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Urban gardens can support diverse bee communities through resource provision in resource poor environments. Yet the effects of local habitat and landscape factors on wild bee communities in cities is still insufficiently understood, nor is how this information could be applied to urban wildlife conservation. Here we investigate how taxonomic and functional diversity of wild bees and their traits in urban community gardens are related to garden factors and surrounding landscape factors (e.g., plant diversity, amount of bare ground, amount of nesting resources, amount of landscape imperviousness). Using active and passive methods in 18 community gardens in Berlin, Germany, we documented 26 genera and 102 species of bees. We found that higher plant species richness and plant diversity as well as higher amounts of deadwood in gardens leads to higher numbers of wild bee species and bee (functional) diversity. Furthermore, higher landscape imperviousness surrounding gardens correlates with more cavity nesting bees, whereas a higher amount of bare ground correlates with more ground-nesting bees. Pollen specialization was positively associated with plant diversity, but no factors strongly predicted the proportion of endangered bees. Our results suggest that, aside from foraging resources, nesting resources should be implemented in management for more pollinator-friendly gardens. If designed and managed using such evidence-based strategies, urban gardens can create valuable foraging and nesting habitats for taxonomically and functionally diverse bee communities in cities., (© 2022 The Authors. Ecological Applications published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of The Ecological Society of America.)

Copyright of VLC Arquitectura is the property of VLC Arquitectura and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper focuses on the doing of gardens and explores how amateur gardeners relate to gardening craft in their everyday garden practices. Based on qualitative empirical work, this paper discusses how different craft methods and caring practices are employed as memory work and as a means to connect to, and create, the garden as a socio-ecological place. Based on the gardeners' narratives, the garden is discussed as a web of self and a place where the meeting between the gardener and the more-than-human are central incentives to gardening. Gardening is an active place-making that goes beyond modifying the materiality of place. Rather, garden craft is narrated as reflecting the gardeners' underlying relationship to and understanding of plants, soil and animals. It is the means through which gardeners connect in an embodied way to 'the nature' of the garden. Garden craft is proposed as an art that is passed on between generations. Gardening craft can be improved by an increased understanding of the temporality of the garden and by developing a sensitivity towards the complex socio-ecological relationships that shape a place. It is concluded that garden craft is understood as central not only to how the garden is constructed as a place but also to how the gardener relates to the garden as affecting, and being affected by, the current environmental crisis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cultural institutions hold a unique position of influence, serving as hubs of education and knowledge dissemination for the people they serve. Embracing sustainable energy use in buildings in zoos and botanical gardens is a commitment to environmental responsibility that reinforces these institutions as trusted sources of information and community leaders on climate change, one of the most vital issues of our time. Sustainable energy solutions can synergize operations with educational missions, allowing zoos and botanical gardens to lead by example and inspire visitors to adopt eco-friendly practices in their own lives. In this opinion paper, Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens President and CEO Richard Piacentini discusses key elements in developing a sustainable building energy plan, reviews potential barriers to implementation, and makes a case for adopting regenerative thinking and new metrics for measuring success—citing example cases from Phipps' Center for Sustainable Landscapes (CSL) project. Additionally, the paper demonstrates how green building certification systems and peer-based resource networks like The Climate Toolkit can help guide institutions in the process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With this paper we explore and discuss the priorities of and possible goal conflicts between authenticity and climate change in heritage gardens. How can climate change mitigation, adaptation, resilience, and cultural heritage conservation be combined in heritage gardens? Our study was guided by the following research question: How do gardeners negotiate climate change and authenticity in heritage gardens? From Rachel Carson's Silent Spring in the 1960s through to the 2002 report Gardening in the Global Greenhouse and the recent Gardening in a Changing World in 2022 mankind's impact on the environment and the emerging climate change has been the focus of increasing attention. By investigating and interviewing multiple gardeners our objective was to pinpoint common challenges, as well as what can be learned from one another within the field of gardening and heritage conservation. The case study method was adopted for this study, involving three head gardeners in the United Kingdom. Interviews were conducted with Joseph Atkin at Aberglasney Gardens, Claire Greenslade at Hestercombe Gardens, and Steve Lannin at Iford Manor about their expertise and knowledge. The gardeners expressed concern regarding climate change and the challenges it poses. The interviewees shared their experience with drought, reduced use of pesticides and herbicides, and the peat legislation in relation to their role as head gardeners. We argue that authenticity and the traditional gardening practised before the advent of power tools, plastic, peat issues, and uninformed transportation can be part of the solution to loss of biodiversity and climate change. This paper identifies some of the obstacles encountered in relation to negotiating questions of authenticity and climate change in heritage gardens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper establishes interpretative criteria for the aesthetic evaluation of contemporary gardens and parks, specifically focusing on a dendrological park. Initially, it examines the potential of a "contract with nature" as a foundational basis for such evaluation but subsequently challenges this notion. The paper posits that political and material-ecological aspects significantly influence aesthetic judgments in these spaces. It argues that these elements are integral to eliciting a direct aesthetic experience and necessitates explicit explication in their interpretation. This study further interprets gardens and parks as akin to works of art in that they represent, albeit without conventional subject matter, the nuanced relationships to the lives of individuals. The paper elucidates the more profound, often unspoken dialogues between nature, culture, and individual experience by viewing these spaces as representational mediums. