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Semantic segmentation of point clouds is indispensable for 3D scene understanding. Point clouds have credibility for capturing geometry of objects including shape, size, and orientation. Deep learning (DL) has been recognized as the most successful approach for image semantic segmentation. Applied to point clouds, performance of the many DL algorithms degrades, because point clouds are often sparse and have irregular data format. As a result, point clouds are regularly first transformed into voxel grids or image collections. PointNet was the first promising algorithm that feeds point clouds directly into the DL architecture. Although PointNet achieved remarkable performance on indoor point clouds, its performance has not been extensively studied in large-scale outdoor point clouds. So far, we know, no study on large-scale aerial point clouds investigates the sensitivity of the hyper-parameters used in the PointNet. This paper evaluates PointNet's performance for semantic segmentation through three large-scale Airborne Laser Scanning (ALS) point clouds of urban environments. Reported results show that PointNet has potential in large-scale outdoor scene semantic segmentation. A remarkable limitation of PointNet is that it does not consider local structure induced by the metric space made by its local neighbors. Experiments exhibit PointNet is expressively sensitive to the hyper-parameters like batch-size, block partition and the number of points in a block. For an ALS dataset, we get significant difference between overall accuracies of 67.5% and 72.8%, for the block sizes of 5m × 5m and 10m × 10m, respectively. Results also discover that the performance of PointNet depends on the selection of input vectors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently, Urban Parks presents an essential role of humanity, because they provide a many of benefits that support our physical and social health. Therefore, UP (Urban Parks) are crucial part of whole urban environment. In this paper, we present the role of Green Space in public health, and based on Geographical Information System (GIS) techniques, we will start our study with a case study of the city of Tangier in northern Morocco. The city has had remarkable development in recent years. So, the inhabitants of Tangier need demands in the public services, in particular the urban parks.So we studied the distribution of urban parks in the different commons of the city (Tangier, Charf, Benimakada and Boukhalef (Guezania previously)) by calculating the area and the number of UPs in each common, then a calculation on the indices (PAC, PAR and PR) for each region, and finally make a comparison with the situation in 2015. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The co-existence of rats and humans in urban environments has long been a cause for concern regarding human health because of the potential for rats to harbor and transmit disease-causing pathogens. Here, we analyze whole-genome sequence (WGS) data from 41 Escherichia coli isolates collected from rat feces from 12 locations within the city of Chicago, IL, United States to determine the potential for rats to serve as a reservoir for pathogenic E. coli and describe its population structure. We identified 25 different serotypes, none of which were isolated from strains containing significant virulence markers indicating the presence of Shiga toxin-producing and other disease-causing E. coli. Nor did the E. coli isolates harbor any particularly rare stress tolerant or antimicrobial resistance genes. We then compared the isolates against a public database of approximately 100,000 E. coli and Shigella isolates of primarily food, food facility, or clinical origin. We found that only one isolate was genetically similar to genome sequences in the database. Phylogenetic analyses showed that isolates cluster by serotype, and there was little geographic structure (e.g., isolation by distance) among isolates. However, a greater signal of isolation by distance was observed when we compared genetic and geographic distances among isolates of the same serotype. This suggests that E. coli serotypes are independent lineages and recombination between serotypes is rare. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urban environments increasingly move to the fore of climate and air quality research due to their central role in the population's health and well-being. Tools to model the local environmental conditions, urban morphology and interaction with the atmospheric boundary layer play an important role for sustainable urban planning and policy-making. uDALES is a high-resolution, building-resolving large-eddy simulation code for urban microclimate and air quality. uDALES solves a surface energy balance for each urban facet and models multi-refection shortwave radiation, longwave radiation, heat storage and conductance, as well as turbulent latent and sensible heat fluxes. Vegetated surfaces and their effect on outdoor temperatures and energy demand can be studied. Furthermore a scheme to simulate emissions and transport of aerosols and some reactive gas species is present. The energy balance has been tested against idealized cases and the particle dispersion against field measurements, yielding satisfying results. uDALES can be used to study the effect of specific new constructions and building measures on the local micro-climate; or to gain new insight about the general effect of urban morphology on local climate, ventilation and dispersion. uDALES is available online under GNU General Public License and remains under maintenance and development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nowadays, the Inertial Navigation System/Global Navigation Satellite System (INS/GNSS) integrated navigation system is widely used in many applications. The extended Kalman Filter (EKF) is a popular data fusion method for the INS/GNSS integrated navigation system. However, the process and measurement noise covariance matrices of the EKF cannot be modelled accurately due to varied scenes and complicated GNSS signal errors in urban environments, which undermines or deteriorates the EKF's performance. To mitigate noise covariance uncertainties' influence, this paper proposes an adaptive EKF algorithm named SARSA EKF, which enables the State-Action-Reward-State-Action (SARSA) method in EKF to realise the autonomous selection of the noise covariance matrices based on the Q-value. Meanwhile, a pruning algorithm is designed to remove inappropriate selections of noise covariance matrices and enhance the performance. The simulation and field test results indicate that the positioning accuracy of the SARSA EKF is better than the traditional EKF and the Q-learning EKF (QLEKF). The positioning accuracy's mean error of the SARSA EKF decreases by 34.32% and 25.95% compared with the traditional EKF and the QLEKF, respectively. And the positioning accuracy's standard deviation of the SARSA EKF decreases by 41.74% and 32.99% compared with the traditional EKF and the QLEKF, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Long‐chain unsaturated fatty acids (uFAs), such as oleic acid, undergo rapid degradation via heterogeneous reactions with atmospheric oxidants upon emission. The oxidation mechanism and kinetics have been extensively studied in laboratory experiments. However, quantitative knowledge of degradation rates under real‐world atmospheric conditions is scarce. We obtained the nighttime decay rates of three cooking‐related uFAs using a relative rate approach applied to bihourly measured data in urban Shanghai. The estimated lifetime of oleic acid was 6 h under conditions of ∼12 ppb ozone and 60%–100% relative humidity encountered at our urban location or an inferred ∼2 h at a higher ozone level of ∼40 ppb. The decay rates of elaidic and linoleic acid are determined to be 0.62 and 1.37 that of oleic acid, respectively. This work provides the first kinetic data pertaining to real‐world conditions. They are valuable for constraining the modeling of