Stinking Foreshore to Tree Lined Avenue: Investigating the Riverine Lives Impacted by the Construction of the Thames Embankments in Victorian London

Victorian London saw dramatic physical changes along the river Thames. Large enclosed Docks and Thames Embankments were constructed as the city struggled to cope with its ballooning population and prospering shipping industry. Whilst the Thames Embankments have been hailed as engineering triumphs, the fate of those whose livelihood relied on access to the river in central London (such as wharf workers, barge, ferry and lighter men, and others) is unknown. In order to investigate the impact of the Embankment, a methodology has been developed which enables characterisation of a large swathe of urban riverside throughout the mid- to late 19th century, whilst also ensuring that the stories of individuals and communities are not lost. The approach combines and adapts established methodologies, such as Historic Landscape/Seascape Characterisation and Maritime Cultural Landscapes, to understand the nature and changes in the urban riverside landscape. This methodology forms the background for detailed research on smaller sites, such as a single street, housing block, or industrial site, in order to create ‘Ethnographies of Place’. These small-scale ‘Ethnographies’ have the potential to tell stories about how the social and economic circumstances of individuals and communities changed as a result of the landscape changes associated with the Embankment construction. This paper presents the initial work to establish the methodology and preliminary conclusions based on key sources

SocialDTN: A DTN implementation for Digital and Social Inclusion

Despite of the importance of access to computers and to the Internet for the development of people and their inclusion in society, there are people that still suffer with digital divide and social exclusion. Delay/Disruption-Tolerant Networking (DTN) can help the digital/social inclusion of these people as it allows opportunistic and asynchronous communication, which does not depend upon networking infrastructure. We introduce SocialDTN, an implementation of the DTN architecture for Android devices that operates over Bluetooth, taking advantages of the social daily routines of users. As we want to exploit the social proximity and interactions existing among users, SocialDTN includes a social-aware opportunistic routing proposal, dLife, instead of the well-known (but social-oblivious) PROPHET. Simulations show the potential of dLife for our needs. Additionally, some preliminary results from field experimentations are presented.Comment: 3 pages, 4 figure

Putting the pieces in place: children, communities and social capital in Australia

Provides insights into the aspects of Australian communities that support children and those that fail them. It examines the ways in which communities can be strengthened from the standpoint of children. The report documents how excessive use of alcohol, aggressive drivers and the threat of violence make children feel unsafe in their communities. It also highlights the importance of strong, caring relationships. Executive summary   What do children in Australia value about their communities? How are communities supporting children? How are communities failing them – and why? Over the past fifteen years, governments at Commonwealth, state and local levels have been concerned with strengthening communities as part of a policy shift towards "local solutions to local problems" and to place-based initiatives. This policy shift was heavily influenced by ideas of social capital. Children are often assumed to benefit from "strong communities", yet we know very little about children‟s views on what makes a strong, supportive community. Indeed, we know very little about children‟s places and roles within Australian communities. If policies and initiatives are to be inclusive of children – as this report argues they should – it is crucial that we understand children‟s views and experiences of their communities. The research project explores in depth what children in middle childhood think about their communities, how children experience "community‟ on a daily basis, and what vision they have for their communities. This report presents the findings of participatory, rights-based research with 108 children aged between eight and twelve years across six sites in eastern Australia. The findings provide important insights into communities from a child\u27s standpoint. This research also demonstrates children‟s capacity to engage in detailed discussion and deliberation about "what works" - and "what is broken" – within their community. Additionally, it demonstrates the important insights children can provide into how to fix that which is broken

Metagenomes in the Borderline Ecosystems of the Antarctic Cryptoendolithic Communities.

Antarctic cryptoendolithic communities are microbial ecosystems dwelling inside rocks of the Antarctic desert. We present the first 18 shotgun metagenomes from these communities to further characterize their composition, biodiversity, functionality, and adaptation. Future studies will integrate taxonomic and functional annotations to examine the pathways necessary for life to evolve in the extremes

New Experiments in Minority Voter Mobilization: Third and Final Report on the California Votes Initiative

This report offers new insights about voter mobilization strategies used in our California Votes Initiative. Launched in 2006, the initiative supported nine nonprofit organizations as they reached out to infrequent voters in low-income and ethnic communities in the San Joaquin Valley and parts of Southern California. This publication, the third and final report on the initiative, summarizes findings from the entirety of the project's experiments. It examines the long-term effects of voter mobilization and the effects of specific approaches, such as canvassing and phone calls, on voter attitudes toward politics and political engagement. Qualitative analyses explore the components of a successful get-out-the-vote campaign and identify five practices organizations of many types may use to increase turnout

Evaluating a Voter Outreach Initiative

· This article describes an initiative designed to increase voting rates among low-income and ethnic groups in southern and central California communities. · A rigorous evaluation demonstrated that participation rates could be increased by up to 10% among these groups. · Using local, well-trained canvassers and making contact during the four weeks preceding the election were some of the more effective practices

Climate tolerances and trait choices shape continental patterns of urban tree biodiversity

Aim: We propose and test a climate tolerance and trait choice hypothesis of urban macroecological variation in which strong filtering associated with low winter temperatures restricts urban biodiversity while weak filtering associated with warmer temperatures and irrigation allows dispersal of species from a global source pool, thereby increasing urban biodiversity. Location: Twenty cities across the USA and Canada. Methods: We examined variation in tree community taxonomic diversity, origins and production of an aesthetic ecosystem service trait in a cross-section of urban field surveys. We correlated urban tree community composition indicators with a key climate restriction, namely mean minimum winter temperature, and evaluated alternative possible drivers: precipitation, summer maximum temperature, population size and the percentage of adults with a college education. Results: Species accumulation curves differed substantially among cities, with observed richness varying from 22 to 122 species. Similarities in tree communities decreased exponentially with increases in climatic differences. Ordination of tree communities showed strong separation among cities with component axes correlated with minimum winter temperature and annual precipitation. Variation among urban tree communities in richness, origins and the provisioning of an aesthetic ecosystem service were all correlated with minimum winter temperature. Main conclusions: The urban climate tolerance and trait choice hypothesis provides a coherent mechanism to explain the large variation among urban tree communities resulting from an interacting environment, species and human decisions. Reconciling the feedbacks between human decision making and biophysical limitations provides a foundation for an urban ecological theory that can better understand and predict the dynamics of other linked biotic communities, associated ecosystem dynamics and resulting services provided to urban residents

Health Status of the Uninsured: Opportunities for Improvement

Provides estimates of the geographic variations in the rates of self-reported fair or poor health status, asthma, and hypertension among uninsured children and adults in California