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the multimedia information comprehensive development of multimedia culture, the traditional technology of many industries and advanced mobile technology develop in concert. Ancient Chinese gardens have a long history. They are rich in content, outstanding in style, and full of characteristics. They have great aesthetic value and are the valuable property of all mankind. This paper discusses the environmental expression, spatial layout, and element combination in traditional garden art. The study of landscape design techniques involves different subjects. Through the developed mobile multimedia information, the traditional garden design is more rich, separation but not blocking, desire to promote first restraint, twists and turns, appropriate scale, borrowing from afar and borrowing from neighbors. The application of these expression techniques in modern interior design is of great significance. By using the ancient gardens of our country to reflect the civilization products of our country in a certain historical stage, the paper traces its development ideas and motives and analyzes the consistency with the corresponding contemporary ideological development. From the perspective of space design, this paper discusses the influence of ancient gardens on contemporary space creation from the aspects of space type, structure form, and space language. How to apply the reference means of ancient Chinese garden design to modern interior decoration through multimedia information so that the interior space can also experience the aesthetic pleasure of "changing scenery" so that the traditional landscape and modern interior decoration can be more fully integrated. This is something designers have to think about. Chinese ancient gardens have always been the focus of domestic design circles. Both the ideas behind it and its own gardening techniques can be used for reference by contemporary interior design. Therefore, the main content of this paper is the foundation of the transformation mechanism of traditional garden in contemporary design through multimedia information. Based on the framework system of contemporary indoor natural landscape or indoor natural landscape as the background, this paper discusses how to use virtual reality technology for reference to the gardening techniques of classical Chinese gardens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Along with the accelerating urbanization process in China, the problem of urban infrastructure layout has become increasingly prominent. The high density of buildings and the extremely unreasonable distribution of infrastructure make the development face great resistance. This paper reveals the problems in the layout of garden infrastructure by studying and analyzing the theoretical foundations of federal learning and distributed learning and provides an in-depth analysis and elaboration of the problem. The paper uses the shape index and landscape index of green infrastructure (green space, arable land, and water bodies), the average width of roads, road network density, and weighted buildings to conduct a comparative study through the differences in ventilation speed and temperature at different layout garden scales. According to the problems existing in the garden layout in the experimental results, corresponding improvement measures are targeted, and the infrastructure layout of the garden is combined with ecology to make the layout within the garden more suitable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Access to water for irrigating amenity landscape and public gardens is under intense pressure due to the rising competition for water between different sectors, exacerbated by increased drought risk and climate change. Rainwater harvesting (RWH) has the potential to reduce the economic impacts of restrictions on irrigation abstraction in dry years and to build resilience to future water shortages. This study investigated the hydrological viability of RWH for the landscape and public garden sector based on an analysis of five Royal Horticultural Society gardens. A RWH model was developed and combined with on-site observations, key informant interviews and GIS analyses, to estimate irrigation demands and the volumes of harvested rainfall for contrasting agroclimatic years. The results showed that gardens located in wetter regions and with low irrigation water demand to harvestable area ratio had a higher RWH potential and could almost exclusively rely on rainwater to meet irrigation demand, even in dry years. RWH potential is more limited for gardens in drier regions where they would require larger areas to harvest rainwater and for storage. Appropriately designed rainwater harvesting systems offer the potential to remove most of the risk of irrigation abstraction restrictions during dry years and associated impacts on amenity planting quality and visitor experience., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

Urbanization and land use change are leading causes of declines in pollinator abundance and diversity. However, researchers in different regions of the world have found that some pollinators can thrive in urban landscapes, depending on land use practices, environmental conditions, and species traits. Residential landscapes constitute a significant portion of urban green space and thus, residents' adoption of landscape practices to promote pollinators can play a central role in addressing the global pollinator challenge. Yet, although residents' willingness and intention appear strong, adoption of pollinator-friendly gardening remains low. The present study - guided by the Diffusion of Innovations theory - aimed to build empirical understanding by surveying 1598 [State] residents on their experiences and perceptions related to pollinator-friendly gardening to determine the most salient barriers and opportunities to engagement. Key findings suggest making the practice more widely observable and reducing perceived complexity in learning to do the practice are critical to promoting adoption. This demonstrates, in practical terms, that: (1) targeted efforts to build residents' actionable knowledge about pollinator-friendly gardening may significantly reduce uncertainty and boost the likelihood of adoption; and (2) examples of active pollinator gardens need to be more widely showcased and popularized (e.g., through experiential or virtual demonstrations). We also found most residents living in homeowner associations (HOAs) believed HOA policies on pollinator-friendly gardening were restrictive or the residents were unsure whether they are allowed to practice pollinator-friendly gardening. Given these perceptions strongly associated with residents' low intent to engage in pollinator-friendly gardening, a major opportunity exists to diffuse the practice and increase adoption by working with HOAs and community leaders to become promoters of - rather than barriers to - pollinator-friendly gardening., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Currently, the use of digital technology for the protection and research of cultural heritage has become a trend in this field. Rockeries in Chinese classical gardens have become an important cultural heritage type because of their