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Moma left this comment on a recent post:
One thing I was wondering about was how to evaluate kid's books and was hoping you might write a post on that. For example, my daughter loves the Arthur and Franklin series. Would these be considered good reading? What should I be looking for in a book for a preschooler? It was easier to pick out books when they only had a few words on the page.
I always find it hard to blog about this kind of thing because we all have to stumble our way through libraries and bookstores as parents and we all develop tips and tricks in the process. I never like to presume that I have better ways of doing things than the next parent. Having said that, selecting children's books is what I do for a living and I do think I have developed professional savvy over the years. I regularly give library instruction sessions to education students who will need to select and evaluate books for children in their careers. About a week ago, I gave a workshop on picture book literacy for a large group of day care and preschool teachers. So, for those who might be interested, here is my 2
cents dollars worth.
I will make my answer a series of posts that will come out over the next couple of weeks or so with the odd interruption for Hallowe'en post-mortems and other daily life occurrences that demand bloggy treatment. The series will run as follows:
Part 1 (today's post): Tips for finding good books and making the most of your local library.
Part 2: How to know when a book is superb: pictures edition
Part 3: How to know when a book is superb: words edition
Part 4: Genre summary with a few title recommendations
Part 5: A list of 100 excellent author and/or illustrators for the pre-school set
Part 1: Tips for finding good books and making the most of your local library
1. Ask your children's librarian for recommendations: A good children's librarian is yours and your child's best friend. She/he will be able to recommend books that are pitched to your child's interests and abilities. She/he will know other books that are like titles your child already loves. She/he will know if a new dinosaur book has just come in or if the latest Stella and Sam book is about to be published. If Christmas is coming, ask him/her about what books to buy vs borrow for your child or other children. Ask her what tools and resources are available at the library to help you self-select materials. Shop around for a librarian or library staff person that you mesh with. Just because you had a bad experience with one person at the help desk doesn't mean that another person in the organization won't be more up your alley.
I know that this recommendation doesn't particularly help people who rely on small or rural libraries as much as it does to people in larger centres but, hey, that's why I have several recommendations on this list.
2. Use your library catalogue: Find out how to use your library catalogue well and then use it often. In my library, I can limit search results to just children's books (and sometimes depending on the search I can limit to just the picture books in the collection). Setting such limits makes it easy to perform targeted searches on subjects my daughter is currently interested in: elephants, dinosaurs, farms and the like. Library catalogues may also allow you to limit your searches by date of publication or language as well. For example, I get countless language students coming to me looking for French children's books to help them as they learn the language.
3. Read reviews: Does your local paper write reviews of children's books? If so, read them and then ask for recommended titles at your library. Does your library subscribe to a reviewing service like the Children's Literature Comprehensive Database (CLCD)? If so, you can quickly and easily look up reviews of books that you might be considering for your child to find out if a) they are recommended and b) if they would be appropriate for your particular child. If your library does subscribe to the CLCD, you can generate subject specific book lists that are pitched to a particular age range or reading level.
4. Devour award winners: Read your way through the extensive lists of award winners and honour books that are now posted all over the internet. If you find a book you especially like, then find every other book that author wrote. Keep in mind that award books can span age ranges so make sure you've got an age-appropriate book in your hands before you start reading aloud at bed time. Here are some lists of award winners to get you started but there are plenty more out there:
US-based awards
The Caldecott Medal: Awarded to the best picture book by an American citizen or resident published in the US in any given year. The current winner and honour books are listed here. A complete listing of past winners is here.
The Newbery Medal: The oldest, ongoing prize for children's literature in the world, the Newbery medal is awarded to the most distinguished work for children published in the US in any given year. The current winner and honour books are here. Past winners are listed here.
The Michael L. Printz Award: An annual award that recognizes literary excellence in young adult literature. The current winner and honour book are listed here. The full listing of past winners and honour books is here.
The Coretta Scott King Book Award: This annual award is given to African-American writers and illustrators of books for children. The current winner is listed here (and is sitting by my bedside) along with the 2008 honour books. A full listing of winners and honour books can be found here.
The Boston-Globe Horn Book Prize is presented annually in three categories for prestigious picture book, fiction and poetry, and nonfiction published in the United States. Here's the current winners and the full listing of award winners.
The New York Times Best Illustrated Books for Children is an annual listing. Here is a slideshow for the 2007 edition of the awards.
Canadian Awards
The Governor General's Literary Awards: Awarded annually, one for children's text and one for children's illustration with categories in both English and French. Here's the 2008 shortlist. Here is the list of past winners.
The Amelia Frances Howard-Gibbon Award: Awarded to the outstanding illustrator of a children's book published in Canada. The complete list of winners is here.
The Canadian Children's Book Centre maintains a listing of Canadian book awards. Rather than reprinting it all here, you can find the full list on their website.
British Awards
The Kate Greenaway Medal: Awarded annually for children's illustration. It's the UK's equivalent to the Caldecott Medal. Current short list is here. Past winners are here.
The Carnegie Medal: Awarded annually to the writer of an outstanding book for children. It's the British equivalent of the Newbery Medal. Current short list is here. Past winners are here.
Smarties Prize (renamed Nestle Book Prize): A recently discontinued UK prize for various age categories of children's literature. The Smarites Prize was sometimes considered controversial because of its affiliation with Nestle and their practice of promoting infant formula use in developing countries. 2007 winners are on the main page. Past winners are listed here.
International Distinction
The IBBY Honor List: a bienneal listing of excellent books for children put out by the International Board on Books for Young People.
5. Seek out lists, blogs and children's book web sites: In this bloggy age, a lot of informed people are posting book lists, reviews and recommendations. I keep lists of all the books Miss M has read over on my sidebar there. Librarian-mother-blogger extraordinaire, Kittenpie, has a couple of review sites: one for younger kids and one for older ones. That second link also has links to some other children's review sites. Mo-Wo and P-Man also recommend books every now and then. Just One More Book features daily podcasts on children's books. The list goes on and on, but my hope is not to overwhelm you in this post.
6. Make sure you cover off as many genres as you can. There are so many kids today who never hear poetry or who don't receive grounding in oral folk-tale culture. That grieves me. In Dewey classification systems, the picture books and easy readers are catalogued separately from poetry, folklore, non-fiction, music, biography and the like. You have to go hunting to move beyond picture books. More on this in part 4 of the series.
7. Give your child free range in the library and work by trial and error. A child needs to know that he/she has some agency when it comes to selecting books. I have read some real howlers to Miss M but I respected the fact that she chose the books. This is where all those dreadful movie spin-off books come into play. There's also a number of didactic or messagey books out there that I flat-out disagree with, but I suck it up and read them anyway if my daughter has taken a fancy to them. I try to not pass judgment while I'm reading a book but I will often discuss my likes and dislikes after the fact. Take, for example, The Rainbow Fish. I personally don't like how preachy that book is. I don't like the message that in order to be liked you must give up all of what it is that makes you unique. I do, however, like fostering notions of sharing and consideration for others and so Miss M and I have talked about what I did and didn't like about the book. She's a fan but I think her love of the book has more to do with the brightly coloured illustrations than the book's message.
OK, so that's part 1. I really haven't answered your question at all, though, have I? The Franklin and Arthur series are perfectly fine books. They're not standouts in my opinion but they are also not dross. Miss M and I have read all that we can get our hands on. Clifford and Little Critter books too. I like the early Franklin books the best of this entire bunch because the illustrations in them are more naturalistic than the more cartoonish later versions of the series. The realistic pictures of the animals sets those early Franklin books apart, in my opinion. And look at that, I've used the expression "in my opinion" twice in this last paragraph. Literary preference is always one part quality and one part opinion.
I welcome all comments, additions, links, discussion issues, what have yous. Part two will come your way likely early next week.
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Mad's whacky blog of books. It's all books, all the time!
Moma left this comment on a recent post:
Posted by Mad at 10:45 PM
26 comments:
- womaninawindow said...
oh, eh, ugh. Is that enough of the sounds for you? Our library sucks. Plain and simple. We should totally go to the neighbouring city's library (um, two hours away) and LIE and get cards there to HONESTLY borrow books and bring 'em back. Our library sucks. Oh wait, I said that. But we read anything and everything that comes our way anyway. We even buy up their refuse and revel in their smells. All other smart comments to follow:
- flutter said...
can't I just ask YOU?!?! come on, Mad be a team player!
- crazymumma said...
Holy links. Don't you have a TV?
- Mary-LUE said...
There is a podcast called Chatting About Books put together by ReadWriteThink.org. It has book recommendations every month. You can subscribe via RSS or iTunes.
Here is a teeny, tiny URL for you:
- Mary-LUE said...
I can't resist one more. This is a poetry resource blog by Sylvia Vardell who has written books about poetry for children.
(I just discovered tiny URLs today!!!)
- 'Book AwardTragic' said...
Hi, I enjoyed your blog and the insights it contained. My wife and I have four children eight and under who devour books. Even though I publish five international literary award sites for a living, it is still challenging to vet thoroughly! As the children are getting older they are getting pretty good at it themselves and the books that they like best are not always the ones Dad gets excited about that have won awards!
Thanks for the blog & regards from the Land Down Under.
Kevin Parker- publisher
Book Awards Online
- kate said...
Oh goody, I love this stuff!!!
- Karen said...
Oh, I'm so glad to hear someone else not being a big fan of Rainbow Fish! It just seems like a sad story to me.
- mek said...
Mad - this is fabulous - thanks for all the resources in this post! I'm looking forward to the others. Our 2.5 year old is in love with books (hooray) and the library (double hooray).
- Andrea said...
This is awesome. I'm planning al ibrary trip w/ Frances this afternoon and I'm sure all of this will be helpful as I comb through the book racks (and she just wants to play with the toys). Especially now that I'll be paying more attention to the beginning-reader books.
Also wanted to point out: you've got a "local your library" up there. While I love the metre, I'm pretty sure it's not what you meant. ;) I'm also wondering how I might go about localling my library. I suppose I could try a really big lasso. (Right by part 1.)
- Mad said...
Andrea: Thanks. I've been finding typos in this post all morning long. I think I get lazy with the proof-reading when I've done so much linking. Either that or I am just starting to lose it.
- painted maypole said...
thank you for taking the time to do this - very helpful!
this is exciting! I must come back later to read during my "real" blogging time. I'd like to forward this to my sister who is a reading teacher, but she's already putting in twelve hour days, so I might not be doing her a favor.
- No Mother Earth said...
Thanks for the listing of awards and links to winners. The Boy and I just read a few of them - including Wild About Books, and, well, he's just wild about them.
- Magpie said...
#7 is the one I have a hard time with, as I bite my lip when she brings home "Sleeping Beauty" or "Cinderella" from the school library. But yes - she needs to have free reign someplace, and I need to respect that.
Nice post, Mad. And useful.
- Jenifer said...
Awesome Mad...I have bookmarked this post to refer to as needed. I am constantly trolling the library website in search of something great.
- Janet said...
Oh, good, I've been on the right track so far. I agree with you about the Rainbow Fish. I had the same reaction. But it has not been a favorite so I haven't worried about deconstructing it yet.
We have a surprisingly good library given the quality of everything else in this town. The children's section is quite good, and the children's librarian is a lovely young woman who is very open to suggestions for books and will order anything we ask for.
Looking forward to the rest of the series.
- alejna said...
This is fabulous, Mad. Those are some great resources. You've got me all fired up about exploring children's books with my little ones. To the library!
I love working my way through the award books. I love reading children's books for myself, and have worked my way back through about 30 Newbery winners. (I've also read quite a few Caldecotts, but they tend to be somewhat quicker to read. Though I was surprised to see more of a young adult graphic novel was a winner in some recent year.)
I must now resist the urge to check out all of the links you provided, as I have work I'm supposed to be doing.
- Reluctant Housewife said...
Great post, Mad! Really good advice, especially number 6 - I hadn't really considered whether I was exposing the boys to poetry and other genres of story telling... I'm now going to try to do so. Thanks.
- Beck said...
Actually, Woman in a Window, you can get library cards in that city for FREE. Without lying!
Our little local library is TERRIBLE. I have a card to the substantially better library two towns over because otherwise? Phhf..
- mo-wo said...
I wonder what makes all these libraries so terrible. The people or the collection or both?
Lots of good advice. You got nuts to push the proletariat at reviews.
- Mad said...
Mo-Wo: my readers are wise. They can tell piss-poor or agenda-driven reviewing from the real enchilada.
- Mary G said...
Mad, just super! Thanks so much. (I had to type 'type' three times before I got it right. I'm the typo queen.)
I agree with you on the fish scale book -- it's the glitter. Litte Stuff loved it, alas. She also adores the Oz books. All of them. More turgid prose is hard to find.
I have a bias toward 'golden oldies' for small children's books, including 'A Child's Garden of Verse' (it was mine; you can imagine what the cover looks like), Milne, Seuss. When I find a wonderful new one, I feel ashamed of myself for not researching more and more often.
A couple of classics that both my kids and granddaughter love are 'Tikki Tikki Tembo' and 'Make Way for Ducklings'.
There's also the 'Catwings' series.
I love your Hallowe'en wallpaper. And I am brooding about the 'Missed Book' question you posed earlier.
- Mimi said...
Oh hooray! What a great resource you've written up here for us all. I am generally sheepish when we go to the library, because I know so little about kids' books, but then Munchkin brings me a bunch to read and once i read them ... it's easy enough to sort the yuck from the wow.
Great post!!!
Now if only some one could come up with a list of age appropriate books for a 6 year old reading at a 6-7th grade level. Our librarian and I have been trying to keep up with my son with limited success as he can do a book an hour.
Will have to check out the review sites.
- William D. said...
If you're a foreigner and are gonna on a Tibet Travel or Tibet Tour, it's better to consult professionals on Tibet Travel Information or Tibet Travel Service. They may advise you to take part in the Tibet Travel Packages or Tibet Tour Packages because it's cheaper and the cheapest way of traveling is by Tibet Train. But travel abroad often needs to apply for a series of procedures such as visa, of course you need a Tibet Travel Permit. A Tibet Travel Operator or Tibet Travel Agency is the best way to choose for you.


