Governance of Ice-Covered Areas: Rule Construction in the Arctic Ocean

This article recounts the negotiations and emergence of Article 234 concerning ice-covered areas in the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. As Arctic shipping increases, more vessels and flag states may be subject to the provisions of Article 234, which permit coastal states to both prescribe and enforce special measures to protect the marine environment in ice-covered areas. The history of the Article 234, disclosed partially through declassified U.S. government documents, provides context for implementation of the provision by Arctic coastal states and flag states.     

城市野境： 城市区域中野性自然的保护与营造

城市野境是城市内部或周边区域中自然过程占主导的土地,其中人类开发和控制程度相对较低,允许在一定程度上发生自然演替和生态过程,各类野生生物能够与人类繁荣共存。城市野境在重新连接人与自然、促进人类身心健康、保护生物多样性、维持生态系统服务方面具有重要和独特的价值。基于文献综述与案例研究,提出并阐释了保护与营造城市野境的 4 种途径,包括保护、修复、设计与融合,即在城市保护地中保护野性自然、再野化部分城市区域、在城市公园中营造类荒野景观以及在城市空间中系统性融入野性自然。建议在中国城市规划与城市设计中,融入野性自然保护与修复的理念,进一步探索城市野境保护与营造的理论与方法。     

A Contribution to the Comparative Epidemiology of Schizophrenia in Urban and Rural Places

In psychiatry, epidemiology rests upon statistical studies of mental illness in the population. Much attention was given to this as early as the work of Esquirol, (1) and I. F. Riul' (2) in our country. Zemstvo psychiatrists contributed much in the field of psychiatric morbidity. (3-8) However, as a result of the lack of outpatient psychoneurological institutions in prerevolutionary Russia, these studies, like the majority of those currently being conducted by psychiatrists abroad, resolved fundamentally to isolated unidimensional selective surveys of particular groups in the population. The existence in the Soviet Union of a broad network of outpatient psychiatric institutions permits Soviet psychiatrists to go beyond single-factor selective surveys, to make a systematic study of mental illness in accordance with the data of current dispensary records, and to provide timely therapeutic and social prophylactic assistance to the ill, i.e., to conduct epidemiological research on a higher level of scientific methodology. A number of such studies has been published. (8-23) Therefore the statement by Lin and Standley, (24) who allege — in a monograph, The Role of Epidemiology in Psychiatry, published by the World Health Organization — the absence of epidemiological psychiatric studies in the Soviet Union, must be rejected as unfounded.     

Two Sides of the City: Dog-keeping Practices in Russian Urban Areas

This article examines dog–owner relations and dog ownership in Omsk, Russia. We describe typical dog-keeping practices and reveal how diverse urban environments can influence these practices. A two-stage survey was conducted in 2014 to determine the numbers and management of dogs owned. In total, some 1,583 households at the first stage of the research and 323 households at the second stage were interviewed face-to-face. About 23% of all households in Omsk owned dogs, but this proportion varied markedly for different parts of the city. In the city's single-story area, 71.5% of households had dogs, while in the multi-story area this was only 10.8%. Dog-keeping practices were different in these areas. Significant differences in these practices were shown for almost all aspects: the selection criteria, dog feeding, veterinary treatment, dog walking, the roles of dogs, and owners’ attitudes toward them. Owners living in the single-story area demonstrated a utilitarian or functional approach to their dogs—influencing the sex, size, and the breed of the animal. Dogs often lived outside the house; they were vaccinated and taken to the veterinarian less often than dogs from the multi-story area. The owners in the multi-story area described more affectionate feelings toward their dogs. This is reflected in both the choice and treatment of the animals. We observed a larger proportion of pedigree dogs, a larger proportion of female animals, more vaccinations, and the owners making a variety of purchases for their dogs.     

增进城市地区生物多样性——以新加坡模式为例

自 1963 年以来,新加坡开展实施了绿化计划,并经历了从“花园城市”到“花园中的亲生态城市”的演变。为了在新加坡实现生物多样性保护,国家公园局制定了自然保护蓝图,重点介绍该规划实施的关键是利用技术创新。新加坡城市生物多样性指数是一种评价生物多样性成效的自我评估工具,已在全球范围内的多个城市得到应用。     

Struggle of the Poor: Neighborhood Organization and Clientelist Practice in a Quito Squatter Settlement

Struggle of the Poor: Neighborhood Organization and Clientelist Practice in. Quito Squatter Settlement. Gerrit Burgwal. Amsterdam: CEDLA, 1995. 260 pp.     