unique shape, ingenious skills and rich connotations. Based on relevant historical information and 3D digital technology, this paper puts forward a multi-level quantitative analysis method on the scale, shape and quantity of rockeries in Chinese classical gardens, aiming at exploring the objective description and quantitative analysis path of rockeries at different levels. This method develops four levels: overall, regional, hierarchical, and individual and their corresponding quantitative contents, which in turn enable data extraction and analysis of the rockery through the different levels. The proposed method was applied to seven different Chinese classical garden rockeries, and taking Wanfang Anhe Rockery in the Old Summer Palace as an example for objective and comprehensive quantitative analysis and verification. The results show that this method is feasible and effective for quantitative analysis of the scale, shape and quantity of rockeries, which can help understand the basic background of stone rockeries and enhance a refined understanding of stone rockery construction, thereby providing data for preventive protection and informatization management of stone rockeries. The 3D rockery model database based on the overall, regional, hierarchical and individual quantitative analysis and numbering method brings a good application prospect for preventive protection and informatization management of the rockery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies the general architecture and key technologies of the Agricultural Internet of Things and summarizes the latest progress of the Internet of Things system model. On this basis, a general system architecture model suitable for the Agricultural Internet of Things is initially established, and the key technologies of the Agricultural Internet of Things are expounded to provide a reference for the in-depth application and development of the Agricultural Internet of Things. Aiming at the problem that the energy consumption of each node in the network is uneven in the process of monitoring agricultural production environment by wireless sensor network, which leads to the failure of some nodes in the network too fast, an event-driven wireless routing algorithm for agricultural production environment monitoring is proposed. By reducing the number of pieces of control information sent in the cluster, the algorithm selects the next hop forwarding node from candidate nodes according to the forwarding cost function to shorten the data transmission distance, reduce energy consumption, and improve the life cycle of the entire network. The experimental results show that the algorithm in this paper effectively avoids the waste of node energy consumption caused by the active transmission mode and at the same time better balances the overall energy consumption of the network and prolongs the life cycle of the network. The platform satisfies the needs of a local garden bureau to integrate comprehensive landscaping business information and display comprehensive landscaping information in a comprehensive, timely, and dynamic manner. At the same time, it has made useful explorations in the development and integration of landscaping business data interfaces and GIS data interfaces. All system functions of the smart garden information management platform project are reasonably designed and completely correct and basically meet the software function requirements specified in the requirements specification. Some functions were found not realized during the test. After rectification, various systems have been improved. All system interfaces of the smart garden information management platform project have reasonable layout, simple operation, and good ease of use. The smart garden information management platform project meets the business logic requirements and fulfills the requirements of the information construction of the Garden and Greening Administration. All systems of the smart garden information management platform project are simple to install and easy to operate and meet the user's requirements after installation. The system has a strict permission setting function. People with different permissions can only see the content of the fields that they have permission to access, which effectively ensures the security of the data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Kosmos is the property of Polish Copernicus Society of Naturalists and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper presents an investigation into the characterization of historical gardens by comparing two 3D survey methodologies. In this context, approaches employing terrestrial laser scanning are considered the most accurate, while Mobile Mapping Systems (MMSs) are considered promising due to their extreme productivity. Less common is the use of close-range photogrammetry. This paper compares two approaches based on the use of a wearable MMS and the use of an in-house built photogrammetric multi-camera prototype. The comparison aims to assess the applicability of the two techniques in this field, evaluating their advantages and disadvantages in surveying a historical garden and extracting information for tree inventory, such as the DBH (Diameter at Breast Height) and canopy footprint. We compared the practicality of surveying and processing operations; and the quality and characteristics of the point clouds obtained. Both systems produced a dense representation of the terrain. The multi-camera survey resulted to be more defined due to the lower noise of the point cloud but incomplete in the definition of tree canopies. DBH of tree trunks can be extracted with both systems, except for thinner and finer diameter trunks detected by the MMS approach but not always by the multi-camera. The MMS approach proved more effective thanks to a shorter survey time required to cover an equal area and the fact that the MMS survey alone is sufficient for the geometric description of trees. In contrast, the multi-camera approach cannot avoid integration with an aerial survey for canopy reconstruction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes the problematization of generic and mass-produced forms of architecture through the oppositional relationship with indigenous self-constructed spaces. Starting from an ethnographic study about an unique indigenous horticulture project in the center of Rio de Janeiro, The Dja Guata Porã Garden, we demonstrate the effort to build a territory that organizes itself based on multispecies relationships. The project is contrasted with the formal urban space where it takes place, within a housing complex "Minha Casa, Minha Vida", the largest public housing policy in Brazil, where the architecture is designed with generic spaces that cannot be modified according to the residents. From this spatial contrast, we propose that this indigenous horticulture project, with pedagogical purposes, is a gap in the formal urban space. