The Contemporary Face of Transnational Criminal Organizations and the Threat they Pose to U.S. National Interest: A Global Perspective.

Traditional organized crime groups have consistently posed issues for la w enforcement; however, the contemporary TCOs present an even greater security risk and threat. TCOs thrive in countries with a weak rule of law and present a great threat to regional security in many parts of the world. Bribery and corruption employed by these groups further serve to destabilize already weak governments. These TCOs also present a major threat to U.S. and world financial systems by exploiting legitimate commerce, and in some cases creating parallel markets (“Transnational Organized,” 2011) . Finally, one of the most significant threats posed by contemporary TCOs is their alliances and willingness to work with terrorist and extremist organizations. This paper will focus on contemporary TCOs by giving a brief overview of the most common criminal enterprises associated with these groups, the nexus between various TCOs, the nexus between TCOs and terrorist and extremist groups, case studies highlighting the nexus, and the threats they pose to U.S. national interests

The values of urban design - spatial models

Urban network morphometrics (UNeMos) is a research technique and a design decision aid in urban design. UNeMOS are network science-based configurational metrics of urban morphology that can inform urban designing decision-making, helping designers to discriminate between different 2D and 3D design options. However, some UNeMOS differ from the standard link/node network encoding by using a transport network’s specific encoding, thus lacking usability in mainstream transport and transport geography and analytical power in 3D. There is also a lack of comparison between these encodings and whether the transport geography combination of standard encoding/closeness centrality analysis using Euclidean, angular, or combination thereof are as discriminant or more of urban design network layout in 2D and 3D. The commentary addresses this research gap by reflecting on how the research original contributions reported in the collected publications have deployed diverse combinations of transport network encoding and spatial models of distance to evaluate the values of transport network configuration. The commentary critically contextualises the publications’ original contributions with reference to a leading research question and a sub-question: How well does UNeMOS, as a standard link/node spatial model and nonstandard spatial model, discriminate urban network configurations in 2D or 3D to capture urban design values? The publications cover urban morphology, form, property pricing, transport planning, spatial distribution, high-density city areas, urban design, and network analysis. The publications demonstrate a deep understanding of various aspects of intra-urban and urban studies, including historical morphological roots, challenges for future research, and their practical applications in urban design and planning. The methods employed in these studies involve a variety of quantitative and qualitative approaches. These include, among others, hedonic pricing modelling, multivariate models, road and metro network encoding, 2D and 3D spatial Design Network Analysis (sDNA) software, pedestrian standard path centre line network encoding, and value-based urban design. These methods have investigated the association between urban morphology, property prices, transport access, land-use resources, and pedestrian flows in contrasted urban contexts. The approaches in the publications demonstrate a comprehensive understanding of the complexities and interdependencies in intra-urban and urban studies. The research explores various spatial scales, from local urban design to macro-meso transport planning, and investigates the relationship between outdoor and indoor 3D pedestrian networks in high-density urban areas. Overall, the breadth and depth of the research in these publications and their original contributions showcase a strong foundation in intra-urban and urban studies, highlighting the importance of understanding urban environments’ spatial, socioeconomic, and morphological aspects for effective planning and design. Summary of the publications and contributions: Publication 1: Chiaradia, A., 2019. Urban Morphology/Urban Form. In: A. Orum, ed. The Wiley Blackwell Encyclopedia of Urban and Regional Studies. Hoboken, NJ: WileyBlackwell, pp. 1-6. The paper contextualises and traces succinctly, from 1830 to 2019, the historical roots of urban morphology, including street network focus. The article provides a general introduction to critical concepts. Space syntax is contextualised as performative urban morphology and referenced to the early work of Stübben (1911). The main contribution is the identification of three key challenges for future research: epistemological embedding, qualitative ontology, and a unified approach that bridges descriptive/explanatory and prescriptive/normative aspects. Publication 2: Chiaradia, A.*, Hillier, B., Schwander, C. and Barnes, Y., 2013. Compositional and urban form effects on residential property value patterns in Greater London. Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers-Urban Design and Planning, 166(3), pp.176-199. This research used a hedonic pricing modelling framework. The road network encoding uses standard road centre line encoding transformed by space syntax software and centralities metrics quantitative spatial characterisation of road network shape/accessibility to investigate the association with property price of a large sample of adjacent properties (≈100,000). Findings are aligned with extant theory related to the hedonic modelling of the residential property price; dwelling size is the most important. The research reveals the importance of road network shape and accessibility characteristics in determining residential property prices in Greater London. The main contribution is the identification of two spatial scales associated with property prices: a local urban design scale (= 2,000 m). Publication 3: Chiaradia, A.*, Hillier, B., Schwander, C. and Wedderburn, M., 2012. Compositional and urban form effects on centres in Greater London. Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers-Urban Design and Planning, 165(1), pp.21-42. This research used a multi-variate model, using standard road centre line encoding transformed by space syntax software and centralities metrics quantitative spatial characterisation of road network shape/accessibility and socio-economic variables to investigate the association with commercial rental values of a large sample of commercial property located in designated sub-centres. Findings show that a sub-centre can be spatially distinguished from its non-centre surroundings. A sub-centrality spatial signature: sub-centre spatial and socio-economic typology are identified. Of the two main space syntax spatial variables associated with the sub-centres signatures, one would be the remit or urban design (local spatial scale, walking scale <= 800 m) and the other (meso-scale, <= 2,000 m) would be the remit of transport planning. Publication 4: Zhang, L., Chiaradia, A.