heterogeneous aging of ambient organic aerosols. Plain Language Summary: Cooking emissions can contribute significantly to ambient aerosols in urban areas. Oleic and linoleic acid are among the major components in cooking‐emitted particles. They can be rapidly degraded in the atmosphere. This process modifies the aerosol compositions and properties, altering the aerosols' climate impact. Previous studies on the oxidation mechanism and reaction rate of the cooking molecules are mainly based on laboratory experiments, with simulated aerosol matrices limited to simple mixtures of a few components. Ambient aerosols, however, are far more complicated. The laboratory settings can only partially simulate atmospheric conditions. In this work, we determined the decay rate constants of three cooking molecules (i.e., oleic, elaidic, and linoleic acid) by taking advantage of their bihourly measured concentrations at an urban location. Between our ambient data‐derived lifetime for oleic acid against ozone oxidation and the previous laboratory data‐derived estimates, the agreement tends to be haphazard. Such comparison results indicate the deficiency of the laboratory systems in mimicking the real‐world conditions and highlight the necessity in producing more ambient measurements‐derived kinetic data. Key Points: Bihourly measured oleic, elaidic, and linoleic acid allow first‐time determination of their decay rates under real‐world conditionsThe relative decay rates of elaidic and linoleic acid versus oleic acid from the ambient data are consistent with their intrinsic reactivityComparison of oleic acid lifetime with previous studies suggests laboratory systems are inadequate in simulating real‐world conditions [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The obesity rate in Chicago has increased up to more than 30% in the last two decades. Obesity is a major problem in Chicago, where 36% of the city's high school students and 61% of adults in the metropolitan area are overweight or obese. Simultaneously, Chicago remains highly segregated by race—a phenomenon that begs for spatial analysis of health. Extant work exploring associations between the food retail environment and obesity has provided mixed findings, and virtually, none of this work has been done with the effects of the interaction between racial segregation and the food retail environment on obesity, where obesity rates are among the highest in the segregation area for the city defined by racial segregation. This study explores whether being overweight or obese is associated with urban food environments, such as access to different types of food retail outlets, and how its associations interact with racial factors, at the community level. This study uses the 2016–2018 data from the Healthy Chicago Survey to investigate the spatial variations in obesity and their association with food environments in Chicago. Also, this study examines the moderating effects of racial segregation on associations between obesity and access to food retail outlets. Using spatial statistics and regression models with interaction terms, this study assesses how the urban food environment can interact with racial segregation to explain the spatial distribution of obesity. The results indicate that the obesity population is highly concentrated in the African American community. In Chicago, each additional convenience store in a community is associated with a 0.42% increase in the obesity rate. Fast food restaurant access is predictive of a greater obesity rate, and grocery store access is predictive of less obesity rate in a community with a higher percentage of African American population. Findings can be used to promote equitable access to food retail outlets, which may help reduce broader health inequities in Chicago. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ecological considerations should be an integral part of the decision-making processes of urban planners. Specifically, ecological aspects used in urban ecology, such as green infrastructure and ecosystem services, are substantiated by literature as strategies for improving quality of life, human health, and well-being. Studies dealing with such concepts in the Global South recently gained interest; however, these lack empirical evidence on the integration thereof in mainstream South African urban planning practice. This article conducts a preliminary investigation into the knowledge of ecological aspects of a sample of South African urban planners and their willingness to implement ecological aspects in urban planning practice. The new environmental paradigm scale is employed to determine the environmental worldview (ecocentric or anthropocentric) among respondents and how this relates to their knowledge of ecological aspects. The initial research sample consisted of a total of 283 questionnaires distributed. Although findings of this article are based on a low response rate (15%) of 42 documented responses, it did not affect the validity of the data collected in this context. The initial findings indicated that the environmental worldview of the sample of planners is only one factor influencing their perspective on incorporating ecological considerations. Low to moderate knowledge and awareness regarding ecological aspects such as ecosystem services, green infrastructure, and multi-functionality are argued to be main factors preventing integration in urban planning practice. Findings emphasize the need for context-based implementation strategies and broad recommendations are made for the planning profession as a point of departure to introduce or ingrain ecological considerations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The neighborhood renewal process is an important opportunity to update the built environment; however, major changes to the built environment might decrease spatial performance and environmental quality. In these processes, there is a need to evaluate urban renewal alternatives, especially the quality of the environment, to understand the performance of the newly designed built environment. The quality of the built environment depends on a variety of aspects (such as walkability, energy level, security, open spaces, water permeability, etc.), several of which can be assessed using diverse measurements and evaluation models. Current new technological developments, based on GIS, enable the evaluation of diverse aspects of environmental quality and promote urban renewal decision-making processes. Urban renewal needs to harness these models in the decision-making approaches to improve assessment processes of urban renewal alternative estimations that consider future performance and quality of the built environment. In this article, we present a 3D-GIS multiparametric scenario analysis for neighborhood renewal alternatives estimation to evaluate the performance and quality of the built environment as part of the decision-making process. The multiparametric approach will include an evaluation analysis of several aspects of environmental quality, including walkability, accessibility, sense of security, energy, shade, water infiltration, visibility, and more. The analysis results will indicate the level of performance for each aspect as indices for environmental quality. The multiparametric scenario analysis for neighborhood renewal will be conducted on three renewal alternatives for one neighborhood in the city of Hatzor HaGlilit, Israel. