Disparities in travel times between car and transit: Spatiotemporal patterns in cities

Cities worldwide are pursuing policies to reduce car use and prioritise public transit (PT) as a means to tackle congestion, air pollution, and greenhouse gas emissions. The increase of PT ridership is constrained by many aspects; among them, travel time and the built environment are considered the most critical factors in the choice of travel mode. We propose a data fusion framework including real-time traffic data, transit data, and travel demand estimated using Twitter data to compare the travel time by car and PT in four cities (S\ue3o Paulo, Brazil; Stockholm, Sweden; Sydney, Australia; and Amsterdam, the Netherlands) at high spatial and temporal resolutions. We use real-world data to make realistic estimates of travel time by car and by PT and compare their performance by time of day and by travel distance across cities. Our results suggest that using PT takes on average 1.4–2.6 times longer than driving a car. The share of area where travel time\ua0favours PT over car use is very small: 0.62% (0.65%), 0.44% (0.48%), 1.10% (1.22%) and 1.16% (1.19%) for the daily average (and during peak hours) for S\ue3o Paulo, Sydney, Stockholm, and Amsterdam, respectively. The travel time disparity, as quantified by the travel time ratio\ua0R (PT travel time divided by the car travel time), varies widely during an average weekday, by location and time of day. A systematic comparison between these two modes shows that the average travel time disparity is surprisingly similar across cities:\ua0R<1 for travel distances less than 3 km, then increases rapidly but quickly stabilises at around 2. This study contributes to providing a more realistic performance evaluation that helps future studies further explore what city characteristics as well as urban and transport policies make public transport more attractive, and to create a more sustainable future for cities

Estado nutricional e força de preensão manual em idosos residentes em comunidade com baixo índice de desenvolvimento humano

Modelo do estudo: Estudo epidemiológico transversal, populacional de base domiciliar. Objetivo: Verificar a relação entre indicadores antropométricos de estado nutricional e força muscular em idosos residentes em comunidade com baixo índice de desenvolvimento humano. Metodologia: Idosos (N =316) de uma cidade do Nordeste do Brasil foram submetidos a entrevista e avaliação física. A variável dependente analisada foi a força de preensão manual. As variáveis independentes foram o índice de massa corporal e a área muscular do braço. As variáveis de controle foram a idade, tabagismo, atividade física, hospitalização e hiperglicemia. Foram usados modelos de regressão linear simples e múltipla para as análises estatísticas. Resultados: Após controle pelas variáveis de ajuste, houve correlação positiva significante da força de preensão manual com o índice de massa corporal (βajustado = 0,439; p = 0,010; r2 ajustado = 0,062) e a área muscular do braço (βajustado = 0,046; p = 0,003; r2 ajustado = 0,087) para o sexo masculino, mas não para o sexo feminino. Conclusões: Indicadores antropométricos de estado nutricional foram relacionados a força de preensão manual em homens idosos, mas não em mulheres.Design of the study: Epidemiological cross-sectional population-based household study. Objective: To investigate the relationship between anthropometric indicators of nutritional status and muscular strength in community-dwelling elderly with low human development index. Methodology: Elderly (N = 316) residents of a city in Brazil’s Northeast Region were submitted to an interview and a physical evaluation. The dependent variable assessed was handgrip strength. The independent variables were body mass index and arm muscle area. The control variables were age, smoking, physical activity, hospitalization and hyperglycemia. Simple and multiple linear regression models were used for statistical analyses. Results: Following control by adjustment variables, there was significant positive correlation of handgrip strength with body mass index (βadjusted = 0.439; p = 0.010; r2 adjusted = 0.062) and arm muscle area (βadjusted = 0.046; p = 0.003; r2 adjusted = 0.087) for male individuals, but not for female individuals. Conclusions: Anthropometric indicators of nutritional status have been positively related to handgrip strength in elderly men, but not in women

A Causal Discovery Approach To Learn How Urban Form Shapes Sustainable Mobility Across Continents

