Terms like ‘big data’, ‘data science’, and ‘data visualisation’ have become buzzwords in recent years and are increasingly intertwined with journalism. Data visualisation may further blur the lines between science communication and graphic design. Our study is situated in these overlaps to compare the design of data visualisations in science news stories across four online news media platforms in South Africa and the United States. Our study contributes to an understanding of how well-considered data visualisations are tools for effective storytelling, and offers practical recommendations for using data visualisation in science communication efforts.
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This article reports on the application of a visual method in a small-scale comparative study. Practitioners in five European countries participated and took photographs of the places and spaces where offender supervision occurs. Source: Queen's University Belfast Research Portal.
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Although evictions are a significant cause of homelessness they have received relatively little interest from social scientists. International data are scarce and there are few descriptions of the processes leading to evictions. This paper attempts to shed some light on this under-researched issue. First, an attempt is made to develop a theoretical framework placing evictions in the intersection between civil and social citizenship, and the importance of distinguishing between the macro- and micro- levels in the analysis of evictions is underlined. Secondly, three specific countries are studied: Germany, the Netherlands and Sweden. The legal basis for evictions, eviction procedures, and the possibilities for avoiding homelessness arising from rent arrears are presented and compared.
The impacts of tourism on destinations and the perceptions of local communities have been a major concern both for the industry and research in the past decades. However, tourism planning has been mainly focused on traditions that promote the increase of tourism without taking under consideration the wellbeing of both residents and visitors. To develop a more sustainable tourism model, the inclusion of local residents in tourism decision-making is vital. However, this is not always possible due to structural, economic and socio-cultural restrictions that residents face resulting to their disempowerment. This study aims to explore and interpret the formal processes around tourism decision-making and community empowerment in urban settings. The research proposes a comparative study of three urban destinations in Europe (The Hague in the Netherlands, San Sebastian in Spain and, Ioannina in Greece) that experience similar degree of tourism growth. The proposed study will use a design-based approach in order to understand tourism decision-making and what empowers or disempowers community participation within the destinations. Based on the findings of primary and secondary data, a community empowerment model will be applied in one the destinations as a pilot for resident engagement in tourism planning. The evaluation of the pilot will allow for an optimized model to be created with implications for tourism planning at a local level that can contribute to sustainable destinations that safeguard the interests of local residents and tourists.
Human kind has a major impact on the state of life on Earth, mainly caused by habitat destruction, fragmentation and pollution related to agricultural land use and industrialization. Biodiversity is dominated by insects (~50%). Insects are vital for ecosystems through ecosystem engineering and controlling properties, such as soil formation and nutrient cycling, pollination, and in food webs as prey or controlling predator or parasite. Reducing insect diversity reduces resilience of ecosystems and increases risks of non-performance in soil fertility, pollination and pest suppression. Insects are under threat. Worldwide 41 % of insect species are in decline, 33% species threatened with extinction, and a co-occurring insect biomass loss of 2.5% per year. In Germany, insect biomass in natural areas surrounded by agriculture was reduced by 76% in 27 years. Nature inclusive agriculture and agri-environmental schemes aim to mitigate these kinds of effects. Protection measures need success indicators. Insects are excellent for biodiversity assessments, even with small landscape adaptations. Measuring insect biodiversity however is not easy. We aim to use new automated recognition techniques by machine learning with neural networks, to produce algorithms for fast and insightful insect diversity indexes. Biodiversity can be measured by indicative species (groups). We use three groups: 1) Carabid beetles (are top predators); 2) Moths (relation with host plants); 3) Flying insects (multiple functions in ecosystems, e.g. parasitism). The project wants to design user-friendly farmer/citizen science biodiversity measurements with machine learning, and use these in comparative research in 3 real life cases as proof of concept: 1) effects of agriculture on insects in hedgerows, 2) effects of different commercial crop production systems on insects, 3) effects of flower richness in crops and grassland on insects, all measured with natural reference situations
Aanleiding Klimaatverandering door overmatig gebruik van fossiele brandstoffen bedreigt onze planeet. Mondiaal zoekt men daarom naar alternatieven om de CO2-uitstoot te verlagen. Een aantal bedrijven heeft HAN BioCentre benaderd om hen te helpen een alternatieve olie te vinden als basis voor hun kleurstof-concentraten, verven en bitumineus materiaal. Vanwege de nadelen van plantaardige olie als grondstof, zijn de bedrijven specifiek geïnteresseerd in de mogelijkheden van microbiële olie (tweedegeneratie bio-olie). Doelstelling Hoofddoelstelling van het project is om te komen tot een duurzame en economisch rendabele productie van microbiële olie met een samenstelling die voldoet aan de eisen van de bedrijven. Hiervan afgeleid heeft het onderzoek 3 subdoelen: " het met gist ontsluiten van biomassa (afvalstromen, o.a. papierpulp) naar een tweedegeneratie bio-olie; " de samenstelling van de olie op maat maken door de gist genetisch aan te passen en de groeicondities te optimaliseren; " het verhogen van de olieopbrengst en isolatie-efficiëntie om het proces economisch rendabel te maken. Het onderzoek is georganiseerd in 6 werkpakketten (WP) waarbij ieder werkpakket eigen 'deliverables' en een specifieke expertise heeft. De werkpakketten starten gelijktijdig, ieder onder leiding van een domeinexpert. Daarbij bevat WP1 de in silico-activiteiten (bio-informatica en 'comparative genomics'), WP2 de moleculaire biologie (mutagenese en qPCR), WP3 de chemische analyse (GC en LC/MS) en WP5 de bioraffinage. De centrale werkpakketten zijn WP4, de productie van bio-olie met stam HBC025 (fermentatie van biomassa), en WP6, het testen van de gezuiverde olie in de praktijk. Beoogde resultaten 1) De ontwikkeling van een microbiële olie die men economisch rendabel en maatschappelijk verantwoord kan produceren en die in samenstelling aangepast kan worden aan verschillende producttoepassingen. 2) Het uitbreiden en verduurzamen van het bestaande netwerk rond gistenolie. Hiertoe wordt een consortium gevormd van onderwijsinstellingen, bedrijven en brancheorganisaties dat de hele keten van grondstof tot aan toepassing dekt, zowel op het gebied van kennis als op economische activiteit. Het project is geïntegreerd in het bestaande curriculum Biologie & Medisch, Chemie en Bio-Informatica. De HAN vernieuwt de chemieminor 'Discovery, analysis and production of bio-molecules' en ontwikkelt een minor bio-informatica en een onderwijsmodule voor professionals (i.s.m. consortiumpartners). Brancheorganisatie MVO rapporteert de voortgang van het onderzoek aan bedrijven die zich bezighouden met duurzame productie. Na afloop van het onderzoek zal de betrokken promovendus vakinhoudelijk onderwijs verzorgen. De communicatie- en disseminatieactiviteiten worden in het tweede projectjaar nader uitgewerkt.
