Editorial—On the role of the humanities in urban ecology: The case of St. Petersburg

Urban ecology is increasingly interdisciplinary, with biophysical and social scientists joining forces to study how human and built environments and processes interact with non-human nature. Humanistic disciplines that study high culture and intellectual currents also bear upon urban ecology, since cities are not simply aggregates of human and non-human factors but seats of civilization and loci of concentrated creative energy. The Russian city of St. Petersburg, which Dostoevsky called the most abstract and intentional city in the world, offers an example of the way individual acts of intellectual and artistic creation affect the energy balance of a city and its interaction with ecological forces. Such concentrated creative energy may be a key to making cities sustainable, and it should not remain outside the calculus of urban ecology.     

After the fall: a conflict management program to foster open society

A conflict management program developed to support the transition from a closed to open society in postcommunist eastern and central Europe focuses on the future leaders of this region: adolescents.     

Processes of adjustment in organized out-of-school activities: opportunities and risks

Participation in organized out-of-school activities leads to long-term psychosocial and educational benefits for young people. Now we're learning which features of these activities best support individual children.     

Simulation for the complex Bingham distribution

The complex Bingham distribution is relevant for the shape analysis of landmark data in two dimensions. In this paper it is shown that the problem of simulating from this distribution reduces to simulation from a truncated multivariate exponential distribution. Several simulation methods are described and their efficiencies are compared.     

Can the birth quantity be known one year earlier?]

In order to carry out the population control policy, efforts are needed to control pregancies and births. Studies show that 3 types of people may deliver babies next year: 1) those who are married at the end of the current year but have not become pregnant, 2) those who have 1 child at the present time and plan to have an additional child for special reasons, and 3) those who may get married during the 1st season of the coming year. Persons from the 1st 2 categories are easy to calculate or estimate. Persons from the 3rd category represent the core in predicting the birthrate for the coming year. Marriage ages and the distribution of dates for marriage are the 2 major sources of information for estimating the total number of persons who belong to the 3rd category. In the 1st step, we need to figure the ratio between the number of marriages in the 1st season and the total marriages for the whole year. Based upon available data for the past 3 years, a formula can be used to calculate this ratio. The marriage numbers for the 1st season of 1982 multiplied by the above percentage will be the possible number of marriages for 1982. Then, the possible number of births can be calculated by taking the birth ratio multiplied by possible marriages for 1982. Using the same method, the possible birth numbers for 1983 can be calculated. The above information shows that the total predicted births for 1983 includes 3 elements: 1) the number of those who aare married but not pregant and plan to give birth in 1983, 2) the number of those who received special permission to have a 2nd child in 1983, and 3) the number of those who may get married in 1982 and 1983 and who may give birth in 1983.     

Nonverbal cues employed in discriminating between disabled persons and actors

Undergraduate subjects were seen to accurately discriminate between simulating actors and genuinely disabled males confined to wheelchairs. Judgments were based on skill in manipulating the wheelchair, poorer muscular development of the disabled, and on appearance of clothing. Implications for research on the disabled employing actors was discussed.This study was supported by a grant from the York University Faculty of Arts awarded to the first two authors. The project was performed as the third author's Honours thesis. The authors wish to thank all participants for their cooperation and assistance in making this research possible. The authors also wish to thank Gail Kenyon, Coordinator of the Centre for Handicapped Students who helped recruit participants for the videotaping and to Lucie Cantrell, Executive Officer of the York University Counselling and Development Centre who arranged for the use of the Centre's facilities and equipment.