Preliminary discussions on the urbanization of rural areas in modern Iran

In this translation draft of the first part of the author's recently-published book in Japanese, entitled as "Rural-cities in Contemporary Iran: Revolution, War and the Structural Changes in the Rural Society," we are presenting the preliminary discussions on Iranian middle-sized cities and towns which emerged in these 30 years or so. We start from the explanations of the contents of the above-mentioned book and do the reviewing of the preceding studies, followed by the critical review of the studies on the Iranian revolution in 1979, and the studies on Iran's recent political trends and the tendencies towards the local governance, which was tempered and collapsed with the appearance of President Ahmadīnejād. This consists of the Introduction and the first parts of Chapter 1 of our book, and we are expecting to finish translating the whole contents and to publish it in the near future. We apologize for the shortcomings of this paper, for example some partial lack of correspondence of its bibliography with the main contents, mainly because of the technical reasons.

Abstract specialization and its application to program parallelization

Program specialization optimizes programs for known valúes of the input. It is often the case that the set of possible input valúes is unknown, or this set is infinite. However, a form of specialization can still be performed in such cases by means of abstract interpretation, specialization then being with respect to abstract valúes (substitutions), rather than concrete ones. This paper reports on the application of abstract múltiple specialization to automatic program parallelization in the &-Prolog compiler. Abstract executability, the main concept underlying abstract specialization, is formalized, the design of the specialization system presented, and a non-trivial example of specialization in automatic parallelization is given.

Urbanization, socio-economic changes and population growth in Brazil: dietary shifts and environmental implications.

Population growth, economic globalization, improving living standards and urbanization are causing important changes in the global food system and modifying the dietary habits in many parts of the world (Molden, 2007; Godfray et al., 2010). The nutritional transition (linked to the development of countries and the increasing wealth of its population) implies a shift away from traditional staple food such as roots and tuber vegetables and a rise in consumption of meat and milk products, refined and processed foods, as well as sugars, oils and fats (Ambler-Edwards et al., 2009). The contemporary food system puts significant pressure on natural resources, especially on land and water, because the growing food demand pushes the agricultural frontier beyond, causing large impacts on ecosystems (Ambler-Edwards et al. 2009: 11-18). Also, the trend towards richer diets in animal proteins and processed food adds further pressure on the environment, since it requires larger amount of water and land to be produced (Allan, 2011; Mekonnen and Hoekstra, 2012).

Sustainable development in North Bohuslän (Sweden): an analysis in three scales

Partiendo del estudio de la zona que discurre por la carretera E6 en su recorrido desde el municipio de Uddevala, al suroeste de Suecia hasta la frontera con Noruega se analizan las afecciones producidas en los asentamientos y el paisaje. El proyecto se estructura en tres escalas diferentes: regional, intermedia y local para entender la fuerte conexión entre las mismas. A nivel regional se analizan los tipos de paisaje por medio de un inventario utilizando el método PEBOSCA, dentro del programa Hábitat de las Naciones Unidas estudiando todos los recursos (físicos, biológicos, sociales, económicos, organizacionales... ) de una zona determianda ; y el método DAFO (en inglés SWOT)que se ocupa de las fuerzas y debilidades de la región. Se identifican los problemas más importantes, a saber, ampliar los servicios durante todo el año, mejorar la conectividad extendiendo el transporte público y carriles para bicicletas y mejorar la calidad del agua mitigando su efecto barrera. En un nivel intermedio, el proyecto se centra en la localidad de Hogdalsnäset por estar afectado por una falta de estructura urbana y por su proximidad a la frontera con Noruega. En el plano local se analiza la zona de Nordby presentando un plan alternativo de desarrollo a corto, medio y largo plazo. Por último, la autora concluye con la propuesta de construcción del "Parque del Humedal".

Claesson Koivisto Rune. Stockholm

Seeking insplratlon to wrlte about the Stockholm-based studio founded by Marten Claesson, Eero Kolvisto, and Ola Rune, I plck up the cutting board they designed for Boffi.

Menos no es siempre más, ni mucho menos = Less isn't always more, not by any means

"Think rationally, but cultivate an artistic sensibility" recommended Henry van de Velde in 1903. This is the direction chosen by three young architects, Marten Claesson, Eero Koivisto and Ola Rune, who have their own practice in Stockholm since 1993. Architects, interior designers, furniture designers and teachers, they entered the professional world with Vila Wabi, an elongated box, temporarily set into the Sergel square (Stockholm), designed to house a family of four. Since then, they have designed a big number of shops, showrooms, bars and restaurants, offices and houses mostly in Sweden but also abroad. Despite an international outlook and appeal the practice makes part of an ongoing tradition of Scandinavian design.