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Antigua's ruling party seeks 3rd straight term
ST. JOHN'S, Antigua (AP) — Antigua & Barbuda's ruling party faced an uphill battle for a third term in office in Thursday's election in the tiny Caribbean country, which has been hit hard by the global economic crisis.
Prime Minister Baldwin Spencer and his United Progressive Party have led the twin-island country since 2004, but an independent poll conducted by the Barbados-based Caribbean Development Research Services group has given the edge to the Antigua & Barbuda Labor Party led by lawmaker Gaston Browne.
The two main parties and a handful of smaller factions are vying for 17 seats in Parliament.
The Labor Party argues that Spencer's government has mismanaged the economy and failed to create jobs. It has vowed to abolish the personal income tax, construct 500 homes in 500 days and lower corporate taxes.
Spencer says his administration has fulfilled most of the promises it made before the 2009 election, when his party won nine of the 17 seats. His party pledges no new or increased taxes and says tax cuts of up to 20 percent are in the works for some.
Nearly 50,000 people are registered to vote in Antigua & Barbuda, which has a population of roughly 90,000.
The islands' tourism-dependent economy was severely hobbled by the global recession and a budget gap worsened after the 2009 collapse of fraudster R. Allen Stanford's Antigua-based financial empire. The Texas financier helped fund the government and was the Caribbean country's largest private employer until U.S. authorities accused him of defrauding investors in his offshore bank.
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subset: commoncrawl


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posted by Thom Holwerda on Sun 21st Oct 2007 10:50 UTC, submitted by Michael
"This week's release of Ubuntu 7.10 is a significant win for the free software community. Not only does this release incorporate an updated package set - most notably with the Linux 2.6.22 kernel and GNOME 2.20, but it also delivers on new desktop innovations from BulletProofX and displayconfig-gtk to Compiz Fusion being enabled by default on supported systems. However, for those business professionals and gamers that remain dependent on some Windows-only binary applications, the WINE project has been making some excellent headway into supporting Windows applications on the Linux desktop. With Ubuntu 7.10 and WINE 0.9.46 in hand, we had set out to compare the performance between Windows XP and Gutsy Gibbon with WINE on two popular DirectX benchmarks."


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The psychological disorder when two friends hang out so much that their friendship borders on codependency, and they only act out when around each other. This results in dick riding that is usually harmless but can turn into chronic douchebaggery if undiagnosed.
Me: those guys are really cool, but not when they act like batman and robin. Its unhealthy.
Jesh: yeah dude, they are totally goat and oyster.
Jesh: yeah dude, they are totally goat and oyster.
by Thedudelebowski August 07, 2013
buy the domain for your foodie blog