* & Zhuang, Y. A., 2015. Configurational Accessibility Study of Road and Metro Network in Shanghai. In: Q. Pan & J. Cao, eds. Recent Developments in Chinese Urban Planning. Heidelberg: Springer, pp. 219-245. This research deployed standard road centre line encoding, metro network topological encoding and 2D spatial Design Network Analysis (sDNA) software quantitative spatial characterisation of road network and metro network shape/accessibility to investigate the probability density function of spatial distribution of metro system access points, bus access points and commercial land use in a Mega City. The research shows the uneven spatial distribution of metro access points, bus access points, and commercial land use in Shanghai, with 60-70% associated with the top three deciles of road and metro network shape/accessibility. The main contribution is the comprehensive analysis of the spatial distribution of transport and land-use resources in a mega-city context. Publication 5: Zhang, L. & Chiaradia, A.*, 2019. Three-dimensional Spatial Network Analysis and Its Application in a High Density City Area, Central Hong Kong (In Chinese). Urban Planning International, 33(1), pp. 46-53. This research used 3D pedestrian standard path centre line network encoding and 3D sDNA software quantitative spatial characterisation of outdoor and indoor multi-level pedestrian network shape/accessibility to investigate their association with pedestrian flow level in one of the most complex multi-level-built environments. The research reveals a high association between the standard spatial characterisation of outdoor and indoor multi-level pedestrian network shape/accessibility and pedestrian flow levels in a complex built environment. The main contribution is the demonstration of the interdependence between outdoor and indoor pedestrian networks in a high-density urban context. Publication 6: Chiaradia, A.*, Sieh, L. and Plimmer, F., 2017. Values in urban design: A design studio teaching approach. Design Studies, 49, pp. 66-100. The paper refers to physical configurations in general and the movement network that UNeMos are measuring. It articulates a theoretical bridge between the technicalities of measuring urban morphology and the creative application of resulting insights about the impact of any proposed, designed urban shape on the performance of the urban ‘place’ of which it is a part. The basis of the bridge is the concept of value. This is not simply ‘price’ but an interdisciplinary social scientific compound construct inspired by an extensive anthropological meta-review of value: “that which matters, and the extent to which that matters.” The research establishes a theoretical bridge between urban morphology measurement and urban design creativity through the concept of value, which is adapted from Graeber’s general conceptualisation. The main contribution is developing a value-based approach to urban design, as demonstrated through the analysis of student work in an urban design studio. Publication 7: Chiaradia, A., Cooper, C., Webster, C., 2011, spatial Design Network Analysis Software, & Cooper, C.H. and Chiaradia, A.J., 2020. sDNA: 3D spatial network analysis for GIS, CAD, Command Line & Python. SoftwareX, 12, p.100525. Spatial Design Network Analysis (sDNA) is a toolbox for 2D and 3D spatial network analysis, especially street/path/urban network analysis, motivated by a need to use standard network links/nodes as the principal unit of analysis to analyse existing and projected network data. sDNA is usable from QGIS & ArcGIS geographic information systems, AutoCAD, Rhino Gh, and the command line via its own Python API. It computes measures of accessibility (reach, mean distance/closeness centrality, gravity), flows (bidirectional betweenness centrality) and efficiency (circuity) as well as convex hull properties, localised within lower- and upper-bounded radial bands. Weighting is flexible and can use geometric properties, data attached to links, zones, matrices or combinations of the above. Motivated by a desire to base network analysis on route choice and spatial cognition, distance can be network-Euclidean, angular, a mixture of both, custom, or specific to cyclists (avoiding slope and motorised traffic). In addition to statistics on network links, the following outputs can be computed: geodesics, network buffers, accessibility maps, convex hulls, flow bundles and skim matrices. Further tools assist with network preparation and calibration of network models to observed data. To date, sDNA has been used mainly for urban network analysis by academics and city planners/engineers for tasks including predicting pedestrian, cyclist, vehicle and metro flows and mode choice and quantifying the built environment for epidemiology and urban planning & design. The main contribution is developing a user-friendly and flexible software tool that supports various types of 3D network analysis, including accessibility, flows, efficiency measures, and various output formats and tools. The commentary critically introduces, compares, and analyses various spatial models of distance using the closeness centrality of a network, combinations of transport network encoding and topological, Euclidean, angular and hybrid distances for their capacity and limitations to discriminate transport network layout. It contextualised the issues related to how and what could be “counted so as to reveal the differences between one settlement structure and another?” (Hillier & Hanson, 1984) in 2D or 3D to capture urban design values. The main findings are as follows: • Topologic distance is inferior at measuring and discriminating distinct layout configurations of the transport networks. • To a very good extent, Euclidean distance measures and discriminates distinct layout configurations of transport networks, yet mainly grid-like layout. • Angular distance remedies the issues of Euclidean distance related to a deformed grid yet introduces errors that can be resolved by Hybrid distance. The link/node model of encoding transport network combined with closeness centrality of the network using spatial models of distance seems valid in discriminating distinct layout configurations of 2D and 3D transport networks. The publications’ original contributions demonstrate that these techniques empirically capture 2D and 3D urban design values

