Does Presentation Format Influence Visual Size Discrimination in Tufted Capuchin Monkeys (Sapajus spp.)?

Most experimental paradigms to study visual cognition in humans and non-human species are based on discrimination tasks involving the choice between two or more visual stimuli. To this end, different types of stimuli and procedures for stimuli presentation are used, which highlights the necessity to compare data obtained with different methods. The present study assessed whether, and to what extent, capuchin monkeys\u27 ability to solve a size discrimination problem is influenced by the type of procedure used to present the problem. Capuchins\u27 ability to generalise knowledge across different tasks was also evaluated. We trained eight adult tufted capuchin monkeys to select the larger of two stimuli of the same shape and different sizes by using pairs of food items (Experiment 1), computer images (Experiment 1) and objects (Experiment 2). Our results indicated that monkeys achieved the learning criterion faster with food stimuli compared to both images and objects. They also required consistently fewer trials with objects than with images. Moreover, female capuchins had higher levels of acquisition accuracy with food stimuli than with images. Finally, capuchins did not immediately transfer the solution of the problem acquired in one task condition to the other conditions. Overall, these findings suggest that - even in relatively simple visual discrimination problems where a single perceptual dimension (i.e., size) has to be judged - learning speed strongly depends on the mode of presentation

Urban Agriculture as a Socially Inclusive and Sustainable Post-Growth Urban Regeneration Strategy

The redevelopment of vacant land in post-growth and post economic crisis cities is a major challenge for public administrations, private investors as well as the increasing kaleidoscope of socially driven stakeholders; however, the imperative of pursuing inclusive urban strategies facing the exponential rising of migration phenomena have been rarely connected to the issue of limiting land consumption and boosting economic, physical and social regeneration in the most developed countries. Only quite recently within the general framework of “urban-rural” relationships, the “Urban Agriculture” is emerging as a practice which could prove successful both for giving new perspectives to blighted zones of the post-crisis cities and for tackling social malaise related to the massive migration phenomenon in western economy metropolitan areas. Within the scientific literature, the subject of “urban agriculture” itself has a long tradition in developing countries (see authors as Atkinson S. J., Braun, J. von, Maxwell D., Zziwa S.) and has been very much debated over the past 20 years with reference to major western world cities from New York to London, San Francisco, San Diego, etc. (see authors as Pothukuchi K., Kaufman J., Smit J.). Moreover, excessively high fresh-food prices and food related diseases in major cities' blighted low-income neighborhoods make the potential contribution of urban agriculture, as a re-zoning and land conversion planning practice within “food desert” areas, considerably valuable for social as well as health related objectives. Across the US, a growing consumer demand for fresh, local and healthy food is creating new markets for urban food production. Many of these efforts specifically address the needs of urban residents who are living in low-income neighborhoods to access food. Indeed, relevant research axes demonstrate the correlation between malnutrition diseases and low-income, socially disadvantaged areas which lack fresh food groceries (see Burton H.). Often identified as food deserts, “with limited access to affordable and nutritious food” (2008 USDA Farm Bill), or food swamps, domains marked by the abundance of unhealthy food sources, as fast-food and convenience stores, such areas are the most in need of efforts in the field of urban agriculture. Recently, the City of San Diego has changed its municipal zoning code in order to make it easier for its population to carry out urban agriculture and farming. Community gardens and raising of chickens, goats and bees have been allowed in backyards of multi-family and single-family zoned areas. Within the context of the EU FP7 Marie Curie Research Project CLUDs (Commercial Local Urban Districts), this work is aimed at assessing how urban agriculture can drive innovation in urban regeneration policies not only in physical and economic terms, but also and mostly under a social perspective. A specific case study of community garden run by a non-profit organization in San Diego deserves particularly to be highlighted. The “New Roots Community Farm” initiative is based in the distressed neighborhood of City Heights - “patchwork community” of immigrants - and it is highly interesting for its aim to revitalize “rurban” spaces through the involvement of refugee’s groups in urban farming. The whole neighborhood is considered a “critical food access” area and the International Rescue Committee (IRC), an international non-profit organization, worked with other community-based associations, the City of San Diego and the San Diego County Farm Bureau to develop an urban farming initiative located on public vacant land. Analysis of statistics from the Census Bureau and interviews with involved stakeholders and community residents can help understand the value of the New Roots Community Farm initiative in bringing about regeneration and tackling food insecurity, health problems, and economic hardship through community-based food and farming projects within the city