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Getting my Guitar to my P.C.?
One of the most requested pieces of information here at Dolphin is "How do I get my guitar into my P.C.!
This is a qustion that in the past required quite a complex answer and one which was could be costly and of course is limited to your guitar equipment.
In other words if you only had a 15 w Peavy combo, that's all you were recording with!
Not to mention needing the right Room, Microphones, Pre-amps and everything else that you come to expect from a recording chain.
Now using modern software based technology my "Guitar rig" may comprise of a guitar, a lead, an audio interface and a laptop.
Here is some examples of the easiest way to get recording your guitar.
IK Multimedia StealthPlug Inc Amplitube 2 LiveCompact, cable-like, USB audio card for guitarists to plug into the world of software based amp and effects modeling. With an in-line guitar cable USB audio interface housing a 1/4" jack on one side and a USB port on the other, entering the world of software based amp and effects modeling is as simple as plugging your guitar into your computer. StealthPlug also includes volume adjustment buttons, indication LED, and a 1/8" stereo output for headphones, powered speakers, or an amp.
The perfect mobile solution for playing, recording, or practicing - anytime and anywhere.
Use AmpliTube Live, for playing and AmpliTube LE within your recording environment for the ultimate in flexibility. For live playing or practicing anywhere at any time, the StealthPlug is a complete guitar amp and effects modeling solution. Use the StealthPlug with AmpliTube Live and LE, in either plug-in or standalone format, with all major Mac and PC platforms.
Easy to use, just plug your guitar into your computer.
Install the software, connect the StealthPlug to your guitar and a USB port on your computer, and you're ready to rock. There has never been an easier way to enter into the digital world of software based guitar amp and effects modeling..
Line 6 TonePort UX2
Featuring a graphical interface that most guitarists will find easy to understand
TonePort™ is like a rack full of premium tube recording equipment, plus a perfectly engineered recording room for guitar and bass, thanks to our acclaimed guitar/bass direct tone with mic and cab modeling. What else would you expect from the makers of the revolutionary POD® product family? TonePort even comes with a special version of the popular recording application Ableton Live created for Line 6 so you can start making great sounding recordings as soon as you open the box!
The included GearBox™ software controls TonePort and gives you a premium tone front end for all your recordings. Includes meticulously crafted models of premium tube studio preamps, vintage guitar and bass rigs, and sought after, personality-rich effects. This is the tone that pros rely on and only Line 6 provides. Now it comes to your desktop with TonePort.ToneDirect™
With Line 6's exclusive ToneDirect™ monitoring, you get fully processed audio in real time while you track! Far better than recording through plug-ins, it avoids the latency from your recording program and operating system. ToneDirect also easily beats analog direct monitoring options that force you to record guitar without hearing the amp model and effects, or struggle to get an inspired vocal with no reverb! With GearBox software and TonePort hardware, it's easy to get amazing sounding recordings every time inspiration hits.
Just look at these specifications, this system is not only easy to use but a very powerful system featuring many inputs and and outputs for different applications
- 2 Mic Inputs with +48v Phantom Power
- 2 Guitar/Bass Inputs – use the Pad input for guitars and basses with high level pickup outputs, or the normal input
- Stereo Line Inputs for your line out level gear
- Stereo Digital Output S/PDIF via RCA
- Stereo Line Outputs via balanced 1/4-inch
- Stereo Monitor Input via stereo 1/4-inch jack
- Headphone Output with independent volume knob
- VU Meters assignable to input, record send, output and monitor levels
- Footswitch Jacks send MIDI commands to recording programs (start/stop, punch in/out, etc.)
- Pro Audio Performance with over 100dB signal-to-noise & dynamic range
- Tone Direct™ monitoring - unique, full tone low latency monitoring regardless of recording software's buffer size
- 44.1 & 48KHz, 16 & 24 bit recording
- 96KHz mode with built-in sample rate conversion for simultaneous input and output
- USB-powered
- Rock-solid Drivers: ASIO, WDM, Mac OS X
VOX JamVOX Jam and practice tool for Guitar
This new device is not only a guitar set up, a recording interface, a microphone pre amp and a full modelling suite but a computer audio monitor and full "Jam and practise tool " for guitarists. Thi sinterace really can remove guitar and 'reveal 'guitar fro song sin your .mp3 collection allowing easier analysis of parts, a must for the eager musician
The JamVOX is an integrated monitor and software system that extracts the guitar from any MP3 and plugs you into the mix of their favorite bands.
JamVOX gives guitarists instant access to dozens of legendary amps and effects all in one easy to use "drag and drop" software interface. Revolutionary Guitar XTracktion (GXT) technology lets you remove the guitar part of your favorite song with the push of a button. Best of all, you can then take the lead yourself with instant rock star tone! Alternatively, you can extract or isolate the guitar part, slow down the tempo, and practice any style of music without changing the pitch.
The VOX JamVOX includes authentic software models, or recreations, of 19 famous guitar amps and 54 vintage and modern effects, so you'll be able to perfectly reproduce the sounds of your favorite guitarists. JamVOX also comes with a dedicated full-range USB monitor speaker, so there's no need for complex wiring or any specialized knowledge of computer music.
A two-CD 28-song bundle of guitar play-along tracks of famous songs, courtesy of Hal Leonard Corporation, is also included, with classic play-along songs such as Day Tripper by The Beatles, Smells Like Teen Spirit by Nirvana, Hot For Teacher by Van Halen, Crossroads by Cream, Am I Evil? by Metallica, and many more.
JamVOX Software features:
- 19 amp models ranging from vintage to modern: Virtual Valve Reactor even reproduces the operation of vacuum tube power amps including VOX AC15, VOX AC15TB, VOX AC30, and more.
- 12 cabinet models that meticulously simulate the speaker response and cabinet design including VOX AC15, VOX AC30, VOX AD412, TWEED 1x8, TWEED 1x12, and more.
- 54 high-quality effect models: 18 pedal-type, 12 modulation-type, 11 delay-type, 12 reverb, noise reduction including TUBE OD, ORANGE DIST, FUZZ, OCTAFUZZ, VOX WAH, ROTARY, TALK MOD REVERSE DELAY, ECHO PLUS Delay, reverbs and many more.
- Drag and drop six effect units to freely specify their routing
- More than 100 Guitar programs that include the guitar sounds of famous songs and guitarists
- Pickup modeling function lets you produce the sounds of different pickups than those actually on the connected guitar


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Welcome to the Meetup Hike & Outdoor Group!!!
As seen on this picture, Switzerland is a hiking paradise, as its trails almost covers the whole country...but there is more to see: majestic mountains, beautiful lakes and evergreen fields, just to mention few things. Since 2007 we have been organizing many, many hikes and other outdoor activities throughout the year. In Summer we do mostly hiking, but also Rafting, Canyoning, Biking, Inline Skating and Climbing (Vía Ferrata). In Winter, we concentrate on Cross Country Skiing, Sledging (Sledding), Ice Skating, Tourenskiing and Snowshoeing, as well as the traditional Alpine Skiing.
We are an international group, from people coming from all over the world ranging from Australia all the way to the Americas. Our events are designed for everyone to participate, from beginners to advanced hikers.
If you are someone seeking to get to know the hiking paradise of Switzerland, do some exercise on the weekend and to get to know some really cool people, you came to the right place.
So get up from that couch you have been sitting all this time and join us to enjoy together what Switzerland has to offer in nature and beauty.
See you then!
Sven and the organizer team
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For best results, please read all instructions before beginning project. Refer to photo for color and design placement.
1. Prewash fabric without fabric softener. Do not dry.
2. Cover work surface with plastic table cover. Lay damp fabric flat on work surface.
3. Decide where you want the center of bullseye to be on the fabric. Pinch fabric and pull up in tube shape.
4. Place rubber band about 1" from the top, continue banding every 2"-3" along length of fabric.
5. Prepare dye following package instructions.
6. Apply dye colors between banded sections.
7. Cover fabric with plastic table cover. Let set 6-8 hours.
8. Rinse fabric in warm water until water runs clear. Remove rubber bands.
9. Fill washer to large load setting with hottest water suitable for fabric and a small amount of non-bleach laundry detergent. Wash and dry separately for the first few washes.


text: It's slogan is "The Finest In Jazz Since 1939." The historic Blue Note record label celebrates its 75th anniversary in 2014. Grant Green, Jimmy Smith, John Coltrane, Dexter Gordon...the list goes on and on. A label with a rich history and so much tradition that has provided jazz lovers some of the most memorable recordings ever made.


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This Sunpak Direct Spark Heater 34,000 BTU - Stainless Steel - NG will increase the use and enjoyment of your outdoor dining areas. The warm red glow of radiant heat attracts people to your outdoor tables on cool days and evenings - times when your patio might otherwise be empty. The radiant heat that this patio heater emits will warm people and objects rather than the air.
- Made in the USA
- Streamlined design
- Decorative safety grille
- CSA Design Certified
- Indoor (commercial use only) or outdoor use
With its commercial grade construction and simple operation, the Sunpak Direct Spark Heater 34,000 BTU - Stainless Steel - NG is a must have for your backyard entertainment area. The streamlined design blends in well with most decor. This patio heater easily mounts on outdoor walls, under ceilings and awnings, with a 0 to 30 degree angle mounting option on most models.
The Sunpak Direct Spark Heater 34,000 BTU - Stainless Steel - NG has a direct spark ignition, 100% safety shutoff feature, and is able to run on natural gas. The stainless steel enclosure construction, together with the aluminum face grill, provides resistance to wind and rain. This hanging patio heater is design certified by the CSA International as an unvented infrared heater for outdoor or indoor (commercial) installations. All units are equipped with spark ignition and 100% shutoff for safety, economy, and convenience.


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UPDATE: President Obama Mentions LGBT Rights During G8 Speech In Berlin
Updated 2:45 p.m. est with video
In a G8 speech given by President Obama in Berlin today, LGBT rights played a prominent role.
Transcript of the LGBT portion:
I'd suggest that peace with justice begins with the example we set here at home, for we know from our own histories that intolerance breeds injustice. Whether it's based on race, or religion, gender or sexual orientation, we are stronger when all our people -- no matter who they are or what they look like -- are granted opportunity, and when our wives and our daughters have the same opportunities as our husbands and our sons. (Applause.)
"When we stand up for our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters and treat their love and their rights equally under the law, we defend our own liberty as well," Obama said. "We are more free when all people can pursue their own happiness. And as long as walls exist in our hearts to separate us from those who don't look like us, or think like us, or worship as we do, then we're going to have to work harder, together, to bring those walls of division down."
The president also spoke about nuclear reduction in the U.S. and Russia, Guantanamo Bay and climate change in the much-anticipated speech in front of Germany's storied Brandenburg Gate.


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Pendant Of The Week: Life Size Human Head Made Completely Out Of Diamonds For Boston Celtics Star "Marquis Daniels" (Making From Celebrity Jeweler)
"video features the "Making of" a life size pendant made for Boston Celtic Marquis Daniels. The pendant is made completely out of flawless diamonds by celebrity jeweler Jason of Beverly Hills" - JBH
Please click the "Report" button below if the video on this page is not working properly.
Comments will only be displayed by verified emails. No Spamming or Racism.