Global sustainability requires low-carbon urban transport systems, shaped by adequate infrastructure, deployment of low-carbon transport modes and shifts in travel behavior. To adequately implement alterations in infrastructure, it's essential to grasp the location-specific cause-and-effect mechanisms that the constructed environment has on travel. Yet, current research falls short in representing causal relationships between the 6D urban form variables and travel, generalizing across different regions, and modeling urban form effects at high spatial resolution. Here, we address all three gaps by utilizing a causal discovery and an explainable machine learning framework to detect urban form effects on intra-city travel based on high-resolution mobility data of six cities across three continents. We show that both distance to city center, demographics and density indirectly affect other urban form features. By considering the causal relationships, we find that location-specific influences align across cities, yet vary in magnitude. In addition, the spread of the city and the coverage of jobs across the city are the strongest determinants of travel-related emissions, highlighting the benefits of compact development and associated benefits. Differences in urban form effects across the cities call for a more holistic definition of 6D measures. Our work is a starting point for location-specific analysis of urban form effects on mobility behavior using causal discovery approaches, which is highly relevant for city planners and municipalities across continents.Comment: 22 pages, 13 figures, 4 table

Laser printing of micro-electronic communication systems for smart implants applications

Endow the implant with intrinsic communication system between sensors and actuators or between implant and patient is a key factor for its long-term success. The capacity of early diagnosis of failures and the ability to remedy them are necessary to minimize expensive complications and reducing revision procedures. Ti6Al4V is the most used titanium alloy for implant’s fabrication. In this sense, this work presents a promising approach to print communication systems by using laser technology, aiming integrate the smart components on titanium implants. Laser has been employed as a versatile tool to modify the surface in different ways, such as texturing, oxidizing and sintering. Silver wires have been printed on Ti6Al4V surface in order to conduct electrical current. To minimize current loss for the substrate, titanium oxide layer has been produced by different methods (laser and anodization). Laser sintering (LS) has been also compared to a conventional method (Hot-pressing- HP) to consolidate the silver powder into the cavities. In comparison to the conventional techniques, laser demonstrated to be a competitive approach to oxidizing the surface and also for consolidating the micro-wires on Ti6Al4V surface. Consequently, the micro-wires printed by laser approach presented satisfactory results in terms of electrical resistance, actuating as the conductor path for electrical current, with values of 0.0131 Ω, which is similar to the resistance of the wire printed in an insulator substrate.This work has been supported by FCT (Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia -Portugal) in the scope of the projects UID/EEA/04436/ 2019 and NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-000018-HAMaBICo and Add.Additive_Manufacturing to Portuguese Industry_POCI-01-0247- FEDER-024533. I wish to thank the CNPq (205791/2014-0)

Boron Nitride Nanotubes as Templates for Half-Metal Nanowires

We investigate by means of DFT/GGA+U calculations the electronic and structural properties of magnetic nanotubes composed of an iron oxide monolayer and (n,0) Boron Nitride (BN) nanotubes, with n ranging from 6 up to 14. The formation energy per FeO molecule of FeO covered tubes is smaller than the formation energy of small FeO nanoparticles which suggest that the FeO molecules may cover the BN nanotubes rather than to aggregate to form the FeO bulk. We propose a continuous model for the FeO covered BN nanotubes formation energy which predicts that BN tubes with diameter of roughly 13 \AA are the most stable. Unlike carbon nanotubes, the band structure of FeO covered BN nanotubes can not be obtained by slicing the band structure of a FeO layer, the curvature and the interaction with the BN tube is determinant for the electronic behavior of FeO covered tubes. As a result the tubes are semiconductors, intrinsic half-metals or semi-half-metals that can become half-metals charged with either electrons and holes. Such a result may be important in the spintronics context.Comment: 6 pages, 6 figure

Atlantic mammal traits: a dataset of morphological traits of mammals in the atlantic forest of south America

