction in NOx emissions from 2000 to 2010. Emission-reduction targets for HC, NOx and PM 2.5 are determined using a response surface modeling tool for better air quality. We design city-specific emission control strategies for three vehicle-populated cities in the YRD region: Shanghai and Nanjing and Wuxi in Jiangsu. Our results indicate that even if stringent emission control consisting of the Euro 6/VI standards, the limitation of vehicle population and usage, and the scrappage of older vehicles is applied, Nanjing and Wuxi will not be able to meet the NOx emissions target by 2020. Therefore, additional control measures are proposed for Nanjing and Wuxi to further mitigate NOx emissions from heavy-duty diesel vehicles. Copyright © 2016. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Resource allocation for mitigating regional air pollution–related mortality: A summertime case study for five cities in the United States

PubMed Central

Liao, Kuo-Jen; Hou, Xiangting; Strickland, Matthew J.

2016-01-01

ABSTRACT An important issue of regional air quality management is to allocate air quality management funds to maximize environmental and human health benefits. In this study, we use an innovative approach to tackle this air quality management issue. We develop an innovative resource allocation model that allows identification of air pollutant emission control strategies that maximize mortality avoidances subject to a resource constraint. We first present the development of the resource allocation model and then a case study to show how the model can be used to identify resource allocation strategies that maximize mortality avoidances for top five Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs) (i.e., New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Dallas-Fort Worth, and Philadelphia) in the continental United States collectively. Given budget constraints in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Clean Air Act assessment, the results of the case study suggest that controls of sulfur dioxide (SO2) and primary carbon (PC) emissions from EPA Regions 2, 3, 5, 6, and 9 would have significant health benefits for the five selected cities collectively. Around 30,800 air pollution–related mortalities could be avoided during the selected 2-week summertime episode for the five cities collectively if the budget could be allocated based on the results of the resource allocation model. Although only five U.S. cities during a 2-week episode are considered in the case study, the resource allocation model can be used by decision-makers to plan air pollution mitigation strategies to achieve the most significant health benefits for other seasons and more cities over a region or the continental U.S.Implications: Effective allocations of air quality management resources are challenging and complicated, and it is desired to have a tool that can help decision-makers better allocate the funds to maximize health benefits of air pollution mitigation. An innovative resource allocation model developed in

Validation of the Leeds Food Preference Questionnaire in Arabs.

PubMed

Alkahtni, Shaea A; Dalton, Michelle; Abuzaid, Omar; Obeid, Omar; Finlayson, Graham

2016-01-01

The Leeds Food Preference Questionnaire (LFPQ) is a computerised procedure that assesses liking, wanting and relative preferences for shared characteristics of food. This study adapted the LFPQ (LFPQ-A) to assess its cross-cultural validity in an Arab sample by examining its performance for food characteristics of fat (high or low) and taste (sweet or nonsweet), under fasted and fed states. Individual differences in eating behaviour were examined by testing for associations between the LFPQ-A outcomes and subscales of the Three Factor Eating Questionnaire (TFEQ). Thirty healthy males (age: 36.3±10.0 years; body mass index: 29.7±5.3 kg/m2) participated in the study. All participants attended the laboratory in the morning following an overnight fast, and performed the LFPQ-A under fasted and fed conditions (after a standardised test meal). Results showed that implicit wanting and relative preference for non-sweet foods decreased in the fed compared to the fasted state, whereas scores for sweet foods increased. Explicit liking and explicit wanting were also higher for non-sweet foods in the fasted condition, and decreased to a greater extent in the fed condition compared to a lesser decrease for sweet foods. Scores on all LFPQ-A outcomes for high-fat non-sweet foods were positively associated with TFEQ Disinhibition. Outcome scores for low-fat non-sweet foods were positively associated with TFEQ Restraint. The LFPQ-A showed outcomes that were consistent with studies performed in Western samples, therefore the current study helps to confirm the validity of the LFPQ-A as a measurement of liking and wanting and preference for food among Arabs.

Comparative analysis of geological features and seasonal processes in "Inca City" and "Pityusa Patera" regions on Mars

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Manrubia, S. C.; Prieto Ballesteros, O.; González Kessler, C.; Fernández Remolar, D.; Córdoba-Jabonero, C.; Selsis, F.; Bérczi, S.; Gánti, T.; Horváth, A.; Sik, A.; Szathmáry, E.

2004-03-01

We carry out a comparative analysis of the morphological and seasonal features of two regions in the Martian Southern Polar Region: the Inca City (82S 65W) and the Pityusa Patera zone (66S 37E). These two sites are representative of a large number of areas which are subjected to dynamical, seasonal processes that deeply modify the local conditions of those regions. Due to varitions in sunlight, seasonal CO2 accumulates during autumn and winter and starts defrosting in spring. By mid summer the seasonal ice has disappeared. Despite a number of relevant differences in the morphology of the seasonal features observed, they seem to result from similar processes.

75 FR 65705 - Notice of Intent To Rule on Request To Release Airport Property at the Tri-Cities Regional...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-10-26

... To Release Airport Property at the Tri-Cities Regional Airport, Blountville, TN. AGENCY: Federal... of Blountville, Tennessee. This property, approximately 2.413 acres in Tract 45 and .0324 acres in... 125 of the Wendell H. Ford Aviation [[Page 65706

CityGML - Interoperable semantic 3D city models

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gröger, Gerhard; Plümer, Lutz

2012-07-01

CityGML is the international standard of the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) for the representation and exchange of 3D city models. It defines the three-dimensional geometry, topology, semantics and appearance of the most relevant topographic objects in urban or regional contexts. These definitions are provided in different, well-defined Levels-of-Detail (multiresolution model). The focus of CityGML is on the semantical aspects of 3D city models, its structures, taxonomies and aggregations, allowing users to employ virtual 3D city models for advanced analysis and visualization tasks in a variety of application domains such as urban planning, indoor/outdoor pedestrian navigation, environmental simulations, cultural heritage, or facility management. This is in contrast to purely geometrical/graphical models such as KML, VRML, or X3D, which do not provide sufficient semantics. CityGML is based on the Geography Markup Language (GML), which provides a standardized geometry model. Due to this model and its well-defined semantics and structures, CityGML facilitates interoperable data exchange in the context of geo web services and spatial data infrastructures. Since its standardization in 2008, CityGML has become used on a worldwide scale: tools from notable companies in the geospatial field provide CityGML interfaces. Many applications and projects use this standard. CityGML is also having a strong impact on science: numerous approaches use CityGML, particularly its semantics, for disaster management, emergency responses, or energy-related applications as well as for visualizations, or they contribute to CityGML, improving its consistency and validity, or use CityGML, particularly its different Levels-of-Detail, as a source or target for generalizations. This paper gives an overview of CityGML, its underlying concepts, its Levels-of-Detail, how to extend it, its applications, its likely future development, and the role it plays in scientific research. Furthermore, its

Post-Travel Consultations in a Regional Hub City Hospital, Japan.

PubMed

Yaita, Kenichiro; Sakai, Yoshiro; Iwahashi, Jun; Masunaga, Kenji; Hamada, Nobuyuki; Watanabe, Hiroshi

2016-01-01

To clarify the characteristics of post-travel consultation services in Japan, particularly in the provinces, we analyzed our post-travel patients in the travel clinic of Kurume University Hospital located in Kurume City (a regional hub City in southwestern Japan). Sixty post-travel patients visited our clinic between April 2008 and October 2014 and participated in this study: 55 were Japanese and five were foreign. We summarized and compared the characteristics of the patients after dividing the Japanese participants into long-term travelers (>14 days) and short-term travelers (≤14 days). The foreign travelers were described in a separate analysis. Of the 55 Japanese travelers, the mean age (± standard deviation) was 37.3 ± 16.3 years, and 36 patients (65%) were men. Southeast Asia was the major destination (30/55, 55%), and business was stated as the major reason for travel (16/55, 29%). Post-exposure rabies prophylaxis (16/55, 29%) was the most common purpose for the consultations. There were 34 participants (62%) who were classified as short-term travelers. Fewer of the short-term travelers stated receiving pre-travel consultations compared with long-term travelers (11% vs. 79%, p=0.0002). The five foreign travelers included one dengue fever patient and two malaria patients. Most post-travel Japanese patients visited our clinic were short-term travelers who had not received any pre-travel consultation. One of the most common complaints, post-exposure rabies prophylaxis, could have been avoided to some extent by appropriate pre-travel consultations. The results of this study suggest that pre-travel consultations should therefore be encouraged for both long- and short-term travelers.

Today's Environmental Technologies-Innovative Solutions for Regional Issues, U.S. EPA ETV and SBIR Programs Regional Workshop, October 7-8, 2008, U.S. EPA Region 2, New York City, New York, Meeting Summary Report

EPA Science Inventory

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Environmental Technology Verification (ETV) and Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Programs hosted a workshop on October 7–8, 2008, at the EPA Region 2 office in New York City, New York. The goals of the workshop were to: (1) ...

National assessment of Tree City USA participation

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Tree City USA is a national program that recognizes municipal commitment to community forestry. In return for meeting program requirements, Tree City USA participants expect social, economic, and/or environmental benefits. Understanding the geographic distribution and socioeconomic characteristics of Tree City USA communities at the national scale can offer insights into the motivations or barriers to program participation, and provide context for community forestry research at finer scales. In this study, researchers assessed patterns in Tree City USA participation for all U.S. communities with more than 2,500 people according to geography, community population size, and socioeconomic characteristics, such as income, education, and race. Nationally, 23.5% of communities studied were Tree City USA participants, and this accounted for 53.9% of the total population in these communities. Tree City USA participation rates varied substantially by U.S. region, but in each region participation rates were higher in larger communities, and long-term participants tended to be larger communities than more recent enrollees. In logistic regression models, owner occupancy rates were significant negative predictors of Tree City USA participation, education and percent white population were positive predictors in many U.S. regions, and inconsistent patterns were observed for income and population age. The findings indicate that communities with smaller populations, lower educat

A survey of job satisfaction, sources of stress and psychological symptoms among general practitioners in Leeds.

PubMed Central

Appleton, K; House, A; Dowell, A

1998-01-01

BACKGROUND: The past seven years have seen rapid changes in general practice in the United Kingdom (UK), commencing with the 1990 contract. During the same period, concern about the health and morale of general practitioners (GPs) has increased and a recruitment crisis has developed. AIM: To determine levels of psychological symptoms, job satisfaction, and subjective ill health in GPs and their relationship to practice characteristics, and to compare levels of job satisfaction since the introduction of the 1990 GP contract with those found before 1990. METHOD: Postal questionnaire survey of all GP principals on the Leeds Health Authority list. The main outcome measures included quantitative measures of practice characteristics, job satisfaction, mental health (General Health Questionnaire), and general physical health. Qualitative statements about work conditions, job satisfaction, and mental health were collected. RESULTS: A total of 285/406 GPs (70%) returned the questionnaires. One hundred and forty-eight (52%) scored 3 or more on the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12), which indicates a high level of psychological symptoms. One hundred and sixty GPs (56%) felt that work had affected their recent physical health. Significant associations were found between GHQ-12 scores, total job satisfaction scores, and GPs' perceptions that work had affected their physical health. Problems with physical and mental health were associated with several aspects of workload, including list size, number of sessions worked per week, amount of time spent on call, and use of deputizing services. In the qualitative part of the survey, GPs reported overwork and excessive hours, paperwork and administration, recent National Health Service (NHS) changes, and the 1990 GP contract as the most stressful aspects of their work. CONCLUSIONS: Fifty-two per cent of GPs in Leeds who responded showed high levels of psychological symptoms. Job satisfaction was lower than in a national survey

Effects of urbanization expansion on landscape pattern and region ecological risk in Chinese coastal city: a case study of Yantai city.

PubMed

Zhou, Di; Shi, Ping; Wu, Xiaoqing; Ma, Jinwei; Yu, Junbao

2014-01-01

Applied with remote sensing, GIS, and mathematical statistics, the spatial-temporal evolution characteristics of urbanization expansion of Yantai city from 1974 to 2009 was studied. Based on landscape pattern metrics and ecological risk index, the landscape ecological risk from the landscape pattern dynamics was evaluated. The results showed that the area of urban land increased by 189.77 km(2) with average expansion area of 5.42 km(2) y(-1) from 1974 to 2009. The urbanization intensity index during 2004-2009 was 3.92 times of that during 1974-1990. The land use types of urban land and farmland changed greatly. The changes of landscape pattern metrics for land use patterns indicated that the intensity of human activities had strengthened gradually in study period. The landscape ecological risk pattern of Yantai city shaped half-round rings along the coastline. The ecological risk index decreased with increase of the distance to the coastline. The ratio of high ecological risk to subhigh ecological risk zones in 2009 was 2.23 times of that in 1990. The significant linear relationship of urbanization intensity index and regional ecological risk indicated that the anthropological economic activities were decisive factors for sustainable development of costal ecological environment.

Effects of Urbanization Expansion on Landscape Pattern and Region Ecological Risk in Chinese Coastal City: A Case Study of Yantai City

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhou, D.; Yu, J.; Li, Y.; Zhan, C.

2017-12-01

Applied with remote sensing, GIS, and mathematical statistics, the spatial-temporal evolution characteristics of urbanization expansion of Yantai city from1974 to 2009 was studied. Based on landscape pattern metrics and ecological risk index, the landscape ecological risk from the landscape pattern dynamics was evaluated. The results showed that the area of urban land increased by 189.77 km2 with average expansion area of 5.42 km2 y-1 from1974 to 2009.The urbanization intensity index during 2004-2009 was 3.92 times of that during 1974-1990. The land use types of urban land and farmland changed greatly. The changes of landscape pattern metrics for land use patterns indicated that the intensity of human activities had strengthened gradually in study period. The landscape ecological risk pattern of Yantai city shaped half-round rings along the coastline. The ecological risk index decreased with increase of the distance to the coastline. The ratio of high ecological risk to sub-high ecological risk zones in 2009 was 2.23 times of that in 1990.The significant linear relationship of urbanization intensity index and regional ecological risk indicated that the anthropological economic activities were decisive factors for sustainable development of costal ecological environment.

Effects of Urbanization Expansion on Landscape Pattern and Region Ecological Risk in Chinese Coastal City: A Case Study of Yantai City

PubMed Central

Zhou, Di; Shi, Ping; Wu, Xiaoqing; Ma, Jinwei

2014-01-01

Applied with remote sensing, GIS, and mathematical statistics, the spatial-temporal evolution characteristics of urbanization expansion of Yantai city from 1974 to 2009 was studied. Based on landscape pattern metrics and ecological risk index, the landscape ecological risk from the landscape pattern dynamics was evaluated. The results showed that the area of urban land increased by 189.77 km2 with average expansion area of 5.42 km2 y−1 from 1974 to 2009. The urbanization intensity index during 2004–2009 was 3.92 times of that during 1974–1990. The land use types of urban land and farmland changed greatly. The changes of landscape pattern metrics for land use patterns indicated that the intensity of human activities had strengthened gradually in study period. The landscape ecological risk pattern of Yantai city shaped half-round rings along the coastline. The ecological risk index decreased with increase of the distance to the coastline. The ratio of high ecological risk to subhigh ecological risk zones in 2009 was 2.23 times of that in 1990. The significant linear relationship of urbanization intensity index and regional ecological risk indicated that the anthropological economic activities were decisive factors for sustainable development of costal ecological environment. PMID:24983003

Regional travel survey

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1992-04-01

Mid-America Regional Council, the designated Metropolitan Planning Organization for the Kansas City Metropolitan Area, performed a Small Sample Travel Survey for the Kansas City region to collect data to update the MARC travel demand models. The resu...

The fine and coarse particulate matter at four major Mediterranean cities: local and regional sources

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dimitriou, Konstantinos; Kassomenos, Pavlos

2013-11-01

Particulate air pollution is associated with adverse health effects to the population exposed. The aim of this paper is the identification of local and regional sources, affecting PM10 and PM2.5 levels in four large cities of southern Europe, namely: Lisbon, Madrid, Marseille, and Rome. Air pollution data from seven sampling sites of the European Union network were used. These stations were selected due to their ability of monitoring PM2.5 concentrations and providing reliable series of data. Each station's background was also taken into account. Pearson correlation coefficients and primal component analysis components were extracted separately for cold and warm periods in order to define the relationships among particle matters (PMs) and gaseous pollutants (CO, NO2, SO2, and O3) and evaluate the contributions of local sources. Possible seasonal variations of PM2.5/PM10 ratio daily values were also used as markers of PM sources, influencing particulate size distribution. Particle emissions were primarily attributed to traffic and secondarily to natural sources. Minimum daily values of PM2.5/PM10 ratio were observed during warm periods, particularly at suburban stations with rural background, due to dust resuspension and also due to the increase of biogenic coarse PM (pollen, dust, etc.). Hybrid Single-Particle Lagrangian Integrated Trajectory Model trajectory model was used in order to compute the 4-day backward trajectories of the air masses that affected the four cities which are under study during days with recorded PM10 exceedances, within a 5-year period (2003-2007), at 300, 750, and 1,500 m above ground level (AGL). The trajectories were then divided to clusters with a K-means analysis. In all four cities, the influence of slow-moving air masses was associated with a large fraction of PM10 exceedances and with high average and maximum daily mean PM10 concentrations, principally at the 300 m AGL analysis. As far the issue of the increased PM10 concentrations

City of Columbia, Columbia, SC

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Located in the heart of South Carolina, Columbia (population 124,818) first experienced industrial growth along the Congaree, Saluda, and Broad Rivers. Plantations, cotton mills, trains, and other industries lined the riverbanks. The City claimed numerous vacant, dilapidated structures in the neighborhoods of the Congaree region. They included industrial, railroad, and petroleum properties. Uncertainties related to contamination inhibited redevelopment efforts in the region. Brownfield assessments helped the city to resolve some of the uncertainties, and increased the marketability of the sites to prospective purchasers and developers.

Environmental Sustainability and Effects on Urban Micro Region using Agent-Based Modeling of Urbanisation in Select Major Indian Cities

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Aithal, B. H.

2015-12-01

Abstract: Urbanisation has gained momentum with globalization in India. Policy decisions to set up commercial, industrial hubs have fuelled large scale migration, added with population upsurge has contributed to the fast growing urban region that needs to be monitored in order to design sustainable urban cities. Unplanned urbanization have resulted in the growth of peri-urban region referred to as urban sprawl, are often devoid of basic amenities and infrastructure leading to large scale environmental problems that are evident. Remote sensing data acquired through space borne sensors at regular interval helps in understanding urban dynamics aided by Geoinformatics which has proved very effective in mapping and monitoring for sustainable urban planning. Cellular automata (CA) is a robust approach for the spatially explicit simulation of land-use land cover dynamics. CA uses rules, states, conditions that are vital factors in modelling urbanisation. This communication effectively introduces simulation assistances of CA with the agent based modelling supported by its fuzzy characteristics and weightages through analytical hierarchal process (AHP). This has been done considering perceived agents such as industries, natural resource etc. Respective agent's role in development of a particular regions into an urban area has been examined with weights and its influence of each of these agents based on its characteristics functions. Validation was performed obtaining a high kappa coefficient indicating the quality and the allocation performance of the model & validity of the model to predict future projections. The prediction using the proposed model was performed for 2030. Further environmental sustainability of each of these cities are explored such as water features, environment, greenhouse gas emissions, effects on human human health etc., Modeling suggests trend of various land use classes transformation with the spurt in urban expansions based on specific regions and

'Social, innovative and smart cities are happy and resilient': insights from the WHO EURO 2014 International Healthy Cities Conference.

PubMed

Kamel Boulos, Maged N; Tsouros, Agis D; Holopainen, Arto

2015-01-14

This paper provides a brief overview of, and elaborates on, some of the presentations, discussions and conclusions from Day 4 of the 'WHO EURO 2014 International Healthy Cities Conference: Health and the City - Urban Living in the 21st Century', held in Athens, Greece on 25 October 2014. The Internet of Things (IoT) is made of sensors and other components that connect our version of the world made of atoms, i.e., humans/our bodies, our devices, vehicles, roads, buildings, plants, animals, etc., with a mirror digital version made of bits. This enables cities and regions to be self-aware and dynamically reconfigurable in real- or near-real-time, based on changes that are continuously monitored and captured by sensors, similar to the way the internal biological systems of a living being operate and respond to their environment (homeostasis). Data collected by various IoT sensors and processed via appropriate analytics can also help predict the immediate future with reasonable accuracy, which enables better planned responses and mitigation actions. Cities and regions can thus become more adaptable and resilient in face of adversity. Furthermore, IoT can link atoms (humans) to other atoms (humans) (again via bits), resulting in the formation of 'smart(er) communities' that are socially connected in new ways and potentially happier. Cities, but also less urbanised regions and the countryside, could all benefit from, and harness the power of, IoT to improve the health, well-being and overall quality of life of the local populations, actively engage citizens in a smarter governance of their region, empower them to better care for one another, promote stronger social inclusion, and ensure a greener, sustainable and more enjoyable environment for all. Technology can also help reverse the 'brain drain' from the countryside and smaller towns to larger metropolises by making the former more attractive and connected, with better services akin to those found in larger cities. The

Seasonal impact of regional outdoor biomass burning on air pollution in three Indian cities: Delhi, Bengaluru, and Pune

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Tianjia; Marlier, Miriam E.; DeFries, Ruth S.; Westervelt, Daniel M.; Xia, Karen R.; Fiore, Arlene M.; Mickley, Loretta J.; Cusworth, Daniel H.; Milly, George

2018-01-01

Air pollution in many of India's cities exceeds national and international standards, and effective pollution control strategies require knowledge of the sources that contribute to air pollution and their spatiotemporal variability. In this study, we examine the influence of a single pollution source, outdoor biomass burning, on particulate matter (PM) concentrations, surface visibility, and aerosol optical depth (AOD) from 2007 to 2013 in three of the most populous Indian cities. We define the upwind regions, or ;airsheds,; for the cities by using atmospheric back trajectories from the HYSPLIT model. Using satellite fire radiative power (FRP) observations as a measure of fire activity, we target pre-monsoon and post-monsoon fires upwind of the Delhi National Capital Region and pre-monsoon fires surrounding Bengaluru and Pune. We find varying contributions of outdoor fires to different air quality metrics. For the post-monsoon burning season, we find that a subset of local meteorological variables (air temperature, humidity, sea level pressure, wind speed and direction) and FRP as the only pollution source explained 39% of variance in Delhi station PM10 anomalies, 77% in visibility, and 30% in satellite AOD; additionally, per unit increase in FRP within the daily airshed (1000 MW), PM10 increases by 16.34 μg m-3, visibility decreases by 0.155 km, and satellite AOD increases by 0.07. In contrast, for the pre-monsoon burning season, we find less significant contributions from FRP to air quality in all three cities. Further, we attribute 99% of FRP from post-monsoon outdoor fires within Delhi's average airshed to agricultural burning. Our work suggests that although outdoor fires are not the dominant air pollution source in India throughout the year, post-monsoon fires contribute substantially to regional air pollution and high levels of population exposure around Delhi. During 3-day blocks of extreme PM2.5 in the 2013 post-monsoon burning season, which coincided

Seasonal Impact of Regional Outdoor Biomass Burning on Air Pollution in Three Indian Cities: Delhi, Bengaluru, and Pune

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Liu, Tianjia; Marlier, Miriam E.; DeFries, Ruth S.; Westervelt, Daniel M.; Xia, Karen R.; Fiore, Arlene M.; Mickley, Loretta J.; Cusworth, Daniel H.; Milly, George

2017-01-01

Air pollution in many of India's cities exceeds national and international standards, and effective pollution control strategies require knowledge of the sources that contribute to air pollution and their spatiotemporal variability. In this study, we examine the influence of a single pollution source, outdoor biomass burning, on particulate matter (PM) concentrations, surface visibility, and aerosol optical depth (AOD) from 2007 to 2013 in three of the most populous Indian cities. We define the upwind regions, or "airsheds," for the cities by using atmospheric back trajectories from the HYSPLIT model. Using satellite fire radiative power (FRP) observations as a measure of fire activity, we target pre-monsoon and post-monsoon fires upwind of the Delhi National Capital Region and pre-monsoon fires surrounding Bengaluru and Pune. We find varying contributions of outdoor fires to different air quality metrics. For the post-monsoon burning season, we find that a subset of local meteorological variables (air temperature, humidity, sea level pressure, wind speed and direction) and FRP as the only pollution source explained 39% of variance in Delhi station PM(sub 10) anomalies, 77% in visibility, and 30% in satellite AOD; additionally, per unit increase in FRP within the daily airshed (1000 MW), PM(sub 10) increases by 16.34 micrograms per cubic meter, visibility decreases by 0.097 km, and satellite AOD increases by 0.07. In contrast, for the pre-monsoon burning season, we find less significant contributions from FRP to air quality in all three cities. Further, we attribute 99% of FRP from post-monsoon outdoor fires within Delhi's average airshed to agricultural burning. Our work suggests that although outdoor fires are not the dominant air pollution source in India throughout the year, post-monsoon fires contribute substantially to regional air pollution and high levels of population exposure around Delhi. During 3-day blocks of extreme PM(sub 2.5) in the 2013 post

Translation and linguistic validation of the self-completed Leeds Assessment of Neuropathic Symptoms and Signs (S-LANSS) scale for use in a Libyan population.

PubMed

Elzahaf, Raga A; Tashani, Osama A; Unsworth, Biddy A; Johnson, Mark I

2013-03-01

The Leeds Assessment of Neuropathic Symptoms and Signs (LANSS) pain scale is used to identify pain of neuropathic origin and has been validated as a self-completed tool (S-LANSS). We translated the S-LANSS into Arabic and evaluated its reliability and linguistic validity for use by Libyan people. Thirteen of 45 Libyan nationals living in the UK were identified as having chronic pain and completed an English and Arabic S-LANSS 1 week apart. In addition, 23 of 104 respondents to a telephone interview in Derna City, Libya, were identified as having chronic pain and completed the Arabic S-LANSS. Seven of these 23 completed the S-LANSS again 1 week later. Cronbach's alpha was 0.72 (P < 0.001) for the Arabic S-LANSS and 0.71 (P < 0.001) for the English S-LANSS. There was good measurement of agreement of individual items in Arabic and English S-LANSS tools with kappa coefficients ranging from 0.69 to 1.00. Twelve of the 23 (52.2%) individuals with chronic pain scored 12 or more on the Arabic S-LANSS and were classified as possibly having neuropathic pain. There was good measurement of agreement of individual items in Arabic S-LANSS tools with kappa coefficients ranging from 0.462 to 1.00. There were strong intraclass correlations in both versions for test-retest reliability of total score. The Arabic S-LANSS is reliable and linguistically valid to use in Libya. Our translation of the S-LANSS into Arabic was shown to be linguistically valid and reliable for use in a Libyan population. © 2012 The Authors. Pain Practice © 2012 World Institute of Pain.

Ultrathin TiO(x) films on Pt(111): a LEED, XPS, and STM investigation.

PubMed

Sedona, Francesco; Rizzi, Gian Andrea; Agnoli, Stefano; Llabrés i Xamena, Francesc X; Papageorgiou, Anthoula; Ostermann, Dieter; Sambi, Mauro; Finetti, Paola; Schierbaum, Klaus; Granozzi, Gaetano

2005-12-29

Ultrathin ordered titanium oxide films on Pt(111) surface are prepared by reactive evaporation of Ti in oxygen. By varying the Ti dose and the annealing conditions (i.e., temperature and oxygen pressure), six different long-range ordered phases are obtained. They are characterized by means of low-energy electron diffraction (LEED), X-ray photoemission spectroscopy (XPS), and scanning tunneling microscopy (STM). By careful optimization of the preparative parameters, we find conditions where predominantly single phases of TiO(x), revealing distinct LEED pattern and STM images, are produced. XPS binding energy and photoelectron diffraction (XPD) data indicate that all the phases, except one (the stoichiometric rect-TiO2), are one monolayer thick and composed of a Ti-O bilayer with interfacial Ti. Atomically resolved STM images confirm that these TiO(x) phases wet the Pt surface, in contrast to rect-TiO2. This indicates their interface stabilization. At a low Ti dose (0.4 monolayer equivalents, MLE), an incommensurate kagomé-like low-density phase (k-TiO(x) phase) is observed where hexagons are sharing their vertexes. At a higher Ti dose (0.8 MLE), two denser phases are found, both characterized by a zigzag motif (z- and z'-TiO(x) phases), but with distinct rectangular unit cells. Among them, z'-TiO(x), which is obtained by annealing in ultrahigh vacuum (UHV), shows a larger unit cell. When the postannealing of the 0.8 MLE deposit is carried out at high temperatures and high oxygen partial pressures, the incommensurate nonwetting, fully oxidized rect-TiO2 is found The symmetry and lattice dimensions are almost identical with rect-VO2, observed in the system VO(x)/Pd(111). At a higher coverage (1.2 MLE), two commensurate hexagonal phases are formed, namely the w- [(square root(43) x square root(43)) R 7.6 degrees] and w'-TiO(x) phase [(7 x 7) R 21.8 degrees]. They show wagon-wheel-like structures and have slightly different lattice dimensions. Larger Ti deposits

Building Child Friendly Cities in the MENA Region

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nour, Osman El Hassan N.

2013-01-01

The notion of Child Friendly Cities (CFCs) was first developed during the Second United Nations Conference on Human Settlements (HABITAT II), held in Istanbul in 1996. The concept is based on four general principles of the United Nations "Convention on the rights of the child": (1) fair treatment of every child, regardless of ethnicity,…

Motivations for donating blood and reasons why people lapse or never donate in Leeds, England: a 2001 questionnaire-based survey.

PubMed

Kuruvatti, J; Prasad, V; Williams, R; Harrison, M A; Jones, R P O

2011-11-01

Blood donors' motivations and reasons for lapsing and never donating were determined from a questionnaire completed by 489 adults (89 regular donors, 105 lapsed donors, 295 never donors) in Leeds, UK. The free text responses were classified according to themes that arose. Altruistic motivations including reciprocation and kinship towards family, friends, and unknowns were most numerous. Other motivations related to the NHS or National Blood Service, obligation, occupation, self-interest, convenience, peer-influence, health benefits, a rare blood group, donations being useful, a TV programme, or ethnicity. Reasons for non-donation were personal, medical, donation centre- or procedure-related, exclusions, and age-related. Suggestions are offered to increase the blood supply. © 2011 The Author(s). Vox Sanguinis © 2011 International Society of Blood Transfusion.

Policy options for healthier retail food environments in city-regions.

PubMed

Mah, Catherine L; Cook, Brian; Rideout, Karen; Minaker, Leia M

2016-06-09

Public policy is central to health promotion: it determines the distribution of resources in a society and establishes the structural context for the actions of both corporations and consumers. With this in mind, the purpose of this paper is to begin a discussion on promising policy options for a health-promoting retail food environment. Drawing on specific municipal examples, we examine four groups of policy options for healthier retail food environments in city-regions: planning for health; transforming consumer environments; economic and fiscal instruments; and a culture of transparency and participation. We introduce examples of policy options that are receiving increasing attention in the public health and urban planning literature and that function at the municipal level. We also highlight how public health professionals have an important role to play in policy that shapes retail food environments, especially in making explicit the linkages between health and other policy goals. In doing so, this commentary aims to motivate public health practitioners in a variety of community contexts to consider the policy supports they need to advance their exploration, development, testing and evaluation of interventions for healthier retail food environments.

Typologi of Island City in Indonesia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Maulana, Alvaryan; Benita, Tania

2017-07-01

As an archipelagic country, Indonesia consist of thousands of island. Some of them are big enough to contain growth and become the center of settlement and activity in Indonesia. However, growth and habitation are not only mushrooming in main island. Several small island also experience growth and become densely population places and simply become a city within island. This study aims to identify island city in Indonesia and creating the typology of the island city. This study is using exploratory approach and heavily rely on statistical figure of every single autonomous region as data sources. Eventually, this study found twelve (12) island cities in Indonesia, and three distinctive typology of island cities.

The Marin City Early Intervention Report.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Far West Lab. for Educational Research and Development, Berkeley, CA.

This report briefly describes the Marin City, California community and summarizes progress made by the Far West Laboratory's Western Regional Laboratory in the development of a long-range community intervention program. Marin City is a predominantly low-income, black community in which 30 percent of households, mainly those headed by single women,…

A representative survey of indoor radon in the sixteen regions in Mexico City.

PubMed

Espinosa, G; Gammage, R B

2003-01-01

Mexico City, also called Federal District, covers an area of 1504 km(2), and has more than 8 million inhabitants. It is located more than 2200 m above sea level in a zone of high seismic activity, and founded on an ancient lake. At present it is one of the most crowded and contaminated cities in the world, with thermal inversions. Chemical contaminants and aerosol particles in the environmental air are high most of the year. Due to these geological, environmental and socioeconomic conditions, Federal District presents very peculiar characteristics, which are important for understanding the distribution and measurements of indoor radon concentration. In this work the results of 3 year (1998-2000) measurements of indoor radon levels in the Federal District are presented. For the detector distribution and measurements, the actual political administrative divisions of the Federal District, consisting of 16 very well defined zones, was used. Nuclear track detection methodology was selected for the measurement, with a passive device close-end-cup system with CR-39 (Lantrack) polycarbonate as the detection material, with one step chemical etching, following a very well established protocol developed at the Instituto de Física, UNAM. Calibration was carried out at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and verification at the Instituto de Física chamber. The results show that the arithmetical mean values of the indoor radon concentration for each region of the Federal District follow a non-homogenous distribution.

[Investigation on snails Achatina fulica and Pomacea canaliculata infected with Angiostrongylus cantonensis in Panyu region of Guangzhou City].

PubMed

Chen, Chu-Xuan; He, Hui-Fang; Yin, Zhu; Zhou, Jin-Huan; Li, Shi-Qun; Li, Fang-Hui; Chen, Jiong-Min; Zhu, Wei-Jin; Zhong, Xiu-Ming; Yang, Kai-Ying; Liu, Gui-Ping; Jia, Xun; Chen, Wan-Tong; Li, Xiao-Mei; Chen, Yu-Chang; Luo, Xiao-Dong; Chen, Dai-Xiong; Shen, Hao-Xian

2012-06-01

To understand the natural infection status of Angiostrongylus cantonensis in snails Achatina fulica and Pomacea canaliculata from Panyu region of Guangzhou City. The snails Achatina fulica and Pomacea canaliculata captured from the field were digested with the artificial stomach fluid. The third-stage larvae of A. cantonensis were examined and counted under a microscope. The collected third-stage larvae were used to infect SD rats. A total of 367 Achatina fulica and 357 Pomacea canaliculata were examined. The infection rate of A. cantonensis in Achatina fulica was 22.62%, with a mean intensity of 57.00 larvae per positive snail. The infection rate of A. cantonensis in Pomacea canaliculata was 3.08%, with a mean intensity of 1.64 larvae per positive snail. The infection rates of A. cantonensis in Achatina fulica from Dagang, Shiqi, Hualong, and Lanhe towns and Nansha District, were 13.33%, 15.00%, 20.93%, 73.68% and 8.41%, respectively. Those in Pomacea canaliculata were 5.88%, 2.88%, 1.89%, 0% and 3.96%, respectively. A. cantonensis infection exists in Achatina fulica and Pomacea canaliculata from Panyu region of Guangzhou City, and the infection in Achatina fulica is more serious than that in Pomacea canaliculata. The infection rates of the snails among five sites are different.

Epidemiological Characteristics and Space-Time Analysis of the 2015 Dengue Outbreak in the Metropolitan Region of Tainan City, Taiwan

PubMed Central

Ng, Ka-Chon; Nguyen, Thi Luong

2018-01-01

The metropolitan region of Tainan City in southern Taiwan experienced a dengue outbreak in 2015. This manuscript describes basic epidemiological features of this outbreak and uses spatial and temporal analysis tools to understand the spread of dengue during the outbreak. The analysis found that, independently of gender, dengue incidence rate increased with age, and proportionally affected more males below the age of 40 years but females above the age of 40 years. A spatial scan statistic was applied to detect clusters of disease transmission. The scan statistic found that dengue spread in a north-south diffusion direction, which is across the North, West-Central and South districts of Tainan City. Spatial regression models were used to quantify factors associated with transmission. This analysis indicated that neighborhoods with high proportions of residential area (or low wetland cover) were associated with dengue transmission. However, these association patterns were non-linear. The findings presented here can help Taiwanese public health agencies to understand the fundamental epidemiological characteristics and diffusion patterns of the 2015 dengue outbreak in Tainan City. This type of information is fundamental for policy making to prevent future uncontrolled dengue outbreaks, given that results from this study suggest that control interventions should be emphasized in the North and West-Central districts of Tainan city, in areas with a moderate percentage of residential land cover. PMID:29495351

Epidemiological Characteristics and Space-Time Analysis of the 2015 Dengue Outbreak in the Metropolitan Region of Tainan City, Taiwan.

PubMed

Chuang, Ting-Wu; Ng, Ka-Chon; Nguyen, Thi Luong; Chaves, Luis Fernando

2018-02-26

The metropolitan region of Tainan City in southern Taiwan experienced a dengue outbreak in 2015. This manuscript describes basic epidemiological features of this outbreak and uses spatial and temporal analysis tools to understand the spread of dengue during the outbreak. The analysis found that, independently of gender, dengue incidence rate increased with age, and proportionally affected more males below the age of 40 years but females above the age of 40 years. A spatial scan statistic was applied to detect clusters of disease transmission. The scan statistic found that dengue spread in a north-south diffusion direction, which is across the North, West-Central and South districts of Tainan City. Spatial regression models were used to quantify factors associated with transmission. This analysis indicated that neighborhoods with high proportions of residential area (or low wetland cover) were associated with dengue transmission. However, these association patterns were non-linear. The findings presented here can help Taiwanese public health agencies to understand the fundamental epidemiological characteristics and diffusion patterns of the 2015 dengue outbreak in Tainan City. This type of information is fundamental for policy making to prevent future uncontrolled dengue outbreaks, given that results from this study suggest that control interventions should be emphasized in the North and West-Central districts of Tainan city, in areas with a moderate percentage of residential land cover.

Public Education in New York City.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Landes, Rosalind

One of the major concerns of the First National City Bank's Public Affairs Committee is the cost and quality of urban education. The Bank's Regional Economics Section inquired into various aspects of public education in New York City. While the study is considered as a tentative exploration of a complex subject, questions concerning businessmen…

Mexico City, Mexico as seen from STS-62

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1994-01-01

This image is the clearest photo of Mexico City, Mexico taken from U.S. Manned Spacecraft. North is to the upper right. Mexico City sits in a basin surrounded by large volcanoes. The restricted atmospheric circulation in the basin, coupled with the inevitable air emissions produced by a city of 20 million people has created a critical air pollution problem for the city. In most photographs of the region, Mexico City is obscured by haze. The clarity of the photograph allows many key cultural features to be identified, including all of the major boulevards, the horse track (western part of the city), the university (south of the city), and the museum areas. Large, man-made ponds east of the city also stand out.

Modeling falling groundwater tables in major cities of the world

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sutanudjaja, E.; Erkens, G.

2015-12-01

Groundwater use and its over-consumption are one of the major drivers in the hydrology of many major cities in the world, particularly in delta regions. Yet, a global assessment to identify cities with declining groundwater table problems has not been done yet. In this study we used the global hydrological model PCR-GLOBWB (10 km resolution, for 1960-2010). Using this model, we globally calculated groundwater recharge and river discharge/surface water levels, as well as global water demand and abstraction from ground- and surface water resources. The output of PCR-GLOBWB model was then used to force a groundwater MODFLOW-based model simulating spatio-temporal groundwater head dynamics, including groundwater head declines in all major cities - mainly in delta regions - due to escalation in abstraction of groundwater to meet increasing water demand. Using these coupled models, we managed to identify a number of critical cities having groundwater table falling rates above 50 cm/year (average in 2000-2010), such as Barcelona, Houston, Los Angeles, Mexico City, New York, Rome and many large cities in China, Libya, India and Pakistan, as well as in Middle East and Central Asia regions. However, our simulation results overestimate the depletion rates in San Jose, Tokyo, Venice, and other cities where groundwater usages have been aggressively managed and replaced by importing surface water from other places. Moreover, our simulation might underestimate the declining groundwater head trends in some familiar cases, such as Bangkok (12 cm/year), Ho Chi Minh City (34 cm/year), and Jakarta (26 cm/year). The underestimation was due to an over-optimistic model assumption in allocating surface water for satisfying urban water needs. In reality, many big cities, although they are located in wet regions and have abundant surface water availability, still strongly rely on groundwater sources due to inadequate facilities to treat and distribute surface water resources.

Modeling falling groundwater tables in major cities of the world

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sutanudjaja, Edwin; Erkens, Gilles

2016-04-01

Groundwater use and its over-consumption are one of the major drivers in the hydrology of many major cities in the world, particularly in delta regions. Yet, a global assessment to identify cities with declining groundwater table problems has not been done yet. In this study we used the global hydrological model PCR-GLOBWB (10 km resolution, for 1960-2010). Using this model, we globally calculated groundwater recharge and river discharge/surface water levels, as well as global water demand and abstraction from ground- and surface water resources. The output of PCR-GLOBWB model was then used to force a groundwater MODFLOW-based model simulating spatio-temporal groundwater head dynamics, including groundwater head declines in all major cities - mainly in delta regions - due to escalation in abstraction of groundwater to meet increasing water demand. Using these coupled models, we managed to identify a number of critical cities having groundwater table falling rates above 50 cm/year (average in 2000-2010), such as Barcelona, Houston, Los Angeles, Mexico City, New York, Rome and many large cities in China, Libya, India and Pakistan, as well as in Middle East and Central Asia regions. However, our simulation results overestimate the depletion rates in San Jose, Tokyo, Venice, and other cities where groundwater usages have been aggressively managed and replaced by importing surface water from other places. Moreover, our simulation might underestimate the declining groundwater head trends in some familiar cases, such as Bangkok (12 cm/year), Ho Chi Minh City (34 cm/year), and Jakarta (26 cm/year). The underestimation was due to an over-optimistic model assumption in allocating surface water for satisfying urban water needs. In reality, many big cities, although they are located in wet regions and have abundant surface water availability, still strongly rely on groundwater sources due to inadequate facilities to treat and distribute surface water resources.