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Do i need a retail designer for my shop Jobs
Retail Medical Stores Shops Software used for handling the medicine stock, customer transactions, ledger balance, and stock reports I need a web application like below URL features. [Zur Anzeige der URL Anmelden] InventoryPlus medical shop management software is a desktop application
El contenido debe tener 1800 palabras y estar optimizado para SEO. Entrega: lunes 24 de octubre
I want a graphic designer to design a retail packaging for a simple product attach are examples of retail packaging that is creative.
Logo for new stamp dealer business specializing in US stamps, classic and modern. Run by and for stamp collectors. Need logo to be used for online sites as well as booths at retail stamp shows (2-3 foot sign or so). Would like logo to contain name -- Wrigleyville Stamps and include image/likeness of Wrigley Field in Chicago. See attached image. Incorporation
Qmeter is an enterprise customer...advanced reporting, intelligent branch and services comparison, and more. I need a person who can sell this on its country. Will give 20% commission from the sales. If for one month will be sold 10 Licenses it will do 480$ commission. Google: Qmeter - Customer Feedback system for more information about product
...ourselves on being a long term, privately held company that takes care of its associates by recognizing each individual's potential and investing in their future of [Zur Anzeige der URL Anmelden] a Retail Sales Associate with FarTooMean™, you will have unlimited earnings potential comprised of excellent commissions and incentives. Expectat...
We need the design and bluebrints for a counter for our retail store. max height is 120 cm and width is 200 cm
need products sold to stores 3% comission on all sales big earning potential for big contracts
Hi store and brand design for a new waffle brand that we are starting
We need gift-boxes created for our ceramic / tabletop goods. We are looking to find the right designer quickly and hope to meet this week to begin the project. Please apply if you're available and are confident if your packaging design experience, a quick overview here: 4-5 sku's we need worked on, the packaging engineering with a focus on mak...
Im looking for a full ready to go advanced Point of Sale system If there is someone out there that has a POS thats ready coded in Visual Studio, Visual Basic, C++ please send me more information!
I need a new website. I need you to design a website for my small business. I have a store set up with clover. I need you to design the website and clover integration on payment, catalog and inventory. Please come back with proposal of how u will do it and sample works.
I need an iPhone/iPad app. I would like it designed and built.
...retailer looking for someone who had rich experience in planning and implementing social media marketing strategies for ladies fashion products. - Create meaningful and interesting contents and adjust images, post 2 times a week averagely on Instagram and Facebook to grow followers and likes. - Knows how to edit images and videos. - Looking for free marketing
I am trying to get my product in hardware stores and need an eye catching design to have printed on the 60"tall, 13.5" wide, 3" deep boxes that my products ship in. I would also like to have a corrugated cardboard display designed, capable of holding 15 or more of those big boxes that will contain either a Gutter Clutter Buster Tool ...
We need a print for retail unit. You can see the current version in files included. . We need something new and fresh, but NOT too colourful. Colour preferences: green, violet, red, black, grey. 80-90% of the coating should remain white... The final version must be elegant and decent. You can find all the necessary information in added documents
New shop selling basball caps need design then interia/exterior 3d rendering visuals as well as full cad working drawings for fitting out..have a good brief and logos done etc
Looking for a software / website to be made that shows websites sales and promotion all on one platform.
I am starting a retail fishing lure sales business. I have found clip art that I would like to use but need the rest of the bag topper designed.
...to different routes for capturing orders in market from shop hence searching out some solution so that these orders can be taken directly into a web based software in which some drop down selection will be done to select distributor name, beat name, then outlet list assigned to that beat and then salesman will start taking order for that particular outlet
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I need a 3D image of a store front and inside. I'll attach a sample pic to work off and a description of what I would like my store to look like. If interested please message me ASAP!
We need a modern, sleek design for a mobile application for a industrial company. The app will be used on the warehouse foolr to scan products to add to orders then print up order forms based on the items and releases processed 1) A White background based theme 2) A dark background based theme I have added some sample images, back...
I need someone who can post my items to the most trending selling websites. As some of these sites are available in the US I am preferably looking for someone US based. It is a long term opportunity. PART TIME- hours upon agreement
Require front end design of IOS mobile app for a retail store. The main components are: - HTTPS REST JSON API - I will do all API and backend servers myself and will provide full documentation and samples - Mockups provided (PDF) with notes - Facebook SSO login - Barcode scanning using the camera or bluetooth barcode scanner - Must work with KDC400
Looking for a exterior store signage design that will connect the inside and outside of retail locations, new variation of logo that will allow a constant look no matter if the sign is light box or channel cut. Will provide branding vision as well as existing logo and interior design brief.
This is a Retail Touch POS manufacturing company. Want to hire a freelance software developer, who has worked on the subject and can develop software akin to MARG and other such companies for retail sector primarily, including restaurant, pharmacy, jewellery segments etc. The requirement is to develop in max two months time for launching. Willing
Create a modern store the design should have rendered in 3D (So we can expose it on a webpage) We will give you the specifications and an approx of what we want. I am open to ideas. (Store must be modern and simple particularly made of an entirely crystal facade with one floor and a lot of details also a rendering of outside with fountains and a view
We are looking to establish a retail market, online presence and a company store specializing in wellness, specifically CBD oils & extracts. Accordingly, we are looking for a business plan that details our vision, cost and reward!
I need a new website. I already have a design, I just need you to build my personal website.
I need you to fill in a spreadsheet with data.
Good Roots Cannabis is a recreational cannabis retailer in Edmonton , Canada I am looking for a logo that follows these guidelines. Signage and contents must comply with all federal, provincial and municipal requirements. Signage must be in good taste and not depict a lifestyle, endorsement, person, character or animal. Signage may not promote intoxication
I have run [Zur Anzeige der URL Anmelden] for a few years and have yet to execute a strategy to get my products into physical retail stores until now. Attached is my mock-up of the packaging and I need design on the cardboard - both sides. I have the images and design layout, I just need someone to put it together.
Los artículos deben ser de como mínimo 650 palabras + tres imágenes de 1280*720. Fecha de entrega: 7 de septiembre
I need an Android app. I would like it designed and built. Simple And Clean UI as shown as attached. It will be build on Android. Inventory Management Discounts Payment Method Sales Report and etc. Please bid. payment only thru freelancer
I need you to fill in billing data in small-medium sized stores around mumbai. applicants will be paid per shop completed depending on the size. Needed ASAP.
I am looking for a Virtual Assistant to help me with my ebay store. The focus of the store is retail arbitrage and is just in the beginning stages, but wanting a VA who can grow with the store and who is experienced. I would like to focus on product research and would like someone who can list products, optimise titles, photoshop onto photos and ca...
Looking for freelance Dynamics AX Retail Technical consultant who can help us document the new features and changes in Dynamics 365 Retail platform including customisation capabilities.
We are looking for a freelancer to write a training script for 50+ subjects on retail sales. we need all contents with a unique selling proposition ( USP). We are not looking for general information on the retail sales topics here. Content has to be unique, practical, clear and easy to understand English. Total number of words around 1...
Hi, I need a 3D render of a kiosk concept/proposal completed within next 70 hours. I will provide a full brief on exactly what i need on the design once you have been awarded the job. For the purpose of quoting - i require something similiar in design to the attached concepts. Please submit your quote and portfolio of wor...
SAP IS - Retails for Implementation project exposure in S4HANA - 1709 Better to have jewellery and gold industries exposure Looking for Sr and Jr Consultants SAP IS Retails in S4HANA-1709 MM/WM SD FICO ABAP+HANA Basis+HANA If interested please share your proposals asap.
...their business in retail, network apps, and blockchain tech. We are looking for a part-time graphic designer who is based in London. The work load would include: logo design, vi design, brochure, posters, website graphics, UI design, also if you could, we would like you to cover some paperwork for the company. It will be 2-3 days a week, flexible workin...
UNIQLO is preparing to enter moroccan market through its flagship store in Casablanca and we are looking for a freelance designer/renderer to develop the store design using previously designed Uniqlo stores pictures as guide and translate the proposed Uniqlo Store In Casablcacma into 3D illustrations. The illustrations can range from conceptual to photo-realistic
UNIQLO is preparing to enter moroccan market through its flagship store in Casablanca and we are looking for a freelance designer/renderer to develop the store design using previously designed Uniqlo stores pictures as guide and translate the proposed Uniqlo Store In Casablcacma into 3D illustrations. The illustrations can range from conceptual to photo-realistic
We are looking for someone who can create a simple website for a shoe store (retail) who can create a enticing theme to draw in customers as well as having an interface that is easy to use as well as custom tailored for a company looking to direct sales through the website. The ideal freelancer for this position would be someone who ha...
We prefer to use a off the shelf DB online system that already integrats the main functions and on it develop the main features. WHAT WE NEED: An Online DB that allows easy and immediate exchange of product information between Italian suppliers and international vendors with a central control system. We have multiple supplier each with different
Create Spreadsheet(Excel) and add all product from this site http://ww...listed) 3. Product Name 4. Product Ingredients 5. Product Function 6. Product Retail Price in NTD 7. Product Sales Price (if shows) 8. Product web link 9. Note (can leave empty) Bottom row needs to have Average Retail Price Please create a table within the spreadsheet for this.
hi i need this project with all th requirements in the attached file with haravard referencing style and with 2000 words
I need Proven Social Media Marketing Skills to Increase Customer Base, and Sales.


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Transcription Regulation
Aviva Systems Biology manufactures over 3,000 antibodies for transcription factor research. These proteins have become an important tool for research associated with gene regulation. Transcription regulators control the rate and timing of gene transcription in a cell. A number of proteins govern this fundamental process by various mechanisms. Transcription factors can bind to promoter or enhancer regions of DNA and serve to promote or impede gene transcription. These bound transcription factors may be classified as activators or repressors. Activators aid in the recruitment of RNA polymerase to a given promoter region, thereby 'activating' the transcription process. The level of transcription may be enhanced by binding of proteins to specific regions of DNA known as enhancers. These regions are important in the control of gene expression levels, although they need not be near the target gene to function[1]. Repressors bind to areas of DNA (known as operators) that are close to promoters and act to block the function of RNA polymerase and thus inhibit the transcription process. The binding affinity of repressors can be altered by inducers, which promote transcription, and corepressors, which further repress transcription. Other proteins, such as Histone Deacetylases (HDACs), can modify the accessibility of DNA to transcriptional machinery and thus serve as regulators transcription regulators.
1. Spilianakis CG et al. 2005. Interchromosomal associations between alternatively expressed loci. Nature. Jun 2;435(7042):637-45.
Nucleotide sequences of a gene that are involved in the regulation of Transcription (The biosynthesis of RNA carried out on a template of DNA). They are involved in transcription as repressors or promoters. We have manufactured about 1800 antibody products for them.