Measures of traits are the basis of functional biological diversity. Numerous works consider mean species-level measures of traits while ignoring individual variance within species. However, there is a large amount of variation within species and it is increasingly apparent that it is important to consider trait variation not only between species, but also within species. Mammals are an interesting group for investigating trait-based approaches because they play diverse and important ecological functions (e.g., pollination, seed dispersal, predation, grazing) that are correlated with functional traits. Here we compile a data set comprising morphological and life history information of 279 mammal species from 39,850 individuals of 388 populations ranging from −5.83 to −29.75 decimal degrees of latitude and −34.82 to −56.73 decimal degrees of longitude in the Atlantic forest of South America. We present trait information from 16,840 individuals of 181 species of non-volant mammals (Rodentia, Didelphimorphia, Carnivora, Primates, Cingulata, Artiodactyla, Pilosa, Lagomorpha, Perissodactyla) and from 23,010 individuals of 98 species of volant mammals (Chiroptera). The traits reported include body mass, age, sex, reproductive stage, as well as the geographic coordinates of sampling for all taxa. Moreover, we gathered information on forearm length for bats and body length and tail length for rodents and marsupials. No copyright restrictions are associated with the use of this data set. Please cite this data paper when the data are used in publications. We also request that researchers and teachers inform us of how they are using the data.Fil: Gonçalves, Fernando. Universidade Estadual Paulista Julio de Mesquita Filho; BrasilFil: Bovendorp, Ricardo S.. Universidade Estadual Paulista Julio de Mesquita Filho; BrasilFil: Beca, Gabrielle. Universidade Estadual Paulista Julio de Mesquita Filho; BrasilFil: Bello, Carolina. Universidade Estadual Paulista Julio de Mesquita Filho; BrasilFil: Costa Pereira, Raul. Universidade Estadual Paulista Julio de Mesquita Filho; BrasilFil: Muylaert, Renata L.. Universidade Estadual Paulista Julio de Mesquita Filho; BrasilFil: Rodarte, Raisa R.. Universidade Estadual Paulista Julio de Mesquita Filho; BrasilFil: Villar, Nacho. Universidade Estadual Paulista Julio de Mesquita Filho; BrasilFil: Souza, Rafael. Universidade Estadual Paulista Julio de Mesquita Filho; BrasilFil: Graipel, Maurício E.. Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina; BrasilFil: Cherem, Jorge J.. Caipora Cooperativa, Florianopolis; BrasilFil: Faria, Deborah. Universidade Estadual de Santa Cruz; BrasilFil: Baumgarten, Julio. Universidade Estadual de Santa Cruz; BrasilFil: Alvarez, Martín R.. Universidade Estadual de Santa Cruz; BrasilFil: Vieira, Emerson M.. Universidade do Brasília; BrasilFil: Cáceres, Nilton. Universidade Federal de Santa María. Santa María; BrasilFil: Pardini, Renata. Universidade de Sao Paulo; BrasilFil: Leite, Yuri L. R.. Universidade Federal do Espírito Santo; BrasilFil: Costa, Leonora Pires. Universidade Federal do Espírito Santo; BrasilFil: Mello, Marco Aurelio Ribeiro. Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais; BrasilFil: Fischer, Erich. Universidade Federal do Mato Grosso do Sul; BrasilFil: Passos, Fernando C.. Universidade Federal do Paraná; BrasilFil: Varzinczak, Luiz H.. Universidade Federal do Paraná; BrasilFil: Prevedello, Jayme A.. Universidade do Estado de Rio do Janeiro; BrasilFil: Cruz-Neto, Ariovaldo P.. Universidade Estadual Paulista Julio de Mesquita Filho; BrasilFil: Carvalho, Fernando. Universidade do Extremo Sul Catarinense; BrasilFil: Reis Percequillo, Alexandre. Universidade de Sao Paulo; BrasilFil: Paviolo, Agustin Javier. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Nordeste. Instituto de Biología Subtropical. Instituto de Biología Subtropical - Nodo Puerto Iguazú | Universidad Nacional de Misiones. Instituto de Biología Subtropical. Instituto de Biología Subtropical - Nodo Puerto Iguazú; ArgentinaFil: Duarte, José M. B.. Universidade Estadual Paulista Julio de Mesquita Filho; Brasil. Fundación Oswaldo Cruz; BrasilFil: Bernard, Enrico. Universidade Federal de Pernambuco; BrasilFil: Agostini, Ilaria. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Nordeste. Instituto de Biología Subtropical. Instituto de Biología Subtropical - Nodo Puerto Iguazú | Universidad Nacional de Misiones. Instituto de Biología Subtropical. Instituto de Biología Subtropical - Nodo Puerto Iguazú; ArgentinaFil: Lamattina, Daniela. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Nordeste; Argentina. Ministerio de Salud de la Nación; ArgentinaFil: Vanderhoeven, Ezequiel Andres. Ministerio de Salud de la Nación; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Nordeste; Argentin

