Can urban metabolism models advance green infrastructure planning? Insights from ecosystem services research

Urban metabolism studies have gained momentum in recent years as a means to assess the environmental performance of cities and to point to more resource-efficient strategies for urban development. Recent literature reviews report a growing number of applications of the industrial ecology model for Material Flow Analysis (MFA) in the design of the built environment. However, MFA applications in green infrastructure development are scarce. In this article, we argue that: i) the use of MFA in green infrastructure practice can inform decision-making towards more resource-efficient urban planning; ii) the ecosystem service concept is critical to operationalize MFA for green infrastructure planning and design, and, through this, can enhance the impact of urban metabolism research on policy making and planning practice. The article draws from a systematic review of literature on urban ecosystem services and benefits provided by green infrastructure in urban regions. The review focuses on ecosystem services that can contribute to a more energy-efficient and less carbon-intensive urban metabolism. Using the Common International Classification of Ecosystem Services as a baseline, we then discuss opportunities for integrating energy provision and climate regulation ecosystem services in MFA. Our discussion demonstrates that the accounting of ecosystem services in MFA enables expressing impacts of green infrastructure on the urban energy mix (renewable energy provision), the magnitude of energy use (mitigation of building energy demand), and the dynamics of biogeochemical processes in cities (carbon sequestration). We finally propose an expanded model for MFA that illustrates a way forward to integrate the ecosystem service concept in urban metabolism models and to enable their application in green infrastructure planning and design

Los nuevos saberes peronistas en la escuela primaria argentina (1945-1955)

El presente trabajo tiene por objetivo discutir la postura tradicional sobre la peronización del subsistema educativo de nivel primario. A partir de la investigación realizada para la Tesis de Maestría en Didáctica "La incidencia de las prácticas pedagógicas de los maestros primarios en la transmisión de los nuevos saberes peronistas (1945-1955)", que se apoya en el análisis de fuentes escritas tales como: libros de texto del Magisterio, documentos con lineamientos curriculares y normativa didáctica y de política educativa y de fuentes orales construidas con los testimonios de maestros y alumnos del período, se podría afirmar que la escuela no fue una agencia socializadora eficiente en relación con la transmisión de los nuevos saberes peronistas. La ritualización o formalización de la enseñanza de los "nuevos saberes peronistas", producto de una resistencia político-pedagógica de los maestros, habría impedido o al menos dificultado la apropiación significativa de dichos saberes, tanto por parle de los alumnos como de los propios docentes. A mi entender, entonces, la acción político-pedagógica del Estado peronista, por fuera del sistema educativo habría sido más eficiente en el proceso de transmisión de la ideología que la labor desarrollada desde la escuela primaria.Fil: Perrotti, Rosana. Universidad de Buenos Aires; Argentina

Let\u27s Move! from DC to PC: Policy and Programming in Providence Charter Schools Around Student\u27s Awareness Towards Living Healthy

A thesis developed out of an intership for the Office of the First Lady\u27s Let\u27s Move Initiative . Following said internship, the author conducted original research on the local level - namely, Providence charter schools - to design, implement, and assess a series of educational “interventions”. These interventions were created to provide information to students and their parents about the benefits of healthy eating and exercise. Over 500 elementary-level students were surveyed for the research. See document abstract for more information

The Expansion and Evaluation of Medication Assisted Treatment Services for an Underserved Rural Northern California Community

Problem: Widespread opioid misuse has led to the opioid epidemic that claims 130 deaths per day due to an opioid overdose (CDC, 2018). The opioid epidemic has plagued the United States for three decades and has been considered a public health emergency since 2017 (HHS, 2017). Rural communities are disproportionately affected by this problem and in 2014, the rate of opioid overdose deaths was 45% higher in rural communities (SAMHSA, 2018). Context: Medication-assisted treatment (MAT) is considered the most effective treatment for opioid dependence because it incorporates medication management and biopsychosocial supports (Jones et al., 2018). Retention in a MAT program is predictive of better health outcomes (Timko et al., 2016). However, there is a gap between opioid dependence treatment need and access to MAT services in rural communities due to limited resources (SAMHSA, 2018). The context for this project, within the particular setting, is based upon the gap analysis that identified limited access and a waiting list for MAT services at a community-based substance use disorder and recovery organization, Granite Wellness, within a rural Northern California community. Proposed Intervention: The proposed intervention is the expansion of MAT services at Granite Wellness. Proposed Outcome Measures: The project will evaluate the following outcome measures: the number of patients admitted to MAT services, the 3-month treatment retention rate, patient satisfaction, and staff satisfaction

The Connection Between Gasoline Prices and Physical Activity: Potential Ways to Combat the Rise in Obesity