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Chieftec BL-01B Case Review
Are you in the market for a new chassis for your computer? Do you miss your old IBM case that would let the monitor sit atop of it on your desk? Well if you answered 'yes' to either of those questions, Chieftec may just have the perfect case for you. The BL-01B chassis uses the old IBM style case and has an added a new feature that allows you to not only have a smaller form factor case sitting on top of your desk with your monitor included in the tight space, but allows you to put your high performance components inside. The L shape of the Chieftec BL-01B case is going to allow you to save more of your desktop's space by combining both your case and your monitor into a small space allowing for more work to be done on your desk, which has always been a problem for me. I am really looking forward to taking a look at what this case looks like and to see if it is going to be able to keep the temperatures within a safe range with its compact size, so let's get to it.
Closer Look:
The packaging that the Chieftec BL-01B Case came in is your very plain and simplistic brown box, however they have spiced it up a bit by adding the Chieftec logo on the front side of it. Chieftec has also printed the main selling feature of the case, the fact that it is a "Patented L-shape computer chassis can be integrated with a 48-61cm (or 19" - 24") LCD monitor to form an LCD PC." There is a line drawing of the front side of the case printed under the top bar with the company information/case description that shows you exactly how the front of the case has been designed. There is a second black bar under the image that lets the shipper know that it is fragile, cannot be dropped, needs to stay dry, etc. The side of the package is going to display the manufacutring number, the package number, and how many pieces are packed into the package, which most all of it was written in by hand. The other two sides of the package look exactly the same as the one across from it. The packaging is not very impressive or extravagant, but it does not need to be, all it needs to do is hold the product and keep it safe; in this case, it happens to be the Chieftec BL-01B Case.
When you open up the packaging, you are going to find out how well Chieftec has packed the case, taking into account that accidents during the shipping process do happen. The first line of defence is the styrofoam molding to ensure that if it does get dropped or poked with another box, the case would not take the damage - the styrofoam would. After you get the styrofoam off, you are able to see that Chieftec has taken the time to wrap the entire case in a plastic bag, to make sure that when it is being shipped it should not get any scratches on the paint job that the chassis has undergone. I am anxious to see what the Chieftec BL-01B looks like standing up all on its own.
Now that we know exactly how the Chieftec BL-01B case has been packed for a safe ship, it's time to see what all of the features the case has look like first hand, so let's get to it.


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News & How-To
Formerly branded as GlobalGazette.ca
Articles, press releases,and how-to information for everyone interested in genealogy and history
Subscribe to our free newsletter
Updated 18 August 2011
Gordon A. Watts
Biography & Links to Global Gazette Articles
Gordon A. Watts was born 30 October 1941 at Vancouver, British Columbia, the first-born of two sons of Phillip and Dorothy WATTS.
In his teens he was active in Scouting, and was a founding member of the 637 Burnaby Air Cadet Squadron. Gordon earned his Private Pilots license through Air Cadets. Before leaving Air Cadets he attained the rank of Warrent Officer 2, and was the Squadron Warrant Officer.
He spent five years (1960 - 1965) in the Royal Canadian Air Force where he trained in electronics as a Radar Technician. He was stationed variously at: St. Jean - Quebec; Clinton - Ontario; Sydney - Nova Scotia; Biloxi - Mississippi; Beaverlodge - Alberta.
Gordon was married in 1963, then widowed in 1994. He has two children and four grandchildren [2005]. Gordon's professional life was dominated by a 31 year career with B.C. Telephone Company. He retired on Halloween 1996.
Gordon became interested in genealogy about 1990. He discovered almost immediately that a friend whom he had known for some 15 years through their shared interest in CB radio, turned out to be a fourth cousin. That same friend was the person who initially interested Gordon in family history research.
Gordon began writing columns for The Global Gazette in 1999 under the banner Post 1901 Census News (Canada). About one year earlier he had become aware of the Canadian government's withholding of Historic Census records from public access. Gordon's work was part of a grassroots movement that successfully lobbied for the opening of Canadian historical census records for public use. This lobbying effort spanned seven years [1998-2005].
With access to historic Canadian census records assured, Gordon began a new series of articles containing news, tips, and other information aimed at assisting those who have an interest in genealogy and/or history. Gordon's recent columns are published under the banner of Gordon Watts Reports.
Email: firstname.lastname@example.com
Awards and Recognition
Gordon reports on three topics this week: Census Day - 10 May 2011 | Have we lost interest? | Death Pennies.... Read on >>
Gordon Watts Reports
During the course of the Post-1901 Census campaign, then opposition Conservative MPs, including now Prime Minister Stephen Harper voiced support for public access to historic Census records. That support in fact, was part of an official Conservative party program. In the past year however, the Conservative government has taken steps that leaves one wondering whether or not there will be any Census records left to view in 92 years... Read on >>


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Athletics complete sweep of Astros
Houston, TX – Chris Young hit a three-run home run to help the Oakland Athletics complete a three-game sweep of the Houston Astros with a 9-3 win on Sunday.
Jed Lowrie hit a two-run home run while Coco Crisp added a solo shot for the Athletics, who have won five straight since dropping their first two games of the season.
"He's very consistent from both sides of the plate, isn't trying to do too much, seeing the ball very well," A's manager Bob Melvin said.
Brett Anderson (1-1) gave up two unearned runs on five hits with a pair of walks and 10 strikeouts over six innings for the win.
It wasn't all good news for Oakland, though, as right fielder Josh Reddick left the game in the fifth inning with an apparent right arm injury after crashing into the wall while trying to run down a foul ball.
Carlos Corporan drove in a run while Lucas Harrell (0-2) got the loss for giving up eight runs on seven hits with five walks in 4 1/3 innings for the Astros, who have dropped five straight after winning their season opener.
"When you don't throw the ball where you want to, it's going to be a long day," said Harrell. "I didn't locate it. It wasn't with me today."
Oakland scored two in the second after a pair of one-out walks was followed by a two-run double by Seth Smith, and Lowrie added a two-run blast in the third for a 4-0 lead.
In the fourth, Crisp hit a two-out solo shot to right and Young hit his second of the year in the fifth with two on for an 8-0 advantage.
Houston finally got on the board in the sixth inning. With the bases loaded and two outs, Matt Dominguez hit a ball to shortstop that saw Jed Lowrie's throw go wild, allowing two runs to score. Chris Carter was thrown out on third on the play and it was an 8-2 game.
Corporan grounded out with Carter on third after a leadoff triple in the eighth to score another run and make it an 8-3 contest.
Game Notes
A's starting pitchers have recorded the decision in each of the first seven games of the season. The last time the club had a longer streak was when it recorded a decision in 12 straight games in 1989 ... Houston plays its first road series of the season in Seattle when it starts a three-game set on Monday ... Oakland starts a three-game set in Los Angeles against the Angels on Tuesday ... Oakland has won eight of the nine games all-time against Houston ... The Astros batted just 1-for-11 with runners in scoring position and stranded seven.


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Cut Lines
We added merchandisers at both of our residential dining halls because we were concerned that students were waiting too long. Students suggested offering a prepackaged line of sandwiches to offset the wait, and we decided to give it a try with the merchandisers. We sell between 250 and 400 items each day at each location.


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Sen. Cruz Blames Border Child Crisis On Obama Administration Order Deferring Deportations
MIAMI (AP) – Republican Sen. Ted Cruz says the Obama administration is to blame for the waves of immigrant children crossing the border illegally.
The potential presidential candidate told reporters at a Republican fundraiser in Miami on Friday that Obama's 2012 decision to defer the deportations of some young immigrants who were brought to the country illegally creates a perception of an incentive to cross the border.
The Texas Republican calls Obama's executive order a "lawless act" that grants "amnesty."
More than 47,000 children, primarily from Central America, have been apprehended at the Mexican border since the start of the budget year. The administration says the influx is being driven mostly by gang-related violence in other countries.
Cruz says Congress should pass legislation that tightens border security and streamlines the immigration system.
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text: Depression is like a quiet assailant that can assault on your anxiety anytime with no letting you know that you have turn into the casualty of depression. But once it begin getting on your anxiety you will launch feeling a bottomless nervousness and further unsecured approaches get nearer to your brain. Here are simple and Keep Reading


text: Prayer to Our Lady of Mount Carmel O most beautiful flower of Mount Carmel, fruitful vine, splendor of heaven, Blessed Mother of the Son of God, Immaculate Virgin, assist me in this my necessity... O star of the sea, help me and show me herein you are my Mother. O holy Mary, Mother of God, Queen of heaven and earth, I humbly beseech you from the bottom of my heart, to aid me in my need; there are none that can withstand your power. O show me herein you are my Mother. O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee. (three times) Sweet Mother, I place this cause in your hands. (three times)