Workplace, Organizational, and Societal: Three Domains of Learning for 21st-Century Cities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yorks, Lyle; Barto, Jody

2015-01-01

Interconnections between workplace and organizational learning can highlight the ongoing changes taking place that prestage the need for learning cities and regions. The diverse institutions that comprise cities and regions can function as organizational learning mechanisms in the 21st century. Learning cities themselves can also be conceptualized…

[Does time spent traveling to regional hub cities to receive healthcare influence mortality in small towns in Rio Grande do Sul State, Brazil?

PubMed

Zuanazzi, Pedro Tonon; Cabral, Pedro Henrique Vargas; Stella, Milton André; Moraes, Gustavo Inácio de

2017-12-18

The current study aims to determine whether the time spent travelling to regional hub cities to receive healthcare affects mortality from avoidable causes and the standardized crude mortality rate in towns with up to 5,000 inhabitants in Rio Grande do Sul State, Brazil. Without adjusting for control variables, the longest time spent to reach cities with 100,000 inhabitants or more was associated with an increase in both rates. However, while the pattern in the avoidable mortality rate was similar after including controls, the standardized crude mortality rate reversed its signal. This suggests that if other socioeconomic and healthcare characteristics are kept constant, the distance to reference cities is associated with both a reduction in deaths from avoidable causes and an increase in other causes of death.

Towards life cycle sustainability assessent of cities. A review of background knowledge.

PubMed

Albertí, Jaume; Balaguera, Alejandra; Brodhag, Christian; Fullana-I-Palmer, Pere

2017-12-31

This article analyses whether existing LCA and sustainability methods can be used in the assessment of a city or an urban region. The approach is performed through the review of current existing LCA-based and sustainability standards and guidelines. A focus is put into those LCA-based standards specially designed for the built environment. Moreover, a review of non-LCA based standards, indices and guides for the assessment of the sustainability of countries, cities or urban regions is done. The purpose is to check if these assessment tools can provide good results in the absence of LCA-based assessments for cities and urban regions. This review demonstrates the lack of consensus in the definition of both, the city and its boundaries, which hinders the development of useful sustainability standards. Furthermore, it is concluded that current sustainability assessment tools miss, at least, one of these aspects: (i) holistic point of view, (ii) focus on various environmental impacts, (iii) a Life Cycle (LC) perspective, and (iv) the possibility to compare the results among different cities or urban regions. From the LCA perspective, the deficiencies found also include the need for a definition of the function, functional unit (FU), and reference flow (RF) of neighbourhoods, cities, and urban regions. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Entrepreneurialism and health-promoting retail food environments in Canadian city-regions.

PubMed

Mah, Catherine L; Hasdell, Rebecca; Minaker, Leia M; Soo, Stephanie D; Cook, Brian; Demaio, Alessandro R

2017-09-02

The retail sector is a dynamic and challenging component of contemporary food systems with an important influence on population health and nutrition. Global consensus is clear that policy and environmental changes in retail food environments are essential to promote healthier diets and reduce the burden of obesity and non-communicable diseases. In this article, we explore entrepreneurialism as a form of social change-making within retail food environments, focusing on small food businesses. Small businesses face structural barriers within food systems. However, conceptual work in multiple disciplines and evidence from promising health interventions tested in small stores suggest that these retail places may have a dual role in health promotion: settings to strengthen regional economies and social networks, and consumer environments to support healthier diets. We will discuss empirical examples of health-promoting entrepreneurialism based on two sets of in-depth interviews we conducted with public health intervention actors in Toronto, Canada, and food entrepreneurs and city-region policy actors in St. John's, Canada. We will explore the practices of entrepreneurialism in the retail food environment and examine the implications for population health interventions. We contend that entrepreneurialism is important to understand on its own and also as a dimension of population health intervention context. A growing social scientific literature offers a multifaceted lens through which we might consider entrepreneurialism not only as a set of personal characteristics but also as a practice in networked and intersectoral cooperation for public and population health. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Producing 'internal suspect bodies': divisive effects of UK counter-terrorism measures on Muslim communities in Leeds and Bradford.

PubMed

Abbas, Madeline-Sophie

2018-04-06

Research on UK government counter-terrorism measures has claimed that Muslims are treated as a 'suspect community'. However, there is limited research exploring the divisive effects that membership of a 'suspect community' has on relations within Muslim communities. Drawing from interviews with British Muslims living in Leeds or Bradford, I address this gap by explicating how co-option of Muslim community members to counter extremism fractures relations within Muslim communities. I reveal how community members internalize fears of state targeting which precipitates internal disciplinary measures. I contribute the category of 'internal suspect body' which is materialized through two intersecting conditions within preventative counter-terrorism: the suspected extremist for Muslims to look out for and suspected informer who might report fellow Muslims. I argue that the suspect community operates through a network of relations by which terrors of counter-terrorism are reproduced within Muslim communities with divisive effects. © London School of Economics and Political Science 2018.

Lessons Learned from the 200 West Pump and Treatment Facility Construction Project at the US DOE Hanford Site - A Leadership for Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Gold-Certified Facility - 13113

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Dorr, Kent A.; Freeman-Pollard, Jhivaun R.; Ostrom, Michael J.

CH2M Hill Plateau Remediation Company (CHPRC) designed, constructed, commissioned, and began operation of the largest groundwater pump and treatment facility in the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) nationwide complex. This one-of-a-kind groundwater pump and treatment facility, located at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation Site (Hanford Site) in Washington State, was built to an accelerated schedule with American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) funds. There were many contractual, technical, configuration management, quality, safety, and Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) challenges associated with the design, procurement, construction, and commissioning of this $95 million, 52,000 ft groundwater pump and treatment facility tomore » meet DOE's mission objective of treating contaminated groundwater at the Hanford Site with a new facility by June 28, 2012. The project team's successful integration of the project's core values and green energy technology throughout design, procurement, construction, and start-up of this complex, first-of-its-kind Bio Process facility resulted in successful achievement of DOE's mission objective, as well as attainment of LEED GOLD certification (Figure 1), which makes this Bio Process facility the first non-administrative building in the DOE Office of Environmental Management complex to earn such an award. (authors)« less

Implementation of a chemical background method (OH-CHEM) for measurements of OH using the Leeds FAGE instrument: Characterisation and observations from a coastal location

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Woodward-Massey, R.; Cryer, D. R.; Whalley, L. K.; Ingham, T.; Seakins, P. W.; Heard, D. E.; Stimpson, L. M.

2015-12-01

The removal of pollutants and greenhouse gases in the troposphere is dominated by reactions with the hydroxyl radical (OH), which is closely coupled to the hydroperoxy radical (HO2). Comparisons of the levels of OH and HO2 observed during field campaigns to the results of detailed chemical box models serve as a vital tool to assess our understanding of the underlying chemical mechanisms involved in tropospheric oxidation. Recent measurements of OH and HO2 radicals are significantly higher than those predicted by models for some instruments measuring in certain environments, especially those influenced by high emissions of biogenic compounds such as isoprene, prompting intense laboratory research to account for such discrepancies. While current chemical mechanisms are likely incomplete, it is also possible that, at least in part, these elevated radical observations have been influenced by instrumental biases from interfering species. Recent studies have suggested that fluorescence assay by gas expansion (FAGE) instruments may be susceptible to an unknown interference in the measurement of OH. This hypothesis can be tested through the implementation of an alternative method to determine the OH background signal, whereby OH is removed by the addition of a chemical scavenger prior to sampling by FAGE. The Leeds FAGE instrument was modified to facilitate this method by the construction of an inlet pre-injector (IPI), where OH is removed through reaction with propane. The modified Leeds FAGE instrument was deployed at a coastal location in southeast England during summer 2015 as part of the ICOZA (Integrated Chemistry of OZone in the Atmosphere) project. Measurements of OH made using both background methods will be presented, alongside results from laboratory characterisation experiments and details of the IPI design.

75 FR 11580 - Florida Power Corporation, City of Alachua, City of Bushnell, City of Gainesville, City of...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-03-11

...- 0096] Florida Power Corporation, City of Alachua, City of Bushnell, City of Gainesville, City of Kissimmee, City of Leesburg, City of New Smyrna Beach and Utilities Commission, City of New Smyrna Beach, City of Ocala, Orlando Utilities Commission and City of Orlando, Seminole Electric Cooperative, Inc...

Study of the regional air quality south of Mexico City (Morelos state).

PubMed

Salcedo, D; Castro, T; Ruiz-Suárez, L G; García-Reynoso, A; Torres-Jardón, R; Torres-Jaramillo, A; Mar-Morales, B E; Salcido, A; Celada, A T; Carreón-Sierra, S; Martínez, A P; Fentanes-Arriaga, O A; Deustúa, E; Ramos-Villegas, R; Retama-Hernández, A; Saavedra, M I; Suárez-Lastra, M

2012-01-01

Results from the first study of the regional air quality in Morelos state (located south of Mexico City) are presented. Criteria pollutants concentrations were measured at several sites within Morelos in February and March of 2007 and 2009; meteorological data was also collected along the state for the same time periods; additionally, a coupled meteorology-chemistry model (Mesoscale Climate Chemistry Model, MCCM) was used to gain understanding on the atmospheric processes occurring in the region. In general, concentrations of almost all the monitored pollutants (O(3), NO(x), CO, SO(2), PM) remained below the Mexican air quality standards during the campaign; however, relatively high concentrations of ozone (8-hour average concentrations above the 60 ppb level several times during the campaigns, i.e. exceeding the World Health Organization and the European Union maximum levels) were observed even at sites with very low reported local emissions. In fact, there is evidence that a large percentage of Morelos vegetation was probably exposed to unhealthy ozone levels (estimated AOT40 levels above the 3 ppm h critical limit). The MCCM qualitatively reproduced ozone daily variations in the sites with an urban component; though it consistently overestimated the ozone concentration in all the sites in Morelos. This is probably because the lack of an updated and detailed emission inventory for the state. The main wind patterns in the region corresponded to the mountain-valley system (downslope flows at night and during the first hours of the day, and upslope flows in the afternoon). At times, Morelos was affected by emissions from surrounding states (Distrito Federal or Puebla). The results are indicative of an efficient transport of ozone and its precursors at a regional level. They also suggest that the state is divided in two atmospheric basins by the Sierras de Tepoztlán, Texcal and Monte Negro. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Intimate partner violence against women in the Erbil city of the Kurdistan region, Iraq.

PubMed

Al-Atrushi, Hazha H; Al-Tawil, Namir G; Shabila, Nazar P; Al-Hadithi, Tariq S

2013-10-10

Violence against women is a worldwide problem and serious human rights abuse that occurs among all social, cultural, economic and religious groups. There is a paucity of research on intimate partner violence against women in Iraq, particularly in the Kurdistan region. This study assessed the prevalence of emotional, physical and sexual intimate partner violence against women and the impact of physical violence in Erbil, the main city of the Iraqi Kurdistan region. A cross-sectional study was carried out on a convenience sample of 800 Kurdish ever married women. Women (aged 16 to 65 years) attending two public hospitals in Erbil city for reproductive health problems were included in the study. The study was conducted between 1st of October 2009 and 30th of March 2011. Each woman was seen only once. Intimate partner violence was assessed by administering a modified version of the World Health Organization's domestic violence questionnaire through direct interview by a female doctor. Prevalence of intimate partner violence was assessed by timing (lifetime or past year), frequency (once, 2-5 times, > 5 times), and type (emotional, physical, and sexual violence). Descriptive statistical analysis was conducted with calculation of frequencies and percentages of women who reported different types, severities and impact of intimate partner violence. The prevalence of the overall lifetime and the overall past year intimate partner violence against women was 58.6% and 45.3%, respectively. The proportions of women experienced at least one form of lifetime intimate partner violence were: 52.6% for emotional abuse; 38.9% for physical violence; and 21.1% for sexual violence, while 43.3%, 15.1%, and 12.1% of women experienced at least one form of past year emotional, physical and sexual violence, respectively. Among those with lifetime physical violence, 11.6% were subjected to more serious injuries like stab wound, broken teeth or broken bones. There is a high prevalence of

Intersectoral planning for city health development.

PubMed

Green, Geoff

2012-04-01

The article reviews the evolution and process of city health development planning (CHDP) in municipalities participating in the European Network of Healthy Cities organized by the European Region of the World Health Organization. The concept of CHDP combines elements from three theoretical domains: (a) health development, (b) city governance, and (c) urban planning. The setting was the 77 cities which participated in Phase IV (2003-2008) of the network. Evidence was gathered principally from a general evaluation questionnaire sent to all network cities. CHDPs are strategic documents giving direction to municipalities and partner agencies. Analysis revealed a trend away from "classic" CHDPs with a primary focus on health development towards ensuring a health dimension to other sector plans, and into the overarching strategies of city governments. Linked to the Phase IV priority themes of Healthy aging and healthy urban planning, cities further developed the concept and application of human-centered sustainability. More work is required to utilize cost-benefit analysis and health impact assessment to unmask the synergies between health and economic prosperity.

The State of the Cities, 1999. Third Annual Report.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Department of Housing and Urban Development, Washington, DC. Office of Policy Development and Research.

This third annual report discusses recent progress and challenges that lie ahead for U.S. cities and metropolitan regions. Part 1 examines social and economic trends affecting U.S. cities and the potential for a city/suburb alliance to promote a common agenda that would address the challenges and seize the opportunities reflected in the trends.…

Meat Processing and Garden City, KS: Boom and Bust

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Broadway, Michael J.; Stull, Donald D.

2006-01-01

In December 1980, the world's largest beef processing plant opened 10 miles west of Garden City, KS. Three years later another beef plant opened on Garden City's eastern edge. Full employment in the surrounding region meant that most of the 4000 workers needed to run these plants had to come from elsewhere--and they did. Garden City grew by…

Securing water for the cities.

PubMed

Satterthwaite, D

1993-01-01

Many cities in developing countries have grown so much that they can no longer provide adequate, sustainable water. Over pumping in Dakar and Mexico City has forced those cities to obtain water from ever more distant sources. In Dakar, the result has been saltwater intrusion. Overpumping has caused Mexico City to sink, in some areas by as much as 9 m, resulting in serious damage to buildings and sewage and drainage pipes. Other cities facing similar water problems are coastal cities in Peru (e.g., Lima), La Rioja and Catamarca in Argentina, cities in Northern Mexico, and cities in dry areas of Africa. For some cities, the problem is not so much ever more distant water supplies but insufficient funds to expand supplies. Bangkok and Jakarta both face saltwater intrusion into their overdrawn aquifers. Even through agriculture is the dominant user of water in most countries, demand concentrated in a small area exhausts local and regional sources and pollutes rivers, lakes, and coasts with untreated human and industrial waste. Most cities in Africa and Asia do not have a sewerage system. Further, most cities do not have the drains to deal with storm water and external floodwater, causing frequent, seasonal flooding. The resulting stagnant water provides breeding grounds for insect vectors of diseases (e.g., malaria). The problems in most cities are a result of poor management, not lack of water. Reducing leaks in existing piped distribution systems from the usual 60% loss of water to leaks to 12% would increase the available water 2-fold. Another way to address water shortages would be commercial, industrial, and recreational use of minimally treated waste water, such as is the case in Madras and Mexico City. Political solutions are needed to resolve inadequate water supply and waste management.

New York City Impact on Regional Heat Wave

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Ortiz, Luis E.; Schoonen, Martin

Abstract Extreme heat events are projected to increase in magnitude and frequency throughout this century due to increasing global temperatures, making it critically important to acquire improved understanding of their genesis and interactions with large cities. This study presents an application of the factor separation method to assess combined impacts of a synoptic scale heat wave, urban land cover, and urban energy and momentum fluxes on temperatures and winds over New York City via use of high resolution simulations (1 km grid spacing) with an urbanized WRF model. Results showed that, while the heat wave had the largest contribution tomore » temperatures (> 8°C), urban surface factors matched it in highly urbanized areas. Surface factors matched this in highly urbanized areas during night and early morning hours, with contributions up to 5°C, when calm land breeze conditions result in a strong urban heat island. Positive interactions between all factors during morning and nighttime indicate urban heat island amplification of up to 4°C during the heat wave. Midtown Manhattan vertical cross-sections, where urban canopies are most dense, showed a change in the sign (from positive to negative) of the contribution of the urban fluxes between night and day below 500 m, possibly due to radiation blocking and increased thermal storage by buildings as well as frictional effects opposing the incoming warm air.« less

New York City Impact on Regional Heat Wave

DOE PAGES

Ortiz, Luis E.; Schoonen, Martin

2018-04-01

Abstract Extreme heat events are projected to increase in magnitude and frequency throughout this century due to increasing global temperatures, making it critically important to acquire improved understanding of their genesis and interactions with large cities. This study presents an application of the factor separation method to assess combined impacts of a synoptic scale heat wave, urban land cover, and urban energy and momentum fluxes on temperatures and winds over New York City via use of high resolution simulations (1 km grid spacing) with an urbanized WRF model. Results showed that, while the heat wave had the largest contribution tomore » temperatures (> 8°C), urban surface factors matched it in highly urbanized areas. Surface factors matched this in highly urbanized areas during night and early morning hours, with contributions up to 5°C, when calm land breeze conditions result in a strong urban heat island. Positive interactions between all factors during morning and nighttime indicate urban heat island amplification of up to 4°C during the heat wave. Midtown Manhattan vertical cross-sections, where urban canopies are most dense, showed a change in the sign (from positive to negative) of the contribution of the urban fluxes between night and day below 500 m, possibly due to radiation blocking and increased thermal storage by buildings as well as frictional effects opposing the incoming warm air.« less

Healthy cities: overview of a WHO international program.

PubMed

Goldstein, G

2000-01-01

Health is the outcome of all the factors and activities impinging upon the lives of individuals and communities. The last decade has seen an emerging understanding within development circles that living conditions are greatly affected by local action, by the work of local government, and by community groups and organizations. In addressing health and environmental issues and making interventions, an integrated approach, based on 'settings', exemplified in the Healthy Cities approach, has proved most effective. A Healthy City project can involve people and organizations in the programs and activities that are needed for better health, and enables a city or neighborhood to mobilize the human and financial resources required to address many health and quality of life issues. The WHO program involves implementating city projects and networks in all regions of the world and serves as a vehicle for many health programs, including major disease control initiatives. Healthy City projects allow Ministries of Health to develop stronger partnerships with local government organizations (such as the Union of Local Authorities and its members, "Local Agenda 21" initiatives, and others). One focus for the program is the development of 'multi-'multi-city action plans' for major global priority issues, including AIDS, sanitation, women's health, and violence, to ensure that major public health programs are strengthened by wider community participation. It is recognized that city networking--at national, regional, and international levels--now must be better exploited by individual cities and municipalities to solve local health problems.

The scaling of crime concentration in cities

PubMed Central

Bastos-Filho, Carmelo; Menezes, Ronaldo

2017-01-01

Crime is a major threat to society’s well-being but lacks a statistical characterization that could lead to uncovering some of its underlying mechanisms. Evidence of nonlinear scaling of urban indicators in cities, such as wages and serious crime, has motivated the understanding of cities as complex systems—a perspective that offers insights into resources limits and sustainability, but that usually neglects details of the indicators themselves. Notably, since the nineteenth century, criminal activities have been known to occur unevenly within a city; crime concentrates in such way that most of the offenses take place in few regions of the city. Though confirmed by different studies, this concentration lacks broad analyses on its characteristics, which hinders not only the comprehension of crime dynamics but also the proposal of sounding counter-measures. Here, we developed a framework to characterize crime concentration which divides cities into regions with the same population size. We used disaggregated criminal data from 25 locations in the U.S. and the U.K., spanning from 2 to 15 years of longitudinal data. Our results confirmed that crime concentrates regardless of city and revealed that the level of concentration does not scale with city size. We found that the distribution of crime in a city can be approximated by a power-law distribution with exponent α that depends on the type of crime. In particular, our results showed that thefts tend to concentrate more than robberies, and robberies more than burglaries. Though criminal activities present regularities of concentration, we found that criminal ranks have the tendency to change continuously over time—features that support the perspective of crime as a complex system and demand analyses and evolving urban policies covering the city as a whole. PMID:28800604

The scaling of crime concentration in cities.

PubMed

Oliveira, Marcos; Bastos-Filho, Carmelo; Menezes, Ronaldo

2017-01-01

Crime is a major threat to society's well-being but lacks a statistical characterization that could lead to uncovering some of its underlying mechanisms. Evidence of nonlinear scaling of urban indicators in cities, such as wages and serious crime, has motivated the understanding of cities as complex systems-a perspective that offers insights into resources limits and sustainability, but that usually neglects details of the indicators themselves. Notably, since the nineteenth century, criminal activities have been known to occur unevenly within a city; crime concentrates in such way that most of the offenses take place in few regions of the city. Though confirmed by different studies, this concentration lacks broad analyses on its characteristics, which hinders not only the comprehension of crime dynamics but also the proposal of sounding counter-measures. Here, we developed a framework to characterize crime concentration which divides cities into regions with the same population size. We used disaggregated criminal data from 25 locations in the U.S. and the U.K., spanning from 2 to 15 years of longitudinal data. Our results confirmed that crime concentrates regardless of city and revealed that the level of concentration does not scale with city size. We found that the distribution of crime in a city can be approximated by a power-law distribution with exponent α that depends on the type of crime. In particular, our results showed that thefts tend to concentrate more than robberies, and robberies more than burglaries. Though criminal activities present regularities of concentration, we found that criminal ranks have the tendency to change continuously over time-features that support the perspective of crime as a complex system and demand analyses and evolving urban policies covering the city as a whole.

40 CFR 81.68 - Mobile (Alabama)-Pensacola-Panama City (Florida)-Southern Mississippi Interstate Air Quality...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 17 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Mobile (Alabama)-Pensacola-Panama City...-Panama City (Florida)-Southern Mississippi Interstate Air Quality Control Region. The Mobile (Alabama)-Pensacola-Panama City (Florida)-Gulfport (Mississippi) Interstate Air Quality Control Region has been...

40 CFR 81.68 - Mobile (Alabama)-Pensacola-Panama City (Florida)-Southern Mississippi Interstate Air Quality...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 17 2011-07-01 2011-07-01 false Mobile (Alabama)-Pensacola-Panama City...-Panama City (Florida)-Southern Mississippi Interstate Air Quality Control Region. The Mobile (Alabama)-Pensacola-Panama City (Florida)-Gulfport (Mississippi) Interstate Air Quality Control Region has been...

Impact of extreme high temperature on mortality and regional level definition of heat wave: a multi-city study in China.

PubMed

Gao, Jinghong; Sun, Yunzong; Liu, Qiyong; Zhou, Maigeng; Lu, Yaogui; Li, Liping

2015-02-01

Few multi-city studies have been conducted to explore the regional level definition of heat wave and examine the association between extreme high temperature and mortality in developing countries. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the impact of extreme high temperature on mortality and to explore the local definition of heat wave in five Chinese cities. We first used a distributed lag non-linear model to characterize the effects of daily mean temperature on non-accidental mortality. We then employed a generalized additive model to explore the city-specific definition of heat wave. Finally, we performed a comparative analysis to evaluate the effectiveness of the definition. For each city, we found a positive non-linear association between extreme high temperature and mortality, with the highest effects appearing within 3 days of extreme heat event onset. Specifically, we defined individual heat waves of Beijing and Tianjin as being two or more consecutive days with daily mean temperatures exceeding 30.2 °C and 29.5 °C, respectively, and Nanjing, Shanghai and Changsha heat waves as ≥3 consecutive days with daily mean temperatures higher than 32.9 °C, 32.3 °C and 34.5 °C, respectively. Comparative analysis generally supported the definition. We found extreme high temperatures were associated with increased mortality, after a short lag period, when temperatures exceeded obvious threshold levels. The city-specific definition of heat wave developed in our study may provide guidance for the establishment and implementation of early heat-health response systems for local government to deal with the projected negative health outcomes due to heat waves. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

A cross sectional study investigating the association between exposure to food outlets and childhood obesity in Leeds, UK.

PubMed

Griffiths, Claire; Frearson, Anna; Taylor, Adam; Radley, Duncan; Cooke, Carlton

2014-12-06

Current UK policy in relation to the influence of the 'food environment' on childhood obesity appears to be driven largely on assumptions or speculations because empirical evidence is lacking and findings from studies are inconsistent. The aim of this study was to investigate the number of food outlets and the proximity of food outlets in the same sample of children, without solely focusing on fast food. Cross sectional study over 3 years (n = 13,291 data aggregated). Body mass index (BMI) was calculated for each participant, overweight and obesity were defined as having a BMI >85(th) (sBMI 1.04) and 95(th) (sBMI 1.64) percentiles respectively (UK90 growth charts). Home and school neighbourhoods were defined as circular buffers with a 2 km Euclidean radius, centred on these locations. Commuting routes were calculated using the shortest straight line distance, with a 2 km buffer to capture varying routes. Data on food outlet locations was sourced from Leeds City Council covering the study area and mapped against postcode. Food outlets were categorised into three groups, supermarkets, takeaway and retail. Proximity to the nearest food outlet in the home and school environmental domain was also investigated. Age, gender, ethnicity and deprivation (IDACI) were included as covariates in all models. There is no evidence of an association between the number of food outlets and childhood obesity in any of these environments; Home Q4 vs. Q1 OR = 1.11 (95% CI = 0.95-1.30); School Q4 vs. Q1 OR = 1.00 (95% CI 0.87 - 1.16); commute Q4 vs. Q1 OR = 0.1.00 (95% CI 0.83 - 1.20). Similarly there is no evidence of an association between the proximity to the nearest food outlet and childhood obesity in the home (OR = 0.77 [95% CI = 0.61 - 0.98]) or the school (OR = 1.01 [95% CI 0.84 - 1.23]) environment. This study provides little support for the notion that exposure to food outlets in the home, school and commuting neighbourhoods increase the risk of obesity

Violent injuries and regional correlates among women in China: results from 21 cities study in China.

PubMed

Yang, Tingzhong; Yang, Xiaozhao Y; Cottrell, Randall R; Wu, Dan; Jiang, Shuhan; Anderson, James G

2016-06-01

Ecological models depict violent injuries against women being influenced by both individual and environmental characteristics. However, only few studies examined the association between regional variables and the likelihood of violent injuries. Our study is a preliminary assessment of the impact of regional variables on the likelihood that a woman has experienced violent injuries. Participants were 16 866 urban residents, who were identified through a multi-stage sampling process conducted in 21 Chinese cities. Out of the sampled population, 8071 respondents were female. Subsequent analyses focused solely on the female sample. Multilevel logistic regression analyses were performed to examine regional variation in violent injuries. Prevalence of violent injuries against women is 10.7% (95% CI: 7.8%, 15.5%). After controlling for individual-level characteristics, higher regional male-female ratio (OR: 1.97, P < 0.05), population growth rate (OR: 4.12, P < 0.01) and unemployment rate (OR: 2.45, P < 0.01) were all associated with an elevated risk of violent injuries among Chinese women caused by physical attack. The results suggest violent injuries among Chinese women caused by physical attack have become an important social and public health problem. The findings point to the importance of developing effective health policies, laws and interventions that focuses on the unequal economic development between different regions. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the European Public Health Association. All rights reserved.

Cryptic Diversity in Metropolis: Confirmation of a New Leopard Frog Species (Anura: Ranidae) from New York City and Surrounding Atlantic Coast Regions

PubMed Central

Feinberg, Jeremy A.; Newman, Catherine E.; Watkins-Colwell, Gregory J.; Schlesinger, Matthew D.; Zarate, Brian; Curry, Brian R.; Shaffer, H. Bradley; Burger, Joanna

2014-01-01

We describe a new cryptic species of leopard frog from the New York City metropolitan area and surrounding coastal regions. This species is morphologically similar to two largely parapatric eastern congeners, Rana sphenocephala and R. pipiens. We primarily use bioacoustic and molecular data to characterize the new species, but also examine other lines of evidence. This discovery is unexpected in one of the largest and most densely populated urban parts of the world. It also demonstrates that new vertebrate species can still be found periodically even in well-studied locales rarely associated with undocumented biodiversity. The new species typically occurs in expansive open-canopied wetlands interspersed with upland patches, but centuries of loss and impact to these habitats give some cause for conservation concern. Other concerns include regional extirpations, fragmented extant populations, and a restricted overall geographic distribution. We assign a type locality within New York City and report a narrow and largely coastal lowland distribution from central Connecticut to northern New Jersey (based on genetic data) and south to North Carolina (based on call data). PMID:25354068

Region 8: Colorado Canon City Adequate Letter (8/17/2011)

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

This May 4, 2011 letter from EPA to Chistopher E. Urbina M.D., MPH, Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment states that EPA has found that the Canon City PM10 maintenance plan and the 2020 motor vehicle emissions budget (MVEB) adequate

Mexico City, Mexico as seen from STS-62

NASA Image and Video Library

1994-03-05

STS062-84-028 (4-18 March 1994) --- According to NASA scientists this image is the clearest photo of Mexico City taken from United States manned spacecraft. North is to the upper right. Mexico City sits in a basin surrounded by large volcanoes. The restricted atmospheric circulation in the basin, coupled with the inevitable air emissions produced by a city of 20 million people has created a critical air pollution problem for the city. In most photographs of the region, Mexico City is obscured by haze. Scientists feel the clear atmosphere in this photograph may be due, in part, to the stringent air emission restrictions now in place. The clarity of the photograph allows many key cultural features to be identified, including all of the major boulevards, the horse track (western part of the city), the university (south of the city), and the museum areas. Large, man-made ponds east of the city also stand out.

Chemical characterization of PM2.5 from a southern coastal city of China: applications of modeling and chemical tracers in demonstration of regional transport.

PubMed

Zhou, Jiamao; Ho, Steven Sai Hang; Cao, Junji; Zhao, Zhuzi; Zhao, Shuyu; Zhu, Chongshu; Wang, Qiyuan; Liu, Suixin; Zhang, Ting; Zhao, Youzhi; Wang, Ping; Tie, Xuexi

2018-05-11

An intensive sampling campaign of airborne fine particles (PM 2.5 ) was conducted at Sanya, a coastal city in Southern China, from January to February 2012. Chemical analyses and mass reconstruction were used identify potential pollution sources and investigate atmospheric reaction mechanisms. A thermodynamic model indicated that low ammonia and high relative humidity caused the aerosols be acidic and that drove heterogeneous reactions which led to the formation of secondary inorganic aerosol. Relationships among neutralization ratios, free acidity, and air-mass trajectories suggest that the atmosphere at Sanya was impacted by both local and regional emissions. Three major transport pathways were identified, and flow from the northeast (from South China) typically brought the most polluted air to Sanya. A case study confirmed strong impact from South China (e.g., Pearl River Delta region) (contributed 76.8% to EC, and then this result can be extended to primary pollutants) when the northeast winds were dominant. The Weather Research Forecasting Black carbon model and trace organic markers were used to apportion local pollution versus regional contributions. Results of the study offer new insights into the atmospheric conditions and air pollution at this coastal city.

City lights of London, England taken during Expedition Six

NASA Image and Video Library

2003-02-04

ISS006-E-22939 (4 February 2003) --- City lights of London, England were captured with a digital still camera by one of the Expedition Six crewmembers on the International Space Station (ISS). This nighttime view of the British capital shows the city’;s urban density and infrastructure as highlighted by electrical lighting. Beyond lie isolated bright areas marking the numerous smaller cities and towns of the region and as far southeast as Hastings on the coast. London’;s two major airports, Heathrow and Gatwick, are visible to the south of the city.

Martian City Map

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2004-01-01

30 May 2004 Seasonal frost can enhance the view from orbit of polar polygonal patterns on the surface of Mars. Sometimes these patterns look something like a city map, or the view from above a city lit-up at night. This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows an example from the south polar region near 80.7oS, 70.6oW. Polar polygons on Mars are generally believed, though not proven, to be the result of freeze/thaw cycles of ice occurring within the upper few meters (several yards) of the martian subsurface. The image shown here covers an area about 3 km (1.9 mi) across; sunlight illuminates the scene from the upper left.

Morbidity Forecast in Cities: A Study of Urban Air Pollution and Respiratory Diseases in the Metropolitan Region of Curitiba, Brazil.

PubMed

de Souza, Fabio Teodoro

2018-05-29

In the last two decades, urbanization has intensified, and in Brazil, about 90% of the population now lives in urban centers. Atmospheric patterns have changed owing to the high growth rate of cities, with negative consequences for public health. This research aims to elucidate the spatial patterns of air pollution and respiratory diseases. A data-based model to aid local urban management to improve public health policies concerning air pollution is described. An example of data preparation and multivariate analysis with inventories from different cities in the Metropolitan Region of Curitiba was studied. A predictive model with outstanding accuracy in prediction of outbreaks was developed. Preliminary results describe relevant relations among morbidity scales, air pollution levels, and atmospheric seasonal patterns. The knowledge gathered here contributes to the debate on social issues and public policies. Moreover, the results of this smaller scale study can be extended to megacities.

Towards Automatic Semantic Labelling of 3D City Models

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rook, M.; Biljecki, F.; Diakité, A. A.

2016-10-01

The lack of semantic information in many 3D city models is a considerable limiting factor in their use, as a lot of applications rely on semantics. Such information is not always available, since it is not collected at all times, it might be lost due to data transformation, or its lack may be caused by non-interoperability in data integration from other sources. This research is a first step in creating an automatic workflow that semantically labels plain 3D city model represented by a soup of polygons, with semantic and thematic information, as defined in the CityGML standard. The first step involves the reconstruction of the topology, which is used in a region growing algorithm that clusters upward facing adjacent triangles. Heuristic rules, embedded in a decision tree, are used to compute a likeliness score for these regions that either represent the ground (terrain) or a RoofSurface. Regions with a high likeliness score, to one of the two classes, are used to create a decision space, which is used in a support vector machine (SVM). Next, topological relations are utilised to select seeds that function as a start in a region growing algorithm, to create regions of triangles of other semantic classes. The topological relationships of the regions are used in the aggregation of the thematic building features. Finally, the level of detail is detected to generate the correct output in CityGML. The results show an accuracy between 85 % and 99 % in the automatic semantic labelling on four different test datasets. The paper is concluded by indicating problems and difficulties implying the next steps in the research.

Heat stress increase under climate change twice as large in cities as in rural areas: A study for a densely populated midlatitude maritime region

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wouters, Hendrik; De Ridder, Koen; Poelmans, Lien; Willems, Patrick; Brouwers, Johan; Hosseinzadehtalaei, Parisa; Tabari, Hossein; Vanden Broucke, Sam; van Lipzig, Nicole P. M.; Demuzere, Matthias

2017-09-01

Urban areas are usually warmer than their surrounding natural areas, an effect known as the urban heat island effect. As such, they are particularly vulnerable to global warming and associated increases in extreme temperatures. Yet ensemble climate-model projections are generally performed on a scale that is too coarse to represent the evolution of temperatures in cities. Here, for the first time, we combine unprecedented long-term (35 years) urban climate model integrations at the convection-permitting scale (2.8 km resolution) with information from an ensemble of general circulation models to assess temperature-based heat stress for Belgium, a densely populated midlatitude maritime region. We discover that the heat stress increase toward the mid-21st century is twice as large in cities compared to their surrounding rural areas. The exacerbation is driven by the urban heat island itself, its concurrence with heat waves, and urban expansion. Cities experience a heat stress multiplication by a factor 1.4 and 15 depending on the scenario. Remarkably, the future heat stress surpasses everywhere the urban hot spots of today. Our results demonstrate the need to combine information from climate models, acting on different scales, for climate change risk assessment in heterogeneous regions. Moreover, these results highlight the necessity for adaptation to increasing heat stress, especially in urban areas.

Alternative Fuels Data Center: Kansas City Home to Nation's Largest Network

Science.gov Websites

of EV Charging Stations " The installations will help KCP&L learn how EVs can enable renewables.With so many stations located throughout the region, KCP&L will virtually eliminate so-called range Cities coalition, Co-Coordinator, Kansas City, Missouri Kansas City Power & Light (KCP&L) is a

Universities for Cities and Regions: Lessons from the OECD Reviews

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ischinger, Barbara; Puukka, Jaana

2009-01-01

Over the years and almost unnoticed, the Norwegian University of Technology (NTNU) had transformed Trondheim, a city 500 kilometers from the Arctic Circle, into Norway's technological capital. As such, high-tech companies like Google, Yahoo, and FAST chose to establish their Norwegian research and development (R&D) base in this far-away part…

The Effects of Historical Earthquakes on Cyzicus Ancient City

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Adatepe, F.; Demirel, S.; Vardar, D.

2012-04-01

Cyzicus is one of the most important ancient settlement of Mysia region on Marmara coasts in Turkey. It's located on Belkis Tombolo which connects Kapıdağ (Arktonnesos) Peninsula to the shore. It was established by the King Cyzicus Kyzikos in B.C. 749 as a Miletos colony during the colonization movements of Ions. The main reason to determine the establishment place of Cyzicus was; a strong defense system formed by the natural conditions and the walls surrounding the city. In addition, from the documents, 3 natural harbor (one of them inner harbor) and one artificial canal in the ancient city has been designated. Because of these features, the ancient city had been developed by maritime trade and fisheries. And also, city's economy had grown due to its fertile soil. Works in marble that came from Marmara Island, were being effective in the artistic activities in the city. Due to the capital city of East Roman Empire was being Constantine (AD 324), the chance of Cyzicus was affected badly. Since its location on the south branch of the North Anatolian Fault zone in the Marmara Sea, ancient city was being ruined by a series of earthquakes. There were fifteen (15) destructive earthquakes occurred between AD 29 - 1887. For example the region had become a swamp because of AD 740 earthquake. At that time, despite metropolitan center pass through to Erdek, the city was not fully abandoned. In the end, the earthquake of 1064 had completely demolished Cyzicus. At the present day, this ancient city has come to the point to be lost in swamps, brushes and shrubs.

Modelling regional climate change and urban planning scenarios and their impacts on the urban environment in two cities with WRF-ACASA

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Falk, M.; Pyles, R. D.; Marras, S.; Spano, D.; Paw U, K. T.

2011-12-01

The number of urban metabolism studies has increased in recent years, due to the important impact that energy, water and carbon exchange over urban areas have on climate change. Urban modeling is therefore crucial in the future design and management of cities. This study presents the ACASA model coupled to the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF-ARW) mesoscale model to simulate urban fluxes at a horizontal resolution of 200 meters for urban areas of roughly 100 km^2. As part of the European Project "BRIDGE", these regional simulations were used in combination with remotely sensed data to provide constraints on the land surface types and the exchange of carbon and energy fluxes from urban centers. Surface-atmosphere exchanges of mass and energy were simulated using the Advanced Canopy Atmosphere Soil Algorithm (ACASA). ACASA is a multi-layer high-order closure model, recently modified to work over natural, agricultural as well as urban environments. In particular, improvements were made to account for the anthropogenic contribution to heat and carbon production. For two cities four climate change and four urban planning scenarios were simulated: The climate change scenarios include a base scenario (Sc0: 2008 Commit in IPCC), a medium emission scenario (Sc1: IPCC A2), a worst case emission scenario (Sce2: IPCC A1F1) and finally a best case emission scenario (Sce3: IPCC B1). The urban planning scenarios include different development scenarios such as smart growth. The two cities are a high latitude city, Helsinki (Finland) and an historic city, Florence (Italy). Helsinki is characterized by recent, rapid urbanization that requires a substantial amount of energy for heating, while Florence is representative of cities in lower latitudes, with substantial cultural heritage and a comparatively constant architectural footprint over time. In general, simulated fluxes matched the point observations well and showed consistent improvement in the energy partitioning over

Translation and cultural adaptation of the Leeds Assessment of Neuropathic Symptoms and Signs (LANSS) pain scale into Arabic for use with patients with diabetes in Libya.

PubMed

Garoushi, Sabri; Johnson, Mark I; Tashani, Osama A

2017-12-01

In Libya neuropathic pain is rarely assessed in patients with diabetes. The Leeds Assessment of Neuropathic Symptoms and Signs (LANSS) pain scale is used worldwide to screen for neuropathic pain. There is no Arabic version of LANSS for use in Libya. The aim of this study was to develop an Arabic version of LANSS and to assess its validity and reliability in diabetic patients in Benghazi, Libya. LANSS was translated into Arabic by four bilingual translators and back translated to English by a university academic. Validity and reliability of the Arabic LANSS was assessed on 110 patients attending a Diabetes Centre in Benghazi. Concurrent validity was tested and compared with the Self-completed Leeds Assessment of Neuropathic Symptoms and Signs (S-LANSS). Test-retest reliability was conducted 1-2 weeks later. Internal consistency and inter-class correlation (ICC) between LANSS and S-LANSS was also tested. Internal consistency within first completion of the Arabic LANSS was acceptable (Cronbach's alpha = 0.793) and similar to the Arabic S-LANSS (0.796) and the second completion of the Arabic LANSS (0.795). ICC between the Arabic LANSS and the Arabic S-LANSS was 0.999 (p < 0.001). Test-retest reliability (ICC) between first and second completions of the Arabic LANSS was 0.999 (p < 0.001). Kappa measurement of agreement between the two Arabic LANSS completions and S-LANSS was high on all seven items (Kappa >0.95, p < 0.0001). We concluded that the Arabic version of LANSS pain scale was valid and reliable for use on Libyan diabetic patients. This study provided results suggesting that the S-LANSS could also be used on diabetic patients.

Translation and cultural adaptation of the Leeds Assessment of Neuropathic Symptoms and Signs (LANSS) pain scale into Arabic for use with patients with diabetes in Libya

PubMed Central

Garoushi, Sabri; Johnson, Mark I.; Tashani, Osama A.

