Mobility and Equity for New York's Transit-Starved Neighborhoods: The Case for Full-Featured Bus Rapid Transit

New York City's public transportation system moves millions of people every day. But an increasing number who live in outer borough neighborhoods are stuck with unreliable transit options and long travel times tracked in hours, not minutes.It does not have to be this way.Developed by the Pratt Center for Community Development and funded by the Rockefeller Foundation, this report highlights the limitations of New York City's current public transit system, the adverse effects those limitations have on our economy and quality of life, and the role Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) can play in remedying these transit inequities.BRT has transformed cities across the world from Mexico City to Barcelona to Cleveland. At a fraction of the cost to build just a mile of subway rail, BRT gives riders a reliable way to get where they need to go.BRT is effective. It is innovative. And it could be the solution for New York's transit-starved neighborhoods

Opinions within Media, Power and Gossip

Despite the increasing diffusion of the Internet technology, TV remains the principal medium of communication. People's perceptions, knowledge, beliefs and opinions about matter of facts get (in)formed through the information reported on by the mass-media. However, a single source of information (and consensus) could be a potential cause of anomalies in the structure and evolution of a society. Hence, as the information available (and the way it is reported) is fundamental for our perceptions and opinions, the definition of conditions allowing for a good information to be disseminated is a pressing challenge. In this paper starting from a report on the last Italian political campaign in 2008, we derive a socio-cognitive computational model of opinion dynamics where agents get informed by different sources of information. Then, a what-if analysis, performed trough simulations on the model's parameters space, is shown. In particular, the scenario implemented includes three main streams of information acquisition, differing in both the contents and the perceived reliability of the messages spread. Agents' internal opinion is updated either by accessing one of the information sources, namely media and experts, or by exchanging information with one another. They are also endowed with cognitive mechanisms to accept, reject or partially consider the acquired information

Synergies between EU R&I Funding Programmes. Policy Suggestions from the Launching Event of the Stairway to Excellence Project

This Policy Brief addresses the concept of synergies arising from the two major EU funding sources (The European Structural and Investment Funds and Horizon 2020) in the context of the new Stairway to Excellence Project. This project is centred on the provision of assistance to Member States who joined in 2004, 2007 and 2013 in using innovation funding under ESIFs via the early and effective implementation of RIS3 with the aim of closing the innovation gap and promote scientific and technological excellence. This Policy Brief summarises the discussion and case studies presented at the launching conference of the Stairway to Excellence Project held in Prague in October 2014. This event offered a first opportunity to identify the key elements for building successful synergies and gave a useful insight into how synergies could be achieved in practice. A diverse set of experiences from five EU countries (Cyprus, Czech Republic, France, Spain, and the UK) and an international organisation were presented. In turn, this could be a source of inspiration for other regional and national managing authorities and the research community.JRC.J.2-Knowledge for Growt

Bovine milk antioxidant properties: effect of in vitro digestion and identification of antioxidant compounds

Milk proteins contained encrypted in their sequence biologically active components that can be released by enzymatic hydrolysis. Among the biological activities recognized in milk components, the antioxidant activity is of great interest. The objective of the present study was to analyse the antioxidant properties of whole, semi-skimmed and skimmed milk during simulated gastrointestinal digestion and to identify the compounds responsible for the antioxidant activity. Simulated digestion increased the 2,2′-azino-bis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulphonic acid (ABTS)+ radical scavenging activity of milk. In digested whole milk, the main contribution to ABTS+ radical scavenging activity was due to high molecular weight fraction (>3 kg.mol−1). For semi-skimmed and skimmed milk, the main contribution was due to low molecular weight fraction (<3 kg.mol−1). Twelve major peaks were collected from low molecular weight fraction of digested skimmed milk by reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography and evaluated for their ABTS+ radical scavenging activity. Among the different fractions, three (F2, F3 and F5) showed high ABTS+ and hydroxyl radical scavenging activity and lipid peroxidation inhibitory capacity. The compounds (free amino acids and peptides) present in these fractions were identified with nano-LCQTOF MS/MS analysis. The amino acids tryptophan and tyrosine seemed fundamental in the ABTS+ and hydroxyl radical scavenging capacities whereas the amino acids phenylalanine and histidine played an important role in the lipid peroxidation inhibitory activity of the peptides. The results reported in this study suggested that milk proteins could act as a carrier for the delivery of antioxidant compounds in the gastrointestinal tract possibly protecting the gastrointestinal tract itself from the oxidative damage

oxidative potential of selected pm components

The role of the single PM components in inducing the catalytic generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS), has not yet been clarified. Different a-cellular assay are currently used in the literature for the determination of the PM oxidative potential (OP), which is considered as a predictive index of its capacity to generate ROS in biological organisms. In order to better understand the existing correlations between PO and PM generated by specific emission sources, the water soluble and insoluble fractions of seven dust coming from specific sources were chemically characterised and analysed by three PO assays: the dithiothreitol (DTT, the acid ascorbic (AA) and the 2′,7′-dichlorofluorescin (DCFH) assays. PO and chemical data were elaborated by principal constituent analysis. The three methods responded in a very different way to each dust; they are then no-interchangeable and probably none of them is able to correctly predict the ROS generation in biological organisms. DTT was particularly sensitive to organic compounds, while AA was mostly influenced by inorganic components. DCFH results are more difficult to interpret and need to be further deepened. Furthermore, the results confirmed the important role played by the insoluble components of dusts in generating oxidative processes

Some new uses of the η_m(Z) functions

We present a procedure and a MATHEMATICA code for the conversion of formulae expressed in terms of the trigonometric functions sin(omega x), cos(omega x) or hyperbolic functions sinh(lambda x), cosh(lambda x) to forms expressed in terms of eta(m)(Z) functions. The possibility of such a conversion is important in the evaluation of the coefficients of the approximation rules derived in the frame of the exponential fitting. The converted expressions allow, among others, a full elimination of the 0/0 undeterminacy, uniform accuracy in the computation of the coefficients, and an extended area of validity for the corresponding approximation formulae

Disturbance Decoupling in Nonlinear Impulsive Systems

International audienceThis work deals with the problem of structural disturbance decoupling by state feedback for nonlinear impulsive systems. The dynamical systems addressed exhibit a hybrid behavior characterized by a nonlinear continuous-time state evolution interrupted by abrupt discontinuities at isolated time instants. The problem considered consists in finding a state feedback such that the system output is rendered totally insensitive to the disturbance. Both the case of static state feedback and that of dynamic state feedback are considered. A necessary and sufficient condition for the existence of a static state feedback that solves the problem in the multivariable case is proven by defining suitable tools in the context of the differential geometric approach. The situation concerning solvability by a dynamic state feedback is examined in the framework of the differntial algeraic approach. A necessary and sufficient solvaility condition is conjectured and discussed