Ecological Planting Imperative: Functional Systems,Not Stylized Ecologies

The ability of landscape architectural projects to mitigate the worst effects of climate change will depend upon designed ecological systems. These systems will be built with plants. Despite the recognition of ecology as an essential driver of landscapes, the professionals of landscape architecture too often lack the knowledge and practical skills to create robust vegetative systems. New approaches and tools are required. This article outlines principles and methods for designing biodiverse plant systems for urban sites. Planting methods that increase species richness, functional diversity, and spatial complexity are emphasized as a way of developing more resilient plantings. Selecting species with similar evolutionary adaptions to stress, disturbance, and competition—as well as creating multi-layered compositions of diverse plant morphologies—allows designers to create compatible, long-lived plant mixes. To balance the increased visual complexity of diverse plant mixes, the article explores design techniques to make plantings more appealing to the public. The strategies explored here are based on the projects, experience, and research of Phyto Studio, a Washington, D.C. based studio. The methods build on work described in the author’s book, Planting in a Post-Wild World, an exploration of how to create designed plant communities.     

基于整体性视角的社区更新：框架、模式与案例 — —以佛山桂华邨社区为例

现行的政府单一主导、政府与开发 商合作的社区更新模式与业主的自主更新需 求产生了矛盾。针对现有研究对社区更新的 系统性缺乏关注的问题，本文从整体视角出 发，通过构建“参与主体—程序设计—法规 政策—资金调配”四维框架，分析现行社区 更新模式与业主自主更新需求产生冲突的内 在机制。在优化现有模式的基础上，提出三 种适应业主自主更新需求的理论模式。桂华 邨业主自主更新失败的实践案例证明了本文 所提出的四维框架的重要性。最后，从政府 视角对我国社区更新机制提出优化建议。     

Effectiveness of spatial representation in the formation of network communities: experimental study on community organizer

In this paper, we present and discuss Community Organizer, a system designed to support network communities. The main characteristic of Community Organizer is the use of spatial representations for the relationships among community members including the communications exchanged among these members. These spatial representations reflect the degree of closeness of interests and concerns among the members, and are intended to provide users with clues on how to form network communities. In order to investigate the effectiveness of the proposed spatial representations, we conducted experiments with two different versions of the software. One version offered meaningful spatial representations while the other version did not. The subjects who used the former software version felt a greater sense of ‘community’, enjoyed using the software more, and actively used it longer than the subjects using the latter software version (control condition). These results indicated that the proposed spatial representations are effective in supporting network community formation.     

Evaluating Community Safety Programmes and Community Engagement: The Role of Qualitative Methods and Collaborative Approaches to Policy Research

This article explores the role of qualitative and collaborative methods when undertaking evaluation research into local community safety partnerships and neighbourhood strategies. It draws on recent examples of research and evaluation studies of regeneration and community safety programmes in a number of cities and towns in England. The discussion is set against the background of the major changes in policy relating to crime and community safety, particularly the introduction of Crime and Disorder Partnerships and their engagement with local communities. The value of qualitative methods in exploring some key questions is discussed, particularly within a collaborative approach to policy research.     

我国社区学院建设

社区学院作为我国实现高等教育大众化的一种形式.是构建学习型社会和终身教育的重要载体。文章梳理了近几年来我国学者对社区学院研究的主要内容、国外社区学院对我国社区学院建设的启示等,并就此提出了一些思考。     

Detecting criminal organizations in mobile phone networks

The study of criminal networks using traces from heterogeneous communication media is acquiring increasing importance in nowadays society. The usage of communication media such as mobile phones and online social networks leaves digital traces in the form of metadata that can be used for this type of analysis. The goal of this work is twofold: first we provide a theoretical framework for the problem of detecting and characterizing criminal organizations in networks reconstructed from phone call records. Then, we introduce an expert system to support law enforcement agencies in the task of unveiling the underlying structure of criminal networks hidden in communication data. This platform allows for statistical network analysis, community detection and visual exploration of mobile phone network data. It enables forensic investigators to deeply understand hierarchies within criminal organizations, discovering members who play central role and provide connection among sub-groups. Our work concludes illustrating the adoption of our computational framework for a real-word criminal investigation.     

Building a research network to better understand climate governance in the Great Lakes

Climate-driven disturbances threaten the sustainability of coastal communities in the Great Lakes Basin. Because such disturbances are unpredictable, their magnitude, number and intensity are changing, and they occur at varying temporal and spatial scales. Consequently, communities struggle to respond in effective ways. The expected intensification of climate-driven disturbances will require that community capacity and governance structures match the spatial and temporal scales of these disturbances, as the most sustainable social and economic systems will be those that can respond at similar frequencies to key natural system drivers. The Climate Governance Variability in the Great Lakes Research Coordination Network (CGVG-RCN) was recently established to address questions about the relationship between climate-driven disturbances and community response. The objective of this short communication is to introduce the ideas behind the CGVG-RCN, outline its goals, and facilitate engagements and collaboration with social and natural scientists interested in social-ecological systems in the Great Lakes Basin.     

Advancements in the design and validation of an air pollution integrated assessment model for Spain

This paper describes the design and application of the Atmospheric Evaluation and Research Integrated model for Spain (AERIS). Currently, AERIS can provide concentration profiles of NO₂, O₃, SO₂, NH₃, PM, as a response to emission variations of relevant sectors in Spain. Results are calculated using transfer matrices based on an air quality modelling system (AQMS) composed by the WRF (meteorology), SMOKE (emissions) and CMAQ (atmospheric-chemical processes) models. The AERIS outputs were statistically tested against the conventional AQMS and observations, revealing a good agreement in both cases. At the moment, integrated assessment in AERIS focuses only on the link between emissions and concentrations. The quantification of deposition, impacts (health, ecosystems) and costs will be introduced in the future. In conclusion, the main asset of AERIS is its accuracy in predicting air quality outcomes for different scenarios through a simple yet robust modelling framework, avoiding complex programming and long computing times.     

一种低功耗的社区机会网络消息路由算法

社区机会网络中节点的移动具有一定的相关性且不同的节点往往具有不同的移动特点,当前机会网络中主流的多拷贝路由算法并未充分考虑到这些特点,将该算法直接应用于这类网络会导致资源消耗较高、传输成功率低等问题。针对这些问题,提出一种基于社区的低功耗消息路由算法,其能自适应地控制消息拷贝数量,并根据节点与目标社区节点和本地社区节点相遇的历史信息来设置其目标社区和本地社区的活跃度,依靠活跃度较高的节点来完成消息传输。仿真结果表明,在延迟要求比较宽松的社区机会网络中,该算法在消息传输的成功率及占能耗最主要部分的消息转发次数方面明显优于Spray and Focus算法。