Public Parks and Wellbeing in Urban Areas of the United States

Sustainable development efforts in urban areas often focus on understanding and managing factors that influence all aspects of health and wellbeing. Research has shown that public parks and green space provide a variety of physical, psychological, and social benefits to urban residents, but few studies have examined the influence of parks on comprehensive measures of subjective wellbeing at the city level. Using 2014 data from 44 U.S. cities, we evaluated the relationship between urban park quantity, quality, and accessibility and aggregate self-reported scores on the Gallup-Healthways Wellbeing Index (WBI), which considers five different domains of wellbeing (e.g., physical, community, social, financial, and purpose). In addition to park-related variables, our best-fitting OLS regression models selected using an information theory approach controlled for a variety of other typical geographic and socio-demographic correlates of wellbeing. Park quantity (measured as the percentage of city area covered by public parks) was among the strongest predictors of overall wellbeing, and the strength of this relationship appeared to be driven by parks’ contributions to physical and community wellbeing. Park quality (measured as per capita spending on parks) and accessibility (measured as the overall percentage of a city’s population within ½ mile of parks) were also positively associated with wellbeing, though these relationships were not significant. Results suggest that expansive park networks are linked to multiple aspects of health and wellbeing in cities and positively impact urban quality of life.     

The Politics of Governance and Urban Marginality: A Camp Studies Perspective

ABSTRACT

Designed to provide temporary shelter to the displaced, in protracted refugee situations camps become places of long-term residency and undergo processes of urban change. The complex realities of protracted encampment challenge the dichotomy between the city (as a norm) and the camp (as an exception) that underpins dominant theoretical models of refugee camps. Instead, the theoretical lens of urban margins allows us to circumvent this binary and analyse the camps from the perspective of their relation to the city and the state. Rather than a specific location, this article approaches urban marginality as a condition produced by unequal power relations behind the enforcement of a particular urban order. Based on two years of ethnographic fieldwork, it draws on the case of Palestinian refugee camps in the West Bank. Unlike the majority of studies on Palestinian camps that focus either on top-down politics of exclusion or political agency of camp residents, the article examines how different actors, interests and modes of exercising power (both formal and informal) intersect in camp space and produce, as well as resist and subvert, the condition of urban marginality.     

Predictability of Road Traffic and Congestion in Urban Areas

Mitigating traffic congestion on urban roads, with paramount importance in urban development and reduction of energy consumption and air pollution, depends on our ability to foresee road usage and traffic conditions pertaining to the collective behavior of drivers, raising a significant question: to what degree is road traffic predictable in urban areas? Here we rely on the precise records of daily vehicle mobility based on GPS positioning device installed in taxis to uncover the potential daily predictability of urban traffic patterns. Using the mapping from the degree of congestion on roads into a time series of symbols and measuring its entropy, we find a relatively high daily predictability of traffic conditions despite the absence of any priori knowledge of drivers'' origins and destinations and quite different travel patterns between weekdays and weekends. Moreover, we find a counterintuitive dependence of the predictability on travel speed: the road segment associated with intermediate average travel speed is most difficult to be predicted. We also explore the possibility of recovering the traffic condition of an inaccessible segment from its adjacent segments with respect to limited observability. The highly predictable traffic patterns in spite of the heterogeneity of drivers'' behaviors and the variability of their origins and destinations enables development of accurate predictive models for eventually devising practical strategies to mitigate urban road congestion.     

Brucellosis Risk in Urban and Agro-pastoral Areas in Tanzania

Epidemiology of human and animal brucellosis may depend on ecological conditions. A cross-sectional study was conducted to compare prevalence and risk factors of bovine brucellosis, and risky behaviours for the human infection between urban and agro-pastoral areas in Morogoro region, Tanzania. Cattle blood sampling and interviews using a structured questionnaire were conducted with farmers. Rose-Bengal test was conducted for the cattle sera, and positive samples were confirmed with competitive ELISA. Farm-level sero-prevalences were 0.9% (1/106, 95% CI 0.0–5.9%) and 52.9% (9/17, 95% CI 28.5–76.1%) in urban and agro-pastoral areas, respectively. The animal-level-adjusted prevalences were 0.2% (1/667, 95% CI 0.0–1.1%) and 7.0% (28/673, 95% CI 5.7–8.4%) in those areas. The final farm-level model including both areas found two risk factors: history of abortion in the herd (P < 0.01) and cattle grazing (P = 0.07). The animal-level risk factors in agro-pastoral areas were age (P = 0.04) and history of abortion (P = 0.03). No agro-pastoral farmer knew about Brucella vaccine. Agro-pastoralists generally had poorer knowledge on brucellosis and practiced significantly more risky behaviours for human brucellosis such as drinking raw milk (17.6%, P < 0.01) and blood (35.3%, P < 0.01), and helping cattle birth (100%, P = 0.04) than urban farmers (0, 0 and 79.2%, respectively). Intervention programs through education including both human and animal health particularly targeting agro-pastoralists would be needed.     