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Trojans & Keystroke Logging
What is a Key Stroke Logging Trojan?
A Trojan is a piece of code or software that finds a way to your computer through malicious emails, infected web sites or social networking sites such as Facebook. One it reaches your computer, it deploys and becomes almost invisible and waits until activated by a date, an event, or a hacker.
A very invasive type of Trojan is a keystroke logger such as Zeus. This key stroke logger actually captures every key stroke you make and sends it off to a hacker or cyber-crime organization within seconds of being entered. This allows them to capture your ID and password (even an RSA Token Code) and quickly log in and move money through wire transfer or ACH transfers using your online banking.
Is it possible that it's on my computer?
Absolutely, it could be there now and just sleeping....and the biggest concern is that only 15 percent of these Trojans are detectable by the leading anti-virus software solutions. For example, the following companies were infected with Trojans: Bank of America, NASA, Monster, ABC, Oracle, Cisco, Amazon, and Business Week, and they spend millions of dollars on security measures. These Trojans infect millions of computers each year in the US and Zeus has sent out millions of attacks to users through Facebook since it started.
What can I do?
- Do not perform any financial or online banking activities from public computers, or on public wireless networks with your personal computer. The little coffee shop on the corner is a great place to sit and work on your laptop, but wait to do your financial tasks when you get home or to a secure network that you can trust.
- Do not open or access emails that don't come from someone you know or an organization you recognize. Just by opening an email you could trigger the Trojan to become active.
- Make sure you are using a reliable anti-virus software and keep the renewal and virus updates current and active.
- Don't go to YouTube or Facebook and download files or access links provided by people you don't trust. Limit your social networking activities to posting and reading text if at all possible. Files, video clips, or "downloads" are the biggest risk.
- Don't respond to emails that appear to be from your bank or financial institution that ask for you to access a web site and update your personal information such as social security number, user ID or password.
- Don't pick up a thumb drive or memory stick that is not yours and plug it into your computer. Criminals will leave them laying around in parking lots and they will be loaded with the latest Trojan virus, just waiting to be activated.
- Limit your children or family use of the computer you use for financial activities to a minimum. Its hard to keep track of where they have gone or what they have downloaded.
- Make sure your home wireless network is set up with encryption to reduce the risk of being accessed by an unwanted intruder.
How does all this apply for my business?
If you own a business, you should have security policies in place and layers of security built into your network. Following the recommendations above is a good start, and preventing employees from using social networking tools such as Facebook, Twitter, or external email systems, and other non work related activities will reduce the risk.
Also making sure there are proper anti-virus and anti spam solutions in place to protect your users and your systems is also recommended, and these things can be maintained internally or by using a local reputable Computer Services vendor.
In addition, it is recommended that you dedicate a single computer to be used for your external financial or business activities such as making wire transfers, submitting orders to partner companies, or entering financial information or employee information into remote systems. If this system is dedicated to these purposes and not used for email or web surfing, it greatly reduces the risk of infection.
- Limit use of memory sticks or thumb drives. Transporting these to and from business systems and home systems introduces the risk of transporting the virus to your business network.
- Make sure your servers and computers are patched with the latest Microsoft Patches. Many of these patches prevent or correct security issues.
- Limit the use of wireless networks if possible and make sure they are encrypted at the highest level possible.
Key Points to Remember
- Keep your anti-virus active and up to date. Never deactivate it due to performance issues.
- Don't open or access unknown files or emails
- Report any suspected bank fraud to email@example.com
- Limit your use of Social Networking tools to text based activities and don't open or download files
- Perform your financial and banking activities on your computer and network, don't use public systems or networks.
Contact your local Computer Service Store if you feel you need additional assistance in protecting your systems or networks.