2017-01-01

ABSTRACT In Libya neuropathic pain is rarely assessed in patients with diabetes. The Leeds Assessment of Neuropathic Symptoms and Signs (LANSS) pain scale is used worldwide to screen for neuropathic pain. There is no Arabic version of LANSS for use in Libya. The aim of this study was to develop an Arabic version of LANSS and to assess its validity and reliability in diabetic patients in Benghazi, Libya. LANSS was translated into Arabic by four bilingual translators and back translated to English by a university academic. Validity and reliability of the Arabic LANSS was assessed on 110 patients attending a Diabetes Centre in Benghazi. Concurrent validity was tested and compared with the Self-completed Leeds Assessment of Neuropathic Symptoms and Signs (S-LANSS). Test-retest reliability was conducted 1–2 weeks later. Internal consistency and inter-class correlation (ICC) between LANSS and S-LANSS was also tested. Internal consistency within first completion of the Arabic LANSS was acceptable (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.793) and similar to the Arabic S-LANSS (0.796) and the second completion of the Arabic LANSS (0.795). ICC between the Arabic LANSS and the Arabic S-LANSS was 0.999 (p < 0.001). Test-retest reliability (ICC) between first and second completions of the Arabic LANSS was 0.999 (p < 0.001). Kappa measurement of agreement between the two Arabic LANSS completions and S-LANSS was high on all seven items (Kappa >0.95, p < 0.0001). We concluded that the Arabic version of LANSS pain scale was valid and reliable for use on Libyan diabetic patients. This study provided results suggesting that the S-LANSS could also be used on diabetic patients. PMID:28971737

Psychometric Validation of the Leeds Dependence Questionnaire (LDQ) in a Young Adult Clinical Sample

PubMed Central

Kelly, John F.; Magill, Molly; Slaymaker, Valerie; Kahler, Christopher

2013-01-01

Objective Measures of substance dependence severity that are both clinically efficient and sensitive to change can facilitate assessment of clinical innovation necessary for improving current evidence-based practices. The Leeds Dependence Questionnaire (LDQ) is a 10-item, continuous, self-report measure of dependence that is not specific to any particular substance and has shown promise in preliminary psychometric research. The present study investigates its psychometric properties in a large clinical sample of young adults. Method Emerging adults (N = 300) were enrolled in a naturalistic treatment process and outcome study of residential substance dependence treatment (mean age 20.4 [1.6], range 18–25; 27% female; 95% White). Dependence severity by demographic and diagnostic groupings, factor structure and internal consistency, and criterion- and construct-related validity were examined. Results Dependence severity in this cohort of youth overall was high (M = 18.65 [8.65]). LDQ scores were highest among opiate and stimulant users, and there was a trend for higher scores among women compared to men (t = 1.869, p = .063). Factor analysis using a robust alpha factoring extraction revealed a single factor accounting for 63% of the variance in reported dependence severity. The internal consistency was also very high (alpha = .93). Concurrent and convergent validity with dependence criteria, substance use frequency, and general symptom severity, respectively, were also acceptable. Conclusions The LDQ shows considerable promise as a brief, psychometrically sound, measure of substance dependence useful across a variety of substances, that has clinical and research utility. This study supports its use among emerging adults. PMID:20004062

City scale pollen concentration variability

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

van der Molen, Michiel; van Vliet, Arnold; Krol, Maarten

2016-04-01

Pollen are emitted in the atmosphere both in the country-side and in cities. Yet the majority of the population is exposed to pollen in cities. Allergic reactions may be induced by short-term exposure to pollen. This raises the question how variable pollen concentration in cities are in temporally and spatially, and how much of the pollen in cities are actually produced in the urban region itself. We built a high resolution (1 × 1 km) pollen dispersion model based on WRF-Chem to study a city's pollen budget and the spatial and temporal variability in concentration. It shows that the concentrations are highly variable, as a result of source distribution, wind direction and boundary layer mixing, as well as the release rate as a function of temperature, turbulence intensity and humidity. Hay Fever Forecasts based on such high resolution emission and physical dispersion modelling surpass traditional hay fever warning methods based on temperature sum methods. The model gives new insights in concentration variability, personal and community level exposure and prevention. The model will be developped into a new forecast tool to serve allergic people to minimize their exposure and reduce nuisance, coast of medication and sick leave. This is an innovative approach in hay fever warning systems.

Green stormwater infrastructure eco-planning and development on the regional scale: a case study of Shanghai Lingang New City, East China

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xu, Haishun; Chen, Liang; Zhao, Bing; Zhang, Qiuzhuo; Cai, Yongli

2016-06-01

Urban underlying surface has been greatly changed with rapid urbanization, considered to be one of the major causes for the destruction of urban natural hydrological processes. This has imposed a huge challenge for stormwater management in cities. There has been a shift from gray water management to green stormwater management thinking. The green stormwater infrastructure (GSI) is regarded as an effective and cost-efficient stormwater management eco-landscape approach. China's GSI practice and the development of its theoretical framework are still in the initial stage. This paper presents an innovative framework for stormwater management, integrating green stormwater infrastructure and landscape security patterns on a regional scale based on an urban master plan. The core concept of green stormwater infrastructure eco-planning is to form an interconnected GSI network (i.e., stormwater management landscape security pattern) which consists of the location, portion, size, layout, and structure of GSI so as to efficiently safeguard natural hydrological processes. Shanghai Lingang New City, a satellite new town of Shanghai, China was selected as a case study for GSI studies. Simulation analyses of hydrological processes were carried out to identify the critical significant landscape nodes in the highpriority watersheds for stormwater management. GSI should be planned and implemented in these identified landscape nodes. The comprehensive stormwater management landscape security pattern of Shanghai Lingang New City is designed with consideration of flood control, stormwater control, runoff reduction, water quality protection, and rainwater utilization objectives which could provide guidelines for smart growth and sustainable development of this city.

ARC3.2 Summary for City Leaders Climate Change and Cities: Second Assessment Report of the Urban Climate Change Research Network

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rosenzweig, C.; Solecki, W.; Romero-Lankao, P.; Mehrotra, S.; Dhakal, S.; Bowman, T.; Ibrahim, S. Ali

2015-01-01

ARC3.2 presents a broad synthesis of the latest scientific research on climate change and cities. Mitigation and adaptation climate actions of 100 cities are documented throughout the 16 chapters, as well as online through the ARC3.2 Case Study Docking Station. Pathways to Urban Transformation, Major Findings, and Key Messages are highlighted here in the ARC3.2 Summary for City Leaders. These sections lay out what cities need to do achieve their potential as leaders of climate change solutions. UCCRN Regional Hubs in Europe, Latin America, Africa, Australia and Asia will share ARC3.2 findings with local city leaders and researchers. The ARC3.2 Summary for City Leaders synthesizes Major Findings and Key Messages on urban climate science, disasters and risks, urban planning and design, mitigation and adaptation, equity and environmental justice, economics and finance, the private sector, urban ecosystems, urban coastal zones, public health, housing and informal settlements, energy, water, transportation, solid waste, and governance. These were based on climate trends and future projections for 100 cities around the world.

Flood loss assessment in Can Tho City, Vietnam

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Do, T. C.; Kreibich, H.

2012-04-01

Floods are recurring events in the Lower Mekong Basin resulting in loss of life and property, causing damage to agriculture and rural infrastructure, and disrupting social and economic activities. Flood management and mitigation has become a priority issue at the national and regional levels. Besides, it is expected that large areas of the Mekong delta, the Red River delta and the central coast will be flooded by sea-level rise due to climate change. Can Tho City is ranked under the five most flood-tide-influenced cities of Vietnam. It is the biggest city in the Mekong delta and it is located near the Hau river. Like other region of the Mekong delta, Can Tho suffers due to floods from upstream and flood tides from the sea. In the flood season large rural areas of the city are flooded, particularly during tidal days. Flood risk management policy includes preparative measures for living with floods and to minimise the damage caused by floods as well as to take advantage of floods for sustainable development. An intensive literature review, including administrative reports as well as expert interviews have been undertaken to gain more insight into flood characteristics, their consequences and risk mitigation. Therefore, flood damaging processes and trends have been reviewed for Can Tho City and the Mekong Basin in Vietnam. Additionally, suitable flood damage estimation methodologies have been collected as important input for flood risk analyses. On this basis it has been investigated which flood risk mitigation and management strategies promise to be effective in Can Tho City, Vietnam.

World City/Regional City: Latinos and African-Americans in Chicago and St. Louis. JSRI Working Paper No. 46.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Villanueva, Margaret; Erdman, Brian; Howlett, Larry

This paper traces the effects of economic restructuring through comparative socioeconomic profiles of African American and Latinos in the Midwest, with a focus on Chicago and Kansas City. Globalization has been associated with deindustrialization, relocation of jobs to developing countries with cheaper labor, and expansion of the service sector. A…

Green Infrastructure in Kansas City

EPA Science Inventory

We use the state-of-the-art WRF-CMAQ coupled model to simulate the likely effects of a GI implementation strategy in Kansas City, MO/KS on regional meteorology and air quality changes. Two different land surface schemes (Pleim-Xiu and Noah) were implemented to characterize the di...

[Landscape ecological security pattern during urban expansion of Nanchong City].

PubMed

Li, Sui; Shi, Tie-mao; Fu, Shi-lei; Zhou, Le; Liu, Miao; Wang, Wei

2011-03-01

Based on the theory of landscape ecological security pattern and the RS and GIS techniques, this paper analyzed the distribution of ecological security grades in Nanchong City, taking six elements including terrain condition, flood hazard, soil erosion, vegetation cover, geological disaster, and biological protection as the ecological constraints (or determinants) of urban expansion. According to the minimum cumulative resistance model, the ecological corridors and ecological nodes were built to strengthen the space contact of ecological network, and, on the basis of the protection of ecological safety, the reasonable trend of urban expansion and the optimization of space layout were investigated. The results showed that the ecological security of Nanchong City was quite good, with the regions of low ecological security mainly distributed in the west suburban mountains and the downstream region of Jialing River in the south of the City. Ecological elements were the most important constraints for the future expansion of urban space. There were more spaces for the urban expansion in the southern and northern parts of Nanchong City. To develop satellite towns would be the best selection to guarantee the ecological security of the city.

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

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-03-20

... Order 13602 of March 15, 2012 Establishing a White House Council on Strong Cities, Strong Communities By... inclusive, it is hereby ordered as follows: Section 1. Policy. Cities, towns, and regions across our Nation... collaboration, my Administration established the Strong Cities, Strong Communities (SC2) pilot initiative. By...

Indoor tanning facility density in eighty U.S. cities.

PubMed

Palmer, Richard C; Mayer, Joni A; Woodruff, Susan I; Eckhardt, Laura; Sallis, James F

2002-06-01

The purpose of this study was to examine the number of tanning facilities in select U.S. cities. The twenty most populated cities from each of 4 U.S. regions were selected for the sample. For each city, data on the number of tanning facilities, climate, and general demographic profile were collected. Data for state tanning facility legislation also were collected. A tanning facility density variable was created by dividing the city's number of facilities by its population size. The 80 cities had an average of 50 facilities each. Results of linear regression analysis indicated that higher density was significantly associated with colder climate, lower median income, and higher proportion of Whites. These data indicate that indoor tanning facilities are prevalent in the environments of U.S. urban-dwellers. Cities having the higher density profile may be logical targets for interventions promoting less or safer use of these facilities.

Research on the application of wisdom technology in smart city

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Juntao; Ma, Shuai; Gu, Weihua; Chen, Weiyi

2015-12-01

This paper first analyzes the concept of smart technology, the relationship between wisdom technology and smart city, and discusses the practical application of IOT(Internet of things) in smart city to explore a better way to realize smart city; then Introduces the basic concepts of cloud computing and smart city, and explains the relationship between the two; Discusses five advantages of cloud computing that applies to smart city construction: a unified and highly efficient, large-scale infrastructure software and hardware management, service scheduling and resource management, security control and management, energy conservation and management platform layer, and to promote modern practical significance of the development of services, promoting regional social and economic development faster. Finally, a brief description of the wisdom technology and smart city management is presented.

European national healthy city networks: the impact of an elite epistemic community.

PubMed

Heritage, Zoë; Green, Geoff

2013-10-01

National healthy cities networks (NNs) were created 20 years ago to support the development of healthy cities within the WHO Europe Region. Using the concept of epistemic communities, the evolution and impact of NNs is considered, as is their future development. Healthy cities national networks are providing information, training and support to member cities. In many cases, they are also involved in supporting national public health policy development and disseminating out healthy city principles to other local authorities. National networks are a fragile but an extremely valuable resource for sharing public health knowledge.

The effect of urban heat island on Izmir's city ecosystem and climate.

PubMed

Corumluoglu, Ozsen; Asri, Ibrahim

2015-03-01

Depending on the researches done on urban landscapes, it is found that the heat island intensity caused by the activities in any city has some impact on the ecosystem of the region and on the regional climate. Urban areas located in arid and semiarid lands somehow represent heat increase when it is compared with the heat in the surrounding rural areas. Thus, cities located amid forested and temperate climate regions show moderate temperatures. The impervious surfaces let the rainfall leave the city lands faster than undeveloped areas. This effect reduces water's cooling effects on these lands. More significantly, if trees and other vegetations are rare in any region, it means less evapotranspiration-the process by which trees "exhale" water. Trees also contribute to the cooling of urban lands by their shade. Land cover and land use maps can easily be produced by processing of remote sensing satellites' images, like processing of Landsat's images. As a result of this process, urban regions can be distinguished from vegetation. Analyzed GIS data produced and supported by these images can be utilized to determine the impact of urban land on energy, water, and carbon balances at the Earth's surface. Here in this study, it is found that remote sensing technique with thermal images is a liable technique to asses where urban heat islands and hot spots are located in cities. As an application area, in Izmir, it was found that the whole city was in high level of surface temperature as it was over 28 °C during the summer times. Beside this, the highest temperature values which go up to 47 °C are obtained at industrial regions especially where the iron-steel factories and the related industrial activities are.

Residential water usage: A case study of the major cities of the western region of Saudi Arabia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Abu Rizaiza, Omar S.

1991-05-01

Socioeconomic and climatological data of the major cities of the western region of Saudi Arabia have been used to develop several models to estimate the residential water usage for different kinds of houses. The developed models correlate the residential water usages with temperature, income, family size, price of water, and availability of a garden within the house. The study shows that the residential water uses in houses supplied by a public pipe network are 1.4-2 times greater than the residential water uses in houses supplied by tankers. It also shows that the price elasticities are very similar to those estimated in the United States. Income elasticities, on the other hand, are lower than those typically found in more industrialized countries.

Analysis of the ecological water diversion project in Wenzhou City

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xu, Haibo; Fu, Lei; Lin, Tong

2018-02-01

As a developed city in China, Wenzhou City has been suffered from bad water quality for years. In order to improve the river network water quality, an ecological water diversion project was designed and executed by the regional government. In this study, an investigation and analysis of the regional ecological water diversion project is made for the purpose of examining the water quality improvements. A numerical model is also established, different water diversion flow rates and sewer interception levels are considered during the simulation. Simulation results reveal that higher flow rate and sewer interception level will greatly improve the river network water quality in Wenzhou City. The importance of the flow rate and interception level has been proved and future work will be focused on increasing the flow rate and upgrading the sewer interception level.

Evaluation of multiplier effect of housing investments in the city economy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ovsiannikova, T.; Rabtsevich, O.; Yugova, I.

2017-01-01

The given study presents evaluation of the role and significance of housing investments providing stable social and economic development of a city. It also justifies multiplier impact of investments in housing construction on all the sectors of urban economy. Growth of housing investments generates multiplier effect triggering the development of other different interrelated sectors. The paper suggests approach developed by the authors to evaluate the level of city development. It involves defining gross city product on the basis of integral criterion of gross value added of types of economic activities in the city economy. The algorithm of gross value added generation in urban economy is presented as a result of multiplier effect of housing investments. The evaluation of the mentioned effect was shown on the case of the city of Tomsk (Russia). The study has revealed that multiplier effect allows obtaining four rubles of added value out of one ruble of housing investments in the city economy. Methods used in the present study include the ones of the System of National Accounts, as well as methods of statistical and structural analysis. It has been proved that priority investment in housing construction is considered to be the key factor for stable social and economic development of the city. Developed approach is intended for justification of priority directions in municipal and regional investment policy. City and regional governing bodies and potential investors are the ones to apply the given approach.

Learning Cities as Healthy Green Cities: Building Sustainable Opportunity Cities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kearns, Peter

2012-01-01

This paper discusses a new generation of learning cities we have called EcCoWell cities (Economy, Community, Well-being). The paper was prepared for the PASCAL International Exchanges (PIE) and is based on international experiences with PIE and developments in some cities. The paper argues for more holistic and integrated development so that…

78 FR 43971 - Amendment of Class E Airspace; Tri-Cities, TN

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-07-23

...-Cities Regional Airport, Tri-Cities, TN. Exclusionary language was omitted in the final rule published in... herein to include the corrective language. Since the regulatory text, as currently described, penetrates... FAA has determined that this regulation only involves an established body of technical regulations for...

Seismic Microzonation of the City of Cali (Western Colombia)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dimate, C.; Romero, J.; Ojeda, A.; Garcia, J.; Alvarado, C.

2007-05-01

The city of Cali is located in the western margin of the Cauca Valley in the flat area between the Western and Central cordilleras of the Colombian Andes, at 70 km east of the Eastern Pacific Subduction Zone. Even though present seismic activity associated with nearest faults is low, historical records demonstrate that earthquakes have caused damage in the city going up to intensity VIII (EMS). Those earthquakes have had origin on diverse sources: the intermediate-depth Benioff zone, near and far continental crustal faults and the Pacific Subduction Zone. Taking into account the location of the city and the seismologic history of the region, neotectonic and seismological studies extending over a region of about 120000 km2 were required to compute seismic hazard. Construction of the geotechnical model of the city included detailed geological mapping, geophysical profiling, single station ambient vibration essays and the deployment of a 12-stations accelerographic network. Geotechnical properties of the soils were determined by mechanical perforations, CPTU (piezocone) and CPT (static penetration) essays, flat plate dilatometer (DMT) tests and down-hole essays which were complemented in the Lab by analysis of consolidation and static and cyclic three-axial essays. As a result, ten geotechnical zones were outlined and characterized. Finally, expected ground motions were calculated at 39 sites in the city using numerical modeling methods.

The (001) 3C SiC surface termination and band structure after common wet chemical etching procedures, stated by XPS, LEED, and HREELS

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tengeler, Sven; Kaiser, Bernhard; Ferro, Gabriel; Chaussende, Didier; Jaegermann, Wolfram

2018-01-01

The (001) surface of cubic silicon carbide (3C SiC) after cleaning, Ar sputtering and three different wet chemical etching procedures was thoroughly investigated via (angle resolved) XPS, HREELS, and LEED. While Ar sputtering was found to be unsuitable for surface preparation, all three employed wet chemical etching procedures (piranha/NH4F, piranha/HF, and RCA) provide a clean surface. HF as oxide removal agent tends to result in fluorine traces on the sample surface, despite thorough rinsing. All procedures yield a 1 × 1 Si-OH/C-H terminated surface. However, the XPS spectra reveal some differences in the resulting surface states. NH4F for oxide removal produces a flat band situation, whereas the other two procedures result in a slight downward (HF) or upward (RCA) band bending. Because the band bending is small, it can be concluded that the number of unsaturated surface defects is low.

Zinder: a city running dry.

PubMed

Price, T

1993-01-01

In the West African Sahel lies the old Hausa city of Zinder, Niger. Since the last few decades, it has constantly faced considerable population growth (19,300-119,8000 between 1960 and 1980) while its acute problems with the water supply are increasing. The dry regional climate compounds the problems. In the past, Zinder was a trade center between northern and sub-Saharan Africa as well as being the colonial capital of Niger (1911-26). Its economic and political position has fallen greatly with independence. Lower than average rainfall and the disastrous droughts of the 1970s and 1980s have seriously diminished the region's economic base, e.g., the average annual rainfall in 1930-60 was 535 mm, but by the 1980s, it was only 355 mm. Zinder sits on an elevated, rocky hill which is encircled by dry river valleys and there are no major permanent bodies of water in the vicinity. Impenetrable layers of stone prevent the digging of wells within the city, so the city depends on wells in nearby valleys. The reduced rainfall hinders replenishment of the aquifer, resulting in a drop in the availability of water for daily consumption from 6500 to 3500 sq m. Per capita water consumption in Zinder is much lower than the national average (55 1/day vs. about 100 1/day). The drought in 1992 caused per capita consumption to fall to 29 1/day, just barely above the minimal standards for private use in urban areas of 20 1/person/day. To further compound the problem, 20 villages in Zinder's environs, some villages with a population of 5000, people, rely on the same water system. Zinder serves as a refuge for the regional population in drought years and during the yearly dry season. Promised international financing cannot resolve Zinder's problems at a realistic cost.

Typical winter haze pollution in Zibo, an industrial city in China: Characteristics, secondary formation, and regional contribution.

PubMed

Li, Hui; Ma, Yongliang; Duan, Fengkui; He, Kebin; Zhu, Lidan; Huang, Tao; Kimoto, Takashi; Ma, Xiaoxuan; Ma, Tao; Xu, Lili; Xu, Beiyao; Yang, Shuo; Ye, Siqi; Sun, Zhenli; An, Jiutao; Zhang, Zhaolu

2017-10-01

Heavy haze pollution occurs frequently in northern China, most critically in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei area (BTH). Zibo, an industrial city located in Shandong province, is often listed as one of the top ten most polluted cities in China, particularly in winter. However, no studies of haze in Zibo have been conducted, which limits the understanding of the source and formation of haze pollution in this area, as well as mutual effects with the BTH area. We carried out online and continuous integrated field observation of particulate matter in winter, from 11 to 25 January 2015. SO 4 2- , NO 3 - , and NH 4 + (SIA) and organics were the main constituents of PM 2.5 , contributing 59.4% and 33.6%, respectively. With the increasing severity of pollution, the contribution of SIA increased while that of organics decreased. Meteorological conditions play an important role in haze formation; high relative humidity (RH) and low wind speed increased both the accumulation of pollutants and the secondary transition from gas precursors (gas-particle phase partitioning). Since RH and the presence of O 3 can indicate heterogeneous and photochemistry processes, respectively, we carried out correlation analysis and linear regression to identify their relative importance to the three main secondary species (sulfate, nitrate, and secondary organic carbon (SOC)). We found that the impact of RH is in the order of SO 4 2-  > NO 3 -  > SOC, while the impact of O 3 is reversed, in the order of SOC > NO 3 -  > SO 4 2- , indicating different effect of these factors on the secondary formation of main species in winter. Cluster analysis of backward trajectories showed that, during the observation period, six directional sources of air masses were identified, and more than 90% came from highly industrialized areas, indicating that regional transport from industrialized areas aggravates the haze pollution in Zibo. Inter-regional joint prevention and control is necessary to prevent further

The new situation of cutaneous leishmaniasis after Syrian civil war in Gaziantep city, Southeastern region of Turkey.

PubMed

Özkeklikçi, Ahmet; Karakuş, Mehmet; Özbel, Yusuf; Töz, Seray

2017-02-01

Cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) is an important public health problem with around 2.000 autochthonous reported cases each year in Turkey. Due to the civil war in Syria, Turkey received around three million refugees and they are mainly located at either camps or homes in south/southeastern part of Turkey. In the present study, we aimed to collect samples from CL suspected patients admitting to State Hospital in Gaziantep City and perform parasitological and DNA-based techniques for diagnosis as well as species identification of the parasite for better understanding the prevalence of each species among Turkish and Syrian patients in the region. The collection of samples was carried out between January 2009 and July 2015. The lesion aspiration samples were taken and stained with Giemsa stain followed by microscopical examination for parasitological diagnosis. After the DNA extraction from Giemsa stained slides, real time and semi-nested PCRs both targeting ITS1 region were performed for molecular diagnosis and species identification. A total of 567 people were admitted to the hospital with the suspicion of CL and 263 (46.4%) of them were found to be positive by parasitological examination. One hundred seventy-four (66.15%), 88 (33.46%) and 1 (0.38%) of them were Turkish, Syrians and Afghan, respectively. Slide samples obtained from 34 CL suspected patients were analyzed by PCR and 20 of them were found positive. Eighteen (13 Turkish and 13 Syrians) of the positive samples were identified as L. tropica, while two (1 Turkish and 1 Syrian) of them were L. infantum. In conclusion, the effects of Syrian civil war on the epidemiology of CL in Gaziantep city is demonstrated in the present study. The use of molecular tool in the diagnosis of leishmaniasis is effective, sensitive and time saving which will enable the species typing. Species typing of the causative agent in endemic areas will bring valuable data to epidemiological knowledge. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All

Prevalence and regional correlates of road traffic injury among Chinese urban residents: A 21-city population-based study.

PubMed

Rockett, Ian R H; Jiang, Shuhan; Yang, Qian; Yang, Tingzhong; Yang, Xiaozhao Y; Peng, Sihui; Yu, Lingwei

2017-08-18

This study estimated the prevalence of road traffic injury among Chinese urban residents and examined individual and regional-level correlates. A cross-sectional multistage process was used to sample residents from 21 selected cities in China. Survey respondents reported their history of road traffic injury in the past 12 months through a community survey. Multilevel, multivariable logistic regression analysis was used to identify injury correlates. Based on a retrospective 12-month reporting window, road traffic injury prevalence among urban residents was 13.2%. Prevalence of road traffic injury, by type, was 8.7, 8.7, 8.5, and 7.7% in the automobile, bicycle, motorcycle, and pedestrian categories, respectively. Multilevel analysis showed that prevalence of road traffic injury was positively associated with minority status, income, and mental health disorder score at the individual level. Regionally, road traffic injury was associated with geographic location of residence and prevalence of mental health disorders. Both individual and regional-level variables were associated with road traffic injury among Chinese urban residents, a finding whose implications transcend wholesale imported generic solutions. This descriptive research demonstrates an urgent need for longitudinal studies across China on risk and protective factors, in order to inform injury etiology, surveillance, prevention, treatment, and evaluation.

Integrating Climate Projections into Multi-Level City Planning: A Texas Case Study

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hayhoe, K.; Gelca, R.; Baumer, Z.; Gold, G.

2016-12-01

Climate change impacts on energy and water are a serious concern for many cities across the United States. Regional projections from the National Assessment process, or state-specific efforts as in California and Delaware, are typically used to quantify impacts at the regional scale. However, these are often insufficient to provide information at the scale of decision-making for an individual city. Here, we describe a multi-level approach to developing and integrating usable climate information into planning, using a case study from the City of Austin in Texas, a state where few official climate resources are available. Spearheaded by the Office of Sustainability in collaboration with Austin Water, the first step was to characterize observed trends and future projections of how global climate change might affect Austin's current climate. The City then assembled a team of city experts, consulting engineers, and climate scientists to develop a methodology to assess impacts on regional hydrology as part of its Integrated Water Resource Plan, Austin's 100-year water supply and demand planning effort, an effort which included calculating a range of climate indicators and developing and evaluating a new approach to generating climate inputs - including daily streamflow and evaporation - for existing water availability models. This approach, which brings together a range of public, private, and academic experts to support a stakeholder-initiated planning effort, provides concrete insights into the critical importance of multi-level, long-term engagement for development and application of actionable climate science at the local to regional scale.

The spatiotemporal inhomogeneity of pollutant concentrations and its dependence on regional weather conditions in a coastal city of China.

PubMed

Zhou, Baohua; Yu, Lejiang; Zhong, Shiyuan; Bian, Xindi

2018-04-02

Hourly data for sulfur dioxide (SO 2 ), nitrogen oxides (NO x ), and inhalable particulate matter (PM 10 ) over a 33-month period from a network of air quality monitoring stations across Qingdao, a major coastal city in eastern China, along with surface and upper-air meteorological data, are used to characterize the spatiotemporal variability of these pollutants in the region and the role of meteorological conditions play in pollution episodes. Large differences in the concentrations of all three pollutants are found between densely populated or industrial areas and suburban commercial or residential or coastal tourist areas, but the differences are relatively small between older and newer parts of the residential-commercial areas and between old and newly developed industrial areas. Wavelet analyses revealed a strong seasonal cycle for all three pollutants, introseasonal variability with a periodicity depending on pollutant and location, and diurnal and a semi-diurnal variability with season-dependent amplitude and phase. Low wind speed is found to be the leading factor for pollution buildup in the region. These results may prove useful for urban planning and development and implementation of effective air pollution control strategies for other coastal regions with economic development similar to Qingdao.

Impact of GDP Information Technology in Developing of Regional Central Business (Case 50 Airports IT City Development in Indonesia)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Suyono, Joko; Sukoco, Agus; Ikhsan Setiawan, M.; Suhermin; Rahim, Robbi

2017-12-01

Indonesia a great number of populations and demand of air transportation services keep increasing by the year in line with the increasing of population and welfare its people. Need for telematics solutions to support goods transport and distribution in cities is mainly due to the complexity of the processes taking place in urban transport systems and the importance of the optimisation of transport operations via ensuring adequate availability of linear and point infrastructure, while reducing the adverse impacts of the transport system on the environment. Efficient infrastructure supports economic growth, improves quality of life, and it is important for national security. Impact of GDP Information Technology in developing of Regional Central Business especially SME Business, are very large correlations and very significant supported by Passenger Arrival and Departure, Baggage Loaded and Unloaded, Cargo Loaded and Unloaded, Separated regional asset, Grant, Capital Expenditure, Investment of Regional Gov., GDP Agriculture-Forestry-Fishing, GDP Manufacturing, GDP Electricity-Gas, GDP Water supply- Sewerage-Waste Management-Remediation Activities, GDP Financial-Insurance Activities, GDP Business Activities, GDP Public Administration and Defense-Compulsory Social Security, GDP Education and GDP Other Services Activities

Ecological Carrying Capacity of Land Use Changes in Da'an City

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, H.; Zhang, J.; Li, B.

2018-04-01

Based on GIS and RS technology, this paper analyzed the land use change in Da'an city from 1995 to 2010. land-use ecological evaluation index was constructed to evaluate the land-use ecological risk of Da 'an city dynamically, and the land-use ecological risk level map was made, and then the distribution and change of the land-use ecological carrying capacity pattern of Da'an city were analyzed qualitatively. According to the evaluation results of ecological carrying capacity, the ecological environment of Da'an city has deteriorated in fifteen years. in 1995, the poor ecological environment area is mainly distributed in the northeast area of Da'an city, and the area is small, while the area of the central and southern areas is large; In 2010, the western region also appeared environmental degradation, the northeast environment deterioration is serious, the dominant area is reduced, and a small amount of deterioration in the central and southern regions. According to the study of this paper, in the future, we should strengthen the comprehensive management of this part of the area, strengthen vegetation coverage, reduce soil erosion, ensure the effective improvement of ecological environment.

Archaeogeophysical Investigation of Water Tower Region on Enez (Ainos) Ancient City

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Deniz, Hazel; Ahmet Yüksel, Fethi; Başaran, Sait

2017-04-01

Archaeogeophysical (geomagnetics) surveys have been made in two locations which are, Enez Entry Region and Water Tower Necropolis.The objective of geophysical mesurements is to reach the informations such as detailed depths, orientations and locations of achaeological structure remnants. Enez (Ainos) is located in the Northwestern coastal side of the Aegean Sea in which Meriç (Maritza-Hebros) River flows down to the sea. The city displaced due to alluvium accumulate which are drifted by Meriç River in contrast with its former location. Existing of settlements of Enez and its surrounding in Neolithic times has been proved. Enez has a castle ambient acropolis apex which is built on Miocene limestone rocks rise about 25 m above the sea level. The castle walls are 740 m long and are thought to have been built in the middle ages. three different cultural phases form the 2nd building level of the archaeological excavations representing the ancient Greek cultures, Archaic, Classical and Hellenistic bottom to top. In all of the openings made on the acropolis, a thick layer dated to the Hellenistic era is located just above The Classical Age layer. The 3rd cultural floor dated from the Roman Age is represented by a thin layer and whose boundaries can not be determined with certain lines. In this study, Proton Magnetometer has been used for magnetic measurements. Across Water Tower Region, total magnetic field has been measured by magnetometer equipment on 592 m2 site. Existing of remarkable regular and irregular anomalies have been detected when magnetic maps produced from magnetic measurements are examined. It is determined from excavations after measurements that regular anomalies refer to water structures of old times or current electrical cables and dispersed anomalies to graves, sarcophagus and pithos burials. During excavations in locations where notable anomalies are found in Magnetic maps derived from magnetic measurements applied on Water Tower Necropolis, brick

76 FR 40686 - Public Input for the Launch of the Strong Cities, Strong Communities Visioning Challenge

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-07-11

... growth; creative cities; healthy cities; sustainable economic development; regional innovation clusters... DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE Economic Development Administration [Docket No.: 110705370-1370-01] Public Input for the Launch of the Strong Cities, Strong Communities Visioning Challenge AGENCY: Economic...

Policymaking in European healthy cities.

PubMed

de Leeuw, Evelyne; Green, Geoff; Spanswick, Lucy; Palmer, Nicola

2015-06-01

This paper assesses policy development in, with and for Healthy Cities in the European Region of the World Health Organization. Materials for the assessment were sourced through case studies, a questionnaire and statistical databases. They were compiled in a realist synthesis methodology, applying theory-based evaluation principles. Non-response analyses were applied to ascertain the degree of representatives of the high response rates for the entire network of Healthy Cities in Europe. Further measures of reliability and validity were applied, and it was found that our material was indicative of the entire network. European Healthy Cities are successful in developing local health policy across many sectors within and outside government. They were also successful in addressing 'wicked' problems around equity, governance and participation in themes such as Healthy Urban Planning. It appears that strong local leadership for policy change is driven by international collaboration and the stewardship of the World Health Organization. The processes enacted by WHO, structuring membership of the Healthy City Network (designation) and the guidance on particular themes, are identified as being important for the success of local policy development. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Regional Distribution of Longevity Population and Elements in Drinking Water in Jiangjin District, Chongqing City, China.

PubMed

Liu, Yonglin; Yuan, Yuyang; Luo, Kunli

2017-10-25

In order to determine the spatial variation of longevity population and elements contained in the drinking water of longevity region in Jiangjin and investigate the relationship between the elements in drinking water and longevity, population censuses on township level and 98 drinking water samples from Jiangjin District, Chongqing City in West China were collected and analyzed. Population statistics on township level showed that the number of centenarians per 100,000 inhabitants (OC), centenarity index (CI), and number of centenarians per 10,000 over 65-year-old subjects (UC) present obvious geographic distribution properties, generally Central region > Northern region > Southern region (Kruskal-Wallis test, p < 0.05). Moderate hard water (150 mg/L < total hardness (TH) = 156.17 mg/L < 300 mg/L) was mainly found in drinking water from longevity township (OC > 7.5) in Jiangjin District, whereas soft water (75 mg/L < TH = 111.23 mg/L < 150 mg/L) was mostly in non-longevity township (OC < 7.5). The mean concentration of strontium (Sr) (0.73 mg/L) in drinking water from the longevity township was apparently higher than that of non-longevity township (0.44 mg/L) (Mann-Whitney U test, p = 0.019 < 0.05). The concentrations of Ba, Li, Mn, Ni, and Se in drinking water from longevity township were also higher than those of non-longevity township (Mann-Whitney U test, p < 0.05). The research indicates that exercising strict control over the concentrations of TH, Sr, Ba, Li, Mn, Ni, and Se in drinking water might be good for the health and prolong people's life.

American Recovery and Reinvestment Act: Clean Cities Project Awards

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

2016-08-01

Each Clean Cities project award under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act included a diverse group of stakeholders who worked together to lay the foundation for their communities to adopt alternative fuels and petroleum reduction strategies. This document provides a snapshot of the impact of each project and highlights the partners and Clean Cities coalitions who helped transform local and regional transportation markets through 25 projects impacting 45 states.

Environmental Science for the Inner City

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kaminski, Darrell L.

1969-01-01

Presents the objectives, activities, materials, and procedure of a six-week summer course in environmental science for inner-city students at the Horace Mann Junior High School, Omaha, Nebraska. Included in this program are studies of the wildlife, conservation, and natural science of the Eastern Nebraska region. (LC)

Parents' Self-Reporting of Child Physical Maltreatment in Yuncheng City, China

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ma, Yating; Chen, Jingqi; Xiao, Wanqing; Wang, Fuman; Zhang, Man

2011-01-01

Objective: To investigate the prevalence of child physical maltreatment (CPM) by parents in a city locating in central-western region of China and identify associated risk factors. Methods: Cross-sectional survey was carried out among a randomly sampled population of primary school students' parents in Yuncheng City. Data on parental CPM during…

Greenhouse gas emission footprints and energy use benchmarks for eight U.S. cities.

PubMed

Hillman, Tim; Ramaswami, Anu

2010-03-15

A hybrid life cycle-based trans-boundary greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions footprint is elucidated at the city-scale and evaluated for 8 US cities. The method incorporates end-uses of energy within city boundaries, plus cross-boundary demand for airline/freight transport and embodied energy of four key urban materials [food, water, energy (fuels), and shelter (cement)], essential for life in all cities. These cross-boundary activities contributed 47% on average more than the in-boundary GHG contributions traditionally reported for cities, indicating significant truncation at city boundaries of GHG emissions associated with urban activities. Incorporating cross-boundary contributions created convergence in per capita GHG emissions from the city-scale (average 23.7 mt-CO(2)e/capita) to the national-scale (24.5 mt-CO(2)e/capita), suggesting that six key cross-boundary activities may suffice to yield a holistic GHG emission footprint for cities, with important policy ramifications. Average GHG contributions from various human activity sectors include buildings/facilities energy use (47.1%), regional surface transport (20.8%), food production (14.7%), transport fuel production (6.4%), airline transport (4.8%), long-distance freight trucking (2.8%), cement production (2.2%), and water/wastewater/waste processing (1.3%). Energy-, travel-, and key materials-consumption efficiency metrics are elucidated in these sectors; these consumption metrics are observed to be largely similar across the eight U.S. cities and consistent with national/regional averages.

A demand-centered, hybrid life-cycle methodology for city-scale greenhouse gas inventories.

PubMed

Ramaswami, Anu; Hillman, Tim; Janson, Bruce; Reiner, Mark; Thomas, Gregg

2008-09-01

Greenhouse gas (GHG) accounting for individual cities is confounded by spatial scale and boundary effects that impact the allocation of regional material and energy flows. This paper develops a demand-centered, hybrid life-cycle-based methodology for conducting city-scale GHG inventories that incorporates (1) spatial allocation of surface and airline travel across colocated cities in larger metropolitan regions, and, (2) life-cycle assessment (LCA) to quantify the embodied energy of key urban materials--food, water, fuel, and concrete. The hybrid methodology enables cities to separately report the GHG impact associated with direct end-use of energy by cities (consistent with EPA and IPCC methods), as well as the impact of extra-boundary activities such as air travel and production of key urban materials (consistent with Scope 3 protocols recommended by the World Resources Institute). Application of this hybrid methodology to Denver, Colorado, yielded a more holistic GHG inventory that approaches a GHG footprint computation, with consistency of inclusions across spatial scale as well as convergence of city-scale per capita GHG emissions (approximately 25 mt CO2e/person/year) with state and national data. The method is shown to have significant policy impacts, and also demonstrates the utility of benchmarks in understanding energy use in various city sectors.

Impact of a city centre on the dispersal of a regional pollen cloud. Cas of Montréal, Canada.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Goyette-Pernot, J.

2003-04-01

Highly allergenic ragweed pollen is released into the air in large quantities at the end of every summer in and around Montreal. More than 19% of the city's population experiences hay fever (DSP-Montreal Center, 2000). The aim of this study is to obtain a deeper insight into the manner in which a North American urban area may influence the dispersal of a regional pollen clouds, how it modifies the dispersal and thereby its concentration. Downtown areas provide particular surface characteristics that result in strong disturbances to regional meteorological conditions. Strong pollen concentrations are modified by the passage of fronts and may increase the occurrence of regional-scale pollen peaks. They offer the best conditions for the local dilution of pollen and even the best dynamic conditions for external pollen that reaches Montreal from southern regions. On the contrary, anticyclonic situations seem to offer the best conditions for local production but inhibit dilution on a larger scale. Observations have been made in order to investigate the vertical as well as the regional versus the local and street-level differences in pollen abundance. The aim is to develop an original statistical downscaling technique, inferring pollen concentrations from the largest to the smallest scales. At the regional scale, the emphasis is placed on the typical meteorological conditions or weather types influencing the regional pollen cloud. At the street level, the discussion focuses on whether these prior regional conditions continue to influence the micro-scale pollen diffusion or whether they are themselves modified by the characteristics of the surface. If this were to be the case, then it would be essential to address the issue of how it affects the pollen concentrations at the pedestrian level, with all this may imply in term of public health.

National networks of Healthy Cities in Europe.

PubMed

Janss Lafond, Leah; Heritage, Zoë

2009-11-01

National networks of Healthy Cities emerged in the late 1980s as a spontaneous reaction to a great demand by cities to participate in the Healthy Cities movement. Today, they engage at least 1300 cities in the European region and form the backbone of the Healthy Cities movement. This article provides an analysis of the results of the regular surveys of national networks that have been carried out principally since 1997. The main functions and achievements of national networks are presented alongside some of their most pressing challenges. Although networks have differing priorities and organizational characteristics, they do share common goals and strategic directions based on the Healthy Cities model (see other articles in this special edition of HPI). Therefore, it has been possible to identify a set of organizational and strategic factors that contribute to the success of networks. These factors form the basis of a set of accreditation criteria for national networks and provide guidance for the establishment of new national networks. Although national networks have made substantial achievements, they continue to face a number of dilemmas that are discussed in the article. Problems a national network must deal with include how to obtain sustainable funding, how to raise the standard of work in cities without creating exclusive participation criteria and how to balance the need to provide direct support to cities with its role as a national player. These dilemmas are similar to other public sector networks. During the last 15 years, the pooling of practical expertise in urban health has made Healthy Cities networks an important resource for national as well as local governments. Not only do they provide valuable support to their members but they often advise ministries and other national institutions on effective models to promote sustainable urban health development.