Beyond ‘Riot Porn’: Protest Video and the Production of Unruly Subjects

From the globalization protests of the previous decade to the more recent Occupy Movement, activists have embraced the use of digital video. Many appropriations of the technology, including those by human rights advocates, rest on the theory that ‘seeing is believing’ and understand video to be uniquely suited to forms of truth telling such as witnessing, documenting and reporting. While I encountered such realist uses of video during fieldwork with direct action movements in the former Yugoslavia, activists are also preoccupied with videos depicting the most physical confrontations with the police, videos they sometimes referred to as ‘riot porn’. They engage these videos for the sensory, affective and bodily experiences they facilitate. Indeed, activist practices around and claims for video indicate that they understand video as a technology of the self, using it to forge emotional relationships with activists elsewhere, steel themselves for physical confrontation and cultivate new political desires.     

Persistence of Bacillus thuringiensis subsp. kurstaki in Urban Environments following Spraying

Bacillus thuringiensis subsp. kurstaki is applied extensively in North America to control the gypsy moth, Lymantria dispar. Since B. thuringiensis subsp. kurstaki shares many physical and biological properties with Bacillus anthracis, it is a reasonable surrogate for biodefense studies. A key question in biodefense is how long a biothreat agent will persist in the environment. There is some information in the literature on the persistence of Bacillus anthracis in laboratories and historical testing areas and for Bacillus thuringiensis in agricultural settings, but there is no information on the persistence of Bacillus spp. in the type of environment that would be encountered in a city or on a military installation. Since it is not feasible to release B. anthracis in a developed area, the controlled release of B. thuringiensis subsp. kurstaki for pest control was used to gain insight into the potential persistence of Bacillus spp. in outdoor urban environments. Persistence was evaluated in two locations: Fairfax County, VA, and Seattle, WA. Environmental samples were collected from multiple matrices and evaluated for the presence of viable B. thuringiensis subsp. kurstaki at times ranging from less than 1 day to 4 years after spraying. Real-time PCR and culture were used for analysis. B. thuringiensis subsp. kurstaki was found to persist in urban environments for at least 4 years. It was most frequently detected in soils and less frequently detected in wipes, grass, foliage, and water. The collective results indicate that certain species of Bacillus may persist for years following their dispersal in urban environments.     

An Approach to the Development of Field Studies in Urban Areas

Integrated Science—The Wreake Valley Project D. TINBERGEN and P. THORBURN (Eds) Book 1, 120 pp., illustrated. £1.50. Book 2, 104 pp., illustrated. £1.75. Book 3, 136 pp., illustrated. £2.25. London: Edward Arnold, 1976. Reviewed by John May

Stirling Educational Monographs No. 1. Attitude Goals in Secondary School Science S. BROWN 77 pp. University of Stirling. 1976. £1.75. Reviewed by Clive Carré and Henry Crowther

No. 2. Innovations in Integrated Science in Scottish Secondary Schools S. BROWN, D. McINTYRE, E. DREVER and J. KERI DAVIES 89 pp. University of Stirling, 1976. £1.00. Reviewed by Tessa Carrick

Outline Studies in Biology 64 pp. each, illustrated. London: Chapman and Hall, 1976. £1.30 each. Biological Energy Conservation C. W. JONES Control of Enzyme Activity P. COHEN Metabolic Regulation R. M. DENTON and C. I. POGSON Reviewed by John H. Duffus

Population Genetics L. M. COOK Reviewed by T. J. Crawford

Cytogenetics of Man and other Animals A. McDERMOTT Reviewed by J. A. Beardmore

RNA Biosynthesis R. H. BURDON Protein Biosynthesis A. E. SMITH Reviewed by C. M. Bray

Basic Biology Course Books 3, 5, 8, and 9 London: Cambridge University Press, 1976.

Book 3 Dynamic Aspects of Cells M. A. TRIBE, I. TALLAN, M. R. ERAUT and R. K. SNOOK 119 pp., illustrated. £6.20 boards, £2.90 paper.

Book 5 Cell Membranes M. A. TRIBE, M. R. ERAUT and R. K. SNOOK 79 pp., illustrated. £5.00 boards, £2.50 paper. Super 8 mm film loop (Phagocytosis) £8.00.