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aimed to define better the clinical presentation, fracture patterns, and features predictive of associated injuries and need for surgery in pediatric facial trauma patients in an urban setting. Charts of patients 18 years or younger with International Classification of Disease 9th and 10th revision (ICD-9/ICD-10) codes specific for facial fractures (excluding isolated nasal fractures) at NY-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center between 2008 and 2017 were retrospectively reviewed. Of 204 patients, most were referred to the emergency department by a physician's office or self-presented. Children (age 0–6 years) were most likely to have been injured by falls, while more patients 7 to 12 years and 13 to 18 years were injured during sporting activities ( p  < 0.0001). Roughly half (50.5%) of the patients had a single fracture, and the likelihood of surgery increased with greater numbers of fractures. Older patients with either orbital or mandibular fractures were more likely to undergo surgery than younger ones ( p  = 0.0048 and p  = 0.0053, respectively). Cranial bone fractures, CSF leaks, and intracranial injuries were more common in younger patients ( p  < 0.0001) than older patients and were more likely after high energy injuries; however, 16.2% of patients sustaining low energy injuries also sustained cranial bone, CSF leak, or intracranial injury. In an urban environment, significant pediatric facial fractures and associated injuries may occur after nonclassic low kinetic energy traumatic events. The age of the patient impacts both the injuries sustained and the treatment rendered. It is essential to maintain a high index of suspicion for associated injuries in all pediatric facial trauma patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A transnational flow of capital exchange during the 19th and early 20th centuries brought planning ideas and modernity into China. Since European countries and America used violence to place China into a colonial world and its forms of power-knowledge, the existing works too often focus on the impact of the 'west', treating the Chinese as passive recipients who responded to 'western' transnational planning ideas, while neglecting the transnational flow of Intra-Asia. By exploring the formation of urbanism in Hebei New Area in Tianjin, this article reveals that the Chinese did not allow themselves to be dictated to by the planning ideas emanating from the west. Instead, they both sought the most suitable ideas based on their local situations and actively imported planning ideas from the east – Japan. The authorities in Tianjin sent officials to Japan to draw upon Japanese industrial and commercial planning models to set up their own organizational framework, urban built environments, and operational management. Consequently, they incorporated planning ideas from the 'east' to re-organize the daily life of the masses and modernize their city. These ideas were juxtaposed with ideas from the 'west' to shape the urbanism of Tianjin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Staring spotlight images with a spatial resolution of up to tens of centimeters are good data sources for urban applications including displacement mapping. However, phase discontinuities, layover, and shadowing effect are also associated with staring spotlight interferograms, adding to the difficulties in height estimation and spatial phase unwrapping. The scattering mechanism of the staring spotlight images in the urban environment is complicated, thus it is difficult to simulate and remove the reference height of staring spotlight interferograms directly. In addition, global spatial phase unwrapping networks tend to smooth phase discontinuities. With the aim of implementing height estimation and phase unwrapping for TerraSAR-X Staring Spotlight interferograms, a workflow for phase unmixing of TerraSAR-X staring spotlight interferograms is proposed in this paper. The PS height is estimated in the baseline domain rather than the spatial domain. Taking into account the length and height change of each connection, the spatial phase unwrapping network is adjusted and segmented into isolated networks. The connected components of the adjusted spatial phase unwrapping network can be identified using graph theory. Spatial phase unwrapping is implemented in individual networks. The unfolded height phase is separated from the unwrapped phase, and the remaining phase is deformation dominated. Compared with the traditional global spatial phase unwrapping method, this study demonstrates the feasibility of the proposed least squares parameter search and graph partition based workflow in urban area, for phase unmixing of TerraSAR-X staring spotlight interferograms in building scale for PS height and deformation, as evidenced by external LiDAR DSM and temperature records. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As an important part of urban open space, campus space plays an important role in connecting urban traffic environment with the gradual improvement of urban space quality today. Based on CSOA (Campus Space Openness Assessment) theory, the paper calculates the current situation of walking space and vehicle crossing space in the campus, including entrance coupling degree (ξ), campus crossing degree (ε) and campus space opening degree (∑). The coupling relationship between campus entrance layout and campus road form for campus space openness is analyzed and the strategies are optimized respectively. The conclusions are as follows: (1) the location of campus entrances and exits can be reflected by the coupling degree of campus entrance, which is affected by the number and nodes, and the coupling degree is positively correlated with the number; (2) the closer the azimuth distance between the two entrances and exits on the campus to the linear distance, the higher the crossing rate; (3) the higher the product of campus entrance coupling degree and campus crossing degree, the higher the campus space opening degree. The results of this study provide quantitative guidance for modern campus design from the perspective of open campus space evaluation system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cameroon differs from other African countries by its cultural diversity, which represents almost all the ways of life of peoples dispersed on the Black Continent. That is why it is qualified as a miniature Africa. The cities of this country undergo a demographic growth which gives them a heterogeneous aspect reflecting the cultural mosaic that constitutes its particularity. Almost all Cameroonian cities are populated by nationals from various regions of the country as well as expatriates, especially Africans of different origins. It is commonly agreed, that the advent of the city led to the disappearance of community groups. However, a close look at this reality shows that, these groups still exist in the Cameroonian cities. As a result, urban spaces are not only inhabited by people from mixed ethnic and regions of origin identities, but they are also places of ephemeral or perennial ethnoidentity regrouping and reconstruction. On the basis of guided interviews with members of ethnic associations and some external actors in Douala, Yaounde and Bafoussam, this article reports on the stakes of ethno-identity groupings in Cameroonian cities. The analysis shows that, through these identity groupings in urban environments, the reconstituted ethnic groups allow the deployment of social rationality of their members. They proceed through the self-esteem, contempt and rejection of others, the behaviours which are at the antipodes of inter cultural living and part of the definition of Cameroonian cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rapid expansion of urban areas has been a feature of the industrial age. Landscape features have been replaced or transformed to accommodate the needs of an increasingly urban society. Our study focuses on the disappearance or transformation of man-made ponds in the historic region of Bohemia in the Czech Republic. Using current and historic maps, orthophotography and a digital terrain model, we have identified over one thousand former ponds within the 34 cities that were selected. The original dam structures have been identified in association with 437 ponds, most of which have been used as embankments for transport infrastructure. In areas within the immediate vicinity of the cities, modern agriculture now utilizes the sites of former ponds. The Main Map shows the results of our survey, revealing the quantity and nature of this landscape change together with a detailed case study in the city of Pilsen. