Alberti, Marina; Wang, Tianzhe. (2022). Detecting Patterns of Vertebrate Biodiversity Across the Multidimensional Urban Landscape. Ecology Letters, 25(4), 1027 – 1045.
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Abstract
Explicit characterisation of the complexity of urban landscapes is critical for understanding patterns of biodiversity and for detecting the underlying social and ecological processes that shape them. Urban environments exhibit variable heterogeneity and connectivity, influenced by different historical contingencies, that affect community assembly across scales. The multidimensional nature of urban disturbance and co-occurrence of multiple stressors can cause synergistic effects leading to nonlinear responses in populations and communities. Yet, current research design of urban ecology and evolutionary studies typically relies on simple representation of the parameter space that can be observed. Sampling approaches apply simple urban gradients such as linear transects in space or comparisons of urban sites across the urban mosaic accounting for a few variables. This rarely considers multiple dimensions and scales of biodiversity, and proves to be inadequate to explain observed patterns. We apply a multidimensional approach that integrates distinctive social, ecological and built characteristics of urban landscapes, representing variations along dimensions of heterogeneity, connectivity and historical contingency. Measuring species richness and beta diversity across 100 US metropolitan areas at the city and 1-km scales, we show that distinctive signatures of urban biodiversity can result from interactions between socioecological heterogeneity and connectivity, mediated by historical contingency.
Keywords
Urban Biodiversity; Biodiversity; Species Diversity; Urban Planning; Landscape Ecology; Metropolitan Areas; Beta Diversity; Multidimensional Landscape; Scaling; Spatial Scales; Species Richness; Urban Gradients; Vertebrate Species; Ecological-systems; Diversity; Urbanization; Conservation; Ecosystems; Heterogeneity; Connectivity; Population; Complexity; Evolution; Urban Environments; Synergistic Effect; Nonlinear Response; Research Design; Contingency; Urban Areas; Vertebrates
Neff, Gina; Fiore-Silfvast, Brittany; Dossick, Carrie Sturts. (2010). A Case Study of the Failure of Digital Communication to Cross Knowledge Boundaries in Virtual Construction. Information Communication & Society, 13(4), 556 – 573.
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Abstract
When can digital artefacts serve to bridge knowledge barriers across epistemic communities? There have been many studies of the roles new information and communication technologies play within organizations. In our study, we compare digital and non-digital methods of inter-organizational collaboration. Based on ethnographic fieldwork on three construction projects and interviews with 65 architects, engineers, and builders across the USA, we find that IT tools designed to increase collaboration in this setting instead solidify and make explicit organizational and cultural differences between project participants. Our study suggests that deeply embedded disciplinary thinking is not easily overcome by digital representations of knowledge and that collaboration may be hindered through the exposure of previously implicit distinctions among the team members' skills and organizational status. The tool that we study, building information modelling, reflects and amplifies disciplinary representations of the building by architects, engineers, and builders instead of supporting increased collaboration among them. We argue that people sometimes have a difficult time overcoming the lack of interpretive flexibility in digital coordinating tools, even when those tools are built to encourage interdisciplinary collaboration.
Keywords
Digital Communications; Data Transmission Systems; Communication & Technology; Digital Electronics; System Analysis; Building Information Modelling; Collaboration; Qualitative Methods; Teams; Civil Engineering Computing; Digital Communication; Groupware; Knowledge Representation; Organisational Aspects; Virtual Reality; Case Study; Virtual Construction; Knowledge Barriers; Epistemic Community; Interorganizational Collaboration; Ethnographic Fieldwork; Interpretive Flexibility; Digital Coordinating Tool; Digital Collaboration; Technology; Objects; Design; Representations; Organizations
Azari-N, Rahman; Kim, Yong-woo. (2012). Comparative Assessment of Life Cycle Impacts of Curtain Wall Mullions. Building And Environment, 48(1), 135 – 145.
