Creating a Village in Modern Suburbia: Parenthood and Social Capital

Local communities with good stocks of social capital nurture and support the families residing within. This qualitative study explored through the perspectives of mothers, how families with children aged 0–5 years build social capital in newer residential areas in Perth, Western Australia. Parenthood generally increased the desire to connect to one's local community, which activated and enhanced social capital. Two themes appear to drive this desire: an increased need for social support and an increased vested interest in the local community. However, newer residential areas commonly have a lag of community infrastructure needed to provide opportunities for families with young children to interact with other families. Urban planning and community sectors need to coordinate to provide infrastructure and opportunities for families with young children to connect and build social capital within their local communities.     

An evaluation tool for design quality: PFI sheltered housing

The complex procurement process entailed by the private finance initiative (PFI) means that clients need new capacities to manage their relationships with bidders and to assess project proposals if the desired level of design quality is to be achieved. To assist local authorities in their client role, a new Architectural Design Quality Evaluation Tool was developed. The aim was to improve the quality of design in residential sheltered housing, procured through the PFI. The tool was developed for and applied to a programme that will see the replacement of a local authority's entire sheltered housing stock. The tool has two functions: (1) to inform the client's assessment process and assist with the selection of the preferred bidding consortium through a series of stages in the PFI process; and (2) to improve the quality of all the submitted designs through an iterative process. Although several existing mechanisms are available for evaluating the performance attributes of buildings, few also tackle the less tangible amenity attributes, which are vital to the feeling of home. The new tool emphasizes the amenity attributes without neglecting performance.     

Book reviews

Whilst there have been numerous categorisations of high-rise buildings according to their function, architectural style, height or structural strategy, historically little work has been undertaken to classify them based on factors affecting their energy performance — their shape and form, façade, attitude to natural lighting, ventilation strategies, etc. These factors have been influenced by regulatory changes, developments in technology and materials, changes in architectural thinking and economic and commercial drivers. Developments such as the New York Zoning Law of 1916, the postwar innovations in curtain wall façades and the energy crises of the 1970s have all impacted on the way tall buildings of the time were designed and operated. These events also had a significant impact on the quantity of energy and the way in which it was consumed in tall buildings of the time. This paper examines the history of energy use in tall buildings, from their origins in North America in the late nineteenth century to the present day. In doing so, it categorises tall buildings into five chronological ‘generations’, based on their energy consumption characteristics.     

Global synchronisation in Linda

The paper examines the ‘Distributed Summation’ problem, and its solution in Linda. A number of problems with the current set of primitives are examined, and a new primitive, collect, is proposed.     

The solution of radiation engineering problems on a transputer-based system

Monte Carlo and finite element methods are numerical techniques used for solving complex problems in reactor physics and radiation shielding. In this paper we are concerned with the implementation of existing research-level codes based on these two methods, written originally for serial computers, on an MIMD transputer-based system. Results and performance of the parallelized codes are presented.     

RF遍地开花,高速数字电路如今就是RF

实时频谱分析正在多种应用中得到运用,从锁相环和压控振荡器等部件一直到电路板和系统.随着RF渗透到万物之中,部件的开发者们将需要从他们的PL上和VCO中找出尖峰或者毛刺,而且还需要确保器件在电路板级参考设计中能正常工作.RF(射频)除了无所不在之外,在本质上还是一种瞬态过程,因此便带来对实时频谱分析工具的需求.     

健康与纺织品:挑战与机遇

综述了能促进消费者健康和社会安宁的纺织品的最新的技术发展.介绍了种种创新的纺织品.社会的变革和发展趋势愈来愈强调生活环境、休闲娱乐、通信以及交通等的健康与安宁的重要性.最近的技术发展增加了使纺织品获得新性能的可能性,并直接关系到使用者的健康和生活环境.纺织品作为一种柔性材料,具有悬垂性好、弹性好、易变形、强度较高、较好的染色吸附性以及其他后处理特性,可以由多种原料制成,并具有多种功能.     

Effects of Enantiomeric Blend of Verbenone on Response ofIps paraconfusus to Naturally Produced Aggregation Pheromone in the Laboratory

The aggregation pheromone produced by maleIps paraconfusus (Coleoptera: Scolytidae) tunneling in Monterey pine,Pinus radiata, logs was trapped on Porapak Q. A concentration of an extract of trapped volatiles that attracted beetles was determined in the laboratory through a concentration–response analysis of walking behavior of males and females. The interruptant effects of four concentrations of verbenone on response to a constant concentration of this naturally produced aggregation pheromone were tested with males and females. Independent of its enantiomeric composition [99.5% (S)-(–), 93.1 % (S)-(–), and 98.3% (R)-(+)], verbenone significantly reduced the percentage of females (but not males) reaching the attractant source. However, when the time required for beetles of both sexes taken together to reach the attractant source was considered, verbenone of higher enantiomeric purity had a greater effect on beetle behavior. Solutions of 99.5% (S)-(–)- and 98.3% (R)-(+)-verbenone increased the time required for beetles to reach the attractive source when compared to 93.1% (S)-(–)-verbenone. When pooled across enantiomeric blends, increasing concentrations of verbenone resulted in slower responses in beetles that reached the attractant source within 2 min. Males and females did not respond to verbenone alone.     

基于森林景观恢复策略的庄园遗产景观设计探寻——以荷兰海德兰省巴克塞比克地区为例

庄园遗产景观是指包含花园和农业用地的历史乡村庄园集群。在气候变化、工业发展和快速城市化的背景下,庄园遗产景观正面临水生态环境失衡、空间碎片化和文化特征消失等挑战,而这些挑战只能从区域规划尺度去应对。以荷兰海德兰省巴克塞比克地区为例,在考虑地方景观异同的同时,以景观自身特性为基底,结合未来发展趋势,进一步诠释了一种旨在提升庄园遗产景观韧性的多尺度景观设计方法。发现森林砍伐为地域空间变化的主要因素之一,它对水系统与生态多样性造成了负面影响。基于在区域尺度上对庄园遗产景观历史发展的分析,森林景观恢复(FLR)作为主要设计策略,旨在从不同尺度上对“退化的”景观进行生态功能修复并提升人类福祉。这种新的空间设计方法将在不同尺度上促进文化遗产景观发展。