Anthropogenic heat fluxes over Moscow agglomeration and other Russian and world cities

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Belova, Iya; Ginzburg, Alexander

2010-05-01

Urbanization, particularly with respect to its sustainability, remains to be a great challenge in all regions of the world. Urbanization has an influence on soils, hydrology, and climate, these changes have effect on global climate, pollution, increase of anthropogenic greenhouse gases in the earth's atmosphere and human health. Thus anthropogenic heat flux is an important factor for estimation of development of global climate. The simple formula for anthropogenic heat fluxes (AHF) was proposed in the EGU General Assembly 2008 presentation [1] AHF = k × PD × EC, were PD is urban population density and EC is total energy consumption per capita. It was estimated that two of the world megacities - Seoul and Moscow - have the highest AHF values - 83 and 56 W/m2 correspondently. In presented paper it was studied the reasons of such high anthropogenic heat fluxes within Moscow region as well as AHF over the major Russian cities. It was shown that main reason of this circumstance is the administrative divisions in Moscow region. Moscow is ringed by Moscow circle motor road. Accordingly the city has sharply defined boundaries and densely populated residential suburbs are cut off and don't included in Moscow city administrative area. It was constructed the special graph to illuminate why Moscow city has such a high anthropogenic heat factor and how much Moscow agglomeration AHF could be if consider not only Moscow city itself but also the nearest suburb towns. Using the data from World Bank [2] and Russian governmental statistic agency [3] anthropogenic heat fluxes for Russian cities with population more than 500 000 were estimated. Energy consumption data for different Russian regions were calculated by special routine using in the Web-atlas [4]. This research is supported by RAS Fundamental Research Project 'Influence of anthropogenic heat fluxes and aerosol pollution on heat balance and climate of urbanized areas'. Other results of this project is presented in paper [5

Quad City Intersection Traffic Accident Study: 1993 Data

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1996-03-01

Accident information is an important factor from which to work towards the : regional Transportation System Management (TSM) objective of improving the : safety of the local transportation system. The 1993 Quad City Intersection : Traffic Accident Re...

An Overview of Air Pollution Problem in Megacities and City Clusters in China

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tang, X.

2007-05-01

China has experienced the rapid economic growth in last twenty years. City clusters, which consist of one or several mega cities in close vicinity and many satellite cities and towns, are playing a leading role in Chinese economic growth, owing to their collective economic capacity and interdependency. However, accompanying with the economic boom, population growth and increased energy consumption, the air quality has been degrading in the past two decades. Air pollution in those areas is characterized by concurrent occurrence of high concentrations of multiple primary pollutants leading to form complex secondary pollution problem. After decades long efforts to control air pollution, both the government and scientific communities have realized that to control regional scale air pollution, regional efforts are needed. Field experiments covering the regions like Pearl River Delta region and Beijing City with surrounding areas are critical to understand the chemical and physical processes leading to the formation of regional scale air pollution. In order to formulate policy suggestions for air quality attainment during 2008 Beijing Olympic game and to propose objectives of air quality attainment in 2010 in Beijing, CAREBEIJING (Campaigns of Air Quality Research in Beijing and Surrounding Region) was organized by Peking University in 2006 to learn current air pollution situation of the region, and to identify the transport and transformation processes that lead to the impact of the surrounding area on air quality in Beijing. Same as the purpose for understanding the chemical and physical processes happened in regional scale, the fall and summer campaigns in 2004 and 2006 were carried out in Pearl River Delta. More than 16 domestic and foreign institutions were involved in these campaigns. The background, current status, problems, and some results of these campaigns will be introduced in this presentation.

Urban growth patterns in major Southeast Asian cities: Toward exposure mapping and vulnerability assessment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mandapaka, Pradeep; Kamarajugedda, Shankar A.; Lo, Edmond Y. M.

2017-04-01

Southeast Asia (SEA) is undergoing rapid urbanization, with urban population percentage increasing from 32% in 1990 to 48% in 2015. It is projected that by the year 2040, urban regions in SEA account for 60% of its total population. The region is home to 600 million people, with many densely populated cities, including megacities such as Jakarta, Bangkok, and Manila. The region has more than 20,000 islands, and many cities lie on coastal low-lands and floodplains. These geographical characteristics together with the increasing population, infrastructure growth, and changing climate makes the region highly vulnerable to natural hazards. This study assessed urban growth dynamics in major (defined as population exceeding 1 million) SEA cities using remotely sensed night-time lights (NTL) data. A recently proposed brightness gradient approach was applied on 21 years (1992-2012) of NTL annual composites to derive core-urban (CU) and peri-urban (PU) regions within each city. The study also assessed the sensitivity of above extracted urban categories to different NTL thresholds. The temporal trends in CU and PU regions were quantified, and compared with trends in socio-economic indicators. The spatial expansion of CU and PU regions were found to depend on geographical constraints and socio-economic factors. Quantification of urban growth spatial-temporal patterns, as conducted here contributes towards the understanding of exposure and vulnerability of people and infrastructures to natural hazards, as well as the evolving trends for assessment under projected urbanization conditions. This will underpin better risk assessment efforts for present and future planning.

Crowdsourced Smart Cities versus Corporate Smart Cities

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Alizadeh, Tooran

2018-05-01

Considering the speedy growth of smart-city promises and practices, there is an urgent need to take a critical approach and offer an integrated vision for an otherwise fragmented and sectoral concept. In particular, the literature warns about a critical deficit around the theorization of the smart city because discussions of relevant smart city theories or frameworks are few and fall short of offering alternative practical resolutions to the dominant discourse. In developing a response to such a deficit, this paper takes up the challenge to broaden theoretical insights into smart cities, by offering a bottom-up understanding of the ‘smart city’ concept with special attention to the potential of passive crowdsourcing based on the ocean of mostly untapped and unutilized available data in the public domain. Crowdsourced smart cities are proposed as an alternative to enable public engagement in smart city debates and decision-making – especially when dealing with global digital corporations.

Digging the New York City Skyline: Soil Fungal Communities in Green Roofs and City Parks

PubMed Central

McGuire, Krista L.; Payne, Sara G.; Palmer, Matthew I.; Gillikin, Caitlyn M.; Keefe, Dominique; Kim, Su Jin; Gedallovich, Seren M.; Discenza, Julia; Rangamannar, Ramya; Koshner, Jennifer A.; Massmann, Audrey L.; Orazi, Giulia; Essene, Adam; Leff, Jonathan W.; Fierer, Noah

2013-01-01

In urban environments, green roofs provide a number of benefits, including decreased urban heat island effects and reduced energy costs for buildings. However, little research has been done on the non-plant biota associated with green roofs, which likely affect their functionality. For the current study, we evaluated whether or not green roofs planted with two native plant communities in New York City functioned as habitats for soil fungal communities, and compared fungal communities in green roof growing media to soil microbial composition in five city parks, including Central Park and the High Line. Ten replicate roofs were sampled one year after planting; three of these roofs were more intensively sampled and compared to nearby city parks. Using Illumina sequencing of the fungal ITS region we found that green roofs supported a diverse fungal community, with numerous taxa belonging to fungal groups capable of surviving in disturbed and polluted habitats. Across roofs, there was significant biogeographical clustering of fungal communities, indicating that community assembly of roof microbes across the greater New York City area is locally variable. Green roof fungal communities were compositionally distinct from city parks and only 54% of the green roof taxa were also found in the park soils. Phospholipid fatty acid analysis revealed that park soils had greater microbial biomass and higher bacterial to fungal ratios than green roof substrates. City park soils were also more enriched with heavy metals, had lower pH, and lower quantities of total bases (Ca, K, and Mg) compared to green roof substrates. While fungal communities were compositionally distinct across green roofs, they did not differentiate by plant community. Together, these results suggest that fungi living in the growing medium of green roofs may be an underestimated component of these biotic systems functioning to support some of the valued ecological services of green roofs. PMID:23469260

Digging the New York City Skyline: soil fungal communities in green roofs and city parks.

PubMed

McGuire, Krista L; Payne, Sara G; Palmer, Matthew I; Gillikin, Caitlyn M; Keefe, Dominique; Kim, Su Jin; Gedallovich, Seren M; Discenza, Julia; Rangamannar, Ramya; Koshner, Jennifer A; Massmann, Audrey L; Orazi, Giulia; Essene, Adam; Leff, Jonathan W; Fierer, Noah

2013-01-01

In urban environments, green roofs provide a number of benefits, including decreased urban heat island effects and reduced energy costs for buildings. However, little research has been done on the non-plant biota associated with green roofs, which likely affect their functionality. For the current study, we evaluated whether or not green roofs planted with two native plant communities in New York City functioned as habitats for soil fungal communities, and compared fungal communities in green roof growing media to soil microbial composition in five city parks, including Central Park and the High Line. Ten replicate roofs were sampled one year after planting; three of these roofs were more intensively sampled and compared to nearby city parks. Using Illumina sequencing of the fungal ITS region we found that green roofs supported a diverse fungal community, with numerous taxa belonging to fungal groups capable of surviving in disturbed and polluted habitats. Across roofs, there was significant biogeographical clustering of fungal communities, indicating that community assembly of roof microbes across the greater New York City area is locally variable. Green roof fungal communities were compositionally distinct from city parks and only 54% of the green roof taxa were also found in the park soils. Phospholipid fatty acid analysis revealed that park soils had greater microbial biomass and higher bacterial to fungal ratios than green roof substrates. City park soils were also more enriched with heavy metals, had lower pH, and lower quantities of total bases (Ca, K, and Mg) compared to green roof substrates. While fungal communities were compositionally distinct across green roofs, they did not differentiate by plant community. Together, these results suggest that fungi living in the growing medium of green roofs may be an underestimated component of these biotic systems functioning to support some of the valued ecological services of green roofs.

Is a healthy city also an age-friendly city?

PubMed

Jackisch, Josephine; Zamaro, Gianna; Green, Geoff; Huber, Manfred

2015-06-01

Healthy Ageing is an important focus of the European Healthy Cities Network and has been supported by WHO since 2003 as a key strategic topic, since 2010 in cooperation with the Global Network of Age-friendly Cities and Communities. Based on the methodology of realist evaluation, this article synthesizes qualitative evidence from 33 structured case studies (CS) from 32 WHO European Healthy Cities, 72 annual reports from Network cities and 71 quantitative responses to a General Evaluation Questionnaire. City cases are assigned to three clusters containing the eight domains of an age-friendly city proposed by WHO's Global Age-friendly City Guide published in 2007. The analysis of city's practice and efforts in this article takes stock of how cities have developed the institutional prerequisites and processes necessary for implementing age-friendly strategies, programmes and projects. A content analysis of the CS maps activities across age-friendly domains and illustrates how cities contribute to improving the social and physical environments of older people and enhance the health and social services provided by municipalities and their partners. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Geographical factors of the abundance of flora in Russian cities

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Veselkin, D. V.; Tretyakova, A. S.; Senator, S. A.; Saksonov, S. V.; Mukhin, V. A.; Rozenberg, G. S.

2017-09-01

An analysis of data on the species abundance of flora in 89 cities (urban flora) of the Russian Federation facilitated determination of its main factors. It has been revealed that the factors determining the abundance of native and alien components of urban flora vary. The city area and population number are the main factors of the total number of species and of the abundance of native species in urban flora. The diversity and participation of alien species increase in parallel with. the urbanization rate, anthropogenic transformation of the regions, and the age of cities and are in adverse correlation with the climate severity.

Aerosol Airmass Type Mapping Over the Urban Mexico City Region From Space-based Multi-angle Imaging

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Patadia, F.; Kahn, R. A.; Limbacher, J. A.; Burton, S. P.; Ferrare, R. A.; Hostetler, C. A.; Hair, J. W.

2013-01-01

Using Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MISR) and sub-orbital measurements from the 2006 INTEX-B/MILAGRO field campaign, in this study we explore MISR's ability to map different aerosol air mass types over the Mexico City metropolitan area. The aerosol air mass distinctions are based on shape, size and single scattering albedo retrievals from the MISR Research Aerosol Retrieval algorithm. In this region, the research algorithm identifies dust-dominated aerosol mixtures based on non-spherical particle shape, whereas spherical biomass burning and urban pollution particles are distinguished by particle size. Two distinct aerosol air mass types based on retrieved particle microphysical properties, and four spatially distributed aerosol air masses, are identified in the MISR data on 6 March 2006. The aerosol air mass type identification results are supported by coincident, airborne high-spectral-resolution lidar (HSRL) measurements. Aerosol optical depth (AOD) gradients are also consistent between the MISR and sub-orbital measurements, but particles having single-scattering albedo of approx. 0.7 at 558 nm must be included in the retrieval algorithm to produce good absolute AOD comparisons over pollution-dominated aerosol air masses. The MISR standard V22 AOD product, at 17.6 km resolution, captures the observed AOD gradients qualitatively, but retrievals at this coarse spatial scale and with limited spherical absorbing particle options underestimate AOD and do not retrieve particle properties adequately over this complex urban region. However, we demonstrate how AOD and aerosol type mapping can be accomplished with MISR data over complex urban regions, provided the retrieval is performed at sufficiently high spatial resolution, and with a rich enough set of aerosol components and mixtures.

Education Cities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shaked, Haim

2014-01-01

In recent years, several cities in Israel have labeled themselves "Education Cities," concentrating on education as their central theme. Employing qualitative techniques, this article aims to describe, define, and conceptualize this phenomenon as it is being realized in three such cities. Findings show that Education Cities differ from…

LEED-IV study of the rutile TiO{sub 2}(110)-1x2 surface with a Ti-interstitial added-row reconstruction

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Blanco-Rey, M.; Mendez, J.; Lopez, M. F.

2007-02-15

Upon sputtering and annealing in UHV at {approx}1000 K, the rutile TiO{sub 2}(110) surface undergoes a 1x1{yields}1x2 phase transition. The resulting 1x2 surface is Ti rich, formed by strands of double Ti rows as seen on scanning tunneling microscopic images, but its detailed structure and composition have been subject to debate in the literature for years. Recently, Park et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 96, 226105 (2006)] have proposed a model where Ti atoms are located on interstitial sites with Ti{sub 2}O stoichiometry. This model, when it is analyzed using LEED-IV data [Phys. Rev. Lett. 96, 0055502 (2006)], does not yieldmore » an agreement between theory and experiment as good as the previous best fit for Onishi and Iwasawa's model for the long-range 1x2 reconstruction. Therefore, the Ti{sub 2}O{sub 3} added row is the preferred one from the point of view low-energy electron diffraction.« less

Potential contribution of semi-volatile and intermediate volatility primary organic compounds to secondary organic aerosol in the Mexico City region

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hodzic, A.; Jimenez, J. L.; Madronich, S.; Canagaratna, M. R.; Decarlo, P. F.; Kleinman, L.; Fast, J.

2010-01-01

It has been established that observed local and regional levels of secondary organic aerosols (SOA) in polluted areas cannot be explained by the oxidation and partitioning of anthropogenic and biogenic VOC precursors, at least using current mechanisms and parameterizations. In this study, the 3-D regional air quality model CHIMERE is applied to quantify the contribution to SOA formation of recently identified semi-volatile and intermediate volatility organic vapors (S/IVOC) in and around Mexico City for the MILAGRO field experiment during March 2006. The model has been updated to include explicitly the volatility distribution of primary organic aerosols (POA), their gas-particle partitioning and the gas-phase oxidation of the vapors. Two recently proposed parameterizations, those of Robinson et al. (2007) ("ROB") and Grieshop et al. (2009) ("GRI") are compared and evaluated against surface and aircraft measurements. The 3-D model results are assessed by comparing with the concentrations of OA components from Positive Matrix Factorization of Aerosol Mass Spectrometer (AMS) data, and for the first time also with oxygen-to-carbon ratios derived from high-resolution AMS measurements. The results show a substantial enhancement in predicted SOA concentrations (3-6 times) with respect to the previously published base case without S/IVOCs (Hodzic et al., 2009), both within and downwind of the city leading to much reduced discrepancies with the total OA measurements. The predicted anthropogenic POA levels are found to agree within 20% with the observed HOA concentrations for both the ROB and GRI simulations, consistent with the interpretation of the emissions inventory by previous studies. The impact of biomass burning POA within the city is underestimated in comparison to the AMS BBOA, presumably due to insufficient nighttime smoldering emissions. Model improvements in OA predictions are associated with the better-captured SOA magnitude and diurnal variability. The

Contributions for Repositioning a Regional Strategy for Healthy Municipalities, Cities and Communities (HM&C): Results of a Pan-American Survey

PubMed Central

Rice, Marilyn; Vizzotti, Carlos; Frassia, Romina; Vizzotti, Pablo; Akerman, Marco

2010-01-01

This article presents the results of the 1st Regional Survey of Healthy Municipalities, Cities and Communities (HM&C) carried out in 2008 by the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) and ISALUD University of Argentina. It discusses the responses obtained from 12 countries in the Americas Region. Key informants in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, and Uruguay were selected and encouraged to answer the survey, while informants from Canada and Honduras answered voluntarily and were included in this analysis. The discussion of the results of the Survey provides insight into the current status of HM&C in the Region and suggests key topics for repositioning the Regional strategy relative to: (1) the conceptual identity and tools for HM&C; (2) challenging areas in the implementation process (scale, legal framework, and development of capacities); (3) related strategies and participatory processes such as the ways citizen empowerment in governance is supported; (4) the need to monitor and assess the impact of the HM&C strategy on the health and quality of life of the populations involved; and (5) the need for developing a strategic research and training agenda. The analysis and discussion of these results aims to provide useful input for repositioning the strategy in the Region and contributing to the emergence of a second generation of concepts and tools capable of meeting the developing priorities and needs currently faced by the HM&C strategy. PMID:20532989

Contributions for repositioning a regional strategy for Healthy Municipalities, Cities and Communities (HM&C): results of a pan-American survey.

PubMed

Meresman, Sergio; Rice, Marilyn; Vizzotti, Carlos; Frassia, Romina; Vizzotti, Pablo; Akerman, Marco

2010-09-01

This article presents the results of the 1st Regional Survey of Healthy Municipalities, Cities and Communities (HM&C) carried out in 2008 by the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) and ISALUD University of Argentina. It discusses the responses obtained from 12 countries in the Americas Region. Key informants in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, and Uruguay were selected and encouraged to answer the survey, while informants from Canada and Honduras answered voluntarily and were included in this analysis. The discussion of the results of the Survey provides insight into the current status of HM&C in the Region and suggests key topics for repositioning the Regional strategy relative to: (1) the conceptual identity and tools for HM&C; (2) challenging areas in the implementation process (scale, legal framework, and development of capacities); (3) related strategies and participatory processes such as the ways citizen empowerment in governance is supported; (4) the need to monitor and assess the impact of the HM&C strategy on the health and quality of life of the populations involved; and (5) the need for developing a strategic research and training agenda. The analysis and discussion of these results aims to provide useful input for repositioning the strategy in the Region and contributing to the emergence of a second generation of concepts and tools capable of meeting the developing priorities and needs currently faced by the HM&C strategy.

Influence of exposure differences on city-to-city heterogeneity ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Multi-city population-based epidemiological studies have observed heterogeneity between city-specific fine particulate matter (PM2.5)-mortality effect estimates. These studies typically use ambient monitoring data as a surrogate for exposure leading to potential exposure misclassification. The level of exposure misclassification can differ by city affecting the observed health effect estimate. The objective of this analysis is to evaluate whether previously developed residential infiltration-based city clusters can explain city-to-city heterogeneity in PM2.5 mortality risk estimates. In a prior paper 94 cities were clustered based on residential infiltration factors (e.g. home age/size, prevalence of air conditioning (AC)), resulting in 5 clusters. For this analysis, the association between PM2.5 and all-cause mortality was first determined in 77 cities across the United States for 2001–2005. Next, a second stage analysis was conducted evaluating the influence of cluster assignment on heterogeneity in the risk estimates. Associations between a 2-day (lag 0–1 days) moving average of PM2.5 concentrations and non-accidental mortality were determined for each city. Estimated effects ranged from −3.2 to 5.1% with a pooled estimate of 0.33% (95% CI: 0.13, 0.53) increase in mortality per 10 μg/m3 increase in PM2.5. The second stage analysis determined that cluster assignment was marginally significant in explaining the city-to-city heterogeneity. The health effe

Comparing alcohol affordability in 65 cities worldwide.

PubMed

Kan, Ming-Yue; Lau, Maggie

2013-01-01

To develop a measure of alcohol affordability (AA) and compare the AA of 65 cities worldwide. In this paper, AA is defined as the proportion of median daily income needed to buy a certain quantity of certain alcoholic beverages. The income data and the price of alcoholic beverages were drawn from the Union Bank of Switzerland survey and the Economist Intelligence Unit respectively. A large majority of cities (87.7%, n = 57) had a high level of AA. The top 20 ranking was occupied by European and American cities with Tokyo in the Western Pacific region being the exception. All cities belonging to high-income countries had high levels of AA. However, two cities with low-level AA came from low-middle-income countries instead of low-income countries. The findings have shown that alcohol consumption is highly affordable in many cities. If price policy is being considered as policy instrument of alcohol control, it is in urgent need of price adjustments. More specifically, the new emerging economies play a significant role in the world alcohol control movement because of their bright economic performance with huge population size. Further studies on AA, especially periodical monitoring and its impacts on alcohol consumption and alcohol related health problems, should be conducted so as to facilitate the formulation and evaluation price measure of alcohol control. © 2012 Australasian Professional Society on Alcohol and other Drugs.

Birth and death in cities in the developing world.

PubMed

1995-06-01

City dwellers in Sub-Saharan Africa have increased roughly 600% in the last 35 years. Throughout the developing world, cities have expanded at a rate that has far outpaced rural population growth. Extensive data document lower fertility and mortality rates in cities than in rural regions. But slums, shantytowns, and squatters' settlements proliferate in many large cities. Martin Brockerhoff studies the reproductive and health consequences of urban growth, with an emphasis on maternal and child health. Brockerhoff reports that child mortality rates in large cities are highest among children born to mothers who recently migrated from rural areas or who live in low-quality housing. Children born in large cities have about a 30% higher risk of dying before they reach the age of 5 than those born in smaller cities. Despite this, children born to migrant mothers who have lived in a city for about a year have much better survival chances than children born in rural areas to nonmigrant mothers and children born to migrant mothers before or shortly after migration. Migration in developing countries as a whole has saved millions of children's lives. The apparent benefits experienced in the 1980s may not occur in the future, as cities continue to grow and municipal governments confront an overwhelming need for housing, jobs, and services. Another benefit is that fertility rates in African cities fell by about 1 birth per woman as a result of female migration from villages to towns in the 1980s and early 1990s. There will be an increasing need for donors and governments to concentrate family planning, reproductive health, child survival, and social services in cities, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa, because there child mortality decline has been unexpectedly slow, overall fertility decline is not yet apparent in most countries, and levels of migration to cities are anticipated to remain high.

300 Cities - An Exploration in Characterizing US Cities

DTIC Science & Technology

2008-06-01

10 . SPONSOR/MONITOR’S ACRONYM(S) 11. SPONSOR/MONITOR’S REPORT NUMBER(S) 12. DISTRIBUTION/AVAILABILITY STATEMENT Approved for public release...divided into PMSA’s the entire area becomes a CMSA. Metro areas that are not subdivided are designated MSA’s. [ 10 ] (Page 2) 300 Cities CMU-ISR-08-122...considering the general population. 300 Cities CMU-ISR-08-122 - 10 - CASOS Report Figure 2: City Unique Diversity. Percent of city population composed of

How Cities Make Their Own Weather

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Shepherd, J. Marshall

2004-01-01

Urbanization is one of the extreme cases of land use change. Most of world's population has moved to urban areas. Although currently only 1.2% of the land is considered urban, the spatial coverage and density of cities are expected to rapidly increase in d e near future. It is estimated that by the year 2025, 60% of the world's population will live in cities. Human activity in urban environments also alters weather and climate processes. However, our understanding of urbanization on the total Earth-weather-climate system is incomplete. Recent literature continues to provide evidence that anomalies in precipitation exist over and downwind of major cities. Current and future research efforts are actively seeking to verify these literature findings and understand potential cause-effect relationships. The novelty of this study is that it utilizes rainfall data from multiple satellite data sources (e.g. TRMM precipitation radar, TRMM-geosynchronous-rain gauge merged product, and SSM/I) and ground-based measurements to identify spatial anomalies and temporal trends in precipitation for cities around the world. We will also present results from experiments using a regional atmospheric-land surface modeling system. Early results will be presented and placed within the context of weather prediction, climate assessment, and societal applications.

Sustainability of Smart Cities under Climate Variability and Climate Change in India

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kumar, R.; Mishra, V.

2015-12-01

India has experienced a rapid urbanization during the past few decades. On the other hand, many parts of the country witnessed significant changes in mean and extreme climate related to precipitation and temperature. Here we analysed urban residence using the remotely sensed data considering the susceptibility of Indian cities to droughts and heat waves. We selected recently announced 100 urban areas that are planned to be developed as smart cities in future. Gridded precipitation data were used to compute SPEI values for frequency and ascertain the extent of droughts in the cities. The heat wave analysis was done in two phases. First phase included analysis using Heat Wave Magnitude Index (HWMI) to determine the intensity of such extreme events. In the second phase, Urban Heat Island (UHI) effect across different ecological configuration was studied for the cities. Land Surface Temperature (LST), urban extent map from MODIS and land-cover maps were used to study the UHI effect. For this, the urban extents were divided into urban core and sub-urban zones based on built up regions in the cities. The urban to rural temperature difference is analysed considering the ecological configuration in the region. The selected cities were categorised based on the biome features surrounding them. The results suggest aggravated condition in the urban space in India with reference to extreme events. For instance, extreme heat waves have substantially increased in India during the last few decades. In many urban areas, the UHI effect contributed a significant warming due to increased urbanization. We estimated projected changes in droughts and heat waves in the selected urban areas using the dynamically downscaled data from the region climate models. Our results suggest that a majority of urban areas are projected to face an elevated risk of temperature related extremes and issues of water sustainability in the coming decades.

Comments on Environmental and Sanitary Aspects of the Scorpionism by Tityus trivittatus in Buenos Aires City, Argentina

PubMed Central

de Roodt, Adolfo Rafael

2014-01-01

Deaths by venomous animals are medical emergencies that can lead to death and thus constitute sanitary problems in some regions of the world. In the South of America, the accidents by these animals are a common sanitary problem especially in warm, tropical or subtropical regions, related with rural work in several countries. Argentina is located in the extreme South of South America and a minor part of the continental surface is in tropical or subtropical regions, where most of the accidents by venomous animals happen. However, in the big cities in the center and South of the country, with no relation to rural work, scorpionism, mostly due to the synanthropic and facultative parthenogenetic scorpion Tityus trivittatus, has become a sanitary problem in the last few decades. This scorpion is present in the biggest cities of Argentina and in the last decades has killed over 20 children in provinces of the center and north of the country, mostly in big cities. In addition, it seems that this species is growing and spreading in new regions of the cities. In this revision, some characteristics of this scorpion regarding its habitat, spreading in Buenos Aires city, combat measures and available treatments are discussed. PMID:24759176

78 FR 34300 - Safety Zone; Bullhead City Regatta, Bullhead City, AZ

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-06-07

... 1625-AA00 Safety Zone; Bullhead City Regatta, Bullhead City, AZ AGENCY: Coast Guard, DHS. ACTION... navigable waters of the Colorado River in Bullhead City, Arizona for the Bullhead City Regatta on August 10.... The City of Bullhead is sponsoring the Bullhead City Regatta, which is held on the navigable waters of...

77 FR 36439 - Safety Zone; Bullhead City Regatta; Bullhead City, AZ

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-06-19

... 1625-AA00 Safety Zone; Bullhead City Regatta; Bullhead City, AZ AGENCY: Coast Guard, DHS. ACTION... navigable waters of the Colorado River in Bullhead City, Arizona for the Bullhead City Regatta on August 11... The City of Bullhead is sponsoring the Bullhead City Regatta, which is held on the navigable waters of...

European Healthy Cities come to terms with health network governance.

PubMed

de Leeuw, Evelyne; Kickbusch, Ilona; Palmer, Nicola; Spanswick, Lucy

2015-06-01

A focus on good governance in the WHO European network of Healthy Cities mirrors the WHO Region's strategic emphasis-its member states in the Health 2020 strategy espouse governance for health as key. Healthy Cities adopted governance as a key value and approach to delivering specific health programmes and policies. This article reviews the extent to which they actually introduce and align governance concepts and approaches with their local government commitments. Healthy Cities show that better participation, policy-making and intersectoral action result from an emphasis on governance. This happens across the designated cities and is not limited to a certain class (in terms of population or geographical location) or the time they have been designated. The support of WHO in driving the governance agenda seems important, but no data are available to show that European Healthy Cities are different from other urban environments. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Cross-cultural Adaptation and Linguistic Validation of the Korean Version of the Leeds Assessment of Neuropathic Symptoms and Signs Pain Scale

PubMed Central

Park, Cholhee; Lee, Youn-Woo; Yoon, Duck Mi; Kim, Do Wan; Nam, Da Jeong

2015-01-01

Distinction between neuropathic pain and nociceptive pain helps facilitate appropriate management of pain; however, diagnosis of neuropathic pain remains a challenge. The aim of this study was to develop a Korean version of the Leeds Assessment of Neuropathic Symptoms and Signs (LANSS) pain scale and assess its reliability and validity. The translation and cross-cultural adaptation of the original LANSS pain scale into Korean was established according to the published guidelines. The Korean version of the LANSS pain scale was applied to a total of 213 patients who were expertly diagnosed with neuropathic (n = 113) or nociceptive pain (n = 100). The Korean version of the scale had good reliability (Cronbach's α coefficient = 0.815, Guttman split-half coefficient = 0.800). The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve was 0.928 with a 95% confidence interval of 0.885-0.959 (P < 0.001), suggesting good discriminate value. With a cut-off score ≥ 12, sensitivity was 72.6%, specificity was 98.0%, and the positive and negative predictive values were 98% and 76%, respectively. The Korean version of the LANSS pain scale is a useful, reliable, and valid instrument for screening neuropathic pain from nociceptive pain. PMID:26339176

Cross-cultural Adaptation and Linguistic Validation of the Korean Version of the Leeds Assessment of Neuropathic Symptoms and Signs Pain Scale.

PubMed

Park, Cholhee; Lee, Youn-Woo; Yoon, Duck Mi; Kim, Do Wan; Nam, Da Jeong; Kim, Do-Hyeong

2015-09-01

Distinction between neuropathic pain and nociceptive pain helps facilitate appropriate management of pain; however, diagnosis of neuropathic pain remains a challenge. The aim of this study was to develop a Korean version of the Leeds Assessment of Neuropathic Symptoms and Signs (LANSS) pain scale and assess its reliability and validity. The translation and cross-cultural adaptation of the original LANSS pain scale into Korean was established according to the published guidelines. The Korean version of the LANSS pain scale was applied to a total of 213 patients who were expertly diagnosed with neuropathic (n = 113) or nociceptive pain (n = 100). The Korean version of the scale had good reliability (Cronbach's α coefficient = 0.815, Guttman split-half coefficient = 0.800). The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve was 0.928 with a 95% confidence interval of 0.885-0.959 (P < 0.001), suggesting good discriminate value. With a cut-off score ≥ 12, sensitivity was 72.6%, specificity was 98.0%, and the positive and negative predictive values were 98% and 76%, respectively. The Korean version of the LANSS pain scale is a useful, reliable, and valid instrument for screening neuropathic pain from nociceptive pain.

Analyzing Flash Flood Data in an Ultra-Urban Region

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Smith, B. K.; Rodriguez, S.

2016-12-01

New York City is an ultra-urban region, with combined sewers and buried stream channels. Traditional flood studies rely on the presence of stream gages to detect flood stage and discharge, but ultra-urban regions frequently lack the surface stream channels and gages necessary for this approach. In this study we aggregate multiple non-traditional data for detecting flash flood events. These data including phone call reports, city records, and, for one particular flood event, news reports and social media reports. These data are compared with high-resolution bias-corrected radar rainfall fields to study flash flood events in New York City. We seek to determine if these non-traditional data will allow for a comprehensive study of rainfall-runoff relationships in New York City. We also seek to map warm season rainfall heterogeneities in the city and to compare them to spatial distribution of reported flood occurrence.

Variability of Ambient Aerosol in the Mexico City Metropolian Area

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Onasch, T. B.; Worsnop, D. R.; Canagaratna, M.; Jayne, J. T.; Herndon, S.; Mortimer, P.; Kolb, C. E.; Rogers, T.; Knighton, B.; Dunlea, E.; Marr, L.; de Foy, B.; Molina, M.; Molina, L.; Salcedo, D.; Dzepina, K.; Jimenez, J. L.

2004-12-01

The spatial and temporal variations of the ambient aerosol in the Mexico City Metropolitan area was characterized during the springs of 2002 and 2003 using a mobile laboratory equipped with gas and particulate measurement instrumentation. The laboratory was operated at various fixed sites locations in and at the edge of the metropolitan area (Xalostoc, Merced, Cenica, Pedregal, and Santa Ana). Size-resolved aerosol mass and chemical composition was measured with an aerosol mass spectrometer and selected trace gas species (low mass organic compounds, NO, NO2, NOy, O3, SO2, CH2O, NH3, CO2) were measured using a proton transfer reaction mass spectrometer and various optical systems. The aerosol was predominantly organic in composition with lesser amounts of ammonium nitrate, sulfate, and chloride. The organic component was composed of mixed primary and secondary organic compounds. The mass loading and chemical composition of the aerosol was influenced by local and regional air pollution sources and the meteorology in Mexico City. Most urban sites were influenced by a strong diurnal particulate mass trend indicative of primary organic emissions from traffic during early morning and subsequently oxidized/processed organics and ammonium nitrate particles starting in the mid-morning (~9 AM) and continuing throughout the day. Morning traffic-related primary organic emissions were strongest at La Merced (center of Mexico City, located near a busy food market), more subdued at other fixed sites further from the city center, and varied depending upon the day of week and holiday schedules. Particle-bound polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons were observed within Mexico City fixed sites and were correlated with traffic organic PM emissions. Oxidized organic and ammonium nitrate events occurred during mid-morning at all city sites and were well correlated with gas phase photochemical activity. The daily ammonium nitrate aerosol event occurred later at sites near the city limits

Development of urban water consumption models for the City of Los Angeles

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mini, C.; Hogue, T. S.; Pincetl, S.

2011-12-01

Population growth and rapid urbanization coupled with uncertain climate change are causing new challenges for meeting urban water needs. In arid and semi-arid regions, increasing drought periods and decreasing precipitation have led to water supply shortages and cities are struggling with trade-offs between the water needs of growing urban populations and the well-being of urban ecosystems. The goal of the current research is to build models that can represent urban water use patterns in semi-arid cities by identifying the determinants that control both total and outdoor residential water use over the Los Angeles urban domain. The initial database contains monthly water use records aggregated to the zip code level collected from the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) from 2000 to 2010. Residential water use was normalized per capita and was correlated with socio-demographic, economic, climatic and vegetation characteristics across the City for the 2000-2010 period. Results show that ethnicity, per capita income, and the average number of persons per household are linearly related to total water use per capita. Inter-annual differences in precipitation and implementation of conservation measures affect water use levels across the City. The high variability in water use patterns across the City also appears strongly influenced by income and education levels. The temporal analysis of vegetation indices in the studied neighborhoods shows little correlation between precipitation patterns and vegetation greenness. Urban vegetation appears well-watered, presenting the same greenness activity over the study period despite an overall decrease in water use across the City. We hypothesize that over-watering is occurring and that outdoor water use represents a significant part of the residential water budget in various regions of the City. A multiple regression model has been developed that integrates these fundamental controlling factors to simulate residential

Threshold transitions in a regional urban system

EPA Science Inventory

In this paper we analyze the evolution of city size distributions over time in a regional urban system. This urban complex system is in constant flux with changing groups and city migration across existing and newly created groups. Using group formation as an emergent property, t...

A geographic information system-based 3D city estate modeling and simulation system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chong, Xiaoli; Li, Sha

2015-12-01

This paper introduces a 3D city simulation system which is based on geographic information system (GIS), covering all commercial housings of the city. A regional- scale, GIS-based approach is used to capture, describe, and track the geographical attributes of each house in the city. A sorting algorithm of "Benchmark + Parity Rate" is developed to cluster houses with similar spatial and construction attributes. This system is applicable for digital city modeling, city planning, housing evaluation, housing monitoring, and visualizing housing transaction. Finally, taking Jingtian area of Shenzhen as an example, the each unit of 35,997 houses in the area could be displayed, tagged, and easily tracked by the GIS-based city modeling and simulation system. The match market real conditions well and can be provided to house buyers as reference.

"Sustaining the Shrinking City: Concepts, Dynamics and ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Sustainability can be broadly defined as the resilient outcome of the interaction among social equity, economic stability, and environmental quality factors. For example, the utilization of natural resource capitals are constrained by economic forces, and further modulated by social norms and perceptions. Nowhere is this more apparent than in cities, where the social, economic and environmental capital within the city and in its supporting region may wax and wane due to internal dynamics and external drivers. These changes may be charted as shifts in land use, the type and qualities of infrastructure, population and its demography, and other characteristics that drive the trajectory of a city toward shrinkage. Our authors will discuss how fluxes of different capitals (social, cultural, financial, technological, natural resources, governance/political) might align or substitute for each other to create conditions in the structure and function of city to attain a sustainable size after undergoing a rapid depopulation. Other authors focus on how the misalignment of capitals can doom a city to shrink uncontrollably, and in combination with shifts in environmental quality, the may destroy a city’s ability to function as an integrative center for social and economic interactions. We see this special issue as an attractive venue for data-based research on environmental factors as they impact change in the socio-cultural, economic, political, and physiographic feature

78 FR 23866 - Safety Zone; Crescent City 4th of July Fireworks; Crescent City Harbor, Crescent City, CA

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-04-23

...-AA00 Safety Zone; Crescent City 4th of July Fireworks; Crescent City Harbor, Crescent City, CA AGENCY... a temporary safety zone in the navigable waters near Crescent City, CA in support of the Crescent City 4th of July Fireworks on July 4, 2013. This safety zone is necessary to ensure the safety of...

[Agrarian change and regional settling in Chile].

PubMed

Canales Ceron, A

1996-01-01

"This study analyzes the effect of agrarian change on regional settling dynamics in Chile during the last 35 years. The transformations of agrarian structure have produced important changes in the spatial configuration of country-city relations, particularly regarding the new features of rural-urban migration in regional contexts. Whereas until the sixties rural-urban migration was associated with an occupational shift from agriculture to urban employment, after the seventies this relation practically disappeared, leaving a virtual disassociation between the territorial mobility of the population and the occupational mobility of the labor force. This disassociation is a central trait of the current regional pattern of country-city relations." (SUMMARY IN ENG) excerpt

Spring in Inca City III

NASA Image and Video Library

2014-11-13

This image, acquired by NASA Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, shows there are a few more fans on the ridge as spring activity progresses in Inca City. In Inca City another week has passed, and there are a few more fans on the ridge. We are studying the sequence of spring activity with the help of citizen scientists at the Planetfour website, sponsored by Zooniverse. Citizens of planet Earth log on and identify and measure fans and blotches in the South polar region of Mars imaged by HiRISE. With their help we can study the polar weather by looking at how the fan directions change through the spring. We see how the number of fans and blotches depends on the thickness of the ice layer and how high the sun is in the sky. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA18894

Change in the quality of atmospheric air under the influence of chemical enterprises in the Sverdlovsk Region cities

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ivantsova, Maria N.; Selezneva, Irina S.; Bezmaternykh, Maxim A.

2017-06-01

In this article, we investigated the gaseous emission dynamics of Sverdlovsk region chemical complex from 2011 to 2015. We have analyzed the dynamics of changes in the atmospheric air state in cities where the big chemical enterprises are located. Our main attention is paid to gases emissions such as carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides and sulfur dioxide. We also looked at the volume of purified gas emissions in all gaseous emissions from the chemical industry enterprises. The contribution of emissions from chemical industry is relatively low and accounts for approximately 4 % of emissions from all manufacturing industries, including metallurgical complexes. There is a general tendency to reduce emissions of pollutants in connection with the implementation of environmental measures. Reducing the gaseous substances emission can be achieved both by improving the production technology, and by installing new more sophisticated equipment which catches harmful substances emissions.

City personification as problem solving to strengthen the wholeness of the city: study case in Serui city, Papua

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hardine, Y. R. I.; Herlily

2018-03-01

Serui City in Papua Province has many unique characters and must be maintained for the sake of the continuity of its identity. However, this city still lacks the facility and depend on other areas. Accordingly, it becomes vulnerable. The wholeness of the city is not just by having strong character but also having strength regarding vitality. The loss of it can affect the character and even eliminate it. Cities and people have many similarities regarding character and vitality. Therefore, there is a chance to solve the problems in the city using the similar approach to treat the human. We called city personification methods as problem-solving to the city. It means that we treat the city as a human being so that the problem can be solved as the human’s treatment. The personification of this city is conducted because of the many treatments that have proven effective in humans and may also be powerful to manifest in city. The personification makes the design will only focus on the particular networks and not on the whole “body,” remain in the hope for strengthening (maintain and improve) the quality of wholeness (character and vitality) city which in this case is Serui.

South Asians are Under-Represented in a Clinic Treating Atrial Fibrillation in a Multicultural City in the UK.

PubMed

Tayebjee, M H; Tyndall, K; Holding, S; Russell, C; Graham, L N; Pepper, C B

2012-01-01

The Leeds rapid access atrial fibrillation (AF) clinic was set up to streamline and standardise management of patients with newly diagnosed AF. Anecdotal evidence suggests that there is under-representation of south Asians in these clinics.All patient attendances between June 2007 and June 2011 were documented and combined with ethnicity data from patient administration records. Local population demographics for 2009 were obtained from the office of national statistics. This was used to estimate the expected prevalence of AF across the different ethnic groups in Leeds taking age into account. One thousand two hundred and ten patients were referred. The study sample included 992 patients, and the number of south Asians attending was 88% less than expected (Chi squared analysis; p<0.0001). These results suggest that there is an under-representation of south Asians in a large centre that serves a cosmopolitan population. Potential reasons for this discrepancy including barriers to accessing treatment for this population or a lower prevalence of AF in south Asians due to an as yet unidentified genetic factor.

Box City Curriculum.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Center for Understanding the Built Environment, Prairie Village, KS.

This curriculum packet contains two lesson plans about cities and architecture intended for use with students in upper elementary grades and middle schools. The first lesson plan, "City People, City Stories" (Jan Ham), states that understanding architecture and cities must begin with an understanding of the people of the city. The children create…

Hot emission model for mobile sources: application to the metropolitan region of the city of Santiago, Chile.