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Green space matters for mental health but is under constant pressure in an increasingly urbanising world. Often there is little space available in cities for green areas, so it is vital to optimise the design and usage of these available green spaces. To achieve this, experts in planning, design and nature conservation need to know which types and characteristics of green spaces are most beneficial for residents' mental health.A scoping review of studies that compare different green space types and characteristics on mental health was conducted. A total of 215 (experimental, observational and qualitative) papers were included in the scoping review.This review highlights a high level of heterogeneity in study design, geographical locations, mental health outcomes and green space measures. Few of the included studies were specifically designed to enable direct comparisons between green space types and characteristics (e.g. between parks and forests). The included studies have predominantly experimental research designs looking at the effects of short‐term exposure to green space on short‐term mental health outcomes (e.g. affect and physiological stress). More studies enabled only indirect comparisons, either within the same study or between different studies.Analysis of the direction of the mental health outcomes (positive, neutral, negative) from exposure to various types and characteristics of green space found positive (i.e. beneficial) effects across all green space types. However, green space characteristics did appear to render more diverse effects on mental health, which is especially the case for vegetation characteristics (e.g. higher vegetation density can be negative for mental health).The scoping review reveals gaps in the present evidence base, with a specific need for more studies directly comparing green space types and characteristics within the same study. Proposed future research directions include the use of longitudinal research designs focusing on green space characteristics, considering actual exposure and systematically addressing heterogeneity in factors influencing the relation between green spaces and mental health (e.g. type of interaction, user experience). Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of South Architecture / Nanfang Jianzhu is the property of South Architecture Editorial Office and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Although the Chinese, Japanese, and Korean academy gardens in East Asia are of the same origin, they have gradually followed different paths owing to the influence of natural and cultural environments. This paper introduces in detail the site selection, enclosure, architecture, plants, water system, and stone building of the Yuelu Academy in China, Katsura Imperial Villa in Japan, and Pingshan Academy in Korea and compares and analyzes the differences between the three countries' academy gardens, thus helping us to better understand and appreciate East Asian academy gardens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to improve the effect of rural garden landscape design, this paper combines virtual simulation technology to design rural garden landscape and evaluates its design effect. Moreover, this paper proposes an optical modulation system for the application of virtual simulation in rural garden landscape design. In addition, before the target is modulated, this paper converts the two-dimensional image on the detector target surface into a one-dimensional stretched modulation image so that the beam emitted by each object point is stretched and flattened on the detector target surface. Finally, this paper explores the influence of lens spacing and field of view on the modulation image of the target surface and the characteristics of projected intensity attenuation after modulation and designs a modulation model that optimizes attenuation. The research results show that the garden landscape design based on virtual reality technology proposed in this paper has a good effect and is of great significance to the effect of rural garden landscape design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pollinators are responsible for the reproduction of many plant and crop species and provide important diversity for food webs and cultural value. Despite the critical ecosystem services provided by pollinators, rapid pollinator declines are occurring in response to anthropogenic activities that cause the loss of suitable habitat. There is an opportunity for urban green space to support pollination ecosystem services locally and across the landscape. However, there is a lack of practical but evidence-based guidance on how urban green space can be designed effectively to provide floral resources and other habitat needs to a diverse assemblage of pollinators. We examine the existing pollinator research in this paper to address the following questions specific to insect pollinators in temperate urban settings: (1) Which pollinators can be the focus of efforts to increase pollinator ecosystem services in cities? (2) Which plants and what arrangements of plants are most attractive and supportive to urban pollinators? (3) What do urban pollinators need beyond floral resources? (4) How can the surrounding landscape inform where to prioritize new habitat creation within cities? Using these questions as a framework, we provide specific and informed management and planning recommendations that optimize pollinator ecosystem value in urban settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dry bean is considered as one of the major legume crop with big number of landraces grown in Bulgaria. The aim of this study was to characterize landraces of Phaseolus spp. typically grown in home gardens. Studied plant materials were selected according to their importance and distribution, concerning traditions and culture for each region. The most popular local forms were characterized by different approaches. In this paper we will present results from morphological and agro-biological characterization, and phythopathological evaluation. During vegetation cycle of three consequences years 16 qualitative and quantitative traits were assessed on 55 accessions of Phaseolus spp. Phaseolus landraces showed high seed diversity, in terms of seed size, seed shape and seed color. Seed size was analyzed by 100 seed weight. Most of the studied accessions were scored with sensitive reaction to bacterial diseases (Xanthomonas campestris pv. Phaseoli) and only few accessions were identified with middle sensitive reaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper takes the garden road system as the research object and proposes a method of generating paths for classical gardens based on parametric design. Firstly, by studying the distribution characteristics of roads, the data on the curvature, angle, and view area of roads were collected. Secondly, the obtained data were transferred to the parameterized platform, and a method of intelligent generation was used for calculation. Finally, the road system was optimized by the genetic algorithm for better application in modern landscape design. According to the current situation, the road system plan generated by the algorithm inherits the characteristics of classical garden roads. This method can be applied to the courtyard, the community park, the urban park, and other objects. This research not only identifies the characteristics of landscape cultural heritage, but also produces an innovative, intelligent design tool. It provides new methods for the parameterized inheritance and application of traditional landscape heritage.

