Geographical Perspectives on Transport and Ageing

In terms of ageing, we are living in unprecedented times. People across the globe are living longer than ever before and societies are ageing at increasing rates. In low to middle income countries reductions in mortality at young ages have fuelled this growth. A person born today in Brazil, for example, can expect to live 20 years longer than someone born 50 years ago (WHO, 2015). For the first time life expectancy across the globe is over 60 years of age. In high Income countries, someone born now can expect to live up to around 80 years of age on average (ONS, 2015). There are not simply a growing number of older people, but also a growing number of older people as a total percentage of the population due to people living longer and declining birth rates in many countries. Across Europe, for example, people aged over 65 years will account for 29.5% of the population in 2060 compared to around 19% now (EUROSTAT, 2017). The share of those aged 80 years or above across Europe will almost triple by 2060 (EUROSTAT, 2017)The macro level demographics and associated trends mask big differences within the ageing populations. There can be as much as 10 years difference in life expectancy within high income countries, for example in the UK someone born a baby boy born in Kensington and Chelsea has a life expectancy of 83.3 years, compared with a boy born in Glasgow who has a life expectancy of 10 years lower (73.0 years) (ONS, 2015). For newborn baby girls, life expectancy is highest in Chiltern at 86.7 years and 8 years lower Glasgow at 78.5 years (ONS, 2015; NRS, 2016). There is also considerable variation within cities, spatially and socially.This volume brings together contributions from a broad range of human geographers, with different disciplinary perspectives of transport and ageing. This chapter outlines some of the key contemporary issues for an ageing society in terms of transport and mobility, highlights the importance of considering transport and mobility for ageing populations and outlines the contribution that a geographical approach can offer to studies of transport and ageing

Boosting hot electron flux and catalytic activity at metal-oxide interfaces of PtCo bimetallic nanoparticles

Despite numerous studies, the origin of the enhanced catalytic performance of bimetallic nanoparticles (NPs) remains elusive because of the ever-changing surface structures, compositions, and oxidation states of NPs under reaction conditions. An effective strategy for obtaining critical clues for the phenomenon is real-time quantitative detection of hot electrons induced by a chemical reaction on the catalysts. Here, we investigate hot electrons excited on PtCo bimetallic NPs during H-2 oxidation by measuring the chemicurrent on a catalytic nanodiode while changing the Pt composition of the NPs. We reveal that the presence of a CoO/Pt interface enables efficient transport of electrons and higher catalytic activity for PtCo NPs. These results are consistent with theoretical calculations suggesting that lower activation energy and higher exothermicity are required for the reaction at the CoO/Pt interface

Thermally stable single atom Pt/m-Al2O3 for selective hydrogenation and CO oxidation

Single-atom metal catalysts offer a promising way to utilize precious noble metal elements more effectively, provided that they are catalytically active and sufficiently stable. Herein, we report a synthetic strategy for Pt single-atom catalysts with outstanding stability in several reactions under demanding conditions. The Pt atoms are firmly anchored in the internal surface of mesoporous Al2O3, likely stabilized by coordinatively unsaturated pentahedral Al3+ centres. The catalyst keeps its structural integrity and excellent performance for the selective hydrogenation of 1,3-butadiene after exposure to a reductive atmosphere at 200 °C for 24 h. Compared to commercial Pt nanoparticle catalyst on Al2O3 and control samples, this system exhibits significantly enhanced stability and performance for n-hexane hydro-reforming at 550 °C for 48 h, although agglomeration of Pt single-atoms into clusters is observed after reaction. In CO oxidation, the Pt single-atom identity was fully maintained after 60 cycles between 100 and 400 °C over a one-month period

Co-designing Urban Living Solutions to Improve Older People’s Mobility and Well-Being

Mobility is a key aspect of active ageing enabling participation and autonomy into later life. Remaining active brings multiple physical but also social benefits leading to higher levels of well-being. With globally increasing levels of urbanisation alongside demographic shifts meaning in many parts of the world this urban population will be older people, the challenge is how cities should evolve to enable so-called active ageing. This paper reports on a co-design study with 117 participants investigating the interaction of existing urban spaces and infrastructure on mobility and well-being for older residents (aged 55 + years) in three cities. A mixed method approach was trialled to identify locations beneficial to subjective well-being and participant-led solutions to urban mobility challenges. Spatial analysis was used to identify key underlying factors in locations and infrastructure that promoted or compromised mobility and well-being for participants. Co-designed solutions were assessed for acceptability or co-benefits amongst a wider cross-section of urban residents (n = 233) using online and face-to-face surveys in each conurbation. Our analysis identified three critical intersecting and interacting thematic problems for urban mobility amongst older people: The quality of physical infrastructure; issues around the delivery, governance and quality of urban systems and services; and the attitudes and behaviors of individuals that older people encounter. This identified complexity reinforces the need for policy responses that may not necessarily involve design or retrofit measures, but instead might challenge perceptions and behaviors of use and access to urban space. Our co-design results further highlight that solutions need to move beyond the generic and placeless, instead embedding specific locally relevant solutions in inherently geographical spaces, populations and processes to ensure they relate to the intricacies of place