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Abstract
Glass curtain wall (Cw) systems have been inevitable elements of commercial buildings for over a century. The systems mainly consist of mullion materials and glazing units that are selected and designed to achieve the desired structural, thermal and daylighting performances as well as to meet cost and aesthetic concerns. The health and environmental life cycle impacts of CW systems, however, are not usually considered in design. The main objective of this paper is to study how change of mullion materials would affect the health and environmental impacts associated with a typical CW system over its life cycle. The mullion materials studied for the purpose of this paper include extruded aluminum, carbon steel and glulam timber. Also, the health and environmental impact categories of interest include global warming, acidification, eutrophication and human toxicity. To achieve the objective, a process-based cradle-to-gate attributional Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) method was applied. Results indicate that CW system with glulam timber mullions causes the least and CW system with extruded aluminum mullions causes the most damage to the environment and human health over their life cycle. A CW system with carbon steel mullions falls in-between. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords
Commercial Building; Comparative Assessment; Curtain Walls; Environmental Life Cycle; Glass Curtain Walls; Inventory Analysis; Life Cycle Assessment (lca); Life Cycle Impacts; Aluminum Coated Steel; Ecodesign; Eutrophication; Global Warming; Health; Life Cycle; Office Buildings; Timber; Walls (structural Partitions); Energy; Wood; Products; Life Cycle Assessment; Environmental Impact; Curtain Wall; Mullion Material; Acidification; Aluminum; Attributional Life Cycle Assessment; Buildings; Carbon; Environmental Health; Glass; Glulam; Human Health; Humans; Materials Life Cycle; Steel; Toxicity
Streatfield, David C. (2012). The San Francisco Peninsula’s Great Estates: Part II. Eden, 15(2), 1 – 17.
Abstract
This article discusses the landscaping of American country estates built in late 19th century in San Francisco Peninsula. These estates are mentioned to have been influenced by the growing popularity of gardening in Europe. Andrew Jackson, America's first landscape architecture practitioner, is cited for promoting garden styles derived from English precedents. Some of the noteworthy estates built during the first three decades of 20th century are also described like New Place and Green Gables.
Keywords
Landscape Gardening; Country Homes; Gardening; Landscape Architecture; Europe; Jackson, Andrew
Maliszewski, Paul; Larson, Elisabeth; Perrings, Charles. (2013). Valuing the Reliability of the Electrical Power Infrastructure: A Two-Stage Hedonic Approach. Urban Studies, 50(1), 72 – 87.
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Abstract
The reliability of electrical power supply is amongst the conditions that inform house purchase decisions in all urban areas. Reliability depends in part on the conditions of the power generation and distribution infrastructures involved, and in part on environmental conditions. Its value to homeowners may be capitalised into the value of the house. In this paper, a hedonic pricing approach is used to estimate the capitalised value of the reliability offered by distribution infrastructures and the environmental conditions with which they interact in Phoenix, Arizona. A first stage estimates the impact of infrastructure and environmental conditions on reliability. In a second stage, the capitalised value of reliability from the marginal willingness to pay for reliability revealed by house purchase decisions is estimated and used to infer the value of both infrastructural characteristics and environmental conditions.
Keywords
Willingness-to-pay; Residential Property-values; Economic Valuation; Choice Experiment; Urban Wetlands; Air-quality; Benefits; Identifiability; Specification; Determinants
Drewnowski, A.; Moudon, A. V.; Jiao, J.; Aggarwal, A.; Charreire, H.; Chaix, B. (2014). Food Environment and Socioeconomic Status Influence Obesity Rates in Seattle and in Paris. International Journal Of Obesity, 38(2), 306 – 314.
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Abstract
OBJECTIVE: To compare the associations between food environment at the individual level, socioeconomic status (SES) and obesity rates in two cities: Seattle and Paris. METHODS: Analyses of the SOS (Seattle Obesity Study) were based on a representative sample of 1340 adults in metropolitan Seattle and King County. The RECORD (Residential Environment and Coronary Heart Disease) cohort analyses were based on 7131 adults in central Paris and suburbs. Data on sociodemographics, health and weight were obtained from a telephone survey (SOS) and from in-person interviews (RECORD). Both studies collected data on and geocoded home addresses and food shopping locations. Both studies calculated GIS (Geographic Information System) network distances between home and the supermarket that study respondents listed as their primary food source. Supermarkets were further stratified into three categories by price. Modified Poisson regression models were used to test the associations among food environment variables, SES and obesity. RESULTS: Physical distance to supermarkets was unrelated to obesity risk. By contrast, lower education and incomes, lower surrounding property values and shopping at lower-cost stores were consistently associated with higher obesity risk. CONCLUSION: Lower SES was linked to higher obesity risk in both Paris and Seattle, despite differences in urban form, the food environments and in the respective systems of health care. Cross-country comparisons can provide new insights into the social determinants of weight and health.