Common garden experiments are indoor or outdoor plantings of species or populations collected from multiple distinct geographic locations, grown together under shared conditions. These experiments examine a range of questions for theory and application using a variety of methods for analysis. The eight papers of this special feature comprise a cross section of contemporary approaches, summarized and synthesized here by what they tell us about the relationships between climate‐related trait spectra and fitness optima.Four of the eight papers are based on field experiments in prairie, desert, Mediterranean and boreal biomes. Representative of many common garden experiments, these experiments reveal consistent evidence of traits varying with population climate provenance, but evidence of a tradeoff between growth and tolerance traits or of consistent fitness optimization at home is scant, in contrast to trait theory. Two synthesis papers highlight dominant patterns of trait divergence, including for an exotic invasive species. One theoretical paper warned that unknown kinship relationships between populations can result in the misidentification of adaptive trait divergence. A third synthesis paper formulated novel and ambitious goals for common‐garden studies through including measurement of response variables at multiple levels of biological organization.The featured papers discuss multiple avenues for improving common garden studies. Genomic analysis, together with the quantification of kinship relationships, will continue to reveal the influence of environmental drivers on gene selection. Measuring a more complete set of fitness traits, especially for traits related to regeneration, will permit the development of projection models to explicitly link trait spectra, climate patterns and fitness consequences. More standardized data reporting will additionally improve abilities to synthesize findings across experiments. Testing population performance in competition with other species will produce more robust fitness comparisons between genotypes, especially for slower‐growing genotypes in higher‐resource environments. Adding gardens in and beyond climatic edge locations will furthermore strengthen the understanding of population failure and species exclusion. Finally, there is unrealized potential in adding ecosystem‐level observations to common‐garden studies that will enhance integrative analysis across scales of biological organization and scientific domains.Synthesis. With novel, creative designs, data integration and synthesis, common garden experiments will continue to advance the understanding of trait ensembles interacting with climate across scales of biological organization, provide pivotal data for global change models and guide ecological applications such as restoration of habitats for rare and climate sensitive species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents an analytical framework for evaluating the impact of the two main processes identified in Madrid timber-framed courtyard buildings reinforcing the courtyard's crucial role in architectural heritage sustainability: their development caused dwellings to darken (1737–1950), and the existing challenge is to open new patios according to the listed buildings' protection policy. Critical findings in archival research and existing building assessments led to completed data collection and analysis. When exploring construction expansion, from the house towards the collective prototype around a gradually reduced patio and dwelling darkening (1737–1786), buildings resulted in open, semiopen, underlighted and closed designs. Study area on-site assessment uncovered the transition from the older low-rise type (1–3) floors to the modern closed model of up to (4–6) storeys. Construction enlargements, consequently reducing original green areas and courtyards, call for reversing that process or formulating a new strategy. It debates the partial demolition of listed buildings in upgrades and its agreement with the needed "blue courtyard" strategy (PGOUM), resulting from joining new rear individual patios to create a communal building block courtyard. The uncovered "in-between" type (1864), which integrates two open-air collective spaces, an inner courtyard and a back garden, appears challenging to explore. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to the mountainous terrain in the urban areas of southwest China, there are a large number of barren slopes in the community unsuitable for construction. These areas, alongside other unusable space which is often cultivated by residents to create informal community vegetable gardens and fruit growing areas, have become a "gray area" for urban management. This paper attempts to study the characteristics of informal community growing, the composition of growers, the motivation for growing, and the satisfaction of residents in urban areas in mountainous southwest China to explore its relative value. The sample area for the study was Yongchuan, Chongqing, Southwest China. Through a field survey, a semantic differential questionnaire, and data analysis, we found that: (1) growers use traditional cultivation methods to grow diverse fruits and vegetables according to the size of the slope, and the scale is so large that it serves as a local food supply; (2) growers are mainly vulnerable groups who use the land for economic gain and green food acquisition; and (3) growers and non-growers are more satisfied with the food supply and economic benefits generated by cultivation, while they are dissatisfied with the environmental and social benefits and the planting process. Satisfaction also varies with age, occupation, income, education, household registration, and farming experience. Based on the findings, this paper presents recommendations for the future transformation and development of informal community cultivation in mountainous areas. The study has implications for the construction of community gardens and urban agriculture in the mountains.