TESS asteroseismology of the known red-giant host stars HD 212771 and HD 203949

International audienc

Rising from the Sea: Correlations between Sulfated Polysaccharides and Salinity in Plants

High salinity soils inhibit crop production worldwide and represent a serious agricultural problem. To meet our ever-increasing demand for food, it is essential to understand and engineer salt-resistant crops. In this study, we evaluated the occurrence and function of sulfated polysaccharides in plants. Although ubiquitously present in marine algae, the presence of sulfated polysaccharides among the species tested was restricted to halophytes, suggesting a possible correlation with salt stress or resistance. To test this hypothesis, sulfated polysaccharides from plants artificially and naturally exposed to different salinities were analyzed. Our results revealed that the sulfated polysaccharide concentration, as well as the degree to which these compounds were sulfated in halophytic species, were positively correlated with salinity. We found that sulfated polysaccharides produced by Ruppia maritima Loisel disappeared when the plant was cultivated in the absence of salt. However, subjecting the glycophyte Oryza sativa Linnaeus to salt stress did not induce the biosynthesis of sulfated polysaccharides but increased the concentration of the carboxylated polysaccharides; this finding suggests that negatively charged cell wall polysaccharides might play a role in coping with salt stress. These data suggest that the presence of sulfated polysaccharides in plants is an adaptation to high salt environments, which may have been conserved during plant evolution from marine green algae. Our results address a practical biological concept; additionally, we suggest future strategies that may be beneficial when engineering salt-resistant crops

TRAF1/C5 but Not PTPRC Variants Are Potential Predictors of Rheumatoid Arthritis Response to Anti-Tumor Necrosis Factor Therapy

Background. The aim of our work was to replicate, in a Southern European population, the association reported in Northern populations between PTPRC locus and response to anti-tumor necrosis factor (anti-TNF) treatment in rheumatoid arthritis (RA). We also looked at associations between five RA risk alleles and treatment response. Methods. We evaluated associations between anti-TNF treatment responses assessed by DAS28 change and by EULAR response at six months in 383 Portuguese patients. Univariate and multivariate linear and logistic regression analyses were performed. In a second step to confirm our findings, we pooled our population with 265 Spanish patients. Results. No association was found between PTPRC rs10919563 allele and anti-TNF treatment response, neither in Portuguese modeling for several clinical variables nor in the overall population combining Portuguese and Spanish patients. The minor allele for RA susceptibility, rs3761847 SNP in TRAF1/C5 region, was associated with a poor response in linear and logistic univariate and multivariate regression analyses. No association was observed with the other allellic variants. Results were confirmed in the pooled analysis. Conclusion. This study did not replicate the association between PTPRC and the response to anti-TNF treatment in our Southern European population. We found that TRAF1/C5 risk RA variants potentially influence anti-TNF treatment response.This work was supported by a grant from Harvard-Portugal Program HMSP-ICS/SAU-ICT/0002/2010. Daniel H. Solomon received support for this work from the NIH (K24-AR-055989). Elizabeth W. Karlson received support for this work from NIH (K24-AR-AR0524). Reuma.pt received unrestricted grants from Abbott, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Merck Sharp and Dohme, Pfizer, Roche, and UCB Pharma