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on long-lasting multidisciplinary and multitemporal investigations, in 2016 the first geomorphological map of the central area of Rome was presented. It introduced innovative solutions for cartographic restitution of urban landforms. Under this work, the urban geomorphological analysis delved deeper, because the study focused on the smaller area of the Urbs, the ancient city centre that has been modified by human activities over millennia. The main goal of the new study was to verify if the 1:5000 scale survey could allow to improve the legend symbols, in order to better represent landforms from natural and anthropogenic processes in urban environment. Since the map scale was doubled compared with the previous and consequently the map area available was four times bigger, we were able to provide much more details. Moreover, results better highlighted the applicative significance of urban geomorphological maps as complementary tool for the assessment of natural hazards and risks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this brief critical review is to show voluptuous interconnections between fat studies and embodied urban political ecology. By shifting the inquiry to men's bodies, I make a case towards a shared space of theoretical resonance concerning differential and embodied justice. The review advances three key observations. First, by and large, fat studies and the subfield of urban political ecology heavily focused on women's experiences and by implication position men and the performance of masculinity as de-gendered. Second, the mutual entanglement of fat and urban processes has been sparse, and those studies that do tend to shift its explanatory weight on the latter (i.e. 'fattening' of the urban). Third, there are already existing intellectual resources in and beyond geography that assert complex performances of masculinities, but are seldom activated in enriching inquiries that used urban political ecology. Taking all these into consideration, I strive towards a more inclusive and embodied fat-urban geographies outside public health's thin frame. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study attempted to examine the complex impact of dynamic inundation process of extreme events on flood hazard assessment (FHA) for the affected urban settings around a local river in New York, USA. Using HEC-RAS 2D, LIDAR DEM, distributed values of surface roughness, and hourly discharges at both ends of the selected reach, we simulated the full inundation process of a 500-year storm event, constructed in terms of the existing largest storm event. We presented flooding status at three flooding moments and quantitatively described the temporal changes of inundation area, depth, and the associated stream power over the entire flood period. Then, we analyzed differences of inundated areas in four classes defined using traditional classification (TC) and process-based classification (PBC). The (static) former was based on the maximum inundation map, while the (dynamic) latter accounted for both inundation depth and duration. We showed that inundated areas in higher classes based on TC were much greater than those in similar classes based on PBC, indicating the significant impact of inundation duration on classification of flood hazard. Next, we investigated the impact of different land use/cover on the difference of inundated areas between the two types of classifications and found that it was complex and displayed no consistent trend from areas surrounding individual buildings (local scale) to large inundated areas (global scale). We emphasize the importance of considering the overall impact of the entire flood processes of an event on future FHA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Modernist planners were given the opportunity to apply the idea of the Modern Movement in the implementation of cities transforming after the World War II blitz, which was not possible before in long-term evolving structures. However, they could not alter everything: some urban and even architectural elements were necessary to be preserved. As a result, the elements of the ancient landscapes of these cities—historical objects and spaces—necessary for the continuity of evidence of history and identity were preserved, often being completely reconstructed. Finally, in some of these cities, both old and new elements contribute to the contemporary urban landscape. The aim of the research is to examine two key categories of urban structure in this perspective: (1) architectural dominants (landmarks) and (2) urban network nodes. For this purpose, (1) the changes in the number and rank of the spaces through which the landmarks expositions were carried out are compared, and (2) the changes in the rank of nodes in the urban structure, both these in the pre-war and in the present structures, as well as changes in their distribution and concentration areas are analyzed. The number of individual elements is compared and the changes in the structure of their arrangement are analyzed with the use of a polygon grid. A medium-scale European city (Bialystok) is used as the case study. Results of our analysis indicate that the post-war reconstruction led to a decrease in the number of elements of the urban grid (streets, nodal points), especially those of low rank. The rank of many others also decreased: 57% of all nodal points within the historical grid of the selected area does not exist in the post-war structure. The number of main rank directions of exposition decreased by 18% and in the subordinate group by 38%. The research is an attempt to construct a new criteria of evaluating changes in the quality of the cityscape, which is described in the article. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The scientific evaluation of landscape fragmentation and connectivity is important for habitat conservation. It is strongly influenced by the spatial resolution of source maps, particularly in urban environments. However, there is limited comprehensive investigation of the spatial grain effect on urban habitat and few in-depth analysis across different urban gradients. In this paper, we scrutinize the spatial grain effects of urban green space (UGS) cover maps (derived from remote sensing imagery and survey data) with respect to evaluating habitat fragmentation and connectivity, comparing among different urban gradient scenarios (downtown, urban periphery, and suburban area) in Hangzhou, a megacity in China. The fragmentation was detected from three indices, including Entropy, Contagion, and Hypsometry. Then morphological spatial pattern analysis (MSPA) was applied for the landscape element identification. The possibility of connectivity (PC) and patch importance (dPC) were proposed for measuring the landscape connectivity based on Cores and Bridges from MSPA results. The results indicate that the farther the location is from downtown, the less sensitive the landscape element proportion to the spatial resolution. Among the three fragmentation indices, the overall hypsometry index has the lowest sensitivity to the spatial resolution, which implies this index’s broader application value. Considering connectivity, high spatial resolution maps are appropriate for analyzing highly heterogeneous urban areas, while medium spatial resolution maps are more applicable to urban periphery and suburban area with larger UGS patches and less fragmentation. This study suggests that the spatial resolution of UGS maps substantially influence habitat fragmentation and connectivity, which is critical for decision making in urban planning and management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An interview with Clément Schneider is presented. Topics include talks about the choice of location for A Violent Desire for Happiness; and examines to propose a history of the French Revolution outside its usual places and landscapes and to make a film in a mountainous hinterland as the majority of the stories take place in Paris, or at least in an urban environment.