Our understanding of well-being, and related concepts such as health and flourishing, is shaped by the metaphors through which we think about such ideas. Current dominant metaphors-including a pyramid, ladder, and continuum-all have various issues. As such, this paper offers two other metaphors which can better do justice to the nuanced complexities of these notions, namely, a garden and an orchestra. Through these metaphors, this paper articulates a comprehensive framework for conceptualizing and appreciating the nature of well-being (and associated concepts), which it is hoped will generate further insights and research into these valued and sought-after phenomena.

Copyright of People & Nature is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Enrichment is essential for the welfare of many zoo-housed animals, yet the value of enrichment is not well understood for all taxa. As an intelligent, long-lived species, the southern ground hornbill (Bucorvus leadbeateri) is a good model for enrichment research. A pair of southern ground hornbills, housed at Beale Wildlife Park and Gardens, were observed during study periods in 2014, 2018, and 2019. Three types of enrichment were provided for the birds; these enrichment types were developed based on information on the habits of the species as found in natural history papers. The enrichment types consisted of a pile of twigs, small animal carcasses, and plastic mirrors. Overall, the carcass feeds and the mirrors resulted in the greatest changes in behavior, with hornbills engaging in long periods of food manipulation with carcasses. For the mirror condition, hornbills spent time stalking around and pecking at mirrors, similar to the 'window smashing' behavior seen in wild hornbills. Overall, the research suggests that not only can enrichment modify the behavior of southern ground hornbills, but non-nutritional enrichment may be equally valuable to the animals. Natural history papers may have some value in inspiring novel enrichment items for zoo-housed animals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At present, China is at an essential stage in the progress of social civilisation. At the same time, China's current economic level is developing rapidly and the level of urbanisation is also increasing. However, the uncontrolled development of urban space and excessive consumption of land resources have led to many urban ecological and environmental problems. As a result, there is an urgent need to improve the urban habitat. Plant landscaping is an important part of the urban environment. In addition, plant landscaping is also a crucial part of the visual arts and plays a key role in the shaping of urban spaces. In the context of the urban construction boom, people are increasingly demanding quality in the urban environment. Spatial scale, as a vital factor influencing the visual effect of planting, is gradually becoming a focus of landscape design. Urban greening based on plant landscape can not only improve the urban ecological environment and enhance people's quality of life but also resolve the contradiction between the demand for urban green space and the continuous reduction of urban greening land. Therefore, plant landscaping is recognised as a key step towards global sustainable development. However, according to current research and application practice, the development of urban greenery is limited and hindered by the value of plant landscaping and its applications. In addition, no comprehensive theoretical system has yet been established at the plant scale. In other words, there are still problems of scale in plant landscaping, such as unreasonable density, disproportion, and unclear hierarchy. Therefore, this paper begins with the definition of plant spatial scale in the city and analyses plant spatial types and scale characteristics from multiple perspectives, so as to establish an overall knowledge of plant landscaping. After that, through a study of the current situation of plant landscaping in cities, a quantitative analysis of the visual scale of plant space in urban squares is carried out to address the issues of plant scale design in this research. The focus of the analysis is on the scale of plants in relation to related elements. Furthermore, this study explores the influence of visual aesthetic scale and psychological scale on planting based on the functional scale of plant elements. Finally, the above quantitative analyses are applied to derive some relative data criteria and to summarise the design strategies for the spatial scale of planting in the city. The findings of this study can provide some guiding suggestions and references for the future construction of urban greenery, thus promoting the orderly development of plant landscaping in cities., Competing Interests: The author declares that there are no conflicts of interest., (Copyright © 2022 Lin Tian.)

The problem of module discrimination and identification in the field of landscape design is the focus of researchers. Based on multimodal intelligent computing, this paper constructs a landscape design system based on deep neural network. The article first uses a deep neural network to train multimodal garden landscape images, and then performs pooling and convolution operations on garden landscape images on the multimodal training model of convergence speed on the edge and solve the problem of low model accuracy. In the simulation process, the neural network module of MATLAB software is used to extract the spatiotemporal features of the dynamic garden landscape image from the three directions of the bottom block of the garden to achieve feature complementarity. This method only uses 15% of the features of the original feature set. The complexity of the recognition system also reduces the recognition error rate. The experimental results show that by adopting the design of feature series fusion, maximum value fusion, and multiplicative fusion in the score layer, the feature series fusion achieves a high accuracy rate under the multiplicative fusion of the three modalities, reaching 77.1%, and the test error is within 0.118, which effectively improves the multimodal characteristics of the integrated landscape and makes the modeling results more accurate., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest., (Copyright © 2022 Xueyong Yu et al.)