Keywords
Obesity; Health & Social Status; Social Status; Supermarkets; Grocery Shopping; Physiology; Body-mass Index; Dietary Energy Density; Atherosclerosis Risk; Weight Status; Us Adults; Associations; Health; French; Access; Socioeconomic Status (ses); Access To Supermarket; Food Environment; Food Shopping
Migliaccio, G. C.; Bogus, Susan M.; Cordova-Alvidrez, A. A. (2014). Continuous Quality Improvement Techniques for Data Collection in Asset Management Systems. Journal Of Construction Engineering And Management, 140(4).
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Abstract
Transportation infrastructure assets are among the largest investments made by governmental agencies. These agencies use data on asset conditions to make decisions regarding the timing of maintenance activities, the type of treatment, and the resources to employ. To collect and record these data, agencies often utilize trained evaluators who assess the asset either on site or by analyzing photos and/or videos. These visual assessments are widely used to evaluate conditions of various assets, including pavement surface distresses. This paper describes a Data Quality Assessment & Improvement Framework (DQAIF) to measure and improve the performance of multiple evaluators of pavement distresses by controlling for subjective judgment by the individual evaluators. The DQAIF is based on a continuous quality improvement cyclic process that is based on the following main components: (1)assessment of the consistency over timeperformed using linear regression analysis; (2)assessment of the agreement between evaluatorsperformed using inter-rater agreement analysis; and (3)implementation of management practices to improve the results shown by the assessments. A large and comprehensive case study was employed to describe, refine, and validate the framework. When the DQAIF is applied to pavement distress data collected on site by different evaluators, the results show that it is an effective method for quickly identifying and solving data collection issues. The benefit of this framework is that the analyses employed produce performance measures during the data collection process, thus minimizing the risk of subjectivity and suggesting timely corrective actions. The DQAIF can be used as part of an asset management program, or in any engineering program in which the data collected are subjected to the judgment of the individuals performing the evaluation. The process could also be adapted for assessing performance of automated distress data acquisition systems.
Keywords
Asset Management; Civil Engineering Computing; Data Acquisition; Decision Making; Inspection; Maintenance Engineering; Quality Control; Regression Analysis; Roads; Transportation; Continuous Quality Improvement Techniques; Asset Management System; Governmental Agencies; Transportation Infrastructure Assets; Maintenance Activities; Visual Assessment; Pavement Surface Distresses; Data Quality Assessment & Improvement Framework; Dqaif; Linear Regression Analysis; Interrater Agreement Analysis; Data Collection Process; Automated Distress Data Acquisition System; Manual Pavement Distress; Pavement Management; Quantitative Analysis; Data Collection; Assets; Reliability; Case Studies
Cohen-Cline, Hannah; Lau, Richard; Moudon, Anne V.; Turkheimer, Eric; Duncan, Glen E. (2015). Associations between Fast-Food Consumption and Body Mass Index: A Cross-sectional Study in Adult Twins. Twin Research & Human Genetics, 18(4), 375 – 382.
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Abstract
Obesity is a substantial health problem in the United States, and is associated with many chronic diseases. Previous studies have linked poor dietary habits to obesity. This cross-sectional study aimed to identify the association between body mass index (BMI) and fast-food consumption among 669 same-sex adult twin pairs residing in the Puget Sound region around Seattle, Washington. We calculated twin-pair correlations for BMI and fast-food consumption. We next regressed BMI on fast-food consumption using generalized estimating equations (GEE), and finally estimated the within-pair difference in BMI associated with a difference in fast-food consumption, which controls for all potential genetic and environment characteristics shared between twins within a pair. Twin-pair correlations for fast-food consumption were similar for identical (monozygotic; MZ) and fraternal (dizygotic; DZ) twins, but were substantially higher in MZ than DZ twins for BMI. In the unadjusted GEE model, greater fast-food consumption was associated with larger BMI. For twin pairs overall, and for MZ twins, there was no association between within-pair differences in fast-food consumption and BMI in any model. In contrast, there was a significant association between within-pair differences in fast-food consumption and BMI among DZ twins, suggesting that genetic factors play a role in the observed association. Thus, although variance in fast-food consumption itself is largely driven by environmental factors, the overall association between this specific eating behavior and BMI is largely due to genetic factors.
