Can the Rise of Dual-Earning Households Explain Gentrification of US Central Cities?

The last four decades have seen a return of high-earning households to central cities. The consequences are urban renewal on the one hand and soaring inner-city rents on the other. In this paper I extend a monocentric city model of income sorting and urban rents to examine whether increases in the number of two-earner households can explain recent patterns of gentrification. I then present evidence from Washington DC that, among the young and married, the rich are shortening their commutes while the poor are lengthening theirs. However, among the unmarried, no such trend is discernible. These facts support the model\u27s prediction that two-earner households have reshaped the landscape of urban income group sorting

High resolution imaging of IgG and IgM molecules by scanning tunneling microscopy in air condition

A scanning tunneling microscope is a powerful tool for obtaining micrographs from conductive and semiconductive materials. The imaging technique has recently been improved for microscopy of nanostructured biomaterials on highly ordered atomic surfaces. We describe, here, high resolution imaging of individual IgM and IgG using a scanning tunneling microscope (Nama-STM) in air condition. The biomolecules were immobilized on the surface of Highly Ordered Pyrolytic Graphite (HOPG). Obtained micrographs could reveal structural details of immunoglobulins G and M on the atomically flat surfaces. Obtained results confirmed that STM could be more useful than other microscopy techniques for the analysis of single biomolecules. © 2012 Sharif University of Technology. Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

Google earth engine as multi-sensor open-source tool for supporting the preservation of archaeological areas: The case study of flood and fire mapping in metaponto, italy

In recent years, the impact of Climate change, anthropogenic and natural hazards (such as earthquakes, landslides, floods, tsunamis, fires) has dramatically increased and adversely affected modern and past human buildings including outstanding cultural properties and UNESCO heritage sites. Research about protection/monitoring of cultural heritage is crucial to preserve our cultural properties and (with them also) our history and identity. This paper is focused on the use of the open-source Google Earth Engine tool herein used to analyze flood and fire events which affected the area of Metaponto (southern Italy), near the homonymous Greek-Roman archaeological site. The use of the Google Earth Engine has allowed the supervised and unsupervised classification of areas affected by flooding (2013–2020) and fire (2017) in the past years, obtaining remarkable results and useful information for setting up strategies to mitigate damage and support the preservation of areas and landscape rich in cultural and natural heritage

Estimating flood characteristics using geomorphologic flood index with regards to rainfall intensity-duration-frequency-area curves and CADDIES-2D model in three Iranian basins

This is the final version. Available on open access from MDPI via the DOI in this recordThere is not enough data and computational power for conventional flood mapping methods in many parts of the world, thus fast and low-data-demanding methods are very useful in facing the disaster. This paper presents an innovative procedure for estimating flood extent and depth using only DEM SRTM 30 m and the Geomorphic Flood Index (GFI). The Geomorphologic Flood Assessment (GFA) tool which is the corresponding application of the GFI in QGIS is implemented to achieved the results in three basins in Iran. Moreover, the novel concept of Intensity-Duration-Frequency-Area (IDFA) curves is introduced to modify the GFI model by imposing a constraint on the maximum hydrologically contributing area of a basin. The GFA model implements the linear binary classification algorithm to classify a watershed into flooded and non-flooded areas using an optimized GFI threshold that minimizes the errors with a standard flood map of a small region in the study area. The standard hydraulic model envisaged for this study is the Cellular Automata Dual-DraInagE Simulation (CADDIES) 2D model which employs simple transition rules and a weight-based system rather than complex shallow water equations allowing fast flood modelling for large-scale problems. The results revealed that the floodplains generated by the GFI has a good agreement with the standard maps, especially in the fluvial rivers. However, the performance of the GFI decreases in the less steep and alluvial rivers. With some overestimation, the GFI model is also able to capture the general trend of water depth variations in comparison with the CADDIES-2D flood depth map. The modifications made in the GFI model, to confine the maximum precipitable area through implementing the IDFAs, improved the classification of flooded area and estimation of water depth in all study areas. Finally, the calibrated GFI thresholds were used to achieve the complete 100-year floodplain maps of the study areas.University of BasilicataCNR-IMAAOpenet TechnologiesRoyal Academy of Engineering (RAE

Estimation of soil moisture from UAS platforms using RGB and thermal imaging sensors in arid and semi-arid regions