Book 8 Metabolism and Mitochondria M. A. TRIBE, M. R. ERAUT and R. K. SNOOK 142 pp., illustrated. £8.00 boards, £3.50 paper. Filmstrip £3.50; cassette £3.80.

Book 9 Protein Synthesis M. A. TRIBE, I. TALLAN, M. R. ERAUT and R. K. SNOOK 103 pp., illustrated. £6.00 boards, £2.75 paper. Reviewed by Colin Stoneman

Population Cytogenetics Studies in Biology, No. 70 B.JOHN 76 pp., illustrated. London: Edward Arnold, 1976. £3.00 boards, £1.50 paper. Reviewed by J. A. Beardmore

Biology Colour Units Helpful and Harmful Organisms M. Sanderson Urban Ecology D. Gilman Co-ordination C. Morgan Movement D. Gray Each 24 pp, illustrated. London: Macdonald Educational, 1977. 75p each. Reviewed by John May

The Natural World : The Mitchell Beazley Joy of Knowledge Library J. MITCHELL (Ed.) 272 pp., illustrated. London: Mitchell Beazley, 1977. £12.50. Reviewed by P. J. Kelly

Human and Social Biology G. USHER 256 pp., illustrated. Plymouth, Devon: Macdonald and Evans, 1977. £1.95. Reviewed by A. Cornwell

Safeguards in the School Laboratory 28 pp., Hatfield, Herts: Association for Science Education, 1976. 35p. Reviewed by Tessa Carrick

A First Science Dictionary D. J. LUCAS, H. I. JAMES, and O. J. SIMPSON 208 pp. London: Edward Arnold, 1976. £1.95. Reviewed by John Feltwell

Introduction to Genetics Third Edition D. G. MACKEAN 42 pp., illustrated. London: John Murray, 1977. £1.40. Reviewed by Tessa Carrick

The Wash water storage feasibility study: a report on the ecological studies 36 pp., illustrated. London: Natural Environment Research Council. Publication series C No. 15, 1976. Free. Reviewed by John A. Barker

Higher Education Film Library Catalogue BRITISH UNIVERSITIES FILM COUNCIL London: BUFC, 1977. £1.00. Reviewed by John A. Barker

Biology: Principles and Issues WILLIAM C. SCHEFLER 370pp., illustrated. London: Addison-Wesley, 1976. £9.10. Reviewed by H. W. Grenville

Guide to Living Mammals J. E. WEBB, J. A. WALLWORK, and J. H. ELGOOD 152 pp., illustrated. London: Macmillan, 1977. £2.95. Reviewed by H. V. Wyatt

Applied Medical Microbiology J. G. COLLEE 121 pp., illustrated. Oxford: Blackwell Scientific, 1976. £2.80. Reviewed by G. E. Mathison

General Microbiology Fourth edition R. Y. STANIER, E. A. ADELBERG and J. L. INGRAHAM 871pp., illustrated. London: Macmillan, 1977. £15.00 boards, £7.95 paper. Reviewed by C. G. Gayford

Fundamentals of Mycology Second edition J. H. BURNETT 673 pp., illustrated. London: Edward Arnold, 1976. £27.50. Reviewed by B. W. Bainbridge

Metals and Metabolism D. A. PHIPPS 134 pp., London: Oxford University Press (Clarendon), 1976. £5.00 boards, £2.50 paper. Reviewed by C. M. Bray

Biochemical Systems Analysis M. A. SAVAGEAU 379 pp., illustrated. London: Addison-Wesley, 1976. £21.20 boards, £13.20 paper. Reviewed by J. H. Parish

The Biochemistry of the Tissues Second edition P. BANKS, W. BARTLEY, and L. M. BIRT 493 pp. Chichester, Sussex: John Wiley, 1976. £14.50 boards, £6.25 paper. Reviewed by John Feltwell

Genetics and Adaptation Studies in Biology, No. 69 E. B. FORD 58 pp., illustrated. London: Edward Arnold, 1976. £2.60 boards, £1.30 paper. Reviewed by R. A. E. Tilney-Bassett

The Comparative Endocrinology of the Invertebrates Second edition K. C. HIGHNAM and L. HILL 357 pp., illustrated. London: Edward Arnold, 1977. £16.00 boards, £8.50 paper. Reviewed by K. Simkiss

Muscles and Movement K. M. BACKHOUSE 48 pp., illustrated. London: Hart Davis, 1976. £1.75. Reviewed by Jackie Hardie

Herbicides: Physiology, Biochemistry, Ecology, Vol. 2 Second edition L. J. AUDUS (Ed.) 564 pp., illustrated. London: Academic Press, 1976. £17.50. Reviewed by Donald S. H. Drennan