It is widely understood that one of the most significant public health challenges in the United States is obesity which could rightly be considered an epidemic. Accompanied by billions of dollars in both explicit and implicit costs obesity places great strain on the health care system and economy as a whole. Years of scientific research has linked obesity to three main determinants: genetics over-eating and lack of physical activity. Recent research has introduced the study of the connection between the macro-economy and rates of physical activity thus linking economic variables to obesity. This paper investigates the connection between gasoline prices and physical activity as a potentially novel method to combat the high prevalence of obesity in the US. Using data from the American Time Use Survey this paper builds extensively on Sen (2012) which identified a positive association between gasoline prices and physical activity levels. Economically the relationship exists by way of a substitution effect as people drive less when gas prices are high and/or an income effect as people will become more frugal due to higher expenditures on gasoline. This paper expands beyond Sen by controlling for the long-term effect of gasoline prices and including data up until the year 2015. This paper finds that higher gasoline prices are associated minimally with higher overall average physical activity scores on the individual level. However this paper does not find a significant effect when analyzing specific activities such as running and bicycling. As a result there not enough clear evidence that policies such as gasoline taxes may prove valuable in the fight against the obesity epidemic

Growth Cycles in Argentina

This article presents a characterization of Argentina’s GDP cycles of the last four decades. The cycle extraction strategy follows two well-known complementary approaches: the classic and the growth cycle (the later using four alternative filters from the frequency domain theory). A novel approach of this paper was the building of a combined index of the different methods included in the growth cycle approach. The results show similar conclusions from both approaches in terms of a) the number of cycles; b) the duration of the cycles; c) the prevalence of expansions to contractions’ duration; d) the synchronicity of the different cycles; and, e) the ordinal intensity ranking of the different phases.Este artículo presenta una caracterización de los ciclos del PIB de Argentina de las últimas cuatro décadas. La estrategia de extracción de los ciclos utiliza dos enfoques complementarios de amplia difusión: el clásico y el de ciclo de crecimiento (este último utilizando cuatro filtros alternativos de la teoría de dominio de frecuencias). Un enfoque novedoso del artículo es la construcción de un índice combinado de los diferentes métodos incluidos en el enfoque del ciclo de crecimiento. Los resultados muestran conclusiones similares de ambos enfoques en términos de a) el número de ciclos; b) la duración de los ciclos; c) la prevalencia de la duración de las expansiones respecto a las contracciones; d) la sincronicidad de los diferentes ciclos; y, e) la clasificación de intensidad ordinal de las diferentes fases

Two Dimensional Design of Axial Compressor - An Enhanced Version of LUAX-C

The main scope of this thesis is to have a strong tool for a preliminar design and sizing of an axial compressor in a bi-dimensional way, this means that all the parameters are referred to the hub, to the midspan and to the tip of the blade. This goal has been reached improving a pre existent MatlabTM code based on a monodimensional design. The developed code, using different swirl law, allow to understand the behaviour of the flow in both the axial and radial direction of the compressor, furthermore it plot the blade shape, once at the midspan of each stages, so the rotor and the stator are plot togheter, once for each blade separately, at the hub, at the mid-span and at tip, to show how the blade has to be made to properly follow the flow. This code has to be intended as an approach point for a more accurate design for axial compressor, e.g. CFD, that always need a good one and bi-dimensional preliminary design to obtain correct results; or it could be used in academic field for a better comprehension from the student of the phenomenas that take place in this kind of machine

Development of an eHealth Harm Reduction Resource to Address Opioid Use Among Youth in Rural Northern California

Problem: Opioid use and misuse is a leading cause of injury and death among adolescents and young adults in the United States, with a three-fold increase in opioid overdoses since 2000 (Carney et al., 2018; Hudgins et al., 2019). Opioid misuse correlates with misuse of other substances, which exponentially increases health risks over time. The most effective treatment for opioid use disorder (OUD) among adolescence is through effective prevention interventions that either prevent the development of the OUD or enable timely diagnosis and treatment in order to prevent poor health outcomes. Context: The use of eHealth technology, which has been successfully used in the management of other chronic diseases, including hypertension and diabetes mellitus, is one proposed intervention to prevent OUD among youth and to connect them with treatment resources (Nuamah et al., 2020). This technology could be particularly useful among youth due to their familiarity with and affinity towards using technology in their everyday lives. Granite Wellness Centers (GWC), a drug and alcohol treatment organization in rural Northern California, received grant funding from The California Youth Opioid Response (YOR California), to design and develop an eHealth resource to address OUD among youth ages 12 years to 24 years in rural Northern California communities (California Institute for Behavioral Health Solutions, 2015). This project sought to design and develop an eHealth resource and to conduct a pilot program. Interventions: A youth focus group and online survey were conducted to gather stakeholder data and input regarding the design for the eHealth drug resource. The stakeholder data informed the design and development of the GWConnect mobile app, to include culturally-informed harm reduction tools, such as unbiased, evidence-based drug information; news alerts; ask-a-provider feature; and local treatment resources. An 80-day pilot program was conducted to assess effectiveness of the app. Outcome Measures: A pre/post pilot survey was administered to assess change in youth knowledge of drugs, knowledge of local drug treatment resources, and the likelihood that youth would use the app to access information on drugs and local treatment resources. The surveys also assessed whether youth found the app to be effective in delivering the aforementioned content and their level of satisfaction with the app. Results: Through data analysis, results indicated a 26.47% increase in knowledge about drugs and a 20.32% increase in likelihood youth would use a mobile app to access information on drugs. Interestingly, even though the greatest increase was observed in knowledge of drug treatment resources and how to access them (45.83%), there was only a slight increase in the likelihood youth would use a mobile app to access information on treatment resources (14.09%). Overall, the pilot program participants were satisfied with GWConnect and found it to be effective. Conclusions: Increased knowledge can empower youth to make informed decisions preventing substance use disorder and/or reducing harm related to risky behaviors Increased knowledge of treatment resources can improve timeliness of treatment initiation and reduce harm associated with untreated substance use disorder. The overarching aim of GWConnect is to reduce the incidence of OUD and overdoses among rural youth in Northern California; therefore, future longitudinal research is needed to assess its effectiveness over a period of time. Keywords: Opioid use disorder/OUD, prevention, treatment, youth, adolescents, mobile application, mobile app, app, eHealth resource, and eHealth technology