This paper presents some current results of the research, which proposes a virtual recreation of Reynaldo Dierberger original project for the Seropédica campus of UFRRJ, located in Rio de Janeiro State, Brazil. The gardens, as well as the original architectural ensemble, in neocolonial style, have been legally protected in 2001. The group of researchers faced a triple challenge to make the virtual recreation. The first one concerns the identification of what was designed and not built, based on original hand-made drawings filed in the Document Conservation Laboratory of UFRRJ (LabDOC) and other university departments. The second challenge concerns the interpretation of the elements from English Garden design principles that emerged in the 19th century and were developed in Brazil by European landscapers such as Glaziou (1828–1906). The third one concerns making design drawings digital to elaborate 3d models considering a group of digital graphic tools available and also the application of Sevilla Principles (2011). It is important to mention that some of the research activities were impaired by the COVID-19 pandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the process of digital restoration of cultural heritage, for the disappeared royal gardens, where information is relatively scarce, the process of accurate digital restoration usually encounters a problem of how to effectively use the fragmented and limited historical and status quo information for discernment, to achieve accurate digital alignment restoration of the disappeared royal gardens in the region, and to complete the overall digital restoration of boundaries and patterns. Taking Changchun Garden as an example, this paper uses recent status quo mapping, aerial photography and current status quo structures as the basis, historical archival materials, style house plans, early mapping, early aerial photography and various historical documents as the starting point for the credibility and priority of various materials, and uses the iconic remaining information of key locations, such as buildings, water systems and fences, through historical traces, relative positions and proportional relationships. The identification of the 'line' is done by using the 'point' to determine the location of the wall in the east, north, west and south directions, thus defining the boundary and pattern of the historical Changchun Garden. This approach is based on the disappearing royal gardens and the digital restoration process can be effective in completing the task of solving problems and giving ideas and directions to those working in the relevant fields. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of the current study is to investigate a special case of art gallery problem, namely a sculpture garden problem. In this problem, for a given polygon P, the ultimate goal is to place the minimum number of guards (landmarks) to define the interior polygon P by applying a monotone Boolean formula composed of the guards. Using this problem, it can replace the operation-based method with time-consuming, pixel-based algorithms. So, the processing time of some problems in the fields of machine vision, image processing and gamification can be strongly reduced. The problem has also many applications in mobile device localization in the Internet of Things (IoT). An open problem in this regard is the proof of Eppstein's conjecture, which has remained an open problem since 2007. According to his conjecture, in the worst case, n − 2 vertex guards are required to describe any n-gon. In this paper, a lower bound is introduced for the special case of this problem (natural vertex guard), which shows that if a polygon can be defined with natural vertex guards, then n − 2 is a lower bound. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Historic gardens are often seen in the context of botanical heritage, which emphasizes their aesthetic and botanical value. Yet, their architectural importance as an integral part of the architectural heritage of the bastion castle ensemble is ignored. Finding the relationship between the castle and the garden is presently complicated by considerable changes in the townscape since the 17th century and the lack of details on these gardens' depictions on maps. The paper demonstrates how historical maps, especially military ones combined with modern on-site analyses can reveal the main architectural types of the gardens in the bastion castle ensemble and show their most important architectural features that should be preserved. The results demonstrate three scenarios in the relationship between the garden and the palace component of bastion castle, their main features, and the challenges facing them. This elucidation of the main features can help to conserve and to valorize plans for the gardens in these ensembles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gardens play a key role in the definition of the cultural landscape since they reflect the culture, identity, and history of a people. They also contribute to the ecological balance of the city. Despite the fact that gardens have an historic and social value, they are not protected as much as the rest of the existing heritage, such as architecture and archaeological sites. While methods of built-heritage mapping and monitoring are increasing and constantly improving to reduce built-heritage loss and the severe impact of natural disasters, the documentation and survey techniques for gardens are often antiquated. In addition, inventories are typically made by non-updated/updateable reports, and they are rarely in digital format or in 3D. This paper presents the results of a comprehensive study on the latest technology for laser scanning in gardens. We compared static terrestrial laser scanning and mobile laser scanning point clouds generated by the Focus 3D S120 and the Leica BLK2GO, respectively, to evaluate their quality for documentation, estimate tree attributes, and terrain morphology. The evaluation is based on visual observation, C2C comparisons, and terrain information extraction capabilities, i.e., M3C2 comparisons for topography, DTM generation, and contour lines. Both methods produced useful outcomes for the scope of the research within their limitations. Terrestrial laser scanning is still the method that offers accurate point clouds with a higher point density and less noise. However, the more recent mobile laser scanning is able to survey in less time, significantly reducing the costs for site activities, data post-production, and registration. Both methods have their own restrictions that are amplified by site features, mainly the lack of plans for the geometric alignment of scans and the simultaneous location and mapping (SLAM) process. We offer a critical description of the issues related to the functionality of the two