Visualizing Transmedia Networks: Links, Paths and Peripheries

`Visualizing Transmedia Networks: Links, Paths and Peripheries' examines the increasingly complex rhetorical intersections between narrative and media (`old' and `new') in the creation of transmedia fictions, loosely defined as multisensory and multimodal stories told extensively across a diverse media set. In order to locate the `language' of transmedia expressions, this project calls attention to the formally locatable network structures placed by transmedia producers in disparate media like film, the print novel and video games. Using network visualization software and computational metrics, these structures can be used as data to graph these fictions for both quantitative and qualitative analysis. This study also, however, examines the limits to this approach, arguing that the process of transremediation, where redundancy and multiformity take precedence over networked connection, forms a second axis for understanding transmedia practices, one equally bound to the formation of new modes of meaning and literacy

Evaluating Network Analysis and Agent Based Modeling for Investigating the Stability of Commercial Air Carrier Schedules

For a number of years, the United States Federal Government has been formulating the Next Generation Air Transportation System plans for National Airspace System improvement. These improvements attempt to address air transportation holistically, but often address individual improvements in one arena such as ground or in-flight equipment. In fact, air transportation system designers have had only limited success using traditional Operations Research and parametric modeling approaches in their analyses of innovative operations. They need a systemic methodology for modeling of safety-critical infrastructure that is comprehensive, objective, and sufficiently concrete, yet simple enough to be deployed with reasonable investment. The methodology must also be amenable to quantitative analysis so issues of system safety and stability can be rigorously addressed

Beyond Nelson: A Post-heroic Study of Leader-Follower Interaction in the Royal Navy