The notion of “landscape acceptability” as a potential key factor for a new integrated approach to energy-landscape policy

Sin dai suoi inizi, il percorso verso la realizzazione di una politica energetica “sostenibile” in diversi ambiti nazionali europei è stato puntellato dall’emergenza di una serie di problematiche socio-economiche e ambientali, come ad esempio quelle legate ai conflitti ingenerati dal cambio di destinazione d’uso dei suoli agricoli. Tali conflitti sono spesso intervenuti nella programmazione e nel processo d’installazione d’impianti di produzione di energia da fonte rinnovabile, divenendo un argomento sensibile nel dibattito sulla transizione energetica alla scala regionale, nazionale o sopranazionale. Questo paper propone uno studio analitico e comparativo della relazione esistente fra le attuali politiche energetiche e i processi trasformativi che hanno interessato negli ultimi decenni due territori europei (gli altipiani della Beauce in Francia e dell’Alta Murgia in Italia), entrambi caratterizzati da un’importante produzione agricola, prevalentemente cerealicola, ed energetica, da fonte eolica, solare o da biomassa. L’analisi comparativa dei due casi studio pone le basi per l’elaborazione di un approccio trasversale delle politiche energetiche e paesaggistiche alla scala regionale e locale per questi territori a vocazione intensamente produttiva. Alla luce dei risultati della fase analitica, la seconda parte dell’articolo elabora una nuova prospettiva di ricerca: lavorare alla costruzione di un “approccio integrato” delle politiche energetiche e paesaggistiche, volto a superare la semplice applicazione di strategie di “integrazione paesaggistica” o la nozione di “misura di compensazione”. Tale approccio propone l’elaborazione di una serie di criteri definiti di “accettazione paesaggistica” atti a orientare la progettazione e la gestione dei sistemi di produzione di energia da fonte rinnovabile alla grande scala. L’obiettivo è prendere in conto, in maniera sinergica e olistica, le complementari dimensioni socio-economiche, estetiche ed ecologiche che concorrono alla costruzione e configurazione dei paesaggi interessati da tali processi di trasformazione alla grande scala

Incorporating metabolic thinking into regional planning: the case of the Sierra Calderona strategic plan

The metabolic study of the southeastern part of the Calderona Mountain Range (Sierra Calderona) was developed over an area of 200 square kilometers. Due to its location on the outskirt of the Metropolitan Area of Valencia (Spain), the Calderona Mountain Range presents most of the metabolic challenges and potentials that characterize peri-urban areas. The main goal of the study was to increase the sustainability levels of the region by optimizing the flows of materials and energy, as well as flows related to the transport of people within and in/outside the region. The following article includes a methodological introduction to regional and urban metabolic studies. Secondly, it presents the specific application of those principles in the Sierra Calderona case and the qualitative and quantitative results of the assessed regional flows. Moreover, the use of Metabolic Functional Areas (FMAs) is proposed to better integrate metabolic studies with land-use and spatial planning. In its second section, the article also presents the potential for shifting toward an optimized metabolism of the studied area, as well as a set of strategies and actions for their achievement. Finally, in the conclusions, we present a critical reflection on the methods, data, exportability and scalability of the results produced in the Sierra Calderona Case. Due to its regional character, the metabolic performance of the Sierra Calderona is connected to a wide range of land uses, productive functions and stakeholders. That is the reason why the formulated strategies and actions are deeply interlinked with different sectors and why they were supported by the results of an open participatory process. However, and in spite of its regional scope, the urban systems of the Sierra Calderona proved to be an essential lever for improving the regional and local sustainability, due to their varied morphological structures, distinctive ways of functioning, and different types of interaction with the surroundings