Innovative PPP Tools Supporting Urban Regeneration. The Role of Non-profit Organizations in USA.

he success of urban regeneration policies – aiming at renovating public spaces and improving the attractiveness and accessibility of deprived urban areas, while reinforcing the sense of community – is in most cases strongly influenced by the capability to face the challenge of ensuring broad participation of local stakeholders and strong inclusion of residents. The importance of involving multiple stakeholders in urban regeneration process has been widely investigated (see contributions by Healey P., Osborne S.P., Reuschke D.) and some authors already highlighted how public-private interactions can support urban competitiveness and cohesion. Indeed, residents and community organizations have long sought out new formulas in order to guarantee wider participation in urban redevelopment initiatives and new forms of cooperation with the public sector. Such an effort has to be considered even more important because of the increasing scarcity of public financial resources, which have driven local authorities to enhance a general partnership approach and to support strong relationship with residents, non-profit associations, economic and entrepreneurial groups, private investors, other potentially involved stakeholders. Within the context of a EU FP7 Marie Curie Research Project whose acronym is CLUDs (Commercial Urban Local Districts), diverse “architectures” of Public-Private Partnership have been explored within the general framework of urban regeneration processes in order to understand how they are sustainable, innovative and really effective. In US particularly, three different models of non-profit organizations have been investigated (Community Development Corporations, Main Street Organizations and Business Improvement Districts) in different US contexts – Boston (Massachusetts) and San Diego (California) –, where Public-Private Partnership is a well-established tool. Analysis of statistics from the Census Bureau, interviews with involved stakeholders and critical overviews on related literature and press have been carried on in order to find out connections, outcomes and figure out possible lessons Europe oriented. One of the most interesting outcomes of this work, still in progress, is related to the confrontation of different but comparable initiatives as the Downtown Boston Improvement District plus the Washington Gateway Main Street Program in Boston and the North Park BID/Main Street in San Diego; or the Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative in Boston and the City Heights Community Development Corporation in San Diego. The analysis highlights the issue of the “flexible geometry” in roles of public, private and non-profit actors and the different approaches that might be adopted to reconsider the leading role of municipal governments while proposing community-based solutions to public problems: the case-study exploration is not limited to underline the traditional features of some good practices – as quality performance in delivering community and social infrastructures, services and facilities or local community empowerment in decision making processes – but it also shows some of the problems connected with partnership involving community and public sector organizations, such as the leading (and sometimes meddling) role of public authorities supporting specific interests

Evaluating the environmental impact of debit card payments

Purpose: Consumers in the Netherlands made more than 3.2 billion debit card transactions at points-of-sale in 2015, corresponding to over half of all point-of-sale payments in that year. This study provides insights into the environmental impact of debit card transactions based on a life cycle assessment (LCA). In addition, it identifies several areas within the debit card payment chain where the environmental impact can be reduced.Methods: The debit card payment system can be divided into three subsystems: debit cards, payment terminals, and data centers used for transaction processing. Input data for all elements within each subsystem (manufacturing, transport, energy use, and disposal) were retrieved from interviews and literature study. Seven key companies and authorities within the debit card system such as the Dutch Payments Association, two banks, two data centers, one payment terminal producer and a recycling company contributed data. The analysis is conducted using SimaPro, the Ecoinvent 3.0 database and the ReCiPe endpoint (H) impact assessment method.Results and discussion: One Dutch debit card transaction in 2015 is estimated to have an absolute environmental impact of 470 μPt. Within the process chain of a debit card transaction, the relative environmental impact of payment terminals is dominant, contributing 75% of the total impact. Terminal materials (37%) and terminal energy use (27%) are the largest contributors to this share, while the remaining impact comprises data center (11%) and debit card (15%) subsystems. For data centers, this impact mainly stems from their energy use. Finally, scenario analyses show that a significant decrease (44%) in the environmental impact of the entire debit card payment system could be achieved by stimulating the use of renewable energy in payment terminals and data centers, reducing the standby time of payment terminals and increasing the lifetimes of debit cards.Conclusions: For the first time, the environmental consequences of electronic card payment systems are evaluated. The total environmental impact of debit card transactions in the Netherlands is relatively modest compared to the impact of cash payments, which are the closest substitute of debit card payments at the point-of-sale. Scenario analysis indicates that the environmental impact can be reduced by 44%