An urban sprawl index based on multivariate and Bayesian factor analysis with application at the municipality level in Valencia

[EN] Urban sprawl is now a common and threatening phenomenon in Europe, severely affecting environmental and economic sustainability. An analytical characterization and measurement of urban sprawl are required to gain a better understanding of the phenomenon and to propose the possible solutions. Traditional factor analysis techniques, especially Principal Component Analysis and Factor Analysis, have been commonly used. In this paper, we additionally test Independent Component Analysis with the aim to obtain a multidimensional characterization of the sprawl phenomenon. We also use Bayesian Factor Analysis to obtain a single (unidimensional) measuring index of sprawl, which also allows us to obtain the uncertainty of the inferred index, in contrast to traditional approaches. All these techniques have been applied to study the phenomenon of urban sprawl at the municipality level in Valencia, Spain using a wide set of variables related to the characteristics and patterns of urban land use.Gielen, E.; Riutort-Mayol, G.; Palencia Jiménez, JS.; Cantarino-Martí, I. (2017). An urban sprawl index based on multivariate and Bayesian factor analysis with application at the municipality level in Valencia. Environment and Planning B Planning and Design. 1-27. doi:10.1177/2399808317690148S12

Attachment styles and personal growth following romantic breakups: The mediating roles of distress, rumination, and tendency to rebound

© 2013 Marshall et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.This article has been made available through the Brunel Open Access Publishing Fund.The purpose of this research was to examine the associations of attachment anxiety and avoidance with personal growth following relationship dissolution, and to test breakup distress, rumination, and tendency to rebound with new partners as mediators of these associations. Study 1 (N = 411) and Study 2 (N = 465) measured attachment style, breakup distress, and personal growth; Study 2 additionally measured ruminative reflection, brooding, and proclivity to rebound with new partners. Structural equation modelling revealed in both studies that anxiety was indirectly associated with greater personal growth through heightened breakup distress, whereas avoidance was indirectly associated with lower personal growth through inhibited breakup distress. Study 2 further showed that the positive association of breakup distress with personal growth was accounted for by enhanced reflection and brooding, and that anxious individuals’ greater personal growth was also explained by their proclivity to rebound. These findings suggest that anxious individuals’ hyperactivated breakup distress may act as a catalyst for personal growth by promoting the cognitive processing of breakup-related thoughts and emotions, whereas avoidant individuals’ deactivated distress may inhibit personal growth by suppressing this cognitive work

Immunomodulatory effects of human amniotic membrane-derived mesenchymal stem cells

Human amniotic membrane-derived mesenchymal stem cells (hAM-MSCs) are capable of differentiating into several lineages and possess immunomodulatory properties. In this study, we investigated the soluble factor-mediated immunomodulatory effects of hAM-MSCs. Mitogen-induced peripheral blood mononuclear cell (PBMC) proliferation was suppressed by hAM-MSCs in a dose-dependent manner as well as hAM-MSC culture supernatant. Moreover, interferon-gamma and interleukin (IL)-17 production significantly decreased from PBMC, whereas IL-10 from PBMCs and transforming growth factor beta (TGF-β) production from hAM-MSCs significantly increased in co-cultures of hAM-MSCs and PBMCs. Production of several MSC factors, including hepatocyte growth factor (HGF), TGF-β, prostaglandin E2 (PGE2), and indoleamine 2, 3 dioxygenase (IDO), increased significantly in hAM-MSCs co-cultured with PBMCs. These results indicate that the immunomodulatory effects of hAM-MSCs may be associated with soluble factors (TGF-β, HGF, PGE2, and IDO), suggesting that hAM-MSCs may have potential clinical use in regenerative medicine

Establishment of Efficacy and Safety Assessment of Human Adipose Tissue-Derived Mesenchymal Stem Cells (hATMSCs) in a Nude Rat Femoral Segmental Defect Model

Human adipose tissue-derived mesenchymal stem cell (hATMSC) have emerged as a potentially powerful tool for bone repair, but an appropriate evaluation system has not been established. The purpose of this study was to establish a preclinical assessment system to evaluate the efficacy and safety of cell therapies in a nude rat bone defect model. Segmental defects (5 mm) were created in the femoral diaphyses and transplanted with cell media (control), hydroxyapatite/tricalcium phosphate scaffolds (HA/TCP, Group I), hATMSCs (Group II), or three cell-loading density of hATMSC-loaded HA/TCP (Group III-V). Healing response was evaluated by serial radiography, micro-computed tomography and histology at 16 weeks. To address safety-concerns, we conducted a GLP-compliant toxicity study. Scanning electron microscopy studies showed that hATMSCs filled the pores/surfaces of scaffolds in a cell-loading density-dependent manner. We detected significant increases in bone formation in the hATMSC-loaded HA/TCP groups compared with other groups. The amount of new bone formation increased with increases in loaded cell number. In a toxicity study, no significant hATMSC-related changes were found in body weights, clinical signs, hematological/biochemical values, organ weights, or histopathological findings. In conclusion, hATMSCs loaded on HA/TCP enhance the repair of bone defects and was found to be safe under our preclinical efficacy/safety hybrid assessment system

d(Tree)-by-dx : automatic and exact differentiation of genetic programming trees

Genetic programming (GP) has developed to the point where it is a credible candidate for the `black box' modeling of real systems. Wider application, however, could greatly benefit from its seamless embedding in conventional optimization schemes, which are most efficiently carried out using gradient-based methods. This paper describes the development of a method to automatically differentiate GP trees using a series of tree transformation rules; the resulting method can be applied an unlimited number of times to obtain higher derivatives of the function approximated by the original, trained GP tree. We demonstrate the utility of our method using a number of illustrative gradient-based optimizations that embed GP models

