Studying the potential of urban professional communities in the field of engineering-technological education of schoolchildren

Introduction. Achieving the strategic goals of scientific-technological development, corresponding to the modern technological mode, is impossible without increasing the competitiveness of the education system, which is ensured by new continuous professional education models for school teachers of an engineering-technological profile, among which urban educational formats are increasingly used, as well as communities of experts, formed around groups of masters and relying on co-creation, transfer of experience and technology. The research purpose is to assess the potential of urban professional communities and the conditions for the formation of an informal pedagogical education ecosystem in the field of engineering-technological education of schoolchildren. Materials and methods. To study the structure of professional contacts of the urban network of teachers engaged in engineering-technological education of schoolchildren, the sample was constructed using the "snowball" method. The content analysis of a semi-structured interview was used to identify professional roles and professional contacts, to assess the density of networks using the method of network analysis of an educational organization according to K. Ushakov. Results. On the basis of a semi-structured interview with working teachers engaged in engineering-technology education, the links between the accepted roles (teacher, mentor, expert) and the network density were revealed, a great potential for the network development was revealed (84% of new links can still be formed, 53% of participants are ready to master new roles). The leading roles of leaders, “network nodes”, are “an expert” and “a mentor”. The authors highlight the characteristics of urban forms of interaction between teachers that enhance the social capital of a territory: co-existence format, heterogeneity of participants, reliance on experience and taking into account the ambitions to accept roles, distributed leadership, support of professional reflection, joint design of events. Practical significance. The presented method for assessing the social capital of a territory on the example of an informal education network of teachers engaged in engineering-technological education can be used in the management of local educational ecosystems.

Analysis on the Status Quo and Construction Problems of Domestic Urban Civil Air Defense Engineering System in China

As the urbanization process in developing countries continues to accelerate, although my country has achieved significant results in planning and construction, there are still many problems. For example, the rate of urban green space decreases with the continuous increase of urban buildings. Therefore, the domestic urban underground civil air defence Engineering construction is in a very important position at this stage, and our development goals must be shifted from above ground to underground. This article analyzes the general situation of the domestic civil air defence engineering system, expounds on the current situation and existing problems of my country's urban civil air defence engineering system, which has an important influence on the development of my country's cities. Functional departments must take into account the various functions of civil air defence projects and put people's safety first. At the same time, firefighters should also improve their professionalism, leadership and organizational skills, and evacuate people when encountering danger and arrange for them to take refuge in designated locations. The technicians in the relevant departments in the city need to use scientific and technological means to mix the urban network system in series and parallel so that the various structures of the urban network system are unified and interact with each other. When a disaster strikes, it can protect the safety of the people and reduce the economic loss of the city. Reduce to the lowest level to maximize benefits.

Has the Digital Economy Changed the Urban Network Structure in China?—Based on the Analysis of China’s Top 500 New Economy Enterprises in 2020

The rapid development of the new generation of information technology makes digital enterprises and the digital economy important forces in promoting the sustainable growth of the world economy. Under the influence of the digital economy, the original urban network may undergo drastic changes. There have been studies that have arrived at conflicting conclusions. This paper primarily illustrates whether or not the digital economy has changed the urban network structure. China's digital economy is developing rapidly, becoming a new engine for the high-quality development of the Chinese economy. Therefore, this paper demonstrates the impact of China's digital economy on the urban network structure by using data from China's Top 500 New Economy Enterprises in 2020 and the headquarter–subsidiary ownership method. The results show that 1) China's urban network has changed significantly. Compared with APS enterprises and listed companies, the urban network of the digital economy has become more polarized, and Beijing has become the absolute control center. 2) Chinese cities have been reshuffled in the era of the digital economy. Beijing, Hangzhou, and Chengdu, with their industrial foundations in the digital economy, have performed better within the network. Simultaneously, some heavily industrialized cities, such as Wuhan, Shenyang, and Chongqing, have been declining due to the difficulties associated with transformation. 3) Although the digital economy has reshaped China's urban network structure to a certain extent, the original urban pattern still plays a dominant role in the new system. The network spatial pattern of dense east and sparse west still exists, and provincial capitals and subprovincial cities still play a more significant role in the network than ordinary cities. 4) Network diffusion is typically a hierarchical diffusion between core nodes. Geographical proximity has a low constraint on network diffusion, and subsidiaries expand outward through hierarchical diffusion.