sensors, such as the operative range limit, light dependency, scanning time, point cloud completeness and size, and noise level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, several biblical gardens were constructed in the harsh climate of Poland. They try to convey spiritual values through the medium of garden art and design. Rarely are they built from scratch with a granted budget; the majority of them represent the effort to revitalize degraded urban space and cultural heritage. In most cases, they are constructed and maintained as a challenge by groups of enthusiasts with no institutional financial help. From the very beginning, they are attracting numerous visitors, individuals, and organized groups to previously neglected spaces. The scope of this paper is to present the phenomenon of their construction, discuss the selected case studies, and try to identify whether their creation is strengthening the resilience of cultural landscapes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Il Capitale Culturale: Studies on the Value of Cultural Heritage is the property of Il Capitale Culturale Studies on the Value of Cultural Heritage and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Potestas: Estudios del Mundo Clásico e Historia del Arte is the property of Potestas Estudios del Mundo Clasico e Historia del Arte and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Sustainability of intervention programming is challenging to achieve under real world conditions, since few models exist and many studies do not plan far beyond the funding period. Programming content in early care and education centers (ECECs) is often driven by guidelines. However, implementation is very sensitive to contextual factors, such as the setting and implementer (teacher) characteristics. This paper presents the model, definitions, and methodology used for the sustainability action plan capitalizing on a community-based participatory research (CBPR) approach, developed for a multi-site, multi-level garden-based childhood obesity prevention study, Sustainability via Active Garden Education (SAGE). The Ecologic Model of Obesity is applied to develop a sustainability action plan (SAP) and accompanying measures to link early care and education (ECE) environment, the community, policies, and classroom practices to an early childhood obesity prevention program. The SAGE SAP provides an example of how to iteratively evaluate and refine sustainability processes for an obesity prevention intervention utilizing CBPR approaches and will be applied to assess the sustainability of SAGE in a cluster randomized controlled trial. This SAP model can also help inform intervention delivery and scalability within ECECs.

Physical activity and nutrition preschool programming must involve parents in positive long-term healthy habits. This paper describes parent outreach in the Sustainability via Active Garden Education (SAGE) study. Newsletters were sent home with children to promote family opportunities to increase physical activity and fruit and vegetable intake. The content was generated via a community advisory board participatory process. Messages linked SAGE curriculum topics with home and community activities. Parents rated frequency of receipt, helpfulness, satisfaction, and use of content. Most participants were Hispanic (>78%) and women (>95%). Most reported receiving newsletters; nearly all reported that they were helpful. Favorite newsletter components included recipes, pictures of their children and seasonal produce spotlights. Most reported doing physical activities from the newsletters (51.9%). Few reported doing featured physical activity (8.9%) and fruit and vegetable (12.7%) community activities. Newsletter outreach methods are a simple strategy to add value to preschool-based interventions promoting healthy families.

Extensible or expandable garden hoses have become popular. However, their behavior may be surprising to physicists. In this paper, the stress–strain equations that explain this behavior are derived and compared with experiments. The results clearly demonstrate that, since deformation is very large, conventional definitions of strain and stress are not useful and so-called real definitions are needed instead. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on case studies in Dublin, Ireland, this paper examines the motives for individuals to establish community gardens therein. The paper also outlines the capacities required for community groups to successfully establish and sustain community gardens in Ireland. These capacities include the involvement of individuals with a range of expertise, the presence of supportive community groups/organisations and state agencies, and access to resources, including land. The research findings, detailed in this paper, indicate that community gardens in urban settings encounter a number of challenges, including the absence of a mechanism for community groups to access land. The article provides a framework for community groups and community organisations to develop community gardens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Garden balsam optimization (GBO) is a new proposed evolutionary algorithm based on swarm intelligence. Convergence and time complexity analyses are very important in evolutionary computation, but the research on GBO is still blank. Same as other evolutionary algorithms, the optimization process of the GBO algorithm can be regarded as a Markov process. In this paper, a Markov stochastic model of the GBO algorithm is defined and used to prove the convergence of GBO algorithm. Finally, the approximation region of the estimated convergence time of GBO algorithm is calculated, which characterizes the evolution of the evolutionary process of the proposed algorithm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Normally, gardens lower the ambient temperature, which would improve air quality, absorb pollutants, and produce oxygen. Trees reduce soil erosion, increase fertility, and help retain soil moisture. Decomposed leaves that fall in the garden become nutrients for tree growth and help microbes to thrive. When it comes to growing trees in a garden, one should try and choose native trees that are naturally found in a particular area. These trees are well adapted to the environment and require less maintenance. Many insects and birds rely on native trees for food and shelter. Therefore, they are best for the environment. However, not all native trees are evergreen trees. Many evergreen trees can be planted in a small garden. In this paper, a microplantation-based model was developed to enhance the biological impacts for a smart garden. Based on the garden requirements, the smart system was constructed. On this basis, the seeds are planted in the soil. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]