Leadership studies have traditionally considered leader characteristics to account for leadership outcomes such as leader emergence or team performance. This heroic narrative has always had its opponents but recently a post-heroic approach is becoming more prominent. Post-heroic approaches contest the assertion that leadership outcomes are mainly the product of leader traits. My research begins with a particular leader trait, the ability to interact, and bridges the two approaches by investigating the process from leader competence to leadership outcomes. The research uses a sequential exploratory design incorporating mixed methods. Three projects were conducted in Royal Navy (RN) warships. A qualitative project developed a leader-follower interaction model. The model suggests that leadership is granted by followers after a long-term series of mundane encounters. These encounters allow followers to build a group consensus of leader prestige. Prestige inuences follower behaviour such as engagement, disengagement and a covert form of resistance called levelling. A second project mapped the advice and participation networks on RN vessels and determined the prestige of team and sub-team leaders. Regression techniques allowed me to verify empirically the signicant relationship between prestige scores and team performance for ships conducting Sea Training. A nal project conducted on a warship in the South Atlantic verified a similar relationship between advice network prestige and intra-team communication. Finally I used the findings of the two empirical projects, based on sub-team or dyadic relationships, to model the effects of prestige at the group level, using computer simulation. I discovered that prestige that is dispersed throughout a group generates more effective teams, in terms of communication, than other conditions. This challenges the traditional top-down view of leadership communication. The resulting leader-follower interaction model describes a series of mundane and contested encounters through which prestige is given to dispersed leaders within a group. The theoretical impact of my research is to develop trait-process approaches to leadership and to describe leader-follower interaction as a post-heroic process. In doing so, I synthesise engagement theory with antropological approaches, including resistance to leadership. Practically, my projects validate the RN's compentency method of selecting leaders but points out that prestigious leaders alone cannot maximise team performance

What makes for effective and meaningful online parliamentary public engagement?

This research primarily aims to develop evaluation methods to effectively harness citizen input from large unstructured data generated automatically through digital engagement activities. It is an interdisciplinary and collaborative project with the House of Commons which combines social science and data science to analyse the online engagement activities of the UK Parliament. Digital Engagement teams within Parliament have introduced various ways of engaging with the public online including consultations and digital debates. These have been popular since they started in 2015 but attract too many responses for staff to process manually and to get a clear picture of what the public is saying. I use machine learning and text mining approaches to analyse the data gathered by Parliament to summarise and reveal the network of participant interactions so Parliament can have a more informed idea of who is participating within which social/ideological clusters. This shows a public who have a diverse set of views but can be influenced based on the channel and type of engagement they are participating in. As the Members of Parliament are crucial to the engagement process, any way to encourage and facilitate their use of the online engagement is vital. Without input from officials overtly showing that they have listened to and incorporated the public’s opinions into their decisions, the online public engagement efforts from Parliament could be seen as insincere to many of the public. With this in mind, another aim is to explore how public opinion derived through the online engagement activities can be meaningfully incorporated into policy making. This entails working with different teams in Parliament to understand exactly how policy-makers are currently using the outputs of online engagement and how this can be improved. I conduct demonstration tests to test the methods of evaluation developed during the research and find that while these can be applied to digital engagement activities successfully to gain insights from the public, responsibility remains with the institution to ensure internal processes are equipped to make use of the public’s views

Metrics and methods for social distance

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning, 2011.Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.Includes bibliographical references (p. 171-189).Distance measures are important for scientists because they illustrate the dynamics of geospatial topologies for physical and social processes. Two major types of distance are generally used for this purpose: Euclidean Distance measures the geodesic dispersion between fixed locations and Cost Distance characterizes the ease of travel between two places. This dissertation suggests that close inter-place ties may be an effect of human decisions and relationships and so embraces a third tier of distance, Social Distance, as the conceptual or physical connectivity between two places as measured by the relative or absolute frequency, volume or intensity of agent-based choices to travel, communicate or relate from one distinct place to another. In the spatial realm, Social Distance measures have not been widely developed, and since the concept is relatively new, Chapter 1 introduces and defines geo-contextual Social Distance, its operationalization, and its novelty. With similar intentions, Chapter 2 outlines the challenges facing the integration of social flow data into the Geographic Information community. The body of this dissertation consists of three separate case studies in Chapters 3, 4 and 5 whose common theme is the integration of Social Distance as models of social processes in geographic space. Each chapter addresses one aspect of this topic. Chapter 3 looks at a new visualization and classification method, called Weighted Radial Variation, for flow datasets. U.S. Migration data at the county level for 2008 is used for this case study. Chapter 4 discusses a new computational method for predicting geospatial interaction, based on social theory of trip chaining and communication. U.S. Flight, Trip and Migration data for the years 1995-2008 are used in this study. Chapter 5 presents the results of the tandem analysis for social networks and geographic clustering. Roll call vote data for the U.S. House of Representatives in the 111th Congress are used to create a social network, which is then analyzed with regards to the geographic districts of each congressperson.by Clio Andris.Ph.D