The complexity of an environment is an important factor related to the quality of urban life, as it affects perception. Existing methods for estimating complexity from images or field visits are helpful but difficult to apply when the area of interest is large. This study identifies alternative ways of estimating the complexity of an environment, by analysing the density of Points of Interest (POI) of an area and using it as an indicator of mixed land use. Two case studies are explored, and spatial regression models are employed to test the association between POI density and complexity, and its predictors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing on the Mukuru Special Planning Area in Nairobi (Kenya), this article analyses enabling conditions for scaling participatory planning in otherwise exclusionary urban political environments. It contributes to debates that focus on qualitative changes required to enhance citizen participation and on the integration of low-income residents' needs, demands and innovations into city-wide planning practices around informal settlement upgrading. The article identifies three conditions that are key to enable and enhance the success of scaling efforts. First, moving to scale requires identifying, generating and making strategic use of political opportunities and building political momentum around them. Second, in addition to mobilizing, organizing and connecting stakeholders at different levels, successful scaling efforts must also promote qualitative changes in the way these stakeholders see themselves, and how they interact with and relate to each other. Third, going to scale requires the capacity to manage conflict successfully and prevent attempts to disrupt, co-opt or halt a scaling process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 1895, the Public Baths Association of Philadelphia (PBA) was formed for the purpose of "establishing and maintaining public baths and affording the poor facilities for bathing and the promotion of cleanliness." In 1898, the PBA opened America's first public bath house to offer both bathing and laundry facilities. The six public bath houses erected in Philadelphia exemplify a period of national experimentation that aimed to establish an American standard of bodily cleanliness though architecture, based on the belief that the long- range strategy of urban moral control could be achieved through influencing be havior and modeling character in a consciously planned urban environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Landscape Architecture Frontiers is the property of Higher Education Press Limited Company 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.)

The main aim of the current paper is to shed light on space syntax theory and criticize its origins and fundamental thoughts. In order to criticize the space syntax theory, this paper provides computational models of three residential layouts in the city of Tehran, Iran. The main question is how far space syntax theory is able to predict the movement and behavioral patterns of residents in a residential layout in Tehran. In other words, this research explores whether space syntax computational models can cover the behavioral patterns or there are gaps. The hypothesis is that although the configuration of settlements is the primary foundation to natural movements, it demands behavioral settings theory to interpret the behavioral-movement patterns. Comparing the Depth Map models with observations reveals that the configuration of residential layouts has a causal relation with the formation of spatial-physical structure. The integration analysis, based on the space syntax methodological-conceptual framework, is able to predict the general movement patterns of the residents. But when it comes to the behavioral patterns, the synomorphy between physics and behavior can perform a more accurate prediction. The behavioral settings theory by Roger Barker has developed the synomorphy in order to find the adaptations between physical environments and behaviors. The research findings nonetheless support the theoretical understanding that the urban environment's spatial configuration provides a fundamental condition for the movement patterns but barely can offer a good interpretation for the micro-level behaviors by the residents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of O Ideário Patrimonial is the property of Centro Transdisciplinar das Arqueologias do Instituto Politecnico de Tomar 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 Direito da Cidade is the property of Editora da Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (EdUERJ) 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.)

Soils are the primary carriers of heavy metals released into the environment by many different anthropogenic activities. Unlike organic pollutants, which are oxidized, most metals do not undergo microbial or chemical degradation, and their concentration in the soil continues for a long time. Increasing social awareness of the need to adequately address mineral waste to protect the environment has led to increased research in this area. Contemporary trends and the development of technology have revealed numerous methods of cleaning these degraded lands and what would best serve such an area. Based on centuries of historical development, botanic gardens have developed globally leading conservation, research, education, and recreation institutions. Botanic gardens increasingly provide a scientific basis for sustainable use and protection of plant diversity. This research aims to analyze the methods of treatment of these areas, then give a proposal which, in addition to solving a severe problem of this municipality, will become a research and study area for students of various fields related to botany. The investigation line is constructed on: analysis, field research, literature review, data provided by the municipality of Graçanica, interviews, and online surveys. Through this research, we will understand user expectations, spatial preferences, and the intended purpose of the Kosovo Botanical Garden and will convey them through the proposal into a functional concept and present new solutions, modern and practical, in this facility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The impacts of urbanization on terrestrial thermal and hydrological changes should be considered for sustainable development of urban environment and economy. However, previous studies mainly focused on the impacts at short time scales, which is insufficient to provide the needed information. This study augmented the high‐resolution Conjunctive Surface‐Subsurface Process version 2 (CSSPv2) land model with an urban canopy model that incorporates domestic wastewater recharge (DWWR) and dynamical impervious surface area (ISA) to develop a new CSSPv2_Urban model and conducted 38‐year simulations over the Beijing metropolitan area at 1 km resolution to quantify the urbanization impacts. Compared with CSSPv2, CSSPv2_Urban decreases the root‐mean‐square errors in surface latent/sensible heat fluxes, near‐surface air temperature and land surface temperature by 15%–66%, increases Kling‐Gupta efficiency for streamflow by 27%–34%, and reproduces the observed long‐term trends of land surface temperature and streamflow. It also reduces the corresponding errors in the modern reanalysis products by up to 70%. The model sensitivity analyses showed that the urbanization over Beijing area contributed to 31% of the surface warming during 1979–2017 and kept the warming trend over the new development zone