Introduction to Ecology R. DAJOZ Translated by A. SOUTH 416 pp., Sevenoaks, Kent : Hodder and Stoughton, 1977. £7.50 boards, £4.45 paper. Reviewed by D. M. Keith-Lucas

Human Sex and Sexuality E. B. STEEN and J. H. PRICE 338 pp., illustrated. Chichester, Sussex: John Wiley, 1977. £7.00. Reviewed by Donald Reid

Rabies : The Facts C. KAPLAN (Ed.) 116 pp., illustrated. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1977. £1.95 (Also published in paperback by Corgi Books, London. 75p.) Reviewed by W. C. Noble

Introduction to Environmental Remote Sensing E. C. BARRETT and L. F. CURTIS 336 pp., illustrated. London: Chapman and Hall, 1976. £11.00 boards, £5.95 paper. Reviewed by Monical M. Cole

Light and Life L. O. BJÖRN 249 pp., illustrated. London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1976. £3.45 boards, £1.75 paper. Reviewed by John Feltwell     

Creating Larger and Better Connected Protected Areas Enhances the Persistence of Big Game Species in the Maputaland-Pondoland-Albany Biodiversity Hotspot

The ideal conservation planning approach would enable decision-makers to use population viability analysis to assess the effects of management strategies and threats on all species at the landscape level. However, the lack of high-quality data derived from long-term studies, and uncertainty in model parameters and/or structure, often limit the use of population models to only a few species of conservation concern. We used spatially explicit metapopulation models in conjunction with multi-criteria decision analysis to assess how species-specific threats and management interventions would affect the persistence of African wild dog, black rhino, cheetah, elephant, leopard and lion, under six reserve scenarios, thereby providing the basis for deciding on a best course of conservation action in the South African province of KwaZulu-Natal, which forms the central component of the Maputaland-Pondoland-Albany biodiversity hotspot. Overall, the results suggest that current strategies of managing populations within individual, small, fenced reserves are unlikely to enhance metapopulation persistence should catastrophic events affect populations in the future. Creating larger and better-connected protected areas would ensure that threats can be better mitigated in the future for both African wild dog and leopard, which can disperse naturally, and black rhino, cheetah, elephant, and lion, which are constrained by electric fences but can be managed using translocation. The importance of both size and connectivity should inform endangered megafauna conservation and management, especially in the context of restoration efforts in increasingly human-dominated landscapes.     

Epidemiology of HIV Infection in Large Urban Areas in the United States

Background

While the U.S. HIV epidemic continues to be primarily concentrated in urban area, local epidemiologic profiles may differ and require different approaches in prevention and treatment efforts. We describe the epidemiology of HIV in large urban areas with the highest HIV burden.

Methods/Principal Findings

We used data from national HIV surveillance for 12 metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) to determine disparities in HIV diagnoses and prevalence and changes over time. Overall, 0.3% to 1% of the MSA populations were living with HIV at the end of 2007. In each MSA, prevalence was >1% among blacks; prevalence was >2% in Miami, New York, and Baltimore. Among Hispanics, prevalence was >1% in New York and Philadelphia. The relative percentage differences in 2007 HIV diagnosis rates, compared to whites, ranged from 239 (San Francisco) to 1239 (Baltimore) for blacks and from 15 (Miami) to 413 (Philadelphia) for Hispanics. The epidemic remains concentrated, with more than 50% of HIV diagnoses in 2007 attributed to male-to-male sexual contact in 7 of the 12 MSAs; heterosexual transmission surpassed or equaled male-to-male sexual transmission in Baltimore, Philadelphia, and Washington, DC. Yet in several MSAs, including Baltimore and Washington, DC, AIDS diagnoses increased among men-who-have sex with men in recent years.

Conclusions/Significance

These data are useful to identify local drivers of the epidemic and to tailor public health efforts for treatment and prevention services for people living with HIV.     

Conservation Concerns for Butterflies in Urban Areas of Australia

The threats of rapid urbanisation to Australian butterflies are discussed, and examples given of the taxa of conservation concern and measures for their management. Compounding threats, such as intensive recreational activity in coastal regions, are also important consequences of urbanisation. Maintenance of threatened specialist species and more generalist widespread species may demand rather different approaches for practical conservation. Most species capable of persisting in urban areas depend on their adults adapting to modified habitats, and their immature stages utilising cultivated exotic or native food plants. Exotic weeds and inappropriate fire regimes are recognised as major threats to the survival of species in remnant bushland.