Unifying Gene Expression Measures from Multiple Platforms Using Factor Analysis

In the Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) project, gene expression of the same set of samples is measured multiple times on different microarray platforms. There are two main advantages to combining these measurements. First, we have the opportunity to obtain a more precise and accurate estimate of expression levels than using the individual platforms alone. Second, the combined measure simplifies downstream analysis by eliminating the need to work with three sets of expression measures and to consolidate results from the three platforms

Issues in the construction of wealth indices for the measurement of socio-economic position in low-income countries

BACKGROUND: Epidemiological studies often require measures of socio-economic position (SEP). The application of principal components analysis (PCA) to data on asset-ownership is one popular approach to household SEP measurement. Proponents suggest that the approach provides a rational method for weighting asset data in a single indicator, captures the most important aspect of SEP for health studies, and is based on data that are readily available and/or simple to collect. However, the use of PCA on asset data may not be the best approach to SEP measurement. There remains concern that this approach can obscure the meaning of the final index and is statistically inappropriate for use with discrete data. In addition, the choice of assets to include and the level of agreement between wealth indices and more conventional measures of SEP such as consumption expenditure remain unclear. We discuss these issues, illustrating our examples with data from the Malawi Integrated Household Survey 2004-5. METHODS: Wealth indices were constructed using the assets on which data are collected within Demographic and Health Surveys. Indices were constructed using five weighting methods: PCA, PCA using dichotomised versions of categorical variables, equal weights, weights equal to the inverse of the proportion of households owning the item, and Multiple Correspondence Analysis. Agreement between indices was assessed. Indices were compared with per capita consumption expenditure, and the difference in agreement assessed when different methods were used to adjust consumption expenditure for household size and composition. RESULTS: All indices demonstrated similarly modest agreement with consumption expenditure. The indices constructed using dichotomised data showed strong agreement with each other, as did the indices constructed using categorical data. Agreement was lower between indices using data coded in different ways. The level of agreement between wealth indices and consumption expenditure did not differ when different consumption equivalence scales were applied. CONCLUSION: This study questions the appropriateness of wealth indices as proxies for consumption expenditure. The choice of data included had a greater influence on the wealth index than the method used to weight the data. Despite the limitations of PCA, alternative methods also all had disadvantages

Use of intervention mapping to adapt a health behavior change intervention for endometrial cancer survivors: The shape-up following cancer treatment program

Background: About 80% of endometrial cancer survivors (ECS) are overweight or obese and have sedentary behaviors. Lifestyle behavior interventions are promising for improving dietary and physical activity behaviors, but the constructs associated with their effectiveness are often inadequately reported. The aim of this study was to systematically adapt an evidence-based behavior change program to improve healthy lifestyle behaviors in ECS. Methods: Following a review of the literature, focus groups and interviews were conducted with ECS (n = 16). An intervention mapping protocol was used for the program adaptation, which consisted of six steps: a needs assessment, formulation of matrices of change objectives, selection of theoretical methods and practical applications, program production, adoption and implementation planning, and evaluation planning. Social Cognitive Theory and Control Theory guided the adaptation of the intervention. Results: The process consisted of eight 90-min group sessions focusing on shaping outcome expectations, knowledge, self-efficacy, and goals about healthy eating and physical activity. The adapted performance objectives included establishment of regular eating, balanced diet, and portion sizes, reduction in sedentary behaviors, increase in lifestyle and organized activities, formulation of a discrepancy-reducing feedback loop for all above behaviors, and trigger management. Information on managing fatigue and bowel issues unique to ECS were added. Conclusions: Systematic intervention mapping provided a framework to design a cancer survivor-centered lifestyle intervention. ECS welcomed the intervention and provided essential feedback for its adaptation. The program has been evaluated through a randomized controlled trial

What do parents think about parental participation in school-based interventions on energy balance-related behaviours? a qualitative study in 4 countries

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Overweight and obesity in youth has increased dramatically. Therefore, overweight prevention initiatives should start early in life and target modifiable energy balance-related behaviours. Parental participation is often advocated as important for school-based interventions, however, getting parents involved in school-based interventions appears to be challenging based on earlier intervention experiences. The purpose of this study was to get insight into the determinants of and perspectives on parental participation in school-interventions on energy balance-related behaviours (physical activity, healthy eating, sedentary behaviours) in parents of ten- to twelve-year olds in order to develop an effective parental module for school-based interventions concerning energy balance-related behaviours.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Four countries (Belgium, Hungary, Norway and Spain) conducted the focus group research based on a standardised protocol and a semi-structured questioning route. A variation in parental socio-economic status (SES) and parental school involvement was taken into account when recruiting the parents. The audio taped interviews were transcribed, and a qualitative content analysis of the transcripts was conducted in each country.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Seventeen focus group interviews were conducted with a total of 92 parents (12 men, 80 women). Physical activity was considered to be a joint responsibility of school and parents, nutrition as parent's responsibility but supported by the school, and prevention of sedentary behaviours as parent's sole responsibility. Parents proposed interactive and practical activities together with their child as the best way to involve them such as cooking, food tasting, nutrition workshops, walking or cycling tours, sport initiations together with their child. Activities should be cheap, on a convenient moment, focused on their children and not on themselves, not tutoring, not theoretical, and school-or home-based.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Parents want to be involved in activities related to energy balance-related behaviours if this implies 'doing things together' with their child at school or at home.</p