PubMed

Corvalán, Roberto M; Osses, Mauricio; Urrutia, Cristian M

2002-02-01

Depending on the final application, several methodologies for traffic emission estimation have been developed. Emission estimation based on total miles traveled or other average factors is a sufficient approach only for extended areas such as national or worldwide areas. For road emission control and strategies design, microscale analysis based on real-world emission estimations is often required. This involves actual driving behavior and emission factors of the local vehicle fleet under study. This paper reports on a microscale model for hot road emissions and its application to the metropolitan region of the city of Santiago, Chile. The methodology considers the street-by-street hot emission estimation with its temporal and spatial distribution. The input data come from experimental emission factors based on local driving patterns and traffic surveys of traffic flows for different vehicle categories. The methodology developed is able to estimate hourly hot road CO, total unburned hydrocarbons (THCs), particulate matter (PM), and NO(x) emissions for predefined day types and vehicle categories.

A study on eco-environmental vulnerability of mining cities: a case study of Panzhihua city of Sichuan province in China

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shao, Huaiyong; Xian, Wei; Yang, Wunian

2009-07-01

The large-scale and super-strength development of mineral resources in mining cities in long term has made great contributions to China's economic construction and development, but it has caused serious damage to the ecological environment even ecological imbalance at the same time because the neglect of the environmental impact even to the expense of the environment to some extent. In this study, according to the characteristics of mining cities, the scientific and practical eco-environmental vulnerability evaluation index system of mining cities had been established. Taking Panzhihua city of Sichuan province as an example, using remote sensing and GIS technology, applying various types of remote sensing image (TM, SPOT5, IKONOS) and Statistical data, the ecological environment evaluation data of mining cities was extracted effectively. For the non-linear relationship between the evaluation indexes and the degree of eco-environmental vulnerability in mining cities, this study innovative took the evaluation of eco-environmental vulnerability of the study area by using artificial neural network whose training used SCE-UA algorithm that well overcome the slow learning and difficult convergence of traditional neural network algorithm. The results of ecoenvironmental vulnerability evaluation of the study area were objective, reasonable and the credibility was high. The results showed that the area distribution of five eco-environmental vulnerability grade types was basically normal, and the overall ecological environment situation of Panzhihua city was in the middle level, the degree of eco-environmental vulnerability in the south was higher than the north, and mining activities were dominant factors to cause ecoenvironmental damage and eco-environmental Vulnerability. In this study, a comprehensive theory and technology system of regional eco-environmental vulnerability evaluation which included the establishment of eco-environmental vulnerability evaluation index

Rethinking GIS Towards The Vision Of Smart Cities Through CityGML

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Guney, C.

2016-10-01

Smart cities present a substantial growth opportunity in the coming years. The role of GIS in the smart city ecosystem is to integrate different data acquired by sensors in real time and provide better decisions, more efficiency and improved collaboration. Semantically enriched vision of GIS will help evolve smart cities into tomorrow's much smarter cities since geospatial/location data and applications may be recognized as a key ingredient of smart city vision. However, it is need for the Geospatial Information communities to debate on "Is 3D Web and mobile GIS technology ready for smart cities?" This research places an emphasis on the challenges of virtual 3D city models on the road to smarter cities.

76 FR 38568 - Safety Zone; Bullhead City Regatta, Bullhead City, AZ

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-07-01

...-AA00 Safety Zone; Bullhead City Regatta, Bullhead City, AZ AGENCY: Coast Guard, DHS. ACTION: Temporary... the Colorado River in Bullhead City, Arizona for the Bullhead City Regatta on August 13, 2011. This... the waterway during the Regatta event. Basis and Purpose The City of Bullhead is sponsoring the...

Ecosystem Health Assessment of Mining Cities Based on Landscape Pattern

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yu, W.; Liu, Y.; Lin, M.; Fang, F.; Xiao, R.

2017-09-01

Ecosystem health assessment (EHA) is one of the most important aspects in ecosystem management. Nowadays, ecological environment of mining cities is facing various problems. In this study, through ecosystem health theory and remote sensing images in 2005, 2009 and 2013, landscape pattern analysis and Vigor-Organization-Resilience (VOR) model were applied to set up an evaluation index system of ecosystem health of mining city to assess the healthy level of ecosystem in Panji District Huainan city. Results showed a temporal stable but high spatial heterogeneity landscape pattern during 2005-2013. According to the regional ecosystem health index, it experienced a rapid decline after a slight increase, and finally it maintained at an ordinary level. Among these areas, a significant distinction was presented in different towns. It indicates that the ecosystem health of Tianjijiedao town, the regional administrative centre, descended rapidly during the study period, and turned into the worst level in the study area. While the Hetuan Town, located in the northwestern suburb area of Panji District, stayed on a relatively better level than other towns. The impacts of coal mining collapse area, land reclamation on the landscape pattern and ecosystem health status of mining cities were also discussed. As a result of underground coal mining, land subsidence has become an inevitable problem in the study area. In addition, the coal mining subsidence area has brought about the destruction of the farmland, construction land and water bodies, which causing the change of the regional landscape pattern and making the evaluation of ecosystem health in mining area more difficult. Therefore, this study provided an ecosystem health approach for relevant departments to make scientific decisions.

78 FR 23869 - Safety Zone; Redwood City 4th of July Fireworks Show; Port of Redwood City, Redwood City, CA

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-04-23

...-AA00 Safety Zone; Redwood City 4th of July Fireworks Show; Port of Redwood City, Redwood City, CA... establish a temporary safety zone in the navigable waters of the Port of Redwood City near Redwood City, CA in support of the Redwood City 4th of July Fireworks Show on July 4, 2013. This safety zone is...

Medan City: Informality and the Historical Global City

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sudarmadji, N.; Tyaghita, B.; Astuti, P. T.; Etleen, D.

2018-05-01

As projected by UN that two-thirds of Indonesia’s population will live in urban areas by 2050, rapid urbanization is happening in Indonesian cities. Initial research on eight Indonesian Cities (which includes Medan, Jatinegara, Bandung, Surakarta, Yogyakarta, Surabaya, Balikpapan, and Manado) by Tunas Nusa Foundation since 2012 shows that urbanization of each city has happened throughout history creating cultural, economic, and environmental networks that are distinct from one city to another. While the networks remain until today and continuously shapes the urban agglomeration pattern, not all parts of the city could undergo subsequent development that confirms the existing pattern, leading to the creation informality. Nor could it make future planning that comprehends the nature of its integrated urban dynamic beyond its current administrative authority. In this paper, we would like to share our study for Medan, North Sumatra as it shows a portrait of a city with a long relationship to a global network since the Maritime trade era. Medan has become home to many ethnic groups which have sailed and migrated as part of a global economic agenda creating a strong economic network between port cities along the Malacca Strait. The city has kept its role in the global economic network until today, to name a few, becoming the frontier for the Indonesia-Malaysia-Thailand Growth Triangle. While we celebrate Medan’s potential to become a global city with major infrastructure development as well as cultural assets as its advantage in the future, we argue that microscale cohesion supported by government policy in agreed planning documents are fundamental for the city to thrive amidst the challenges it is facing. Yet, these cultural assets, as well as micro scale cohesion in Medan City today, are still undermined. Thus, informality in Medan exists as result of ignorance and marginalization of certain socio-cultural groups, abandoning places and identity, as well as the

City leadership for health and well-being: back to the future.

PubMed

Tsouros, Agis

2013-10-01

The new European Health Policy Framework and Strategy: Health 2020 of the World Health Organization, draws upon the experience and insights of five phases, spanning 25 years, of the WHO European Healthy Cities Network (WHO-EHCN). Applying the 2020 health lens to Healthy Cities, equity in health and human-centered sustainable development are core values and cities have a profound influence on the wider determinants of health in the European population. "Making it Happen" relies on four action elements applied and tested by municipalities and their formal and informal partners: political commitment, vision and strategy, institutional change, and networking. In turn, the renewed commitment by member states of the WHO Regional Committee to work with all spheres and tiers of government is a new dawn for city governance, encouraging cities to redouble their investment in health and health equity in all policies, even in a period of austerity. For phase VI, the WHO-EHCN is being positioned as a strategic vehicle for implementing Health 2020 at the local level. Healthy Cities' leadership is more relevant than ever.

The Alcoholism Situation in a Northern City

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Martynov, M. Iu.; Martynova, D. Iu.

2012-01-01

Alcohol abuse in Russia has been increasing in recent years, especially in northern regions, as has the incidence of alcohol-related disease rates. A survey was conducted in Surgut (the Khanty-Mansi autonomous okrug) that determined the factors lending to the prevalence of alcohol abuse among the population of the northern city and assessed the…

33 CFR 100.911 - Bay City Airshow, Bay City, MI.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... 33 Navigation and Navigable Waters 1 2014-07-01 2014-07-01 false Bay City Airshow, Bay City, MI. 100.911 Section 100.911 Navigation and Navigable Waters COAST GUARD, DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY REGATTAS AND MARINE PARADES SAFETY OF LIFE ON NAVIGABLE WATERS § 100.911 Bay City Airshow, Bay City, MI. (a...

33 CFR 100.911 - Bay City Airshow, Bay City, MI.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... 33 Navigation and Navigable Waters 1 2013-07-01 2013-07-01 false Bay City Airshow, Bay City, MI. 100.911 Section 100.911 Navigation and Navigable Waters COAST GUARD, DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY REGATTAS AND MARINE PARADES SAFETY OF LIFE ON NAVIGABLE WATERS § 100.911 Bay City Airshow, Bay City, MI. (a...

33 CFR 100.911 - Bay City Airshow, Bay City, MI.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... 33 Navigation and Navigable Waters 1 2012-07-01 2012-07-01 false Bay City Airshow, Bay City, MI. 100.911 Section 100.911 Navigation and Navigable Waters COAST GUARD, DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY REGATTAS AND MARINE PARADES SAFETY OF LIFE ON NAVIGABLE WATERS § 100.911 Bay City Airshow, Bay City, MI. (a...

33 CFR 100.911 - Bay City Airshow, Bay City, MI.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... 33 Navigation and Navigable Waters 1 2011-07-01 2011-07-01 false Bay City Airshow, Bay City, MI. 100.911 Section 100.911 Navigation and Navigable Waters COAST GUARD, DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY REGATTAS AND MARINE PARADES SAFETY OF LIFE ON NAVIGABLE WATERS § 100.911 Bay City Airshow, Bay City, MI. (a...

33 CFR 100.911 - Bay City Airshow, Bay City, MI.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... 33 Navigation and Navigable Waters 1 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Bay City Airshow, Bay City, MI. 100.911 Section 100.911 Navigation and Navigable Waters COAST GUARD, DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY REGATTAS AND MARINE PARADES SAFETY OF LIFE ON NAVIGABLE WATERS § 100.911 Bay City Airshow, Bay City, MI. (a...

Mexico City air pollution adversely affects olfactory function and intranasal trigeminal sensitivity.

PubMed

Guarneros, Marco; Hummel, Thomas; Martínez-Gómez, Margaríta; Hudson, Robyn

2009-11-01

Surprisingly little is known about the effects of big-city air pollution on olfactory function and even less about its effects on the intranasal trigeminal system, which elicits sensations like burning, stinging, pungent, or fresh and contributes to the overall chemosensory experience. Using the Sniffin' Sticks olfactory test battery and an established test for intranasal trigeminal perception, we compared the olfactory performance and trigeminal sensitivity of residents of Mexico City, a region with high air pollution, with the performance of a control population from the Mexican state of Tlaxcala, a geographically comparable but less polluted region. We compared the ability of 30 young adults from each location to detect a rose-like odor (2-phenyl ethanol), to discriminate between different odorants, and to identify several other common odorants. The control subjects from Tlaxcala detected 2-phenyl ethanol at significantly lower concentrations than the Mexico City subjects, they could discriminate between odorants significantly better, and they performed significantly better in the test of trigeminal sensitivity. We conclude that Mexico City air pollution impairs olfactory function and intranasal trigeminal sensitivity, even in otherwise healthy young adults.

Contributions to cities' ambient particulate matter (PM): A systematic review of local source contributions at global level

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Karagulian, Federico; Belis, Claudio A.; Dora, Carlos Francisco C.; Prüss-Ustün, Annette M.; Bonjour, Sophie; Adair-Rohani, Heather; Amann, Markus

2015-11-01

For reducing health impacts from air pollution, it is important to know the sources contributing to human exposure. This study systematically reviewed and analysed available source apportionment studies on particulate matter (of diameter of 10 and 2.5 microns, PM10 and PM2.5) performed in cities to estimate typical shares of the sources of pollution by country and by region. A database with city source apportionment records, estimated with the use of receptor models, was also developed and available at the website of the World Health Organization. Systematic Scopus and Google searches were performed to retrieve city studies of source apportionment for particulate matter. Six source categories were defined. Country and regional averages of source apportionment were estimated based on city population weighting. A total of 419 source apportionment records from studies conducted in cities of 51 countries were used to calculate regional averages of sources of ambient particulate matter. Based on the available information, globally 25% of urban ambient air pollution from PM2.5 is contributed by traffic, 15% by industrial activities, 20% by domestic fuel burning, 22% from unspecified sources of human origin, and 18% from natural dust and salt. The available source apportionment records exhibit, however, important heterogeneities in assessed source categories and incompleteness in certain countries/regions. Traffic is one important contributor to ambient PM in cities. To reduce air pollution in cities and the substantial disease burden it causes, solutions to sustainably reduce ambient PM from traffic, industrial activities and biomass burning should urgently be sought. However, further efforts are required to improve data availability and evaluation, and possibly to combine with other types of information in view of increasing usefulness for policy making.

Simulated Climate Impacts of Mexico City's Historical Urban Expansion

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Benson-Lira, Valeria

Urbanization, a direct consequence of land use and land cover change, is responsible for significant modification of local to regional scale climates. It is projected that the greatest urban growth of this century will occur in urban areas in the developing world. In addition, there is a significant research gap in emerging nations concerning this topic. Thus, this research focuses on the assessment of climate impacts related to urbanization on the largest metropolitan area in Latin America: Mexico City. Numerical simulations using a state-of-the-science regional climate model are utilized to address a trio of scientifically relevant questions with wide global applicability. The importance of an accurate representation of land use and land cover is first demonstrated through comparison of numerical simulations against observations. Second, the simulated effect of anthropogenic heating is quantified. Lastly, numerical simulations are performed using pre-historic scenarios of land use and land cover to examine and quantify the impact of Mexico City's urban expansion and changes in surface water features on its regional climate.

Source-receptor relationships for PM2.5 during typical pollution episodes in the Pearl River Delta city cluster, China.

PubMed

Liu, Yiming; Hong, Yingying; Fan, Qi; Wang, Xuemei; Chan, Pakwai; Chen, Xiaoyang; Lai, Anqi; Wang, Mingjie; Chen, Xunlai

2017-10-15

Located in the Southern China monsoon region, pollution days in Pearl River Delta (PRD) were classified into "Western type", "Central type" or "Eastern type", with a relative percentage of 67%, 24% and 9%, respectively. Using this classification system, three typical pollution events were selected for numerical simulations using the WRF-Chem model. The source sensitivity method for anthropogenic emissions of PM 2.5 and its precursors was applied to identify the source-receptor relationships for PM 2.5 among 9 cities in PRD. For "Western type" case, the PRD region was under control of a high-pressure system with easterly prevailing winds. The PM 2.5 concentrations in the western PRD region were higher than those in the eastern region, with emissions from cities in the eastern PRD region having higher contributions. Within the PRD's urban cluster, PM 2.5 in Huizhou, Dongguan and Shenzhen was mainly derived from local emissions, whereas the PM 2.5 in the other cities was primarily derived from external transport. For "Eastern type" case, the PRD was influenced by Typhoon Soulik with westerly prevailing winds. Emissions from cities in the western PRD region had the highest impacts on the overall PM 2.5 concentration. PM 2.5 in Jiangmen and Foshan was primarily derived from local emissions. Regarding "Central type" case, the PRD region was under control of a uniform pressure field with low wind speed. PM 2.5 concentrations of each city were primarily caused by local emissions. Overall, wind flows played a significant role in the transport and spatial distribution of PM 2.5 across the PRD region. Ideally, local governments would be wise to establish joint prevention and control measures to reduce regional atmospheric pollution, especially for "Western type" pollution. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Source-receptor relationships for PM2.5 during typical pollution episodes in the Pearl River Delta city cluster, China

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fan, Q.; Liu, Y.; Hong, Y.; Wang, X.; Chan, P.; Chen, X.; Lai, A.; Wang, M.; Chen, X.

2017-12-01

Located in the Southern China monsoon region, pollution days in Pearl River Delta (PRD) were classified into "Western type", "Central type" or "Eastern type", with a relative percentage of 67%, 24% and 9%, respectively. Using this classification system, three typical pollution events were selected for numerical simulations using the WRF-Chem model. The source sensitivity method for anthropogenic emissions of PM2.5 and its precursors was applied to identify the source-receptor relationships for PM2.5 among 9 cities in PRD. For "Western type" case, the PRD region was under control of a high-pressure system with easterly prevailing winds. The PM2.5 concentrations in the western PRD region were higher than those in the eastern region, with emissions from cities in the eastern PRD region having higher contributions. Within the PRD's urban cluster, PM2.5 in Huizhou, Dongguan and Shenzhen was mainly derived from local emissions, whereas the PM2.5 in the other cities was primarily derived from external transport. For "Eastern type" case, the PRD was influenced by Typhoon Soulik with westerly prevailing winds. Emissions from cities in the western PRD region had the highest impacts on the overall PM2.5 concentration. PM2.5 in Jiangmen and Foshan was primarily derived from local emissions. Regarding "Central type" case, the PRD region was under control of a uniform pressure field with low wind speed. PM2.5 concentrations of each city were primarily caused by local emissions. Overall, wind flows played a significant role in the transport and spatial distribution of PM2.5 across the PRD region. Ideally, local governments would be wise to establish joint prevention and control measures to reduce regional atmospheric pollution, especially for "Western type" pollution.

Comparing and modelling land use organization in cities

PubMed Central

Lenormand, Maxime; Picornell, Miguel; Cantú-Ros, Oliva G.; Louail, Thomas; Herranz, Ricardo; Barthelemy, Marc; Frías-Martínez, Enrique; San Miguel, Maxi; Ramasco, José J.

2015-01-01

The advent of geolocated information and communication technologies opens the possibility of exploring how people use space in cities, bringing an important new tool for urban scientists and planners, especially for regions where data are scarce or not available. Here we apply a functional network approach to determine land use patterns from mobile phone records. The versatility of the method allows us to run a systematic comparison between Spanish cities of various sizes. The method detects four major land use types that correspond to different temporal patterns. The proportion of these types, their spatial organization and scaling show a strong similarity between all cities that breaks down at a very local scale, where land use mixing is specific to each urban area. Finally, we introduce a model inspired by Schelling's segregation, able to explain and reproduce these results with simple interaction rules between different land uses. PMID:27019730

Medical e-commerce for regional Australia.

PubMed

Kumar, D K; Mikelaitis, P

2001-12-01

The residents of rural and regional Australia have less access to health care services than in capital cities. There is a reluctance of General Practitioners to practice in the country. New information technology and government initiatives are now addressing this problem. High bandwidth videoconferencing is now being routinely used to provide psychiatric consultations to areas without this service. But this (like many other implementations of telecommunication technologies to health) has resulted in loss of revenue to regional Australia while benefiting capital cities. Thus, the current implementation of telecommunication technology to health has resulted in loss of revenue of the regions while increasing the bias towards the cities. Further, the system is not economically viable and requires the Government to inject funds for the smooth operation of the system. This paper proposes the use of telecommunication technology for enabling the communities of regional Australia to access health facilities via physical and virtual clinics. The proposed technique is self supporting and is based in the country with the intent to prevent the drain of resources from regional Australia. The technique attempts to eradicate the problem at the root level by providing a business opportunity that is based in and to cater for the needs of the remote communities. The proposed system would provide health services by physical and virtual clinics and while serving the communities would be profit centres- and thus attracting doctors and other resources to the remote communities.

Infrastructure Shapes Differences in the Carbon Intensities of Chinese Cities.

PubMed

Zheng, Bo; Zhang, Qiang; Davis, Steven J; Ciais, Philippe; Hong, Chaopeng; Li, Meng; Liu, Fei; Tong, Dan; Li, Haiyan; He, Kebin

2018-05-15

The carbon intensity of economic activity, or CO 2 emissions per unit GDP, is a key indicator of the climate impacts of a given activity, business, or region. Although it is well-known that the carbon intensity of countries varies widely according to their level of economic development and dominant industries, few studies have assessed disparities in carbon intensity at the level of cities due to limited availability of data. Here, we present a detailed new inventory of emissions for 337 Chinese cities (every city in mainland China including 333 prefecture-level divisions and 4 province-level cities, Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, and Chongqing) in 2013, which we use to evaluate differences of carbon intensity between cities and the causes of those differences. We find that cities' average carbon intensity is 0.84 kg of CO 2 per dollar of gross domestic product (kgCO 2 per $GDP), but individual cities span a large range: from 0.09 to 7.86 kgCO 2 per $GDP (coefficient of variation of 25%). Further analysis of economic and technological drivers of variations in cities' carbon intensity reveals that the differences are largely due to disparities in cities' economic structure that can in turn be traced to past investment-led growth. These patterns suggest that "carbon lock-in" via socio-economic and infrastructural inertia may slow China's efforts to reduce emissions from activities in urban areas. Policy instruments targeted to accelerate the transition of urban economies from investment-led to consumption-led growth may thus be crucial to China meeting both its economic and climate targets.

Modelling the urban air quality in Hamburg with the new city-scale chemistry transport model CityChem

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Karl, Matthias; Ramacher, Martin; Aulinger, Armin; Matthias, Volker; Quante, Markus

2017-04-01

Air quality modelling plays an important role by providing guidelines for efficient air pollution abatement measures. Currently, most urban dispersion models treat air pollutants as passive tracer substances or use highly simplified chemistry when simulating air pollutant concentrations on the city-scale. The newly developed urban chemistry-transport model CityChem has the capability of modelling the photochemical transformation of multiple pollutants along with atmospheric diffusion to produce pollutant concentration fields for the entire city on a horizontal resolution of 100 m or even finer and a vertical resolution of 24 layers up to 4000 m height. CityChem is based on the Eulerian urban dispersion model EPISODE of the Norwegian Institute for Air Research (NILU). CityChem treats the complex photochemistry in cities using detailed EMEP chemistry on an Eulerian 3-D grid, while using simple photo-stationary equilibrium on a much higher resolution grid (receptor grid), i.e. close to industrial point sources and traffic sources. The CityChem model takes into account that long-range transport contributes to urban pollutant concentrations. This is done by using 3-D boundary concentrations for the city domain derived from chemistry-transport simulations with the regional air quality model CMAQ. For the study of the air quality in Hamburg, CityChem was set-up with a main grid of 30×30 grid cells of 1×1 km2 each and a receptor grid of 300×300 grid cells of 100×100 m2. The CityChem model was driven with meteorological data generated by the prognostic meteorology component of the Australian chemistry-transport model TAPM. Bottom-up inventories of emissions from traffic, industry, households were based on data of the municipality of Hamburg. Shipping emissions for the port of Hamburg were taken from the Clean North Sea Shipping project. Episodes with elevated ozone (O3) were of specific interest for this study, as these are associated with exceedances of the World

Mass Testing and the Underdevelopment of Inner-City Communities.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hesch, Rick

2000-01-01

Mass testing as a phenomena of global educational restructuring exacerbates social class differences. This phenomenon is examined via inner-city Winnipeg's experience, cross-cultural educational literature, and the Manitoba government's tendency to reinforce the underdevelopment of core area regions. Emerging resistance to educational…

Biodiesel from waste cooking oil in Mexico City.

PubMed

Sheinbaum, Claudia; Balam, Marco V; Robles, Guillermo; Lelo de Larrea, Sebastian; Mendoza, Roberto

2015-08-01

The aim of this article is to evaluate the potential use of biodiesel produced from waste cooking oil in Mexico City. The study is divided in two main areas: the analysis of a waste cooking oil collection pilot project conducted in food markets of a Mexico City region; and the exhaust emissions performance of biodiesel blends measured in buses of the Mexico City public bus transportation network (RTP). Results from the waste cooking oil collection pilot project show that oil quantities disposed depend upon the type of food served and the operational practices in a cuisine establishment. Food markets' waste cooking oil disposal rate from fresh oil is around 10%, but with a very high standard deviation. Emission tests were conducted using the Ride-Along-Vehicle-Emissions-Measuring System in two different types of buses while travelling a regular route. Results shows that the use of biodiesel blends reduces emissions only for buses that have exhaust gas recirculation systems, as analysed by repeated measure analysis of variance. The potential use in Mexico City of waste cooking oil for biodiesel is estimated to cover 2175 buses using a B10 blend. © The Author(s) 2015.

Emergency medical services key performance measurement in Asian cities.

PubMed

Rahman, Nik Hisamuddin; Tanaka, Hideharu; Shin, Sang Do; Ng, Yih Yng; Piyasuwankul, Thammapad; Lin, Chih-Hao; Ong, Marcus Eng Hock

2015-01-01

One of the key principles in the recommended standards is that emergency medical service (EMS) providers should continuously monitor the quality and safety of their services. This requires service providers to implement performance monitoring using appropriate and relevant measures including key performance indicators. In Asia, EMS systems are at different developmental phases and maturity. This will create difficultly in benchmarking or assessing the quality of EMS performance across the region. An attempt was made to compare the EMS performance index based on the structure, process, and outcome analysis. The data was collected from the Pan-Asian Resuscitation Outcome Study (PAROS) data among few Asian cities, namely, Tokyo, Osaka, Singapore, Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, Taipei, and Seoul. The parameters of inclusions were broadly divided into structure, process, and outcome measurements. The data was collected by the site investigators from each city and keyed into the electronic web-based data form which is secured strictly by username and passwords. Generally, there seems to be a more uniformity for EMS performance parameters among the more developed EMS systems. The major problem with the EMS agencies in the cities of developing countries like Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur is inadequate or unavailable data pertaining to EMS performance. There is non-uniformity in the EMS performance measurement across the Asian cities. This creates difficulty for EMS performance index comparison and benchmarking. Hopefully, in the future, collaborative efforts such as the PAROS networking group will further enhance the standardization in EMS performance reporting across the region.

Formaldehyde Surface Distributions and Variability in the Mexico City Basin

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Junkermann, W.; Mohr, C.; Steinbrecher, R.; Ruiz Suarez, L.

2007-05-01

Formaldehyde ambient air mole fractions were measured throughout the dry season in March at three different locations in the Mexico City basin. The continuously running instruments were operated at Tenago del Aire, a site located in the Chalco valley in the southern venting area of the basin, at the Intituto Mexicano del Petroleo (IMP) in the northern part of the city and about 30 km north of the city at the campus of the Universidad Tecnològica de Tecamac (UTTEC). The technique used is the Hantzsch technology with a time resolution of 2 minutes and a detection limit of 100 ppt. Daily maxima peaked at 35 ppb formaldehyde in the city and about 15 to 20 ppb at the other sites. During night formaldehyde levels dropped to about 5 ppb or less. It is evident that the observed spatial and temporal variability in near surface formaldehyde distributions is strongly affected by local and regional advection processes.

Regional Impacts of Urbanization in the United States

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bounoua, Lahouari; Zhang, Ping; Nigro, Joseph; Lachir, Asia; Thome, Kurtis

2017-01-01

We simulate the impact of impervious surface areas (ISA) on the U.S. local and regional climate. At a local scale, we find the urban area warmer than the surrounding vegetation in most cities, except in arid climate cities where urban temperature is cooler for much of the daytime. For all 9 regions studied, simulated results show that the growing season maximum surface temperature difference between urban and the dominant vegetation occurs around mid-day and is strongest in the northern regions. Regional temperature differences of 3.0 C, 3.4 C, and 3.9 C were simulated in the Northeast, Midwest, and Northwest, respectively. In these regions evaporative cooling, during the growing season, creates a stronger urban heat island (UHI). The UHI is less pronounced during winter when vegetation is dormant. Our results suggest that the ISA temperature is set by building material's characteristics and its departure from that of the surrounding vegetation is essentially driven by evaporative cooling. Except when rainfall is small, the highest surface runoff to precipitation ratios are simulated in most cities, especially when precipitation events occur as heavy downpours. In terms of photosynthesis, we provide a detailed distribution of maximum production in the U.S., a needed product for policy and urban planners.

Health assessment for Shaw Avenue Dump, Charles City, Iowa, Region 7. CERCLIS No. IAD980630560. Preliminary report

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Not Available

1988-12-07

The Shaw Avenue Dump Site is listed on the National Priorities List. The 8-acre city dump site, consisting of three waste-disposal areas, is located in southeast Charles City approximately 500 feet east of the Cedar River. Sludge from the Charles City waste water treatment plant, which received liquid waste discharge from Salisbury, was placed from 1949 to 1969 in the northern waste cells and in the undefined area on the southern portion of the site. Arsenic is the contaminant of concern at the Shaw Avenue Dump Site. The site is considered to be of public health concern because of themore » potential risk to human health caused by possible exposure to hazardous substances via ingestion of ground water, soil, and surface water; inhalation of fugitive dust; and dermal contact with soil, surface water, and ground water.« less

26. 'CITY HOSPITAL, BLACKWELL'S ISLAND.' (Source: New York City Department ...

Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

26. 'CITY HOSPITAL, BLACKWELL'S ISLAND.' (Source: New York City Department of Public Finance, Real Estate Owned by the City of New York under Jurisdiction of the Department of Public Charities, 1909.) - Island Hospital, Roosevelt Island, New York County, NY

Overview on the Air Pollution Issues of the City Clusters in China and its Control Strategies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tang, X.

2007-12-01

Mega-cities in China, such as Beijing, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, and Shanghai are located in three large city clusters, Bo-Hai Bay surrounding area, Pearl River Delta (PRD) and Yangtze River Delta. Like the rest of the coastal regions in China, these mega-cities have been experiencing fast economic developments and consequently serious environmental pollution. Air pollution in those areas is characterized by concurrent occurrence of high concentrations of multiple primary pollutants and secondary pollutants, which lead to the development of "air pollution complex" (perhaps typically Chinese) problem. Several campaigns of field experiments covering the regions such as PRD and Beijing City with surrounding areas have been conducted critically to understand the chemical and physical processes leading to the formation of regional scale air pollution since 2004. Some policy-relevant suggestions for air quality attainment have been made after these campaigns, specially the attainment of air quality during 2008 Beijing Olympic game, which has been attracted as an important concern worldwide. A scientific field campaign was conducted during August of 2007 for testing the control strategies suggested for air quality attainment in 2008-Olympic. An overview of the results of PRD and Beijing Campaigns will be presented.

Stay in Touch with City Hall - City of New York

Science.gov Websites

Signs and LocatorAbout NYC311NYC311 Mobile AppNYC311 TwitterNYC311 Facebook Directory of City Agencies Contact NYC Government City Employees Notify NYC CityStore Stay Connected NYC Mobile Apps Maps Resident

Environmental monitoring and analysis of faecal contamination in an urban setting in the city of Bari (Apulia region, Italy): health and hygiene implications.

PubMed

Tarsitano, Elvira; Greco, Grazia; Decaro, Nicola; Nicassio, Francesco; Lucente, Maria Stella; Buonavoglia, Canio; Tempesta, Maria

2010-11-01

Few studies have been conducted in Italy to quantify the potential risk associated with dynamics and distribution of pathogens in urban settings. The aim of this study was to acquire data on the environmental faecal contamination in urban ecosystems, by assessing the presence of pathogens in public areas in the city of Bari (Apulia region, Italy). To determine the degree of environmental contamination, samples of dog faeces and bird guano were collected from different areas in the city of Bari (park green areas, playgrounds, public housing areas, parkways, and a school). A total of 152 canine faecal samples, in 54 pools, and two samples of pigeon guano from 66 monitored sites were examined. No samples were found in 12 areas spread over nine sites. Chlamydophila psittaci was detected in seven canine and two pigeon guano samples. Salmonella species were not found. On the other hand, four of 54 canine faecal samples were positive for reovirus. Thirteen canine faecal samples were positive for parasite eggs: 8/54 samples contained Toxocara canis and Toxascaris leonina eggs and 5/54 samples contained Ancylostoma caninum eggs. Our study showed that public areas are often contaminated by potentially zoonotic pathogens.

Distance from roads and cities as a predictor of habitat loss and fragmentation in the caatinga vegetation of Brazil.

PubMed

Santos, A M; Tabarelli, M

2002-11-01

Roads and cities represent huge sources of degradation for adjacent ecosystems regarding nutrient cycling, energy, water flow and species composition. In this study we test the hypothesis that distance from roads and cities is associated with habitat loss and fragmentation in the caatinga vegetation--a dry forest to scrub vegetation that covers ca. 736,000 km2 of northeast Brazil. The study site comprised a 2,828.8 km2 piece (64 km x 44.2 km) of Xingó region (09 degrees 36'S, 37 degrees 50'W), which is located between the States of Alagoas and Sergipe. Based on satellite imagery we mapped the remaining vegetation, 145 km of paved roads and the seven small-sized cities set in the study site. A positive correlation was found between the combined distance from roads and cities and the percentage of remaining vegetation as it dropped from 18% at 12 km distant to 5.9% at 1 km distant from cities and roads. Thus, remaining vegetation was reduced by one third near cities and roads. A positive correlation was also found between distance from cities and roads and the percentage of fragments larger than 200 ha, which ranged from 3.6% (within 3 km distance class) to 23.3% (15 km distance class) of all fragments. Our results suggest a road/city-effect zone of 12 to 15 km width, over which habitat loss and fragmentation extend throughout the caatinga vegetation. These findings should be considered in the regional polices for biodiversity conservation and economic development of the caatinga region.

Burn disaster response planning: an urban region's approach.

PubMed

Yurt, Roger W; Lazar, Eliot J; Leahy, Nicole E; Cagliuso, Nicholas V; Rabbitts, Angela C; Akkapeddi, Vijay; Cooper, Arthur; Dajer, Antonio; Delaney, Jack; Mineo, Frank P; Silber, Steven H; Soloff, Lewis; Magbitang, Kevin; Mozingo, David W

2008-01-01

The objective of this study was to describe a draft response plan for the tiered triage, treatment, or transportation of 400 adult and pediatric victims (50/million population) of a burn disaster for the first 3 to 5 days after injury using regional resources. Review of meeting minutes and the 11 deliverables of the draft response plan was performed. The draft burn disaster response plan developed for NYC recommended: 1) City hospitals or regional burn centers within a 60-mile distance be designated as tiered Burn Disaster Receiving Hospitals (BDRH); 2) these hospitals be divided into a four-tier system, based on clinical resources; and 3) burn care supplies be provided to Tier 3 nonburn centers. Existing burn center referral guidelines were modified into a hierarchical BDRH matrix, which would vector certain patients to local or regional burn centers for initial care until capacity is reached; the remainder would be cared for in nonburn center facilities for up to 3 to 5 days until a city, regional, or national burn bed becomes available. Interfacility triage would be coordinated by a central team. Although recommendations for patient transportation, educational initiatives for prehospital and hospital providers, city-wide, interfacility or interagency communication strategies and coordination at the State or Federal levels were outlined, future initiatives will expound on these issues. An incident resulting in critically injured burn victims exceeding the capacity of local and regional burn center beds may be a reality within any community and warrants a planned response. To address this possibility within New York City, an initial draft of a burn disaster response has been created. A scaleable plan using local, state, regional, or federal health care and governmental institutions was developed.

Within city limits: nature and children's books about nature in the city

Treesearch

Leonard S. Marcus

1977-01-01

Many children's books give the impression that we must leave the city to be "in nature.'' This is a review of children's books about nature found within city limits. The books include a natural history of New York City; a guide to city wildflowers and other weeds; a book about city trees; a delightful inquiry into the true nature of the roach;...

A Survey of the Elderly in Regional Cities on their Attitudes toward Driving and Giving Up Driving

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nihei, Misato; Kamata, Minoru

Elderly drivers are increasing every year in Japan. However, physical depression caused by aging is also a cause of traffic accidents and they will all have to give up driving one day. The aim of this study is to clarify the effects of car dependency and the impact of having to stop driving among the elderly. And to propose alternative transportation options for elderly after having surrendered their driver's licenses. We carried out a questionnaire survey and a focus group interview. During this study, we sent 1338 questionnaires to people over 60 years old in regional cities that included areas with convenient access and inconvenient access to public transit. From our survey, we found that, over half of the elderly drive every day, the older people lower drive frequency. License holder of elderly with feelings of decreased motor skills awareness a decrease in driving ability. Moreover it is clarified that issue of alternative mobility are "mobility devices to maintain social and personal relationships" and "mobility devices as an extension of walking" and "use the existing public transport environment".

Quantitative Mapping of Reflected and Emitted Energy Patterns Over a City

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Luvall, J.; Rickman, D.; Quattrochi, D.; Estes, M.; Arnold, James E. (Technical Monitor)

2002-01-01

There are major variations in energy flux within and across the region of a large city. These variations have impacts in disparate areas, such as human health, environmental monitoring and mitigation, and energy consumption. Knowledge of the variations also has utility to urban and regional planners, and climate modelers. The authors have developed a system which permits robust measurement of both the magnitude of the energy flux variation and the absolute value of energy flux over regions of the size of large cites. The technique uses properly acquired and processed multispectral imagery with bands in the visible, near-IR and thermal portions of the electromagnetic spectrum. With proper knowledge of the atmosphere and geometries of acquisition it is possible to compute the energy budget for individual pixels. The reality of this technique is demonstrated using data acquired over Salt Lake City, Utah. The deficiencies in the results emphasize the critical nature of various design and engineering features usually ignored in airborne and satellite imaging systems.

[Eco-efficiency change and its driving factors in Tongling City of Anhui Province].

PubMed

Wang, Yi-Chen; Wang, Yuan; Zhu, Xiao-Dong; Wu, Xiao-Qing; Wang, Ke; Ren, Ke-Xiu; Lu, Gen-Fa

2011-02-01

This paper first applied material flow analysis (MFA) to construct three levels of regional eco-efficiency indicators, i.e., regional direct eco-efficiency (RDE), regional total eco-efficiency (RTE), and holistic eco-efficiency (HE), and adopted the newly developed data envelopment analysis (DEA) to evaluate the eco-efficiency of Tongling City during the period of 1990-2008. We also applied Malmquist productivity index (MPI) to explore the eco-efficiency change between two following years and its driving factors. The main results were summarized as 1) though the RDE of Tongling City in 1990-2008 kept an increasing trend, its mean eco-efficiency was not high (close to 0.8 in 80% of the years), being lower than that of the RTE and HE, and 2) the RDE change was closely relevant to the improvement in resource management and the technical input in environmental protection in recent years. In order to further improve the RDE of the City, it would be necessary to raise its eco-efficiency via expanding raw material input, reducing domestic extraction, promoting resources productivity, and taking more measures on environmental protection facilities construction.

Linking the Earth's surface with the deep-mantle plume beneath a region from Iceland to the city of Perm

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Glišović, Petar; Forte, Alessandro; Simmons, Nathan; Grand, Stephen

2014-05-01

Current tomography models consistently reveal three large-scale regions of strongly reduced seismic velocity in the lowermost mantle under the Pacific, Africa and a region that extends from below Iceland to the city of Perm (the Perm Anomaly). We have carried out mantle dynamic simulations (Glišović et al., GJI 2012; Glišović & Forte, EPSL 2014) of the evolution of these large-scale structures that directly incorporate: 1) robust constraints provided by joint seismic-geodynamic inversions of mantle density structure with constraints provided by mineral physics data (Simmons et al., GJI 2009); and 2) constraints on mantle viscosity inferred by inversion of a suite of convection-related and glacial isostatic adjustment data sets (Mitrovica & Forte, EPSL 2004) characterised by Earth-like Rayleigh numbers. The convection simulations provide a detailed insight into the very-long-time evolution of the buoyancy of these lower-mantle anomalies. We find, in particular, that the buoyancy associated with the Perm Anomaly generates a very long-lived superplume that is connected to the paleomagnetic location of the Siberian Traps at the time of their eruption (Smirnov & Tarduno, EPSL 2010) and also to location of North Atlantic Igneous Provinces (i.e., the opening of North Atlantic Ocean).

[Factors associated with cross-nursing in two cities in Southeast Brazil].

PubMed

Seehausen, Mariana Pujól von; Oliveira, Maria Inês Couto de; Boccolini, Cristiano Siqueira; Leal, Maria do Carmo

2017-06-01

The objective was to estimate the prevalence of cross-nursing in two Brazilian cities and analyze factors associated with the practice. This was a cross-sectional study nested in a cohort of pregnant women recruited at public health services that offered prenatal care in two medium-sized cities in the State of Rio de Janeiro: one in Greater Metropolitan Rio and the other in the Mountainous Region, conducted from 2008 to 2010. The current study included women interviewed when their infants were six months old. Adjusted prevalence ratios were obtained with a Poisson regression model, and exposure variables that reached p ≤ 0.05 comprised the final model. Cross-nursing was practiced by 43.4% of the mothers in Greater Metropolitan Rio de Janeiro and 34.5% in Mountainous Region. Low socioeconomic status was associated with cross-nursing in both cities. In addition, in Mountainous Region the outcome was directly associated with adolescent motherhood, maternal schooling less than or equal to complete primary, and fewer than six prenatal visits. In Greater Metropolitan Rio de Janeiro, in addition to socioeconomic status, only multiparity was associated (inversely) with cross-nursing. Cross-nursing, although contraindicated by the Brazilian Ministry of Health, showed high prevalence among the mothers in the sample and was more frequent among the more vulnerable population groups.

[Ecological risk assessment of human activity of rapid economic development regions in southern Jiangsu, China: a case study of Dantu District of Zhenjiang City].

PubMed

Fang, Guang-Ling; Xiang, Bao; Wang, Bao-Liang; Jin, Xia; Hu, Yu; Zhang, Li-Kun

2014-04-01

This article investigated the spatiotemporal variation of landscape ecological risk in Dantu District of Zhenjiang City with statistical method based on the ETM remote sensing data in 2000 and 2005, and the TM remote sensing data in 2010, and quantitative index of regional ecological risk assessment was established with the employment of landscape index, so as to enhance the ecosystem management, prevent and reduce the regional ecological risk in southern Jiangsu with rapid economic development. The results showed that the fragmentations, divergence, and ecological losses of natural landscape types, such as forestland, wetland, waters, etc., were deteriorated with the expansion of built-up lands from 2000 to 2010. The higher ecological risk zone took up 5.7%, 9.0%, and 10.2% of the whole region in 2000, 2005, and 2010, respectively, which mainly distributed in the plain hilly region. During the study period, the area aggravating to the higher ecological risk zone was approximately 296.2 km2, 48% of the whole region. The ecological risk rose up in most of the region. The interference of rapid economic development to landscape patterns was even more intensive, with obvious spatial differences in ecological risk distribution. The measures of exploiting resources near the port, utilizing natural wetlands, constructing industrial parks, and rapid urbanization, etc., intensified the ecological risk and accelerated the conversion rate. Prompt strategies should be established to manage the ecological risk of this region.

