Beyond the digital city - Remediating space at a regional scale

There has been a great deal of research on the effects of digital media and ICT’s on the urban condition. Similarly the impacts on social and community based structures and networks of the use of new forms of communication and interaction through technology has been studies from a range of perspectives, but with very little critique of the complex urban nature of such media. Yet ICT’s and new modes of remote communication are having, and have had significant effects on communities that are not cutting edge high urban settings but rather at regional and rural scales. These settings have different structures and patterns of inhabitation than those of highly urbanised city centres and therefore corresponding different relationships with social and economical drivers and issues. This workshop will explore the link between the use and infrastructure of digital media and social communities on regional, small-scale urban and rural settings. It will reflect on how this affects what Marsden refers to as the process as ‘communitization’ where members of the community ‘are empowered to derive their own solution strategies that comprise a variety of fundamental components and services’ (Marsden 2011). The focus will be on how to qualify and evaluate the effects of digital networks and interactions on place-based social structures such as neighbourhoods and rural nodes. It will explore the characteristics of place-based communities and the interplay between the invisible networks and material world of regional urban and rural life. To support this we will investigate appropriate qualitative methods for studying such practices, which acknowledge that difficulty with studying everyday practices and interactions in such settings

From 'digital' to 'smart': upgrading the city

In this paper we seek to reflect on the way in which 'digital cities' later re-emerge as 'smart cities' (both in terms of the approaches and also the actual cities) and what lessons can be learned about the role of ICTs in how they shape urban space. We will focus on looking at how the lack of understanding of the city as a 'place' is often a common factor in the lack of longevity in 'digital city' initiatives and discuss the corresponding implications for the emergence of 'smart cities'. We draw on a study of the city of Bristol, UK in order to look at the variety of initiatives that took Bristol from a 1990's digital city to the current 'smart' projects. We conclude by reflecting on what can be learnt from the lessons of the failed Digital City projects of 1990's and discuss the role that placemaking could play in the development of socially and spatially sustainable smart cities

Questions of importance to the conservation of biological diversity: answers from the past

Paleoecological records are replete with examples of biotic responses to past climate change and human impact, but how can we use these records in the conservation of current and future biodiversity? A recently published list of (One Hundred Questions of Importance to the Conservation of Global Biological Diversity) (Sutherland et al., 2009) highlights a number of key research questions that need a temporal perspective. Many of these questions are related to the determination of ecological processes in order to assess ecosystem function and services, climate change integrated conservation strategies, and ecosystem management and restoration. However, it is noticeable that not a single contributor to this list was from the paleo-research community and that extremely few paleo-records are ever used in the development of terrestrial conservation management plans. This lack of dialogue between conservationists and the paleo-community is partially driven by a perception that the data provided by paleoecological records are purely descriptive and not of relevance to the day-to-day management and conservation of biological diversity. This paper illustrates, through a series of case-studies, how long-term ecological records (>50 years) can provide a test of predictions and assumptions of ecological processes that are directly relevant to management strategies necessary to retain biological diversity in a changing climate. This discussion paper includes information on diversity baselines, thresholds, resilience, and restoration of ecological processes

Changes in Body Condition of Hibernating Bats Support the Thrifty Female Hypothesis and Predict Consequences for Populations with White-Nose Syndrome

White-nose syndrome (WNS) is a new disease of bats that has devastated populations in eastern North America. Infection with the fungus, Geomyces destructans, is thought to increase the time bats spend out of torpor during hibernation, leading to starvation. Little is known about hibernation in healthy, free-ranging bats and more data are needed to help predict consequences of WNS. Trade-offs presumably exist between the energetic benefits and physiological/ecological costs of torpor, leading to the prediction that the relative importance of spring energy reserves should affect an individual's use of torpor and depletion of energy reserves during winter. Myotis lucifugus mate during fall and winter but females do not become pregnant until after spring emergence. Thus, female reproductive success depends on spring fat reserves while male reproductive success does not. Consequently, females should be “thrifty” in their use of fat compared to males. We measured body condition index (BCI; mass/forearm length) of 432 M. lucifugus in Manitoba, Canada during the winter of 2009/2010. Bats were captured during the fall mating period (n = 200), early hibernation (n = 125), and late hibernation (n = 128). Adult females entered hibernation with greater fat reserves and consumed those reserves more slowly than adult males and young of the year. Consequently, adult females may be more likely than males or young of the year to survive the disruption of energy balance associated with WNS, although surviving females may not have sufficient reserves to support reproduction

Coexistence and competition of magnetism and superconductivity on the nanometer scale in underdoped BaFe1.89Co0.11As2

We report muon spin rotation (muSR) and infrared (IR) spectroscopy experiments on underdoped BaFe1.89Co0.11As2 which show that bulk magnetism and superconductivity (SC) coexist and compete on the nanometer length scale. Our combined data reveal a bulk magnetic order, likely due to an incommensurate spin density wave (SDW), which develops below Tmag \approx 32 K and becomes reduced in magnitude (but not in volume) below Tc = 21.7 K. A slowly fluctuating precursor of the SDW seems to develop alrady below the structural transition at Ts \approx 50 K. The bulk nature of SC is established by the muSR data which show a bulk SC vortex lattice and the IR data which reveal that the majority of low-energy states is gapped and participates in the condensate at T << Tc

Correlated photon pairs generated from a warm atomic ensemble

We present measurements of the cross-correlation function of photon pairs at 780 nm and 1367 nm, generated in a hot rubidium vapor cell. The temporal character of the biphoton is determined by the dispersive properties of the medium where the pair generation takes place. We show that short correlation times occur for optically thick samples, which can be understood in terms of off-resonant pair generation. By modifying the linear response of the sample, we produce near-resonant photon pairs, which could in principle be used for entanglement distribution

Why do people opt-out or not opt-out of automatic enrolment? A focus group study of automatic enrolment into a workplace pension in the United Kingdom

Automatic enrolment (AE) into a workplace pension is an important recent development in pension policy. An important question for this policy is why do people opt-out or not opt-out of AE? This question is important for understanding the power of suggestion associated with AE as well as responding to concerns that women might face undue pressure to opt-out. This article addresses this question through a focus group study into the United Kingdom’s new AE policy. Women were more likely than men to cite lack of affordability as a reason for opting out. Lack of information also seemed important for the power of suggestion associated with AE. Further research should explore how to make AE less gender blind as well as the types of information or advice that should be provided alongside AE

Careif Position Statement on Migration and Mental Health

People have moved from one place to another within the same country or across national borders for millennia. The reasons for such movements have varied, as does the duration for which people migrate. With globalisation and global connections across countries, migration has increased. The process of migration and its impact on the mental health of individuals has been and will remain heterogeneous. The responses of migrants to the process vary, depending upon a number of factors. Individuals may migrate individually, with their families or in groups. They may move to avoid political or religious persecution and seek political asylum in another country (forced migration) or migrate for personal, employment, economic or educational reasons (voluntary migration). Although these two categorisations are often a little more complex than this. Not all migrants will feel negatively affected by migration. People may migrate on a seasonal, recurrent, permanent or temporary basis. It may be within or across generations. Many migrants will never access mental health services, whilst others may use these in varying ways and with diverse requirements or presentations. The experiences and requirements of voluntary and involuntary migrants may differ. Mental health Services may need to ensure that they are accessible and appropriate to all members of society including those who have migrated. This paper makes some suggestions in relation to this