The impact of climate suitability, urbanisation, and connectivity on the expansion of dengue in 21st century Brazil

Dengue is hyperendemic in Brazil, with outbreaks affecting all regions. Previous studies identified geographical barriers to dengue transmission in Brazil, beyond which certain areas, such as South Brazil and the Amazon rainforest, were relatively protected from outbreaks. Recent data shows these barriers are being eroded. In this study, we explore the drivers of this expansion and identify the current limits to the dengue transmission zone. We used a spatio-temporal additive model to explore the associations between dengue outbreaks and temperature suitability, urbanisation, and connectivity to the Brazilian urban network. The model was applied to a binary outbreak indicator, assuming the official threshold value of 300 cases per 100,000 residents, for Brazil’s municipalities between 2001 and 2020. We found a nonlinear relationship between higher levels of connectivity to the Brazilian urban network and the odds of an outbreak, with lower odds in metropoles compared to regional capitals. The number of months per year with suitable temperature conditions for Aedes mosquitoes was positively associated with the dengue outbreak occurrence. Temperature suitability explained most interannual and spatial variation in South Brazil, confirming this geographical barrier is influenced by lower seasonal temperatures. Municipalities that had experienced an outbreak previously had double the odds of subsequent outbreaks. We identified geographical barriers to dengue transmission in South Brazil, western Amazon, and along the northern coast of Brazil. Although a southern barrier still exists, it has shifted south, and the Amazon no longer has a clear boundary. Few areas of Brazil remain protected from dengue outbreaks. Communities living on the edge of previous barriers are particularly susceptible to future outbreaks as they lack immunity. Control strategies should target regions at risk of future outbreaks as well as those currently within the dengue transmission zone.

Resilience of Urban Network Structure in China: The Perspective of Disruption

In light of the long-term pressure and short-term impact of economic and technological globalization, regional and urban resilience has become an important issue in research. As a new organizational form of regional urban systems, the resilience of urban networks generated by flow space has emerged as a popular subject of research. By gathering 2017 data from the Baidu search index, the Tencent location service, and social statistics, this study constructs information, transportation, and economic networks among 344 cities in China to analyze the spatial patterns of urban networks and explore their structural characteristics from the perspectives of hierarchy and assortativity. Transmissibility and diversity were used to represent the resilience of the network structure in interruption scenarios (node failure and maximum load attack). The results show the following: The information, transportation, and economic networks of cities at the prefecture level and higher in China exhibit a dense pattern of spatial distribution in the east and a sparse pattern in the west; however, there are significant differences in terms of hierarchy and assortativity. The order of resilience of network transmissibility and diversity from strong to weak was information, economic, transportation. Transmissibility and diversity had nearly identical scores in response to the interruption of urban nodes. Moreover, a highly heterogeneous network was more likely to cause shocks to the network structure, owing to its cross-regional urban links in case of disturbance. We identified 12 dominant nodes and 93 vulnerable nodes that can help accurately determine the impetus behind network structure resilience. The capacity of regions for resistance and recovery can be improved by strengthening the construction of emergency systems and risk prevention mechanisms.

Analysis of current characteristics of transformer bias caused by subway stray current based on measured data

The metro stray current, as the driving source which causes the magnetic bias of the urban network transformer, has the characteristics of rapid change, complex propagation path, and many influencing factors.It’s unknown where the stray current leaks from, and its specific value cannot be obtained through measurement methods.Therefore, this paper studies the characteristics of transformer neutral magnetic current bias based on the measured data and fault recording data in the process of measurement, and analyzes the influence of stray current on transformer in urban network.

From ‘Orthogonal’ Sprawl to ‘Curvilinear’ Dense: Assessing Accessibility Indices for Urban Networks of Social Housing in UAE

The shift towards designing more dense urban social housing neighbourhoods has started with the embracing of urban sustainability principles by the UAE government since the beginning of the 21st century. The assessment of the recent neighbourhoods designs still lacks concrete evidence about their expected performance especially for pedestrian mobility networks. This concern is gaining further significance with the noticeable tendency of most of the recent urban designs towards developing organic and curvilinear networks instead of the conventional orthogonal grids of the mobility networks that distinguished the traditionally designed neighbourhoods in the country. To bridge this gap, the research comparatively and quantitively analysed the accessibility performance indicators of both of the traditional and the modern urban network designs. The research adopted the Case Study method with quantitative investigation tools that are fundamental to Urban Network Analysis, especially in relation to Accessibility. The simulation of the urban networks of two selected urban social housing neighbourhood forms, representing the networks of both the traditional urban orthogonal sprawl and the recent curvilinear dense one, were utilized employing the UNA toolbox. Three complementary Accessibility Indices were analysed including: Reach, Gravity and Straightness. Through this analysis, the aspects that affected the accessibility performance of the two urban form paradigms and the problems that have been associated with the designs of the urban networks of the new social housing projects, have been revealed. It became evident that the denser urban form was not sufficient in enabling more accessible facilities in the recent neighbourhoods designs. The orthogonal grid, even with its very low Floor Area Ratio showed better performance of in the three accessibility indices especially the Straightness index, if compared with the much denser curvilinear grid with it ‘naturally longer’ pattern. The inefficient number and the inappropriate distribution locally provided facilities in relation to the pedestrian mobility networks have contributed to these disappointing results. So, it is essential to include this and/or similar urban network quantitative simulation tools to help develop genuinely sustainable urban forms for this significant type of urban development in the UAE cities.