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We study the temporal evolution of the structure of the world's largest subway networks in an exploratory manner. We show that, remarkably, all these networks converge to a shape that shares similar generic features despite their geographical and economic differences. This limiting shape is made of a core with branches radiating from it. For most of these networks, the average degree of a node (station) within the core has a value of order 2.5 and the proportion of k = 2 nodes in the core is larger than 60 per cent. The number of branches scales roughly as the square root of the number of stations, the current proportion of branches represents about half of the total number of stations, and the average diameter of branches is about twice the average radial extension of the core. Spatial measures such as the number of stations at a given distance to the barycentre display a first regime which grows as r2 followed by another regime with different exponents, and eventually saturates. These results—difficult to interpret in the framework of fractal geometry—confirm and yield a natural explanation in the geometric picture of this core and their branches: the first regime corresponds to a uniform core, while the second regime is controlled by the interstation spacing on branches. The apparent convergence towards a unique network shape in the temporal limit suggests the existence of dominant, universal mechanisms governing the evolution of these structures.
1. Introduction
Transportation systems, especially mass transit, are an important component in cities and their expansion. In a world where more than 50 per cent of the population lives in urban areas [1], and where individual transportation increases in cost as cities grow larger, mass transit and, in particular, subway networks are central to the evolution of cities, their spatial organization [2–4] and dynamical processes occurring in them [5,6]. The percentage s(P) of cities with a subway system versus their population size P is shown in figure 1 (the data were obtained for cities with a population larger than 105 (http://unstats.un.org/)), which confirms that the larger a city, the more likely it is to have some form of mass transit system (see also [7]). Approximately 25 per cent of the cities having more than one million individuals, 50 per cent of those having more than two million and all those having above 10 million have a subway system (as an indication, an exponential fit of the plot in figure 1 gives where the typical population P0 is in the order of three million).
For some cities, subway systems have existed for more than a century. Fascination with the apparent diversity of their structure has led to many studies and to particular abstractions of their representation in the design of idealized transit maps [8], and although these might appear to be planned in some centralized manner, it is our contention here that subway systems like many other features of city systems evolve and self-organize themselves as the product of a stream of rational but usually uncoordinated decisions taking place through time.
Generally speaking, subway systems have been developed to improve movement in urban areas and to reduce congestion. The early history of subways is sometimes connected to large-scale planning, for instance with the need to bring people from a growing periphery to the centre of the city where traditionally production and exchange usually take place. More broadly, it might seem that subway systems are engineered systems and intentionally structured in a core/periphery shape with their self-organization thus playing only a very minor role. This actually would be true if these subway systems were planned from their beginning to their current shape, but this is not the case for most networks. Their shape results from multiple actions, from planning within a time-limited horizon, set within the wider context of the evolution of the spatial distribution of population and related economic activities. We thus conjecture that subway networks actually result from a superimposition of many actions, both at a central level with planning and at a smaller scale with the reorganization and regeneration of economic activity and the growth of residential populations. In this perspective, subway systems are self-organizing systems, driven by the same mechanisms and responding to various geographical constraints and historical paths. This self-organized view leads to the idea that—beside local peculiarities due to the history and topography of the particular system—the topology of world subway networks display general, universal features within the limits of the physical geometry and cultural context in which their growth takes place.
The detection and characterization of these features require us to understand the evolution of these spatial structures. Indeed, subway networks are spatial [9–11] in the sense that they form a graph where stations are the nodes and links represent rail connections. We now understand quite well how to characterize a spatial network but we still lack tools for studying their temporal evolution. The present article tackles this problem, proposing various measures for these time-dependent, spatial networks.
Here we focus on the largest networks in major world cities and thus ignore currently developing, smaller networks in many medium-sized cities. We thus consider most of the largest metro networks (with at least one hundred stations) which exist in major world cities. These are: Barcelona, Beijing, Berlin, Chicago, London, Madrid, Mexico, Moscow, New York City (NYC), Osaka, Paris, Seoul, Shanghai and Tokyo, for which we show a sample in figure 2. Additionally, we focus on urban subway systems and do not consider longer-distance heavy and light-rail commuting systems in urban areas, such as Réseau Express Régional (RER) in Paris or overground NetworkRail in London.
Static properties of transportation networks have been studied for many years [12] and, in particular, simple connectivity properties were studied in [13], while fractal aspects were considered in [14]. With the recent availability of new data, studies of transportation systems have accelerated [11] and this is particularly so for subway systems [15–23]. These studies have revealed some significant similarities between different networks, despite differences in their historical development and in the cultures and economies in which they have been developed. In particular, their average shortest path seems to scale with the square root of the number of stations and the average clustering coefficient is large, consistent with general results associated with two-dimensional spatial networks [11]. In the study of Sienkiewicz & Holyst [17], a strong correlation between the number of stations (for bus and tramway systems) and population size has been observed for 22 Polish cities, but such correlations are not observed at the world level (for all public transportation modes [21]).
Our empirical analysis of the evolution of these transportation networks is in line with approaches developed in the 1970s (see [24] and references therein) but we take advantage here of recent progress made in the understanding of spatial networks in general and new historical data sources that provide us with detailed chronologies of how these networks have developed.
1.1. Data
The network topologies at various points in time were built using two main data sources. First, current network maps as for 2009 were used to define lines for each network, and then to define line-based topologies, i.e. which station(s) follow(s) which other station(s) on each line. This information was then combined with opening dates for lines and stations. This second type of data has been gathered from Wikipedia (http://www.wikipedia.org): for most networks, there is one page per station with various information, including the first date of operation, the precise location and address, number of passengers, etc. The network building process for a given year t is then as follows. The list of open lines at year t is first established. For each open line, open stations at year t are listed and connections are created between contiguous stations according to the network topology. A station that is not open at year t on the given line, even if it is already open on a different line, is evidently discarded for the construction of the line. Eventually, those independent line topologies are gathered into the subway graph corresponding to year t. Note that we used 2009 topologies as it was relatively difficult to find and process network maps for all these networks for each year of their existence. As a result, topologies for any given year before 2009 may overlook topology features pertaining to station or line closures: for instance, a station that existed between 1900 and 1940 and that remained closed until now will not appear in any of our network datasets (such is the case for the British Museum Tube station). We suggest, however, that the effect of this bias is limited: on the one hand, generally few stations undergo closure in the course of the network evolution; on the other hand, these stations are rarely hubs, most often intermediary stations (of degree 2, i.e. connected to two stations), thus their non-inclusion bears little topological impact.
2. Exploring static properties
The main characteristics of the networks we have chosen are shown in table 1 where we first observe that the number of different lines appears to increase incrementally with the number of stations and that on average, for these world networks, there are approximately 18 stations per line. Also, the mean interstation distance is on average km with Beijing and Moscow showing the longest ones (1.79 and 1.67 km, respectively), and Paris displaying the shortest one (570 m), a diversity which finds its origin in the different historical paths of these networks. Other quantities such as the catchment area (the average number of individuals served by one station) could be computed but should be used with care: residential and economic activity density vary strongly across space and back-of-the-envelope arguments should only serve as a guide. Generally speaking, many parameters such as the population density, land use activity distribution and traffic are important drivers in the evolution of those networks, but we will focus in this first study on the characterization of these networks in terms of space and topology, independently of other socio-economical considerations. A later extension of this research could examine these physical and topological properties with respect to various definitions of density which might include different activity types and various combinations related to the traffic that they generate.
To get some initial insight into the topology of these networks, one can first compare the total length ℓT of these networks to the corresponding quantity computed for an almost regular graph with the same number of stations, area and average degree (the 'degree' of a node is the number of its neighbours in a graph). For a random planar graph with small degree fluctuations (k ≈ 〈k〉) and small fluctuations of the spatial distribution of nodes, we can consider that the internode spacing is roughly constant and given by where ρ = N/A is the density of nodes defined as the number of nodes over the total area comprising all the nodes. The total length is then the number of edges E = N〈k〉/2 times ℓ0 which leads to [11] 2.1
In real applications, the determination of the quantity A is a difficult problem, but here we choose to use the metropolitan area as given by the various data sources. As shown in the table 1, the ratio varies from 0.08 to 0.88, has an average of order 0.29 and displays essentially three outliers. First, Osaka (and also Madrid and Seoul) has a very large value indicating a highly reticulated structure. In contrast, Chicago and NYC have a much smaller value (≈0.1) signalling a more heterogeneous structure, which in both these cases is probably due to their strong geographical constraints.
The total length and the comparison with a regular structure gives a first hint about the structure of these networks but other indicators are needed to get a more focused view. There exist many different indicators and variables that describe these networks and their evolution. An important difficulty thus lies in the choice of the many possible indicators and how to extract useful information from them. In addition, the largest networks have a relatively small number of stations (always smaller than 500), which implies that we cannot expect to extract useful information from the probability distributions of various quantities as the results are too noisy. We thus have to compute more globally structured indicators which are, however, sensitive to the usually small temporal variations associated with these networks. In the following, we will focus on a certain number of these indicators, which we consider to be the most informative at this point.
Finally, we will focus in this study on purely spatial and topological properties: we will consider the evolution in space of these subway networks and we will not consider any other parameters that might be used to characterize urban growth. Our study is exploratory and thus a first step towards the integration of the most important factors into this research and despite its simplicity, in that we focus almost entirely on geometrical attributes, we consider that the evolution of the topology encodes many different factors and that its study can point to some important general mechanisms governing the evolution of these networks.
3. Network dynamics
To get an initial impression of the dynamics of these networks, we first estimate the simplest indicator v = dN/dt, which represents the number of new stations built per year. From the instantaneous velocity, we can compute the average velocity over all years. This average can, however, be misleading as there are many years where no stations are built and thus we describe this by the fraction of 'inactivity' time f. We provide results for the networks considered in table 2 from which some interesting facts are revealed. Note that it is clear that Shanghai and Seoul are the most recent subway networks experiencing a rapid expansion that has elevated them to among the largest networks in the world.
For most of these networks, the average velocity is in a small range (typically ∈ [1.4, 3.7]) except for Seoul and Shanghai which are more recently developed networks. This is, however, an average velocity and we observe that (i) for all networks, larger velocities occur at earlier stages of the network and (ii) large fluctuations occur from one year to another. Interestingly, the fraction of the inactivity time (i.e. the time when no stations are built) is similar for all these networks with an average of about 58 per cent. We also show in figure 3a, the time evolution for each city of the number of stations, using an absolute timescale. In particular, the sizes of the oldest networks seem to progressively reach a plateau.
To make growth comparable across all networks, we introduce a second graph on figure 3b featuring the average, over all networks, of the number of stations after a certain number of years since the creation of the network. This average quantity exhibits a linear increase which indicates convincingly that, overall, as these networks become large, for a few decades thereafter, new stations represent an increasingly small percentage of the existing ones. In other words, the time evolution of all these networks is characterized by small additions and not by sudden, abrupt changes with a large number of stations added in a small time duration. This first result anticipates the fact that these large networks may reach some kind of limiting shape that we will characterize in §3.1. This incremental growth of subways might reflect socio-economical concerns and pressure on the transportation networks such as diminishing return on investments as noted by various authors (see, [25] for US highways).
Finally, when we study the evolution of various indicators versus the number N of stations, an important point for our statistical analysis will be the number of subways with a given number N at a given time t. We show this quantity in figure 4 and we can see that, for N ∈ [25, 100] approximately, this number is the largest (almost 15—note that this figure is nonetheless too small to allow a discussion of the normality of the various quantities considered below). Unfortunately, for larger values of N the number of cities is naturally smaller, and at this stage we cannot give definitive answers but suggest some limits for large N.
3.1. Characterization of the core and branches structure
The large subway networks considered here thus converge to a long-time limit where there is always an increasingly smaller percentage of new stations added through time. The remarkable point that we will show below is that all these networks, despite their geographical and economical differences, converge to a shape that exhibits several typical topological and spatial features. Indeed, by inspection, we observe that in most large urban areas, the network consists of a set of stations delimited by a 'ring' that constitute the 'core'. From this core, quasi-one-dimensional branches grow and reach out to areas of the city further and further from the core. In figure 2, we show a sample of these networks as they currently exist. We note here that the ring, which is defined topologically as the set of core stations that are either at the junction of branches or on the shortest geodesic path connecting these junction stations, exists or not as a subway line. For instance, for Tokyo, there is a such a circular line (called the Yamanote line), while for Paris the topological ring does not correspond to a single line. It is also worth noting that in those systems where the core is harder to define such as NYC where physical constraints are strongly manifest (the east and west rivers which bound Manhattan), a pseudo core is evident where a series of lines coalesce to enable travellers to move around the core circumferentially.