Keywords
Diseases In Twins; Obesity; Adults; Diseases; Food Habits; Food Consumption; Body Mass Index; Cross-sectional Method; United States; Fast-food Consumption; Generalized Estimating Equations; Twin Studies; Fto Gene Variants; Physical-activity; Dietary-intake; Weight Status; Environment Interaction; Human Obesity; Young-adults; Zygosity; Patterns; Exercise
Whittington, Jan; Calo, Ryan; Simon, Mike; Jesse Woo; Meg Young; Schmiedeskamp, Peter. (2015). Push, Pull, and Spill: A Transdisciplinary Case Study in Municipal Open Government. Berkeley Technology Law Journal, 30(3), 1899 – 1966.
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Abstract
Municipal open data raises hopes and concerns. The activities of cities produce a wide array of data, data that is vastly enriched by ubiquitous computing. Municipal data is opened as it is pushed to, pulled by, and spilled to the public through online portals, requests for public records, and releases by cities and their vendors, contractors, and partners. By opening data, cities hope to raise public trust and prompt innovation. Municipal data, however, is often about the people who live, work, and travel in the city. By opening data, cities raise concern for privacy and social justice. This article presents the results of a broad empirical exploration of municipal data release in the City of Seattle. In this research, parties affected by municipal practices expressed their hopes and concerns for open data. City personnel from eight prominent departments described the reasoning, procedures, and controversies that have accompanied their release of data. All of the existing data from the online portal for the city were joined to assess the risk to privacy inherent in open data. Contracts with third parties involving sensitive or confidential data about residents of the city were examined for safeguards against the unauthorized release of data. Results suggest the need for more comprehensive measures to manage the risk latent in opening city data. Cities should maintain inventories of data assets, produce data management plans pertaining to the activities of departments, and develop governance structures to deal with issues as they arise--centrally and amongst the various departments--with ex ante and ex post protocols to govern the push, pull, and spill of data. In addition, cities should consider conditioned access to pushed data, conduct audits and training around public records requests, and develop standardized model contracts to protect against the spill of data by third parties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]; Copyright of Berkeley Technology Law Journal is the property of University of California School of Law 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.)
Keywords
Public Records; Open Data Movement; Acquisition Of Data; Ubiquitous Computing; Data Analysis; Social Justice
El-Anwar, Omar; Chen, Lei. (2016). Automated Community-Based Housing Response: Offering Temporary Housing Solutions Tailored to Displaced Populations Needs. Journal Of Computing In Civil Engineering, 30(6).
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Abstract
Following disasters, emergency management agencies are under immense pressure to make quick decisions regarding the provision of temporary housing, including their locations and types. Such decisions can significantly impact the socioeconomic recovery of displaced families and available budgets for other postdisaster activities. To address these challenges, a new holistic temporary housing planning framework is proposed to offer customized housing plans tailored to the specific social, economic, and psychological needs of displaced families while controlling expenditures. This paper presents the theoretical formulation and implementation details of the community-based housing response pool, which is a comprehensive framework that aims at (1)quantifying the specific needs and preferences of each displaced family, (2)evaluating the ability of housing alternatives to meet those needs, (3)computing temporary housing life cycle costs, and (4)optimizing housing decisions accordingly. The paper also presents an application example to demonstrate and evaluate the optimization model capabilities.
Keywords
Decision Making; Disasters; Emergency Management; Life Cycle Costing; Optimisation; Socio-economic Effects; Town And Country Planning; Automated Community-based Housing Response; Temporary Housing Solutions; Displaced Population Needs; Emergency Management Agencies; Temporary Housing Provision; Housing Locations; Housing Types; Socioeconomic Recovery; Displaced Families; Postdisaster Activity Budgets; Holistic Temporary Housing Planning Framework; Customized Housing Plans Tailored; Expenditure Control; Community-based Housing Response Pool; Housing Alternatives Ability Evaluation; Temporary Housing Life Cycle Cost Computing; Housing Decisions Optimization; Optimization Model Capabilities; Multiobjective Optimization; Maeviz-hazturk; Earthquake