Metabolic heat production by human and animal populations in cities.

PubMed

Stewart, Iain D; Kennedy, Chris A

2017-07-01

Anthropogenic heating from building energy use, vehicle fuel consumption, and human metabolism is a key term in the urban energy budget equation. Heating from human metabolism, however, is often excluded from urban energy budgets because it is widely observed to be negligible. Few reports for low-latitude cities are available to support this observation, and no reports exist on the contribution of domestic animals to urban heat budgets. To provide a more comprehensive view of metabolic heating in cities, we quantified all terms of the anthropogenic heat budget at metropolitan scale for the world's 26 largest cities, using a top-down statistical approach. Results show that metabolic heat release from human populations in mid-latitude cities (e.g. London, Tokyo, New York) accounts for 4-8% of annual anthropogenic heating, compared to 10-45% in high-density tropical cities (e.g. Cairo, Dhaka, Kolkata). Heat release from animal populations amounts to <1% of anthropogenic heating in all cities. Heat flux density from human and animal metabolism combined is highest in Mumbai-the world's most densely populated megacity-at 6.5 W m -2 , surpassing heat production by electricity use in buildings (5.8 W m -2 ) and fuel combustion in vehicles (3.9 W m -2 ). These findings, along with recent output from global climate models, suggest that in the world's largest and most crowded cities, heat emissions from human metabolism alone can force measurable change in mean annual temperature at regional scale.

Metabolic heat production by human and animal populations in cities

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stewart, Iain D.; Kennedy, Chris A.

2017-07-01

Anthropogenic heating from building energy use, vehicle fuel consumption, and human metabolism is a key term in the urban energy budget equation. Heating from human metabolism, however, is often excluded from urban energy budgets because it is widely observed to be negligible. Few reports for low-latitude cities are available to support this observation, and no reports exist on the contribution of domestic animals to urban heat budgets. To provide a more comprehensive view of metabolic heating in cities, we quantified all terms of the anthropogenic heat budget at metropolitan scale for the world's 26 largest cities, using a top-down statistical approach. Results show that metabolic heat release from human populations in mid-latitude cities (e.g. London, Tokyo, New York) accounts for 4-8% of annual anthropogenic heating, compared to 10-45% in high-density tropical cities (e.g. Cairo, Dhaka, Kolkata). Heat release from animal populations amounts to <1% of anthropogenic heating in all cities. Heat flux density from human and animal metabolism combined is highest in Mumbai—the world's most densely populated megacity—at 6.5 W m-2, surpassing heat production by electricity use in buildings (5.8 W m-2) and fuel combustion in vehicles (3.9 W m-2). These findings, along with recent output from global climate models, suggest that in the world's largest and most crowded cities, heat emissions from human metabolism alone can force measurable change in mean annual temperature at regional scale.

Women in Cities.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hurst, Liz

1982-01-01

Suggesting that women are at a disadvantage in cities and towns, discusses experiences of women at home, working women, women traveling, shopping, and growing old in cities. Includes suggestions for studying women in cities. (JN)

Impacts of Megacities on Regional Air Quality from MOPITT Observations and MOZART Model Results

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Emmons, L. K.; Edwards, D. P.; Hess, P. G.; Lamarque, J.; Pfister, G.; Wiedinmyer, C.; Clerbaux, C.

2007-05-01

The emissions from large cities, such as Mexico City, Los Angeles and Tokyo, as well as densely populated regions in India, China, etc., can clearly be seen in the CO retrievals from the Measurements of Pollution in the Troposphere (MOPITT) instrument on the Terra satellite and will be illustrated in this presentation. To assist in the flight planning and analysis of the MILAGRO field campaigns in Mexico during March 2006, MOPITT CO retrievals were assimilated in the global chemical transport model MOZART, using fire emissions based on satellite observations. To understand the impacts of Mexico City and other megacities on regional air quality, additional simulations of MOZART have been performed. The CO emissions from different types of sources (biomass burning, industry, etc.) are "tagged" in the model to show their relative contribution to the regional atmospheric composition. In addition, NO emissions from a single megacity or region are tagged to identify the contribution of ozone from a given source. The contribution from Mexico City pollution to the regional and global atmosphere will be compared to other megacities.

Dynamic calibration of agent-based models using data assimilation.

PubMed

Ward, Jonathan A; Evans, Andrew J; Malleson, Nicolas S

2016-04-01

A widespread approach to investigating the dynamical behaviour of complex social systems is via agent-based models (ABMs). In this paper, we describe how such models can be dynamically calibrated using the ensemble Kalman filter (EnKF), a standard method of data assimilation. Our goal is twofold. First, we want to present the EnKF in a simple setting for the benefit of ABM practitioners who are unfamiliar with it. Second, we want to illustrate to data assimilation experts the value of using such methods in the context of ABMs of complex social systems and the new challenges these types of model present. We work towards these goals within the context of a simple question of practical value: how many people are there in Leeds (or any other major city) right now? We build a hierarchy of exemplar models that we use to demonstrate how to apply the EnKF and calibrate these using open data of footfall counts in Leeds.

Assessment of Vulnerability to Climate Change Effects on Urban Stormwater Infrastructure in City of Las Vegas, NV

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Thakali, R.; Kalra, A.; Mastino, L.; Velotta, M.; Ahmad, S.

2016-12-01

In the spring of 2016 the City of Las Vegas and the Southern Illinois University began collaborating on a project that seeks to assess the city's current vulnerability to drought, extreme heat, and extreme precipitation patterns, as well as the response mechanisms that are already in place within its jurisdiction. The document analyzes a series of scenarios to assess to what extent the vulnerability of four Key Planning Areas will change in the long term (30-50 years), what will be the most affected city operations, and what mechanisms the City will need to put into place to adapt to such changes. As part of the vulnerability report, this study assessed the impacts of climate change in the existing stormwater system of the Gowan watershed within City of Las Vegas, NV, by assessing projected design storms. The climate change projection for the region was evaluated using the high-resolution North American Regional Climate Change Assessment Program (NARCCAP) climate model data. The design storms (6h 100y) were calculated using the best fitted probability distribution among twenty-seven distributions for the historic and future NARCCAP climate model projection. North American Regional Reanalysis (NARR) data were used to assess the performance of NARCCAP data. The projected design storms were implemented in an existing U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' Hydrologic Engineering Center Hydrologic Modeling System (HEC-HMS) model developed by Clark County Regional Flood Control District (CCRFCD), Las Vegas. The simulation results showed an increase in the design storms which exceeded the capacity of existing stormwater infrastructure.

Thermal footprints in groundwater of central European cities

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bayer, P.; Menberg, K.; Blum, P.

2014-12-01

Atmospheric thermal pollution in densely populated areas is recognized as a severe problem with consequences for human health, and considerable efforts are being taken to mitigate heat stress in cities. However, anthropogenic activities also influence the thermal environment beneath the ground level, with commonly growing temperatures that affect groundwater ecology and geothermal use efficiency. In our work, we identify the controlling mechanisms for the long-term evolution of such urban heat islands. The shallow groundwater temperatures in several central European cities such as Cologne, Karlsruhe, Munich, Berlin and Zurich were mapped at high spatial and temporal resolution. Thermal anomalies were found to be highly heterogeneous with local hot spots showing temperatures of more than 20°C. Accordingly, these urban regions show a considerable groundwater warming in comparison to undisturbed temperatures of 8-11°C. Examination of potential heat sources by analytical modelling reveals that increased ground surface temperatures and basements of buildings act as dominant drivers for the anthropogenic heat input into the groundwater. The factors are revealed to be case-specific and they may have pronounced local or regional effects. Typical local factors are for example buried district heating networks. In selected cities we find that the average urban heat flux is around one order of magnitude higher than the elevated ground heat flux due to recent climate change. Additionally, such as observed in Zurich, naturally controlled temperature variations can be substantial and they are shown to wash out anthropogenic thermal footprints.

Census Cities Project and Atlas of Urban and Regional Change

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wray, J. R.

1971-01-01

The Census Cities Project has several related purposes: (1) to assess the role of remote sensors on high altitude platforms for the comparative study of urban areas; (2) to detect changes in selected U.S. urban areas between the 1970 census and the time of launching of an earth-orbiting sensor platform prior to the next census; (3) to test the utility of the satellite sensor platform to monitor urban change (When the 1970 census returns become available for small areas, they will serve as a control for sensor image interpretation.); (4) to design an information system for incorporating graphic sensor data with census-type data gathered by traditional techniques; (5) to identify and design user-oriented end-products or information services; and (6) to plan an effective organizational capability to provide such services on a continuing basis.

Providing rapid climate risk assessments to support cities (Invited)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rosenzweig, C.; Solecki, W.; Horton, R. M.; Bader, D.; Ali, S.

2013-12-01

Hurricane Sandy struck the East Coast of the United States on October 29, 2012 and brought the issue of urban resilience to the forefront of public discussion not only in New York City, but in cities around the world. While Hurricane Sandy as an individual extreme climate event cannot be attributed to climate change, it can serve as a warning for cities regarding disaster risks, focus attention on the importance of reducing climate vulnerability, and the need to include increasing climate risks and resilience into rebuilding programs. As severe as Sandy was, the the storm could have been much worse. The science behind potential impacts was ';in place' and ';in time,' i.e., climate risks were well understood before the storm, due to work by scientists in the region starting in the late 1990s. In the wake of this transformative storm, the rebuilding process in New York is being informed by the potential for a changing climate. The $20 billion Special Initiative for Rebuilding and Resiliency (SIRR) Plan for New York is grounded upon climate risk information provided by the New York City Panel on Climate Change (NPCC). This expert panel, tasked with advising on the City on climate-related issues, completed a 'rapid response' climate assessment with updated climate projections and coastal flood maps. Cities are emerging as the ';first responders' to climate change in both adaptation and mitigation. Their efforts are playing a role in catalyzing national and international responses as well. New York City's actions in the wake of Hurricane Sandy are an example of a positive tipping-point response. The Urban Climate Change Research Network, a consortium of over 450 scholars and practitioners in developing and developed country cities around the world, was established in 2007 to enhance science-based decision-making on climate and other sustainability related issues in urban areas around the world. The UCCRN's first major publication is the First UCCRN Assessment Report on

Mortality related to extreme temperature for 15 cities in northeast Asia.

PubMed

Chung, Yeonseung; Lim, Youn-Hee; Honda, Yasushi; Guo, Yue-Liang Leon; Hashizume, Masahiro; Bell, Michelle L; Chen, Bing-Yu; Kim, Ho

2015-03-01

Multisite time-series studies for temperature-related mortality have been conducted mainly in the United States and Europe, but are lacking in Asia. This multisite time-series study examined mortality related to extreme temperatures (both cold and hot) in Northeast Asia, focusing on 15 cities of 3 high-income countries. This study includes 3 cities in Taiwan for 1994-2007, 6 cities in Korea for 1992-2010, and 6 cities in Japan for 1972-2009. We used 2-stage Bayesian hierarchical Poisson semiparametric regression to model the nonlinear relationship between temperature and mortality, providing city-specific and country-wide estimates for cold and heat effects. Various exposure time frames, age groups, and causes of death were considered. Cold effects had longer time lags (5-11 days) than heat effects, which were immediate (1-3 days). Cold effects were larger for cities in Taiwan, whereas heat effects were larger for cities in Korea and Japan. Patterns of increasing effects with age were observed in both cold and heat effects. Both cold and heat effects were larger for cardiorespiratory mortality than for other causes of death. Several city characteristics related to weather or air pollution were associated with both cold and heat effects. Mortality increased with either cold or hot temperature in urban populations of high-income countries in Northeast Asia, with spatial variations of effects among cities and countries. Findings suggest that climate factors are major contributors to the spatial heterogeneity of effects in this region, although further research is merited to identify other factors as determinants of variability.

The use of tritium content as an indicator of the groundwater contamination by sanitary landfills leachates in the region of Belo Horizonte City, Brazil.

PubMed

Bandeira, J V; Mingote, R M; Baptista, M B; Oliveira, D M; Lima, F P

2008-01-01

Tritium content in the leachate of sanitary landfills, in concentrations well above those observed in global precipitation, can be used as a tracer for the evaluation of the contamination of groundwater in piezometers of the landfills and in neighbouring tubular wells. This possibility was first investigated in Brazil for sanitary landfills in the region of Belo Horizonte City. Tritium levels together with the content of metals present in water and the measurement of soil electrical conductivity, proved to be valuable for these studies and also as a tracer for hydrodynamic studies of the surface water in the Ressaca creek. IWA Publishing 2008.

The commensurate-to-incommensurate phase transition of an organic monolayer: A high resolution LEED analysis of the superstructures of NTCDA on Ag(1 1 1)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kilian, L.; Stahl, U.; Kossev, I.; Sokolowski, M.; Fink, R.; Umbach, E.

2008-07-01

The structural order of 1,4,9,10-naphthalene-tetracarboxylicacid-dianhydride (NTCDA) monolayers on Ag(1 1 1) has been investigated by spot profile analysis low energy electron diffraction (SPA-LEED). For increasing coverage, we find a sequence of three highly ordered structures: a commensurate structure (α), a uniaxially incommensurate structure (α 2), and an incommensurate structure (β) with coverages of 0.9 ML, 0.95 ML, and 1 (saturated) monolayer (ML), respectively. In the high coverage regime, the structures coexist and a coverage increase causes a change of their relative fractions. The α and β structures were known before [U. Stahl, D. Gador, A. Soukopp, R. Fink, E. Umbach, Surf. Sci. 414 (1998) 423], but the β structure was proposed as commensurate, since its very small misfit with respect to a commensurate structure could not be resolved. This misfit leads to a periodic modulation, causing additional Moiré satellites in the diffraction pattern. This finding demonstrates the importance of high resolution methods for the geometry determination of large organic adsorbates.

Agreement Between the Douleur Neuropathique in 4 Questions and Leeds Assessment of Neuropathic Symptoms and Signs Questionnaires to Classify Neuropathic Pain Among Patients with Leprosy.

PubMed

Santana, Jamilly C V; Santos, Victor S; Gurgel, Ricardo Q; Santana, Julianne C V; Reis, Francisco P; Cuevas, Luis E; Feitosa, Vera L C

2016-10-05

Neuropathic pain (NP) often occurs during the course of leprosy, and screening tools to differentiate NP from non-NP are often used. However, their performance varies in different settings. The most frequently used scales are the Douleur Neuropathique in 4 questions (DN4) and the Leeds assessment of neuropathic symptoms and signs (LANSS) questionnaires. Thus, we conducted a study to evaluate the agreement between DN4 and LANSS questionnaires to classify NP in 195 leprosy patients attending two reference centers in Sergipe, Brazil. The DN4 and LANSS classified 166 and 110 patients, respectively, as having NP. One hundred and seven (54.8%) were classified as NP by both questionnaires; 59 (30.2%) solely by the DN4 questionnaire and three (1.5%) solely by the LANSS. The agreement of the questionnaires was 66.2% (weak agreement, Kappa = 0.30). Although both questionnaires identified a high proportion of NP, the development of more robust instruments is necessary to ensure the accuracy of diagnosis of leprosy patients classified as having NP. © The American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene.

Source apportionments of ambient fine particulate matter in Israeli, Jordanian, and Palestinian cities.

PubMed

Heo, Jongbae; Wu, Bo; Abdeen, Ziad; Qasrawi, Radwan; Sarnat, Jeremy A; Sharf, Geula; Shpund, Kobby; Schauer, James J

2017-06-01

This manuscript evaluates spatial and temporal variations of source contributions to ambient fine particulate matter (PM 2.5 ) in Israeli, Jordanian, and Palestinian cities. Twenty-four hour integrated PM 2.5 samples were collected every six days over a 1-year period (January to December 2007) in four cities in Israel (West Jerusalem, Eilat, Tel Aviv, and Haifa), four cities in Jordan (Amman, Aqaba, Rahma, and Zarka), and three cities in Palestine (Nablus, East Jerusalem, and Hebron). The PM 2.5 samples were analyzed for major chemical components, including organic carbon and elemental carbon, ions, and metals, and the results were used in a positive matrix factorization (PMF) model to estimate source contributions to PM 2.5 mass. Nine sources, including secondary sulfate, secondary nitrate, mobile, industrial lead sources, dust, construction dust, biomass burning, fuel oil combustion and sea salt, were identified across the sampling sites. Secondary sulfate was the dominant source, contributing 35% of the total PM 2.5 mass, and it showed relatively homogeneous temporal trends of daily source contribution in the study area. Mobile sources were found to be the second greatest contributor to PM 2.5 mass in the large metropolitan cities, such as Tel Aviv, Hebron, and West and East Jerusalem. Other sources (i.e. industrial lead sources, construction dust, and fuel oil combustion) were closely related to local emissions within individual cities. This study demonstrates how international cooperation can facilitate air pollution studies that address regional air pollution issues and the incremental differences across cities in a common airshed. It also provides a model to study air pollution in regions with limited air quality monitoring capacity that have persistent and emerging air quality problems, such as Africa, South Asia and Central America. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Jerusalem: City of Dreams, City of Sorrows

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ricks, Thomas

2011-01-01

Jerusalem is more than an intriguing global historical city; it is a classroom for liberal learning and international understanding. It had never been a city of one language, one religion and one culture. Looking at the origins of Jerusalem's name indicates its international and multicultural nature. While Israelis designate Jerusalem as their…

77 FR 40798 - Safety Zone; Nautical City Festival Air Show, Rogers City MI

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-07-11

...-AA00 Safety Zone; Nautical City Festival Air Show, Rogers City MI AGENCY: Coast Guard, DHS. ACTION...; Nautical City Festival Air Show, Rogers City MI; in the Federal Register (77 FR 29932). We received no... Nautical City Festival will be celebrating Calcite's 100th Anniversary. As part of that celebration, an air...

City Magazines Find a Niche in the Media Marketplace.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fletcher, Alan D.

The responses of 36 publishers and editors of city magazines--magazines such as "Chicago,""MPLS," and "Texas Monthly" that are published primarily for a local or regional market--provided data for an analysis of the positioning of these magazines in the media marketplace, factors leading to their success, their…

The Lost City Hydrothermal Field: A Spectroscopic and Astrobiological Analogue for Nili Fossae, Mars

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Amador, Elena S.; Bandfield, Joshua L.; Brazelton, William J.; Kelley, Deborah

2017-11-01

Low-temperature serpentinization is a critical process with respect to Earth's habitability and the Solar System. Exothermic serpentinization reactions commonly produce hydrogen as a direct by-product and typically produce short-chained organic compounds indirectly. Here, we present the spectral and mineralogical variability in rocks from the serpentine-driven Lost City Hydrothermal Field on Earth and the olivine-rich region of Nili Fossae on Mars. Near- and thermal-infrared spectral measurements were made from a suite of Lost City rocks at wavelengths similar to those for instruments collecting measurements of the martian surface. Results from Lost City show a spectrally distinguishable suite of Mg-rich serpentine, Ca carbonates, talc, and amphibole minerals. Aggregated detections of low-grade metamorphic minerals in rocks from Nili Fossae were mapped and yielded a previously undetected serpentine exposure in the region. Direct comparison of the two spectral suites indicates similar mineralogy at both Lost City and in the Noachian (4-3.7 Ga) bedrock of Nili Fossae, Mars. Based on mapping of these spectral phases, the implied mineralogical suite appears to be extensive across the region. These results suggest that serpentinization was once an active process, indicating that water and energy sources were available, as well as a means for prebiotic chemistry during a time period when life was first emerging on Earth. Although the mineralogical assemblages identified on Mars are unlikely to be directly analogous to rocks that underlie the Lost City Hydrothermal Field, related geochemical processes (and associated sources of biologically accessible energy) were once present in the subsurface, making Nili Fossae a compelling candidate for a once-habitable environment on Mars.

Improving Parental Involvement in an Inner-City School

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Marion, Veronica D.

2017-01-01

A pattern of low parental involvement exists at in an inner-city school in the northeast region of the United States, where 90% of the students are students of color and fewer than 10% of parents attend school-based activities. Low parental involvement at the local school may lead to decreased student achievement and limited access to needed…

[Spatial distribution of occupational disease prevalence in Guangzhou and Foshan city by geographic information system].

PubMed

Tan, Q; Tu, H W; Gu, C H; Li, X D; Li, R Z; Wang, M; Chen, S G; Cheng, Y J; Liu, Y M

2017-11-20

Objective: To explore the occupational disease spatial distribution characteristics in Guangzhou and Foshan city in 2006-2013 with Geographic Information System and to provide evidence for making control strategy. Methods: The data on occupational disease diagnosis in Guangzhou and Foshan city from 2006 through 2013 were collected and linked to the digital map at administrative county level with Arc GIS12.0 software for spatial analysis. Results: The maps of occupational disease and Moran's spatial autocor-relation analysis showed that the spatial aggregation existed in Shunde and Nanhai region with Moran's index 1.727, -0.003. Local Moran's I spatial autocorrelation analysis pointed out the "positive high incidence re-gion" and the "negative high incidence region" during 2006~2013. Trend analysis showed that the diagnosis case increased slightly then declined from west to east, increase obviously from north to south, declined from? southwest to northeast, high in the middle and low on both sides in northwest-southeast direction. Conclusions: The occupational disease is obviously geographical distribution in Guangzhou and Foshan city. The corresponding prevention measures should be made according to the geographical distribution.

Space Partitioning for Privacy Enabled 3D City Models

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Filippovska, Y.; Wichmann, A.; Kada, M.

2016-10-01

Due to recent technological progress, data capturing and processing of highly detailed (3D) data has become extensive. And despite all prospects of potential uses, data that includes personal living spaces and public buildings can also be considered as a serious intrusion into people's privacy and a threat to security. It becomes especially critical if data is visible by the general public. Thus, a compromise is needed between open access to data and privacy requirements which can be very different for each application. As privacy is a complex and versatile topic, the focus of this work particularly lies on the visualization of 3D urban data sets. For the purpose of privacy enabled visualizations of 3D city models, we propose to partition the (living) spaces into privacy regions, each featuring its own level of anonymity. Within each region, the depicted 2D and 3D geometry and imagery is anonymized with cartographic generalization techniques. The underlying spatial partitioning is realized as a 2D map generated as a straight skeleton of the open space between buildings. The resulting privacy cells are then merged according to the privacy requirements associated with each building to form larger regions, their borderlines smoothed, and transition zones established between privacy regions to have a harmonious visual appearance. It is exemplarily demonstrated how the proposed method generates privacy enabled 3D city models.

Zipf's law and city size distribution: A survey of the literature and future research agenda

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Arshad, Sidra; Hu, Shougeng; Ashraf, Badar Nadeem

2018-02-01

This study provides a systematic review of the existing literature on Zipf's law for city size distribution. Existing empirical evidence suggests that Zipf's law is not always observable even for the upper-tail cities of a territory. However, the controversy with empirical findings arises due to sample selection biases, methodological weaknesses and data limitations. The hypothesis of Zipf's law is more likely to be rejected for the entire city size distribution and, in such case, alternative distributions have been suggested. On the contrary, the hypothesis is more likely to be accepted if better empirical methods are employed and cities are properly defined. The debate is still far from to be conclusive. In addition, we identify four emerging areas in Zipf's law and city size distribution research including the size distribution of lower-tail cities, the size distribution of cities in sub-national regions, the alternative forms of Zipf's law, and the relationship between Zipf's law and the coherence property of the urban system.

Dubai: A Pioneer Smart City in the Arabian Territory

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Virtudes, Ana; Abbara, Arwa; Sá, João

2017-10-01

Nowadays, one of the main issues that the cities are facing is related with how they are dealing with the challenges toward smartness, including infrastructures, economic, social and environmental aspects. In this sense, some of the current challenges on the global scale, trying to find solutions regarding urban societies, are based on the concept of “smart city”. Therefore, is clear that new ideas regarding the cities improvements, which are on the top of global agenda, could be found at the concept of “smart city”. As the literature reveals, this is a topic reason among the researchers, which is in a continuous development, in particular regarding societies, countries or regions where it is emerging, such as in the Arabian territories. Dubai, a city in the United Arab Emirates, is an example where in a short period of time, after the oil discovery in the decade of 1970, one small and badly known urban settlement became a pioneer reference in terms of smart cities requirements. Thus, this article presents background information about smart cities, their assets and key pillars, their smart infrastructures and features in cultural, social and environmental terms. The main goals are based on a theoretical approach, developed in order to get more details about smart cities, regarding the features of the Arabian territories. It argues around the case of Dubai, as a pioneer smart city in the Arab world. Among of the main conclusions, there is the idea that the urban transformation process in contemporary societies to secure the smartness, should apply to the use of ICT / information and communication technologies. This use will increase the efficiency concerns to the natural resources, and provide a high quality of life for citizens. The example of Dubai has shown that the decision-makers have built each sector and part of the city in a solid performance, in order to achieve the smart sustainability concept. This city is nowadays a reference on this matter, not

Spring in Inca City I

NASA Image and Video Library

2014-11-13

Every winter a layer of carbon dioxide ice-or, dry ice-condenses in the Southern polar region, forming a seasonal polar cap less than 1 meter deep. Early in the spring the ice layer begins to sublimate (going directly from a solid to gas) from the top and bottom of the ice layer. Under the ice gas pressure builds up until a weak spot in the ice layer ruptures. The gas rushes out and as it escapes it erodes a bit of the surface. Fine particles are carried by the gas to the top of the ice and then fall out in fan-shaped deposits. The direction of the fan shows the direction either of the wind or down the slope. If the wind is not blowing a dark blotch settles around the spot the gas escaped. This region is known informally as Inca City, and it has a series of distinctive ridges. On the floor between the ridges are radially organized channels, known colloquially as spiders, more formally called "araneiforms." The channels have been carved in the surface over many years by the escaping pressurized gas. Every spring they widen just a bit. This was the first image to be acquired by NASA Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter after the sun rose on Inca City, marking the end to polar night. A few fans are visible emerging from the araneiforms. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA18892

US cities can manage national hydrology and biodiversity using local infrastructure policy.

PubMed

McManamay, Ryan A; Surendran Nair, Sujithkumar; DeRolph, Christopher R; Ruddell, Benjamin L; Morton, April M; Stewart, Robert N; Troia, Matthew J; Tran, Liem; Kim, Hyun; Bhaduri, Budhendra L

2017-09-05

Cities are concentrations of sociopolitical power and prime architects of land transformation, while also serving as consumption hubs of "hard" water and energy infrastructures. These infrastructures extend well outside metropolitan boundaries and impact distal river ecosystems. We used a comprehensive model to quantify the roles of anthropogenic stressors on hydrologic alteration and biodiversity in US streams and isolate the impacts stemming from hard infrastructure developments in cities. Across the contiguous United States, cities' hard infrastructures have significantly altered at least 7% of streams, which influence habitats for over 60% of North America's fish, mussel, and crayfish species. Additionally, city infrastructures have contributed to local extinctions in 260 species and currently influence 970 indigenous species, 27% of which are in jeopardy. We find that ecosystem impacts do not scale with city size but are instead proportionate to infrastructure decisions. For example, Atlanta's impacts by hard infrastructures extend across four major river basins, 12,500 stream km, and contribute to 100 local extinctions of aquatic species. In contrast, Las Vegas, a similar size city, impacts <1,000 stream km, leading to only seven local extinctions. So, cities have local policy choices that can reduce future impacts to regional aquatic ecosystems as they grow. By coordinating policy and communication between hard infrastructure sectors, local city governments and utilities can directly improve environmental quality in a significant fraction of the nation's streams reaching far beyond their city boundaries.

Sedimentary Evidence of Environmental Degradation in Sanliqi Lake, Daye City (A Typical Mining City, Central China).

PubMed

Zeng, Linghan; Ning, Dongliang; Xu, Lei; Mao, Xin; Chen, Xu

2015-09-01

To reconstruct the history of environmental degradation in Sanliqi Lake (Daye City, central China), multiple proxies were analyzed in a sedimentary core which was dated using (137)Cs and spheroidal carbonaceous particles (SCPs). The results show that Sanliqi Lake has experienced serious degradation during the past 60 years, resulting from a large influx of metals and nutrients. Expansion of agricultural and industrial activities between 1945 and 1993 enhanced nutrient and metal enrichment, indicated by increases in metals, SCPs, magnetic susceptibility, total phosphorus, total nitrogen and total organic carbon. Further enrichment of Zn, Cd, Ni and Cr after 1993 was linked to a recent intensification of mining activities. Decreases in Cu and Pb after 2006 probably resulted from recent environmental remediation. This study verified the coupling between lake sediment pollution and human activities in Daye City during the past 60 years. The reconstructed history of lake pollution can provide reference information for continued restoration of Sanliqi Lake and other similar heavily polluted lakes in the developing regions.

33 CFR 100.919 - International Bay City River Roar, Bay City, MI.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... 33 Navigation and Navigable Waters 1 2011-07-01 2011-07-01 false International Bay City River Roar, Bay City, MI. 100.919 Section 100.919 Navigation and Navigable Waters COAST GUARD, DEPARTMENT OF... Bay City River Roar, Bay City, MI. (a) Regulated Area. A regulated area is established to include all...

33 CFR 100.919 - International Bay City River Roar, Bay City, MI.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... 33 Navigation and Navigable Waters 1 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false International Bay City River Roar, Bay City, MI. 100.919 Section 100.919 Navigation and Navigable Waters COAST GUARD, DEPARTMENT OF... Bay City River Roar, Bay City, MI. (a) Regulated Area. A regulated area is established to include all...

[Spatial patterns of eco-environmental vulnerability in Daqing City].

PubMed

Li, Jing; Zhang, Ping-Yu; Li, He; Su, Fei

2011-12-01

This paper established an index system for the assessment of eco-environmental vulnerability in Daqing City, from the aspects of sensitivity and response capability, and aiming at the major disturbances from crude oil exploitation and production activities. The improved entropy method was adopted to evaluate the weights of the indices, and the spatial patterns of eco-environment vulnerability in the City were analyzed, according to the model functions. In 2009, the more sensitive areas of the eco-environment in the City were mainly concentrated in the intensive regions of crude oil exploitation, processing, and petrochemical industry, and the ecological problems such as land salinization were the secondary causes for this higher sensitivity. The overall response capability of the eco-environment to unfavorable disturbances was relatively high, which reduced the eco-environment vulnerability to some extent. There was a great spatial difference in the eco-environment vulnerability in the City. The vulnerability was comparatively higher in the districts of Honggang, Sartu and Longfeng, with the degree being 0.80, 0.71 and 0.68, but lower in Ranghulu and Datong, with the degree of 0.20 and 0.04, respectively.

Summary of water-quality data for City of Albuquerque drinking-water supply wells, 1988-97

USGS Publications Warehouse

Bexfield, Laura M.; Lindberg, William E.; Anderholm, Scott K.

1999-01-01

The City of Albuquerque has collected and analyzed more than 5,000 water-quality samples from 113 water-supply wells in the Albuquerque area, including many drinking-water supply wells, since May of 1988. As a result, a large water-quality data base has been compiled that includes data for major ions, nutrients, trace elements, carbon, volatile organic compounds, radiological constituents, and bacteria. These data are intended to improve the understanding and management of the ground-water resources of the region, rather than demonstrate compliance with Federal and State drinking-water standards. This report gives summary statistics for selected physical properties and chemical constituents for ground water from wells used by the City of Albuquerque for drinking-water supply between 1988 and 1997. Maps are provided to show the general spatial distribution of selected parameters and water types around the region. Although the values of some parameters vary substantially across the city, median values for all parameters included in this report are less than their respective maximum contaminant levels in each drinking-water supply well. The dominant water types are sodium plus potassium / carbonate plus bicarbonate in the western part of the city and calcium / carbonate plus bicarbonate in the eastern part of the city.

Land use/cover change detection and urban sprawl analysis in Bandar Abbas city, Iran.

PubMed

Dadras, Mohsen; Shafri, Helmi Zulhaidi Mohd; Ahmad, Noordin; Pradhan, Biswajeet; Safarpour, Sahabeh

2014-01-01

The process of land use change and urban sprawl has been considered as a prominent characteristic of urban development. This study aims to investigate urban growth process in Bandar Abbas city, Iran, focusing on urban sprawl and land use change during 1956-2012. To calculate urban sprawl and land use changes, aerial photos and satellite images are utilized in different time spans. The results demonstrate that urban region area has changed from 403.77 to 4959.59 hectares between 1956 and 2012. Moreover, the population has increased more than 30 times in last six decades. The major part of population growth is related to migration from other parts the country to Bandar Abbas city. Considering the speed of urban sprawl growth rate, the scale and the role of the city have changed from medium and regional to large scale and transregional. Due to natural and structural limitations, more than 80% of barren lands, stone cliffs, beach zone, and agricultural lands are occupied by built-up areas. Our results revealed that the irregular expansion of Bandar Abbas city must be controlled so that sustainable development could be achieved.

Land Use/Cover Change Detection and Urban Sprawl Analysis in Bandar Abbas City, Iran

PubMed Central

Mohd Shafri, Helmi Zulhaidi; Ahmad, Noordin; Pradhan, Biswajeet; Safarpour, Sahabeh

2014-01-01

The process of land use change and urban sprawl has been considered as a prominent characteristic of urban development. This study aims to investigate urban growth process in Bandar Abbas city, Iran, focusing on urban sprawl and land use change during 1956–2012. To calculate urban sprawl and land use changes, aerial photos and satellite images are utilized in different time spans. The results demonstrate that urban region area has changed from 403.77 to 4959.59 hectares between 1956 and 2012. Moreover, the population has increased more than 30 times in last six decades. The major part of population growth is related to migration from other parts the country to Bandar Abbas city. Considering the speed of urban sprawl growth rate, the scale and the role of the city have changed from medium and regional to large scale and transregional. Due to natural and structural limitations, more than 80% of barren lands, stone cliffs, beach zone, and agricultural lands are occupied by built-up areas. Our results revealed that the irregular expansion of Bandar Abbas city must be controlled so that sustainable development could be achieved. PMID:25276858

Regional variation in smoking among African Americans.

PubMed

King, G; Polednak, A P; Bendel, R

1999-08-01

The impact of geographic region and metropolitan residence on smoking prevalence among African Americans has not been adequately examined. This study analyzed 5 years of data from the National Health Interview Survey (1990-1994) on current smoking and regional variation among 16,738 African Americans. Results. Respondents in the West had the lowest unadjusted smoking prevalence rates and Midwest residents had the highest. Current smoking was lower among African Americans living in non-central cities than in central cities even after adjusting for several sociodemographic covariates. Multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed that black women in the South were significantly less likely to be smokers compared with any other gender/region group. These findings suggest the significance of gender and regional factors such as the social history of migration, social stress and racism, exposure to tobacco advertisement, variations in cultural influences, community structures, and coping strategies in under standing African American smoking behavior. Copyright 1999 American Health Foundation and Academic Press.

The Poughkeepsie Survey. A Report on Employment and Unemployment in a "Target Area" under the Model Cities Program.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kuper, Irvin, Ed.

Located in the heart of the Mid-Hudson area, Poughkeepsie is in one of the fastest growing regions of New York State, but the city itself has grown very little in the last five decades. The local Model Cities agency has created a target area which includes most of the older part of the city. In July 1967, the population was 35,970. A total of…

Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA: A sunbelt city rapidly outgrowing its aquifer

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Turin, H.J.; Gaume, A.N.; Bitner, M.J.

1997-02-01

Albuquerque, New Mexico, is located along the Rio Grande in central New Mexico, at an elevation of 5280 feet. Albuquerque`s climate reflects its high desert setting; average annual precipitation in the basin is only 8 to 10 inches. The Albuquerque metropolitan area is part of the rapidly growing {open_quotes}sunbelt{close_quotes} region of the southwestern United States and is undergoing rapid development. The municipal, industrial, and residential water needs of the entire population are currently met by groundwater, while agricultural needs within the basin are met by surface water diverted from the Rio Grande. While the city is blessed with an extremelymore » productive aquifer, current metropolitan area annual groundwater extractions of 170,000 acre-feet far exceed the sustainable yield of the aquifer. Continued drawdown will lead to greater pumping costs, ground surface subsidence problems, and eventual aquifer depletion. At the same time, industrial and non-point-source contamination and naturally occurring arsenic levels are raising concerns about groundwater quality. New Mexico water law has required the City to acquire surface water rights and allocations on the Rio Grande sufficient to offset estimated losses from the river induced by the City`s groundwater extraction. It has become increasingly clear that the induced recharge had been greatly overestimated, and that the City is thus not actually consuming its surface water as intended. The City, in cooperation with local, state, and federal agencies, has explored a variety of conjunctive use proposals, all designed to permit the City to use its surface water more directly. The City Council is presently considering a strategy calling for full use of the city`s surface water resources and creation of a groundwater drought reserve. Implementation of this strategy will require regulatory approval and major capital investment, both of which require political support.« less

Black Hills Region, SD, USA

NASA Image and Video Library

1973-06-22

SL2-81-157 (22 June 1973) --- This view of the Black Hills Region, SD (44.0N, 104.0W) shows the scenic Black Hills where Mt. Rushmore and other monuments are located. Cities and towns in this view include: Rapid City, Deadwood, and Belle Fourche with the nearby Belle Fourche Reservoir. Notable in this scene are the recovering burn scars (seen as irregular shaped light toned patches) from a 1959 forest fire in the Black Hills National Forest near the edge of the photo. Photo credit: NASA

Makassar city government’s urban refugee policy: filling in the gap?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gabiella, D.; Putri, R. A. A. K.

2018-03-01

Indonesia is home to 13,829 refugees and asylum seekers by the end of January 2017. In general, the number could be dichotomized into two categories: camp-based refugees and urban refugees. There are approximately 70.83% of urban refugees living in several cities across the country. The existence of refugees in urban environments has been considered as either bringing promise or peril to urban development. Makassar is one among the most populated cities by refugees in Indonesia. In the middle of the inadequacy of legal framework at the national level, the Makassar City Government initiated a policy to address the issues of refugees staying in the city specifically. In 2005, the Mayor of Makassar signed a Memorandum of Understanding with International Organization for Migration (IOM) to accommodate the needs for funding allocated from Regional Budget that could not be dispensed due to the absence of legal basis. The city also constituted a Joint Committee Monitoring (JCM), which comprises of various government agencies, to support the Immigration Office in monitoring the refugees. These initiatives allow refugees to access basic services that are not made available to them in other cities. Against this backdrop, this paper mainly discusses the initiatives and refugee policy of Makassar City Government, which had emulated the national government’s policy to refugee management before the recently signed Presidential Decree No. 25 / 2016. It argues that the proactive and relatively integrative approach of the City Government alongside the social inclusion by the local community have contributed positively to the livelihoods of urban refugees in Makassar.

New Zealand’s deadliest quake sounds alarm for cities on fault lines

USGS Publications Warehouse

Kalkan, Erol

2012-01-01

The catastrophic Christ Church Earthquake is a strong reminder to engineers and scientists of the hazards pose by fault lines, both mapped and unknown, near major cities. In February 2011, the relatively moderate earthquake that struck the cities of Christchurch and Lyttleton in the Canterbury region of New Zealand's South Island surprised many with its destructive power. The magnitude 6.2 temblor killed 181 people, 118 of whom were killed in the collapse of a single building in the city center. The quake damaged or destroyed more than 100,000 buildings.It was the deadliest quake to strike the nation in 80 years-since the 1931 earthquake that struck the Napier and Hastings area of the North Island. The Christchurch quake was part of the aftershock sequence following the September 2010 magnitude 7.1 earthquake near Darfield, 40 kilometers west of the city. The Darfield earthquake was in a sparsely populated area, causing to loss of life. By contrast, the Christchurch earthquake was generated on a fault in close proximity to the city.

Cross-Cultural Psychometric Assessment of the Leeds Assessment of Neuropathic Symptoms and Signs (LANSS) Pain Scale in the Portuguese Population.

PubMed

Barbosa, Margarida; Bennett, Michael I; Verissimo, Ramiro; Carvalho, Davide

2014-09-01

Chronic pain is a well-known phenomenon. The differential diagnosis between neuropathic and nociceptive pain syndromes is a challenge. Consequently, assessment instruments that can distinguish between these conditions in a standardized way are of the utmost importance. The Leeds Assessment of Neuropathic Symptoms and Signs (LANSS) is a screening tool developed to identify chronic neuropathic pain. The aim of this study was the Portuguese language translation, linguistic adaptation of the LANSS pain scale, its semantic validation, internal consistency, temporal stability, as well its validity and discriminative power. LANSS Portuguese version scale was applied to 165 consecutive patients attending the pain clinic: 103 fulfilled the clinical criteria for the diagnosis of pain of neuropathic origin and the remaining 62 fulfilled the criteria for nociceptive pain. The scale proved to be an internally consistent (Cronbach's alpha = 0.78) and reliable instrument with good test-retest stability (r = 0.7; P < 0.001). However, its validity and specificity with a cutoff point of ≥ 12, for differentiating patients with neuropathic pain from those with non-neuropathic pain, had 89% sensitivity, 74% specificity, positive predictive value of 85%, and negative predictive value of 81%. The Portuguese LANSS version pain scale properties lead us to the conclusion that such a cross-cultural version is a reliable and valid instrument for the differentiation of this type of pain. Its usage is recommended. © 2013 World Institute of Pain.

City 2020+

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schneider, C.; Buttstädt, M.; Merbitz, H.; Sachsen, T.; Ketzler, G.; Michael, S.; Klemme, M.; Dott, W.; Selle, K.; Hofmeister, H.

