Whos Ditching the Bus?

This paper uses stop-level passenger count data in four cities to understand the nation-wide bus ridership decline between 2012 and 2018. The local characteristics associated with ridership change are evaluated in Portland, Miami, Minneapolis/St-Paul, and Atlanta. Poisson models explain ridership as a cross-section and the change thereof as a panel. While controlling for the change in frequency, jobs, and population, the correlation with local socio-demographic characteristics are investigated using data from the American Community Survey. The effect of changing neighborhood demographics on bus ridership are modeled using Longitudinal Employer-Household Dynamics data. At a point in time, neighborhoods with high proportions of non-white, carless, and most significantly, high-school-educated residents are the most likely to have high ridership. Over time, white neighborhoods are losing the most ridership across all four cities. In Miami and Atlanta, places with high concentrations of residents with college education and without access to a car also lose ridership at a faster rate. In Minneapolis/St-Paul, the proportion of college-educated residents is linked to ridership gain. The sign and significance of these results remain consistent even when controlling for intra-urban migration. Although bus ridership is declining across neighborhood characteristics, these results suggest that the underlying cause of bus ridership decline must be primarily affecting the travel behavior of white bus riders

Hearing Hebrew Pharyngeals: Experimental evidence for a covert phonemic distinction

We report a lexical decision task experiment, in which words were manipulated such that two different sounds had been switched with each other: the voiceless pharyngeal and uvular fricatives. The former is a marked sound of some dialects of Modern Hebrew, the latter is a merged category corresponding to both the historical pharyngeal and the uvular in the production of most speakers. The two categories are represented by different letters in the orthographic system and each is associated with unique phonological processes. Socially, the pharyngeal is stereotyped; merging the categories is both more common and more prestigious in most social contexts. Speakers of Modern Hebrew with varied linguistic backgrounds, including Merged speakers who have not been exposed to non-merged dialects during most of their lives, are very good at acoustically distinguishing between these sounds (only slightly underperforming compared with Non-merged speakers). Nevertheless, we found that manipulated stimuli - which were not part of the input for language learners of either dialect - provoke different acceptance rates and reaction times, depending on the listener\u27s home dialect, in certain cases regardless of their production grammar. In particular, Non-merged speakers and Merged speakers who are 2nd generation listeners to non-merged dialects rejected switched category items at much higher rates and took longer to process them compared with Merged speakers who did not have early experience with the categorical distinction. We discuss these findings in the context of models of phonological representation and auditory word recognition

The ecology of sexual dimorphism in size and shape of the freshwater blenny Salaria fluviatilis.

Sexual selection is considered the major cause of sexual dimorphism, but recent observations suggest that natural selection may play a more important role in the evolution of sex differentiation than previously recognized. Therefore, studying the trade-offs between natural selection and sexual selection is crucial to a better understanding of the ecology underlying the evolution of sexual dimorphism. The freshwater blenny Salaria fluviatilis, a fish inhabiting lakes and rivers around the Mediterranean Sea, displays strong sexual dimorphism in size, shape, and behavior (i.e., larger body and head size for males and higher swimming requirements for females during the reproductive period). We tested for differences in sexual dimorphism in size and shape between the populations from lake and river habitats with the goal of identifying the trade-offs between natural and sexual selection that underlie variations in sexual dimorphism in this species. Our results show i) differences in sexual size dimorphism (SSizeD) in accordance to Rensch's rule (i.e., larger individuals in rivers associated with higher SSizeD), and ii) a decrease in shape differentiation between males and females in lake populations. Together, this suggests that the different environmental conditions between lake and river habitats (e.g., resource limitations, predation pressure, water velocity) affect the relative importance of sexual selection in the display of sexual dimorphism within the species. This study highlights the importance of considering the environmental conditions to which populations are exposed to better understand the ecology underlying the evolution of sexual dimorphism

Environmental variables, habitat discontinuity and life history shaping the genetic structure of Pomatoschistus marmoratus

Coastal lagoons are semi-isolated ecosystems exposed to wide fluctuations of environmental conditions and showing habitat fragmentation. These features may play an important role in separating species into different populations, even at small spatial scales. In this study, we evaluate the concordance between mitochondrial (previous published data) and nuclear data analyzing the genetic variability of Pomatoschistus marmoratus in five localities, inside and outside the Mar Menor coastal lagoon (SE Spain) using eight microsatellites. High genetic diversity and similar levels of allele richness were observed across all loci and localities, although significant genic and genotypic differentiation was found between populations inside and outside the lagoon. In contrast to the FST values obtained from previous mitochondrial DNA analyses (control region), the microsatellite data exhibited significant differentiation among samples inside the Mar Menor and between lagoonal and marine samples. This pattern was corroborated using Cavalli-Sforza genetic distances. The habitat fragmentation inside the coastal lagoon and among lagoon and marine localities could be acting as a barrier to gene flow and contributing to the observed genetic structure. Our results from generalized additive models point a significant link between extreme lagoonal environmental conditions (mainly maximum salinity) and P. marmoratus genetic composition. Thereby, these environmental features could be also acting on genetic structure of coastal lagoon populations of P. marmoratus favoring their genetic divergence. The mating strategy of P. marmoratus could be also influencing our results obtained from mitochondrial and nuclear DNA. Therefore, a special consideration must be done in the selection of the DNA markers depending on the reproductive strategy of the species

ERNICA guidelines for the management of rectosigmoid Hirschsprung's disease

Background Hirschsprung's disease (HSCR) is a serious congenital bowel disorder with a prevalence of 1/5000. Currently, there is a lack of systematically developed guidelines to assist clinical decision-making regarding diagnostics and management. Aims This guideline aims to cover the diagnostics and management of rectosigmoid HSCR up to adulthood. It aims to describe the preferred approach of ERNICA, the European Reference Network for rare inherited and congenital digestive disorders. Methods Recommendations within key topics covering the care pathway for rectosigmoid HSCR were developed by an international workgroup of experts from 8 European countries within ERNICA European Reference Network from the disciplines of surgery, medicine, histopathology, microbiology, genetics, and patient organization representatives. Recommendation statements were based on a comprehensive review of the available literature and expert consensus. AGREE II and GRADE approaches were used during development. Evidence levels and levels of agreement are noted. Results Thirty-three statements within 9 key areas were generated. Most recommendations were based on expert opinion. Conclusion In rare or low-prevalence diseases such as HSCR, there remains limited availability of high-quality clinical evidence. Consensus-based guidelines for care are presented.Peer reviewe

ERNICA guidelines for the management of rectosigmoid Hirschsprung's disease

Background Hirschsprung's disease (HSCR) is a serious congenital bowel disorder with a prevalence of 1/5000. Currently, there is a lack of systematically developed guidelines to assist clinical decision-making regarding diagnostics and management. Aims This guideline aims to cover the diagnostics and management of rectosigmoid HSCR up to adulthood. It aims to describe the preferred approach of ERNICA, the European Reference Network for rare inherited and congenital digestive disorders. Methods Recommendations within key topics covering the care pathway for rectosigmoid HSCR were developed by an international workgroup of experts from 8 European countries within ERNICA European Reference Network from the disciplines of surgery, medicine, histopathology, microbiology, genetics, and patient organization representatives. Recommendation statements were based on a comprehensive review of the available literature and expert consensus. AGREE II and GRADE approaches were used during development. Evidence levels and levels of agreement are noted. Results Thirty-three statements within 9 key areas were generated. Most recommendations were based on expert opinion. Conclusion In rare or low-prevalence diseases such as HSCR, there remains limited availability of high-quality clinical evidence. Consensus-based guidelines for care are presented.Peer reviewe