during 2000–2013 when global warming slowed down. Although the large fraction of ISA in the city center increased streamflow by generating more surface runoff, 39%–62% of the increasing trend of streamflow was caused by the increased DWWR. Our study highlights the importance of the urban heat island effect from a climatological perspective and suggests that the influences of urbanization on streamflow may be underestimated if ignoring DWWR. Plain Language Summary: Fast urbanization since last century has been modifying the terrestrial energy and water cycle significantly. However, quantifying urbanization's impacts on long‐term changes of terrestrial thermal and hydrological conditions at high spatial resolution, which is important for providing guidelines for urban sustainable development, is still in progress. Here, we added an urban canopy model that incorporates domestic wastewater recharge (DWWR) and dynamical impervious surface area (ISA) into the Conjunctive Surface–Subsurface Process version 2 (CSSPv2) land model and conducted high‐resolution (1 km) and long‐term (1979–2017) simulations over the Beijing metropolitan area to investigate the urbanization impacts. The newly developed CSSPv2_Urban model is superior to the CSSPv2 and modern reanalysis data sets in simulating the thermal and hydrological variables. Sensitivity analysis revealed that urbanization contributed to about 31% of the surface warming trend in Beijing and sustained the warming during 2000–2013 when the global warming slowed down. Moreover, increased ISA and DWWR during the urbanization were found to interpret the increasing streamflow trend by 30% and 51%, respectively. Thus, more attentions should be paid to the DWWR which is usually ignored in current urban models to better capture the hydrological influences of urbanization. Key Points: CSSPv2_Urban was developed with urban energy model, dynamic impervious surface area (ISA), and domestic wastewater recharge (DWWR) schemeCSSPv2_Urban 1 km high‐resolution simulation outperformed modern reanalysis for energy and water cycle over Beijing metropolitan areaSimulation suggests that ISA and DWWR contributed to 30% and 51% of the increasing streamflow trend during 1979–2017 near Beijing city center [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In urban environments, humans often encounter other people that may engage one in interaction. How do humans perceive such invitations to interact at a glance? We briefly presented participants with pictures of actors carrying out one of 11 behaviors (e.g., waving or looking at a phone) at four camera-actor distances. Participants were asked to describe what they might do in such a situation, how they decided, and what stood out most in the photograph. In addition, participants rated how likely they deemed interaction to take place. Participants formulated clear responses about how they might act. We show convincingly that what participants would do depended on the depicted behavior, but not the camera-actor distance. The likeliness to interact ratings depended both on the depicted behavior and the camera-actor distance. We conclude that humans perceive the "gist" of photographs and that various aspects of the actor, action, and context depicted in photographs are subjectively available at a glance. Our conclusions are discussed in the context of scene perception, social robotics, and intercultural differences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pet owners are increasingly concerned about the links between health status, animal welfare, environmental impacts, climate change and consumption of animal products. Accordingly, many owners are increasingly interested in vegetarian diets for themselves and their companion animals. However, such diets should be investigated nutritionally regards digestibility as well as on fecal quality and nitrogen output. In light of this trend, six Beagle dogs were included in a cross-over experimental design and offered a vegetarian diet containing wheat gluten (8.81%), rice protein (8.81%) and sunflower oil (6.84%) or an meat-based diet containing poultry meal (19.5%) and poultry fat (5.23%). The dogs received extruded complete diets for 12 days (adaptation and collection period, each 6 days). The dogs fed both diets showed a high and identical palatability (scoring of food intake) of the experimental diets. No significant differences occurred regarding digestibility of organic matter, crude protein and crude fat between vegetarian and meat-based diets. However, dogs fed the meat-based diet had higher (p < 0.05) nitrogen-free extract digestibility (89.5%) compared to those fed the vegetarian diet (88.6%). The amount of nitrogen excreted in feces (g)/kg BW0.75 was slightly, but not significantly, higher for dogs fed the vegetarian diet compared to those fed the meat-based diet (0.88 vs 0.79). The fecal consistency scores were considered to be within an acceptable range (well formed and firm). The mass of the feces between both groups were similar (62.9 g wet feces/100 g dry matter food) for vegetarian and meat-based diets. Additionally, the fecal dry matter content was comparable between both groups (29.0% and 29.6% for vegetarian and meat-based diets, respectively). In conclusion, the results of this study appear to indicate that virtually the only significant difference between the two diets was lower nitrogen-free extract digestibility in the vegetarian diet. However, the vegetarian diet did not result in a significant difference in amount of nitrogen excreted in feces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Featured Application: A slit-type soundproof panel can be applied to attenuate low-frequency noise and withstand wind load alongside traffic roads. With the rapid increase in automobiles, the importance of reducing low-frequency noise is being emphasized for a comfortable urban environment. Helmholtz resonators are widely used to attenuate low-frequency noise over a narrow range. In this study, a slit-type soundproof panel is designed to achieve low-frequency noise attenuation in the range of 500 Hz to 1000 Hz with the characteristics of a Helmholtz resonator and the ability to pass air through the slits on the panel surface for reducing wind load. The basic dimension of the soundproof panel is determined using the classical formula and numerical analysis using a commercial program, COMSOL Multiphysics, for transmission loss prediction. From the numerical study, it is identified that the transmission loss performance is improved compared to the basic design according to the shape change and configuration method of the Helmholtz resonator. Although the correlation according to the shape change and configuration method cannot be derived, it is confirmed that it can be used as an effective method for deriving a soundproof panel design that satisfies the basic performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