Soil moisture (SM) is a connective hydrological variable between the Earth’s surface and atmosphere and affects various climatological processes. Surface soil moisture (SSM) is a key component for addressing energy and water exchanges and can be estimated using different techniques, such as in situ and remote sensing (RS) measurements. Discrete, costly and prolonged, in situ measurements are rarely capable in demonstration of moisture fluctuations. On the other hand, current high spatial resolution satellite sensors lack the spectral resolution required for many quantitative RS applications, which is critical for heterogeneous covers. RS-based unmanned aerial systems (UASs) represent an option to fill the gap between these techniques, providing low-cost approaches to meet the critical requirements of spatial, spectral and temporal resolutions. In the present study, SM was estimated through a UAS equipped with a thermal imaging sensor. To this aim, in October 2018, two airborne campaigns during day and night were carried out with the thermal sensor for the estimation of the apparent thermal inertia (ATI) over an agricultural field in Iran. Simultaneously, SM measurements were obtained in 40 sample points in the different parts of the study area. Results showed a good correlation (R2=0.81) between the estimated and observed SM in the field. This study demonstrates the potential of UASs in providing high-resolution thermal imagery with the aim to monitor SM over bare and scarcely vegetated soils. A case study based in a wide agricultural field in Iran was considered, where SM monitoring is even more critical due to the arid and semi-arid climate, the lack of adequate SM measuring stations, and the poor quality of the available data

Small noncoding RNA profiling across cellular and biofluid compartments and their implications for multiple sclerosis immunopathology

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic inflammatory demyelinating disease affecting the central nervous system (CNS). Small non-coding RNAs (sncRNAs) and, in particular, microRNAs (miRNAs) have frequently been associated with MS. Here, we performed a comprehensive analysis of all classes of sncRNAs in matching samples of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs), plasma, cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) cells, and cell-free CSF from relapsing-remitting (RRMS, n = 12 in relapse and n = 11 in remission) patients, secondary progressive (SPMS, n = 6) MS patients, and noninflammatory and inflammatory neurological disease controls (NINDC, n = 11; INDC, n = 5). We show widespread changes in miRNAs and sncRNA-derived fragments of small nuclear, nucleolar, and transfer RNAs. In CSF cells, 133 out of 133 and 115 out of 117 differentially expressed sncRNAs were increased in RRMS relapse compared to remission and RRMS compared to NINDC, respectively. In contrast, 65 out of 67 differentially expressed PBMC sncRNAs were decreased in RRMS compared to NINDC. The striking contrast between the periphery and CNS suggests that sncRNA-mediated mechanisms, including alternative splicing, RNA degradation, and mRNA translation, regulate the transcriptome of pathogenic cells primarily in the CNS target organ.Peer reviewe

Thermal leptogenesis in a model with mass varying neutrinos

In this paper we consider the possibility of neutrino mass varying during the evolution of the Universe and study its implications on leptogenesis. Specifically, we take the minimal seesaw model of neutrino masses and introduce a coupling between the right-handed neutrinos and the dark energy scalar field, the Quintessence. In our model, the right-handed neutrino masses change as the Quintessence scalar evolves. We then examine in detail the parameter space of this model allowed by the observed baryon number asymmetry. Our results show that it is possible to lower the reheating temperature in this scenario in comparison with the case that the neutrino masses are unchanged, which helps solve the gravitino problem. Furthermore, a degenerate neutrino mass patten with $m_i$ larger than the upper limit given in the minimal leptogenesis scenario is permitted.Comment: 18 pages, 7 figures, version to appear in PR

Models of Neutrino Masses and Baryogenesis

Majorana masses of the neutrino implies lepton number violation and is intimately related to the lepton asymmetry of the universe, which gets related to the baryon asymmetry of the universe in the presence of the sphalerons during the electroweak phase transition. Assuming that the baryon asymmetry of the universe is generated before the electroweak phase transition, it is possible to dicriminate different classes of models of neutrino masses. While see-saw mechanism and the triplet higgs mechanism are preferred, the Zee-type radiative models and the R-parity breaking models requires additional inputs to generate baryon asymmetry of the universe during the electroweak phase transition.Comment: 27 pages including 5 figures; Review article for Pramana: the Indian Journal of Physic

Leptogenesis in Theories with Large Extra Dimensions

We study the scenario of baryogenesis through leptogenesis in higher-dimensional theories, in which the scale of quantum gravity is many orders of magnitude smaller than the usual Planck mass. The minimal realization of these theories includes an isosinglet neutrino which feels the presence of large compact dimensions, whereas all the SM particles are localized on a $(1+3)$-dimensional subspace. In the formulation of minimal leptogenesis models, we pay particular attention to the existence of Majorana spinors in higher dimensions. After compactification of the extra dimensions, we obtain a tower of Majorana Kaluza-Klein excitations which act as an infinite series of CP-violating resonators, and derive the necessary conditions for their constructive interference. Based on this CP-violating mechanism, we find that the decays of the heavy Majorana excitations can produce a leptonic asymmetry which is reprocessed into the observed baryonic asymmetry of the Universe by means of out-of-equilibrium sphaleron interactions, provided the reheat temperature is above 5 GeV.Comment: 34 pages, minor rewordings, to appear in Physical Review