More formally, branches are defined as the set of stations that are iteratively built from a 'tail' station, or a station of degree 1. New neighbours are added to a given branch as long as their degree is 2—continuing the line, or 3—defining a fork. In this latter case, the aggregative process continues if and only if at least one of the two possible new paths stemming from the fork is made up of stations of degree 2 or less. Note that the core of a network with no such fork is thus a k-core with k = 2 [26].
The general structure can schematically be represented as in figure 5.
We first characterize this branch and core structure with the parameter β(t) defined as 3.1where NB(t) and NC(t), respectively, represent the number of stations on branches and the number of stations in the core at time t.
We can also further characterize the structure of branches. Their topological properties are trivial and their complexity resides in their spatial structure. We can then determine the average distance (in kilometres) from the geographical barycentre of the city to all core and branch stations, respectively: and (the barycentre is computed as the centre of mass of all stations, or in other words, the average location of all the stations). This last distance provides information about the spatial extension of the branches when we can form the ratio η(t): 3.2which gives a spatial measure of the amount of extension of the branches.
We also need information on the structure of the core. The core is a planar (which is correct at a good accuracy for most networks) spatial network and can be characterized by many parameters [11]. It is important to choose those that are not simply related but ideally represent different aspects of the network (such as those proposed in the form of various indicators; see, for example, [11,12,27]). At each time step t, we will characterize the core structure by the following two parameters. The first parameter is simply the average degree of the core which characterizes its 'density': 3.3where NC(t) is the number of core nodes and EC(t) the number of its edges. The average degree is connected to the standard index where the denominator is the maximum number of links admissible for a planar network [12].
The average degree of the core contains useful information about it, and there are many other quantities (such as standard indices such as α, etc.; see, [12]) which can give additional information. We will use another simple quantity which describes in more detail the level of interconnections in the core and which is given by the fraction f2 of nodes in the core with k = 2. In the case of the well-interconnected system, this fraction will tend to be small, while sparse cores with a few interconnections will have a larger fraction of k = 2 nodes.
Once we know this fraction f2 of k = 2 nodes in the core, which characterizes the level of interconnection and the parameter η(t), which characterizes the relative spatial extension of branches, we have key information on the intertwinement of both topological and geographical features in such 'core/branch' networks.
3.2. Time evolution of β, 〈kcore〉, f2 and η
The historical development of these networks is very different from one city to another and representing the evolution of a specific quantity versus time would probably not be particularly meaningful. Similarly, city networks often experience significant development in some particular years, while they experience little or no evolution for the rest of the time. To be able to compare the networks across time periods and cities, we propose to study their evolution in terms of the number of stations N that are constructed.
We first plot in figure 6a the parameter β as a function of N for the networks studied here. It is difficult to draw strong conclusions from this plot, but we can bin these data and represent the average value of β per bin and its dispersion as well (figure 6b). In this figure, we may see that the average value of β seems to stabilize slowly to some value in [0.35, 0.55].
It is also important to characterize the spatial importance of the branches. The parameter η gives a precious indication about their extension and we show in figure 7 the evolution of this parameter with N (the data are binned). This figure shows that in the interval where we have the largest number of subways, the average value of η is around 2 with relatively large fluctuations which seem to decrease with N.
The parameters β and η give an indication of the importance of the core but do not say anything about its structure. A first structural indication may be given by its average degree and by the percentage of nodes in the core having a degree k equal to 2. In particular, these two quantities shed light on how interconnections are created in the core. We display in figure 8a the average degree of the core which, even if there is a slow increase with N, displays moderate variations around 2.4 approximately.
This value is relatively small and indicates that the fraction of connecting stations (i.e. with k > 2) is also small and means that most core stations belong to one single line with few that actually allow connections. More precisely, we observe in figure 8b that, on average, for subways with N < 100 the fraction of interconnecting stations is increasing with N—which probably corresponds to some organization of the subway—but that for larger subways (N > 100), the percentage f2 is increasing again, which probably corresponds to a densification process without the creation of new interconnections. This densification can indeed be confirmed as the diameter of the core (figure 9) seems to reach a plateau for most cities.
As noted above, the number of subways with large N is smaller and the statistics therefore less reliable. At this point and with this statistical error in mind, we observe that the average value β and its dispersion are decreasing with N and suggests that β could converge to some 'limiting' value 45 per cent. The same remarks also apply to η and suggest a limiting value of order 2. Concerning the core, the dispersion of is always moderate and approximately constant, showing that the fluctuations among different networks are also moderate. We observe a slow increase of pointing to a mild yet continuing densification of the core, even after a long period of time. The fraction of connecting stations has more complex dynamics and seems to decrease with N for large networks. In these networks, there is an obvious cost associated with the large value of k > 2 and such a decreasing fraction could be due to the fact that a small fraction is enough to enable easy navigation in the network.
In summary, our results display non-negligible fluctuations but suggest that large subway networks may converge to a long-time limiting network largely independent of their historical and geographical differences. So far, we can characterize the 'shape' of this long-time limiting network with values of 45 per cent, , and a core made of approximately 80 per cent of non-connecting stations. It will be interesting to observe the future evolution of these networks in order to confirm (or not) our current results.
3.3. Number of branches
We now consider the number 𝒩B of different branches. A naive argument would be that the number of branches is actually proportional to the perimeter of the core structure. This implicitly assumes that the distance between different branches is constant. In turn, the perimeter should roughly scale as as the core is a relatively dense planar graph and contains a number of nodes proportional to N. These assumptions thus lead to 3.4
We display the number of branches versus the number of stations N for the various networks considered here. A power law fit of the data presented in figure 10 gives 𝒩B ∼ Nb with b ≈ 0.6 (r2 = 0.85) consistent with our argument.
3.4. Balance between the core density and the branch structure
Even if it seems that the values of various indicators converge with the size of the networks, we still have appreciable variations. For example, η varies from ≈1 to ≈3 and exhibits a relatively constant and not negligible relative dispersion. It is thus important to understand the remaining differences between these networks. To achieve this, we focus on the relation between η which characterizes the spatial extension of the branches relative to the core, and the percentage f2 of k = 2 nodes in the core which indicates how well connected the core is. We focus on the 'final' values of these parameters obtained for 2009 for the various networks and we obtain the plot shown in figure 11. From this figure, we first see that (η, f2) ranges from (≈1.4, ≈85%) for NYC up to (≈3.3, ≈45%) for Moscow, which is indeed a highly ramified network with a very dense core.
Very roughly speaking, we first observe that, for this set of the largest subway systems in the world, the percentage f2 is large and above 60 per cent and relatively independent from η. At a finer level, we observe from this figure that clusters of networks with similar properties also emerge. The first cluster comprises Beijing, Berlin, Shanghai and Seoul which are remarkably close to each other: f2 is of order 80 ± 5% and η(t) ≈ 2.84 ± 0.1. This cluster corresponds thus to subway networks with a large degree of ramification and a lower interconnection level in their core. Not surprisingly, this cluster comprises rapidly evolving networks such as Beijing and Shanghai, for example. Another cluster comprises London, Paris and Madrid with a smaller value of f2 ≈ 70 ± 5%, which might result from their denser city centre structure and a smaller value of η ≈ 2. This other cluster corresponds to denser networks, less ramified but with more interconnections in the core. Finally, we can identify another cluster made of Chicago and Osaka with a small value of η and a relatively dense core (with f2 ≈ 70%).
4. Spatial organization of the core and branches
Following earlier studies on the fractal aspects of subway networks [14], we can inspect the spatial subway organization by considering the number of stations N(r) at a distance less than or equal to r, where the origin of distances is the barycentre of all stations considered as points. Interestingly, the barycentre of all stations is almost motionless, except in the case of NYC where the barycentre moves from Manhattan to Queens, and thus we will exclude NYC from further study. Chicago is a similar case: the spatial structure of the core is peculiar, mainly due to the presence of the lake which constrains the network from expanding in the other directions. We will also exclude this network in this section. It should, however, be noted here that both Chicago and NYC do follow the image of core and branches but that the main difference with the other networks is that the core of these networks has no clear spatial meaning due to the geographical constraints (such as the presence of a lake for Chicago and a particular shape of the land area for NYC).
For the year 2009, the limiting shape made of a core and branches implies that there is an average distance rC which determines the core. In practice, we can measure on the network the size NC of the core and we then define rC such that N(r = rC) = NC (which assumes implicitly an isotropic core shape, which is the case for most networks except for the excluded cases of Chicago and NYC). For the various cities, we can easily compute the function N = N(r) from which we can extract rC and we report the results in table 3.
Next, we can rescale r by rC and N(r) by NC and we then obtain the results shown in figure 12.
This figure displays several interesting features. First, the short distance regime r < rC is well described by a behaviour of the form N(r) ∼ ρCπr2 consistent with a uniform density ρC of core stations. For very large distances, for most networks we observe a saturation of N(r). The interesting regime is then for intermediate distances when r is larger than the core size but smaller than the maximum branch size rmax. This intermediate regime is characterized by different behaviours with r. A similar result was obtained earlier [14], where the authors observed for Paris that N(r > rc) ∼ r0.5, a result that was at that time difficult to understand in the framework of fractal geometry.
Here we show that these regimes can be understood in terms of the core and branches model, with the additional factor that the spacing between consecutive stations is increasing with r. Within this picture (and assuming isotropy), N(r) is given by 4.1where N is the total number of stations, 𝒩B is the number of branches and Δ(r) is the average spacing between stations on branches at distance r from the barycentre.
To test this shape, we can determine the various parameters of equation (4.1)—namely 𝒩B, NC, rC and Δ(r)—and plot the resulting shape of equation (4.1) against the empirical data. It is easy to determine empirically the numbers 𝒩B, NC and rC, but the quantity Δ(r) is extremely noisy due to the small number of points (all these numbers are determined for the year 2009), especially for large values of r closest to rmax, at a distance where, often, there is no more than a handful of stations.
The less noisy situation is obtained in the case of Moscow, which has long branches and for which we obtain a roughly constant interstation spacing. In this case, we obtain, for r > rC, a behaviour of the form N(r) ∼ 𝒩Br (figure 12b).
More generally, the large distance behaviour rC < r < rmax will be of the form 4.2where τ denotes the exponent governing the interspacing decay Δ(r) ∼ rτ. For most networks, the regime rC < r < rmax is small and as already mentioned Δ(r) is very noisy. Rough fits in different cases give a behaviour for equation (4.1) consistent with the data (figure 13).
In particular, for Moscow which has long branches, we observe a behaviour consistent with Δ(r) ≃ constant, while for the other networks we observe an increasing trend, but an accurate estimate of τ is difficult to obtain, given the small variation range of r — with no more than one decade of available data. For example, a fit over this decade of data gives τ ≈ 0.5 for Paris (with r2 = 0.74) in agreement with the result obtained in [14]. Despite the difficulty of obtaining accurate quantitative results, more data are needed to have a definite answer and so far we can only claim that the data are not inconsistent with the behaviour equation (4.1), which supports our picture of a long-time limit network shape made of a core and radial branches.
5. Discussion
In summary, we have observed a number of similarities between different subway systems for the world's largest cities, despite their geographical and historical differences.
First, we have shown that the largest subway networks exhibit a similar temporal decrease of most fluctuations around their long-term stable values and thus converge to a similar structure. We identified and characterized the shape of this long-time limiting graph as a structure made of a core and branches which appears to be relatively independent of the peculiar historical idiosyncracies associated with the evolution of these particular cities.
For large networks, we generally observe a fraction of branches of about 45 per cent for most networks, and a ratio for the spatial extensions of branches to the core of about 2. The number of branches scales roughly as the square root of the number of stations. The core of these different city networks has approximately the same average degree which is increasing with the network size, from ≈2 to ≈2.4 when N ≈ 100, after which it approximately remains within the interval [2.3, 2.5] (with moderate fluctuations). The fraction of k = 2 nodes in the core is generally larger than 60 per cent.
In addition, this picture of a core with branches and an increasing spacing between consecutive stations on these branches is confirmed by spatial measurements such as the number of stations at a given distance r and provides a natural interpretation to these measures.
The evolution of networks in general and urban networks in particular represents an exciting unexplored problem that mixes spatial and topological properties in unusual and often counterintuitive ways. They require a specific set of indicators that describe these phenomena. Other data such as population density, land use activity distribution and traffic flows are likely to bring relevant information to this problem and would undoubtedly enrich our study. We believe, however, that the present approach represents an important exploratory step in our understanding and is crucial for the modelling of the evolution of urban networks. In particular, the existence of unique long-time limit topological and spatial features is a universal signature that fundamental mechanisms, independent of historical and geographical differences, contribute to the evolution of these transportation networks.
We thank the anonymous referees for very useful and interesting comments.
- Received March 29, 2012.
- Accepted April 25, 2012.
- This journal is © 2012 The Royal Society