New particle formation (NPF) is a significant source of atmospheric particles, affecting climate and air quality. Understanding the mechanisms involved in urban aerosols is important to develop effective mitigation strategies. However, NPF rates reported in the polluted boundary layer span more than 4 orders of magnitude, and the reasons behind this variability are the subject of intense scientific debate. Multiple atmospheric vapours have been postulated to participate in NPF, including sulfuric acid, ammonia, amines and organics, but their relative roles remain unclear. We investigated NPF in the CLOUD chamber using mixtures of anthropogenic vapours that simulate polluted boundary layer conditions. We demonstrate that NPF in polluted environments is largely driven by the formation of sulfuric acid–base clusters, stabilized by the presence of amines, high ammonia concentrations and lower temperatures. Aromatic oxidation products, despite their extremely low volatility, play a minor role in NPF in the chosen urban environment but can be important for particle growth and hence for the survival of newly formed particles. Our measurements quantitatively account for NPF in highly diverse urban environments and explain its large observed variability. Such quantitative information obtained under controlled laboratory conditions will help the interpretation of future ambient observations of NPF rates in polluted atmospheres. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND: This article presents a didactic sequence with the content of corporal practices of adventure, taking as main focus the articulations with the debate on collective health from the historical pedagogy-critical and curricular principles for dealing with the knowledge of the critical-overcoming approach. Understanding that collective health is based on a dialectical contribution and that it takes the whole of the individual in this historical particularity, we defend that this concept of health has sufficient scope to dialogue with the teaching of the different activities of Body Culture in the search for a critical training. OBJECTIVE: The objective is to present the theoretical-methodological path of the teaching of the corporal practices of adventure considering the possibilities of enjoyment and living in urban environment, more specifically in the parks of the city of Goiânia, GO, Brazil. METHODS: The methodology of exposition was outlined based on the principles of an experience report, which aims to present in detail a pedagogical proposal already materialized in dialogue with the scientific production. RESULTS: a) the process of teaching and learning the corporal practices of adventure on land, in the air and in the water, in their modalities tree climbing, slackline and stand up paddle and technical, historical and vertigo dimensions; b) Debate on the forms of access to the practices of adventure and exploration of public spaces in Goiânia; c) Understanding the contradictions about the particularity of our society (capitalism); d) Construction of alternative material. CONCLUSION: The students understood the concepts of the corporal practices of adventure and the social determinants of health, criticizing the lack of public policies of access to body culture and pointing out alternative (and provisional) possibilities for the community to experience and enjoy these goods, even against the logic of capital. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present paper attempts to fill a part of the gap in the studies on residential location choices and their relations to urban mobility, socio-economics, and the built environment by presenting the results of a study on Alexandria, Egypt, by analysing the results of a survey in eight neighbourhoods undertaken in 2015. Four questions were answered in this study: (i) "How are the main drivers behind residential location choices in Alexandria connected to various socio-demographic groups or people with different availability to urban and built environments?", (ii) "How are the main residential self-selections in Alexandria associated with one another and which are the most important?", (iii) "How are the housing location-related decisions of Egyptians similar to or different from international decisions?", and (iv) "How can planners and decision-makers use the knowledge produced by this study for urban planning and housing in Egypt?". Library work and the results of a Χ2 test of independence show that availability of transportation modes, nice neighbourhoods, and affordability are the strongest motives behind decisions. However, socio-economic factors are generally stronger than urban mobility and spatial issues. These findings are partly different from those of high-income countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The methodological approach of the study proposes an innovative yet adaptive way to define and preserve heritage sites and their elements. In the case study, the proposed methodology guides the design/planning research of heritage sites by linking the perceptual behaviour with the information of the built environment. Visibility is the tool to measure the level of exposure of specific urban elements from a particular perspective. While isovist analyses define visibility in the built environment, fields of view from the periphery of heritage sites are applied to calculate visible or invisible areas by the observer. The purpose of the current study is the evaluation of the identification of the elements to be protected, by modelling both the heritage environment and the heritage elements according to the visibility criteria. For this purpose, I illustrate my approach by using visibility analyses and Space syntax analysis in the case of the Sulukule neighbourhood, the leading renewal project, in Istanbul. This area used to have notably cultural-historical assets-historic land walls, the lifestyle of Roma people--but now the renovation works carried out in the Sulukule case study site have affected the identity of the "visible" and "known" space of the historic quarter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pre and Post-Monsoon levels of ambient SO2, NO2, PM2.5 and the trace metals Fe, Cu, etc. were measured at industrial and residential regions of the Kochi urban area in South India for a period of two years. The mean PM2.5, SO2 and NO2 concentrations across all sites were 38.98 ± 1.38 µg/m3, 2.78 ± 0.85 µg/m3 and 11.90 ± 4.68 µg/m3 respectively, which is lower than many other Indian cities. There was little difference in any on the measured species between the seasons. A few sites exceeded the NAAQS (define acronym and state standard) and most of the sites exceeded WHO (define acronym and state standard) standard for PM2.5. The average trace metal concentrations (ng/m3) were found to be Fe (32.58) > Zn (31.93) > Ni (10.13) > Cr (5.48) > Pb (5.37) > Cu (3.24). The maximum concentration of trace metals except Pb were reported in industrial areas. The enrichment factor, of metals relative to crustal material, indicated anthropogenic dominance over natural sources for the trace metal concentration in Kochi's atmosphere. This work demonstrates the importance of air quality monitoring in this area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social networks play a crucial role in migration processes, facilitating adaption and well-being. Yet, accessing and establishing supportive ties in the host society are far from evident. This study voices the ways by which Accompanied Refugee Minors (ARM) (re)create supportive networks across multiple borders shortly after arrival into an urban environment, by applying Kahn and Antonucci's Convoy Model of social relations. In order to do so, 25 ARM who recently migrated to urban Belgium were interviewed. Most of the ARM have little links to their new living environment. Their fragile networks are homogenous and seldomly connect to the urban context they live in. This group of newcomers is positioned in an intermediate position: on the one hand, they are mostly seen as 'accompanied' children where parents are seen as primary source of support; on the other hand, they are young refugees, both enhancing exclusionary aspects in their connection to the broader society surrounding them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is widely recognized that crimes are clustered in space. Features of the built environment are among various factors associated with crime clustering patterns. There are two competing perspectives on this association: the "encounter" and "enclosure" hypotheses. This study examines the effect of the built environment on the spatial distribution of residential burglary in Wuhan, China, aiming to test these two competing perspectives. First, we review existing studies analyzing the influence of the built environment on residential burglary, especially those based on the two hypotheses. We then conduct an exploratory data analysis to observe the spatial and temporal distribution patterns of residential burglaries. Next, we use a multivariate spatial regression model to evaluate the influence of various built environment characteristics on residential burglaries, after controlling for socio-demographic variables, guardianship, and the time-of-day effect. The results suggest a double peak in the hourly distribution of burglaries: 6:00 a.m.