Clouds of Small Things: Provisioning Infrastructure-as-a-Service from within Community Networks

Community networks offer a shared communication infrastructure where communities of citizens build and own open networks. While the IP connectivity of the networking devices is successfully achieved, the number of services and applications available from within the community network is typically small and the usage of the community network is often limited to providing Internet access to remote areas through wireless links. In this paper we propose to apply the principle of resource sharing of community networks, currently limited to the network bandwidth, to other computing resources, which leads to cloud computing in community networks. Towards this vision, we review some characteristics of community networks and identify potential scenarios for community clouds. We simulate a cloud computing infrastructure service and discuss different aspects of its performance in comparison to a commercial centralized cloud system. We note that in community clouds the computing resources are heterogeneous and less powerful, which affects the time needed to assign resources. Response time of the infrastructure service is high in community clouds even for a small number of resources since resources are distributed, but tends to get closer to that of a centralized cloud when the number of resources requested increases. Our initial results suggest that the performance of the community clouds highly depends on the community network conditions, but has some potential for improvement with network-aware cloud services. The main strength compared to commercial cloud services, however, is that community cloud services hosted on community-owned resources will follow the principles of community network and will be neutral and open

Segurança ambiental e gestão dos recursos hídricos

Apresenta-se uma breve perspectiva histórica do conceito de "segurança ambiental", um conceito crescentemente utilizado, mas ainda não suficientemente clarificado. A segurança ambiental está directamente relacionada com os conflitos ambientais, que são também objecto de análise no texto, pois as tensões ambientais podem exacerbar as situações de tensão entre os Estados. Discute-se também a relação entre sustentabilidade e segurança ambiental. A primeira parte do artigo encerra-se com a apresentação de definições de segurança ambiental. Na segunda parte do artigo considera-se o caso particular dos recursos hídricos no contexto da segurança ambiental, caracterizando-se as situações de escassez hídrica e de stress hídrico. Faz-se referência à eficiência e à equidade relacionadas com a utilização dos recursos hídricos. As mudanças climáticas e os seus impactos sobre os recursos hídricos são também consideradas numa perspectiva de segurança ambientaL Considera-se o caso dos recursos hídricos luso-espanhóis e as possíveis situações de insegurança ambiental que se poderão potencialmente desenvolver. Conclui-se que embora os recursos hídricos partilhados por Portugal e Espanha tenham potencial para gerar conflitos, têm tamb.érn potencial para induzir a cooperação entre os dois Estadosf devendo procurar-se que a água seja uma fonte de vida e de desenvolvimento sustentável e não uma fonte de conflitos sustentados e de guerra

The Importance of Outdoor Practices for Children's Health and Development and for the Community

Whether on the street, in a park, or in a forest, one of the most favorite places for children to be is the outdoors. Parents, teachers, community authorities, and the general public should be aware of how playing outside has so much potential, so many benefits, and can be so enjoyable for everyone. What makes the outdoors a unique context for children's health and development? How the community benefits from having their children playing out? First, the outdoors is an open environment where noisy voices, large, exuberant, and risky movements are allowed, which gives children a sense of joy and freedom of being and doing (Bilton, 2010; Sandseter, 2009). Such a big scale scenario also makes children move more, sit less, and play longer (Gray et al., 2015). While outdoors, children are exposed to sunlight, fresh air, and natural and living things, benefiting their health and development (Bilton, 2010; Dyment & Bell, 2008)

RISKY PLAY IN OUTDOOR ENVIRONMENTS

Risky play can be defined as thrilling and exciting forms of children’s play that involve a risk of harm. Risky play is natural during children’s play, and taking risks is an important and necessary part of outdoor play. Outdoor environments provide an excellent opportunity for children to be more physically active and less sedentary, which is important for their development and health. Additionally, outdoor spaces afford some risk of physical injury, and the risks of playing outdoor provide unique opportunities for physical, cognitive, and social development. During risky play, children experience increasing challenges and perceive opportunities for action or affordances for different elements. This chapter explores the concept of risky play and its categorization, the emotions and feelings experienced by children when engaging in risky play, the affordances and perception of affordances for risky play, and risky play and children’s safety

Planning and Developing Outdoor-Oriented Practices with Children

Promoting children’s outdoor play depends much on adults’ knowledge, beliefs, and attitudes regarding children’s development and the outdoor. An inappropriate approach to outdoor practices can hold back parents and teachers from going outside, making children feel afraid of exploring and preventing them from taking the best from the outdoors. This chapter aims to support the planning and development of outdoor activities, highlight key aspects that should always be accounted