2010-09-01

This research initiative CITY 2020+ assesses the risks and opportunities for residents in urban built environments under projected demographic and climate change for the year 2020 and beyond, using the City of Aachen as a case study. CITY 2020+ develops scenarios, options and tools for planning and developing sustainable future city structures. We investigate how urban environment, political structure and residential behavior can best be adapted, with attention to the interactions among structural, political, and sociological configurations and with their consequences on human health. Demographers project that in the EU-25-States by 2050, approximately 30% of the population will be over age 65. Also by 2050, average tem¬peratures are projected to rise by 1 to 2 K. Combined, Europe can expect enhanced thermal stress and higher levels of particulate matter. CITY 2020+ amongst other sub-projects includes research project dealing with (1) a micro-scale assessment of blockages to low-level cold-air drainage flow into the city centre by vegetation and building structures, (2) a detailed analysis of the change of probability density functions related to the occurrence of heat waves during summer and the spatial and temporal structure of the urban heat island (UHI) (3) a meso-scale analysis of particulate matter (PM) concentrations depending on topography, local meteorological conditions and synoptic-scale weather patterns. First results will be presented specifically from sub-projects related to vegetation barriers within cold air drainage, the assessment of the UHI and the temporal and spatial pattern of PM loadings in the city centre. The analysis of the cold air drainage flow is investigated in two consecutive years with a clearing of vegetation stands in the beginning of the second year early in 2010. The spatial pattern of the UHI and its possible enhancement by climate change is addressed employing a unique setup using GPS devices and temperature probes fixed to

Economics of high-rise construction: the feasibility of skyscrapers building in the Russian cities

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Petrov, Artur; Petrova, Daria

2018-03-01

The article considers the economic aspects of constructing high-rise buildings in the world and in Russia. Data on the number of high-rise buildings in Russian cities with a million population are presented. It is proved that interest in high-rise construction in Russia has been formed only in Moscow and partly in St. Petersburg and Yekaterinburg. The analysis showed that the reason for this is the expensiveness of high-rise construction. According to the enlarged macro-calculation, the cost of building 1 m2 of the area of the Federation Towers complex (Moscow City) is about 2710 /m2. Practically a possibility of return on investments in the foreseeable time interval exists only in Moscow. For the regions of Russia this task is rather complicated. Population density in regional Russian cities is quite low, business entities do not have the necessary financial resources for investing in high-rise construction, and investments from abroad absent.

Modeling the Land Use/Cover Change in an Arid Region Oasis City Constrained by Water Resource and Environmental Policy Change using Cellular Automata Model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hu, X.; Li, X.; Lu, L.

2017-12-01

Land use/cover change (LUCC) is an important subject in the research of global environmental change and sustainable development, while spatial simulation on land use/cover change is one of the key content of LUCC and is also difficult due to the complexity of the system. The cellular automata (CA) model had an irreplaceable role in simulating of land use/cover change process due to the powerful spatial computing power. However, the majority of current CA land use/cover models were binary-state model that could not provide more general information about the overall spatial pattern of land use/cover change. Here, a multi-state logistic-regression-based Markov cellular automata (MLRMCA) model and a multi-state artificial-neural-network-based Markov cellular automata (MANNMCA) model were developed and were used to simulate complex land use/cover evolutionary process in an arid region oasis city constrained by water resource and environmental policy change, the Zhangye city during the period of 1990-2010. The results indicated that the MANNMCA model was superior to MLRMCA model in simulated accuracy. These indicated that by combining the artificial neural network with CA could more effectively capture the complex relationships between the land use/cover change and a set of spatial variables. Although the MLRMCA model were also some advantages, the MANNMCA model was more appropriate for simulating complex land use/cover dynamics. The two proposed models were effective and reliable, and could reflect the spatial evolution of regional land use/cover changes. These have also potential implications for the impact assessment of water resources, ecological restoration, and the sustainable urban development in arid areas.

First report of Stegomyia aegypti (= Aedes aegypti) in Mexico City, Mexico.

PubMed

Kuri-Morales, P; Correa-Morales, F; González-Acosta, C; Sánchez-Tejeda, G; Dávalos-Becerril, E; Fernanda Juárez-Franco, M; Díaz-Quiñonez, A; Huerta-Jimenéz, H; Mejía-Guevara, M D; Moreno-García, M; González-Roldán, J F

2017-06-01

Stegomyia aegypti (= Aedes aegypti) (Diptera: Culicidae) is a species of mosquito that is currently widespread in Mexico. Historically, the mosquito has been distributed across most tropical and subtropical areas lower than 1700 m a.s.l. Currently, populations that are found at higher altitudes in regions with cold and dry climates suggest that these conditions do not limit the colonization and population growth of S. aegypti. During a survey of mosquitoes in September 2015, larvae of S. aegypti mosquitoes were found in two different localities in Mexico City, which is located at about 2250 m a.s.l. Mexico City is the most populous city in Mexico and has inefficient drainage and water supply systems. These factors may result in the provision of numerous larval breeding sites. Mosquito monitoring and surveillance are now priorities for the city. © 2017 The Royal Entomological Society.

On the Internet of Things, smart cities and the WHO Healthy Cities

PubMed Central

2014-01-01

This article gives a brief overview of the Internet of Things (IoT) for cities, offering examples of IoT-powered 21st century smart cities, including the experience of the Spanish city of Barcelona in implementing its own IoT-driven services to improve the quality of life of its people through measures that promote an eco-friendly, sustainable environment. The potential benefits as well as the challenges associated with IoT for cities are discussed. Much of the 'big data' that are continuously generated by IoT sensors, devices, systems and services are geo-tagged or geo-located. The importance of having robust, intelligent geospatial analytics systems in place to process and make sense of such data in real time cannot therefore be overestimated. The authors argue that IoT-powered smart cities stand better chances of becoming healthier cities. The World Health Organization (WHO) Healthy Cities Network and associated national networks have hundreds of member cities around the world that could benefit from, and harness the power of, IoT to improve the health and well-being of their local populations. PMID:24669838

On the Internet of Things, smart cities and the WHO Healthy Cities.

PubMed

Kamel Boulos, Maged N; Al-Shorbaji, Najeeb M

2014-03-27

This article gives a brief overview of the Internet of Things (IoT) for cities, offering examples of IoT-powered 21st century smart cities, including the experience of the Spanish city of Barcelona in implementing its own IoT-driven services to improve the quality of life of its people through measures that promote an eco-friendly, sustainable environment. The potential benefits as well as the challenges associated with IoT for cities are discussed. Much of the 'big data' that are continuously generated by IoT sensors, devices, systems and services are geo-tagged or geo-located. The importance of having robust, intelligent geospatial analytics systems in place to process and make sense of such data in real time cannot therefore be overestimated. The authors argue that IoT-powered smart cities stand better chances of becoming healthier cities. The World Health Organization (WHO) Healthy Cities Network and associated national networks have hundreds of member cities around the world that could benefit from, and harness the power of, IoT to improve the health and well-being of their local populations.

Six Ages towards a Learning Region--A Retrospective

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Longworth, Norman; Osborne, Michael

2010-01-01

Learning Cities and Learning Regions are terms now in common use as a result of the growing importance of lifelong learning concepts to the economic, social and environmental future of people and places. Why "learning" regions? Why not intelligent, creative, clever, smart or knowledge regions? In truth, all of these can, and some do,…

A Research of Construction Mechanism of Vassal State's City Group during Spring and Autumn Period Based on the Analyzation of Geographic Image - Take south region of Shandong as example

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gao, X.; Li, B.; Zhou, X.

2015-08-01

Spring and Autumn period, the vassal states began to carry out country defense construction actively, brought changes to building the ideological. At that time, the south region of Shandong, as an independent unit of geography, seldom affected by external factors, and had striking cultural characteristics. Vassal states there constructed their capital mainly to defense the neighboring countries and cope with small scale mergers war, not involving the nationwide military deployment. Therefore, the region reflect the construction thought changes during the Spring and Autumn Period, and consistent with the research purpose. Based on this judgment, the author analyzed each capital's location and terrain feature by topographic map. In brief, the Spring and Autumn Period, feudal states acted of one's own free will, the relationship between cities contained the one within and between vassal states. Within vassal state relationships included economic support, entrenching each other and protecting the country together. Meanwhile, strategic defensing, scrambling for resources and geographical location comprised of the competition between vassal states. In the agrarian age, the political centers and agricultural areas were interdependent, giving priority to the development of political cities. Transformation of capitals' space layout was actually the process of carving up farming plains, the powerful states occupy favorable geographical position, and the small countries would be encroached and annexed gradually.

Services Oriented Smart City Platform Based On 3d City Model Visualization

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Prandi, F.; Soave, M.; Devigili, F.; Andreolli, M.; De Amicis, R.

2014-04-01

The rapid technological evolution, which is characterizing all the disciplines involved within the wide concept of smart cities, is becoming a key factor to trigger true user-driven innovation. However to fully develop the Smart City concept to a wide geographical target, it is required an infrastructure that allows the integration of heterogeneous geographical information and sensor networks into a common technological ground. In this context 3D city models will play an increasingly important role in our daily lives and become an essential part of the modern city information infrastructure (Spatial Data Infrastructure). The work presented in this paper describes an innovative Services Oriented Architecture software platform aimed at providing smartcities services on top of 3D urban models. 3D city models are the basis of many applications and can became the platform for integrating city information within the Smart-Cites context. In particular the paper will investigate how the efficient visualisation of 3D city models using different levels of detail (LODs) is one of the pivotal technological challenge to support Smart-Cities applications. The goal is to provide to the final user realistic and abstract 3D representations of the urban environment and the possibility to interact with a massive amounts of semantic information contained into the geospatial 3D city model. The proposed solution, using OCG standards and a custom service to provide 3D city models, lets the users to consume the services and interact with the 3D model via Web in a more effective way.

The Lost City Hydrothermal Field: A Spectroscopic and Astrobiological Analogue for Nili Fossae, Mars.

PubMed

Amador, Elena S; Bandfield, Joshua L; Brazelton, William J; Kelley, Deborah

2017-11-01

Low-temperature serpentinization is a critical process with respect to Earth's habitability and the Solar System. Exothermic serpentinization reactions commonly produce hydrogen as a direct by-product and typically produce short-chained organic compounds indirectly. Here, we present the spectral and mineralogical variability in rocks from the serpentine-driven Lost City Hydrothermal Field on Earth and the olivine-rich region of Nili Fossae on Mars. Near- and thermal-infrared spectral measurements were made from a suite of Lost City rocks at wavelengths similar to those for instruments collecting measurements of the martian surface. Results from Lost City show a spectrally distinguishable suite of Mg-rich serpentine, Ca carbonates, talc, and amphibole minerals. Aggregated detections of low-grade metamorphic minerals in rocks from Nili Fossae were mapped and yielded a previously undetected serpentine exposure in the region. Direct comparison of the two spectral suites indicates similar mineralogy at both Lost City and in the Noachian (4-3.7 Ga) bedrock of Nili Fossae, Mars. Based on mapping of these spectral phases, the implied mineralogical suite appears to be extensive across the region. These results suggest that serpentinization was once an active process, indicating that water and energy sources were available, as well as a means for prebiotic chemistry during a time period when life was first emerging on Earth. Although the mineralogical assemblages identified on Mars are unlikely to be directly analogous to rocks that underlie the Lost City Hydrothermal Field, related geochemical processes (and associated sources of biologically accessible energy) were once present in the subsurface, making Nili Fossae a compelling candidate for a once-habitable environment on Mars. Key Words: Mars-Habitability-Serpentinization-Analogue. Astrobiology 17, 1138-1160.

The Influence of Drivers and Barriers on Urban Adaptation and Mitigation Plans—An Empirical Analysis of European Cities

PubMed Central

Reckien, Diana; Flacke, Johannes

2015-01-01

Cities are recognised as key players in global adaptation and mitigation efforts because the majority of people live in cities. However, in Europe, which is highly urbanized and one of the most advanced regions in terms of environmental policies, there is considerable diversity in the regional distribution, ambition and scope of climate change responses. This paper explores potential factors contributing to such diversity in 200 large and medium-sized cities across 11 European countries. We statistically investigate institutional, socio-economic, environmental and vulnerability characteristics of cities as potential drivers of or barriers to the development of urban climate change plans. Our results show that factors such as membership of climate networks, population size, GDP per capita and adaptive capacity act as drivers of mitigation and adaptation plans. By contrast, factors such as the unemployment rate, warmer summers, proximity to the coast and projected exposure to future climate impacts act as barriers. We see that, overall, it is predominantly large and prosperous cities that engage in climate planning, while vulnerable cities and those at risk of severe climate impacts in the future are less active. Our analysis suggests that climate change planning in European cities is not proactive, i.e. not significantly influenced by anticipated future impacts. Instead, we found that the current adaptive capacity of a city significantly relates to climate planning. Along with the need to further explore these relations, we see a need for more economic and institutional support for smaller and less resourceful cities and those at high risk from climate change impacts in the future. PMID:26317420

The Influence of Drivers and Barriers on Urban Adaptation and Mitigation Plans-An Empirical Analysis of European Cities.

PubMed

Reckien, Diana; Flacke, Johannes; Olazabal, Marta; Heidrich, Oliver

2015-01-01

Cities are recognised as key players in global adaptation and mitigation efforts because the majority of people live in cities. However, in Europe, which is highly urbanized and one of the most advanced regions in terms of environmental policies, there is considerable diversity in the regional distribution, ambition and scope of climate change responses. This paper explores potential factors contributing to such diversity in 200 large and medium-sized cities across 11 European countries. We statistically investigate institutional, socio-economic, environmental and vulnerability characteristics of cities as potential drivers of or barriers to the development of urban climate change plans. Our results show that factors such as membership of climate networks, population size, GDP per capita and adaptive capacity act as drivers of mitigation and adaptation plans. By contrast, factors such as the unemployment rate, warmer summers, proximity to the coast and projected exposure to future climate impacts act as barriers. We see that, overall, it is predominantly large and prosperous cities that engage in climate planning, while vulnerable cities and those at risk of severe climate impacts in the future are less active. Our analysis suggests that climate change planning in European cities is not proactive, i.e. not significantly influenced by anticipated future impacts. Instead, we found that the current adaptive capacity of a city significantly relates to climate planning. Along with the need to further explore these relations, we see a need for more economic and institutional support for smaller and less resourceful cities and those at high risk from climate change impacts in the future.

Model Evaluation To Measuring Efficiencies of ICT Development In Indonesia Region Using DEA

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Efendi, Syahril; Fadly Syahputra, M.; Anggia Muchtar, M.

2018-01-01

ICT Pura or digital city is a program designed by the Indonesian government with the main objective is to determine the level of readiness of each district and city in each province in the era of digital economy. It is necessarily to evaluate whether a city or a region that was successfully managing ICT better than other city and significantly contributes to the communities and living systems. Data envelopment analysis (DEA) is a well known technique to estimate efficiency and returns to scale through the construction of a best practice frontier, based on non-parametric mathematical programming approach. This paper addresses DEA BCC method to get index of efficiencies for all region in Indonesia covered by ICT Pura. Numerical result is given.

The Economic Impact of Higher Education on the Kansas City Metropolitan Area 1988-1989. A Report.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kansas City Regional Council for Higher Education, MO.

A study was formally requested by the Kansas City Regional Council for Higher Education Institutional Research Directors' Group in the spring of 1990, to examine the economic impact of higher education on the Kansas City, Missouri and Kansas, metropolitan area. An economic impact model was used which includes the four major components of direct…

US cities can manage national hydrology and biodiversity using local infrastructure policy

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

McManamay, Ryan A.; Surendran Nair, Sujithkumar; DeRolph, Christopher R.

Cities are concentrations of socio-political power and prime architects of land transformation, while also serving as consumption hubs of “hard” water and energy infrastructures (e.g. electrical power, stormwater management, zoning, water supply, and wastewater). These infrastructures extend well outside metropolitan boundaries and impact distal river ecosystems. We used a comprehensive model to quantify the roles of anthropogenic stressors on hydrologic alteration and biodiversity in US streams and isolated the impacts stemming from hard infrastructure developments in cities. Across the conterminous US, cities’ hard infrastructures have significantly altered at least 7% of streams, which influence habitats for over 60% of Northmore » America’s fish, mussel, and crayfish species. Additionally, city infrastructures have contributed to local extinctions in 260 species and currently influence 970 indigenous species, 27% of which are in jeopardy. We find that ecosystem impacts do not scale with city size but are instead proportionate to infrastructure decisions. For example, Atlanta’s impacts by hard infrastructures extend across four major river basins, 12,500 stream km, and contribute to 100 local extinctions of aquatic species. In contrast, Las Vegas, a similar size city, impacts < 1000 stream km, leading to only 7 local extinctions. So, cities have local policy choices that can reduce future impacts to regional aquatic ecosystems as cities grow. Furthermore, by coordinating policy and communication between hard infrastructure sectors, local city governments and utilities can directly improve environmental quality in a significant fraction of the nation’s streams and aquatic biota reaching far beyond their city boundaries.« less

US cities can manage national hydrology and biodiversity using local infrastructure policy

DOE PAGES

McManamay, Ryan A.; Surendran Nair, Sujithkumar; DeRolph, Christopher R.; ...

2017-08-21

Cities are concentrations of socio-political power and prime architects of land transformation, while also serving as consumption hubs of “hard” water and energy infrastructures (e.g. electrical power, stormwater management, zoning, water supply, and wastewater). These infrastructures extend well outside metropolitan boundaries and impact distal river ecosystems. We used a comprehensive model to quantify the roles of anthropogenic stressors on hydrologic alteration and biodiversity in US streams and isolated the impacts stemming from hard infrastructure developments in cities. Across the conterminous US, cities’ hard infrastructures have significantly altered at least 7% of streams, which influence habitats for over 60% of Northmore » America’s fish, mussel, and crayfish species. Additionally, city infrastructures have contributed to local extinctions in 260 species and currently influence 970 indigenous species, 27% of which are in jeopardy. We find that ecosystem impacts do not scale with city size but are instead proportionate to infrastructure decisions. For example, Atlanta’s impacts by hard infrastructures extend across four major river basins, 12,500 stream km, and contribute to 100 local extinctions of aquatic species. In contrast, Las Vegas, a similar size city, impacts < 1000 stream km, leading to only 7 local extinctions. So, cities have local policy choices that can reduce future impacts to regional aquatic ecosystems as cities grow. Furthermore, by coordinating policy and communication between hard infrastructure sectors, local city governments and utilities can directly improve environmental quality in a significant fraction of the nation’s streams and aquatic biota reaching far beyond their city boundaries.« less

77 FR 39413 - Safety Zone: Crescent City Fourth of July Fireworks Event, Crescent City, CA

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-07-03

...-AA00 Safety Zone: Crescent City Fourth of July Fireworks Event, Crescent City, CA AGENCY: Coast Guard... the navigable waters near Crescent City Harbor in Crescent City, CA in support of the Crescent City... establish safety zones (33 U.S.C sections 1221 et seq.). Crescent City-Del Norte County Chamber of Commerce...

US cities can manage national hydrology and biodiversity using local infrastructure policy

PubMed Central

Surendran Nair, Sujithkumar; DeRolph, Christopher R.; Ruddell, Benjamin L.; Morton, April M.; Stewart, Robert N.; Troia, Matthew J.; Tran, Liem; Kim, Hyun; Bhaduri, Budhendra L.

2017-01-01

Cities are concentrations of sociopolitical power and prime architects of land transformation, while also serving as consumption hubs of “hard” water and energy infrastructures. These infrastructures extend well outside metropolitan boundaries and impact distal river ecosystems. We used a comprehensive model to quantify the roles of anthropogenic stressors on hydrologic alteration and biodiversity in US streams and isolate the impacts stemming from hard infrastructure developments in cities. Across the contiguous United States, cities’ hard infrastructures have significantly altered at least 7% of streams, which influence habitats for over 60% of North America’s fish, mussel, and crayfish species. Additionally, city infrastructures have contributed to local extinctions in 260 species and currently influence 970 indigenous species, 27% of which are in jeopardy. We find that ecosystem impacts do not scale with city size but are instead proportionate to infrastructure decisions. For example, Atlanta’s impacts by hard infrastructures extend across four major river basins, 12,500 stream km, and contribute to 100 local extinctions of aquatic species. In contrast, Las Vegas, a similar size city, impacts <1,000 stream km, leading to only seven local extinctions. So, cities have local policy choices that can reduce future impacts to regional aquatic ecosystems as they grow. By coordinating policy and communication between hard infrastructure sectors, local city governments and utilities can directly improve environmental quality in a significant fraction of the nation’s streams reaching far beyond their city boundaries. PMID:28827332

The classification and assessment of vulnerability of man-land system of oasis city in arid area

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gao, Chao; Lei, Jun; Jin, Fengjun

2013-12-01

Oasis city system is the center of the man-land relationship in arid area and it is the most influential spatial and temporal multiple dynamic system. Oasis city system is not only the largest area where artificial disturbances occur at a regional scale but also the most concentrated area of human activity in arid area. In this study, we developed an applicable and convenient method to assess vulnerability of man-land system of oasis cities with vulnerability indicator system, respectively evaluating the sensitivity, adaptability and vulnerability of the eco-environment system, the economic system and the social system. The results showed that the sensitivity and vulnerability of oasis cities in Xinjiang, China have significant differences while their adaptability does little. In order to find the inherent differences in the vulnerability of oasis cities, triangle methodology has been adopted to divide Xinjiang oasis cities into five types. Some adaptive developing policies specific for individual cities are also proposed based on their vulnerability type and constraining factors.

75 FR 56467 - Safety Zone; Ocean City Beachfront Air Show, Ocean City, NJ

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-09-16

...-AA00 Safety Zone; Ocean City Beachfront Air Show, Ocean City, NJ AGENCY: Coast Guard, DHS. ACTION... Atlantic Ocean, Ocean City, NJ. The temporary safety zone will restrict vessel traffic from a portion of the Atlantic Ocean during the Ocean City Beachfront Air Show, which is an aerial demonstration to be...

76 FR 31235 - Safety Zone; Ocean City Air Show, Atlantic Ocean, Ocean City, MD

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-05-31

...-AA00 Safety Zone; Ocean City Air Show, Atlantic Ocean, Ocean City, MD AGENCY: Coast Guard, DHS. ACTION... in the vicinity of Ocean City, MD to support the Ocean City Air Show. This action is necessary to provide for the safety of life on navigable waters during the Ocean City Air Show. This action is intended...

Characterization of the Virtual Water Commodity Network of Major U.S. Cities

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Garcia, S.; Ahams, I. C.; Ruddell, B. L.; Mejia, A.

2016-12-01

Cities, through their socioeconomic power and consumption patterns, drive an intricate web of commodity flows that gives rise to an underlying network of indirect transfers of energy and water. The virtual water content of a commodity represents the water embedded in its production. It can serve as a measure of city water consumption that, along with direct, metabolic consumption, exposes the dependence of cities on distant regions and the potential vulnerabilities of the network to shocks and stresses. Using the U.S. network of commodities flows, together with their associated virtual water content, we use network theory to analyze first-order and higher-order topological properties of virtual water flows for major U.S. cities, defined by their metropolitan boundaries. They are represented as nodes and weighted directed links, symbolizing the volume and direction of the virtual water flows associated with the transfer of agricultural, livestock and industrial commodities. We find that network properties, generally, vary across commodities and reveal complex structures such as the appearance of hubs like Chicago, Houston, and New Orleans for industrial commodities and the formation of communities (megaregions). Additionally, using scaling arguments, we find that increasing city size makes larger cities more water efficient and hydroeconomically productive than smaller ones. This work represents an initial step towards understanding the role played by cities in the U.S. commodity network and food-energy-water (FEW) nexus.

The medicinal animal markets in the metropolitan region of Natal City, northeastern Brazil.

PubMed

Oliveira, Eduardo S; Torres, Denise F; Brooks, Sharon E; Alves, Rômulo R N

2010-07-06

This study investigates the trade of animals for medicinal purposes in Natal metropolitan area, northeastern Brazil, to document which animal species are used, how and for what purposes. This study also discusses the implications of the use of zootherapeutics for wildlife conservation. Based on interviews with merchants of medicinal animals in all open fairs of the metropolitan region of Natal City, we calculated the informant consensus factor (ICF) to determine the consensus over which species are effective for particular ailments, as well as the species relative importance to determine the extent of potential utilization of each species. We describe the therapeutic effects of 23 animal species used medicinally. The zootherapeutical products sold commercially are used to treat 34 health problems that were classified into 14 broad categories. We also highlight those species valued for their effectiveness against a range of ailments. The highest ICF value (1.0) was cited for diseases of the circulatory system, which include relief of symptoms such as stroke, hemorrhage, varicose veins and edema. Our study indicated that the local population holds a great deal of ethnomedical knowledge about their local animal resources, and highlights the need for clinical investigations of these traditional remedies to test the safety and efficacy. The animal species identified in this study not only hold high medicinal value for local populations, but could potentially be a source of healing compounds that could aid pharmaceutical research. While the impact of these practices on animal populations is unknown, the high extractive value of these animal populations and the associated medicinal traditional knowledge, needs to be considered in any conservation strategy aimed at the faunistic resources of this area. Copyright (c) 2010 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Bangkok--a city ready to burst.

PubMed

Tuntawiroon, N; Samootsakorn, P

1984-05-01

The population of Bangkok accounts for 11% of the total population of Thailand and the population density in 1981 was 3399/sq km, 6 times as much as the next densest province. The proportion of urban population to the total population rose from 10.3% in 1950 to 16.3% in 1970 and 16.5% in 1980. There are many factors contributing to this uncontrolled growth of Bangkok at the expense of the rest of the country. The city is located in the middle of the region, is in a prime agricultural area, is near the mouth of a river which is widely used for transportation, and was politically a choice spot. Historically, all government agencies have been located in Bangkok and the majority of tax collected all over the country goes to the city where it is allocated by the central government for spending in the national budget. Communication systems are also centered there, as is the only significant international airport. In 1980 the Bangkok gross product was valued at about 35.2% of the total gross domestic product of Thailand that year. Average personal income is about 2.5 times higher than the rest of the country. The city has better social, health, and educational amenities which contribute signficantly to migration. Yet the city is so big that some symptoms of inefficiency are beginning to surface such as traffic congestion, housing shortages, and slums, inadequate water supply and poor sanitation, defective telephone service, air pollution, water pollution, noise pollution, and deficient garbage collection. All of these problems are interrelated. If a great deal of funding is spent on the quality of life in Bangkok, and migration continues unabated, it would probably be better to deliberately accelerate the decay of Bangkok until the quality of life is so low that people will start to move out willingly, putting an end to the parasitic role of this prime city that is so harmful to the development endeavor.

Clean Cities 2015 Annual Metrics Report

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Johnson, Caley; Singer, Mark

2016-12-01

The U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE's) Clean Cities program advances the nation's economic, environmental, and energy security by supporting local actions to cut petroleum use and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in transportation. A national network of nearly 100 Clean Cities coalitions, whose territory covers 80% of the U.S. population, brings together stakeholders in the public and private sectors to deploy alternative and renewable fuels, idle-reduction (IR) measures, fuel economy improvements, and new transportation technologies as they emerge. Each year, DOE asks Clean Cities coordinators to submit annual reports of their activities and accomplishments for the previous calendar year. Progress reportsmore » and information are submitted online as a function of the Alternative Fuels Data Center (AFDC) at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). Coordinators report a range of information that characterize the membership, funding, projects, and activities of their coalitions. They also document activities in their region related to the development of refueling/charging infrastructure, sales of alternative fuels; deployment of alternative fuel vehicles (AFVs), plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs), hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs), and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs); idle reduction initiatives; fuel economy improvement activities; and programs to reduce vehicle miles traveled (VMT). NREL analyzes the data and translates them into petroleum-use and GHG emission reduction impacts, which are summarized in this report.« less

Becoming a Lifelong Learning City: Lessons from a Provincial City in South Korea

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kwon, In Tak; Kim, Junghwan; Lim, Doo Hun

2015-01-01

This paper is designed to explore Jeonju City's strategies to build a successful lifelong learning city by analyzing the practices for the Lifelong Learning City Movement (LLCM) and then draw the limitations and needed tasks for building a Lifelong Learning City at the local government level. As Cunningham (1993) pointed out, we found some gaps…

77 FR 29932 - Safety Zone; Nautical City Festival Air Show, Rogers City, MI

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-05-21

...-AA00 Safety Zone; Nautical City Festival Air Show, Rogers City, MI AGENCY: Coast Guard, DHS. ACTION... City Festival will be celebrating Calcite's 100th Anniversary. As part of that celebration, an air show will be launched to the east of the Rogers City marina. The Captain of the Port Sault Sainte Marie has...

Association between Ambient Temperatures and Mental Disorder Hospitalizations in a Subtropical City: A Time-Series Study of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.

PubMed

Chan, Emily Y Y; Lam, Holly C Y; So, Suzanne H W; Goggins, William B; Ho, Janice Y; Liu, Sida; Chung, Phoebe P W

2018-04-14

Background : Mental disorders have been found to be positively associated with temperature in cool to cold climatic regions but the association in warmer regions is unclear. This study presented the short-term association between temperatures and mental disorder hospitalizations in a subtropical city with a mean annual temperature over 21 °C. Methods : Using Poisson-generalized additive models and distributed-lagged nonlinear models, daily mental disorder hospitalizations between 2002 and 2011 in Hong Kong were regressed on daily mean temperature, relative humidity, and air pollutants, adjusted for seasonal trend, long-term trend, day-of-week, and holiday. Analyses were stratified by disease class, gender and age-group. Results : 44,600 admissions were included in the analysis. Temperature was positively associated with overall mental-disorder hospitalizations (cumulative relative risk at 28 °C vs. 19.4 °C (interquartile range, lag 0-2 days) = 1.09 (95% confidence interval 1.03, 1.15)), with the strongest effect among the elderly (≥75 years old). Transient mental disorders due to conditions classified elsewhere and episodic mood disorders also showed strong positive associations with temperature. Conclusion : This study found a positive temperature-mental-disorder admissions association in a warm subtropical region and the association was most prominent among older people. With the dual effect of global warming and an aging population, targeted strategies should be designed to lower the disease burden.

City of El Monte Stormwater System Improvement Project FONSI and EA

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 9 intends to award a grant to the City of El Monte, California, in accordance with the in accordance with the Consolidated Appropriations Act of FY2009 for the Garvey Storm Drain Reconstruction Project.

[Vulnerability of eco-economy in northern slope region of Tianshan Mountains].

PubMed

Wu, Jian-zhai; Li, Bo; Zhang, Xin-shi; Zhao, Wen-wu; Jiang, Guang-hui

2008-04-01

Based on the theoretical meaning of vulnerability, a vulnerability assessment of eco-econom in fifteen counties in the northern slope region of Tianshan Mountains was conducted. The ecosystem services change to land use was regarded as the impact, and based on the fourteen indices from resource holding, society development, and economy development statistic data, the adaptive ability was evaluated by using the methods of analytic hierarchy process (AHP) and fuzzy synthetic evaluation. On the basis of assessment results of impact and adaptive capacity, the fifteen counties were divided into five classes under the assessment principles, and the district with higher-class number was of more vulnerability. The first class included Usu City and Changji City, the second class included Hutubi County, Miquan County, Fukang City, Jimsar County, Qitai County and Mori Kazak Autonomous County, the third class included Karamay City and Urumqi City, the fourth class included Kuitun City and Shawan County, and the fifth class included Jinghe County, Shihezi City and Manas County. The vulnerability reflected the level of eco-environment change and socioeconomic development, and the vulnerability assessment could be a good way to ensure the sustainable development. Aiming to decrease the vulnerability, various districts belonging to different class of vulnerability should establish relevant tactics according to the vulnerability factors to accelerate the region's sustainable development.

Water footprints of cities - indicators for sustainable consumption and production

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hoff, H.; Döll, P.; Fader, M.; Gerten, D.; Hauser, S.; Siebert, S.

2013-02-01

Water footprints have been proposed as sustainability indicators, relating the consumption of goods like food to the amount of water necessary for their production and the impacts of that water use in the source regions. We have further developed the existing water footprint methodology by globally resolving virtual water flows and import and source regions at 5 arc minutes spatial resolution, and by assessing local impacts of export production. Applying this method to three exemplary cities, Berlin, Delhi and Lagos, we find major differences in amounts, composition, and origin of green and blue virtual water imports, due to differences in diets, trade integration and crop water productivities in the source regions. While almost all of Delhi's and Lagos' virtual water imports are of domestic origin, Berlin on average imports from more than 4000 km distance, in particular soy (livestock feed), coffee and cocoa. While 42% of Delhi's virtual water imports are blue water based, the fractions for Berlin and Lagos are 2% and 0.5%, respectively, roughly equal to local drinking water abstractions of these cities. Some of the external source regions of Berlin's virtual water imports appear to be critically water scarce and/or food insecure. However for deriving recommendations on sustainable consumption and trade, further analysis of context-specific costs and benefits associated with export production will be required.

Automatic Texture Reconstruction of 3d City Model from Oblique Images

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kang, Junhua; Deng, Fei; Li, Xinwei; Wan, Fang

2016-06-01

In recent years, the photorealistic 3D city models are increasingly important in various geospatial applications related to virtual city tourism, 3D GIS, urban planning, real-estate management. Besides the acquisition of high-precision 3D geometric data, texture reconstruction is also a crucial step for generating high-quality and visually realistic 3D models. However, most of the texture reconstruction approaches are probably leading to texture fragmentation and memory inefficiency. In this paper, we introduce an automatic framework of texture reconstruction to generate textures from oblique images for photorealistic visualization. Our approach include three major steps as follows: mesh parameterization, texture atlas generation and texture blending. Firstly, mesh parameterization procedure referring to mesh segmentation and mesh unfolding is performed to reduce geometric distortion in the process of mapping 2D texture to 3D model. Secondly, in the texture atlas generation step, the texture of each segmented region in texture domain is reconstructed from all visible images with exterior orientation and interior orientation parameters. Thirdly, to avoid color discontinuities at boundaries between texture regions, the final texture map is generated by blending texture maps from several corresponding images. We evaluated our texture reconstruction framework on a dataset of a city. The resulting mesh model can get textured by created texture without resampling. Experiment results show that our method can effectively mitigate the occurrence of texture fragmentation. It is demonstrated that the proposed framework is effective and useful for automatic texture reconstruction of 3D city model.

The evolution of Zipf's law indicative of city development

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Yanguang

2016-02-01

Zipf's law of city-size distributions can be expressed by three types of mathematical models: one-parameter form, two-parameter form, and three-parameter form. The one-parameter and one of the two-parameter models are familiar to urban scientists. However, the three-parameter model and another type of two-parameter model have not attracted attention. This paper is devoted to exploring the conditions and scopes of application of these Zipf models. By mathematical reasoning and empirical analysis, new discoveries are made as follows. First, if the size distribution of cities in a geographical region cannot be described with the one- or two-parameter model, maybe it can be characterized by the three-parameter model with a scaling factor and a scale-translational factor. Second, all these Zipf models can be unified by hierarchical scaling laws based on cascade structure. Third, the patterns of city-size distributions seem to evolve from three-parameter mode to two-parameter mode, and then to one-parameter mode. Four-year census data of Chinese cities are employed to verify the three-parameter Zipf's law and the corresponding hierarchical structure of rank-size distributions. This study is revealing for people to understand the scientific laws of social systems and the property of urban development.

The impact of (mega)-cities on the earth's gravity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schnitzer, S.; Estrella, N.; Güntner, A.; Matiu, M.; Peterseim, N.; Menzel, A.

2013-12-01

The world population is constantly growing; today over 7 billion people populate the planet. This development has led to a strong urbanization and expanding cities. According to the United Nations, since 2007 more human beings have lived in urban areas than in rural areas, and by 2030 the urban share will be more than 60%. The challenges of fast growing cities lie in urban management, supply to inhabitants of resources (e.g. water, power, food), and strong environmental problems (e.g. pollution), i.e. their ecological footprint. In our study we address the question of another footprint, whether (mega)-cities have an impact on the earth's gravity field. Analyzing the possible triggers will help to understand the multiple footprints of big cities in various regions. We analyze several data sources. The main data sets are a) monthly solutions of the gravity satellite mission GRACE, detecting changes in the earth's gravity field over time, b) data of the hydrological model WGHM, estimating mass changes in terrestrial and ground water storage, c) urban population data of the United Nations, d) land cover information of the European Space Agency, e) different climate data sets and other auxiliary data. The results suggest a non-uniform pattern of gravity changes with variations in trends related to different clustering parameters.

Sinking Coastal Cities

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Erkens, G.; Stuurman, R.; De Lange, G.; Bucx, T.; Lambert, J.

2014-12-01

In many coastal cities land subsidence now exceeds absolute sea level rise up to a factor of ten. Without action, parts of Jakarta, Ho Chi Minh City, Bangkok and numerous other coastal cities will continue to sink, even below sea level. The ever increasing industrial and domestic demand for water in these cities results in excessive groundwater extraction, causing severe subsidence. In addition, coastal cities are often faced with larger natural subsidence, as they are built on thick sequences of soft soil. The impacts of subsidence are further exacerbated by climate-induced sea level rise. Land subsidence results in two types damage: foremost it increases flood vulnerability (frequency, inundation depth and duration of floods), with floods causing major economic damage and loss of lives. Secondly, differential land movement causes significant economic losses in the form of structural damage and high maintenance costs of roads and transportation networks, sewage systems, buildings and foundations. The total damage worldwide is estimated at billions of dollars annually. To survey the extent of groundwater associated subsidence, we conducted a quick-assessment of subsidence in a series of mega-cities (Jakarta, Ho Chi Minh City, Dhaka, New Orleans and Bangkok). For each city research questions included: what are the main causes, how much is the current subsidence rate and what are predictions, where are the vulnerable areas, what are the impacts and risks, how can adverse impacts can be mitigated or compensated for, and what governmental bodies are involved and responsible to act? Using the assessment, this paper discusses subsidence modelling and measurement results from the selected cities. The focus is on the importance of delayed settlement after increases in hydraulic heads, the role of the subsurface composition for subsidence rates and best practice solutions for subsiding cities. For the latter, urban (ground)water management, adaptive flood risk management

Urban Form and Extreme Heat Events: Are Sprawling Cities More Vulnerable to Climate Change Than Compact Cities?

PubMed Central

Stone, Brian; Hess, Jeremy J.; Frumkin, Howard

2010-01-01

Background Extreme heat events (EHEs) are increasing in frequency in large U.S. cities and are responsible for a greater annual number of climate-related fatalities, on average, than any other form of extreme weather. In addition, low-density, sprawling patterns of urban development have been associated with enhanced surface temperatures in urbanized areas. Objectives In this study. we examined the association between urban form at the level of the metropolitan region and the frequency of EHEs over a five-decade period. Methods We employed a widely published sprawl index to measure the association between urban form in 2000 and the mean annual rate of change in EHEs between 1956 and 2005. Results We found that the rate of increase in the annual number of EHEs between 1956 and 2005 in the most sprawling metropolitan regions was more than double the rate of increase observed in the most compact metropolitan regions. Conclusions The design and management of land use in metropolitan regions may offer an important tool for adapting to the heat-related health effects associated with ongoing climate change. PMID:21114000

Study of City Landscape Heritage Using Lidar Data and 3d-City Models

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rubinowicz, P.; Czynska, K.

2015-04-01

In contemporary town planning protection of urban landscape is a significant issue. It regards especially those cities, where urban structures are the result of ages of evolution and layering of historical development process. Specific panoramas and other strategic views with historic city dominants can be an important part of the cultural heritage and genius loci. Other hand, protection of such expositions introduces limitations for future based city development. Digital Earth observation techniques creates new possibilities for more accurate urban studies, monitoring of urbanization processes and measuring of city landscape parameters. The paper examines possibilities of application of Lidar data and digital 3D-city models for: a) evaluation of strategic city views, b) mapping landscape absorption limits, and c) determination protection zones, where the urbanization and buildings height should be limited. In reference to this goal, the paper introduces a method of computational analysis of the city landscape called Visual Protection Surface (VPS). The method allows to emulate a virtual surface above the city including protection of a selected strategic views. The surface defines maximum height of buildings in such a way, that no new facility can be seen in any of selected views. The research includes also analyses of the quality of simulations according the form and precision of the input data: airborne Lidar / DSM model and more advanced 3D-city models (incl. semantic of the geometry, like in CityGML format). The outcome can be a support for professional planning of tall building development. Application of VPS method have been prepared by a computer program developed by the authors (C++). Simulations were carried out on an example of the city of Dresden.

Will joint regional air pollution control be more cost-effective? An empirical study of China's Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region.

PubMed

Wu, Dan; Xu, Yuan; Zhang, Shiqiu

2015-02-01

By following an empirical approach, this study proves that joint regional air pollution control (JRAPC) in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region will save the expense on air pollution control compared with a locally-based pollution control strategy. The evidences below were found. (A) Local pollutant concentration in some of the cities is significantly affected by emissions from their surrounding areas. (B) There is heterogeneity in the marginal pollutant concentration reduction cost among various districts as a result of the cities' varying contribution of unit emission reduction to the pollutant concentration reduction, and their diverse unit cost of emission reduction brought about by their different industry composition. The results imply that the cost-efficiency of air pollution control will be improved in China if the conventional locally based regime of air pollution control can shift to a regionally based one. Copyright © 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Learning cities in East Asia: Japan, the Republic of Korea and China

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Han, SoongHee; Makino, Atsushi

2013-09-01

Lifelong learning cities emerged in Japan in the 1980s and 1990s; in the Republic of Korea in the 2000s and 2010s; and in China mostly from 2000 onwards. They were a countermeasure to the increasing challenges of global as well as post-industrial uncertainties at the turn of the century, when cities were trying to find governmental instruments to engage in cultural processes, community building and personal development as the new way of urban life. Learning was perceived to be a panacea to solve the social problems occurring in overwhelming processes of modernisation and industrialisation. The authors of this paper assert that the practice of and research on learning cities, especially in the East Asian region, need to go beyond the technical rationalities which are guiding government tools, and explain the realities to which they are meant to be applied. In order to do this, the authors investigated three separate but inter-connected scenes found in Japan, the Republic of Korea and China, revealing that the learning city is a phenomenon which reflects complex social dynamics and the interaction of many minds. While the cases in this region are distinctive, they do share some common characteristics. The authors place these within what they term a "community relations model", which they contrast with the "individual competence model" which is usually found in initiatives of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and schemes implemented in the area of the European Union (EU).

[Investigation on sanitation of freshwater aquaculture environments and Clonorchis sinensis intermediate host infection in a city of Pearl River Delta region, China].