Visual similarity effects on short-term memory for order: The case of verbally labeled pictorial stimuli

Four experiments examined the effect of visual similarity on immediate memory for order. Experiments 1 and 2 used easily nameable line drawings. Following a sequential presentation in either silent or suppression conditions, participants were presented with the drawings in a new, random order and were required to remember their original serial position. In Experiment 3, participants first learned to associate a verbal label with an abstract matrix pattern. Then they completed an immediate memory task in which they had to name the matrices aloud during presentation. At recall, the task required remembering either the order of the matrices or the order of their names. In Experiment 4, participants learned to associate nonword labels with schematic line drawings of faces; the phonemic similarity of the verbal labels was also manipulated. All four experiments indicate that the representations supporting performance comprise both verbal and visual features. The results are consistent with a multiattribute encoding view

Mobility, accessibility and quality of later life

Older people today are more active and more mobile than previous generations. However, they continue to suffer a reduction in quality of life when giving up driving. This article reports research carried out to identify the role of mobility and accessibility in older people's self-reported quality of life, through an in-depth examination of older people's travel needs. A wholly qualitative approach, utilising a variety of data collection methods including focus groups, interviews and diary completion, was employed with 57 people aged over 65 in the UK, of which 26 were drivers and 31 had recently given up driving. The findings emphasise the importance of mobility for accessing services and shops. However, the reasons why older people travel and the importance of mobility go beyond accessibility to include the desire for independence, control, maintaining status, inclusion, ‘normalness’ and travel for its own sake. All these are related to an individual's perception of quality of life. When older people give up driving, their self-reported quality of life is reduced and this seems very much related to a reduction in affective and aesthetic qualities of mobility that a car affords that walking and using public transport lack. It is suggested that policy and practice needs to consider such motives for trave

Regional Practice Variation and Outcomes in the Standard Versus Accelerated Initiation of Renal Replacement Therapy in Acute Kidney Injury (STARRT-AKI) Trial: A Post Hoc Secondary Analysis

OBJECTIVES: Among patients with severe acute kidney injury (AKI) admitted to the ICU in high-income countries, regional practice variations for fluid balance (FB) management, timing, and choice of renal replacement therapy (RRT) modality may be significant. DESIGN: Secondary post hoc analysis of the STandard vs. Accelerated initiation of Renal Replacement Therapy in Acute Kidney Injury (STARRT-AKI) trial (ClinicalTrials.gov number NCT02568722). SETTING: One hundred-fifty-three ICUs in 13 countries. PATIENTS: Altogether 2693 critically ill patients with AKI, of whom 994 were North American, 1143 European, and 556 from Australia and New Zealand (ANZ). INTERVENTIONS: None. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: Total mean FB to a maximum of 14 days was +7199 mL in North America, +5641 mL in Europe, and +2211 mL in ANZ (p < 0.001). The median time to RRT initiation among patients allocated to the standard strategy was longest in Europe compared with North America and ANZ (p < 0.001; p < 0.001). Continuous RRT was the initial RRT modality in 60.8% of patients in North America and 56.8% of patients in Europe, compared with 96.4% of patients in ANZ (p < 0.001). After adjustment for predefined baseline characteristics, compared with North American and European patients, those in ANZ were more likely to survive to ICU (p < 0.001) and hospital discharge (p < 0.001) and to 90 days (for ANZ vs. Europe: risk difference [RD], -11.3%; 95% CI, -17.7% to -4.8%; p < 0.001 and for ANZ vs. North America: RD, -10.3%; 95% CI, -17.5% to -3.1%; p = 0.007). CONCLUSIONS: Among STARRT-AKI trial centers, significant regional practice variation exists regarding FB, timing of initiation of RRT, and initial use of continuous RRT. After adjustment, such practice variation was associated with lower ICU and hospital stay and 90-day mortality among ANZ patients compared with other regions

International genome-wide meta-analysis identifies new primary biliary cirrhosis risk loci and targetable pathogenic pathways

Primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC) is a classical autoimmune liver disease for which effective immunomodulatory therapy is lacking. Here we perform meta-analyses of discovery data sets from genome-wide association studies of European subjects (n1⁄42,764 cases and 10,475 controls) followed by validation genotyping in an independent cohort (n1⁄43,716 cases and 4,261 controls). We discover and validate six previously unknown risk loci for PBC (Pcombinedo5108) and used pathway analysis to identify JAK-STAT/IL12/IL27 signalling and cytokine–cytokine pathways, for which relevant therapies exist