–8:59 a.m. and 5:00 p.m.–7:59 p.m. Burglaries are positively and significantly autocorrelated in space and mainly concentrated in the north-west and central areas of Wuhan. Two transport facilities features (intersection density and the presence of subway stations), three building features (multiple stories, high housing prices, and older houses), and land-use mix are each positively correlated with burglary. However, the burglary count is negatively correlated with the ratio of the residential land. Overall, neighborhoods with high permeability are vulnerable to residential burglaries. Thus, the principle of access control promoted by the enclosure hypothesis appears effective in preventing residential crime. The results' implications for crime prevention and urban design practice are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Quantification of the pavement serviceability is most often based on the international roughness index (IRI). However, in urban environments it can become challenging to drive at 80 km/h as vehicle operating speeds are much lower, among other limitations associated with the use of IRI as an indicator of ride quality in the urban context. This study was conducted to formulate an alternative pavement serviceability evaluation criteria for low-speed roads (30–60 km/h) in urban settings. Deterministic and probabilistic models were developed to predict the PSI based on the whole-body vibration (WBV) concepts, and thereafter, the results were compared with the ISO 2631 standard that addresses human exposure to multiple mechanical shocks. The ISO 2631 standard uses a WBV-based frequency-weighted root-mean-square acceleration parameter (aw) for evaluating discomfort in a multi-axis environment. Based on the estimated models, an awz criterion of 0.98 m/s2 at a probability acceptance of 85%, for a vehicle operating speed of 50 km/h, was proposed for urban roads in this study. Overall, the study demonstrated that for accurate estimation of ride quality and comfort (i.e. PSI) of low-speed urban roads, the evaluation criteria should be based on low vehicle speeds that are more representative of urban field conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reliably assessing the error in an estimated vehicle position is integral for ensuring the vehicle's safety in urban environments. Many existing approaches use GNSS measurements to characterize protection levels (PLs) as probabilistic upper bounds on position error. However, GNSS signals might be reflected or blocked in urban environments, and thus additional sensor modalities need to be considered to determine PLs. In this paper, we propose an approach for computing PLs by matching camera image measurements to a LiDAR‐based 3D map of the environment. We specify a Gaussian mixture model probability distribution of position error using deep neural‐network‐based data‐driven models and statistical outlier weighting techniques. From the probability distribution, we compute PL by evaluating the position error bound using numerical line‐search methods. Through experimental validation with real‐world data, we demonstrate that the PLs computed from our method are reliable bounds on the position error in urban environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims at developing a macroscopic cell-based lane change prediction model in a complex urban environment and integrating it into cell transmission model (CTM) to improve the accuracy of macroscopic traffic state estimation. To achieve these objectives, first, based on the observed traffic data, the binary logistic lane change model is developed to formulate the lane change occurrence. Second, the binary logistic lane change is integrated into CTM by refining CTM formulations on how the vehicles in the cell are moving from one cell to another in a longitudinal manner and how cell occupancy is updated after lane change occurrences. The performance of the proposed model is evaluated by comparing the simulated cell occupancy of the proposed model with cell occupancy of US-101 next generation simulation (NGSIM) data. The results indicated no significant difference between the mean of the cell occupancies of the proposed model and the mean of cell occupancies of actual data with a root-mean-square-error (RMSE) of 0.04. Similar results are found when the proposed model was further tested with I80 highway data. It is suggested that the mean of cell occupancies of I80 highway data was not different from the mean of cell occupancies of the proposed model with 0.074 RMSE (0.3 on average). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study was carried out to determine how the PM10 concentrations changed in the Izmir metropolitan area during the days when curfews were imposed because of Covid-19 Pandemic. In this context, data of eight air quality measurement stations were taken as basis. Within the scope of the study, days when curfew was strictly imposed were compared with other days, specifically between January 1, 2020 and July 31, 2020. Besides, by comparing daily measures taken between 2015-2020 on same days, it has been tried to determine how air quality has changed on an annual basis. While analyzing, Independent Sample t-test was used for daily data. For annual data, Friedman test was used to determine which stations had a statistically significant difference, and then Wilcoxon test was applied to determine in which years there was a statistically significant difference compared to 2020 measurements. All in all, it was found that there was an improvement in air quality in terms of PM10 concentrations on the days of curfew. This study revealed that our daily mobility in the city as urban dwellers negatively affect air quality of environment we live in, and showed the need to consider air pollution when planning our cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The age-related variability of the frequency and structural–temporal parameters of the advertising song of Ficedula hypoleuca males in natural habitats and the urban environment were analysed. In the natural habitats, the range of male song frequencies, the maximal frequency, the number of figures, and the length of the song decreased from the third year of life. Similar age-related song changes in urban birds are observed earlier, from the second year of life. Urban birds have shown that the higher minimum song frequency increases with age, adapting the song to noise pollution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]