PubMed

Man, Wang; Le, Luo; Xue-Qin, Chen; Lei, Li; Yue-Yi, Fang

2017-10-19

To understand the current status of the sanitation of freshwater aquaculture environments, and Clonorchis sinensis infection of freshwater fish in the aquaculture and market in a city of Pearl River Delta region, so as to provide the evidence for formulating the prevention and control strategy of clonorchiasis sinensis. In 2016, based on the distribution of freshwater aquaculture, 36 freshwater fish ponds among 14 towns were selected for sampling and investigation, and 10-20 pieces were collected from each pond. Besides, 3 aquatic product wholesale markets were included, among which 3-6 stalls were selected from each market, and 20-30 pieces were collected from each stall. The metacercaria in the fish was examined by the digestion method. In the 36 fish ponds, there were no toilets with the stool being drained into fish ponds directly, and there was only one pond with duck sheds with the stool being drained into fish ponds directly. Totally 437 pieces of freshwater fish from ponds were detected, with a metacercaria positive rate of 4.35% (19/437). The metacercaria positive fish were distributed in 50% (7/14) of towns and 25% (9/36) ponds. The positive rates of crucian carp, grass carp, dace, aristichthysnobilis, and tilapia were 13.95% (6/43), 4.76% (9/189), 4.44 (2/45), 1.55% (2/129), and 0 (0/31) respectively, with statistically significant difference ( χ 2 = 13.46, P = 0.01). Totally 307 pieces of freshwater fish were collected from the wholesale markets, with a total positive rate of 1.95% (6/307). The positive rate of grass carp and aristichthysnobilis were 3.20% (4/125) and 2.78% (2/72) respectively, and no positive samples were found in crucian carp, dace and tilapia, with no statistically significant difference among the different fish in the infection rate (Fisher exact P = 0.75). The sanitation of freshwater aquaculture environments in a city of Pearl River Delta region is relative good. However, there are different degrees of Clonorchis sinensis

Beyond the Floodplain: Drivers of Flood Risk in Coastal Cities

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rosenzweig, B.; McPhearson, T.; Rosi, E. J.

2017-12-01

While the catastrophic impacts of Hurricane Katrina increased awareness of coastal flood risk, conventional approaches to flood risk assessment do not adequately represent the drivers of flood risk in the unique, highly engineered landscape of dense cities. We review the recent (1996-2016) history of flooding events and current regional climate change projection for 4 diverse coastal cities in the United States: San Juan, Miami, Baltimore and New York. Our review suggests that while all 4 of these cities face increased risk from direct coastal flooding with climate change, pluvial flooding will be an additional, important driver of risk that is currently poorly quantified. Unlike other types of flooding, pluvial flood risk is not limited to a contiguous riverine or coastal floodplain, but is instead driven by interactions between spatially variable geophysical drivers (intense rainfall, shallow groundwater, and influent tidal water), social drivers (patterns of land use) and technical drivers (urban stormwater and coastal infrastructure). We discuss approaches for quantitative assessment of pluvial flood risk, the challenges presented by the lack of data on geophysical flooding drivers in dense cities, and opportunities for integrated research to provide the scientific information needed by practitioners.

Ecological Footprint in relation to Climate Change Strategy in Cities

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Belčáková, Ingrid; Diviaková, Andrea; Belaňová, Eliška

2017-10-01

Ecological footprint determines how much natural resources are consumed by an individual, city, region, state or all inhabitants of our planet in order to ensure their requirements and needs. It includes all activities, from food consumption, housing, transport to waste produced and allows us to compare particular activities and their impacts on the environment and natural resources. Ecological footprint is important issue for making sustainable development concept more popular using simplifications, which provide the public with basic information on situation on our planet. Today we know calculations of global (worldwide), national and local ecological footprints. During our research in cities, we were concentrated on calculation of city’s ecological footprint. The article tries to outline theoretical and assumptions and practical results of climate change consequences in cities of Bratislava and Nitra (Slovakia), to describe potential of mitigating adverse impacts of climate change and to provide information for general and professional public on theoretical assumptions in calculating ecological footprint. The intention is to present innovation of ecological footprint calculation, taking into consideration ecological stability of a city (with a specific focus on micro-climate functions of green areas). Present possibilities to reduce ecological footprint are presented.

77 FR 55787 - Proposed Flood Elevation Determinations for the City of Carson City, NV

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-09-11

...-2011-0002; Internal Agency Docket No. FEMA-B-1233] Proposed Flood Elevation Determinations for the City of Carson City, NV AGENCY: Federal Emergency Management Agency, DHS. ACTION: Proposed rule... concerning proposed flood elevation determinations for the City of Carson City, Nevada. DATES: This...

Development of Healthy Cities networks in Europe.

PubMed

Goepel, Eberhard

2007-01-01

The Healthy Cities network in Europe was inspired by the Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion when it was launched in 1987. The networking process was initiated by the WHO Regional Office for Europe, but developed its own dynamics in different European countries during a time marked by fundamental political transformations in many of the countries of Eastern Europe. The networks then connected with the 'Local Agenda 21' and the 'Sustainable Cities and Towns Campaign' to create a new and broader programmatic agenda at the local level. In particular, the ''Aalborg plus 10 - commitments"--of local governments in 2004 have the potential to inspire a new phase of participatory and sustainable policies at the level of local communities in Europe. However, the extent to which these initiatives will influence the macro-politics of the European Union towards a proclaimed "Europe of Citizens" remains to be watched carefully during the coming years.

The inhabited environment, infrastructure development and advanced urbanization in China’s Yangtze River Delta Region

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhu, Xiaoqing; Gao, Weijun; Zhou, Nan; Kammen, Daniel M.; Wu, Yiqun; Zhang, Yao; Chen, Wei

2016-12-01

This paper analyzes the relationship among the inhabited environment, infrastructure development and environmental impacts in China’s heavily urbanized Yangtze River Delta region. Using primary human environment data for the period 2006-2014, we examine factors affecting the inhabited environment and infrastructure development: urban population, GDP, built-up area, energy consumption, waste emission, transportation, real estate and urban greenery. Then we empirically investigate the impact of advanced urbanization with consideration of cities’ differences. Results from this study show that the growth rate of the inhabited environment and infrastructure development is strongly influenced by regional development structure, functional orientations, traffic network and urban size and form. The effect of advanced urbanization is more significant in large and mid-size cities than huge and mega cities. Energy consumption, waste emission and real estate in large and mid-size cities developed at an unprecedented rate with the rapid increase of economy. However, urban development of huge and mega cities gradually tended to be saturated. The transition development in these cities improved the inhabited environment and ecological protection instead of the urban construction simply. To maintain a sustainable advanced urbanization process, policy implications included urban sprawl control polices, ecological development mechanisms and reforming the economic structure for huge and mega cities, and construct major cross-regional infrastructure, enhance the carrying capacity and improvement of energy efficiency and structure for large and mid-size cities.

Contrasting regional versus global radiative forcing by megacity pollution emissions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dang, H.; Unger, N.

2015-10-01

We assess the regional and global integrated radiative forcing on 20- and 100-year time horizons caused by a one-year pulse of present day pollution emissions from 10 megacity areas: Los Angeles, Mexico City, New York City, Sao Paulo, Lagos, Cairo, New Delhi, Beijing, Shanghai and Manila. The assessment includes well-mixed greenhouse gases: carbon dioxide (CO2), nitrous oxide (N2O), methane (CH4); and short-lived climate forcers: tropospheric ozone (O3) and fine mode aerosol particles (sulfate, nitrate, black carbon, primary and secondary organic aerosol). All megacities contribute net global warming on both time horizons. Most of the 10 megacity areas exert a net negative effect on their own regional radiation budget that is 10-100 times larger in magnitude than their global radiative effects. Of the cities examined, Beijing, New Delhi, Shanghai and New York contribute most to global warming with values ranging from +0.03 to 0.05 Wm-2yr on short timescales and +0.07-0.10 Wm-2yr on long timescales. Regional net 20-year radiative effects are largest for Mexico City (-0.84 Wm-2yr) and Beijing (-0.78 Wm-2yr). Megacity reduction of non-CH4 O3 precursors to improve air quality offers zero co-benefits to global climate. Megacity reduction of aerosols to improve air quality offers co-benefits to the regional radiative budget but minimal or no co-benefits to global climate with the exception of black carbon reductions in a few cities, especially Beijing and New Delhi. Results suggest that air pollution and global climate change mitigation can be treated as separate environmental issues in policy at the megacity level with the exception of CH4 action. Individual megacity reduction of CO2 and CH4 emissions can mitigate global warming and therefore offers climate safety improvements to the entire planet.

The status of water demand management in selected cities of southern Africa

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gumbo, Bekithemba

As a result of the rapid rate of urbanisation throughout Africa, many African cities face mounting challenges of providing their increasing populations with adequate and sustainable water services. Water demand management (WDM) offers a sustainable solution to water woes experienced in most cities in the southern Africa region. The region is characterised by frequent droughts, floods and erratic, unevenly distributed rainfall. Meanwhile nearly half of the southern Africa’s 200 million inhabitants do not have access to safe water and sanitation. This paper makes an assessment of the status of WDM in eight cities in the region based on published data and reports. It provides a basis of benchmarking the progress and success in WDM programmes by using selected key performance indicators. Gross unaccounted-for-water (UAW) is used as a crude measure of WDM good practice. From the eight selected case studies, Windhoek, Bulawayo and Hermanus have achieved considerable success in water use efficiency, implementing WDM programmes and recording UAW values of less than 20%, whilst Johannesburg; Maputo; Maseru; Lusaka and Mutare cannot account for about 40-60% of the water introduced into the distribution system. WDM projects require some key performance indicators which need to be recorded systematically by water supply agencies to enable a consistent monitoring and evaluation of programme. Finally for WDM to succeed, a new breed of professionals with multi-disciplinary skills is required as well as training of operatives, i.e. technicians, plumbers and meter readers.

Vertical landscraping, a big regionalism for Dubai.

PubMed

Wilson, Matthew

2010-01-01

Dubai's ecologic and economic complications are exacerbated by six years of accelerated expansion, a fixed top-down approach to urbanism and the construction of iconic single-phase mega-projects. With recent construction delays, project cancellations and growing landscape issues, Dubai's tower typologies have been unresponsive to changing environmental, socio-cultural and economic patterns (BBC, 2009; Gillet, 2009; Lewis, 2009). In this essay, a theory of "Big Regionalism" guides an argument for an economically and ecologically linked tower typology called the Condenser. This phased "box-to-tower" typology is part of a greater Landscape Urbanist strategy called Vertical Landscraping. Within this strategy, the Condenser's role is to densify the city, facilitating the creation of ecologic voids that order the urban region. Delineating "Big Regional" principles, the Condenser provides a time-based, global-local urban growth approach that weaves Bigness into a series of urban-regional, economic and ecological relationships, builds upon the environmental performance of the city's regional architecture and planning, promotes a continuity of Dubai's urban history, and responds to its landscape issues while condensing development. These speculations permit consideration of the overlooked opportunities embedded within Dubai's mega-projects and their long-term impact on the urban morphology.

Virtual Water Transfers in U.S. Cities from Domestic Commodity Flows

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ahams, I. C.; Mejia, A.; Paterson, W.

2015-12-01

Cities have imported water into their boundaries for centuries but understanding how cities indirectly affect watersheds through the commodities which they import is fairly unknown. Thus, we present and discuss here a methodology for determining the virtual water transfers to and from U.S. cities associated with domestic commodity flows. For our methodology, we only consider agricultural and industrial commodities and, to represent the commodity flows, we use the Freight Analysis Framework (FAF) dataset from the U.S. Department of Transportation. Accordingly, we determine virtual water transfers for the 123 geographic regions in the FAF, which consists of 17 states, 73 metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs), and 33 remainders of states. Out of the 41 sectors that comprise the FAF data, we consider only the 29 sectors that account for the agricultural and industrial commodities. Using both water use data for macro-sectors and national water use coefficients for different industries, we determine a weighted water use coefficient for each of the 29 sectors considered. Ultimately, we use these weighted coefficients to estimate virtual water transfers and the water footprint for each city. Preliminary comparisons with other water footprint estimates indicate that our methodology yields reasonable results. In terms of the water footprint, we find that cities (i.e. MSAs) are net consumers, can consume a large proportion of their own production, and can have a large agricultural production. We also find that the per capita water footprint of industrial consumption decreases with increasing population in cities, suggesting that large cities may be more efficient.

On the delay factors of the private construction projects in Medan city

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Perwira Mulia Tarigan, A.; Subroto

2018-03-01

The delay in construction projects undertaken by contractors is impeding the economic growth of a region. Medan city which is one of the big cities in Indonesia is suffering from it. This study aims to identify the dominant factors causing delays in construction projects conducted by private contractors. The interview method with questionnaires is used to involve 20 contractors, 10 consultants, and 10 owner representatives in the study. From the 45 identified factors causing delays, the highest ranking is the change of work demand by the project owners with 71.84% importance index.

Genesis of the City Flood Queretaro

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sosa, E. G.; Salinas, N. R.

2013-12-01

In 1446 the emperor Moctezuma Ihuicamina talked about of the Queretaro region, which was northern border of their empire (From Torquemeda, 1975). Septien (1999, page 17, Volume 1). "The news that came the Otomi region, spoken the good soil fertility of the Querétaro valley, being an attractive to this place". The aims research is show how the from foundation of the prehispanic period the city of Santiago Queretaro was marked by the development and growth, and as fascinating Mexico historical events recorded their urban-hydraulic direction shows a clear symbiosis between the model prehispanic and colonial urban was conceived it as a compact core, it is currently set to modern urbanization, fragmenting the natural system of the hydrologic surface runoff , adapting and adopting solutions that break the natural equilibrium of the valley Queretaro. In the period 1970-2003 in Mexico 1744 floods was reported but in Queretaro occurred only 10 floods because in 22nd place ranking by frequency of floods, Matias Ramirez et al (2006). Since the foundation of Santiago de Querétaro (1455) the changes of uses soils and the construction of channels had caused the strangulation of city, without regarding the natural of the ways of water of the river Querétaro, so occupied by collectors or drains that also constriction the system of urban water of city of Queretaro that breakdowns with the architecture and natural ways of water. Similarly, historical tracking flooding is not only an exploration of public actions on the implementation of protection works, but also updates the concept of cultural heritage, as fixed and cultivates social memory of the preservation of knowledge the territory. Every time a flood comes increasing concern of whether it corresponds to situations already lived. The flood occurred last February 2010 that affected five delegations besides Querétaro Historic Center (Alameda), the Arquitos, Quintas del Marques, among other colonies, is testimony to the

Gender-Specific Effects of Social Influences and Competence on Lifetime Poly-Drug Use among Inner-City Adolescents

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Epstein, Jennifer A.; Botvin, Gilbert J.; Doyle, Margaret

2009-01-01

This study examined the relationship of social influences to use drugs and competence variables with lifetime poly-drug use for adolescents residing in inner-city regions. The same model was tested separately for boys and girls. Sixth- and seventh-graders (N = 2400) in inner-city schools self-reported substance use, social influences to use drugs…

Statistical Analysis of the Impacts of Regional Transportation on the Air Quality in Beijing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Huang, Zhongwen; Zhang, Huiling; Tong, Lei; Xiao, Hang

2016-04-01

From October to December 2015, Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei (BTH) region had experienced several severe haze events. In order to assess the effects of the regional transportation on the air quality in Beijing, the air monitoring data (PM2.5, SO2, NO2 and CO) from that period published by Chinese National Environmental Monitoring Center (CNEMC) was collected and analyzed with various statistical models. The cities within BTH area were clustered into three groups according to the geographical conditions, while the air pollutant concentrations of cities within a group sharing similar variation trends. The Granger causality test results indicate that significant causal relationships exist between the air pollutant data of Beijing and its surrounding cities (Baoding, Chengde, Tianjin and Zhangjiakou) for the reference period. Then, linear regression models were constructed to capture the interdependency among the multiple time series. It shows that the observed air pollutant concentrations in Beijing were well consistent with the model-fitted results. More importantly, further analysis suggests that the air pollutants in Beijing were strongly affected by regional transportation, as the local sources only contributed 17.88%, 27.12%, 14.63% and 31.36% of PM2.5, SO2, NO2 and CO concentrations, respectively. And the major foreign source for Beijing was from Southwest (Baoding) direction, account for more than 42% of all these air pollutants. Thus, by combining various statistical models, it may not only be able to quickly predict the air qualities of any cities on a regional scale, but also to evaluate the local and regional source contributions for a particular city. Key words: regional transportation, air pollution, Granger causality test, statistical models

40 CFR 52.2171 - Classification of regions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... quality control region Pollutant Particulate matter Sulfur oxides Nitrogen dioxide Carbon monoxide... Falls Interstate II III III III III Black Hills—Rapid City Intrastate III III III III III South Dakota...

40 CFR 52.2171 - Classification of regions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... quality control region Pollutant Particulate matter Sulfur oxides Nitrogen dioxide Carbon monoxide... Falls Interstate II III III III III Black Hills—Rapid City Intrastate III III III III III South Dakota...

40 CFR 52.2171 - Classification of regions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... quality control region Pollutant Particulate matter Sulfur oxides Nitrogen dioxide Carbon monoxide... Falls Interstate II III III III III Black Hills—Rapid City Intrastate III III III III III South Dakota...

Census Cities Project and atlas of urban and regional change

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wray, J. R.

1970-01-01

The research design and imagery utilization for urban applications of remote sensing are reviewed, including the combined use of sensor and census data and aircraft and spacecraft sensor platforms. The related purposes of the Census Cities Project are elucidated: (1) to assess the role of remote sensors on high altitude platforms for comparative study of urban areas; (2) to detect changes in selected U.S. urban areas between the 1970 census and the time of launching of an earth-orbiting sensor platform prior to next census; (3) to test the satellite sensor platform utility to monitor urban change and serve as a control for sensor image interpretation; (4) to design an information system for incorporating graphic sensor data with census-type data gathered by traditional techniques; (5) to identify and to design user-oriented end-products or information services; and (6) to ascertain what organizational capability would be needed to provide such services on a continuing basis. A need to develop not only a spatial data information system, but also a methodology for detecting and interpreting change is implied.

Sustainable and Smart City Planning Using Spatial Data in Wallonia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stephenne, N.; Beaumont, B.; Hallot, E.; Wolff, E.; Poelmans, L.; Baltus, C.

2016-09-01

Simulating population distribution and land use changes in space and time offer opportunities for smart city planning. It provides a holistic and dynamic vision of fast changing urban environment to policy makers. Impacts, such as environmental and health risks or mobility issues, of policies can be assessed and adapted consequently. In this paper, we suppose that "Smart" city developments should be sustainable, dynamic and participative. This paper addresses these three smart objectives in the context of urban risk assessment in Wallonia, Belgium. The sustainable, dynamic and participative solution includes (i) land cover and land use mapping using remote sensing and GIS, (ii) population density mapping using dasymetric mapping, (iii) predictive modelling of land use changes and population dynamics and (iv) risk assessment. The comprehensive and long-term vision of the territory should help to draw sustainable spatial planning policies, to adapt remote sensing acquisition, to update GIS data and to refine risk assessment from regional to city scale.

Conversion of prime agricultural land to urban land uses in Kansas City

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Shaklee, R. V.

1976-01-01

In an expanding urban environment, agriculture and urban land uses are the two primary competitors for regional land resources. As a result of an increasing awareness of the effects which urban expansion has upon the regional environment, the conversion of prime agricultural land to urban land uses has become a point of concern to urban planners. A study was undertaken for the Kansas City Metropolitan Region, to determine the rate at which prime agricultural land has been converted to urban land uses over a five year period from 1969 to 1974. Using NASA high altitude color infrared imagery acquired over the city in October, 1969 and in May, 1974 to monitor the extent and location of urban expansion in the interim period, it was revealed that 42% of that expansion had occurred upon land classified as having prime agricultural potential. This involved a total of 10,727 acres of prime agricultural land and indicated a 7% increase over the 1969 which showed that 35% of the urban area had been developed on prime agricultural land.

Urban networks among Chinese cities along "the Belt and Road": A case of web search activity in cyberspace.

PubMed

Zhang, Lu; Du, Hongru; Zhao, Yannan; Wu, Rongwei; Zhang, Xiaolei

2017-01-01

"The Belt and Road" initiative has been expected to facilitate interactions among numerous city centers. This initiative would generate a number of centers, both economic and political, which would facilitate greater interaction. To explore how information flows are merged and the specific opportunities that may be offered, Chinese cities along "the Belt and Road" are selected for a case study. Furthermore, urban networks in cyberspace have been characterized by their infrastructure orientation, which implies that there is a relative dearth of studies focusing on the investigation of urban hierarchies by capturing information flows between Chinese cities along "the Belt and Road". This paper employs Baidu, the main web search engine in China, to examine urban hierarchies. The results show that urban networks become more balanced, shifting from a polycentric to a homogenized pattern. Furthermore, cities in networks tend to have both a hierarchical system and a spatial concentration primarily in regions such as Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, Yangtze River Delta and the Pearl River Delta region. Urban hierarchy based on web search activity does not follow the existing hierarchical system based on geospatial and economic development in all cases. Moreover, urban networks, under the framework of "the Belt and Road", show several significant corridors and more opportunities for more cities, particularly western cities. Furthermore, factors that may influence web search activity are explored. The results show that web search activity is significantly influenced by the economic gap, geographical proximity and administrative rank of the city.

Inequality and City Size*

PubMed Central

Baum-Snow, Nathaniel; Pavan, Ronni

2013-01-01

Between 1979 and 2007 a strong positive monotonic relationship between wage inequality and city size has developed. This paper investigates the links between this emergent city size inequality premium and the contemporaneous nationwide increase in wage inequality. After controlling for the skill composition of the workforce across cities of different sizes, we show that at least 23 percent of the overall increase in the variance of log hourly wages in the United States from 1979 to 2007 is explained by the more rapid growth in the variance of log wages in larger locations relative to smaller locations. This influence occurred throughout the wage distribution and was most prevalent during the 1990s. More rapid growth in within skill group inequality in larger cities has been by far the most important force driving these city size specific patterns in the data. Differences in the industrial composition of cities of different sizes explain up to one-third of this city size effect. These results suggest an important role for agglomeration economies in generating changes in the wage structure during the study period. PMID:24954958

Regional Strategic Appraisal of Central America

DTIC Science & Technology

2003-04-07

effective region, to increase its competitiveness in the face of the challenges from globalization . Therefore, I recommend a deepening of the regional...centroamericanos, 1970 a 1999, Mexico City, Mach 2000. 7 Agosin, Bloom and Gitli, Globalization , Liberalization, and Sustainable Human Development in Central...Bloom, and Eduardo Gitli, “ Globalization , Liberalization, and Sustainable Human Development in Central America,” February, 2000; available from <http

Pacific Regional Solar Heating Handbook. Second Edition.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Writers' Development Trust, Toronto (Ontario).

This handbook is intended as a guide for engineers, architects, and individuals familiar with heating and ventilating applications who wish to design a solar heating system for a residential or small commercial building in the Pacific Coast Region. The climate of the region is discussed by selected cities in terms of the effect of climate on solar…

Journey to 2030 : transportation plan of the Boston region metropolitan planning organization.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2007-06-28

JOURNEY to 2030, the Transportation Plan of the Boston Region Metropolitan Planning Organization (referred to as the Plan), is the long-range, comprehensive transportation planning document for the Boston region. The region encompasses 101 cities and...

78 FR 32556 - Safety Zone; 2013 Ocean City Air Show, Atlantic Ocean; Ocean City, MD

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-05-31

...-AA00 Safety Zone; 2013 Ocean City Air Show, Atlantic Ocean; Ocean City, MD AGENCY: Coast Guard, DHS... navigable waters of the Atlantic Ocean in the vicinity of Ocean City, MD to support the Ocean City Air Show... June 9, 2013, Ocean City, MD will host an air show event between Talbot Street and 33rd Street over the...

75 FR 18778 - Safety Zone; Ocean City Air Show 2010, Atlantic Ocean, Ocean City, MD

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-04-13

...-AA00 Safety Zone; Ocean City Air Show 2010, Atlantic Ocean, Ocean City, MD AGENCY: Coast Guard, DHS... zone on the Atlantic Ocean in the vicinity of Ocean City, Maryland to support the Ocean City Air Show..., 5, and 6, 2010 Ocean City, Maryland will host an air show event on the Atlantic Ocean between Talbot...

City of Crystal City, Missouri - Clean Water Act Public Notice

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

The EPA is providing notice of proposed Administrative Penalty Assessment against the City of Crystal City, Missouri, a municipality located in Jefferson County, Missouri, 63019, for alleged violations associated with the City’s wastewater treatment progra

78 FR 38580 - Special Local Regulation; Tall Ships Celebration Bay City, Bay City, MI

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-06-27

...-AA08 Special Local Regulation; Tall Ships Celebration Bay City, Bay City, MI AGENCY: Coast Guard, DHS... regulatory act for the celebration specific to Bay City, MI, the Coast Guard recently published a separate... various events throughout the Great Lakes this summer, to include the Tall Ships Celebration Bay City...

Towards the new urban agenda of safe cities: urban crimes in four Indonesian cities

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Setiawan, B.

2017-12-01

As has stated in the Habitat III agreement, named as The New Urban Agenda/NUA, signed in Quito, Ecuador, October 2016, safe cities is one among important global goals that should be achieved in the next twenty years - safe city is defined generally by city that is equated with reduced violence on the one hand, and on the other, with reduced uncertainty. The fact that under a rapid urbanization and urban transformation in Indonesia, urban crimes tend to increase in many Indonesian cities questions whether Indonesian cities are ready to ensure the idea of safe city. This paper aims to document the incidents of urban crimes, spatial dimensions, the socio-factors and how local community responses to such crimes. It utilised a multiple case studies of four cities in Indonesia which are: Yogyakarta, Surabaya, Makasar, and Manado, Data and information for the paper were primarily collected through secondary data, but some field observations and interviews with stakeholders related to urban crimes in four cities were also conducted. The paper could be considered as a preliminary study to understand the urban crimes phenomena in Indonesia and finds that the incidents of urban crimes are fluctuated in four cities explored. It argues that there is a significant correlation between urban crimes incidents and spatial characteristics of the city.

Atypical Cities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

DiJulio, Betsy

2011-01-01

In this creative challenge, Surrealism and one-point perspective combine to produce images that not only go "beyond the real" but also beyond the ubiquitous "imaginary city" assignment often used to teach one-point perspective. Perhaps the difference is that in the "atypical cities challenge," an understanding of one-point perspective is a means…

Regional cooperation and bike/ped and transit connections : a regional models of cooperation peer exchange summary report

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2016-10-01

This report summarizes the presentations, key themes, and recommendations identified at a Regional Models of Cooperation peer exchange on October 24, 2016 in Salt Lake City, Utah. The Utah Transit Authority hosted peers from the Los Angeles Metropoli...

Urban heat islands in the subsurface of German cities

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Menberg, K.; Blum, P.; Zhu, K.; Bayer, P.

2012-04-01

In the subsurface of many cities there are widespread and persistent thermal anomalies (subsurface urban heat islands) that result in a warming of urban aquifers. The reasons for this heating are manifold. Possible heat sources are basements of buildings, leakage of sewage systems, buried district heating networks, re-injection of cooling water and solar irradiation on paved surfaces. In the current study, the reported groundwater temperatures in several German cities, such as Berlin, Munich, Cologne and Karlsruhe, are compared. Available data sets are supplemented by temperature measurements and depth profiles in observation wells. Trend analyses are conducted with time series of groundwater temperatures, and three-dimensional groundwater temperature maps are provided. In all investigated cities, pronounced positive temperature anomalies are present. The distribution of groundwater temperatures appears to be spatially and temporally highly variable. Apparently, the increased heat input into the urban subsurface is controlled by very local and site-specific parameters. In the long-run, the superposition of various heat sources results in an extensive temperature increase. In many cases, the maximum temperature elevation is found close to the city centre. Regional groundwater temperature differences between the city centre and the rural background are up to 5 °C, with local hot spots of even more pronounced anomalies. Particular heat sources, like cooling water injections or case-specific underground constructions, can cause local temperatures > 20°C in the subsurface. Examination of the long-term variations in isotherm maps shows that temperatures have increased by about 1°C in the city, as well as in the rural background areas over the last decades. This increase could be reproduced with trend analysis of temperature data gathered from several groundwater wells. Comparison between groundwater and air temperatures in Karlsruhe, for example, also indicates a

Does Historical Urban Density Explain the Variation in Per Capita Carbon Dioxide Emissions Across U.S. Cities?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Campbell, K. B.

2013-12-01

The shape a city takes can have long-term impacts. The built environment is durable, and urban infrastructure is costly to alter post-construction, so decisions made early in a city's history have a lasting effect. Cities are some of the biggest aggregate sources of CO2 emissions but are also the areas with the lowest per capita emissions. Even though per capita emissions in urban areas are less than their rural counterparts, the variation in emissions across cities is drastic and understanding this variation can improve the way we build and plan cities. Research has been conducted on how density correlates with per capita emissions, but little has been done on how historical growth has influenced emissions. Using historical census data and the Vulcan Project's fossil fuel CO2 emissions data product, I investigate in greater detail whether historical population density in U.S. cities has had a significant impact on future CO2 emissions in the urban area and in the surrounding region. The census data includes all places that have reported a population of over 100,000 people in any decennial census between 1790 and 2000 and the land area the year that the city first crosses that 100,000-population threshold. This data is used to create the historical density measure. The Vulcan CO2 emissions data is broken down by sector. For this project I use the residential, commercial, and transportation (on road and non-road) emissions sectors on a 10x10km grid in 2002. I also control for regional variation in heating and cooling days, current urban density, average house age, median income, and variation in residential heating (gas, electric, fuel oil, and coal) as these are all known correlates of carbon dioxide emissions. Understanding if historical density better explains the variation in per capita carbon dioxide emissions across cities will help urban planners and city governments decide if it is appropriate to regulate growth during the initial boom of a city, a

Energy sustainable cities. From eco villages, eco districts towards zero carbon cities

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zaręba, Anna; Krzemińska, Alicja; Łach, Janusz

2017-11-01

Minimizing energy consumption is the effect of sustainable design technics as among many others: designing buildings with solar access and natural ventilation, using climate responsive design materials and effective insulation. Contemporary examples of zero-carbon cities: Masdar City, United Arab Emirates and Dongtan, China, confirm technical feasibility of renewable energy by implementation of solar PV and wind technologies. The ecological city - medium or high density urban settlement separated by greenspace causes the smallest possible ecological footprint on the surrounding countryside through efficient use of land and its resources, recycling used materials and converting waste to energy. This paper investigates the concept of energy sustainable cities, examines, how urban settlements might affect building energy design in eco-villages, eco-districts (e.g. Vauban, Freiburg in Germany, Bo01 Malmo in Sweden), and discuss the strategies for achieving Zero Emission Cities principles in densely populated areas. It is focused on low energy architectural design solutions which could be incorporated into urban settlements to create ecological villages, districts and cities, designed with consideration of environmental impact, required minimal inputs of energy, water, food, waste and pollution.

Big data, smart cities and city planning

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

I define big data with respect to its size but pay particular attention to the fact that the data I am referring to is urban data, that is, data for cities that are invariably tagged to space and time. I argue that this sort of data are largely being streamed from sensors, and this represents a sea change in the kinds of data that we have about what happens where and when in cities. I describe how the growth of big data is shifting the emphasis from longer term strategic planning to short-term thinking about how cities function and can be managed, although with the possibility that over much longer periods of time, this kind of big data will become a source for information about every time horizon. By way of conclusion, I illustrate the need for new theory and analysis with respect to 6 months of smart travel card data of individual trips on Greater London’s public transport systems. PMID:29472982

Big data, smart cities and city planning.

PubMed

Batty, Michael

2013-11-01

I define big data with respect to its size but pay particular attention to the fact that the data I am referring to is urban data, that is, data for cities that are invariably tagged to space and time. I argue that this sort of data are largely being streamed from sensors, and this represents a sea change in the kinds of data that we have about what happens where and when in cities. I describe how the growth of big data is shifting the emphasis from longer term strategic planning to short-term thinking about how cities function and can be managed, although with the possibility that over much longer periods of time, this kind of big data will become a source for information about every time horizon. By way of conclusion, I illustrate the need for new theory and analysis with respect to 6 months of smart travel card data of individual trips on Greater London's public transport systems.

The Effect of Geographical Proximity on Scientific Cooperation among Chinese Cities from 1990 to 2010

PubMed Central

Ma, Haitao; Fang, Chuanglin; Pang, Bo; Li, Guangdong

2014-01-01

Background The relations between geographical proximity and spatial distance constitute a popular topic of concern. Thus, how geographical proximity affects scientific cooperation, and whether geographically proximate scientific cooperation activities in fact exhibit geographic scale features should be investigated. Methodology Selected statistics from the ISI database on cooperatively authored papers, the authors of which resided in 60 typical cites in China, and which were published in the years 1990, 1995, 2000, 2005, and 2010, were used to establish matrices of geographic distance and cooperation levels between cities. By constructing a distance-cooperation model, the degree of scientific cooperation based on spatial distance was calculated. The relationship between geographical proximity and scientific cooperation, as well as changes in that relationship, was explored using the fitting function. Result (1) Instead of declining, the role of geographical proximity in inter-city scientific cooperation has increased gradually but significantly with the popularization of telecommunication technologies; (2) the relationship between geographical proximity and scientific cooperation has not followed a perfect declining curve, and at certain spatial scales, the distance-decay regularity does not work; (3) the Chinese scientific cooperation network gathers around different regional center cities, showing a trend towards a regional network; within this cooperation network the amount of inter-city cooperation occurring at close range increased greatly. Conclusion The relationship between inter-city geographical distance and scientific cooperation has been enhanced and strengthened over time. PMID:25365449

Preschool vision screening in a Swedish city region: results after alteration of criteria for referral to eye clinics.

PubMed

Hård, Anna-Lena; Sjödell, Lena; Borres, Magnus P; Zetterberg, Ingrid; Sjöstrand, Johan

2002-12-01

To investigate the results of preschool vision screening and to evaluate new referral criteria in a Swedish city region. Prior to 1992, all children with visual acuity (VA) of less than 0.8 at the age of 4 years were referred to an eye clinic. Since 1992, those with slightly reduced VA (0.65 in each eye or 0.65 in one eye and 0.8 in the other) have been retested at 5.5 years of age and referred if their VA is less than 0.8. In a prospective study, the results of vision testing were collected for all children (n = 483) born in 1989-92 inclusive and registered at one child health centre at 4 years of age. The study also involved 123 other children scheduled for retesting at the age of 5.5 years. The results of the examinations and treatments at the eye clinic are evaluated. Few of the children with slightly reduced VA who were retested at the age of 5.5 years had visual defects that required treatment. In those who were treated, the results of treatment were good. The new screening criteria appear to be appropriate and are recommended.

Salt Lake City, Utah

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2002-01-01

Salt Lake City, Utah, will host the 2002 Winter Olympic Games. The city is located on the southeastern shore of the Great Salt Lake and sits to the west of the Wasatch Mountains, which rise more than 3,500 meters (10,000 feet) above sea level. The city was first settled in 1847 by pioneers seeking relief from religious persecution. Today Salt Lake City, the capital of Utah, is home to more than 170,000 residents. This true-color image of Salt Lake City was acquired by the Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+), flying aboard Landsat 7, on May 26, 2000. The southeastern tip of the Great Salt Lake is visible in the upper left of the image. The furrowed green and brown landscape running north-south is a portion of the Wasatch Mountains, some of which are snow-capped (white pixels). The greyish pixels in the center of the image show the developed areas of the city. A number of water reservoirs can be seen east of the mountain range. Salt Lake City International Airport is visible on the northwestern edge of the city. About 20 miles south of the airport is the Bingham Canyon Copper Mine (tan pixels), the world's largest open pit excavation. See also this MODIS image of Utah. Image courtesy NASA Landsat7 Science Team and USGS Eros Data Center

Developing tourist attraction simulation in Jayengan Kampoeng Permata for stimulating economic friendly city

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Astuti, Winny; Qomarun; Febela, Alfa; Putri, Rufia A.; Mukaromah, H.

2018-03-01

Concept of friendly city mentions about better employment options and more opportunities of the local communities. Tourism development and creative industry effectively enhance regional economic development and community welfare. Kampoeng Jayengan is located in Serengan District, Surakarta, which the local community was originally come from Banjar in 1746; with the main economic activity was Jewels Trader. Jayengan Jewels Kampoeng (JKP) will support development of Surakarta as a creative city integrated with other creative tourism Kampoengs. In fact, JKP has been launched by the Secretary of Surakarta Government in 2015 indicated the Government’s attention and support to development of the area. This research aims for Developing Attraction Simulation based on the local economic activities of the communities in order to stimulate Economic friendly city. The methods used mixed methods combining quantitative through field observation and qualitative approach through interview and FGD. The results developed two directions of Tourism Attraction destination, the West and the East Direction. The sequence process of the jewels craft making is challenging for creating the path of tourism attraction in JKP. This implies for increasing tourist visits, enhancing regional economic development and community welfare.

Seismic hazard analysis for Jayapura city, Papua

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Robiana, R., E-mail: robiana-geo104@yahoo.com; Cipta, A.

Jayapura city had destructive earthquake which occurred on June 25, 1976 with the maximum intensity VII MMI scale. Probabilistic methods are used to determine the earthquake hazard by considering all possible earthquakes that can occur in this region. Earthquake source models using three types of source models are subduction model; comes from the New Guinea Trench subduction zone (North Papuan Thrust), fault models; derived from fault Yapen, TareraAiduna, Wamena, Memberamo, Waipago, Jayapura, and Jayawijaya, and 7 background models to accommodate unknown earthquakes. Amplification factor using geomorphological approaches are corrected by the measurement data. This data is related to rock typemore » and depth of soft soil. Site class in Jayapura city can be grouped into classes B, C, D and E, with the amplification between 0.5 – 6. Hazard maps are presented with a 10% probability of earthquake occurrence within a period of 500 years for the dominant periods of 0.0, 0.2, and 1.0 seconds.« less

Seismic hazard analysis for Jayapura city, Papua

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Robiana, R.; Cipta, A.

2015-04-01

Jayapura city had destructive earthquake which occurred on June 25, 1976 with the maximum intensity VII MMI scale. Probabilistic methods are used to determine the earthquake hazard by considering all possible earthquakes that can occur in this region. Earthquake source models using three types of source models are subduction model; comes from the New Guinea Trench subduction zone (North Papuan Thrust), fault models; derived from fault Yapen, TareraAiduna, Wamena, Memberamo, Waipago, Jayapura, and Jayawijaya, and 7 background models to accommodate unknown earthquakes. Amplification factor using geomorphological approaches are corrected by the measurement data. This data is related to rock type and depth of soft soil. Site class in Jayapura city can be grouped into classes B, C, D and E, with the amplification between 0.5 - 6. Hazard maps are presented with a 10% probability of earthquake occurrence within a period of 500 years for the dominant periods of 0.0, 0.2, and 1.0 seconds.

Factors affecting optimal linear endovenous energy density for endovenous laser ablation in incompetent lower limb truncal veins - A review of the clinical evidence.

PubMed

Cowpland, Christine A; Cleese, Amy L; Whiteley, Mark S

2017-06-01

Objectives The objective is to identify the factors that affect the optimal linear endovenous energy density (LEED) to ablate incompetent truncal veins. Methods We performed a literature review of clinical studies, which reported truncal vein ablation rates and LEED. A PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis) flow diagram documents the search strategy. We analysed 13 clinical papers which fulfilled the criteria to be able to compare results of great saphenous vein occlusion as defined by venous duplex ultrasound, with the LEED used in the treatment. Results Evidence suggests that the optimal LEED for endovenous laser ablation of the great saphenous vein is >80 J/cm and <100 J/cm in terms of optimal closure rates with minimal side-effects and complications. Longer wavelengths targeting water might have a lower optimal LEED. A LEED <60 J/cm has reduced efficacy regardless of wavelength. The optimal LEED may vary with vein diameter and may be reduced by using specially shaped fibre tips. Laser delivery technique and type as well as the duration time of energy delivery appear to play a role in determining LEED. Conclusion The optimal LEED to ablate an incompetent great saphenous vein appears to be >80 J/cm and <95 J/cm based on current evidence for shorter wavelength lasers. There is evidence that longer wavelength lasers may be effective at LEEDs of <85 J/cm.

Regional Development Planning in the Slovak Republic

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rentková, Katarína

2017-10-01

Regional development is very closely related to a region and its competitive advantages which affect the competitiveness of the region. The regional development is influenced by many factors that act differently depending on the region. To ensure the effective and harmonized regional development, the systematic approach is needed. Every region is unique and differs from the other by the level of economic development, living standards of its inhabitants, unemployment rate and by employment possibilities. Regional policy is a strategic investment policy which focuses on all regions and cities in the European Union. The aim is to boost economic growth and to improve the quality of people’s lives. Solidarity is the main feature of the policy, because policy focuses on support for less developed regions. A fundamental aspect of regional development is to reduce disparities between the regions and cities. The paper focuses on the analysis of regional development of Slovakia. The intention is to follow the logical continuity of the article’s parts, the correctness and the adequacy of information and data. First part is focused on the definition of the regional policy and regional development. Important task is to identify the differences between European policies - regional, structural and cohesion policy. This section is prepared by using the analytical methods - the analysis, the casual and historical analysis. This part is based on literature review. The empirical part is based on statistics and secondary analysis which were aimed to analyse the regional development and effectiveness of its planning in the Slovak Republic. The question of this article is whether it is possible to plan the regional development by application of the plan for economic and social development, called the Municipal Development Plan.

Half the world in cities.

PubMed

Souza, J B

1980-06-01

City planners have exacerbated the problems connected with urbanization in Third World countries. Lower socioeconomic groups have moved from rural areas to the cities because they see greater employment, educational, and health opportunities there. These poor people must be provided for in the cities. But provision for these people cannot include allowing pollution and congestion to fester. Neither will urban renewal which merely displaces the poor (who, in fact, provide necessary services for the city) answer the problem. City managers do not pay enough attention to the poorer, more congested areas of their cities. Zoning policies actually seem to be outmoded and to do harm to city populations by increasing the time required for people to shop and commute to work. The walled city of Delhi, India, is cited as an example of a settlement where the population's convenience has been considered. Regulations must be changed to facilitate land ownership by the poorer groups. These practical policies are preferable to bulldozer or rural migration bans.